While I will state that on the average, the past was better than what we have now, I am not so blind as to think everything was hunky dory and we don't have SOME improvements nowadays. So, let me climb out of my rocking chair and list ten reasons why the present is better than the past.
1) CDs are better than records. I'm sorry, vinyl maniacs, but it's true. I still own records and a record player and records sound like shit. They always have. They always will. And now, we even have digital music downloaded on ipods. How convenient is that?!? Is there anything better than an ipod??? Of course, mine only holds a piddly 5000 songs so I DEFINITELY need an upgrade. And, of course, I'm talking sound quality here, folks. While I deeply adore the tactile pleasure of the LP album cover, taking the record out and plopping down the needle on the record, the pleasure ends when the sound comes out. Up till then, it's perfect. Then we get that shitty sound. Now, if you don't believe me, I have plenty of the same songs on LP and on CD and I'll play them back to back for you and YOU can tell me which sounds better.
2) DVDs are better than VHS. This REALLY doesn't need to be argued, does it?
3) Back in the day, an inter-racial couple or a same sex couple were looked upon like circus freaks; in fact, they would sometimes be put in fear of their lives. Now, it's merely trendy and, while not COMPLETELY accepted by certain parts of the society, is accepted by the largest majority of the population so far in history.
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4) Back in the day, you could find a Chinese restaurant and an Italian restaurant/pizzeria. And that was pretty much it (except for a diner). Now, you can commonly find all sorts of different restaurants routinely: Chinese, Mexican, Japanese, Thai, Greek, you name it. The same goes for the supermarket where you can now find specialty food items from all over the world in almost every supermarket you walk into. When I was a kid, the most exotic thing you could pick up in a supermarket was LaChoy canned chow mein.
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5) Direct Deposit. Come on, it used to SUCK going to the bank every two weeks.
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6) OK, I'm gonna have to level with you. I can't come up with any more reasons why the present is better than the past. And believe me I tried. I've even asked other people and they couldn't come up with any more reasons. So, granted, it's proving my point that the past was much better than the present. But I actually started this list INTENDING to come up with ten reasons why the present was better. But hell, I'm just coming up dry. All I'm doing is thinking of MORE reasons why the past was better. For instance, the frikkin' traffic around here is HORRENDOUS. Back in the day when I moved here, this was the country. There was NO traffic! OK, but that's the past again. I really must apologize. I got nothin' (so far as the present being better is concerned). I stand defeated. Or proven correct. Maybe a little of both. But anyway, the past was better.
Some may suggest TV is better now than it was in the past. After all, there's cable, digital, satellite dish, umpteen hundred channels.
ReplyDeleteWell, the pure truth is that I rarely (if ever) watch TV. But back in the day, when there were 3 network channels, 2 PBS stations and 3 UHF channels, I watched it all the time. It's the old cliche that actually rings true: a couple hundred channels and there's NEVER anything on. And so it goes. . .