Yes, they were, but at a great cost to everyone who wasn’t a white man.
All of my life I have heard people say that the past was better than the present. I am tired of hearing this BS. People who say this never acknowledge the benefits of living in the present.
Every year we have tremendous breakthroughs and advantages to living. People who talk about the ease of living in the past never give up the benefits of the present. Ask anyone if they are willing to give up their smartphone. Or the Internet, or Netflix, or cheap prices on so many things. Ask them if they are willing to turn back their rights on women’s, minority, or non-heterosexual rights. Ask them if they would prefer returning to a dirtier environment, more hunger, more poverty, and disease. Ask them what year they would like to return to, and then remind them of the harder lifestyle that the average person had back then.
Even though life has gotten more complicated and more choices exist, we are all better off. Yes, we know more pain in the world now, but we also know more pleasure. We know more now than we ever did. Libraries were only as good as the books they had, but the Internet levels the playing field for people in a way that never existed before. We have more ability to help ourselves and more opportunities than ever before. Rather than depend on 3 channels, we have a wide variety of information.
People who say that things were simpler in the past obviously don’t value all the benefits they enjoy now. I can’t believe when people say that, they they would rather live in a past that didn’t have MRI machines when they were sick. Or advanced safety systems like airbags in cars. Or cleaner food with the higher availability of organic food.
I don’t see anything being better in the past compared to the present. If having an easy and simple life is your goal, the present is much better than the past. What exactly from the past do you think is better?