Generation Wars

[jkxx]

I must admit the perspectives and experiences of all of you (thank you all who have commented) are very interesting to me to read. Being born in what was part of the USSR and living in that environment until around age 5 and then finding myself in an anarchy which a few more years later was replaced by a capitalist society (the US) it was certainly an eye opening experience to see both and then do some comparing and contrasting.

There is something to be said for the idea that hindsight is 20/20 and perhaps that the zeitgeist of the day can lead us all to be taken over perceptions at certain times that turn out to be transitory or downright incorrect. And as this happens to every generation it compels us (I think) to try to look at those who have come before us with a bit more compassion even if we find the events or choices of those days hard to countenance.

Are you of the belief that the Soviet Union was doomed to fail?

I do although only after doing some learning and research in recent years - the same kind of research which prompted me to warn my friends "big changes" are coming in the US in 2015, although won't dirty up the thread with it. However I am keeping an eye on the events unfolding at home today given what has been learned about the past.

 

[Roses In The Vineyard]

The one thing that actually gets on my nerves is the differences between the generations in their thinking and their responses especially when it comes to issues of society ect. Far too many appear to masochistic in where they vibe off as actually to be enjoying the difficulty and the suffering of others regardless of the circumstance and the severity of the pain others are enduring. Read around be around and there are far too many examples of how those older look at each other but especially those younger as "eat shit and die" when an difficulty arises. The absence of personal responsibility of actions of societal level is another observed issue where either the can is kicked down the street (good example would be sovereign debt) or another group of people is scape goated such as migrants (Europe is one while Trump's wall is another) or young people (student loans) ect to divert attention from other issues. I don't see the older generations owning up to big societal issues but rather avoiding issues and problems otherwise kicking the can down the street so future generations are doomed to deal with the mess.

I know that this going to stir the pot but I believe that this is something that needs to be addressed.

 

[John K]

I don't see the older generations owning up to big societal issues but rather avoiding issues and problems otherwise kicking the can down the street so future generations are doomed to deal with the mess.

What has happened before will happen again. What has been done before will be done again. There is nothing new in the whole world. “Look,” they say, “here is something new!” But no, it has all happened before, long before we were born. No one remembers what has happened in the past, and no one in days to come will remember what happens between now and then.

Ecclesiastes 1:9-11 | GNT

Issued 1963

 

[acd]

Well I'm finally here. At the point in my life where I reminisce about and idealize the late 80s/90s and pity these Gen Z kids for not experiencing having to wait until Blockbuster had the movie you wanted to watch again on Friday night, for not catching hoardes of fireflies (their populations are dropping) with the neighborhood kids in the summer, for only having to get bullied Monday-Friday during school hours instead of nonstop online... When I was growing up we went out and had adventures and explored parts of our town on foot, rollerblades bikes or skateboards where we weren't allowed to go. We got into trouble doing pranks like making prank phone calls out of the phone book and going out to "garbage" the front lawns of our arch enemies (basically driving around the night before garbage day to garbage pick old furniture set by the curb
and then spending the night moving it and arranging it all onto someone's lawn). And it all made us into the upstanding generation we are today.

Now, I worry about these punks I know who spend their time indoors every waking hour on tablets or phones all brainwashed by the same memes and YouTube videos.

 

[Pin]

these punks I know who spend their time indoors every waking hour on tablets or phones all brainwashed by the same memes and YouTube videos.

A generation of letzter mensch.

 

[acd]

A generation of letzter mensch.

God it's true... There are people out there getting rich just streaming videogames and unboxing toys for a living lol!

 

[Asa]

A generation of letzter mensch.

Pin is right.

 

[Skarekrow]

Why do so many of those who came after the Baby Boomers still live at home?
Just work harder!
Duh.




​

 

[Deleted member 16771]

I just came across this quote in my reading:

It is the destiny of our generation to stand between the times. We never belonged to the period presently coming to an end; it is doubtful whether we shall ever belong to the period which is to come....So we stand in the middle - in an empty space. We belong neither to the one nor to the other....Therefore, we were jubilant over Spengler's book. It proved, whether or not it is true in detail, that the hour has come in which this refined intelligent culture, through its own intelligence, discovers the worm in itself, the hour in which trust in progress and culture receives the death blow. And Spengler's book is not the only sign. Whoever reads can find it in nearly every book and essay. - Friedrich Gogarten, 1920.

When Gogarten mentions '[Oswald] Spengler's book', here, he's talking about the in/famous The Decline of the West.

 

[Daustus]

Literally got sucked into this thread like a black hole. Lost complete track of time, I should have left work 15 minutes ago! As a "millie" (gonna steal that) I see myself as a weird hybrid. I remember idolizing Gen X values as an early teen but developing some of the more stereotypical millennial behaviors and outlook.

Debt and working toward financial freedom have been my life since 23. I'm on the cusp of digging my family out of the student loan debt trap. I have roughly a year left to go.

 

[Deleted member 16771]

Literally got sucked into this thread like a black hole. Lost complete track of time, I should have left work 15 minutes ago! As a "millie" (gonna steal that) I see myself as a weird hybrid. I remember idolizing Gen X values as an early teen but developing some of the more stereotypical millennial behaviors and outlook.

Debt and working toward financial freedom have been my life since 23. I'm on the cusp of digging my family out of the student loan debt trap. I have roughly a year left to go.

Power on, dude.

 

[Pin]

I remember idolizing Gen X values

I've got you beat: the G.I. generation.

 

[Deleted member 16771]

Literally got sucked into this thread like a black hole. Lost complete track of time, I should have left work 15 minutes ago! As a "millie" (gonna steal that) I see myself as a weird hybrid. I remember idolizing Gen X values as an early teen but developing some of the more stereotypical millennial behaviors and outlook.

Debt and working toward financial freedom have been my life since 23. I'm on the cusp of digging my family out of the student loan debt trap. I have roughly a year left to go.

Funny this thread should come up now, since you've actually just achieved this, man.

 

[Reason]

When you find deep fakes of yourself so you try to sue the interwebs

Levity, always

 

[Reason]

With all due deference to @John K and our non-murkin friends would like it noted that performing customer/public service work for American Boomers is about half as fun as taking a fork and scratching your eye.

Most entitled, impatient and obnoxious people on Earth. That is all, carry on my freins

 

[John K]

With all due deference to @John K and our non-murkin friends would like it noted that performing customer/public service work for American Boomers is about half as fun as taking a fork and scratching your eye.

Most entitled, impatient and obnoxious people on Earth. That is all, carry on my freins

Spoiler: The Solution :D

Yeah, sadly there are loads of boomer dicks, and the US has more than it's fair share. The main point I was making is that the 1950s and 60s were no utopian golden age.

 

[Pin]

There was definitely a class/race gap in the US with who went to Vietnam. If you were in college or had a good job that 'benefitted society', you weren't drafted. Vietnam basically sent poor and black people to slaughter. There are several different Boomer experiences, and the Millennials are focusing on the tier of wealthy and upper middle class Boomers who had comfortable lives, escaped the draft, and climbed the ladders in business.

My father definitely molded his life choices around avoiding getting drafted. He is a philosophical, free-thinking person. When I asked him about why he was never involved with the folkies and hippies, he told me there was no time to participate, and rebellion wasn't a choice, because he had to stay out of Vietnam. My mother's experience was: marry well so you're taken care of, be a good wife and mother, be agreeable, do what is expected even if you don't like it, look pretty, belong to the proper social circles, be good at skills women are expected to be good at (sewing, cleaning, cooking, makeup, social skills, dance, sex). Her way of life would be considered misogynist now, but it was normal for Boomer women and the generations before them, and I was absolutely raised with the same expectations.

Well damn, Asa.

 

[Pin]

With all due deference to @John K and our non-murkin friends would like it noted that performing customer/public service work for American Boomers is about half as fun as taking a fork and scratching your eye.

Most entitled, impatient and obnoxious people on Earth. That is all, carry on my freins

And that's exactly why I hated being a waiter. That said, I did meet some really cool people from the G.I. generation during that time.

 

[Elis]

One of the most interesting thing I have found is that when I was waiting to board my flight. I noticed everyone at the airport was glued to their phones. I mean I saw kids, teens, old people literally just staring at their phones or tablets.

I could've ran down each aisle in my underwear while flipping everyone off and no one would ever notice. Probably.

 

[Asa]

With all due deference to @John K and our non-murkin friends would like it noted that performing customer/public service work for American Boomers is about half as fun as taking a fork and scratching your eye.

Most entitled, impatient and obnoxious people on Earth. That is all, carry on my freins

Some of them definitely are entitled. As a Gen Xer I find both the Boomers and Millies to behave about the same. There are good people in both generations, but the bad ones behave similarly.


However, this is coming from a generation whose crowning achievement is getting weed legalized in some states. Not even the entire country yet... just some states.


Also, it cracks me up when you (and others) call Americans "murkins" because it is a homonym of "merkins" and that seems fitting.

Well damn, Asa.

Yes.