During interviews,has Miep Gies stated that society has changed for the better since the 1940 era?
487535
I have not seen anything that says it is better.\n\nWhat message should the young people of today pass on about Anne's story? \nThe message to take from Anne's story is to stop prejudice and discrimination right at its beginning. Prejudice starts when we speak about THE Jews, THE Arabs, THE Asians, THE Mexicans, THE Blacks, THE Whites. This leads to the feeling that all members of each such group think and act the same. That results in prejudice. Lumping entire groups of people together is RACISM, because it denies the fact that everyone is an individual. Even our own brothers and sisters or parents are not exactly like we are. So how do we dare to lump entire groups of people together? If any German had ever asked Anne to tell something about herself, I think she would be still with us today. However, nobody asked: she was just a Jew! Therefore, never base your opinion about anybody else on the color of that person's skin, or on the passport that a person carries, or on the family that person comes from, but only on what the person says and does and on NOTHING ELSE.
818447
Dear 070707bride,\n\nI think Messier here is very much on the mark. In a word, everything is a big problem. Let me break it up into a few main themes to make it easier.\n\nMATERIAL MATTERS: We are a generation where employment opportunities are much fewer and competition much stronger than in the past. My father managed to rise to a very rewarding position inside a multinational corporation with no university education. This would practically be unthinkable today. Instead we are having to spend much more time and money on education and obtaining qualifications. We are independent much later than our parents, and feel great guilt for that.\n\nCompetition has been exacerbated by the massive entrance of women into the job market, for instance: this is a good thing, but the problem now is that the demands of the economy make it very difficult to have a materially satisfying home life with only one income-earner. There is nothing wrong with being a housewife or househusband: but economic as well as cultural constraints (this condition is marginalised and ridiculed nowadays) mean that people who want to do it (for the sake of the children, their own development, etc) no longer can.\n\nThe concept of rewarding, life-long careers is also disappearing because small and medium enterprises are vanishing to the profit of huge organisations with little or no personal connection to their employees - the economy is also increasingly fast and virtual, so this means that these same organisations are under pressure to report results at a frantic rate and will not hesitate to effect massive redundancies to meet short-term financial targets.\n\nFinally, the price of real estate is ridiculously high, which means young people can no longer afford their own home and will have to wait for many years to get it. All this has a direct impact on the next theme:\n\nHOME LIFE: Since both partners in a household need to work nowadays, stress levels skyrocket and partners tend to offload it upon each other. There is no longer solace in the home, which leads to a great strain on relationships in general and a breakdown in mental health. One in 10 people is supposed to suffer from mental illness nowadays (twenty years ago it was one in 10,000) and it is no coincidence that the average age for a first depressive episode is the mid- to late 20s.\n\nBecause the condition of household manager has been discredited (see above), there is no longer a choice in priorities and everyone is supposed to be both a career enthusiast and a competent house manager at the same time. This is an unprecedented strain in the history of home life.\n\nThis is also bad for children, obviously, since there is no choice but to leave them in the hands of nannies or daycare centres, thus leading to a great neglect in upbringing and a constant sense of guilt for the parents. This also means that we have a poor birthrate, because we have to wait much longer than our own parents to enjoy the material means to start a family. Women especially now only have a tiny window of opportunity to have children before it's too late.\n\nIDENTITY: We Generation Xers face a permanent existential crisis. We were born in the midst of a general downfall of practically all existing human institutions. We are the generation that saw the collapse of communism, the demise of Enlightenment values, the breakdown of national identities under the influence of globalisation, the return of religious fanaticism and the triumphant excesses of a devil-may-care consumer society. As a result, the cultural landmarks that previous generations defined themselves by are not there for us. We are at a true crossroads in human values.\n\nSome have accused us of wanting everything now, but we cannot be entirely blamed for that - we are after all the generation that has been most overexposed to drivelling and relentless advertisement campaigns urging us to want and be everything now, this minute. By heeding this propaganda, our
327780
Actually it is a lot less than it used to be. I am 58 and I remember segregation and white people talking about Negroes and "colored people" in a derogatory way. Today a lot of those same groups of people have black friends or work with black people and there is a lot less of that than there used to be. Yes, there are people, usually of a lower socioeconomic class who are still acting that way because they see educated black people getting better jobs than they do and don't want to admit it is because that person is smarter and better educated and they want to bring them below them so they have someone to look down on. They don't want to admit that the problem is themselves.
298443
No it's not fair, we are in another time period and in my opinion I think there are more negative things going on  these days than say 40 or 50 years ago so it's harder to be a young person now and older people can't always see it that way.
1120919
Not necessarily regressing, more like changing.  Each generation reflects the signs of the times and prior generations won't or can't realize the change and their hand in that change.  \n\nTimes are changing.  It's easy for one generation to deride another because people don't cope w/ change well - the older, the more set in their ways.  Prior generations fail to realize the generation after theirs are not being shaped by their generation's psychosocial norms.  \n\nWith each generation, the stakes escalate - alcohol, pot, cocaine, LSD, downers, X, prescription drugs, and now meth.\n\nTaking it one step further:  The truth hurts.  Prior generations rarely acknowledge THEY'VE created the environment which shapes present and future generations.  Each child is a  product of the environment the ADULTS create.  \n\nComplaining about "a child out of control"?  I always ask, "Who's at home parenting the child?"  \n\nComplaining about kids being materialistic?  I always ask, "You do realize the ADULTS are the ones who knowingly market to kids right?"
893794
Not necesssarily.  The young may, or may not, have better morals, but they tend to have more confidence in the future.  It is the middle aged person who has reached the plateau, and is perhaps seeing younger people being promoted over him, who is likely to go bad.
3505
Now. Just OMO.\n  We live in luxury and comfort, with health and longevity, medical care and security, social and otherwise, enjoyed by even the lowest classes in society, that the Aristocrats, Kings and Emperors of the past, would envy, including our Education. Intellectual life was never so good, and\nwe are overwhelmed with the variety and ways we can entertain ourselves. \n  I believe that future civilisations will look back on us now as a Golden Age, perhaps calling us Roosevelts America, as some historians refer to Pericles Athens as the highpoint and golden Age of Athens and Greece.
642351
Hey things are changing\n2002 was in S. Korea
1002598
no, i'm not satisfied with today's lifestyle.\nthough we might have increase in technology, science, etc.\nwe have a decrease in the qualities of life. more individu suffering, more broken family, more poverty.\ni do admire the neolitics era where people live in small community, independent, they fulfill their need themselves, they have lands (since industrial revolution, many people lost their land to small powerful people), they know each other neightbour very well.\n\nbut it isn't impossible to have those life qualities for present, everthing changes and evolves. the main problem for present is global inequality. greed capitalism. consumerism. environment crises. greed. ignorance. we just have to re-establish on our perception on meaning of life, the world.
576834
There were many key things that happened in the 1940's, but the one thing that has changed the world forever was the development of the atomic bomb.\n\nHistory has seen several major shifts:\nStone age\nBronze age\nIron age\nit could be argued that the Manhattan project ushered in a new age, the Nuclear age, and now for the first time in history we have the ability to potentially wipe out humanity.
355504
The role of women has not changed.\n\nthe rights of women have changed.\n\nit all started with the suffragets and also women in new zealand getting the right to vote in the early 20th century, followed by australia then gradually most of the world.\n\nBut what really increased women's rights was world war 2. There were very few men left in the countries involved during the war and after the war in countries such as Germany, there were very few able bodied men at all. Most were killed or crippled. This meant woman had to perform domestic duties and staff the factories.\n\nBut the role of women has not really changed, they are still predominately the child raisers, and still perform most domestic duties, they just don't get abused as much if they choose to work.\n\nVery similar to black rights, they have the right to vote and are free. But whites are still cross the road to avoid them and still think of them as "niggers" even if they don't say it.\n\nGenetically we are all pretty much the same, I personally don't believe in race and i don't judge people by their sex. If we all become this way and accept that it is best to look at your own faults than every one else's, we may get some where better
527904
what is a gove?\n\nno war. if the 1960s did not foment war, I don't see it happening in this decade.  \n\nfor real change to take place in the 1930s, 30% of the country had to be unemployed.  current unemployment hovers at 5% and illegal immigrants at 5%...no current   disenfranchised group in the us is ready for war. terrorism? it can happen anytime..only takes one nut job.\n\npm me about what the heck gove is.
291996
Interesting question. It definitely was a time of much greater innocence on the part of the public. There was little of the "muckraking" of today, so we didn't see much of the seamier side of politics. There were backroom deals, of course, but we didn't know of them.\nPoliticians such as Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson were articulate and seemingly honest. \nThere were notable similarities to today, specifically the McCarthy era in the early 1950s. Politicians then were searching for the Commies and the Commie-sympathizers, and especially focused on the film industry and universities.\nThere were few and infrequent news sources compared to today. Newspapers, radio, film, and the fledgling tv interests gave us news headlines.\nThere also seemed to be much more willingness of democrats and republicans to be civil towards each other, both at the level of political parties and among individuals, as compared to the current atmosphere.\nOverall, the country was far more conservative in its values. Females tended to be homemakers; no one would admit to being gay or lesbian; minorities had little access to jobs and power; environmental concerns were of little interest. One of the few things that tended more toward a democratic position was the power of unions at that time--they were much more prominent.
848247
Things haven't change a bit sinse then compared to 50's and 60's esp during the segregation period. Georgia, is the most racist state I know, and mississippi too. I think it's really racist everywhere, things havent changed, martin king did have a dream, that all whites and black would be sitting at the table together, well that dream did come true, because we do have alot of interracial marriages more than we did back in the day. I think now statistically, even the "majority" will disagree with this. but minorities are now becoming the majoritities....
951845
It's become much more polarized.  Rather than genuine discourse, people rely on catchy phrases that often mischaracterize what is really meant.
82613
Miss Manners thinks it to be important for you to pose this question and for you and others to ponder the demise of manners.  Some of you have made important observations.\n\nTake a close look at society and culture before the 1960s and you will find many clues to the revolutions of our times.
521106
In the 1960's people did many of the same things that you do today.  We had all of the advantages of modern times however we were not so sexually promiscuous.  Abortion was not legal, and the pill was still in the experimental stages.  In the late sixties that changed and coupled with a sudden onslaught of marajuana there came about a period called free love when many people experimented with new found sexual freedom and a sub culture of drug experimentation began.\n\nMore people read avidly the Internet was far from  available and really would not be used by just everyone for many more years.  I just read that someone said we listened to the radio... we listened to music on the radio but dramatic programs on the radio ceased when television became popular shortly after WWII by the time the sixties rolled around pretty much everyone had color tv.\n\nWe debated a great deal there were many social changes in the making.  Mom's were making the move into the job  market and it created great angst in many homes when women left there homemaking chores for jobs that paid actual money.  \n\nThere was a war in SE Asia and we were all very anxious about our friends and loved ones there.  In fact it can be truly said that anyone who had not been there had someone they knew or loved who had.  It was incredibly frightening we watched on the news every night afraid that we would not see our loved one and afraid if we did it would not be the kind of sight that we wanted to see.\n\nMeanwhile at home there was huge social change as racial equality became the issue of the day.  Not everyone on either side rapidly embraced the changes as there was fear coming at this issue from every direction.  Bad as things are now huge strides have been made and we applaud them many of us risked a great deal to make these changes happen.\n\nSocial life did not revolve around anyone thing, not everyone went to church in fact it was the beginning of a time when folks who had gone to church started to fall away people were disillusioned with all the distruction caused in the war and many blamed God.\n\nThere was a new awakening with regard to the enviornment we wanted to leave the world a better place for our children and we had huge debates on how to make that happen.  There were more young people in the United States than old people a result of the post  WWII baby boom.  The country for a time put all of its emphasis on what to do with all those young folks.\n\nI hope that helps there's tons more.  I was born in 1946 I remember the sixties well and I can tell you this.  There were such wonderful and diverse things happening that it would be impossible to put them all here.  Please don't use blanket statements when you refer to the people of that era it would be as inaccurate to do so as it would to say that all people living today like hip hop.  It was a large world with a huge population even then and if we had anything in common with each other it was that we were all doing our own thing.  Much as people do today.