The hit Netflix show Stranger Things romanticized the 1980s and made many 80s kids feel nostalgic for this bygone era. But nostalgia is always a liar. It makes us remember things differently than how things actually happened and make us think that the past was better than it was.
When we think of the 80s, we like to think of MTV when it actually played music videos, Saturday morning cartoons, and Converse chucks. However, those memories have been heavily filtered by the winds of time.
The 80s were far less awesome than Stranger Things would have us believe. While there may not have been monsters lurking in an alternate dimension who sometimes broke through, there was plenty to not enjoy about this woeful decade.
1. The Decade Began With An International Hostage Crisis
In November of 1979, civil unrest in Iran was boiling, as the country was still in the throes of a populist revolution that ended 2500 years of monarchy. Central to the revolution was anger at the United States, which had supported the tyrannical shah in oppressing the Iranian people.
So in November, radical students from the University of Tehran stormed the US embassy and took over four dozen embassy workers hostage. They remained in captivity for 444 days before finally being released, meaning that the first year and a half of the 1980s were infused with an international hostage crisis.