Hey 3.5 readers.
BQB here.
I know. It’s not good to idolize the past. Sometimes it’s hard to watch an old TV show like “Leave it to Beaver” and think the 1950s were awesome only to realize that yeah, they were only awesome for Ward and people like Ward and no one else.
So, all that’s a given. We’re all glad for improvements in equality, civil rights, etc.
Here’s two things I wish had remained:
#1 – Clothing – People, and I don’t care how rich or poor they were, where they were from, their background, ethnicity, race, profession, religion or what have you, dressed up whenever they did anything. A trip to the grocery store required a suit. People always wanted to look their best.
Some of that is because there weren’t many options to dress down. T-shirts with funny sayings on them hadn’t been invented yet.
I’m willing to hear some criticism of this. Dressing up probably wasn’t fun for women if it involved long gowns with all kinds of parts and straps and iron bars and shit. And maybe a suit for a trip to the store is a bit much.
Surely, there could be some modern compromise that captures the idea that to be out of your house means to look your best and it’s easier to be less formal. Tell you what, how about suits are only necessary for jobs that require them but maybe a nice polo shirt over that “I’m with Stupid” t-shirt, OK?
Look, I’m not one to talk. I look like I wake up everyday, dive into the hamper and just walk out wearing whatever stuck to me.
Another thing that sucks is a lack of headwear. Fedoras were awesome and should still be wearable today as a real look and not as a proclamation of hipsterism. You know what looks stupid? Wearing a baseball cap for any other reason than you are a baseball player or some other kind of athlete. Or maybe you want to have a head covering while you are active, keep the wind out of your hair or the sun off your head without something bulky. I get that.
However, the fedora was like a fancy suit for a man’s head. And ladies had some fancy hats – dresses for their heads. I really think we should bring back the hats.
Know why? Past people understood a) not everyone has good hair and b) not every person with good hair has a good hair day. You got the locks? Let them flow on a Friday night. You don’t? Don’t worry. Pop on a fancy hat.
I said fancy hat. Not your “I Honk for Titties” trucker cap, you pervert.
The second thing I wish had remained from the past are the hobbies. TV wasn’t as prevalent, so people…read! They actually read. And they played games…and talked. They played music. People would gather around a piano and sing while someone played. People knew how to play instruments and shit because they relaxed by learning how to play them because TV wasn’t the giant time suck it is today.
You can still do all these things today but you need to be more disciplined and sigh…shut that tv off.
I know I said two but I thought of a third thing – food. People did eat a lot of bacon and drank a lot of whole milk and they smoke and drank a lot and didn’t understand all the health ramifications of bad food.
Today, info about bad food is prevalent….but it’s much more available so we stuff it in our cakeholes and hope for the best. Processed foods, fast food…shit in olden times, June would just bake Ward a cook turkey.
Do we need a debate over who cooks the turkey? No. I don’t care if June cooks it, or Ward, or hell tell Wally and the Beaver to get off their dumb asses and cook it. I’m just saying, people used to cook their own food more and I think they were healthier for it.
What say you, 3.5 readers?
Bookshelf Battle 