Is nostalgia poisonous?

PFM

PFM

resting meanie face
kiwifarms.net
Joined
Apr 24, 2021
Today I ran into a guy I hadn't seen in at least a decade. I started reminiscing about being in my 20's, less responsible, less worry etc... It's easy for me to fall into the nostalgia trap and starting listening to music that brings me back to a simpler time. What are you thoughts about nostalgia? I'm not talking about getting drunk and crying in the corner dreaming of a time past, but getting the warm and fuzzies from thinking about how things "used to be" is sometimes a bit cathartic.
 
  • Feels
Reactions: Layton Mysteries, ChucklesTheJester, Articuno4 and 5 others
There's nothing wrong with reminiscing about good memories. Just remember to keep in mind good memories are specific moments and all eras in time had ups and downs. Don't let nostalgia overtake you too much or else you'll wind up like a certain kiwi who idolizes the 2000s as some sort of utopian period where nothing bad ever happened because you could see street fighter skin.
 
  • Agree
  • Like
  • Feels
Reactions: Gravityqueen4life, Vyse Inglebard, Lensherr and 17 others
Suburban Bastard said:
There's nothing wrong with reminiscing about good memories. Just remember to keep in mind good memories are specific moments and all eras in time had ups and downs. Don't let nostalgia overtake you too much or else you'll wind up like a certain kiwi who idolizes the 2000s as some sort of utopian period where nothing bad ever happened because you could see street fighter skin.
Click to expand...
Additionally don't be nostalgic for Nickelodeon cartoons, too many workplace shooters watch Nicktoons.
 
  • Like
  • Informative
  • Agree
Reactions: Crabouse-united, Nigger Respecter, The Great Chandler and 13 others
On the one hand, it's hard not to look back fondly on the past when for the most part the world is generally shittier now than it was back then. On the other hand, I suspect part of the reason why our culture is now so shitty and stagnant is precisely because too many people have their backs willingly turned away from the future, unwilling and uncomfortable to try and make something new.

It's something of a chicken and egg conundrum: people can't stand the problems with the present, so they mentally retreat to an earlier time in their lives like a comfort blanket, but because they keep doing that nothing gets done.
 
  • Agree
  • Like
Reactions: Skookum Jim, Kiwisee, Fartificial Insmelligence and 6 others
Nostalgia translates out to: "Our Pain"

It really lies in how you use said experience. It could bring you closer to others who share similar chemical reactions when exposed to symbols and ideas, or you could become atomized in a purely imaginary realm, drowning in ennui.

The choice is yours.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: I Love Beef and PFM
I think so, or at least I think it's maladaptive and pathological.

Look at the trannies, they're absolute fiends for nostalgia, they're obsessed with the idea of themselves as kids, they're known for their historical revisionism, and known for their extreme fetishism and for their creepy and inappropriate relationship to the idea of kids and childhood.

The fact is that memory is a faulty thing, and in many cases our beliefs as to how things were really aren't that reflective of how things truly were or how we felt at the time. Personally I don't recall it being any better, it was fine, but the increased responsibility of adulthood comes with the trade off of increased mastery over your environment. It wasn't that different.

Do you actually have fond memories, or have you developed an unhealthy relationship with the idea of childhood and with the idealized, largely fictionalized sense of freedom you've grown to associate with it as an adult as a coping mechanism?

This is probably going to be a harsh and unpopular view, but at least personally I associate nostalgia with mental dysfunction. Actual real pedophiles (like the actual child molesting kind) seem to be obsessed with nostalgia, not because their childhood was that great, but because they associate children and childhood with the idea of control.

Just personally I don't have a charitable view on the idea of nostalgia, and I don't trust especially nostalgic people. It's creepy and fetishistic.
 
  • Agree
  • Autistic
Reactions: Skookum Jim, Lurky McLurkzorz, I Love Beef and 2 others
Nostalgia is like anything. Too much of it is definitely toxic, but I think there's a healthy level of it. And things were never as good as we remember them being, but I think it was Orson Welles that said something to the effect of "our ability to conjure up the idea of the 'good old days' is a testament to the human spirit".

Nostalgia for our good memories, time spent with friends, is a positive. Nostalgia as a bait to sell you products, generally is not. Now, there's nothing wrong with recalling the past while moving forward technologically. This is becoming fairly common in motorcycles, where you'll have something like the Triumph Bonneville or a Kawasaki Z900 RS; where they have a look that recalls motorcycles from decades past, but the technology is very much cutting edge stuff. It continues the attractive design of the past without sacrificing modern conveniences like electric start, EFI or ABS.

4591911-0-24633921.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Punished Derich, Lensherr, Crabouse-united and 5 others
"Is nostalgia poisonous?"

Not if one is mindful about it. For example, I grew up in the in the nineties, which were were an awesome time if you lived in the West because (early-nineties recession notwithstanding) it was an economically prosperous time and there was that euphoria from winning the Cold War. However, it sucked if you lived in the former Soviet Union because the economy was in shambles and life expectancy plummeted. Same for the former Yugoslavia where ethnic cleansing and violence were common. I doubt many in Africa or Southeast Asia were having a good time either throughout so it's all relative.

As much as I like to wax the nostalgic at times, I spent most of my twenties indulging by watching animated shows from that decade and I'm (frankly) burned out from it. I keep reminding myself, the past is not what it used to be. Like many have stated before me, corporations are strip-mining our nostalgia for a comparatively happier time (let's face it, mainstream culture has gone down the shitter) and sell it back to us in the form of useless trinkets or completely bastardize it by superimposing current year politics on it. The worst part of it is the sobering reality that people have changed since those halcyon days, we have all changed, and there is no going back to it.

For example, Disney will be releasing X-Men '97 on their streaming service as a continuation of the series that aired on Fox Kids from 1992 to 1997 with most of the surviving cast returning to reprise their roles. My big problem with it is that most of the staff writers are like talentless and politically motivated hacks who want to inject their personal ideology into it as Millennials and Zoomer are won't to do. Moreover, it will never replicate the excitement of getting up early on Saturday mornings or running home after school to catch the latest episode as its audience are socially-maladjusted adults living with their parents or in some rental property because house prices are insane and the student-loan scheme left them heavily indebted.

I just learned how to channel it into a creative endeavor as a positive outlet, which helps give me purpose in life.
 
  • Like
  • Feels
Reactions: The Gifted Kid, Michael Jacks0n, make_it_so and 3 others
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back