mem_somerville_kbinOpinion | Your Brain Has Tricked You Into Thinking Everything Is Worse
Our biased attention means we’ll always feel like we’re living in dark times, and our biased memory means we’ll always feel like the past was brighter. #science
NaichI'd say that objectively, the mid to latter part of the 90s was pretty good. The iron curtain had fallen, there weren't any major economic disasters, the world wouldn't go batshit until after 9-11, and the internet wasn't full of complete arseholes.
Well...a lot of people were dying of AIDS then. And there was a lot of hostility to the gay community. I think it depends on your perspective.
I love history, and spend a lot of time thinking about it, reading about it, talking about it. But there's really no time I'd like to travel to as a unmarried, not Christian, education-craving female. YMMV.
meat_popsicleHow much have global temps gone up since then? How much BPA/PFOA/PFAS has been released into the ecosystem since then? How many once-in-a-lifetime economic calamities have we had? How many more school shootings do we have per year now than before?
I think you have to look at the complete picture and not just some key points regarding demographic improvements. LGBT kids get shot in schools too, LGBT people lose their jobs and become homeless too.
There were great improvements in some areas, but we need to be circumspect on the broader declines.
So what past time is your ideal?