Whoever thinks the 90s were America's golden years is retarded.
Actually, I get why people look back at the 90's as a lost golden age, especially when compared to the 2010's and 2020.
Part of it is Millennial childhood nostalgia similar to the Boomer idyllic view of the 50's and 60's or Gen X's nostalgia for the 70's and 80's. But there's also an element to it that goes beyond mere nostalgia.
The 90's saw a massive economic boom in the United States and while crime was rampant in certain inner city areas, it was a lot more isolated and localized compared to the rest of the country and less intense than the even more widespread rates of violent crime in the 70's and 80's.
Not only was there a vibrant pop culture and a booming economy with burgeoning new technology, there was a sense of optimism that things were finally going to get better and we were headed to the future as we got closer to the New Millennium. People actually believed Francis Fukuyama's "End of History" theory had actual merit and at the time, it seemed kind of reasonable for the average American.
The Cold War ended peacefully and we were no longer living in fear of the inevitable nuclear apocalypse while the idea of a "War on Terror" seemed ridiculous at the time. There was a lot of shady stuff that was going on behind closed doors with the Clintons and the Bushes, but it was all closed doors and didn't extend beyond jokes about Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky.
9/11 was the first major blow to that mindset and then the Great Recession and the rise of Web 2.0 were the final nails in the coffin.
Shit like this is the scientific equivalent of horoscopes, man - you can make any situation fit it if you torture the metaphor enough.
Everything's mouse utopia, everythings exactly what marx said would happen, everything's a perfect comparison to ancient civilisation number 75... until it isn't, then the next thing is.
Agreed for the most part, although at least the Mouse Utopia has slightly more room to stand on than the writings of Marx or comparing directly to long gone ancient civilizations. It is interesting that the Mouse Utopia was an experiment to test the effects of overpopulation in a group whose needs are catered to and the Earth is at its most populated its ever been in history.
But as already pointed out, the Mouse Utopia was also laboratory controlled and mice aren't sapient like humans are.
Lolcows are the biggest examples of this. Think of how many of these guys could have gotten genuine help or at least rotted in peace if the Web didn't exist.
Eh, there were plenty of pre-internet lolcows like Jack Chick (who was also a major Web 1.0 lolcow and was active during the Web 1.5 and 2.0 eras) or Dan Quayle plus Florence Foster Jenkins and William McGonagall even before that and most lolcows were usually localized as the village idiot or that weirdo who lives across the street.
The vast majority of lolcows wouldn't be found without the internet and some of them would get help but CWC was pretty much screwed long before he was even discovered by the internet
