In response to the Berlin Crisis of 1961, President John F. Kennedy chose to encourage everyday Americans to construct homemade bunkers. Civilians could suddenly mitigate their fears of a nuclear holocaust through consumption, and thus prepper culture was born. This week the boys are joined by the writer and community builder Anna Savina to discuss preppers, survivalists, and other groups that have doomsday inspired “exit strategies.” They begin by examining the zine she created on bunkers, Bunker Mentality, to explain how bunkers fit into the story of how Americans shifted from being citizens to being consumers. Amongst other things they discuss how the towers that existed in medieval Italian cities were an early form of bunkers, how prepper culture seems to thrive in the interior of the United States rather than the coasts, and how the prepper aesthetics depicted in Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding were beautiful but ultimately not representative of prepper culture.

Links:

Prepper Aesthetics Pinterest Board

Anya is Typing…

Anna Savina’s Twitter

Prepper Lingo: Terms, Slang, and Acronyms from A-Z

Towers of Bologna, Italy in the 12th Century

San Gimignano

Preppers in Death Stranding

New Survivalism by Parsons & Charlesworth, The Object Guardian

Conservative guy afraid of cities meme

Why We Love the Apocalypse - EP183 by The Casual Preppers Podcast

Wikipedia Database download

Graph of the Population of Rome Through History

Artwork:

How to build a fallout shelter, 1957

Creative Commons CC0 License

Recorded on 6/19/2024

Full episode available on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SilentGeneration

Many themes thus far discussed on Silent Generation are present in fast food culture: car-centrism, postwar decline, Americanism, and uniforms. This week the boys are joined by Mathieu (who goes by Sleepy on Discord) to talk about McDonald’s, CosMc’s, Taco Bell, In-N-Out Burger, Wendy’s, and Culver’s in detail. Chicago has four (in)famous McDonald’s locations that they pay particular attention to: Rock 'n' Roll McDonald's, CrackDonald’s, Jungle McDonald’s, and the McDonald's Global Menu Restaurant. Amongst other things they discuss the decline of fast food architecture from its Googie architecture highs, chains that are holding on for dear life like KewPee Hamburgers and Quizno’s, and their favorite discontinued menu items.

Links:

White Castle #16

Googie 101: A Space-Age Pop-Architecture Primer

Tokyo Toni 80 Pieces of Chicken

McDonald’s Broke My Heart from Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History Podcast

Rock N Roll McDonalds by Wesley Willis

Why McDonald’s looks sleek and boring now

Nonstandard McDonalds

The site of the former “jungle Mcdonald’s” on Google Maps

The rise and fall of Wendy’s sun rooms

Breaking Points: We Were TRICKED By Red Lobster Endless Shrimp Excuse!

What Happened To Chipotle?

Artwork:

Art Deco McDonald’s from Nonstandard McDonald’s

Clifton Hill, Melbourne, Australia

Recorded on 6/9/2024

On this week’s episode Joseph and Nathan examine sportswear worn by both athletes and their fans. Episode 14 of Silent Generation already covered Olympic sports, so this week’s episode focuses on major league sports. They cover each of the following: baseball, basketball, football, golf, hockey, and soccer (plus rugby, road cycling, and tennis for good measure). Amongst other things they discuss how White Sox players briefly wore shorts in the 1970s, how rappers popularized hockey jerseys in the 1990s, how cyclists were depicted in The Triplets of Belleville, and how coaches (like Tom Landry and Pat Riley) dressed better prior to league-wide contracts.

Links:

Sportswear Pinterest Board

American Apparel’s Poly Mesh Football Jersey

Gay baseball raglan meme 1, Gay baseball raglan meme 2

How Hockey Jerseys Became Standard Wear for Fans

When a Sweater Defined One of the Best Rivalries

The Rise Of Athleisure In The Fashion Industry And What It Means For Brands

Artwork:

John Stockton

Recorded on 6/2/2024