I love the comic strip "Non Sequitur." Wiley Miller is quite insightful, while he makes his audience laugh at the same time. For those of you who aren't familiar with the strip, there are numerous sets of characters whose lives and views offer commentary on social issues.
One of my favorite strips includes a character named Offshore Flo, an opinionated diner owner who lives in Maine. Flo is serving a man in a suit at her diner, and the suited man tells her that vintage diners like hers are all the rage nowadays and that she should capitalize on the opportunity to offer her guests the nostalgia of a mid-twentieth century small-town diner. To make his point, he exclaims, "
Everyone wants to go back to that time!" Flo gives him a walleyed look and repeats, "Everyone?" He repeats that everyone wants to go back to the mid-twentieth century, and Flo answers, "Well, let's start with the vintage sign to hang in the window," showing him a sign that makes him jump ten feet in the air. The sign is revealed to say WHITES ONLY, and the suited man says, "Well, maybe not
everyone." I think that's a good look at the nature of nostalgia. While it's one thing to point out the good that may have happened at a particular time, it's quite another to idolize that time and wish it were back. In particular, I've seen more and more folks commenting that the mid-twentieth century was "a simpler time" or worse, act as though it would be better to go back to it.
I'm always curious, though. For whom would it be better?
Certainly, they don't mean for people of color, as during that time, segregation was legal and widespread. If they have any friends of color, they might be in for a shock that they couldn't hang out together anymore.
Certainly, they don't mean for LGBTQ people, as coming out could have dangerous and violent results from individuals who didn't accept same-sex relationships.
Certainly, they don't mean for women, as many women who had worked during World War II were now forced back into domesticity as the men returned. Worse, domestic violence and marital rape were not yet considered crimes, and countless incidents of abuse occurred behind closed doors. There were no women's shelters or rape crisis centers. For the woman facing an unplanned pregnancy, there was secrecy and lots of money separating her from the infamous back alley.
Certainly, they didn't mean for the war vets returning home with new physical and psychological struggles that the medical community did not have the tools to treat. Or the family of those vets, who were now left with no way of understanding it.
Who were these times better for?