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I grew up deep in Reagan's America in the 1980's and it was a paranoid, wretched time and place to be a child. The absolute worst thing about the Trump years is

I grew up deep in Reagan's America in the 1980's and it was a paranoid, wretched time and place to be a child. The absolute worst thing about the Trump years is they reminded me of growing up in Billings, Montana. Trump has nothing as far as destruction of this country compared to Reagan. You want to trace the end of the American Empire -- put that blame on Reagan and his acolytes first.

DaveExeter 5y ago
Billings, Montana? I don't care who is the president, growing up in Billings Montana will always suck!
- lindseymysse 5y ago
  Maybe it was the place. But it was all very wretched
Diederich 5y ago
> wretched time and place to be a child I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and can certainly complain about a lot of things about that time. In your mind, what are the top few most wretched aspects of that time? I grew up in south central Los Angeles, and so gang and drug crime would be the top of my list.
- lindseymysse 5y ago
  I grew up in an ultra-conservative church called the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, that uses techniques like this: https://www.lutheranforum.com/blog/mobbing-systemic-spiritual-abuse-in-the-lcms https://www.lutheranforum.com/blog/mobbing-systemic-spiritua... to enforce it's very narrow, literal interpretation of the bible. Yes, of course they are physically and sexually abusive, and they use mobbing techniques against 5-11 year olds. Of course they idolized Reagan like a god, also. I live in LA now and ride the bus through South Central, and I've lived there and I have found that place far more welcoming to me than I ever did back in Montana. So, YMMV and the grass is always greener. But I'm a lot happier in the poor parts of LA than I ever was in Billings, Montana.
  - Diederich 5y ago
    Wow that's rough, sorry you went through that growing up. South central has enormously improved since the late 70s up through the early 90s. As a kid, I was personally shot up a couple of times from the street. Crack houses were everywhere, and the gangs were pretty terrifying.
    - lindseymysse 5y ago
      I had two guns in my face by the time I left Elementary school, and I remember police officers marching down my block with rifles. People in Montana are armed to the teeth and often times drunk / high on meth. Houses were blowing up because they were meth factories on my block. There were drive bys in the 90's. The predators in the elementary school are allowed to prey. While I don't want to discount how bad things were in South Central back then, a lot of white people crime is swept under the rug and a lot of crime in ethnically diverse neighborhoods is splashed on front page news.
      - Diederich 5y ago
        Thank you for illuminating that, it's important.
deleted 5y ago
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jayspell 5y ago
I grew up in Reagan's America, and I didn't find it paranoid or wretched. I remember a lot of optimism around the space program and the fall of the Berlin wall. There were great movies, great music, shopping malls, arcades, and we were united as a country. I find few, if any parallels, to the Trump years. Trump is the polar opposite of Reagan in terms of communication style IMO.
- lindseymysse 5y ago
  There was an open and aggressive disdain for anyone different back then. I am autistic as the average HN reader, and my home town was shockingly abusive to me. I tried not thinking about it for 20+ years after leaving that place, but now I look back at that period of my life and reel. The abuse they tolerated back then...
- SavantIdiot 5y ago
  United? Being gay was a lot harder under Reagan and his moral majority, and his wretched politics around AIDS, and the rise of his Christian conservative warriors made any non-normative lifestyle hell.

DaveExeter 5y ago

Billings, Montana? I don't care who is the president, growing up in Billings Montana will always suck!

lindseymysse 5y ago
Maybe it was the place. But it was all very wretched

Diederich 5y ago

> wretched time and place to be a child I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and can certainly complain about a lot of things about that time. In your mind, what are the top few most wretched aspects of that time? I grew up in south central Los Angeles, and so gang and drug crime would be the top of my list.

lindseymysse 5y ago
I grew up in an ultra-conservative church called the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, that uses techniques like this: https://www.lutheranforum.com/blog/mobbing-systemic-spiritual-abuse-in-the-lcms https://www.lutheranforum.com/blog/mobbing-systemic-spiritua... to enforce it's very narrow, literal interpretation of the bible. Yes, of course they are physically and sexually abusive, and they use mobbing techniques against 5-11 year olds. Of course they idolized Reagan like a god, also. I live in LA now and ride the bus through South Central, and I've lived there and I have found that place far more welcoming to me than I ever did back in Montana. So, YMMV and the grass is always greener. But I'm a lot happier in the poor parts of LA than I ever was in Billings, Montana.
- Diederich 5y ago
  Wow that's rough, sorry you went through that growing up. South central has enormously improved since the late 70s up through the early 90s. As a kid, I was personally shot up a couple of times from the street. Crack houses were everywhere, and the gangs were pretty terrifying.
  - lindseymysse 5y ago
    I had two guns in my face by the time I left Elementary school, and I remember police officers marching down my block with rifles. People in Montana are armed to the teeth and often times drunk / high on meth. Houses were blowing up because they were meth factories on my block. There were drive bys in the 90's. The predators in the elementary school are allowed to prey. While I don't want to discount how bad things were in South Central back then, a lot of white people crime is swept under the rug and a lot of crime in ethnically diverse neighborhoods is splashed on front page news.
    - Diederich 5y ago
      Thank you for illuminating that, it's important.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

jayspell 5y ago

I grew up in Reagan's America, and I didn't find it paranoid or wretched. I remember a lot of optimism around the space program and the fall of the Berlin wall. There were great movies, great music, shopping malls, arcades, and we were united as a country. I find few, if any parallels, to the Trump years. Trump is the polar opposite of Reagan in terms of communication style IMO.

lindseymysse 5y ago
There was an open and aggressive disdain for anyone different back then. I am autistic as the average HN reader, and my home town was shockingly abusive to me. I tried not thinking about it for 20+ years after leaving that place, but now I look back at that period of my life and reel. The abuse they tolerated back then...
SavantIdiot 5y ago
United? Being gay was a lot harder under Reagan and his moral majority, and his wretched politics around AIDS, and the rise of his Christian conservative warriors made any non-normative lifestyle hell.