# What would GD have been like 10, 15, 25 or 40 years ago? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 4, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-gd-have-been-like-10-15-25-or-40-years-ago/232429 "2004-03-04T00:48:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-gd-have-been-like-10-15-25-or-40-years-ago/232429/1 "2004-03-04T00:48:38Z")
I just saw a thread title about oil crisis, and it got me thinking. This last year has been a lot about WMD, gay marriages and Islam. Ten years ago, the www was just starting out, 15 years ago, it didn’t really exist. But if we had had the opportunity to instantly debate current affairs, what would we’ve been talking about in past times? The JFK assasination is a conspiracy theory dreamscape now. I was only three years old in '64, so I don’t know if it was even debated back then. I guess Iran-Contras would’ve been a hot topic 15 years ago and that the hostages in Iran in '79-'80 would’ve been inflammatory, had we had access to a forum like this some 20 odd years ago. So… what would’ve triggered us in other times? The US entering the WWII, back in '40? And more importantly, which of the issues we debate right now will be considered interesting in 50 years? I mean, if my assumption is correct, that the question of who killed JFK wasn’t an issue in '64, then there might be things we’re missing right now. And there might be things that are hot topics now, but they will be considered totally irrellevant in 50 years. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2004, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-gd-have-been-like-10-15-25-or-40-years-ago/232429/2 "2004-03-04T04:29:42Z")
In the 1960, Vietnam was the in topic, then came amnesty for people who ran away to Canada, then came a pardon for Nixon. Then of course came the Energy Crises and all the Jimmy Carter era stuff. I recall the concern over our boycott of the Moscow Olympics and the ban on weapons to Argentina. Then came ‘Do you think Reagan is nuts or a Genius?’ Is the Soviet Union an evil empire? It is remarkable how much time and effort we spend on things that later seem so obscure. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2004, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-gd-have-been-like-10-15-25-or-40-years-ago/232429/3 "2004-03-04T06:56:25Z")
40 years ago… Did the John Birch Society kill JFK? Could the JBS saved JFK is Comsymps like Oswald had been rounded up? ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2004, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-gd-have-been-like-10-15-25-or-40-years-ago/232429/4 "2004-03-04T07:48:13Z")
In 1964: Will integration ruin our schools? Should there still be laws against interracial marriage? Are conscientious objectors cowards? America – Love It or Leave It! Do nice girls take the pill? Should mothers work before their children are school age? Should women be firemen? (policemen, President, the boss ) Fifty years from now I think that historians will debate why Americans were so slow to anger when it became obvious that the Bush Administration was deceitful and corrupt. Or perhaps they will debate why such little effort was made to curb greenhouse gases. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2004, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-gd-have-been-like-10-15-25-or-40-years-ago/232429/5 "2004-03-04T07:56:15Z")
Watergate, Patty Hearst, and civil rights. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2004, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-gd-have-been-like-10-15-25-or-40-years-ago/232429/6 "2004-03-04T08:00:46Z")
I just had a scary thought - no doubt **December** ’s 1970s alter-ego would have been staunchly defending Nixon. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![TitoBenito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2acd7d/32.png) [@TitoBenito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TitoBenito)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2004, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-gd-have-been-like-10-15-25-or-40-years-ago/232429/7 "2004-03-04T08:08:20Z")
The Pit: Spiro Agnew is an asshat ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2004, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-gd-have-been-like-10-15-25-or-40-years-ago/232429/8 "2004-03-04T12:51:56Z")
> [@TitoBenito](#): > > The Pit: Spiro Agnew is an asshat This reminds me of my college days - in the late 1980s. There was still grafitti in the concrete sidewalk (made when it was wet) saying “Spiro Agnew’s father should have been sterile” and other blasts from the past. In some sense, the concrete slabs and bathroom walls were a primitive form of GD, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2004, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-gd-have-been-like-10-15-25-or-40-years-ago/232429/9 "2004-03-04T14:36:32Z")
Did Tawana Brawley lie? Did OJ do it? What about the Baby M trial? ---
**Author:** ![Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chance_the_Gardener)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2004, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-gd-have-been-like-10-15-25-or-40-years-ago/232429/10 "2004-03-04T15:31:37Z")
Here’s a classic Straight Dope post by my from 1964. I was way ahead of my time. Not only did I have a net connection years before the internet was invented, I was posting on it _five years before I was born_. I’m sure you’re all very impressed. > [@Chance the Gardener](#): > > Goldwater? _Goldwater???_ Are the Republicans serious? Is this really the best they can do? This nutcase doesn’t stand a chance. I mean, Johnson isn’t exactly a godsend, but at least he’s better than this loon. And at least Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act—looks like the South is changing. > > I’m uncomfortable about Vietnam, as I’ve said before, and I don’t know what Johnson’s doing, mucking about over there. I think Goldwater would be worse when it comes to the war, though, now that we’re getting bogged down. Sure, that commercial with the little girl and the mushroom cloud was in bad taste, but so’s Lenny Bruce—and both can be pretty accurate, if not a bit too jarring… > > Goldwater, Johnson… I’ll vote for Johnson, though I think we could do much better. You know who I wish would run? Robert Kennedy. He’d be a good candidate, too: the Democrats will need support in the North, now that Southern Democrats are pissed at us over the Civil Rights thing. Plus he’s a Kennedy—how can you beat a Kennedy? > > (A coworker just looked over my shoulder here at my Smith-Corona Explorer browser and said, “Yeah, and Teddy in ’76.” Well, I’m not so sure about that…) Eerily prophetic, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![i\_am\_a\_scientist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f07891/32.png) [@i\_am\_a\_scientist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/i_am_a_scientist)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2004, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-gd-have-been-like-10-15-25-or-40-years-ago/232429/11 "2004-03-04T16:21:58Z")
> [@TitoBenito](#): > > The Pit: Spiro Agnew is an asshat MPSIMS: if you rearrange the letters in “Spiro Agnew” they spell “grow a penis” and I bet departing from the gold standard in the 70s would have generated quite a bit of debate. ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2004, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-gd-have-been-like-10-15-25-or-40-years-ago/232429/12 "2004-03-04T22:36:38Z")
[what will it take to bring peace to N Ireland and Israel?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=241826) ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2004, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-gd-have-been-like-10-15-25-or-40-years-ago/232429/13 "2004-03-05T00:02:36Z")
Martin Luther King Jr.–Demagogue? Should fill-in-the-blank-university be forced to enroll blacks? Women? Are Hippies ruining the country? Should women wear pants? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2004, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-gd-have-been-like-10-15-25-or-40-years-ago/232429/14 "2004-03-05T21:28:48Z")
From 1972: “Wouldn’t It Be Great if Somebody Was Fighting Ignorance?” ---
**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2004, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-gd-have-been-like-10-15-25-or-40-years-ago/232429/15 "2004-03-05T23:05:21Z")
Well, 30 years ago or so, you would have had considerable debate with eniviromentalist in the vein of Paul Ehrlich and the Club of Rome demanding broad government action to manage the coming food and material shortages in the coming decades that could kill hundreds of millions. And don’t forget about the coming ice age. Of course, conservatives would be arguing that they are just scare-mongers. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2004, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-gd-have-been-like-10-15-25-or-40-years-ago/232429/16 "2004-03-05T23:21:32Z")
GD of 1969: “That moon landing looks fake to me.” Cafe Society of 1969: “I can’t believe they cancelled _Star Trek_!” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2004, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-gd-have-been-like-10-15-25-or-40-years-ago/232429/17 "2004-03-05T23:31:59Z")
Should LSD be made illegal? Old enought for fightin’, but not for votin’! Will an amendment pass to lower the voting age? Should _Midnight Cowboy_ get and “X” rating? Beatles or Stones? Hendrix is GOD! Woodstock: Social revolution or just a rained out concert? George Wallace: Racist or true patriot? Why do Republicans hate today’s youth? Vietnam: Quagmire or necessary to stop the Reds? Is homosexuality a mental illness? Who will get to the moon first: The Ruskies or US? Betamax or VHS? 🙂