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Had this argument at work, what are your thoughts. I argued that the 'baby-boomers' are the most worthless, wreckless, and fucked up generation in the history of America. Their social, political, and financial "ways" have ruined everything for every generation beyond them.
Thoughts?
Only that your thoughts have to be wrong. We are being ruined because of younger voters putting politicians that are destroying us. Not the Baby Boomers. Maybe "Generation X," but I'd say more so the younger voters yet. Also, count people of all ages that drink the liberal Kool-Aid.Quote:
Originally Posted by johnsmith
Right, anyone but you.
I'm son of. My parents survived the sixties with their minds and their earning capacity mostly intact. We scrimped in the 1970's, let ourselves go in the 1980's, and witnessed unparallelled prosperity until very recently.Quote:
Originally Posted by johnsmith
(Neither one went in much for real estate or exotic noveties, so they'll both be fine, hopefully.)
There is a default maelstrom that hasn't even been booked yet, that is sucking in wealth that strayed too close...
This is the other side of *unparalleled prosperity*.
The boomers did give us the innertubes.Quote:
Originally Posted by johnsmith
They were not as good as their parents. However, their kids are worse than they are, and their grandkids are vastly worse.
It will include government control of strategic industries, pension obligations etc.
I would agree that it is partially their fault. Baby-boomers and later generations have a certain lack of work ethic that the Greatest Generation didn't. There is a sense of entitlement that I think lead to many of our current problems. Our country has stagnated on many fronts, and obviously, the generation that started that stagnating process and its following generations are to blame. With that said, its not like they are the root of all evil...
Declinism never goes out of style and it can be hard to refute.Quote:
Originally Posted by Extra Stout
The WWII generation was better than its parents. This is probably because growing up during the Depression and spending one's twenties fighting a war halfway across the world tends to instill a different kind of character than growing up in wealth and comfort does.Quote:
Originally Posted by Winehole23
But hey, look at the bright side! The generation that grows up when America implodes into murderous chaos will probably have a lot of character.
That won't happen until they shut down the electricity, cable and satellite TV...Quote:
Originally Posted by Extra Stout
Ever read JG Ballard?Quote:
Originally Posted by Extra Stout
I knew I'd have something to be proud of with my prospective grandchildren.Quote:
Originally Posted by Extra Stout
Quote:
Originally Posted by extra stout
+1
Occupational hazard. There is honor among theives.Quote:
Originally Posted by Extra Stout
War is kind of hard on the infrastructure.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nbadan
Conspiracy theorists!Quote:
Originally Posted by Extra Stout
True, but if Iraq is any example it's now expected to clean up after your own mess. You bomb it, you bought it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Extra Stout
Each generation has slackers, and each generation has hard workers. Humanity does not change so drastically from generation to generation. The only thing that changes is the scale.
The Greatest Generation learned 'hard work' and 'ethics' because if they didn't work hard, they wouldn't have survived.
Societies expand to fill what their resources will allow. In the aftermath of the Depression, only the financially secure (or lucky) ones survived. In the 60's and 70's, during relative prosperity, people had the ability to use their time on other things (new age stuff, music, etc etc)
This generation is no more 'lazy' than the older generations. It's just that, due to technology and advances, life is easier overall, so needed work is lessened.
I think Gen Y will be the next big voting bloc, and it's my feeling that most will fall somewhere between liberal and libertarian on the political spectrum.
Umm.. we're talking about another civil war. You bomb it, you bought it doesn't matter when you owned what you bombed in the first place.
Sure it does. If we have a civil war are other countries going to come in and rebuild for us? Or do we have to foot that bill ourselves?Quote:
Originally Posted by jman3000
Not even a bit.Quote:
Originally Posted by Winehole23
There's going to be an overall ongoing cost to maintain our fortresslike possessions in Iraq and Afghanistan, right? On top of cleaning up whatever previous mess. (BTW, Did we already *clean that up*?)Quote:
Originally Posted by coyotes_geek
Geostrategic designs. Hot war. Contractors and boots on the ground. Drone attacks.
Nation building, perhaps....
I say it's less of a generational argument than it is an argument of responsibility. Some people want the government to take care of us, and some of us want the government to leave us alone. It is those who want a bigger government who are worthless fuck-up!
ehh... that depends. You're trying to somehow equate this to the Iraq war.
If China came in and sided with the People's Republic of California and proceeded to help the PRC invade New Nevada... then yes, China would have a vested interest in building up the lands they just conquered.
If it's just hot American on American action, then I'd expect nobody to help. At least not in any altruistic capacity.
Crash is a pretty good distillation (the movie was crappy, but accurate) though he gave a hint of his cheekiness in his short story "The Assassination of JFK Considered as a Downhill Road Race".Quote:
Originally Posted by Extra Stout
Empire of the Sun was made into a movie directed by Stephen Spielberg.
What?Quote:
Originally Posted by coyotes_geek
Concrete Island and High Rise focus on more explicitly survivalistic urban themes.
You know, there are a fair number of wars in history where things just don't ever get put back together the way they were.Quote:
Originally Posted by coyotes_geek
I had been thinking of developing a dystopian story that wasn't trying too hard to be a dystopian story.Quote:
Originally Posted by Winehole23
Yeah, if we're talking about one of these "wars of opportunity" like Iraq where the idea is to rebuild a country into something easier to exploit economically... there is an unspoken assumption that leaving said country in ruins doesn't quite fit the objective.Quote:
Originally Posted by jman3000
On the other hand, in a war of "it's your fault all this bad stuff happened; we hate you and want to kill as many of you as we can," leaving the country in ruins is the point.
That would be like the opposite of Crash.Quote:
Originally Posted by Extra Stout
Have you read The Road?
by Cormac McCarthy.
Who cares, they all taser the same..Quote:
Originally Posted by johnsmith
...proceed with your inter-generational squabble....
I've read The Road.Quote:
Originally Posted by Winehole23
My idea, only very nebulous, is of a future where a sort of virtual Gnosticism is the norm, where people's minds are directly tied to the global electronic network, and people become so engrossed with the false world found therein that it becomes their true world, where all their experiences, sensations, relationships, work, etc. are found, and the physical, external world becomes irrelevant and more or less an impediment to them.
But write it from the perspective of somebody in that world, where such an existence is considered the norm. Don't call attention to the premise.
One key problem is that I am not good at writing.
Not that I am either, but you can use tricks..Quote:
Originally Posted by Extra Stout
Like Flann O Brien's the Third Policeman. To tell you more would ruin it, but I consider it a real feat of storytelling, and it relates to what you just said.
Where talent fails us, tricknology rushes in.
Make things difficult?
Get tazed.
millennials are a close second
I saw that in the news last night. I cannot believe it. You don't taser a feisty granny. She wasn't a threat. That officer should be jailed for assault.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nbadan
Not sure if you've ever watched Red Dwarf (a BBC sitcom), but they have a 'game' called Better than Life that's very similar to what you're describing. One of the novels do examine the game from inside, at least, for a section of it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Extra Stout
Don't taze me, bro!Quote:
Originally Posted by Winehole23
If they're tazing granny now I can't be very far behind.Quote:
Originally Posted by LnGrrrR
...the greatest generation was truely the greatest generation...
I don't know; I still think that Washington, Franklin, Adams, Jefferson et all had them beat.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nbadan
Every single generation is the worst one...every generation since the beginning of time has been bickering and fighting over the same bullshit over and over again.
War has never escaped any generation, disease, poverty, hunger...every generation has it and will always.
The only "greatest generation" will be the one that can solve all of these problems and move humanity in a greater direction with a greater purpose. Sadly, neither the old farts, nor the middle aged losers, nor the young punks that live today will ever be part of that generation.
Each generation is the new weakest until this country faces another World War.
That's just how the cycle works.
Not really imo. Older folks understand hard work and real sacrifice because of the societal environment they found themselves in. Spend 10 minutes with one and you will see. They are leaps and bounds above us weak noobs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Duff McCartney
because they endured all the hardships that they created?Quote:
Originally Posted by Nbadan
Stop with the stupid generalizations...there just as many slackers back then as there are now. I'm sure when they were young the old asses were probably tell them they weren't worth shit either.Quote:
Originally Posted by FaithInOne
Yes. You are absolutely right. I should know. I am one. And you are right!!Quote:
Originally Posted by johnsmith