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The Nostalgia Racket
Dec. 28th, 2011 07:59 amA friend who likes to forward things to my email sent me one of those "remember when the world was better?" collections of nostalgic pictures, products and events with the indication that those were the Good Old Days and wasn't it lovely to remember when the World was Nicer.
Sorry. I don't remember Roy Rogers, Trigger or girls having to wear gym outfits like that... I don't remember old radio shows, neighborhoods packed with kids so there was always someone to play with or Davy Crockett hats. I know of these things - but because I had them second-hand, or re-run.
I do wonder if anyone has ever made up one of these for those of us who grew up in the 70s-80s and whose childhood had Monty Python, macrame, Stretch Armstrong, latchkey kids, Get Smart, Bonanza, 8-track tapes, scratch-and-sniff stickers, disco balls, bell-bottoms, super hairy men wearing lots of bling, feathered hair and the Bicentennial?
We've always had to live in the shadow of the Boomers. All my life the theme has been "oh, we used to have (fill in cool thing) but it was canceled last year." "Oh, you should have seen (cool thing) a couple years ago, it was great."
I can't decide if I'm weary of being left out of the Nostalgia Racket that companies are forever pushing on the Boomers, or if I'm grateful. It might be rather awful to have your childhood experiences on permanent replay for your entire life instead of being left to nurse your own little nostalgic bubbles on your own.
Anyone else for the 70s or 80s? Skip the wax coke-bottles and pass the pop-rocks!
Sorry. I don't remember Roy Rogers, Trigger or girls having to wear gym outfits like that... I don't remember old radio shows, neighborhoods packed with kids so there was always someone to play with or Davy Crockett hats. I know of these things - but because I had them second-hand, or re-run.
I do wonder if anyone has ever made up one of these for those of us who grew up in the 70s-80s and whose childhood had Monty Python, macrame, Stretch Armstrong, latchkey kids, Get Smart, Bonanza, 8-track tapes, scratch-and-sniff stickers, disco balls, bell-bottoms, super hairy men wearing lots of bling, feathered hair and the Bicentennial?
We've always had to live in the shadow of the Boomers. All my life the theme has been "oh, we used to have (fill in cool thing) but it was canceled last year." "Oh, you should have seen (cool thing) a couple years ago, it was great."
I can't decide if I'm weary of being left out of the Nostalgia Racket that companies are forever pushing on the Boomers, or if I'm grateful. It might be rather awful to have your childhood experiences on permanent replay for your entire life instead of being left to nurse your own little nostalgic bubbles on your own.
Anyone else for the 70s or 80s? Skip the wax coke-bottles and pass the pop-rocks!
