I share your nostalgia Chris. Earlier today I had a discussion with a 27 year old who told me that he had never bought a movie or a music album. I was flabbergasted because growing up in the 80s/90s, there was so much art and film and music that I felt deserved a spot in my collection for unlimited lifetime enjoyment.

As the streaming age began to phase itself in, I felt it was still important to support the artists I love by purchasing their work.

Eventually, from the mid-90s and on, digital piracy and YouTube gave the option of being able to enjoy content without needing to pay for it. And this, I think, is the reason why the 00s and 10s lack a signature zeitgeist in terms of culture. Well, that’s not entirely correct, I think the 00s/10s will be known for the cynical anti-hero inversion of traditional storytelling and music.

But I digress. I just wanted to comment and share my sadness with you regarding culture in this time and age. It’s a difficult period for kids to grow up in, I imagine, when you and I have had an amazing childhood free of cynicism, social activism and fragmentation/isolationism.

I think we can blame a number of things for this. Cell phones, digital piracy, instant gratification culture, mass immigration, higher costs of living, lack of shared social cohesion, destruction of the family unit, blurring the lines between genders, normalization of what was once deviant sexual behaviour and so on.

I’ve decided that there’s not much I personally can do to elevate culture to the bar that the 80s/90s have set. We seem to be a species now living without an identity.

It seems like the collective unconsciousness has decided to say, “fuck it” to traditional ways of being and perceiving. I think this is the root of our malaise, which seemed to take hold somewhere in the mid to late 90s once political correctness and gangster rap began growing prevalent.

Sighs. Sorry for the rant. Your article triggered me ☺