this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2023
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Some news that would be completely mundane today but scary or shocking in the past.

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[–] kglitch@kglitch.social 146 points 1 year ago (2 children)

A convicted rapist (also charged with 91 other felonies) running for president, with as much chance as winning as the other guy.

[–] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 57 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks for saying this. I bet most americans dont know that a convicted rapist was their president. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/07/19/trump-carroll-judge-rape/

[–] andrewta@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago (4 children)

They know . A huge chunk just doesn’t care.

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[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 85 points 1 year ago (7 children)

"Man fired for criticising homosexuality", or maybe "man imprisoned for refusing to hire black person".

People are thinking about technology, but in 1923 people were very familiar with breathtaking technological change. The complete reversal of some social norms, on the other hand, would be almost existentially disturbing to these dudes who believe in the great benevolent Christian empires, and in some cases thought ending slavery was a mistake.

I have to wonder what the residents of the 1920's third world would think. I'm sure there would be many interesting perspectives.

[–] nnjethro@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Those type of headlines upset way too many people today. It's the point of the make America great again slogan.

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Only the richest people have horses. Most just use cars.

[–] luciferofastora@lemmy.zip 44 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Most international experts consider the outbreak of a third world war unlikely in spite of global surges of violence

Not mundane, but the implications would be horrifying to 1923 society still recovering from "The Great War".

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

And funny enough, still misleading about how soon the next one is. Nukes really changed the game (for better or worse) and they don't have them yet.

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[–] skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 43 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Quite a few people would be probably surprised that colonial empires are no more

as for headlines: British PM Rishi Sunak negotiates Scottish independence with First Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf

[–] skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

also anything involving european union

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[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The only known sentence that is fatal to white british men circa 1900.

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[–] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.de 37 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

– β€œYou can freely marry a Black person in most of the civilized world.”

– β€œWhy would you?”

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[–] DharmaCurious@startrek.website 32 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Climate change, same sex marriage (though, perhaps not as shocking as some might expect, ditto anything trans related), potential mars colonization, coming off the heels of the Spanish flu, COVID news would probably freak em out. Ooh, the USSR being gone, and China being a world super power. The USSR would have been new to them, and it collapsing less than a century later would probably feel quite odd, especially if you could make them understand just how incredibly advanced the USSR got in such a short amount of time. Tons of stuff.

[–] EmoDuck@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 year ago

I don't think Mars colonies would surprise them. If anything they'd expect us to have family resorts or Jupiter

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[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 27 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Just an advertisement with a smiling black guy would do.

[–] HandwovenConsensus@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] bitsplease@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

feels a bit like cheating given that the man in the picture is clearly being presented as a server, not a consumer

[–] HandwovenConsensus@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Fair. I didn't understand what OP was getting at, so I took them literally. It seemed strange to ignore that white people in the early 20th loved depictions of smiling black people in servant roles.

As for ads targeted at black consumers... now I'm curious. I know there were newspapers targeted at black readers. I wonder if they had ads.

[–] bitsplease@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yeah I think a better answer would've been "an ad with a black man smiling at his white wife"

For bonus points, make it clear in the ad that the man is a house husband and the wife is a working professional lol

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[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

A photo of Obama in the oval office

[–] kibiz0r@midwest.social 26 points 1 year ago (6 children)

You can buy groceries from a mechanical grocer, but it’ll accuse you of shoplifting like three times while checking you out.

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[–] friend_of_satan@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Many countries all around the world possess weapons that could obliterate an entire other country, or their own country if detonated by mistake, and possibly destroy the whole planet.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Well, I don't think any of the nuclear countries are small enough to be obliterated by an accidental detonation. It would just but a nice hole in Nebraska or Omsk or whatever.

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[–] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.de 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Most tram networks and passenger trains have been abolished. Yeah, and you can't walk on the street anymore.

[–] PlexSheep@feddit.de 43 points 1 year ago
[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Anything price related. Imagine telling anyone from 1920s that you paid 50 dollars for a piece of clothing.

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[–] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Most people spend more than three hours a day staring at a small mirror in their pocket that makes colorful dancing lights.

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I, and the vast majority of the world, wander around with instant access to the sum total of human knowledge, as well as the ability to instantly talk with anyone else in the world that we know. Face to face in many cases these days. These devices also allow many of us to remember that *we have a universal translator in our pockets, so language isn't even much of a barrier to communication and understanding each other.The vast majority of us use these wonderous devices to get into arguments with people we are extremely unlikely to ever meet in person.

[–] bitsplease@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago

The vast majority of us use these wonderous devices to get into arguments with people we are extremely unlikely to ever meet in person

And also about things that we generally either don't really care much about, or can't actually do anything about lol

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[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 21 points 1 year ago

Brexit would have confused a lot of people.

[–] vis4valentine@lemmy.ml 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

"A N***** WANTS TO BE PRESIDENT. AMERICA HAS LOST ITS WAYS TO INSANITY"

"F*****S PARADE AROUND THE CITY AND THEY WERENT SHOT AT FIRST SIGHT"

"PATRIOT ARRESTED FOR BURNING CROSSES"

"PEOPLE CLAIMING STATE AND CHURCH SHOULD BE SEPARATED ARE NOT FIT FOR OFFICE, THEY ARE COMMUNIST TRAITORS"

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[–] yojimbo@sopuli.xyz 17 points 1 year ago

8 billion people and growing.

[–] Bloodwoodsrisen@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nearly anything from the Onion or Florida

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[–] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 year ago (4 children)

1923?

Lenin's body lays in the mausoleum on the Red Square for the last 99 years. Impersonators of him and Stalin walk around in their daily routine, asking money for photoes with them. In a shop not far from them, you can purchaze chinese merchandize with a soviet, russian flags, as well as with a monarchist-sympatising one, even though Romanovs are as dead as they were back then. Some items cost over a thousand of rubles, a sum that was enough to buy a factory - and that's after two recent denomonations. Pretty good that these crowds of international tourists don't count their money being there, these prices can easily drive someone insane.

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[–] hackris@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 year ago (7 children)

That nearly everyone is carrying a tracking device with them, designed to disguise itself as a convenient entertainment device.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 1 year ago

Given this is the era of rising totalitarianism, maybe the surprise would be that there's no legal penalty for not carrying it; people just choose to to the point life will be difficult if you buck the trend.

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[–] 0x4E4F@infosec.pub 14 points 1 year ago (5 children)

There are still no flying cars.

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[–] makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm at the airport, and the robot waiter is standing at the bar, staring at me in a passive / aggressive manner. Taunting me with its non delivery of my food.

Now, I'm no writer, but there's a headline in that somewhere.

[–] Phen@lemmy.eco.br 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"world now has more androids than people"

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[–] baatliwala@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)

That people from my country actually had the gall to behave like our country belonged to us and not white people.

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[–] raubarno@beehaw.org 12 points 1 year ago

The storm of the U. S. Capitol would be the most shocking one, probably, as nobody dared to do that.

Also, 9/11 events, nuclear/thermonuclear bombs, nuclear power plant disasters, many things.

Technologically, the fact that an everyday laptop can deliver tens of billions of arithmetic instructions per second is still mind-boggling to me.

[–] AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Definitely the fact that we have access to technology that allows us to effectively create and spread misinformation at lightning speed, all without having to leave the comfort of our homes. Misinformation that can be seen by millions of people across the globe in a matter of moments after it is created.

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[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

ALL KNOWLEDGE OF SOLONS LOST
Recent Poll: Zero Percent of Americans Thinking About Solons

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