It seems like everyday some millennial is posting another 90's pic or perhaps a throwback to the 90's that shows the decade in HUGE rose-tinted glasses. Even MTV is rebranding VH1 Classic to exhibit all of our old 90's favorite tv shows, but this really does beg to ask the question…
Were the 90's even exceptional?
Let's break it down. The 90's represent this time of innocence for us millennial kids. I was playing outside, feeding (or at least trying to) our tamagotchi, and we were all watching sitcoms like Friends or Family Matters. We were the generation that technology and terror hit pretty hard. This generation was constantly aware of what was going on with our friends online, which turned into cyber bullying. We also thought the world was the safest place, until 9/11 hit us with a double dose of reality. Were the 90s really all that innocent or were we simply ignorant to it all?
The answer, I hate to say it, is the latter. We romanticized this decade because it resembles a time where we were immune to the goings on of the world. We weren't aware of terror threats or world violence, although the 90's were still chock full of it. I was also living in an age of misrepresentation and institutionalized racism that we only seem to be acknowledging today. And this has to stop.
The millennial generation must realize that the 90's were just like messed up as today, and even perhaps worse. Take the 90's favorite show, F.R.I.E.N.D.S. The show was supposed to represent the modern adult, however did it really represent everyone? The show is lacking any representation of people of color, but can also be inherently sexist as well. Rachel, the key lady is a waitress, while her counterpart Ross is really a doctor of paleontology. None of the female figures in the show end up alone and also the show is solely based on the dating life of women, who continually fear being alone. Doesn't sound so great through that lense now does it?
Also, take the show, Family Matters which has recently propelled itself in the spotlight for having scenes that discuss police brutality and Black Lives Matter. For a show that aired twenty-five years ago, this shows proves the racism that exists today and existed within the grand era of the 90's. Also, if you care to really educate yourself on police brutality and racism take a look into the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Then return to me if you think the 90's counseled me fun and wonderful like MTV wants us to believe.
For us millennials it is understandable why we'd want to revisit the time prior to the computer, Instagram, and Facebook. However, in reality, most of us get our news and knowledge of the world around us from our smart phones and our handheld devices. We understand the want to be free from the attachments to social media, but in this want we must realize that it's not a want to get away from technology, but a want to be more ignorant to the issues that face us in the world.
My advice to millennials is, and I absolutely hate when people tell me this, but the past may be the past. The baby boomers remained as ruining things, but the 90's didn't represent a time period of innovation, however they represented a time of judgement, racism, and ignorance of world issues. Educate yourselves Generation Y!
