Drake, Justin Bieber, a million whiny guys playing a soft guitar, and Kelly Clarkson? Turn that garbage off. Give me Tupac, Biggie, Puffy, Busta, Snoop, or whoever from 1996 over Drake. Hell, give me all of the grunge movement over today's radio. Music hasn't just gone backwards- it's gone off a cliff. Maybe it's the consolidation of major radio, maybe it's about inferior art, I don't know. I only know what I do know- 1996 was a lot better for music. I'll take Green Day's worst 1990s album over anything from Sam Smith.
Sports? All you need to know is that in today's NBA, "moving picks" were apparently legalized, secretly, to help create a Steph Curry. Seriously though, Steph is "the new Jordan," which makes me really long for 1996, when we had the real Jordan. The NBA isn't alone here, Sidney Crosby is about to become the player of his generation if he wins Stanley Cup #2. Just let that sink in- he sure as hell isn't the player or man that Gretzky, Lemieux, or even Messier was. I won't bother comparing Kershaw to past pitchers, I'll just say that even the onslaught of sabermetrics has dumbed down baseball to a point where guys who never played baseball beyond coach-pitch are telling you that everything can be boiled down to their algorithm. Don't get me started on the NFL- I'm not a fan.
Politics, you ask? In 1996, the great President Bill Clinton was seeking re-election amidst a world at peace and a booming economy. He was cool, relatable to normal people, and pandered to interest groups far less than today's candidates. I guess that's just how the world works though. In 1996, our politics were simple- are things better off than four years ago- and since the answer was yes, we kept our successful President. If you disagreed though, you at least had a sane, capable, respectable human being to choose in Bob Dole. Today, if you don't want to pick the sane choice, Hillary Clinton, you have a carnival clown in Donald Trump on the right, being supported by KKK chapters and other fringe, right-wing radical groups. Don't get me started on Bernie either, because well, I'm not really a fan of hard-line ideological candidacies for President. The silver-lining is of course that President Obama is cool, and is kind of the Bill Clinton of today, but more historic. That's just one dude though.
We're debating whether or not to kill gorillas, who should be in what bathroom, and ..... oh wait....
Ok, the music sucks, the sports aren't as cool, and yes, I like Bill Clinton. Hang on though, just a minute- if you read this far down, it's probably worth noting that while 1996 was awesome, we live in a world that every previously departed person would probably kill to live in. Advancements in medicine, technology, law, the internet, human rights, and every other area of life have made the world a more fair, safe, and opportune place to live than ever before. More people than ever have access to health care, and more often than ever before we now expose and remove dictators and leaders who violate human rights.
Vaccines in Africa. Broadband in rural America. Democratic uprisings in the Middle East. A Europe at peace. We live in a world that is far improved on any world previous to us. Yes, there are failings, and yes, sometimes we feel like we're going backwards. There are the Trump supporters, people who think the President was born in Kenya, and people who believe in crazy conspiracy theories. This is part of life. Not everyone handles progression well. Still, if you live in the United States in 2016, you live in the greatest, most advanced, most sophisticated society in human history.
So yeah, the music sucks. Stop complaining. Embrace reality.
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