I think there's a matter of personal perspective. I can't blame people for talking about "the good old days" when they were involved since they were probably having a great time getting involved and being enthusiastic. But holding that experience up to any punk scene today leaves out a lot of context.
For mine, I have to admit that the punk scene I was involved in was, for the most part, utter crap, and a lot of that was because of my own mistaken impression of the whole thing. Naivety on my part. Most of the bands were rubbish (if anyone is tempted to buy a double compilation album called "The Not So Lucky Country", take my advice and don't, unless you're academically interested in how bloody terrible an entire nation's punk scene can sound), most of the punks were just bogans with funny hair cuts. Not a lot of sus of any kind, let alone political.
But that's okay. I had different expectations and that was my fault. There's nothing wrong with punks now being middle-class wankers with expensive t-shirts, because it doesn't matter. Punk has got to be one of the most nostalgic genres of music around, with all the emphasis on what happened then as opposed to now. But don't get me wrong about that - that's fine. The truth is, all the protest and anger in the world isn't going to stop it from going down the toilet to its well deserved destruction. These days I've got more respect for shooting up in the bogs or posing at the bar then taking it to the streets. It's still bullshit, but at least it isn't pretending that life can be anything else.
