Was everything better in the past?

Question

Or are people now just less preoccupied with survival concerns, giving them more time to sit around and complain?

Answer 1

Life is life.
Looking back at the past is romantic and nostalgic. It always looks rosier since we forget the discomforts and struggles that surrounded surviving.

People were generally poorer, worked harder and longer, were treated far more badly than today based on class, economics and prevalent system - ie serfs, the feudal system, racial discrimination (the Jews constant persecution is a good example in the middle ages) Not to mention slavery. As for getting in to the topic of mental attitudes prevalent - claims of witchcraft for the senile and elderly in order to acquire their property - lets not!

Filth was a standard feature of life, hygiene non existent, you wiped your butt with mullein leaves when you moved your bowels or used a rag in a bucket of water next to the hole in the castle wall through which you "aimed" your evacuations. (Probably the same water 15 other people dipped the same rag into too before your turn!)

Proper medical care was limited and deadly. You suffered for the most basic conditions we today take in our stride. Nutrition didn't exist as we know it, so you were married by 15, produced babies by 17 - a score of which were going to die on you within the next decade. Were old/Grandparent at 35 and ancient by 45. Toothless for the most part and riddled with worms and arthritis.

Modern man enjoys a great deal more when all is said and done! Andyes.We don't count our blessings or realise how hard it is to drag a bucket of water up three flights of stairs to take a bath.

Answer 2

Hmm no nothing was better then. No matter how far you go back people sat around and complained. For example women complained about being burnt at the stake; people complained about high taxes and inflation, it's all the same throughout the ages of people sitting around and complaining. Is this a complaint?

Answer 3

I think the past holds alot of lessons that could be applied for a better future. Families were closer, they ate together, talked together and prayed together. God was allowed in church, home, school and congress. People had manners, they helped their neighbors especially in time of need. Life was more simple, I sometimes believe that we are too technically advanced to remember we are human.

There was discipline in the past, there were morals, and that which has dirtied our society did not exist. We could use a look back at the way it use to be; some things were so much better than today.

Answer 4

Almost everything was better in the past. Some stand out better things were the movies that were made. They had interesting storylines. Not total boredom like the movies today. Life was just better. The bad thing about the past was the racism. Thank god, that is better today and getting better all the time. People were not all concerned about uncivilized murderering terrorists in the years past.

Answer 5

Humans frequently remember things being better than they were while they complain about how bad it is now. Each generation found and will find something to complain about. Pay attention to people around you - not everyone is complaining - but some people actually are not happy unless they are complaining.

Answer 6

I don't know how much truth there is to it, but I've been told the oldest written work archaeologists have found in Mesopotamia complained about the king taxing them too much, wars being too frequent, trade being poor, and children being disrespectful. I've always taken that as a sort of reminder that as much as things change, the more they stay the same

Answer 7

There is nothing new under the sun. There are more people today then there always has been roaming the Earth at one time. No one has to work for anything real anymore. We are a nation of spoiled people without a reason. It is no easier or harder, just different.

Answer 8

some things were better, some were worse (in purely technological terms); some technological advances have been double-edged swords, like our vulnerability to intense solar storms with our pervasive electrical power grids, and the acceleration of viral pandemics through international air travel. chemical and transgenic agriculture has been detrimental to our health while increasing the volume of foodstuffs.

in terms of the human condition, there has been and ever will be something to complain about

Answer 9

i think you are on to some thing..in the past with out machines and stuff i would take whole day to do the stuff we could do in 2 hours and it was hard too..and by the time they got done they were so tired they just went to bed (no sex no babies) and now we have so much time in our hands mostly so we have more (sex>>> more babies) and that comes with more whining...

Answer 10

Diseases were much more prevalent in the past and average lifespans were much shorter than today. Very little was better in the past.