Certainly, there have been advances since then: socially, medically, technologically, artistically, etc.
Notwithstanding these achievements, did we peak in the 1960s? Do we still exhibit a similar joi d’vivre, human spirit, that our parents/grandparents did at the time?
Reflecting upon our then still-lingering post-WWII exuberance, the thrill of the moonrace, the immediate paranoia of the coldwar, the moral imperetive of the civil rights movement, how do we currently compare IYHO?
Who is ‘we’?
I think the US may have peaked in the early sixties, in terms of national confidence. There were a lot of good things after that, but also a kind of cultural war that dissipated energy and certainty.
Canada peaked somewhat later, although I think we hit a secondary peak, not as high, recently. Japan–the eighties? China and India have not yet peaked, although I suspect both will be limited by resource availability rather than ability if they are trying for a western-style peak.
I would say the mid-90’s were the peak. We had no major foreign opposition, a stable international scene, an economy booming from the computer era, etc. etc. Of course, the rise of Islamic nationalism/fundamentalism/whatever has re-ignited the culture wars, but I don’t think of it as a valley, per se.
Is is a rough spot, but one which will leave us stronger and more secure than before when it passes. Each generation is a new peak.
Homo sapiens mon frere.
American society and the rest of the world have experienced periodic highs and lows as far as achievement and confidence go. In my lifetime, I feel like the 60s were the peak, but talk to people in other age groups and they’ll probably pick a different time in their history. It’s all relative.
In no way have we peaked.
Ask in another couple of generations. No way to know yet.
In a way the 60’s was the last time that American’s really believed anything was possible. We believe we could put a man on the moon, we believed we could change the world through love, peace music and drugs. We believed everything would be wonderful as soon as we won that little police action and all those long hair hippies got hair cuts, we believed that we could stop a war with peace ins. We believed speeches and marches could reverse 200 years of racism. Etc.
It was a time when many groups either thought the good times would keep on rolling or groups thought they could change the world in a peaceful manner. Some things did work, some partially work and some were just dreams. But it was definitely a decade of hope and dreams.
The idealism and dreams of the sixties were unraveled bit by bit by the assassinations; the escalating of Vietnam and the Altamont Speedway Concert punctuated the end of the 60’s.
I was only a young child, so I look back on this as history and not something I lived through. For me, the moment of hope ending was the Tiananmen Square slaughter at the end of 1989. After watching the Berlin wall come down, I actually thought maybe China could change peacefully. I actually said if the Oligarchy of China was to give in to democratic reforms, that China’s communist experiment would have to be declared a successful transition stage from Chaos to Democracy. I was foolish and I had a part of me die that day.
Jim
Yes, but the music was crap, whereas the hipster scene of the 50s, 60s, and 80s was great. In the 50s and 60s, things weren’t so great for certain groups. The cold war terrified everyone in the 80s. Thus . . .
Once. Briefly.
If you had said the west or the U.S. then mmaybe, but homo sapiens? The Chinese have not begun to peak.
I has a young child in the '60s. I was unaware of the socio-political aspects of the era. But one thing I remember was chrome.
See, when I was growing up chrome was everywhere. Everything was new and shiny. Transistor radios were getting smaller (and they were shiny!). Cars were different. Not a lot of cheap plastic, and they had some style. My sister had a clear inflatable chair. I knew that when I grew up my house would be filled with such furniture. I watched the Space Race. I was a bit of a Space Cadet. Oh, the technology! That’s what I remember. Clean, shiny, modern. (And when I was very young we lived in Japan. Modernity Central!) And growing up in San Diego, those really were ‘the halcyon days of youth’.
Then came the '70s. Woody. The hippies were starting to get a little older. The ones of lesser means furnished their homes in heavy, old-looking stuff. The ones with more money did the same, but moreso. Remember those big, square, clunky posts and thing? It was anti-modern. The U.S. had lost a war. Gas prices were high. People were out of work. See what all of this modern shite brought us to? Let’s harken back to a simpler time! Wood! Stone! Fire! Banish chrome! Listen to John Denver!
We started recovering in the '80s. (The '80s, I suppose, were ‘my era’.) People were getting jobs. We had Punk music and New Wave. We didn’t go for the Rocky Mountain High thing. No, it was a time of high energy and narrow ties. Do something with your hair, hippie! Shave off that beard! Yeah, pot is okay; but coke is the drug to use! Energy! Let’s make money, buy modern stuff, and live fast! ‘The night is young, and so am I!’ proclaimed Men Without Hats.
By the '90s Punk and New Wave had been replaced by Grunge. Hey, I liked Curt Cobain as much as anybody; but I recognised that the high-energy, clean, modern pop music I liked was dying or dead. Technology had advanced and we started looking at computers, and video games you could carry in your pocket. Don’t dress up to go to the club! Grow your hair long! Dress in flannel and jeans! But we’d won a war in Iraq. People had jobs and money to spare. People were making millions creating and investing in the technologies that were a dream only a decade earlier. We had a Progressive in the White House. The '90s weren’t so bad.
The '70s were ‘The Me Generation’. The '80s, as much as I enjoyed the styles and the music and the modernity, were ‘The Me – Fuck You Generation’. The '90s? I don’t know. It was a prosperous decade in my view. But a bit bland.
Me? I long for Cyberia. I want to live in an era that is prosperous (i.e., I’d like everyone to have a job and to make a decent – if not superb – living), and that has the energy and joi d’vivre of the '60s and '80s. I want a peaceful, progressive government. I want modern, high-tech gadgets. I want a cosmopolitan world where things are efficient. And I think we’re getting there. We have hybrid cars and electric cars. The petroleum-powered cars are getting more efficient. Computers are getting faster and more capable. We’re starting to get nanotechnology. We’re polluting less. But we still need jobs. Good jobs. We need to get rid of the distractions that are sapping lives and treasure from our country, and focus our energies on improving our society.
I know that there are a lot of people who would rather live a ‘simpler life’. They want their heavy wood-and-stone 1970s Rocky Mountain High homes. But wouldn’t it be better if these homes were more efficient? Wouldn’t it be better if people could move freely between homey retreats and The Future? After all, the future is where each and every one of us will spend the rest of our lives! 
Here’s a half-baked hypothesis:
Perhaps the U.S.'s ‘attitude’ is controlled and defined by the Boomer generation. In the 1960’s the Boomers were young and idealistic, and that became the central characteristic of the U.S.
In the 1970’s, they became young adults and were interested in relationships and marriage. So we got Disco, the Dating Game, the Newlywed game, and tons of TV shows featuring hot young females. Partying was ‘in’.
In the 1980’s, the boomers were creating families and careers, and it became ‘the decade of greed’. Not so much interested in idealistic things any more, and the popular zeitgeist was represented by movies about people climbing the corporate ladder, making millions of dollars, etc. The corporate culture was ascendant.
In the 1990’s saw the boomers entering middle age and starting to hit their peak earning years. There was a backlash against the greed of the 1980’s, and we started paying way too much attention to our colons, our hair, and erectile dysfunction. We started seeing trends towards nostalgia, ‘retro’ design, and the return of decades-old fashions.
I expect the new two decades will increasing focus on nostalgia, the elderly, health care, etc. More focusing on the short-term, and less on the long. The Boomers will still dominate until they die.
I feel pretty confident that civilizations living 500 years from now will not think the 1960s were our high point as a species.
Please, don’t add any more grist to the Boomer’s egocentric mill!
Seriously though, I was once talking to a friend of the family’s who grew up in New York in the '60s. I was asking her about the decade in rather starry-eyed terms, thinking how interesting it must have been with all that was going on in those years. I was surprised when she said that she remembered it mostly as just being a very, very scary time. People were being assasinated left and right, there were riots, nuclear war seemed imminent, weird people were out on the streets making all the adults angry. She said she remembered lying in bed at night, looking up at the ceiling and thinking that the world was going to end. I have to admit that that’s influenced my views of the decade ever since.
A few years back my dad asked my grandparent what decade that they lived through had been the best. I think he expected them to say the '50s, but they said the '90s – relative peace and prosperity, falling crime, and all the rest of it.
I expect that the next decades will increasingly focus on the people born after Generation X (Generation Y? Millenials?). The newest generation rivals the Boomers in size and they are pretty much a commercialized version of Gen-X.
At he bottom of the Marianas Trench. For 20 minutes. 
Duh. 
What’s with this “duh” stuff, Bub?
I didn’t see you at the bottom of the Marianas Trench for 20 minutes, in the 60’s or any other time.
Why, I bet that a little Ascott-Fancier like you wouldn’t even be there for 19 minutes, in the mid-to late 70’s. When the Trench was floored with linoleum tile. :dubious:
Ha! Well played sir.