You completely missed the point, you really need to reread that comment. The idea is that he's dreaming that the past was a better place, it wasn't any better just different.  We still had crime, murder and other problems just not necessarily as many "shootings" persay, the point is that the person is complaining about how they wish things were back to the way they were before when in reality it's not any different than it was before. They just simply dreamed that it was better.  With your comment you seem to have missed the mark.