Why do people put stupid stuff in Time Capsule's?

Yeah my friends, I'm dumbfounded after looking at various video clips of Time Capsule ceremonies and the contents of said capsules

One 100 year old capsule was filled with stupid books you can waltz into any random thrift store a find. Some had a newspaper, which I think is great, but they didn't survive the Silverfish and Booklice.

What were these people thinking? Were they imbeciles or something?

Were they thinking, " Oh a 100 years from now folks are gonna wanna read Huckleberry Finn" & the front page news that Farmer Joe's cow got struck by lightning in the pasture. "

I mean come on now my friends, where are the rare artifacts like mint coins, rare Jewelry, extremely rare pictures, etc.

One old box was opened and they let some kids refill it, so I guess 100 years from now someone will find some Happy Meal toy's, sneakers & a Justin Bieber poster.

Make your own time capsule and set an example.

Originally posted by Better Mouse Trap
Yeah my friends, I'm dumbfounded after looking at various video clips of Time Capsule ceremonies and the contents of said capsules

One 100 year old capsule was filled with stupid books you can waltz into any random thrift store a find. Some had a newspaper, which I think is great, but they didn't survive the Silverfish and Booklice.

What were these people thinking? Were they imbeciles or something?

Were they thinking, " Oh a 100 years from now folks are gonna wanna read Huckleberry Finn" & the front page news that Farmer Joe's cow got struck by lightning in the pasture. "

I mean come on now my friends, where are the rare artifacts like mint coins, rare Jewelry, extremely rare pictures, etc.

One old box was opened and they let some kids refill it, so I guess 100 years from now someone will find some Happy Meal toy's, sneakers & a Justin Bieber poster.

I wonder if people will still hate Justin Bieber in a 100 years time?.......yeah probably

Maybe because they didn't know what it would be like in 100 years? Maybe they just put stuff in there that was representative of their time, like books that were popular? How would they know the exact same books would be available at every corner bookstore in 100 years? Maybe they didn't put valuable things in there because they were, like, valuable and of use? When you ask people to put stuff in a time capsule, you're asking them to throw it away. I don't think you should expect people to put diamond necklaces in there.

Originally posted by cluckerspud
Make your own time capsule and set an example.

Exactly, what would op want to put into a time capsule, may be useless to alot of people.

One man's junk, (no, not that junk),
...is another man's treasure.

All in the name of Nostlagia.

Not intending to be mean, but who are you to determine it is stupid, except to yourself? To them it probably meant something, and to some people in the present opening it, it might also be historically valuable. That's the point, i think.

I think that people put things in time capsules that are representative of their lives an the time in which they live, sort of like a snapshot of a particular historic period. And since things change over time, that is the only thing they have; can't predict what people will want to see in the future, but they hope that they can preserve some aspects of their selves, their lives, and their time. That's all i think it really it, as it reflects the time in which the capsule was buried (or sealed). Similar to an archaeologist excavating something that contains the components of the time, which is the past having been frozen. Sometimes, too, the smallest, simplest, or stupidest things can have the biggest impact at understanding a certain period. Anything from a shaving razor, to a newspaper (showing the events of that time), to anything "common."

That's all it is, a reflection of a particular historical time/period through sometimes ordinary items, IMO.

comic books, postage stamps, music, newspapers and school yearbooks are decent representatives of the times they are from.
most time capsule events i've heard of or read about were mostly a fun event for school-children or the blue hairs in the local hysterical (Historical) society (lol).
on the big picture, i think our society (here in the USA) will have very little left behind for future mankind to examine. our culture is fond of tearing down what was to build something else.