Many here have commented that today (and the 1990s) are less safe than the 80s or before. 

I doubt this is true.  Sure more violence and sex can be shown on the tube but that doesn't mean more of that crap happens in real life.  There are some problems worse today then in the old days but the old days had problems we don't face today as much (racism?). 

I do wish they'd take that crap off the boob tude and airwaves but I think the "crime boom" is more an illusion created by new technology than a product of the media itself.  If the TV or a video game influences someone to kill they were probably a freak in the first place.

-FHF  ;)

Well I think today is probably less safe than let's say the 1950s, it's probably more safe than some parts of the '60 and '70s. Look at all the violence in the '60s and '70s over race issues and women's rights, etc. I'd say today's world certainly seems safer than then. Of course I wasn't alive then, but from footage I've seen and from what I've heard it seems more violent overall than today. Things got much better in the '80s and '90s, now they're taking a turn back to the '60s and '70s.

Well I think today is probably less safe than let's say the 1950s, it's probably more safe than some parts of the '60 and '70s. Look at all the violence in the '60s and '70s over race issues and women's rights, etc. I'd say today's world certainly seems safer than then. Of course I wasn't alive then, but from footage I've seen and from what I've heard it seems more violent overall than today. Things got much better in the '80s and '90s, now they're taking a turn back to the '60s and '70s.


I know I'm among the few, but I think the 90s are more coupled with the 80s than they are with this decade.  Except 98, 99 and some of 1997.  I hardly even count the late 90s as bonafide 90s, but rather as the precursor to the 2000s (esp. 1999).  As for the 1950s, the crime rates truly were low then, and in the early and mid 60s too.  In the late 60s crime took a huge turn up (probably because of the general uprest of the time) and the 70s and 80s had high crime rates in general. 1980 and 1991 were probably the worst years for crime in the late 20th century.  The early 90s had high crime rates, which tapered off around 1993 and are still declining today but more slowly (BUSH!  >:( )

I guess I'd say the 80s and 90s weren't so politically biased and "historical" as the 60s, 70s, or 2000s, so there was more peace. 

The 90s, well up to 1996 anyway, felt different from today, more like what I picture the 80s as being like than right now.  You know the Net was around but few kids had it and not as many adults.  My 82-year-old grandma even has it!  I played outside more (partly just cuz I was a kid) and video games were still simple more or less. Also, the 90s seemed to have more violence on TV but not as intense as now and sex wasn't on TV quite as much.  The reason the 90s haven't dated is because the concept of "cool" hasn't changed much since then.  Well it has some, but 1997-2003 was a very slow but sure change.  At some point people will begin to realize how damn old the 90s are.  "Teen Spirit" was 13 years ago, "Jump Around" was 12 years ago, and even the O.J. Trial was a decade ago.  Also, whenever I see 1997 copywrited I think "I remember the time but I don't remember watching that!"

Some may say we're still stuck in the 90s for Britney Spears and the Simpsons.  Well the Simpsons sucks now so I hardly count it as still being current and Britney Spears is 1999, not 1990s.

I say 1991-96 Forever!  1997-99? Well, I don't think they're 2000s, but you can call 'em 00s if you want.

I say that 1997-2003 is the "millenium decade".  2004-now+ is the 2000s, and 1991-1996 is the "real 90s". 1990 doesn't fit the bill in my book, to cheesy and doesn't coinside with the other 90s years.

I know I'm among the few, but I think the 90s are more coupled with the 80s than they are with this decade.  Except 98, 99 and some of 1997.  I hardly even count the late 90s as bonafide 90s, but rather as the precursor to the 2000s (esp. 1999).   As for the 1950s, the crime rates truly were low then, and in the early and mid 60s too.  In the late 60s crime took a huge turn up (probably because of the general uprest of the time) and the 70s and 80s had high crime rates in general. 1980 and 1991 were probably the worst years for crime in the late 20th century.  The early 90s had high crime rates, which tapered off around 1993 and are still declining today but more slowly (BUSH!  >:( )

I guess I'd say the 80s and 90s weren't so politically biased and "historical" as the 60s, 70s, or 2000s, so there was more peace. 

The 90s, well up to 1996 anyway, felt different from today, more like what I picture the 80s as being like than right now.  You know the Net was around but few kids had it and not as many adults.  My 82-year-old grandma even has it!  I played outside more (partly just cuz I was a kid) and video games were still simple more or less. Also, the 90s seemed to have more violence on TV but not as intense as now and sex wasn't on TV quite as much.  The reason the 90s haven't dated is because the concept of "cool" hasn't changed much since then.  Well it has some, but 1997-2003 was a very slow but sure change.  At some point people will begin to realize how darn old the 90s are.  "Teen Spirit" was 13 years ago, "Jump Around" was 12 years ago, and even the O.J. Trial was a decade ago.  Also, whenever I see 1997 copywrited I think "I remember the time but I don't remember watching that!"

Some may say we're still stuck in the 90s for Britney Spears and the Simpsons.  Well the Simpsons sucks now so I hardly count it as still being current and Britney Spears is 1999, not 1990s.

I say 1991-96 Forever!  1997-99? Well, I don't think they're 2000s, but you can call 'em 00s if you want.

I say that 1997-2003 is the "millenium decade".  2004-now+ is the 2000s, and 1991-1996 is the "real 90s". 1990 doesn't fit the bill in my book, to cheesy and doesn't coinside with the other 90s years.


What the heck is millenium decade, lol. Listen for me the 2000s began on January 20, 2001, the day Bush took office, because Clinton was the president of the '90s. The early-mid '90s were great, but the late '90s were good as well. The music wasn't as good, but the economy was at its peak. Gas was cheap, there was relative peace, our nation was in good shape, it was a good end to the 20th century.

If anything the world seems a bit more controlled, which is okay I guess. The only thing I can't stand is the "Quality of life" BS. Even before 9/11 I never really felt unsafe in my neighborhood. Sure we have quite a few knuckleheads, but I've never had to worry about bullets flying over my head or getting mugged.

Than again, I just remembered a young actress named Nicole Dufresne who was mugged and shot dead by a group of idiotic teens not too long ago. That happened about a 10 mins walk away from where I live. Now that I think about it I have not walked down that street alone at night since that has happened.

Everywhere else I feel perfectly safe, silly huh?

Some things in life are more socially hazardous because the old social codes were torn down in the preceeding decades.  Looser social codes were postive in some areas, allowing young people to take more responsibility, encouraging more diversity, but cerain aspects of life less secure than they were in the 1950s.

In the past there was a vast ghettoized underworld of the unseen.  People in the rabble classes were left completely to their own devices.  If you had to commit a murder, you could do it real quiet, and no one would ever find any clue of the punk.
As Jacob Riis's How The Other Half Lives raised the awareness of the "haves" to the "havenots" in the Progressive Era, today shows such as "Cops" and a video camera on every corner has brought a more realist picture of violence and depravity among the struggling classes into the living rooms of Mr. and Mrs. America.
Instead of calling out for true social reform, the American People--often to spite themselves--react with fear and dread.  The call for a tough-on-crime government screams ever louder, the call for more state surveillance rises shrill.  Never do they address the underlying causes as anything that may be addressed.  It's all surveillance and punishment.  It seems to me some of this "terrorism" paranoia is a fear projected by Americans of Americans.  Every time more American jobs are shipped overseas, every time minimum wage earning power decreases the more lumpen proletariat will emerge.  As goes the economic morale, so goes social stability.  There is a diffuse army of downsized unemployables with nothing to lose.
Perhaps we have met the enemy and they are us.

I can't speak for much before the 80's..but from then til now I think it is the same, just the threats that are different.  In the 80's it was nuclear war and the USSR.

I can say that I felt safer in the 80s but that was because I didn't know anything back in the 80s.  ;D

Less safe.

crime is down
more police security


Howard