Opinion of this Cracked Article

[darklordoftech]

https://www.cracked.com/blog/reminder-stranger-things-fans-eighties-sucked/

[bagelman]

Cracked hasn't been good since 2010.

[Kingpoleon]

Cracked hasn't been good since 2010.

It hasn’t been good since After Hours, you mean. We miss Soren.

[DINGO Joe]

Cracked hasn't been good since 2010.

Probably peaked in 1985

Since I grew up in a "rich" suburb in the 80s I get to revel in all the nostalgic glory that this fellow did not get to. 

[Lechasseur]

The 80s seemed awesome

This person doth protest too much

[Badger]

I was there. I turned 11 in 1980, and 20 in 1989. I heavily followed politics from around 1982 onwards as closely as the most politics obsessed teenager on Atlas today. I remember the 80s well and will tell you now that every word this guy says is correct. Now, I did grow up upper middle-class suburb outside of a large city, Pittsburgh, so I had it a little better off in terms of access to malls with arcades and stuff. But otherwise, every single thing he said was true.

Well, everything except for one. Point number two when he said at the time even more toxic. That's just flat-out incorrect. Yes, I will gladly say that while Reagan was the spiritual Godfather of today's know nothing- far-right Republican party which has reached its peak - - thus far at least - - under Trump. Even then politics were nowhere near as toxic as they are today, or even is much as they were under W Bush's Administration.

Other than that though, I promise you first hand that what this guy writes is absolute gospel truth.

This article should be mandatory reading for Reagan fan.

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

Lame, the 80s were a great time to grow up.  We played baseball out side all day, or rode my bike in relative safety around the lakes.  Parents didn't anti-vax or helicopter and were pretty hands-off for the most part.

Yeah, TV dinners mostly sucked but didn't really eat them often. And seems like the kid's versions were better.

Smoke was a problem well into the 90s, and parents didn't care.  That's about where my agreement ends.

The Cold War's waning years was not worse than the few years post-9/11.  No way.

Nothing to do?  Oh you didn't have a bunch of screens to pacify you, too bad. You had school, books, FRIENDS, movie theaters, sports, etc. There was the NES too if you wanted video games, or you went to an arcade, laundromat or bowling alley. Yes, not everyone had a mall but the mall sucks anyway.

Then the author complains about the "filtering fallacy" and proceeds to dump two terrible songs as evidence that the 80's sucked.  Rap? How about the Beastie Boys? Run DMC? Chicago House music/B96? Hell even Blondie did better.

And Metal, that's not metal. The "Big 4" were reaching their peak by the end of the decade: Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Pantera. Not to mention Anthrax which could be in both of these categories back then.

Bullies were a problem maybe, but not any different than 30 years before or 100 years before. We only just started tackling this issue.

"Information desert": Heard of a fricking library, dude?

Friends were easier because you went outside and hung out outside of school, or adults in bars. Now it's all online and no one interacts in real life - something I'm guilty of as well. All my friends are from my childhood mostly, with a couple exceptions.

Economics were worse...for some people, mostly the rich.

Politics can't get anymore toxic than Trump and the band of the merry POCs.

Suicide was probably high because cocaine-fueled benders ended in burnout, and we are finally tackling that problem as well.

So with a few exceptions, life in the 80s wasn't bad. It wasn't fantastic but when has any time in history?

[Progressive Pessimist]

I wasn't around in the 1980's so I don't know how common these perspectives were, but I appreciate anything that details what a mistake the Reagan era was. The problems it caused are ones we're still dealing with today. The 1980-1989 is by far the most overrated decade.

[courts]

ignorant

[Beet]

Many things were bad about the '80s, but what I appreciate about the '80s:

(1) Politics was far less polarized. This cannot be overemphasized. You had a conservative Republican president willing to appoint people like Sandra Day O'Connor, a moderate, to the Supreme Court; you had a Republican president willing to support immigration reform. You had ultraconservative politicians like Margaret Thatcher raising the alarm on global warming. Meanwhile the Democrats were more moderate as well. In general, people were more willing to work together, which is essential if democracy is going to work.

(2) There was at the time a general trend towards greater freedom. In the late 1970s fascism ended in Spain, in the early 1980s Argentina and Brazil democratized, the Philippines democratized. Three out of the seven members of China's Politburo Standing Committee were people who would later oppose Tiananmen crackdown; and the General Secretary and state President were liberalizers. Gorbachev took power and brought the Soviets to sign sweeping arms control agreements with the US. All this would be unthinkable today.

[Old Man Willow]

The 80s were absolutely the peak of film and music in the US (TV didn't get good till the Golden Age 20 years later). Films became mediocre and almost all music collapsed in quality in the 90s.

[CookieDamage]

80s were great unless you were suffering from HIV/AIDS and saw the President laugh about it.

[junior chįmp]

It's true that the past/nostalgia is a scam. But I honestly think, if I had a choice, I should of lived in early 80s NYC. Tim Lawrence's book Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor, 1980 -1983 is one of my favorite books. Man...I shoulda been there.

Statistically speaking, we are better off today than at any time in the 80s but the current present moment is still a somewhat depressing time.

[Badger]

The 80s were absolutely the peak of film and music in the US (TV didn't get good till the Golden Age 20 years later). Films became mediocre and almost all music collapsed in quality in the 90s.

I see you keep the 80s alive in Your Heart by smoking crack.