Have you seen memes like this, always posted by old white people, longing for a time that never existed?
Seriously, I was a kid in the 60s, too young to remember most of it, but here’s what I do recall:
Women were pretty much second-class citizens who couldn’t have their own bank account or buy a house on their own. Abortion was illegal in most of the country, and in many places, a husband could not be found guilty of raping his wife since she was basically seen as property. God forbid you were a woman who wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer or politician.
Simply being gay was illegal. You could go to jail for loving someone. And the idea of getting married was laughed at.
If you were black, you spent a large portion of the 60s in segregated schools with separate drinking fountains, and voter suppression kept you away from the polls (okay, that part hasn’t changed as much).
Don’t get me started on police abuses — you had very few rights back then when you were arrested, and there was a reason there were lots of riots and protests over police brutality, because it existed.
And smoking! Everyone smoked everywhere. In busses, planes, supermarkets, movie theaters — couldn’t get away from it.
Cars were huge and very unsafe and there were many more fatal accidents per vehicles on the road than there are today. Food was quite unsafe, and the idea of eating healthy was laughed at.
Medical science wasn’t as advanced. My appendix burst when I was 8 and I spent weeks in the hospital recovering for something that could easily be treated today. If you were diagnosed with cancer, then you’d just start preparing your will. There were no MRI machines or other technological devices to help doctors diagnose and treat illnesses and injuries. The average life expectancy in 1965 was 66 years old.
Pollution was rampant. Cities were constantly covered in smog. Rivers caught on fire from the crap dumped in them.
And, of course, we had the Vietnam war, protests, and assassinations of political leaders happening often.
Why this meme longs for a day before computers and cell phones is a mystery to me — I think those things have improved my quality of life tremendously and made all sorts of projects easier.
Okay, in some ways things were better in those days. The NRA was not as corrupt as today, agreed with reasonable gun controls, and there weren’t as many mass shootings. Unions were still pretty strong and someone could buy a house and send the kids to college with just one job. And the music was pretty good.
But when someone longs for the “good old days” they’re almost always remembering a time that didn’t exist. They’re remembering the good parts and ignoring the bad parts.
I have no desire whatsoever to go back to those days.
In the 80s, I started a magazine called “Animato!” that later grew quite large and popular. I got to meet and interview great animators like Chuck Jones and Ralph Bakshi but later sold the magazine, and it went on to even bigger successes until the internet killed all magazines.
So I’m still an animation fan, but it’s basically impossible to see all the films and all the animated TV shows these days unless you’re a full-time animator or animation historian, I guess.
These days, with so much CGI, we can debate what an “animated film” even is, but generally the accepted definition is that the main characters must be animated — not just the monsters or effects. (And “motion capture” doesn’t count.)
So here’s my annual end-of-the-year list of best and worst animated films (based on their Rotten Tomatoes score). Ties are broken by number of reviews, and you have to have at least 10 reviews to make my list.
Interesting year: No one film dominated, and most received at least 50% (unlike previous years where a lot of films got very low scores). And look what’s at the bottom: Disney’s latest “Wish,” which was the poorest reviewed Disney film since 2005’s “Chicken Little.”
Republicans: “Those protestors blocking the road and kneeling during football games while saying ‘Black Lives Matter’ are unAmerican and should be arrested!”
Also Republicans: “Look at those tourists entering the Capitol on January 6th to express their views to Congress! What patriots!”
It is possible to support Israel’s right to exist — especially when they’re surrounded by non-democratic countries, many of which want them exterminated — while still disagreeing with their leadership and the way the Palestinians have been treated.
I support the US but I constantly criticized Trump when he was President for the things he did. The United States is not always the good guy either.
This is not an “all or nothing” game. This is not a sporting event where you cheer on your team and ignore their terrible plays while booing the other team even if they’re doing a great job.
Israel was attacked by terrorists whose goal is not to live peacefully next to Israel but to destroy them completely. Yes, Israel may treat those in Gaza awfully, but this has been a fight that has been going on since long before I was born and to an atheist like me, it just seems to be a stupid religious argument over whose land it is when if calmer minds prevailed, perhaps they could share. I mean, Palestinians can become citizens of Israel if they want, right?
The way Israel treats those in Gaza is terrible, yes, and the way they have bombed and killed innocents is a war crime in my mind — but that doesn’t excuse the attacks from Hamas. They’re BOTH bad in that regard.
But what I can’t understand, as I’ve said before, is how some of my liberal friends are supporting a group of terrorists who don’t give women rights, who kill gays, and who support everything we fight against. One has to wonder if there is some anti-Jewish thought not very well hidden there.
But then I’ve also seen anti-Muslim posts from people, too, as if it’s the Muslim religion that is the problem instead of these terrorists. They don’t represent Muslims any more than the minority of Christian haters we see these days represent Christianity. It’s like this has given bigots an excuse to spout their hate while hiding it from being too obvious.
I don’t have a solution. I am not a foreign policy expert by any means. But I support a democratic country to exist over dictatorships any time. I will call out Israel for killing innocents just like I will call out Hamas, but I am just constantly surprised that some people seem to be taking the side of the terrorists here.
To those people sharing memes that say things like “I don’t care what people say, I’m going to say ‘Merry Christmas’ even if it makes people upset!”
Have you ever met one person who was upset when you said “Merry Christmas”? Even one?
You’ve been suckered by Fox News, which has managed to convince people that if you say “Happy holidays” then you’re against anyone else saying “Merry Christmas” if they want to. As if the two are opposed to each other in some way.
Don’t be so gullible, angry, and ridiculous.
Getting angry if someone says “Happy holidays” to you is the most anti-Christian and anti-Christmas attitude you could have at a time where you’re supposed to be loving each other and promoting good will. “I’m a Christian who believes in good will to everyone at Christmas UNLESS YOU SAY HAPPY HOLIDAYS IN WHICH CASE I HOPE YOU ROT IN HELL” …. Because that’s exactly how Jesus would act, right?
Nobody is stopping you from saying “Merry Christmas” and no one is upset at you if you do say it.
So get into the holiday spirit and accept all greetings of goodwill for the intent in which they are given.
ventrellaquest.com 