[HN Gopher] My 90s TV: Browse 90s Television
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My 90s TV: Browse 90s Television
Author : optimalsolver
Score : 486 points
Date : 2021-01-30 23:08 UTC (23 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (my90stv.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (my90stv.com)
| agumonkey wrote:
| Some times I want to set earth UTC to some year between 70-99 and
| wake up with news as if it was today.
| GizmoSwan wrote:
| It is awesome. Watched 1990s computer chronicles East Coast Vs
| West coast quiz test with 1990s computer gurus. It was filmed in
| World Trade Center. It had Bill Gates in it!
| npunt wrote:
| I got sucked into that one as well and then went to the
| internet archive to watch some others. It was called the
| Computer Bowl:
|
| http://tcm.computerhistory.org/computerbowl.html
| onedr0p wrote:
| I've been bingeing Computer Chronicles on YouTube, as someone
| who was born in the late 80s and started really getting
| involved with computers in the early 2000s it fascinates me.
| [deleted]
| SirLotsaLocks wrote:
| I love coming across things like this. This is what makes the
| internet so cool to me, being able to just watch tv from decades
| ago completely wild.
| TedDoesntTalk wrote:
| How editable are the resources/content to make an 80s and a 70s
| version?
| paranoidrobot wrote:
| There's already links on the page to the 70s and 80s version of
| the site.
| personlurking wrote:
| I realize this is a site about the past, but I really hope this
| is the future. I want an internet of specialty sites, browsable
| curations, diversity of offering, freedom of choice, and full of
| the quirky/unusual. It might have to do with growing up in the
| 90s and experiencing that kind of world wide web, w/o walled
| gardens.
|
| Several years back, perhaps even via an HN post or comment, I
| came across a blog, hosted on a university network (IIRC, perhaps
| related to media studies). The page consisted of a group of
| possibly graduate students contributing some of the weirdest and
| most obscure media I've ever seen online. Nothing obscene and
| nothing seemingly new/current, so it was rather hipster in that
| sense, but I kick myself for not having saved the URL.
|
| Nothing says I need to use walled gardens or get my news from the
| big networks, but I often feel I'm being pointed that way. In the
| end, I just want something different than what's usually being
| served up.
|
| (It doesn't escape me that this 90's TV site is full of walled
| garden/big network type content of the time)
| sogen wrote:
| maybe https://www.kickscondor.com ?
| karaokeyoga wrote:
| _... but I kick myself for not having saved the URL ..._
|
| Maybe https://neave.tv/?
| personlurking wrote:
| That's a great site! Love it
|
| But unfortunately, no. The one I remember wasn't TV-based. It
| was more like a normal blog but hosted on a university
| domain, iirc.
| tiborsaas wrote:
| In this age of "infinite" content curation is really important.
| Inspired by the 90's MTV experience I've built
| https://humanmusic.tv/ to replicate that but with indie music
| from the last 10 years.
|
| I'm also running a web crawler to discover fresh music videos
| from various music blogs.
| api wrote:
| I wonder if a curated directory like the original 90s Yahoo!
| could work and experience a renaissance today? I could see
| that being more useful than search, honestly. Search today is
| just polluted with SEO trash.
| tiborsaas wrote:
| Ironically, for SEO purposes, to generate backlinks, there
| are endless directory websites out there which look like
| what you just described.
|
| To make it successful, some kind of authority should be
| present in the sauce.
| ghaff wrote:
| Define "work." A curated directory for some niche topic
| would definitely be of interest to people involved with
| that niche topic. And, depending on the topic, it might
| even serve as a decently profitable sideline for someone.
| But it certainly wouldn't be Yahoo! v. 2.
| melomal wrote:
| Do you not feel that the streaming options are up to scratch?
| There's so many now, from science doc specific (Nebula and
| Curiosity stream - I was eager to start with these but
| inevitably was let down with these 'speciality options') to
| anime too.
|
| Personally, streaming has now also ruined watching the
| TV/movies for me.
|
| Since my TV burned itself I've had a non-smart TV and it's
| actually really refreshing to have such minimal choice and be
| walled in as such. I end up watching films and actually
| enjoying them, not dealing with FOMO and wondering if there's
| something better).
| personlurking wrote:
| I'm somewhat of an oddball in terms of content preferences.
| Sure, I have Netflix and use it, but during the past 20
| years, over 50% of the tv/film content I watch is foreign
| (I'm American). I keep lists from my favorite countries and
| ask foreigners what I should be watching. What would surprise
| me is finding Netflix-like services that curate the best
| [insert genre].
|
| So far, I've come across MhZ Choice (for EU shows, with
| subtitles), FlixOle (for Spanishf films, no subtitles), Wlext
| (foreign tv shows...pirated). Also, I recommend using a VPN
| for Netflix to access different shows and films, depending on
| the country you choose. The other day I found myself watching
| a Chinese action film that only had Italian subtitles
| (luckily my Italian is up to scratch).
|
| With music, my tastes are boarderless and timeless. At any
| moment, I'll put on 13th century Iberian cantigas, Latin
| motets, folkloric Sardinian, 90's French indie, 1970s
| Congolese rumba, modern Ivory Coast reggae, South African
| Xhosa pop, Indian mantras, Peruvian ethno-techno, and the
| list goes on.
|
| But yes, the plethora of options is, at the same time,
| wonderful and dreadful. I tried to sit down and start reading
| a semi-dense physical book the other day and it's like my
| mind was too fried to focus due to having just got off the
| internet.
| rosstex wrote:
| If you do find the link, I want to know!
| onion2k wrote:
| _I want an internet of specialty sites, browsable curations,
| diversity of offering, freedom of choice, and full of the
| quirky /unusual. _
|
| You can have that. All you need to do is make sure the
| developers who make those sites get rich. Find the sites and
| tell your friends about them. Subscribe to their work. Buy
| their merch. Click on the ads. _Pay them._ Then everyone else
| will see that sort of site making bank, and they 'll follow
| along with similar things.
|
| The only reason the web is what it is today is because the
| money went to the walled gardens and social media sites. To
| change that, change where the money goes.
| ghaff wrote:
| Possibly an unpopular opinion but I'd argue that, in the
| main, the people creating interesting stuff as a sideline
| never got rich. Maybe it's a side effect of the startup and
| side-hustle mentality here but I'd argue that maybe
| discussions about these sorts of things emphasize
| monetization too much.
| onion2k wrote:
| Maybe people who see moderate success turn it in to a full
| time job, and it stops being a side hustle.
| ghaff wrote:
| Sure. There are best selling authors who started out
| writing in the evenings. My point though is that it's a
| very small proportion of those who try who parlay
| music/fiction writing/video/etc. into even a median
| household income full-time job (say $50K/year in the US).
| IndySun wrote:
| "...To change that, change where the money goes..."
|
| Creative work is currently having its sources of income
| decimated, from all sides. We should get used to reminiscing.
| dewey wrote:
| > Creative work is currently having its sources of income
| decimated, from all sides. We should get used to
| reminiscing.
|
| This is just anecdotal but I see a lot of very niche
| creative people making money that they wouldn't have made
| before through YouTube, Discord, Patreon, Gumroad etc.
|
| I think the opposite is true, while in the past it was
| maybe PayPal there's a lot of ways to make money online
| that's very approachable for everyone.
| Kye wrote:
| It's still very hard to actually bridge the gap between
| putting something out there and getting people to pay for
| it. All those platforms did was expand the lucky few from
| .1% to 1% of people trying. A big jump, but few people
| make enough to cover the costs, much less live on it.
| IndySun wrote:
| Kye, Completely agree with this. Making it big as a
| creative remains elusive for but a few, and may actually
| be harder today due to your point (this plus the fact
| that powerful creative tools are in so many more people
| hands thus we have a glut/logjam of talent being
| overlooked).
| ghaff wrote:
| Arguably a lot of people buy into the buzz around
| becoming a Tik-Tok, YouTube, or whatever star when the
| reality is that it's about as likely for most as becoming
| a Hollywood star is.
|
| Whatever the form, content by itself just doesn't pay a
| lot for most and never has. I just finished a new edition
| of a book of mine. It's valuable for "branding" (ugh term
| I know). But I'll directly make less money than from
| cranking out a blog post for some company.
| IndySun wrote:
| Ghaff, some good points too. And am I reading you right;
| you're saying you could (are) potentially earn more from
| writing a (paid) blog post than from your own book?
| ghaff wrote:
| Yes. Exactly.
|
| There are a bunch of reputational benefits to certain
| types of book writing which (probably) lead to
| significant career/comp benefits. But the direct money
| can be less than what companies will pay for a
| ghostwritten content marketing-type blog. Or even
| whatever a lot of salaried people earn for doing that
| sort of work on company time. There's a reason a lot of
| "creatives" end up working for corporate product
| companies as their day job.
| IndySun wrote:
| The niche stuff is definitely happening. As are new ways
| to monetize; but online only. What is certainly being
| eroded that cannot be achieved online is live
| performance. Include in that phrase what you will. But
| those opportunities are currently almost zero
| internationally. What the long term effects of this are
| is hard to predict but human to human emotional contact
| is imperative to our survival.
| scollet wrote:
| "Live" as in-the-moment or "Live" as being in the same
| vicinity/venue?
|
| The former is still very much booming, and I don't see
| why the latter would go anywhere.
| IndySun wrote:
| ""Live" as in-the-moment or "Live" as being in the same
| vicinity/venue?"
|
| In the flesh live, people together experiencing something
| collectively.
|
| "I don't see why the latter would go anywhere"
|
| There's an ongoing pandemic and during it the vast
| majority of venues where people can experience
| performance or sport collectively are and remain closed.
| During this time the income normally generated has
| understandably ceased. Many places may remain permanently
| closed, including historical outdoor events.
|
| I do eventually expect a move toward normality but it's
| going to take many years. In the meantime we can add
| online live & reminiscing in lieu of the 'real thing'.
| fwilliams wrote:
| It's not the site you're looking for, but I found
| https://poolside.fm recently and it's become one of those
| quirky corners of the internet that I have come to enjoy. I
| definitely miss the days of discovering weird specialty sites,
| and poolside gave me a bit of that new site discovery rush
| (also the music is great).
| FearNotDaniel wrote:
| It's still REALLY EASY to make websites that look and feel
| exactly how you want, just like it was back then. Server space
| is dirt cheap. Anyone can register a domain, dirt cheap. HTML
| and CSS* still work without any JS whatsoever. And if you feel
| the need to use JS, it is absolutely not necessary to get
| sucked into the world of "modern" web development that suddenly
| requires 1000s of dependencies and a complex build process.
|
| Be the change you want to see in the world. Get creative. Tell
| your friends.
|
| * to be fair, CSS is possibly where the rot started to set
| in... some poorly thought-out design choices from 20 years ago
| are still haunting us. But stick to the basics and focus on the
| content instead, it still gets the job done.
| oscargrouch wrote:
| Human societies must have a free road to organize themselves
| and grow in a organic way.
|
| Unfortunately our virtual world are built in a way to addict us
| with content we create ourselves giving a few monopolists total
| control of our virtual presence.
|
| I'm boarded in a project to think in another approach, in a way
| the give us more power and freedom to shape our virtual
| collective consciousness..
|
| Without us figuring out a way to get us all out of this trap, i
| don't see a very bright future for us, and the current
| political and social status-quo are a clear sign of what all
| this is making to us.
|
| The power and control is too concentrated in the hands of a
| few, and its easier than ever to pull all the strings from a
| couple of places.
|
| Eg. If we have a dozens of key people to agree into some plan
| to permanent power and control, it will be impossible for us to
| take our freedom back, of course it will not look like any sort
| of government that we have witnessed before.
|
| I know this is a conspiracy theory and i dont like it myself,
| but its pretty possible and easier to happen with all the
| technological status-quo and tech monopolies we have nowadays.
| acatsdream wrote:
| Let us be stronger.
| oscargrouch wrote:
| Sure a couple of us can do it, but lets not forget that the
| average IQ here is far from represent median of the people
| out there.
|
| Our brains betray us, we like to be in a cozy place that we
| are used to, that feels like home. Current social networks
| offer this kind of experience.. and its a big trap because
| even if/when we want to get out, all our content are
| trapped there, so out of "there" is a total desert..
| na85 wrote:
| >Sure a couple of us can do it, but lets not forget that
| the average IQ here is far from represent median of the
| people out there.
|
| Such arrogance. Such elitism.
| oscargrouch wrote:
| The average IQ sample here is higher (period). If you
| don't know this already, i guess you are not here long
| enough.
|
| Its just a question of the fields people that use to come
| here represents.
|
| With that i'm not implying that i'm part of it, as i
| might be average. But i have spent a lot of time here to
| know that this community have a high average level,
| giving the topics and the discussions happening over here
| over the years.
| egeozcan wrote:
| > The average IQ sample here is higher (period).
|
| If you asked me, that'd be my guess as well, but saying
| it such a way that it projects hopelessness for the rest
| of the humanity is a _bit_ too much :)
|
| Narcissism is dangerous as it tends to create and feed
| extremist communities. For an example, see any political
| forum full with extremists (these days it's hard to find
| any without) and observe how often they call themselves
| intelligent (or woke, or whatever fancy words they use to
| work around the obviousness of self-flattery).
| oscargrouch wrote:
| I get what you are saying, but there are a couple of
| points that make this different..
|
| First, of course is a subjective experience and therefore
| prone to error, but i came to this conclusion by
| observing this community over a long period of time.
|
| Second, the communities you mention have mostly common
| ideological guidelines and goals, working like a cult or
| a religion. Therefore there's this feeling of belonging.
| HN is far away from that as people here have all sorts of
| different beliefs, background, etc. It's an heterogeneous
| community that will hardly agree on anything.
|
| There's also no sense of belonging here, to a group, or a
| brand. etc..
|
| There's no HNer, not a club, or have a card in the sorts
| of "Mensa" that you would proudly show to tell how smart
| you are.. as most of us are anonymous here.
|
| So i don't think the patterns apply here. I think some
| people spend too much time on toxic social networks and
| suddenly start to see 33 all over even when the number is
| 21, because his neurons are seeing the same pattern too
| many times with these algorithms that are optimized to
| turn us all into neurotics.
| na85 wrote:
| >If you don't know this already, i guess you are not here
| long enough.
|
| My account is six months older than yours. I lurked here
| for quite a while prior to creating this account.
|
| I guess the difference between our experiences is that I
| didn't internalize the smug superiority that runs rampant
| on this website.
| personlurking wrote:
| I think the user you're referring to is merely making an
| observation, not speaking out of malevolence nor
| arrogance. I was also lurking (my username checks out)
| for years before I made an account, and I've always felt
| that HN has one of the smartest groups of people on the
| web.
| jdkee wrote:
| "Human societies must have a free road to organize themselves
| and grow in a organic way."
|
| How does this happen in the monoculture of the global
| internet, where local heterogenous subcultures (music, art,
| cuisine, traditions, languages) are eradicated?
| oscargrouch wrote:
| The globalization movement that started in the 90's, have
| no way back. It was the right direction to take anyway..
|
| The question is how much resilient we are to create and
| cultivate local stuff over the global noise.. I'm pretty
| sure that despite the difficulty of the task, we can handle
| it..
|
| But we must have the proper tools to make it flourish.. but
| my fear is that while we are figuring out all this, some
| big players decide to replay the titanic wars devouring
| their children before they get too powerful..
|
| Its not happening yet, because there are barely no threats,
| but once they start to show up and become trends, i don't
| expect them to play nice.
|
| And with all the power and control "they" have, it will not
| be like any old industry vs. newcomers we have witnessed
| before.
|
| (BTW the matrix app being kicked out of peoples cell phones
| might be a sign of what will come)
| nobody9999 wrote:
| >(BTW the matrix app being kicked out of peoples cell
| phones might be a sign of what will come)
|
| Let's be precise here. The Element app was _suspended_
| from the Play Store (and restored in less than 24 hours)
| It was most certainly _not_ removed from peoples '
| phones.
|
| We have serious issues with the centralization of network
| services and we should scream loudly about it and look
| for ways to diminish the power that comes with that
| centralization.
|
| However, making specious claims like that doesn't help.
| It just makes those who rail against the concentrated
| power of these big corporations seem deranged.
|
| There are plenty of real issues to rail against without
| making shit up.
| oscargrouch wrote:
| So I'm glad this is not the case yet, but Apple
| specifically have been doing this more prominently than
| others and it starts with platform handicap (for instance
| make it almost impossible to create applications in other
| ways beyond their proprietary API aiming things like the
| Web).
|
| FAANG's are feeling that the antitrust guillotine is near
| their heads, so things will be a little quiet for now,
| but once the dust have settled they will probably keep
| doing what they were doing before, unless of course a
| proper legal framework come to rescue.
|
| But as the political class have more urgent matters to
| take care of, i think this legal sophistication we
| urgently need will not be a priority.
| IndySun wrote:
| > The globalization movement that started in the 90's<
|
| What was this?
| PH01 wrote:
| Did the site have a video stream in the centre and a chat box
| below it? There were often streams of storms filmed from a
| beach front location?
| personlurking wrote:
| Not that I recall, no. I only looked at it once, for maybe 20
| minutes. It was more like a blog (ie, scroll bar, multiple
| entries).
| PH01 wrote:
| Was a long shot. I'm also searching for an obscure site I
| was almost certainly linked to from here.
| disillusioned wrote:
| There was a fantastic site which was basically exactly this
| called YouTube Time Machine. You could select the categories and
| the year and it was magical.
|
| This is a pretty good facsimile of that! Wish they had 50s and
| 60s as well, but still.
| corysama wrote:
| From the menu, hit P to turn on Playlist Mode. That should
| default to on. Without that, it seems to just play one vid on
| repeat until you "change channels".
| [deleted]
| pcdoodle wrote:
| This is super awesome!
| droptablemain wrote:
| This is fun.
| violetgarden wrote:
| I even like the commercials! You don't realize how slick
| everything is nowadays. It's kinda nice to see something
| simpler.
| xtiansimon wrote:
| Yeah. Real tv was much more boring. Haha
| brassattax wrote:
| It is missing this: https://battaglia.ddns.net/twc/
| sircastor wrote:
| Reminds me of the betamaxmas site I stumbled across a few years
| back. It's not hard to forget what watching television used to be
| like. I'm still caught by surprise at how many commercials there
| are in a given broadcast.
| cheezeburger wrote:
| One of the coolest things I've seen so far this year. "Have you
| seen The Rock vs Ken Shamrock for the Intercontinental Title on
| Raw last night ?" Man ... I miss all this.
| 1MachineElf wrote:
| Is the English-dubbed version of the original Japanese Iron Chef
| show on here? Would love to see some full episodes. That one has
| been hard to find.
| WaldoLydecker wrote:
| Why is it that access to unlimited content leads to most people
| watching the worst content ever made, so much so that other
| people forget that good content exists?
| erickhill wrote:
| I know this says 90s, but when I see Max Headroom that's solidly
| 80s yo. Like, totally.
| derwiki wrote:
| Encino is, like, so bitchin!
| j3th9n wrote:
| Comments on this from 5 years ago, just for reference:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10308004
| dre85 wrote:
| Just out of curiosity, where is all of this content coming from?
| mhh__ wrote:
| YouTube, or at least some of it is. On mobile it doesn't work
| properly and you can see the borders and titles from YouTube.
| smnrchrds wrote:
| And in Canada, I see the YouTube's "this content in not
| available in your country" quite often.
| f430 wrote:
| Canada has its own unique 90s tv identity.
|
| I was raised by YTV and The Zone.
| cheezeburger wrote:
| Did y'all know Ben Shapiro was in a boys band in his previous
| career ? -> https://my90stv.com/#q3qDESAvzh0
| pan69 wrote:
| There's some pretty explicit stuff in there.
|
| https://my90stv.com/#t91RVPnehDo
| SV_BubbleTime wrote:
| Nothing like that was on any TV i watched in the 90s.
|
| Seems like something that I would have heard poorly described
| by some friend who had a giant sat dish in their yard and
| figured out how to reposition it when Dad wasn't home.
| jandrese wrote:
| It's so eurotrash I can't believe they're singing in English.
|
| When I was growing up this is what I imagined Cable TV must be
| like.
| disgrunt wrote:
| This link took me to a Nine Inch Nails music video.
| pan69 wrote:
| The music is Nine Inch Nails but the video certainly isn't.
| mypalmike wrote:
| The video is actually from Nine Inch Nails.
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin_(song)
| smaili wrote:
| Fondest 90s TV for me was TGIF, no better way to end the week
| then sitting with your family in front of the TV on Fridays
| watching those shows.
| kilroy123 wrote:
| Same here! Then in the late 90s it was Friends, Frasier, and
| Seinfeld.
| bitwize wrote:
| Ooooh, nice-talgic! I'm reminded of the fact that the menus for
| the DVD release of _Wayne 's World_ (1992) were an approximate
| replica of the Prevue Guide of the day -- a channel dedicated to
| (Amiga-generated!) scrolling program listings for your particular
| cable system. The DVD menus even displayed movie trailers in the
| upper half for other Paramount DVD releases, the same way Prevue
| did for movies showing on premium movie channels.
| CTOSian wrote:
| def need some b/w filter, just for more "retro" feel
| micheljansen wrote:
| Interesting that you mention that. I grew up with colour TV so
| I associate black and white with faux retro.
| UncleSlacky wrote:
| The 70s version has a B/W button on the TV.
| hallman76 wrote:
| If this hits you in the nostalgia, check out this project[1]. It
| uses raspberry pis to broadcast content over "channels" using
| existing coax to simplify finding something good to watch.
|
| [1] https://hackaday.com/2020/02/07/raspberry-pi-serves-
| up-24-ho...
| easton wrote:
| Alternatively, this project hooks up to an existing Plex server
| and allows you to build channels that can then be connected to
| over the network (VLC, or anything else that can take a stream,
| including Plex's live tv function).
|
| https://github.com/vexorian/dizquetv
| JohnJamesRambo wrote:
| I hit 1993 and David Letterman came on and I'm awash in nostalgia
| for what seems like such a simpler, happier time. People liked
| each other. They could concentrate longer than three seconds.
| Dave and Paul are genuinely laughing and everything is all right.
|
| What a fantastic website.
| acatsdream wrote:
| https://youtu.be/9vyZK_CKkZo
| Melting_Harps wrote:
| > What a fantastic website.
|
| Wow... the first channel I landed was CBS from 1992 with
| coverage of the recession with the day labor for manual workers
| in Los Angeles with white guys next to Mexican laborers, and
| then as if that wasn't absurd enough the next segment for the
| 'Michelangelo virus' with John Mcaffee (the guy who I saw said
| he'd eat his dick if BTC didn't reach $1 million [0]) was
| pumping his anti-virus software in Santa Clara like it was the
| pre-cursor to Y2k or something. And then wrapped up with the
| breaking up of the Soviet Union's Red Army military disbanding
| to serve as local counterprts for now independent soviet
| satellite nations.
|
| I'm not sure why I felt I was watching all of this like it it
| was the first time, even though I lived all of through this and
| saw a lot of it in TV first hand back then... it was incredibly
| surreal.
|
| 0 https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/john-mcafee-dick-bitcoin-
| bet...
| TedDoesntTalk wrote:
| Things were NOT simpler. The problems were different. When you
| are living them in the moment, they are every bit as large as
| your problems are now.
|
| And fwiw, people in the 90s looked back on the 50s and thought
| "oh what a simpler, happier time."
|
| It's a filtered lens you're using and you are deluding yourself
| if you think that any time before you had it simpler and
| happier simply because they did not have "X" or "Y" that you do
| today.
|
| How about date rape epidemics in the 90s? And women's right and
| outlook for careers and equal pay?
|
| LGBTQ rights? Hahahahahah
|
| I mean, I can go on if you want?
|
| I'm guessing you were a kid in 90s so things were simpler and
| happier for YOU because you did not have to worry about adult
| problems?
| chrisco255 wrote:
| What date rape epidemic in the 90s was there that didn't
| exist in prior decades?
|
| At any rate, it is broadly true that the 90s was a happier
| time than present.
|
| Today, people can't let you enjoy reminiscing about a period
| in time without bringing up everything horrible or sub
| optimal about that time.
|
| It's a pervasive cynicism that wasn't broadly shared then. I
| was a kid in the 90s exploring AOL chat rooms, forums, the
| web, etc. It was a very groovy time. Lots of discussions
| about politics, but it wasn't toxic like today. There are
| sharp lines today and if you are right of center you're
| either being deplatformed or shadow banned or called a neo-
| Nazi.
|
| I mean, you mention gay rights. AOL, the most mainstream
| internet app had a prominent Gay & Lesbian section and a chat
| room for folks to meet or discuss commonalities. Nobody was
| canceling AOL over it. It was just another interest group
| next to Sports, Video Games, Politics, Religion, etc. You'd
| wind up meeting gay people through some discussions on the
| various chat rooms. And we'd honestly debate about whether
| homosexuality was a choice or not. And in my naivete I took
| one side of that issue and a gay boy that posted in that vg
| forum took the other side. It taught me how to understand
| them. Today, if someone says something outside of whatever
| the prevailing dogma is, they are treated like they're
| terrible people. Experiences like that are how you grow as a
| person. And we cut that off at the knees today trying to make
| sure no one's feelings are hurt. But all that does is create
| resentment and divide.
| iamoverworked wrote:
| > it is broadly true that the 90s was a happier time than
| present.
|
| I do have some great memories from the 90s, but for a few
| years I lived in a town south of Chicago that was heavy in
| gangs where I would regularly hear semi-automatic gun fire,
| see the river getting trolled for bodies and lived next to
| a professional bike thief. My father's truck was robbed of
| tools, my bike was stolen, my friends were poor as dirt and
| I couldn't play in their yards because I am white and they
| were afraid their neighbors would beat the shit out of me
| or kill me, and one of those friends was in a gang (learned
| that 15 years later). I remember lots of good things, but
| my 90s experience wasn't all that pleasant.
| b0bb1z3r0 wrote:
| White men. They get the destroying going. They feel that
| the world is their property, and everything in it. I'm not
| white, but interested to know where the White man ideology
| originated. Who told them they have to destroy everything
| that isn't them, or at least dominate it.
| jannes wrote:
| All human men could be described like that. There are
| plenty of non-white dictators and war lords.
| notsureaboutpg wrote:
| I think you're being a bit overdramatic.
|
| Gay rights is the only civil rights related thing that's
| significantly changed since the 90s.
|
| What rights did women not have in the 90s that they have now?
| Has date rape decreased in the West now? All I hear is that
| it's just as bad now as then.
|
| The 90s like every time in history had unique problems.
| HIV/AIDS for example (still a huge problem, STIs are actually
| on the rise in the US). This time has its own unique problems
| the 90s did not (the rise of conspiracy theories, the rise of
| nationalism, the rise of the far-right, etc.) and those
| affect everyone.
|
| Life isn't continual progress. Just because some things have
| changed for the better doesn't mean others haven't changed
| for the worse
| Larrikin wrote:
| As someone who is not white, the thought of using a time
| machine and ending up in 1950s america is a terrifying
| thought.
| b0bb1z3r0 wrote:
| Totally agree with you. But 2021 White America is pretty
| fcxked up too.
| chrisco255 wrote:
| What part of the world in 1950s would you travel to that
| you think would be better?
| Larrikin wrote:
| If we're discussing relative activities would you rather
| have a finger cut off or a leg cut off?
|
| The idea of time travel being a fun concept, especially
| in recent history has very real implications if you go
| anywhere in the world where you're a minority or not from
| a colonial power subjecting people to your will.
| chrisco255 wrote:
| Yes, even before colonial times, this sort of thing is
| ancient. Being a Frenchman in Britain 400 years ago you
| would find yourself in the disdainful company if not
| outright contempt of your peers. These countries fought
| 100 year war despite being extremely close from a racial
| perspective. And you had this same pattern play out all
| over the world. Indian tribes and nations warred with
| each other, slaughtered each other, sacrificed each
| other. Asians, Africans, Mediterranean empires, etc.
| There is no point in history you can go back to where
| these dynamics are not in play. It's the remarkable
| achievement of the past 100 or so years that we move
| relatively freely in most of the first world today
| without fear of violence or extreme bigotry. Tribalism is
| the rule of human history, not the exception. And U.S.
| was for better or worse a proving ground for how a
| multicultural and multiracial society could work. No
| doubt that came with sacrifices and tragedies, but I
| suspect without those, we'd not have had much change in
| the world.
| b0bb1z3r0 wrote:
| Somewhere that wasn't majority white then. American
| whites people were lynching. That's a very horrible thing
| to have done. They celebrated that.. with the kids. White
| people...smh
| TedDoesntTalk wrote:
| > American whites
|
| Um, yeah, *^#{! all American white people from the 1950s
| (note the lower-case "w" because they don't deserve the
| respect of upper-case)
| chrisco255 wrote:
| An extremely small number of people were involved in
| those. And meanwhile, China was extinguishing anti-
| communist dissidents by the millions in the Mao
| revolution. India had its caste system in full effect.
| Africa was even poorer than it is today with many
| battles, regional strifes, etc. Cuba got taken over by
| communists, for example, many forced to flee to the U.S.
| afterwards. They didn't seem to worry about the
| "prevalent lynchings" as you characterize it, or
| exaggerate it beyond its relative scale in what was going
| on in the world at the time.
| agumonkey wrote:
| I felt this on 80s french shows too. Its as if 1h back then was
| longer than 1h now. It's super odd. People were probably
| happier deeply because all of the new spaces to play on,
| without much structure and productivity. Things were to be
| invented. Whereas today, TV shows are long term businesses who
| have to hold market shar, ensure the same thing every day. No
| time for stepping aside, laugh or listen.
|
| Probably a difference in human and emotional education. Times
| were slightly rougher in the 60-80s.. people may have had
| thicker skin and more social skills.
|
| All in all it might just be a natural cycle of sclerosis, not
| help by the internet amplifier.
|
| ps YouTube suggested some letterman shows with meg parsont (a
| random employee working in front of the studio building) I felt
| Dave was a bit intrusive if not bullish on her. Made me feel
| conflicted, as I hold the dude and show very high in mind.
| chrisco255 wrote:
| I wouldn't hold any celebs too high in mind. Dave is a funny
| comedian but who knows what he's like in his personal life?
| Lots of celebs are either assholes or terrible people. Rule
| of thumb: if you don't know them personally, never put them
| on a pedestal. Even then, don't do it.
| agumonkey wrote:
| He did assholery, publicly known too. Other than that he
| seems averagely balanced as a human.
| Melting_Harps wrote:
| > He did assholery, publicly known too. Other than that
| he seems averagely balanced as a human.
|
| Never followed Letterman's work as I never found him
| funny and it always felt like a used car salemen's type
| shtick, I was more likely to watch Jay Leno due to him
| being in LA and loving cars. Honestly Simpsons or Married
| with Children re-runs were more entertaining than both to
| me...
|
| But, I watched that Comedy Store documentary from last
| year and heard from guys like Chris Rock in other
| interviews throughout the years that Letterman was
| generally known to be a total miserable grump when not on
| stage.
|
| His persona and his real life demeanor were 180s of each
| other, which kind of makes sense the more you learn about
| how messed up psychologically and emotionally comedians
| often are and given how much time the spent on Freddy
| Prince's suicide, it really drove the point home that
| they are often just broken toys with a narrow focus on
| doing something to east their deep pain. And Letterman
| was from that era of comedians and was around the store
| back then.
| agumonkey wrote:
| I like letterman dry snark. Leno felt too egocentric to
| me for a reason. I'ma find that video with Rock on DL.
| f430 wrote:
| Not to mention liberal too with televised broadcasts like Le
| Narcisso Show
| craz8 wrote:
| This entirely depends on when you were born.
|
| For older people, the 50s and 60s were that. For others
| slightly older than you, the 80s were that.
|
| For people younger than you, the 2000s were great!
| gabagoo wrote:
| very insightful. the secret is that everything just gets
| worse every decade
| techer wrote:
| "In conclusion, there is no conclusion. Things will go on
| as they always have, getting weirder all the time" Robert
| Anton Wilson
| jader201 wrote:
| Not to go off on a tangent, but I'm not sure that's entirely
| true.
|
| To me, everything changed with the internet, and especially
| with smart phones + social media.
|
| I was an adult for a period before all of this, and
| definitely still feel those were much "simpler times" vs.
| when all these things came about.
|
| Information spreading literally at the speed of light has
| changed everything. And not all for the worse, but it's
| definitely been a double-edged sword.
| TedDoesntTalk wrote:
| Exactly. They were simpler for the parent because he was a
| kid during the 90s.... or just oblivious.
|
| "Oh pity us, we got it so bad and they didn't!!!"
| craz8 wrote:
| I don't think it's being oblivious.
|
| It's being removed enough to forget the painful parts, but
| being aware enough at the time of the good parts.
|
| The painful parts decay faster than the good part memories,
| but schooling pain lasts forever! So the crossover seems to
| be in people's early 20s
|
| Being objective about your personal history is really hard
| - but it drives a lot of decisions today, so it's good to
| at least revisit those "good times" to put them into the
| relevant context (too few people do this!)
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| Yeah, I had forgotten how much music sucked then though. ;-)
|
| I want an 80's television, 70's television....
|
| EDIT: Oh, I see the links on the site now to a 70's and 80's
| channel. Awesome.
| CyberDildonics wrote:
| A year after the Los Angeles riots due to four officers being
| acquitted of excessive force even though they were recorded
| beating a single black man on the ground?
| f430 wrote:
| I distinctly remember the damage to Korean businesses during
| this time (sacrificed everything to come to America and start
| business in dangerous low income ghettos and proceeded to
| lose it all without the government helping) which seems to be
| an after thought very much like the businesses damaged by
| subset of BLM rioters but the difference is the rate and
| speed of information that distinctly produce a very different
| state of the collective mind.
|
| The reason 90s were much simpler times were because all we
| had was the TV, mainstream news media outlets, which we know
| today as far removed from actual journalism. You could turn
| it off and read a book or play video games (which also suffer
| from the curse of connectivity today and makes multiplayer a
| lot more toxic experience).
| CyberDildonics wrote:
| To be clear, you are saying you think the los angeles riots
| were a happier time (the original poster said happier) and
| that main stream news is not real journalism?
| JohnJamesRambo wrote:
| I'm not who you were asking but I thought I'd chime in
| since I am the OP. I know it is anecdotal, but I heard
| lots of white people behind closed doors talk about the
| LA riots and the OJ Simpson trial at the time and they
| were not offensive about it. That's what I mean by
| happier time. Bad things will happen in every decade, but
| how we respond to it and how we treat others defines how
| happy we will be. I'm hoping 2021 can be the year that
| empathy and unity starts making a comeback in America.
| CyberDildonics wrote:
| I was asking the person I replied to.
|
| What are you trying to say by mentioning that white
| people "were not offensive" about the oj simpson trial?
| That is not the same thing as a black person getting beat
| and mamed _on video_, then having the four people
| responsible get _acquitted_ of wrong doing.
|
| > I'm hoping 2021 can be the year that empathy and unity
| starts making a comeback in America.
|
| You might have to first realize why some people would
| feel there are massive systemic injustices. It might have
| felt simpler and happier when you didn't have to confront
| extreme imbalances of justice. If you want "empathy and
| unity" then be part of the solution.
| f430 wrote:
| What about the Koreans who were the most impacted by the
| LA riots? It's sad that it doesn't even register on your
| radar yet you want to talk about systemic justice smh
| b0bb1z3r0 wrote:
| Fuck those Koreans. They came to exploit the poor people in
| an already oppressive system. They brought into the same
| hate and racism the whites were using. You guys don't meet
| enough people from different backgrounds. Your "side" is
| all the same. White oppressor or sideline do nothings...
| yeah white
| honkdaddy wrote:
| Can you be more specific with what you're trying to imply
| with this question? Do you think that the Rodney King riots
| are evidence enough that what /u/JohnJamesRambo is observing
| is incorrect, that people weren't actually happier ~30 years
| ago?
| lqet wrote:
| > what seems like such a simpler, happier time
|
| I am regularly watching historic news footage (1950s and 1960s)
| from the archives of my local TV station. While the people are
| indeed friendlier than today (and much more eloquent), they
| don't seem happier. They don't seem less stressed. The general
| problems are the same. I watched a bit from 1961 about the
| growing problem of extreme weather events (they discussed
| whether the atomic bomb was responsible). Another bit from 1962
| reported youth crime at an all time high and blamed alcohol,
| sex and movies. They showed 15 years old tricking themselves
| into student clubs in Heidelberg to consume alcohol and drugs.
| A few weeks ago, I watched a bit about the Hong Kong flu
| pandemic in 1969 (40.000 deaths in Germany alone) where they
| discussed countermeasures like quarantine and closing schools.
|
| Also, a national TV station here shows "News from 20 years
| ago", where they just show the entire evening news from exactly
| 20 years ago. I have been watching this for years now, often
| while I am walking around the room. Just from the audio, it is
| often very hard to decide whether the news is from today or
| from the 90ies. The topics are often the same: politicians
| accusing each other of X, party Y announcing they now do X,
| violent conflicts in X, latest election polls, fear of war in
| Y.
|
| When I watch these bits, I often think of these lines from the
| Joan Baez song "Hello in There" [0]: Me and
| Loretta, we don't talk much more She sits and stares
| through the back door screen All the news just repeats
| itself Like some forgotten dream that we've both seen
|
| [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k41y5Pd5NU0
| nefitty wrote:
| I watched the documentary called 1968 on HBO. It made me
| wonder if people knew they were in the middle of one of the
| most impactful years in American history (MLK and RFK
| assassinated, sentiment shift regarding Vietnam, Nixon
| elected, etc). I then realized that 2020 would be viewed in
| time in a similar fashion. It was somewhat comforting knowing
| that we've pushed through tumult in the past, and that we're
| still perfectly capable of doing so.
|
| It's so easy to lose the context of our place in history when
| there's a constant stream of voices all pointing and
| screaming at the "now".
| UncleSlacky wrote:
| My mother (who spent most of that year pregnant with me)
| certainly felt that that year was probably the worst she'd
| experienced.
| [deleted]
| personlurking wrote:
| I used to regularly dig through news archives from 100 yrs
| ago, and I found a lot of similarities with the news today. I
| totally get what you're saying.
| f430 wrote:
| maybe ppl were happier in a sense that ignorance is bliss. they
| simply did not have access to information like we have.
| mypalmike wrote:
| We also didn't have access to targeted disinformation
| campaigns at the same scale. There's a lot of angry ignorance
| spreading these days.
| [deleted]
| amelius wrote:
| Lots of "this video is unavailable".
|
| The Internet Archive should really start archiving youtube videos
| too.
|
| (And youtube should have an api to detect whether the video is
| available or not)
| amlib wrote:
| Now the next step is to add a VCR so I can take a bathroom break
| and then keep watching from where I left off :)
| jackvalentine wrote:
| But only after the program you were watching finishes!
| KingFelix wrote:
| This is great
| game_the0ry wrote:
| I really miss the 90s.
|
| Is it just me or did the mood of the times have a sense levity
| and optimism that just isn't present today in 2021? I think so
| and I see it in the older tv shows.
| bestnameever wrote:
| I've always thought something shifted after 9/11.
| parenthesis wrote:
| The teenagers and young adults in the 90s were for the first
| time too young to remember the woes of the 70s.
|
| The cold war was over, but pre 9/11.
|
| Coordinated global action can solve environmental problems
| (phasing out of CFCs). Turns out CO2 emissions not such an easy
| problem to solve.
|
| Rave / House music culture based on euphoric togetherness
| rather than sex and violence.
|
| The economically rising east asian nations giving the west ever
| more affordable consumer goods, but not yet threatening US
| domination of the world order (especially after the bubble in
| Japan burst).
|
| The utopian promise of the `information super highway'.
| boomboomsubban wrote:
| I love the way each channel change takes you to a new webpage,
| meaning you need to press "back" button multiple times to leave.
| Truly makes it feel like the 90's.
| lqet wrote:
| It's actually just changing the hash.
| schwartzworld wrote:
| This is 100% the right way to handle routing in single-page
| apps. The back button should work the exact same way it does in
| a server side render app
| homero wrote:
| Now it's back, try escaping linkedin
| hallman76 wrote:
| We're getting closer and closer to this commercial from the late
| 90s for Quest Communications
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ9qcp6Lcno
| halayli wrote:
| coincidentally, I was just looking at Puffer project couple days
| ago when I was remembering how I used to couch surf and flip
| channels instantly.
|
| https://puffer.stanford.edu
| [deleted]
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