The Future We Didn't Get

[ecosophia]

There are times when I wonder why so many people seem so freaky these days, and then I remember this. 

This is the future we were supposed to get.  Two generations of Americans grew up being told that this was what they could expect, in newspaper ads like this one and in countless other venues. Next time you go for a walk or even look out the window, compare what you see to the image above, and measure the gap between them. The cognitive dissonance between the future we were told we were going to get and the one that's actually arrived is, I think, the single largest cause of the collective nervous breakdown unfolding around us right now. 

Comments

[isabelcooper]

I myself am deeply disappointed by not travelling in giant flying donuts. :P

Actually, I'm more disappointed that I can't make my hair look like that. Although I would like a donut.

[ecosophia]

There's got to be a good guide to early 1950s women's hairstyles somewhere!

[(Anonymous)]

I'm guessing this ad is from 1960. Before Vietnam started to ruin our self-image. And that Eichler looking house in the photo: just visit Palo Alto where there are whole neighborhoods full of those. Two kids, a family dog, a stylish wife, and a two saucer garage attached to your Eichler!

[(Anonymous)]

Also did you notice nobody in the flying car is wearing a seatbelt? Definitely before the 70s. I forget when they were mandated. And pre-plastic bag as well. The groceries are sitting in a nice paper bag.

JLfromNH/Emerald Shabby Bat

Seat belt mandates

[slclaire]

The lap belt was mandated sometime in the 1960s. As a child I helped my father install lap belts into our family car which did not have them. This would have been about the mid 1960s, when I was old enough to help but my brother was still too young. The next car my parents bought had lap belts as standard equipment. The shoulder belt was added in the 1970s; as I recall our 1975 station wagon had them.

[(Anonymous)]

Theory) The dog in the back seat is actually the one who knows what's up and is calling the shots.