* * * * *
                                        
                       Hey! When did Cracked become good?
                                        
> A whole lot of the people still reading this are saying, “Of course I'm
> depressed! People are starving! America has turned into Nazi Germany! My
> parents watch retarded television shows and talk about them for hours
> afterward! People are dying in meaningless wars all over the world!”
> 
> But how did we wind up with a more negative view of the world than our
> parents? Or grandparents? Back then, people didn't live as long and babies
> died more often. Diseases were more common. In those days, if your buddy
> moved away the only way to communicate was with pen and paper and a stamp.
> We have Iraq, but our parents had Vietnam (which killed 50 times more
> people) and their parents had World War 2 (which killed 1,000 times as
> many). Some of your grandparents grew up at a time when nobody had air
> conditioning. All of their parents grew up without it.
> 
> We are physically better off today in every possible way in which such
> things can be measured … but you sure as hell wouldn't know that if you're
> getting your news online. Why?
> 

Via Shadesong [1], “7 Reasons the 21st Century is Making You Miserable [2]”

Growing up, Mad Magazine [3] was the humor comic to read (heck, my Dad got me
a subscription to it, much to the consternation of Mom), whereas Cracked [4]
was the sad, second rate ripoff [5] of Mad Magazine (so sad and second rate
that I think I only picked up a single issue).

How odd it is, then that the Mad Magazine website is the sad, second rate
ripoff of the Cracked website, as this Cracked article [6] attests—a well
written, funny and yet informative article on why we're so miserable when by
rights, we shouldn't be.

[1] http://shadesong.livejournal.com/3486139.html
[2] http://www.cracked.com/article_15231_7-reasons-21st-
[3] http://www.dccomics.com/mad/
[4] http://www.cracked.com/
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracked_magazine
[6] http://www.cracked.com/article_15231_7-reasons-21st-century-making-you-

Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

.