by Anonymous
Was it really a great time, or was it way more similar to today’s age than we give it credit?
The “Roaring 20s”, could very well be comparable to today’s indulgence and debauchery.
The “Flappers”, could very well be comparable to today’s twerking girls and and loose sluts. Flappers being girls no longer restricted to Victorian era corsets, wearing dresses showing their ankles, speaking their minds and dancing provocatively.
The popularity of jazz music and its so-called “negative influence on society”, could very well be comparable to the popularity of rap music and its so-called “negative influence on society.”
Also, technology was at it’s height! Radio row was booming, then soon, multiple “radio rows” grew in other urban areas. Radio Row was basically a shopping district with many stores specializing in radio and electronics equipment. Now it’s internet row, buy all your gadgets online. But just like the decline of radio row, today’s tech could be reaching it’s peak. It’s been documented and established that Moore’s Law, where technology doubles every two years could have hit it’s peak! Not much has changed in a computer from 2015 or even before to a current computer in 2021.
Don’t forget the massive rise in gang crime in the 1920s, could very well be comparable to today’s massive rise in gang crime, as they say.
Also, a lot of people like to say that the American public was not at odds with each other as they are today… Actually, the division at the time was very similar, very much like today.
The media even tried to cash in on this division –
One of the most eagerly anticipated boxing fights in history (and controversial) in the 20s, a bout between the “traditionalists and the modernists”… Traditionalist, Jack Dempsey vs Moderinst, Gene Tunney for the heavyweight championship of the world as part of the nation’s 150th birthday party.
As the video below states
“Jack Dempsey was the most popular heavyweight of all time, came out of the west, he was a natural fighter, a brawler, he was a protestant fundamentalist, represented small town traditional American values.
His opponent Gene Tunney was an Irish Catholic, he was a New York city slicker who married a debutante and who read Shakespeare while he trained for the match.
Here you have a clear clash of cultures… right there in the boxing ring…. First bout is disputed, goes to Tunney, second bout, Tunney beats Dempsey again… The modernists come out triumphant, at least in sports”
(at 24:10 in the video)
It’s the same kind of narrative they play and force upon us today. It even happened in the 50s with rock music being an uncultured, degenerative type of music, then the 60s and 70s, etc…
Crazy bull runs in the stock market today, apps that make it easy for the average person to become day trader, cryptos etc…
In the 20s, there was a famous piece written called “Everybody Ought to be Rich”
Here’s some excerpts from that (1929):
“Being rich is, of course, a comparative status. A man with a million dollars used to be considered rich, but so many people have at least that much these days, or are earning incomes in excess of a normal return from a million dollars, that a millionaire does not cause any comment… In my opinion the wealth of the country is bound to increase at a very rapid rate… Anyone who believes that opportunities are no closed and that from now on the country will get worse instead of better is welcome to the opinion – and whatever increment it will bring. I think that we have scarcely started… I am firm in my belief that anyone no only can be rich but ought to be rich…”
that echos with what many people are speculating today: “YOLO”, “FOMO”, “Enjoy being poor”, “no longer have to work, I’m making massive gains”, etc…
Luckily, there hasn’t been a modern prohibition act that passed, however, certain things have been prohibited to some degree or limited. Perhaps the next prohibition would be your guns!
Was it really that great of an era? Imagine if people had internet back in the day.