[Beren]

Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom for a reason, he was a pioneer and paved the way for Trumpism indeed. Maybe we should thank Ronald Reagan for that (the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine), I wonder if it's the next stage of his revolution actually.

[Potemkin]

Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom for a reason, he was a pioneer and paved the way for Trumpism indeed. Maybe we should thank Ronald Reagan for that (the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine), I wonder if it's the next stage of his revolution actually.

Indeed. Most people don't seem to realise it, but we're still living in the 1980s. What Reagan and Thatcher started is still on-going....

[Beren]

Indeed. Most people don't seem to realise it, but we're still living in the 1980s. What Reagan and Thatcher started is still on-going....

Oh, what a wonderful decade it was, Robocop and Terminator ruled the screen!

It could also be said that Brexit is the next stage of Thatcherism indeed. However, living and sticking to the past is the gist of both Conservatives and Reactionaries, and the 1980s must be their favourite if they happen to be right-wingers.

[Potemkin]

Oh, what a wonderful decade it was, Robocop and Terminator ruled the screen!

It could also be said that Brexit is the next stage of Thatcherism indeed. However, living and sticking to the past is the gist of both Conservatives and Reactionaries, and the 1980s must be their favourite if they happen to be right-wingers.

When Trump ran for President in 2016, I had a strong sense of deja vu. Trump had been one of the iconic figures of the 1980s - in fact in many ways he epitomised that decade - and now here he was again, as large as life and twice as ugly.

[Beren]

When Trump ran for President in 2016, I had a strong sense of deja vu. Trump had been one of the iconic figures of the 1980s - in fact in many ways he epitomised that decade - and now here he was again, as large as life and twice as ugly.

[blackjack21]

Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom for a reason, he was a pioneer and paved the way for Trumpism indeed. Maybe we should thank Ronald Reagan for that (the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine), I wonder if it's the next stage of his revolution actually.

The Fairness Doctrine presumed that there were only two points of view. It needed to go.

Indeed. Most people don't seem to realise it, but we're still living in the 1980s. What Reagan and Thatcher started is still on-going....

We're definitely not living in the 1980s. Much has changed, some for the better, and some not. For example, I think popular music today is pretty lacking in creativity by 1980s standards--both musicianship and composition have suffered; yet, production quality is fantastic. Sadly, quantization and pitch correction stamps out any human feeling in much of today's music as a result.

In the last decade, the ability to create a decent screenplay has seriously degraded. Everything is pretty much propaganda in the media. So today, we have these remarkable big screen TVs with 4K resolution and high dynamic range, but much of what is produced isn't worth watching unless you enjoy pablum and propaganda, which it seems is the main thing the millennials can produce. There isn't a Norman Lear like standout at this juncture.

Economically, dynamism will always be a factor. Yet, in the 1980s, the big fear was Japan taking over. Today, that's China; however, their crazy inclination to build cities with no people in them to keep GDP up hides the one-child policy, and what is to follow.

Oh, what a wonderful decade it was, Robocop and Terminator ruled the screen!

Indeed. In some ways, low budget. In others, it was a creative time. What rules the screen today? Pretty much Marvel. The Indiana Jones series was quite popular. ET. The Empire Strikes Back. Das Boot. Ghandi. Scarface. Poltergeist. Back to the Future. Rainman. When Harry Met Sally. The Right Stuff. The Color Purple. The Killing Fields. A Passage to India. Driving Miss Daisy.

What can we say was good in the last 10 years? 12 Years a Slave. Zero Dark Thirty. The Revenant. The Wolf of Wall Street. Drive. Life of Pi. Hacksaw Ridge. It's a bit more of a struggle.

Look at the Billboard top 40 between 1980 and 1986, for example. There was so much groundbreaking music at the time, and it just seemed normal. How often do you tune in to the radio today? My mother would stop to listen and watch Michael Jackson's Thriller. Who do we have like that today?

It's amazing that we can have conversations like this--people otherwise anonymous to each other--in completely far flung areas of the world. Impossible in the 1980s, except for the odd few that did the "pen pal" thing.

However, living and sticking to the past is the gist of both Conservatives and Reactionaries, and the 1980s must be their favourite if they happen to be right-wingers.

The fascist model of the 1930s and 1940s came to an end for many industries--coal, steel, automobiles, airlines, telecommunications, etc. That we have this conversation at all has a great deal to do with the deregulation of telecommunications firms, which preceded the US opening the internet to the public in the 1990s. It also has to do with the invention and mass distribution of the personal computer which also took root primarily in the 1980s.

When Trump ran for President in 2016, I had a strong sense of deja vu. Trump had been one of the iconic figures of the 1980s - in fact in many ways he epitomised that decade - and now here he was again, as large as life and twice as ugly.

Reality has some ugly to it. It's ideology that has difficulty coping with reality, because it wants reality to be an idealized subset of itself. What is inspiring about Nancy Pelosi? What is inspiring about Mitch McConnell? Trump was dynamic, as were Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich. The vision of the future from people like Pelosi or McConnell is dystopian. There is a general void of human spirit in today's establishment. For what it's worth, Limbaugh offered an excellent critique of it--sometimes painfully pointing out why liberals like Kate Spade or Anthony Bourdain end up taking their own lives.

[Heisenberg]

In the last decade, the ability to create a decent screenplay has seriously degraded. Everything is pretty much propaganda in the media.

This is certainly no different to the 1980s, when practically every American film was about a chiselled, golden skinned sweaty man singlehandedly defeating the communists in the name of families and freedom.

Marvel films, for example, are literally collaborations between Disney and the US military.

The only thing now is films tend to add a bit of performative wokeness to the standard hoo rah, pro-Murica, anti-communist formula. This provides a nice bit of cover, because crusty old boomers yell about all the queers* and mulattoes on the screen, making more liberally inclined people believe that these films are actually "progressive". Lol.

*of course, when an oiled up and speedo-clad Arnold storms the island at the end of Commando, before proceeding to have a steamy wrestle with a lisping bear wearing leather and chain mail, that is definitely not queer.

[Beren]

The Fairness Doctrine presumed that there were only two points of view. It needed to go.

At the end there are only two points of view anyway, such as pro and contra, which is still more than one (either pro or contra), by the way. It needed to go only because some people found that unleashing complete one-sidedness and polarisation served their interests rather well. However, being one-sided and biased publicly and making a living on it still should be legal perhaps.

Indeed. In some ways, low budget. In others, it was a creative time.

Both Terminator and Robocop, the latter one especially, were childish and simplistic action movies basically, I wonder if how an adult population could watch them through. Blade Runner, which is not on your list either, should have been the greatest sci-fi hit in the 80s, but it got appreciated only when cyberpunk movies became popular in general.

[jimjam]

Not much to say here. A hate monger who made millions peddling retail hate to dumb people.

[Potemkin]

Both Terminator and Robocop, the latter one especially, were childish and simplistic action movies basically, I wonder if how an adult population could watch them through. Blade Runner, which is not on your list either, should have been the greatest sci-fi hit in the 80s, but it got appreciated only when cyberpunk movies became popular in general.

Back in the 1980s, public taste was utterly shit. People loved movies which were worthless, and ignored movies which are now regarded as classics. Nowadays at least the internet ensures that great movies get noticed.

[blackjack21]

This is certainly no different to the 1980s, when practically every American film was about a chiselled, golden skinned sweaty man singlehandedly defeating the communists in the name of families and freedom.

Not every film was by a long shot. Certainly, TopGun, the Iron Eagle series, Red Dawn, Rocky IV, Rambo II and Rambo III. There was a lot of free market stuff like Wall Street or Secret of My Success, etc.

Marvel films, for example, are literally collaborations between Disney and the US military.

The military has been involved in Hollywood productions from the beginning. The first academy award was to the 1929 film Wings.

The only thing now is films tend to add a bit of performative wokeness to the standard hoo rah, pro-Murica, anti-communist formula.

There isn't much of an anti-communist formula these days. If anything, the establishment glosses over the depredations of communist China, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, Myanmar, etc.

Both Terminator and Robocop, the latter one especially, were childish and simplistic action movies basically, I wonder if how an adult population could watch them through.

Sure, but a lot of movies are targeted at a young audience. Movies targeted at people my age are generally not as profitable.

Some films directed at the young had an influence on older folks. For example, the 1983 film War Games with Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy depicted a new addition to middle class America--kids with computers. It actually influenced the media and government and led to computer security legislation. It probably also inspired Julian Assange to hack into NASA and DoD computers.

[Godstud]

Back in the 1980s, public taste was utterly shit. People loved movies which were worthless, and ignored movies which are now regarded as classics. Nowadays at least the internet ensures that great movies get noticed.

QFT. So much music and such was absolute rubbish.

When Boomers like to talk about how it was the "Golden Age of Music", I laugh and remind them of all the trash that was made.

The difference now, is that people aren't selectively given only the best songs, via the radio, and actually can listen to ALL the songs on an album, via the internet. Good music is being made all the time, and many modern musicians are as good as the big stars of the past.



RIP Rush. You were a horrible person.

[SpecialOlympian]

Rush Limbaugh was an inspiration to us all. He proved that you could be fucked up all day years on end still have a job being everyone's racist uncle. He spent the last decades of his life looking like a cyborg because of his Vicodin addiction.

Also, let's not forget the time he was busted with Viagra on his way to the Dominican Republic, a known haven for child sex tourists. He truly embodied the spirit of the American conservatism: accusing his enemies of loving non-whites and calling people pedophiles because he was such a narcissist that the only insults he could come up with were projections of his own personality.

[SpecialOlympian]

Here's a fun game. Guess which super macho manly man with your grandma's design sense lived in the following spaces: Trump or Limbaugh?

Spoiler: show

Limbaugh

Spoiler: show

Trump

Spoiler: show

Limbaugh, obviously remembering those wild Dominican nights.

Spoiler: show

Trump

Ah, an aging loud mouthed drug addict with soft uncalloused hands and the decorating sense of a pre-Revolution French countess... you are my new god and my standard of manliness now. Please yell at me more, ur-racist uncle who ruins holidays. I love you. Please never stop telling me about how the EPA doesn't want my gross shits to flush and why that makes me superior to the black man.

[Potemkin]

^ That's what passed for 'high-end' interior design back in the 1980s. Both Trump and Limbaugh were deep-sea denizens of the '80s. Everything has to be gold-coloured so you don't forget how RICH you are, and the furniture has to be French Rococo style, just to remind you how ARISTOCRATIC you are.

[SpecialOlympian]

Coincidentally, the 80's are likely when both Limbaugh and Trump started abusing their drugs of choice: Painkillers and speed respectively. And look how much they grew as people.

Just lmfao that Limbaugh, the child sex tourist, did so much Vicodin that he had to have a cochlear implant. It tells you a lot about the American conservative mindset when a guy with even the barest amount of charisma or gift of gab can just rant at you about how much he hates women, non-whites, and gays for 3 hours a day completely doped up to the gills and this resonates with our dumbest citizens.

[Potemkin]

Coincidentally, the 80's are likely when both Limbaugh and Trump started abusing their drugs of choice: Painkillers and speed respectively. And look how much they grew as people.

Just lmfao that Limbaugh, the child sex tourist, did so much Vicodin that he had to have a cochlear implant. It tells you a lot about the American conservative mindset when a guy with even the barest amount of charisma or gift of gab can just rant at you about how much he hates women, non-whites, and gays for 3 hours a day completely doped up to the gills and this resonates with our dumbest citizens.

He knew his market. You can't fault him as an entrepreneur - he maximised the return on his assets, such as they were. Lol.

[Beren]

Drug addiction and abuse is a central theme in Robocop 2. Although it was released in 1990, it's still so 80s.

The drug's called nuke, by the way. There's also some sexuality to it, of course, as drugs and sex always go together.

[Agent Steel]

I don't know a lot about Rush Limbaugh but I do remember an instance of him mocking waterboarding and acting as though it isn't real torture, and then he went and started slapping himself across the face and claiming it was equally a form of torture.

Honestly he was a despicable human being. I do not have to respect man who makes such ignorant and dangerous statements.

[Saeko]

What a disappointment. I was hoping he would die while being Rushed to the hospital after a pack of hyenas tore him Limbaugh from Limbaugh.