Nit: movies with sound were around as early as the 1800s; 1927 is just considered the turning point when they became commercially viable and widely available (with the release of The Jazz Singer).
America, 1926: A forgotten 100-year-old report
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Re: America, 1926: A forgotten 100-year-old report
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
Europe probably has the “best geography” and the climate, though? Coastal California is probably one of the nicest places on earth but generally US is quite harsh.
The US has pretty much all the possible biomes within its borders. Even active volcanoes
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Re: America, 1926: A forgotten 100-year-old report
#73No offense but outside of money does the US have anything going for it?
Lots of good farmland, and it has lots of mineral resources that we often ignore rather than cut margins to mine safely.
The US's problems are entirely political. Geologically and climate wise it is a really great place. And it already has an educated populous and a significant amount of industrial hardware.
Re: America, 1926: A forgotten 100-year-old report
#74Is this some sort of a paid advertising piece, to make you feel better about inflation, lack of affordable medical care, lack of affordable housing, lack of jobs for recent graduates, etc...? "Life is much better in 2026. We live healthier, richer, and longer lives, with better medicine and more self-determination." - I can't speak for 1926, but compared to 1980s or 1960s, this is so patently not true. The US populat…
Since he is explicitly comparing 2026 to 1926 I think his statement holds up.
Meh, seems he's using arbitrary metrics to make arbitrary claims (which is fine). But to just state that "Life is so much better in 2026 than in 1926 for Americans" is obviously a pretty nebulous statement. It's like saying "Beaches in 2026 are so much better than beaches in 1926". Sure you could cherry-pick some metrics to make the case, and someone else could cherry-pick metrics to make the opposite case. Sort've a "talking just to hear yourself talk" kind've thing.
Re: America, 1926: A forgotten 100-year-old report
#75Is this some sort of a paid advertising piece, to make you feel better about inflation, lack of affordable medical care, lack of affordable housing, lack of jobs for recent graduates, etc...? "Life is much better in 2026. We live healthier, richer, and longer lives, with better medicine and more self-determination." - I can't speak for 1926, but compared to 1980s or 1960s, this is so patently not true. The US populat…
Since he is explicitly comparing 2026 to 1926 I think his statement holds up.
That's how good propaganda reads. You have to be both subtle and partially true.
Re: America, 1926: A forgotten 100-year-old report
#76Is this some sort of a paid advertising piece, to make you feel better about inflation, lack of affordable medical care, lack of affordable housing, lack of jobs for recent graduates, etc...? "Life is much better in 2026. We live healthier, richer, and longer lives, with better medicine and more self-determination." - I can't speak for 1926, but compared to 1980s or 1960s, this is so patently not true. The US populat…
Even if food quality remained exactly the same… By definition Americans would still be on average slightly less healthy, and so on… since the population grew so much? (and grew older)
There’s no magical low effort way to avoid regression to the global mean, as the population more than doubles in size.
That takes serious, coordinated, and sustained work across decades to avoid.
Re: America, 1926: A forgotten 100-year-old report
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
It sometimes is a single person. Consider the failed beer hall demagogue who wrecked a nation, a continent, and nearly a world.
To both of your points: the beer hall demagogue wouldn't have gotten to Chancellor if the German elites hadn't decided that he really couldn't do that much damage and we may as well let him be chancellor to quiet down his followers. Even after the putsch, he got a very light sentence because the judge was sympathetic with his right-wing cause. You're both right to some extent. A huge amount of damage was done by one…
Indeed, and that is perhaps the most important lesson of Hitlers rise - dangerous people will always exist, and so it is critical to have systems that are resilient to them, and not allow them to be hollowed out just because the current crop of leaders looks like they can be trusted with more power and less oversight, because who knows what kind of madman will get power next.
Re: America, 1926: A forgotten 100-year-old report
#78You're a 26 year old in 1926. You're part of what history would later call the Greatest Generation. You will suffer through both the Great Depression and World War II. Perhaps due to those experiences, you will be the only generation that votes more left as you age.
Well, then and the millennials
Re: America, 1926: A forgotten 100-year-old report
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you mean hijacked? I'm not familiar with that theory.
Crazy/extemist people use it as a way to justify their nonsense.
Yeah, that's my guess as to what Avicebron meant as well. Various flavors of extremists use it (like others have used "social darwinism") as a justification or excuse for their accumulation and abuses of power. "We are the 'hard men' this time needs! Shut up and do what we tell you!"
Re: America, 1926: A forgotten 100-year-old report
#80Great article. Just reminds me of how much societies resemble a pendulum; swinging from one extreme to the other. And of course you have the problem that some people want to freeze it mid-swing, or worse tear the damn thing down completely.
> Just reminds me of how much societies resemble a pendulum; swinging from one extreme to the other. And of course you have the problem that some people want to freeze it mid-swing, or worse tear the damn thing down completely.
Or keep pushing it to further and further extremes with each swing until it inevitably breaks under the strain. :(