# Astonishing political social changes in your lifetime. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 1, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631 "2012-12-01T00:21:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/21 "2012-12-01T21:00:47Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > oh! here’s another happy one: > When I was young, it used to be unthinkable that… > the entire banking system could collapse and destroy western civilization. Hyperventilation aside, that is still unthinkable, and it used to be more of a possibility before modern economic knowledge came to the fore. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/22 "2012-12-01T21:10:00Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > OK, there are all sorts, I know. But the overarching one right now is: > > Holy fuck, the President is black! Twice in a row, no less! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/23 "2012-12-01T21:21:06Z")
Attitudes toward drunk driving. Up until the early 80’s people drove drunk all the time. My friends tell me that cops would ask how far they were from home, and then tell them to drive straight there without ticketing them. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/24 "2012-12-01T21:46:54Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Twice in a row, no less! :eek: Exactly! Once could be a fluke. But a reelection means a sea change in attitude. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/25 "2012-12-01T22:03:44Z")
I remember when the tsunami hit Indonesia in 2004 and the earthquake hit Pakistan in 2005. In the US those were big issues and a lot of celebrities did specials trying to raise money. I don’t remember people taking international humanitarian issues too seriously in the 90s, but I could just be remembering wrong. I’m assuming before the 90s though these issues generally weren’t on the radar of the general public. Looking at this list the vast majority of transitions are good. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/26 "2012-12-01T22:12:34Z")
When I was a kid, it was a big deal to call the grandparents long-distance. My dad was a pilot in the Air Force, and sometimes he’d be on standby and couldn’t go anywhere because he had to stay near the phone. If our family went someplace big, like the state fair, we’d pick a place to meet in case we got separated. Eventually, we got an answering machine, and after being away from home for a bit you’d check to see if anyone called. All those things have changed. Not everyone has a cell phone, but we think nothing of calling anyone, anywhere, from anywhere. We no longer have to make plans around when we will, or won’t, be able to communicate. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/27 "2012-12-01T23:47:47Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > They’re drafting gays in the military, can the NFL be far behind? um… what? Drafting? Something that I realized a few weeks ago that you would have been branded an absolute LUNATIC if you felt that it would one day be commonplace and, in fact, required by law: picking up after your dog. When I was a kid, anybody who followed his dog around with a plastic bag and picked up the poop and took it home would have been hauled off in a straightjacket. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/28 "2012-12-01T23:49:44Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > Attitudes toward drunk driving. Up until the early 80’s people drove drunk all the time. My friends tell me that cops would ask how far they were from home, and then tell them to drive straight there without ticketing them. I think part of that is that, up to a certain point, the only people who were driving home drunk were driving home at 2 in the morning, and everybody else on the road was drunk, too, so, if there was an accident, no big loss. Then (around the 80’s), people started driving home drunk at 3 in the afternoon, just after school let out, and started piling into crowds of kids waiting for a bus and suddenly it’s a big deal. See: M.A.D.D. ---
**Author:** ![computergeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@computergeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/computergeek)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/29 "2012-12-01T23:52:43Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I remember when the tsunami hit Indonesia in 2004 and the earthquake hit Pakistan in 2005. In the US those were big issues and a lot of celebrities did specials trying to raise money. > > I don’t remember people taking international humanitarian issues too seriously in the 90s, but I could just be remembering wrong. I’m assuming before the 90s though these issues generally weren’t on the radar of the general public. > > Looking at this list the vast majority of transitions are good. There were a few things back in the 70s (like the Bangladesh concert by George Harrison, but it was the Live Aid concert in 1985 that really kicked off international humanitarian causes by celebrities. I’d say the rise of the internet, creation of personal computers and now handheld devices and cell phones were pretty big changes in my lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/30 "2012-12-01T23:58:14Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I think part of that is that, up to a certain point, the only people who were driving home drunk were driving home at 2 in the morning, and everybody else on the road was drunk, too, so, if there was an accident, no big loss Really? Admitedly I’m mainly going by what I see in Mad Men, but my impression was that there was actually a much stronger culture of “on the job” drinking prior to the 80’s. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2012, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/31 "2012-12-02T00:06:23Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Really? Admitedly I’m mainly going by what I see in Mad Men, but my impression was that there was actually a much stronger culture of “on the job” drinking prior to the 80’s. Honestly? I think people paced themselves better. Even if you use Mad Men as your yardstick, just because you have a two-martini lunch, or a couple beers with lunch, doesn’t mean you’re going to be driving home drunk. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/32 "2012-12-02T00:17:31Z")
In order of importance: 1. Most Favored Nation status given to China. This changed everything, everywhere in some way or another throughout American culture. 2. Fart jokes going mainstream. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2012, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/33 "2012-12-02T00:18:26Z")
The absolute _flood_ of pornography available from the internet is a big change. Both in quantity and variety. ---
**Author:** ![computergeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@computergeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/computergeek)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2012, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/34 "2012-12-02T00:24:31Z")
To add: - Gay marriage. It wasn’t on the mainstream radar at all when I was growing up in the 70s and gays weren’t really accepted either. I think it was AIDS and putting gay characters on TV that got the mainstream to start accepting gays as part of the mainstream - The fall of the Soviet Union. I never thought I would see that in my lifetime, as the Soviet Union was the big bugaboo growing up - A black president. I definitely never thought I would see that in my lifetime. We’ve come a long way in race relations, as I remember the reactions to forced busing and other things, and a black president is a major endgame to that. At the same time, the reactions by some to Obama shows we still have a long way to go with race relations. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2012, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/35 "2012-12-02T01:43:34Z")
All great responses. Swearing in public is another good one. It used to be if you heard profanity in public, chances were that someone would confront the person using profanity and point out the children nearby and ask him to watch his mouth. And chances were also that the person using profanity would apologize. Today nobody says something to that guy and if he does, the person using profanity tells the guy to go fuck himself. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2012, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/36 "2012-12-02T01:53:23Z")
In my younger years, driving drunk was no big deal. Texas and the rest of the South were solid Democratic. I actually considered myself “progressive” because I did not mind having a female supervisor. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2012, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/37 "2012-12-02T02:06:34Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The absolute _flood_ of pornography available from the internet is a big change. Both in quantity and variety. I was going to mention this, but I really don’t think we’ve seen the changes from this yet. The whole culture of being able to learn and talk about sex in an anonymous fashion, not just porn but discussion fora where you can talk about your preferences and experiences without it getting back to your real life, is going to have a big impact that hasn’t hit yet. [Adam Cadre wrote about this to some extent in the context of a review of _Boogie Nights_, but it goes even deeper than what he mentions in this longish essay.](http://adamcadre.ac/calendar/13/13195.html) It isn’t just about being able to find a variety of pornography; Rule 34 means _you’re not alone, other people like what you like, even if our culture is still too repressed to allow them to say it in a way that’s linked to their real names_. Really, what does ‘alternative sexuality’ even mean in an era when you can find a whole community of people who are into what you’re into, regardless of what it is? People looking back on this will see a very strange dichotomy: There are people out there right now sharing sexual fantasies about turning into animals and being eaten alive while the big controversial question in the halls of power is whether two consenting adults of the same sex (who likely live together already) can enter into the white-bread bourgeois institution of marriage. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2012, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/38 "2012-12-02T02:10:04Z")
As a boy, I recall the Republican Party having a Liberal wing. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2012, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/39 "2012-12-02T06:28:55Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Tons. > > \ > > 1. Short hair for men –\> long hair for men –\> short hair for men. I remember this happening, circa 1963 or so. Men wore their hair _short_. Long hair on a male was _unthinkable._ Then the Beatles happened. Overnight the sensation caught on – at least among the Beatle-manic youth – and male youth all began wearing long hair like John, Paul, George, and Ringo. As always when the youth of the land adopt new (let alone _foreign_) fads, the grown-ups were aghast! They were apoplectic! Long hair was just more proof the the success of the gleeful godless Communists in capturing the minds of our youth! (That and fluoridated water.) ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2012, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/40 "2012-12-02T06:56:20Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The absolute _flood_ of pornography available from the internet is a big change. Both in quantity and variety. It’s also amazing to me that adult stores have become pretty mainstream. I live in a college town of about 100,000 people, and there are at least four or five adult stores operating happily right next to dry cleaners, banks, and department stores. I remember back in the mid-90’s people picketing a video store in my home town that had started to carry porn in a back room. It’s not like I discuss the latest AVN winners with my folks over Thanksgiving dinner, but it’s definitely more accepted now than even 20 years ago. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631.md?page=3)