Say what you want about America in the 1950s, at least the middle class of that era had contempt for those who boasted excessively about themselves or their children, sucked-up or snitched to get ahead, cursed in public, flaunted their possessions, or in any way acted superior to others. Moreover, the daily consumption of pornography was for perverts; tattoos were on sailors, pimps, and serial killers; marijuana and heroin use was limited to writers, musicians, actors, and members of the criminal underclass; the severely mentally ill were off the streets and living in institutions; gun violence and murder was at a minimum; and welfare was considered a temporary form of charity. Of course the 1950s wasn't good for everyone, particularly for blacks and gays. But it wasn't bad for everyone either. One other observation about that era: with one exception, I've never seen a movie portray that decade realistically. The exception: The Man Who Wasn't There.
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They also lynched quite a few innocent black people.
ReplyDeleteYes, bad things happened in the 1050s like bad things are happening today. Mr. Knowles was not comparing then and now but recalling the things he liked about that era.
ReplyDeleteMr. Knowles says "gun violence and murder was at a minimum." If a whole community lynches a kid because he whistles at a white woman, than everyone in that whole community commited murder. Or at least they are accessories to that murder. And the police didn't prosecute whole communities. So it wasn't true that violence was at a minimum. What was true was that people could commit violence and the police looked the other way. So statictics for arrests for murders in the 50s might be lower but we still know the level or violence and murders were very high.
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