What happened back in 1989/1990?

This is why it all went down in 89/90. It wasn't NKOTB.

White guys shouldn't attempt to "rap".

I was 14 in 1989, and that was a good year. Lovely summer, good music, peaceful. When the 90's came it wasn't like 'poof' on January 1st 1990. The transition started in 1989 and went on for a couple of years and then began to decline in the late 90's.

Basically, 1990 was called the second summer of love. You had sort of a new hippy movement going on. The 90's were supposed to be all about peace and transcending the materialism of the 80's. In the previous couple of years we had been talking about global warming and people wanted to ensure the safety of the earth for future generations. The colour to wear was white. People were suddenly into beauty without cruelty to animals, and getting rid of CFC gasses from aerosols, and recycling cans. In 1989 the Berlin wall came down, then Mandela was released in 1990 the cold war ended and there was this feeling that peace was coming.

Then by the late 90's all that ended. People became shallow and greedy and self serving and we've been in decline ever since.

reply to post by Feltrick

Try ignoring this board and the news for a week and see if your outlook on life changes.

It did wonders for my life. I hate to admit it but when I left ATS for awhile I gained a much more balanced view of life. I started paying more attention to my wife and family. I felt more joy and energy. This place can leave you feeling drained and depressed.

The negative of leaving was that I stopped researching as much. I also quite debating as much. I actually felt like I was dulling a bit. It was like the debate on ATS helped keep my mental motor running a little better.

I recomend taking a week or two off. I also recomend making sure you have some one else for a little mental jousting.

I keep hearing how great the 80's were. They weren't that great. I grew up in South Western PA and the Steel mils were closing, most of my friends parents were out of work, we were in a recession, Soldiers died, there were drug wars, people were murdered, kids were abducted, families were broken up by divorce, the stock market crashed, companies folded overnight, etc, etc, etc.

Honestly, how many "flash mobs" have there actually been and how many people were injured/killed? The riots of the 60's were far worse than these flash mobs. The Great Depression was far worse than the economic disaster we're facing now. The 70's gave us Disco...'nuff said about that era. The 50's weren't that great, unless you believe everything you see from those old sitcoms. The 40's had a world war, rationing, abject poverty. The 30's had a great depression, riots, abject poverty, wars, gang violence....

Aaaahhh, those were the days!

reply to post by Feltrick


Through all of that there were things that brought us together. Even when the laws seperated us we stood together.

During the depression and during the world wars Americans banded together in pushing for better days.

During the civil rights movement people banded together to overcome the institutionalized racism that denied millions the right to be human.

During Vietnam people banded together to stop the war. Fighting aged men volunteered so that others would not have to go.

When was the last time Americans truly united to make things better? What all of those times had that we sorely lack is a sense of community. America has splintered in to a million warring factions and lost sight of what good can happen when we stand together. We don't have to stand together behind a bad idea. But we better get together soon before we lose it all.

Believe it or not despite our problems being an American was something special for two centuries. It meant a constant struggle to become something better. It was supposed to be a march torwards equality and enlightenment through the application of inginuity, critical thinking, and reason. That was what America meant to not only the founders but many generations of people from all walks of life. Those were are common goals and we marched towards them slowly.

Sometimes it all nearly fell apart and some times the pace was agonizingly slow. However, we made the march and tides turned. Eventually we made the steps. We moved forward towards those ideals. We built public schools and colleges to bring education to the masses. The slaves gained freedom. Then slowly their descendents became fully integrated in to society. They became corporate managers, CEOs, senators, and doctors.

It just seems like in the last 15 or 20 years that has died. There was a spark of that when Obama was elected. Young and old of all races saw a chance for unification.They broadcast their greatest hopes on to that man and rallied behind him. The cult of personality was strong enough to let us see that promise. It was strong enough to start that march again. That glimmer didn't last long and it fell apart again.

What makes these times seem so much rougher is that it feels like we are each trying to do it alone. The community and the bond has disappeared. We are no longer Americans bound together for the betterment of the country or our community. We are a hyphonated people standing by ourselves or with our goup with the same hypon trying to get what we are entitled too.

The dream of the founders is floundering. It is real and it is palpable. That is what makes these times seem so much harder.

This is why there was such a 'sea change' in the media and politics and the universities were pumping out legions of graduates with worthless 'cultural studies' degrees - they took control of the language you were allowed to use - and have been controlling your thoughts ever since!

The first conclusion one can draw is that liberalism can better fool the masses than communism. Due to torrents of meaningless idioms, such as "human rights" and "democracy" on the one hand, and "Nazism" and "fascism" on the other, the thought control and intellectual repression in liberalism functions far better. Therefore, in the liberal “soft” system, a motive for a would-be heretic to overthrow the system is virtually excluded. The liberal system is posited on historical finitude simply because there is no longer the communist competitor who could come up with its own real or surreal "freedom narrative." Thus, liberalism gives an impression of being the best system – simply because there are no other competing political narratives on the horizon. What are the political implications of the liberal double-talk? It must be pointed out that liberal language is the reflection of the overall socio-demographic situation in the West.

Over the last twenty years all Western states, including Australia, have undergone profound social and demographic changes; they have become "multicultural" systems. (multicultural being just a euphemism for a"multiracial" state). As a result of growing racial diversity the liberal elites are aware that in order to uphold social consensus and prevent the system from possible balkanization and civil war, new words and new syntax have to be invented. It was to be expected that these new words would soon find their way into modern legislations. More and more countries in the West are adopting laws that criminalize free speech and that make political communication difficult. In fact, liberalism, similar to its communist antecedents, it is an extremely fragile system. It excludes strong political beliefs by calling its critics "radicals," which, as a result, inevitably leads to political conformity and intellectual duplicity. Modern public discourse in the West is teeming with abstract and unclear Soviet-style expressions such as “ethnic sensitivity training”, "affirmative action”, "antifascism", "diversity", and “holocaust studies". In order to disqualify its critics the liberal system is resorting more and more to negative expression such as "anti-Semites", or " "neo-Nazi", etc. This is best observed in Western higher education and the media which, over the last thirty years, have transformed themselves into places of high commissariats of political correctness, having on their board diverse "committees on preventing racial perjuries", "ethnic diversity training programs", and in which foreign racial awareness courses have become mandatory for the faculty staff and employees. No longer are professors required to demonstrate extra skills in their subject matters; instead, they must parade with sentimental and self-deprecatory statements which, as a rule, must denigrate the European cultural heritage.

www.westernrevival.org...

Originally posted by The Old American
I was a kid in the '60s-'70s. The '80s were quite the awesome

. But 1989-'90 seemed...stagnant. Or maybe just still. I felt like I was waiting for something to happen that just wouldn't. It was an odd couple of years and then things got moving again.

/TOA

The early 50's started the jet age with rock 'n roll coming in the mid 50's. The Soviets launched the first satellite in '57, the music died in a plane crash in '59. Kennedy was elected in '60 and the space-age started full-swing then toward the end of '63 he was assassinated and most everyone suspected something was wrong with the official story. The Beatles appeared in the US in February of 64 and started the British Invasion of music. The Vietnam War got into full-swing and the music shifted to San Francisco and the Haight-Ashbury days. Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June '68.

Nixon was elected and the war continued on, then after his re-election he put the brakes on Vietnam and started winding it down. He got caught in the Watergate scandal and was forced to resign, which though was the mid '70's that really was the end of "The Sixties" and the disco craze started and were bleak times of plastic mediocrity. 1980's started "the Reagan revolution" and Just Say No as the eternal flame of the 60's was permanently extinguished.

Daddy Bush was inaugurated in '89, Soviet Union fell Dec '91, base closures, cut-backs, and the internet boom started. Kurt Cobain sparked up the grunge scene in '91. You that were born around this time know the rest of the story.

Life in general I think was easier back then. I'm 34 myself, from what I remember life was just easier with a lot slower pace to it. Families seemed much happier and had way more time to be together as families. Now all you seem to do is work to keep your head above ground. There's internet bullying, people including myself are worried to even let your own children out of your sight. Bring back the 80's, we all need to start enjoying life agian.

double post

I don't remember much of 1989.

Well, the Berlin Wall fell.

I remember this transition.
My earlier memories were the fall of the berlin wall and the end of George Bush Sr. I did notice a big change once we got into the 90's. And i think it was because a terrible weight had been lifted off the worlds shoulders with the threat of nuclear war being diminished. And then we had a technology boom once all the classified military technology was allowed to be civilized. The 90's we great IMO. I was proud to be american, I had high hopes for our country and the world.
I think the real change occured sept 11th, 2001. Ever since then, coincidentally, everything seems to have gone downhill.

I was just reading these threads about 1989. Although I was about 16 at that time, I don't remember much about that era but I did look up some of the events that took place at that time. There were some very interesting activities going on then. Some of the things that stood out to me were the "secret military mission" of the space shuttle columbia that lasted 5 days, the tiannemen square protests, russia leaves afghanistan, Bush senior becomes president, the Ayatollah Khomeini and Emporer Hirohito passed away, among many other interesting things that took place that year. Here is a link if you all would like to look at some of the events that happened that year.

en.wikipedia.org...

Originally posted by The Old American
I was a kid in the '60s-'70s. The '80s were quite the awesome

. But 1989-'90 seemed...stagnant. Or maybe just still. I felt like I was waiting for something to happen that just wouldn't. It was an odd couple of years and then things got moving again.

/TOA

This is pretty much my experience, too. I was born in '79 but I was really into pop culture even as a wee one. I'd say the biggest marker for that period was simply calm. It finally felt like we had some peace. Unfortunately, we didn't have the internet back then so that peace was just buying time for the big folks to make their power moves while everybody ate their cheeseburgers and played Super Mario Bros 3 and still thought big hair was "metal".

Now that we all have instant access to each other, times of peace and calm are not conducive to clandestine actions by the power elite so they have to cause a ruckus and make a lot of noise to take up all of our attention.

reply to post by m1991


nothing ever changes
it just gets recycled and repackaged for the next generation

There was no spiritual awakening. No one at the time spoke of that type of thing. The big change was the fall of Eurpoean communism. There was a lot of talk about the awakening of freedom around the world.
The end of the cold war and the great political shifting that wen on during the first Bush administration. That time was the first time in 40 years that a significant threat of death did not hang over the West. I remember as a kid laying in bed at night thinking about why the Russians wanted to destroy us with nukes and being terrified of getting up one morning to go to school and having missiles rain down from the sky. I was born in '74 and I was very much a political junkie when I was a kid. I followed the world news all throughout my life and still do. The 80's were a decade of small wars and famin in Africa. Terrorism and war in the middle east and Russian nukes pointed at us. In 89 that all changed. and things went into a lull. Everyone took a deep breath and we began to look out and see what was going to come down the pipe next. Thats all it was a pause and nothing more. It all started back agin just on a different road in about '92.

Perfectly normal to think like that.
I was born in the 60's and I thought everything before 1950 was in total black and white.
Life was good back then, yet a bit boring.
But people had total respect for others, you could leave your door wide open or unlocked with no worries.
The best thing thing about the 70''s was Archie Bunker.
The 80's were tame and the world was still somewhat innocent. I think thats when the era of fast food began.
The 90's is when political correctness began kicking into overdrive, and the fast food approach began to be applied to just about everything.
That's probably why we have the problems of today.
Ex: Faster faster faster me me me!

Bring in a modern day Archie Bunker and people would fail to get the point of the message but would be quick to get offended.
Now there's a total lack of common sense, almost reverse logic in most cases, everywhere you go.

reply to post by m1991


i was born in 75. The 80's were sweeeeeeeet..

life in the 80's was ALOT WAAAAAY different I feel. a few movies that portray lifestyles and the vibe of the 80's which will paint a picture of things:

1. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
2. Back to the Future
3. Goonies
4. E.T.

these will give a perpective of the 'attitude' of how life was. Future looked Bright, Technology was "new and fun", kids could run around the neighborhood safely.

I feel the change too.

Partially I feel like it is a reflection of the failing education system. I always considered myself pretty well educated until I started to talk to my father as an adult. He could run circles around me just a few years ago (all I do is read now) My grandmother... she seems to know facts and details about everything. I have talked to them about what they took in school, what they were required to accomplish, etc... way different then my 80's, 90's education. I spend my time now trying to close that gap with some good ol' self education.

We simply do not receive the education of our ancestors. Not that the information isn't out there it is just emphasis has been placed in other directions. Maybe 1990 was when the first generation of this new education system came of age? Just a thought.

Another thought, TV. Obviously TV was around before 1990 but it certainly wasn't as big as it is now. Back in the 80's and prior most kids would not be able to say they had a TV in their rooms, now it is very common to have 5 or 6 TV's in a families home with at least one running 24/7.

People have changed. The way people act has changed. The way people respond to new ideas has changed. everything is about "feelings" and "emotions" now. The ultimate goal of parents use to be raising a smart, well adjusted kid, now it is about raising a kid who has high self-esteem, even if it is unfounded in reality of actions.

There are many underlying causes for this change you and others have noticed, these are just some ideas off the top of my head.

Well I was born on august 1989.
Perhaps the government knew this and changed it's ways to more appropriately annoy the hell out of me.

Pop culture? The only impact pop culture made in 1989 and 1990, is that those were the years that the most politically aware sub-culture musical tribe, the Punks, grew up!

1989 and 1990 saw the downfall of Apartheid and the deconstruction of European communism!

1989

Politics

Tiananmen Square

China declares martial law in Lhasa, Tibet.

South Africa In Johannesburg, the Progressive Federal Party, Independent party, National Democratic Movement and the force of "Ontevrede Afrikaners" or dissatisfied Afrikaners merged to form the Democratic Party. Largest anti-Apartheid march in South Africa, led by Desmond Tutu

Iran-Contra Affair

In Leipzig, East Germany, 70,000 protesters demand the legalization of opposition groups and democratic reforms

Velvet Revolution: The number of peaceful protestors assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia

Cold War: East Germany's parliament abolishes the constitutional provision granting the communist party the leading role in the state

Space

A 1,000-foot diameter Near-Earth asteroid misses the Earth by 400,000 miles

STS-28: The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission

Conflict

The Soviet Union officially announces that all of its troops had left Afghanistan.

Two bombs explode in Mecca



1990

Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner for 27 years, is freed, Cape Town, South Africa

German reunification: An agreement is reached for a two-stage plan to reunite Germany. East and West Germany merge their economies, re-unification of Germany. East Germany ceases to exist

The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania.

The parliament of the Russian Federation formally declares its sovereignty.

Moldavia declares independence

Lech Waleska becomes the first directly elected president of Poland.

Republic of Slovenia votes to secede from Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Latvia proclaims independence


Conflict

Gulf War: The United Nations Security Council orders a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait


And in 1990, Tim Berners-Lee publishes a formal proposal for the World Wide Web.