I really miss the cold war....

[Nboy]

Really I do....

It is much easier to live under the shadow of nuclear annihilation rather than worrying that someone in one of your classes is going to flip out and blow everyone to hell, or that terrorists are going to fly something into something and blow everyone to hell, or that peanut butter will blow your insides to hell, or that Chinese capitalism will produce/own/consume everything to hell, or that some duck somewhere is going to fart on a pig and create a whole new strain of some ungodly disease we've never seen or heard of and send us all to hell. 

The age of terror sucks! Bring back the IRON CURTAIN!

And yes, I am fully aware of how awful it was in Russia before the cold war ended and I wouldn't necessarily wish that on anybody. Still, I miss the cold war.

[bobcollum]

I think your real beef is with the age of information we live in, which gives you a new found and in-depth insight on any and every possible happening, virtually as it happens. Horrible things have been frequently occuring since the dawn of man, and now it's the fiscal bottom-line of the 24/7 info-tainment industry to serve it to you asap, which in turn causes people to feel that things are worse off now than at any previous time.

Another major difference between that and the situation now? The new enemy has basically nothing to lose, martyrdom to gain, and they will back up their tough rhetoric with action...and we musn't forget that the Islamic militants in Afghanistan(Mujahideen), had as much to do as anything else with why the cold war ended, with the USSR as a whole going along for the ride. Now here we are, suffering from the dubious choices made in the 70's and 80's, fighting our professional military against legions of guerilla fighters who get aid from our other enemies, sapping vast financial resources while the economy and quality of life at home is on a downward slope. Not my kind of nostalgia.

*cues Twilight Zone theme*

[Frys Girl]

Just watch Get Smart and early james bond movies. It's full of cold war action and innuendo.

[EvB]

Just watch Get Smart and early james bond movies. It's full of cold war action and innuendo.

Don't forget Rocky and Bullwinkle!

[Nboy]

I think your real beef is with the age of information we live in, which gives you a new found and in-depth insight on any and every possible happening, virtually as it happens. Horrible things have been frequently occuring since the dawn of man, and now it's the fiscal bottom-line of the 24/7 info-tainment industry to serve it to you asap, which in turn causes people to feel that things are worse off now than at any previous time.

Yeah, I know. Fully understand it. My post was more tongue in cheek than anything. Damned internet doesn't transmit tone/inflection/sarcasm very well. I know its not as simple as I make it out, etc. etc. Life just seemed so much easier when it was us against them. But there no longer is an us and them, no face to the fear anymore. It seems that as a society we have experienced the po-mo deconstruction of the self, with the existential revelation that we truly are alone in being. With the self and the other there is at least some narrative one can grasp onto for identity and meaning.  I generally don't buy into the media hoopla. Bad shit happens, always will happen. That's life. I know its exaggerated. The current state of the media makes it so much worse. But it would be silly to think that the problems we have today are anything like the problems back then. School shootings for one. Thats an entirely modern phenomenon. Our tainted food killing us is another one. Over population, etc. etc. I'm not trying to prove a point, just that I wasn't so worried about SARS in 1985. I wasn't scared to drink out of public water fountains from fear of MRSA in 1985. Reigniting a Cold War would solve none of these problems, I know that.

What I was really trying to imply here is the nostalgia for a sense of either winning, losing, or stalemate. With the Cold War, we either emerged victorious, failed horribly, or  came to a stalemate with mutual destruction or general non action. With this new age there is no winning. Everyone is in the same shitty, sinking boat. I guess its a paradigm, a general conscious inertia I miss. The feeling, or mindset, or consciousness or whatever you want to call it. Its gone for good. Yeah I am ignoring the proxy wars and all the awful bullshit in my nostlagia for this feeling. But I'm not actually stating the Cold War was better or worse, just that I miss living in that world rather than what we have now. And I know its a pessimistic outlook. Maybe I have come to that point in life when you reach an age and realize the world has changed so much, you don't recognize it anymore and feel like a square peg in a round hole. But growing up, all I really feared in terms of world mass destruction was a possible Soviet invasion or Nuclear Holocaust. I didnt go to the store and think "HOLY SHIT THIS FUCKING TOMATO COULD KILL ME" or go to class and think "HOLY SHIT DOES THAT CREEPY FUCK IN THE CORNER HAVE A GUN UNDER THAT TRENCH COAT". Anyway, /rant.

And as a reward for putting up with my silly nostalgic rant, I give you the best piece of cultural detritus the Cold War produced :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQYQTFudrqc#
   

[bobcollum]

And as a reward for putting up with my silly nostalgic rant, I give you the best piece of cultural detritus the Cold War produced :

   

The more rants the better, I always say.

[PhantasticSanShiSan]

BTW, I still wanna suck Nena Kerner's armpits (and everything else). No foolin'.  Gods, she's hot.

[Nboy]

BTW, I still wanna suck Nena Kerner's armpits (and everything else). No foolin'.  Gods, she's hot.

I second that.

[PhantasticSanShiSan]

I second that.

I've loved the "continental look" ever since I first saw that vid.

[Frys Girl]

Fuck the cold war. It caused all the shit we are in now. However, I liked the 80s for a number of reasons.

[PhantasticSanShiSan]

[Frys Girl]

As much as I hate McDonald's, I give them credit for switching from styrofoam to paper packaging.

[PhantasticSanShiSan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf1A8Ukk5Us#