Thread: Simplicity - Where did it all go?

Originally Posted by jaegerhund

P.S. It's not the music I'm lamenting about as much as for a simpler time. One where things weren't so easily obtainable but maybe appreciated more.

It was also a time when racism was considered normal, women didn't have rights and people died of easily curable diseases.

My grandmother one told me that 'the good old days' weren't good at all. People worked in the mines or factories in bad labor conditions. The majority of those that managed to make it to retirement age died soon after.
Every weekend there was a funeral of at least 1 child, because children still died of pneumonia.

It is just that we tend to forget all the crap we have to live with, and remember only the good things.

Originally Posted by Bruno

It was also a time when racism was considered normal, women didn't have rights and people died of easily curable diseases.

My grandmother one told me that 'the good old days' weren't good at all. People worked in the mines or factories in bad labor conditions. The majority of those that managed to make it to retirement age died soon after.
Every weekend there was a funeral of at least 1 child, because children still died of pneumonia.

It is just that we tend to forget all the crap we have to live with, and remember only the good things.

I'm quite aware of all these things Bruno. I'm talking about a specific thing --the lack of appreciation for quality and things in general. But you are right, we tend to remember what we want to remember. For every change of era though, there is something lost and something gained --you have to make sure you're gaining more than losing. Moreover, the members here have all taken and revived a nearly lost form of shaving --why did we do this? Also, when the straight razor was commonplace, there existed all types of issues of racism, disease, hardship, etc ---that doesn't mean you can not appreciate the simplicity or quality of using a staight razor just because it existed during those times. If this is true than we wouldn't be discussing this and this website wouldn't exist.

That, to me, is the very soul of Anachronism (or preservationism): recognizing the value in something old and carrying it forward into the world for it's own sake. Manners, for example, were invented by the nouveau riche of early capitalism in order to prove that they were just as good as the old aristocracy, not because these people had a deep and overriding concern for others. Hardly a noble origin, but the practice has an inherent value unrelated to the social circumstances that produced it, and so it is continued (albeit far less frequently than we should like!) to the present day.

Originally Posted by Feng_Li

That, to me, is the very soul of Anachronism (or preservationism): recognizing the value in something old and carrying it forward into the world for it's own sake. Manners, for example, were invented by the nouveau riche of early capitalism in order to prove that they were just as good as the old aristocracy, not because these people had a deep and overriding concern for others. Hardly a noble origin, but the practice has an inherent value unrelated to the social circumstances that produced it, and so it is continued (albeit far less frequently than we should like!) to the present day.

Yeah, Feng_Li, my intentions here were not to get political or propose everything in the past was good or valuable. My opening post was just a kind of story that I think all people from every generation can relate to. I'm not at all anti-technology or against moving forward but was just feeling a little nostalgic and felt like writing. Moreover, there is no reason that the quality of things or appreciation for things can't be continued but maybe we do live in time when everyone is so connected and so much is so easily obtainable that appreciation is more and more difficult. All this is nothing new and I'm sure people 4000 years ago were saying the same thing but this is my time and my story (like everyones) is unique. Of course I could be just getting old.

Justin

You hardly sounded like any of those things. My reply was more to Bruno...I think people are more inclined not to forget the darker side of bygone eras, and therefore try to discard a great many wonderful things, simply because the men and women that produced them weren't nearly so perfectly tolerant, open-minded, or even sanitary as us.

You say you're getting old as though that were a bad thing. I admire old men and intend to be one someday :-)

Originally Posted by Feng_Li

You say you're getting old as though that were a bad thing. I admire old men and intend to be one someday :-)

Well I'm only old by professional football standards (34 yrs) --I'd only have a few good years left. But yeah your right. There is something to say for getting older -- if anything you can count yourself lucking for being able to stay alive and you can start to develop a keen sense of nostalgia. (of course there's more). Take care,

Justin

You are totally right that there are some things of times gone by that should never have been discarded. Steel from toledo, straights...
That is indeed the reason most of us found their way to SRP. So like you I have the same sentiment.

But your first post sounded like you really longed for everything, not just the good stuff.
I still think that -in general- things are a lot better now than they were then. We just have to take care to salvage the gems of the past.
I didn't mean to criticize you of course.

Originally Posted by jaegerhund

-- if anything you can count yourself lucking for being able to stay alive and you can start to develop a keen sense of nostalgia. (of course there's more).

You betcha there's more. I look forward to being the crotchety neighborhood "you kids get offa my lawn" guy.

Originally Posted by Bruno

You are totally right that there are some things of times gone by that should never have been discarded. Steel from toledo, straights...
That is indeed the reason most of us found their way to SRP. So like you I have the same sentiment.

But your first post sounded like you really longed for everything, not just the good stuff.
I still think that -in general- things are a lot better now than they were then. We just have to take care to salvage the gems of the past.
I didn't mean to criticize you of course.

No, Bruno I was just feeling a little nostalgia for certain aspects of the past ---but you're right I think overall this is the best time humanity has ever known. But sometimes you have to check yourself and make sure you are still a human and understand what that means and feels like --sometimes this is hard with all the hustle and hectic things we have to deal with. All the technological and societal advances are worth nothing if it leaves one wanting something closer to the heart. And you have every right to criticize me --if I open my "mouth" and start introducing my thoughts to the world, then I can't expect anything else --and nothing less would be right. Take it easy,

Justin