When times change, many — perhaps most — people forget that it ever used to be any different. But some people recall, not allowing novelty and wishful thinking to erase the former shape of the world.

I remember the 70s, albeit from a child’s perspective.  They were very different from today. My overwhelming impression is that people were more relaxed and having a lot more fun. They were also far more open.

I remember most of the 80s. The climate was very similar to this recounting of the 70s. I saw and experienced things then that almost never happen now, some of which would seem so unusual now as to be criminal. But then, they were just normal.

This will probably not be as strong a post as it could be because citing examples only sidetracks people as they get lost in concrete specificity and miss the point. Seems a common cognitive flaw. But when the times changed, it was very noticeable to me as it happened fairly quickly.

I don’t know precisely what brought it about. Like most complex shifts, probably a combination of many factors interacting and reinforcing — the continuing backlash against the counter-cultural movement, AIDS, and the rise of the Religious Right. And many other things.

That times change is not that surprising. That so many people are so quick to tell you that no, they’ve never been any other way, is what fascinates me.

Why this reaction? What are they trying to protect, or prevent?