Would you rather be middle class in 2013 or peasant in 1813?

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mrmillersd
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Would you rather be middle class in 2013 or peasant in 1813?

Post by mrmillersd »

Keep in mind, you are MIDDLE class in 2013 vs a worker/peasant in 1813. You were either somebody or nobody back in those days, and most of us wouldnt be educated/royals. Unless you are top 1% today, assume you would be a factory worker in 1813. This is in the USA btw.

2013:
Pros: More comfortable living, Enough food, computers, transportation, education, electricity
Cons: feminism

1813: Pros: Family values, simple life
Cons: probably drafted into war, no modern comforts, work 15 hours a day in some factory or be a peasant on a farm, DISEASE

blacks, orientals, other races heavily discriminated against. Slavery, segregation, attacks are daily aspects of life for these peoples.

I prefer today's liberal society. As an Asian, I don't understand why some people want to revert to conservative traditional values in America. That means RACISM and HATE against minorities. You cant have only one part of traditional values, and not have others. You cant just bring back traditional gender roles without bringing back segregation, racism etc. The open acceptance of liberalism that accepts minorities like ME into today's society is also what accepts feminism. Destroy the open liberal acceptance of all peoples and you can destroy feminism, but also destroy the lives of immigrants like me.
Repatriate
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Post by Repatriate »

Are you f***ing kidding? I don't think any minority really wants to be anywhere in the 19th or even the early 20th century. If I had a time machine that was only set to that era i'd break it with a sledgehammer first chance I got.
Jeremy
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Post by Jeremy »

Probably 2013. I only work 20 hours a week (anything more than that is insane to me) and can afford to use hookers regularly. Things could be worse.
Repatriate
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Post by Repatriate »

Now that I think about it unless you were part of the elite class..think Teddy Roosevelt or William Randolf Hearst upper class you had it pretty shitty in the world. This was the era where if you weren't the right kind of "white" you were heavily discriminated against too. Plus religious conservativism and prudishness was at Taliban levels. Chances are very high you'd marry a really ugly American cow in your 20's and have to stick with her the rest of your life as you eke out a meager living on a farm or factory somewhere. At least in the present day you have options.
kai1275
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Post by kai1275 »

Most people who have not studied American history very well on an advanced level has no idea, how hard life was in America. Not to mention how short life tended to be at that! Also the plain jane looking woman being ugly or not is pretty hard to figure out, because that varied too much. Obesity was unlikely but relatively fat women existed after they popped a few kids out usually.
mrmillersd
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Post by mrmillersd »

Bingo-It was even WORSE for people in places like China, Africa etc. Toil all day for mere survival....
S_Parc
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Post by S_Parc »

Yeah, it sucked, however, prior to the full industrial revolution in America (before 1840), a person who was a tradesman of sorts: tannery, pottery, blacksmith, fisherman/privateer, etc, did have a valuable position in his community. Granted, back then, the society was more homogenous, a British-Dutch amalgam, but remember, assimilation was also going on back in those times, i.e. Paul Revere was an anglicized French descendant, not English. And even some ppl from eastern Europe, adopted British surnames to fit in. Believe it or not, pockets of native Americans were still trading with white locals in the New England region up until the 1830s.

I guess the major game changer was rapid industrialization where in effect, machines & capital overshot the value of the individual. Thus, you have all the subsequent grim stories of Textile Mills, Food processing, and Smelting plants. This is when the Potato Famine/Irish immigration started the first major movement against non-Anglo-Saxon Americans, as nativist bigots saw that industrialists were pitting 'em against migrant labor from Ireland and other places.

So perhaps 1813 was better than 1893, with latter date making a typical person out to be just another statistic in some milling accident.
Many years ago, the Best Picture of 1999, "American Beauty", telegraphed the message of Happier Abroad to the world.

Beware of long term engagements with AWs, you may find yourself in a coffin.

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Teal Lantern
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Post by Teal Lantern »

Not. even. if. I could be in the top 1%, in 1813. :?

30+ years before the Donner Party?

Family values?
Yeah, your family values you as a draft horse.

Good old days?
Think indoor hot-water plumbing, central oil/gas heating, or ... dentistry. :shock:

Now, if I can peep in on 2213, then we'll talk. :wink:
не поглеждай назад. 8)

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theprimebait
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Post by theprimebait »

I'd rather live today. Traditional mores and values aren't what they are cracked up to be.to me living with ease and technology,video games and hookers on a passive income,traveling the world ,being able to be Atheist openly(except around other Arabs,where I have to pretend to be muslim),etc is a much better life than living with a wife,kids,and work,work,work,having to Attend mass or be burned as a heretic,dogmatism and general Ignorance.

so 2013 it is.
Jester
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Post by Jester »

Wow. ALL of you would choose A/C, shopping malls and X-Box, over freedom and manhood?
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S_Parc
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Post by S_Parc »

Jester wrote:Wow. ALL of you would choose A/C, shopping malls and X-Box, over freedom and manhood?
Well, my dad didn't descend from the Lowells, Putnams, or Cabots. Thus, no New England nobility on our lineage, just fishermen, craftsmen, and engineers (in modern times). Today, the aforementioned families are considered lazy, brain dead trust fund babies, who'd attended the local private academies, perhaps went to Brown, Haverford, or overseas (Paris, London) for college but don't have much influence on our daily lives anymore.
Many years ago, the Best Picture of 1999, "American Beauty", telegraphed the message of Happier Abroad to the world.

Beware of long term engagements with AWs, you may find yourself in a coffin.

AB discussion thread

BTW, despite settling down with an AW, myself, the warning is still in effect.
theprimebait
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Post by theprimebait »

Jester wrote:Wow. ALL of you would choose A/C, shopping malls and X-Box, over freedom and manhood?
Back then there was no freedom.you had to work,follow religion,and follow whatever the society said due to there being no atomization.you could never be free because you were dependant on others.

manhood too is one of those concepts that has made many a men miserable:fighting in wars,your entire family parasiting off of you,notice all the definitions of manhood benefit women?

You only live once,and concepts like masculinity are abstract,and there is no benefit to being a ''man'',unless it brings in material gains(like looking like a bad ass to wet p***y or intimadate other guys).

manhood=being a disposable tool for women.

the only real manhood that has material gains is Physical.aka looking like the guy in my Avatar.youll get p***y and also get tons of respect by guys,be a natural leader.

titties,those are real.Ganja,that is real.Xbox and beer with friends is real.I can feel those things.

I don't think living life adhering to idealistic,abstract notions and concepts is a ideal life,unless it bring sin physical gain.

what do you have in the end living miserabely to live to abstract notions?unless you believe in God,or religion,or afterlife maybe its worthwhile. but as someone who believes they have only 1 chance on earth,I much rather chase my dopamine rushes then adhere to manmade definitions and Abstract Moral ideals.

Humans a bunch of Microbes chasing dopamine Rushes,think we have relevance in the world,while we live on a speck of dust out of trillions of specks of dust(Planets).

in the past people did that,but now we have the true freedom to decide if we want to do that or not.

we also have more access to info.wich to me is more valuable than any traditionalism.

I don't know what I'd do without the internet.if it wasn't for the net,
I'd be some ignorant farmer in palestine right now,easily led like a child my whole life.

I feel sad for the ignorance most people had back then due to lack of school.Knowledge makes my life worth living.its priceless.
theprimebait
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Post by theprimebait »

Id live all the way in 4000 B.C.E if:

I was extremely handsome,tall,and high Testosterone I'm talking chad White-tyson ballou tier here.

I was polynesian

I lived on a polynesian island like moorea or Tahiti with literally a full harem of this

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

I think indigenious hunter gatherer societies were pretty cool to live in in 1813.depending on the climate of course.

Id love to be a native american,polynesian or Southeast asian during those times in the tropics.I assume picking berries,hunting,f***ing your wives and slave women,then sleeping isnt a bad way to live.

but Civilization?f**k no.
Repatriate
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Post by Repatriate »

Jester wrote:Wow. ALL of you would choose A/C, shopping malls and X-Box, over freedom and manhood?
Asian or black in the 19th century means slavery, degradation, and probably an early death.
Renata
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Post by Renata »

mrmillersd I get your point, it's not good to dwell on what one doesn't have. One should focus on what he does have in hand.

I live in Turkey & 100s of Syrians re crossing the border & flooding in. It's 35 degrees hot sun & look where they've been living for the past few months on little food & water, in tents :cry:

- It's easy to give, when you know what it's like to have nothing. -

- Develop a backbone, not a wishbone. -
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