Cold War to Gender War

Phil Collins’ Sussudio was on the radio.

And Money For Nothing.

And Addicted to Love.

Miami Vice was the big hit on TV. Every kid wanted to wear linen clothing, in pastel colours. Which I did. It was totally cool.

The cold war was also on. The US and the Soviets were aiming their nukes at each other. There was some of global recession, and some interest rate issues. But that was it.

Growing up in the 80’s seems, in comparison, almost idyllic. We did not know it, but we were growing up at the tail end of a relatively normal time for children, and parents. 

Nearing 50 years of age now, I run the risk of getting nostalgic for the 80’s. Maybe I’m just old… But I am certain there is more to it than just the realization that my expiration date is closer than ever.

There is something very different going on today.

Part of me writing this is to put some memories to paper, before I get desensitised to this new age and stop analyzing.

I remember reading a book by some eminent modern thinker in which he said our cultural memory is short. Maybe only two generations long. After which most people have no clear idea of what kind of life was lived relatively recently.

He was talking about the state of university education in the US. Post-war, universities were not for-profit businesses. People went to uni with certain specific goals. Most did not go at all. And they all entered the workforce prepared, and not in debt. 

Talkin Bout My Generation

The idea of generational gaps is also where I call BS. I refuse to believe that every new generation rebelled against the old one. This might be the case in post-war US, and maybe parts of Europe, very recently. But it is in the minority of cultures, and definitely not a historical norm.

As far as I understand, hippies were definitely not the norm in the late 60s. Most people were not looking for sex, drugs and rock and roll. Most still wanted good jobs, a nice home, and a family.

The 80s had their own label applied to them. I think it was the greedy BMW-driving executive. Probably based on a Hollywood movie. People DID wear shoulder pads, but most just carried on with their lives.

It would be a shame to apply stupid labels to the not-so-distant past. But if we insist on applying them, then let’s do it carefully.

Here is my careful label for the 80s:

The decade of nuclear threats, upbeat music, active children.

Man = man.

Woman = woman. 

And here we are in the 2020’s. In forty years a lot has changed. I don’t even know where to begin. Maybe the only 4 decades that can beat these are 1900-1945. THAT was a big one.

Two brutal world wars. The end of many old empires. The rise of totalitarian systems. The communists taking control of huge parts of the world. 

But I’d say these recent 4 decades are a close second. Big words. Big changes.

Gen X - The Last of the Free Ones

As a Gen X’er, I am now in the position to write on the memories of listening to ABBA on my parent’s records in the 70s, to buying my own records in the 80’s, then a few years later having to buy CDs of the same, then eventually discovering Napster (wicked early music on demand), to streaming music that I do not own any more today. 

From reading comic books on bored Saturday afternoons, to having to limit the amount of media that my children are confronted with. 

• From a time when men and women got together and made families, to a time when you cannot even use the term woman, man, father and mother, without fearing for the repercussions. 

• From a time when fathers were men that stood their ground, to one where masculinity is being blamed for many things wrong with the world and fatherhood is defined by a stupid sitcom character. 

• From an era where women were not constantly told that motherhood is a burden, careers are liberating, and you should go your own way and enjoy life without a family.

I’m not THAT old. It’s not me, I am certain. It is the world changing so quickly that one can barely find time to craft an opinion on the latest thing.

My generation has a certain cultural memory that just might be useful.  Maybe my children will find this interesting one day.

In the end, there is nothing new under the sun, as St Augustine noted. The world changes, maybe ever more quickly, but the essence of being human, of being alive, of the desire to flourish - this remains the same.

So let’s try to find these old truths. Let’s flourish.