Castille de Italia wrote:So NSG, I got to do some of that dangerous late-night thinking, and I thought about what it would be like to live in the 1950s, a time portrayed as somewhat of a Golden Age in American history. The time of sock hops and pink carnations, the 1950s economically and somewhat socially a prosperous time for America, after victories over Nazism and Imperial Japan, emerging out of the Great Depression as a world superpower.
The 1950s are generally portrayed as peaceful, carefree, and wonderful time in the media, when most everyone lived by the same ethics and standards. I personally do not think of the 1950s America as a Utopia, going by exact definition, given the social policies of the US and the looming threat of a nuclear war, but I'm curious to see NSG's opinion.
So, what is it? A Utopia, or just a period of prosperity in American history?
If you were a straight white christian male the 50's were pretty sweet. If you belonged to any other category your experience might range from "nobody can ever know," to "second class citizen" to "can't vote in most places, have to check under your church pews for firebombs."
