Hey! I liked the 1990s!

I just ran into a post on TKS at National Review Online:

RANDOM THOUGHT ON MICHAEL JACKSON

Word of that the jury had reached verdict broke a bit before bedtime in my time zone.
We watched the cable network reporters talking excitedly without any knowledge of the decision, and the in-studio talking heads speculating madly about the verdict. We saw the helicopter-camera crews track the approach of Michael Jackson's convoy to the courthouse. We stared dumbfoundedly at the insane crowd of seemingly ordinary Californians intensely emotionally invested in the trial of a celebrity.

Did anyone else get the vibe, "Hey, it's the 1990s again!"

Regardless of how conservative Americans may feel about being governed through the immoral reign of Bill Clinton, the 1990s were still a pretty good period.

When celebrity trials get lots of play isn't that a far better indicator of a society's troubles than when terrorism, war, etc. dominate the headlines all the time? Those issues - terrorism, war, etc. aren't really in anyone's control, but it's still nice to see them out of the headlines.

I wrote a post a few months ago, discussing my thoughts about why the 1990s were a great period in history.