Boomer's are the most self-involved gen? Or not!

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Orson, Mar 6, 2004.

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  1. Orson

    Orson New Member

    A recent tirade caught my eyes. I share it with you without extreme prejudice!

    "[T]he Boomers...have to be the most self-involved, self-referential generation this country has ever produced. For the boomers, the Me Generation has never changed; they hold onto the Vietnam War as a touchstone from which they draw their power, seemingly oblivious to the fact that it's been over for thirty years and the resultant massacres proved them terribly wrong. This presidential campaign gives us great examples of this dynamic at work. Howard Dean, for instance, once described the 1960s as a period of unprecedented national unity that he wanted to recreate as President. Boomer-fed groups such as International ANSWER create protests with tired, retreaded slogans from the 1960s complete with the music of the day.

    "This relentless focus on their own youth as a mythical Golden Age, combined with their greedy, ever-increasing grasp on public resources in the form of expanding retirement entitlements must strike the younger generation as ridiculous and tiresome. Even younger boomers such as myself wonder when my ge-ge-ge-generation will finally realize that they are not the center of the universe."
    http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/001096.php
     
  2. Dennis Ruhl

    Dennis Ruhl member

    Doesn't every generation regard the time of their youth as the Golden Age??

    As ridiculous as it sounds, my kids will regard the period 2000-2010 as the Golden Age, even though everyone knows it was 1965-1975.
     
  3. Orson

    Orson New Member

    Dennis-

    Your observation raises the possiblity that the above rant - and the aspersions generated therefrom - may merely be an artifact of the numerical preponderance of baby boomers. Analogized as like a rabit in the belly of a snake, demagraphically speaking. Large constituencies generate loud perceptions; it could be an artifact of perception.

    However, the example given above of Howard Dean, wrongly believing that the 60s-70s were a time of unity is simply outright false. Even historians have criticized Dean's (see links in above linked piece) bizarre claim! (And people call Bush stupid?) Dean was wrong about that, as he was wrong to equate Nixon with Bush.

    --Orson
     
  4. Dennis Ruhl

    Dennis Ruhl member

    Anyone who lived in the 1960s and 1970s and believes it to be a time of unity is pretty much unique in his beliefs.
     
  5. Tom57

    Tom57 Member

    We are now referencing blogs?

    I think it's ironic that the blogger criticizes Dean's claim of unity in the 60's and 70's, but then sloppily categorizes all boomers in this way: "they hold onto the Vietnam War as a touchstone from which they draw their power, seemingly oblivious to the fact that it's been over for thirty years and the resultant massacres proved them terribly wrong.”

    All umpteen millions of boomers feel this way about Viet Nam?

    I think what Dean and others refer to when they talk of unity is more of a localized unity. Among the young anti-war crusaders there was remarkable unity and passion, even if there were very sharp divisions between groups of people as a whole.

    I was a little young to fully appreciate it at the time, but I lived in Berkeley during those years. There was remarkable unity among many (though certainly not all) young people.
     
  6. Dennis Ruhl

    Dennis Ruhl member

    A bunch of people hung around the guys with the big bags of weed.

    5 - 10 of my friends would buy a keg of beer many weekends and try to finish it before breakfast on Monday. It was better if you started Thursday night.

    Then there were the clean cut guys with the goofy looks and the skinny ties. Gay or Christian - either way - wasn't much interested.

    Then the strangest darn thing - there were people there who worked hard and passed all their courses.

    Unity - must have been an American thing.
     
  7. Jack Tracey

    Jack Tracey New Member

    The more things change, the more they stay the same. Both in the the '60's and now, Berkeley does not accurately represent America.
    Jack
     
  8. Tom57

    Tom57 Member

    Don't I know it! You don't have to travel far before you enter the land of the strange and narrow minded (present company excluded). Fortunately, there were enough like-minded young people all over the country. That movement had a lot to do with ending our involvement in Viet Nam, as well as exposing some of the shadier sides of our government - both good things.

    Is there any city that accurately represents America? Nope.
     
  9. Add my home town...

    I think if you put my home town, Madison, WI - in the People's Republic of Dane County, in with Berkeley you pretty much have a good representation of America, at least as I would like to see it.

    Big bags of weed? Haven't seen those in a while!

    I passed all my courses in those days despite the big bags of weed, probably one of the lucky ones.
     
  10. Upstate

    Upstate New Member

    I read degreeinfo every day, but hardly ever post. But I have to rant now.

    My feelings on boomers is mixed. I know and love many boomers. But I am in the trough.

    Coincidently, education is probably the number one reason. The reason you passed your courses despite the “weed’. Is that the teachers accommodated you. After you left and found your degree worthless, standards had to be raised on those who followed. When your kids entered school A’s and B’s were a must again. When they left, then come the standards again.

    When it comes to politics, you exposed the corruption in Government when you wanted to. Who is your favorite president? The one with Marilyn Monroe. The most honest one, right. When the first boomer became President, honesty ruled the day, Ugh.

    When I think of Boomers, I think of a George Orwell novel. Pick one.
     
  11. Tom57

    Tom57 Member

    Since when did "boomer" become synonymous with "liberal"? As far as I know, boomer means all those many millions of post WWII babies. I think it's fair to say that they are composed of left wing, right wing, and everything in between (and beyond).

    I don't follow the worthless degree / standards came later argument :confused: .

    I think it's futile to rate presidents on strictly moral grounds. So many of them were dawgs, Republicans and Democrats alike. My favorite presidents are the ones that had some sense of vision, and were able to grasp the idea that not everyone is in the same boat as they. It's akin to F. Scott Fitzgerald's definition of a first rate intellect.

    That whittles is down to a very select few in the modern age. I won't stir the pot by actually naming names. ;)
     
  12. ebbwvale

    ebbwvale Member

    Boomers were not just Americans. I happen to be an Australian variant of the same generation.

    We were the first to see ourselves as global. Can we claim the new tolerance now at risk in the world, new technology, refusal to accept age as a limitation to learning, and a general non acceptance of compliance without just cause?

    I think we were a global generation that questioned the status quo and grew the quality of life in western societies at the very least.

    The music remains unsurpassed. The music from the UK, USA, and every other democracy had its origins in protest and questioning of the status quo. The questioning attitude is the basic building block of science and that has been the greatest legacy of the generation. Science has advanced beyond the wildest expectations in the period.

    Then again I am biased! Viva the Beatles, Bob Dylan!
     

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