Looking Back From an ‘80s Perspective

I was amazed at the 1980s Zeitgeist apparent in the Times’ recent analysis of the resurgence of 1960s nostalgia (“Hanging On to the ‘60s” by Beth Ann Krier, March 20). Miniskirts, “Leave It to Beaver,” “The Munsters”--do these explain or even perpetuate 1960s nostalgia? Give me a break.

Your observations themselves go a long way in explaining my disgust with the 1980s and its focus on the most superficial, vacuous, and meaningless aspects of society. Trapped within a 1980s perspective, I am certain that many people are mystified by the popularity of 1960s music, culture, and fashion.

The ‘60s culture is popular simply because it represents the most recent period in our history that was not characterized by the superficiality and loss of focus of the 1970s, or the rapid growth of bigotry, repression, narrow-mindedness, and obsolescence of conscious thought of the 1980s.

I am 23 years old. Although I feel fortunate to have avoided the draft and many of the negative results of the turmoil during the 1960s, I also feel cheated in a way to be spending my youth in a period in American history when societal values seem largely opposed to intellectual and spiritual growth.

DAVID LAKE

Hawthorne