The Least Greatest Generation

[Marxist]

I read an article in Esquire about a year ago by Paul Begalia (one of Clinton's advisors) where he outlined why he thought his generation of Boomers was one of the worst generations in history, especially following what Tom Brokaw called "The Greatest Generation."

Without listing Begalia's argument, are the Boomers the worst generation in recent (last 100 years) American history?

 

[goodgirl79]

Wish I could be more helpful...i was born in '79. However, this is my opinion...maybe it's not that the "boomers" are the worst...but perhaps just the most overwhelming. Just a thought...

goodgirl

 

[Marxist]

Wish I could be more helpful...i was born in '79. However, this is my opinion...maybe it's not that the "boomers" are the worst...but perhaps just the most overwhelming. Just a thought...

goodgirl

I'm pretty young myself but I'll help by paraphrasing Begalia. He said that all of what we think of as Boomer music (Hendrix, Motown, the Beatles, and Stones) was created by non-Boomers (Boomers were born between 1946-1964). True Boomer music according to Begalia is the narcissistic disco. And their true decade in which they could have a difference is not the idealistic '60's but the Me decade of the '70's. He goes on to talk about Civil Rights and other trends. He ends it by saying that ironically they've given birth to another great generation in the X and Y kids and young adults.

 

[Marxist]

bump

 

[goodgirl79]

Wow! that is so insightful! You definitely made me think...

 

[Marxist]

Wow! that is so insightful! You definitely made me think...

What's really strange is the dance he did around Clinton to make George W. the poster boy for the ME generation. It was quite charming.

 

[Azwed]

What's really strange is the dance he did around Clinton to make George W. the poster boy for the ME generation. It was quite charming.

Well of course he had to do that. I mean he did work for the man what do you think he would do. I would have to say that Bush would be a better poster boy for the ME generation then Clinton. Bush had a much better jumpstart to life then Clinton did. I mean besides that whole cocaine and drinking problem Clinton had more hurdles then Bush.

Just my opinion now you understand.

*waits for the conservatives to crucify him*

 

[shadowsource]

Speaking as one -

I've never seen a bigger bunch of hypocrites as the Woodstock generation - from skinnydipping to piss-testing their kids, from McGovern to Reagan and Bushie.... they make me sick.

That's why I've refused to age.

 

[Duckman PD]

Without listing Begalia's argument, are the Boomers the worst generation in recent (last 100 years) American history?

Test scores drop every year. Let's face it, American kids are stupid. Get them off the fast track, and on the fast food track, while we genetically engineer a master race of better kids.

 

[MissTaken]

So, rather than discuss the issue what the worst generation HAS been, you are going to prophesize the doom of the NEXT generation based on test scores?

~shaking head as she quietly leaves the thread~

 

[Duckman PD]

So, rather than discuss the issue what the worst generation HAS been, you are going to prophesize the doom of the NEXT generation based on test scores?

~shaking head as she quietly leaves the thread~

Thin-skinned no-humor pansies! You tell em an ice breaker or two about women-libbers, gays, environmentalists, several minorities, the homeless, a couple of religions, anorexics, obese people, the handicapped, old-farts, baldness & people who walk real goofy cause they just had a vasectomy and suddenly they get all sensitive! Like I offended one of them or something?

 

[Marxist]

Thin-skinned no-humor pansies! You tell em an ice breaker or two about women-libbers, gays, environmentalists, several minorities, the homeless, a couple of religions, anorexics, obese people, the handicapped, old-farts, baldness & people who walk real goofy cause they just had a vasectomy and suddenly they get all sensitive! Like I offended one of them or something?

Who do you think you are "Shadowsource, the Next Generation"?

 

[Marxist]

Begalia dodged the Clinton question thusly:

To this day, he's widely mocked for declaring to a man dying of AIDS, "I feel your pain." But feeling someone's pain is true compassion, which literally means "to suffer with." A most un-Boomer sentiment indeed.

He goes on to talk about Clinton's political martyrdom for trying to pay down the deficit and losing party control in the process. He says that unlike other Boomers, Clinton didn't get away with shit in regards to his personal behavior.

Like I said earlier, Begalia says that the excesses of that group of '70's kids spawned the success of the current generation (which he teaches at elite schools) and that they care more about the world and our place in it. I'm not really sure where I fall on any of that.

 

[RisiaSkye]

Ah, Boomers. From sacrificial government pawns and drug addled self-obsessed dropouts to drug addled self-obsessed fatcats in less than 20 years.

From a previous Great Generation we get Billie Holiday, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and the invention of jazz. From the Boomers, we get the BeeGees, Captain 'N Tenille, Dan Fogelberg and the invention of Casio.

From the generation before Boomer-Consumers, we get Martin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evers, John and Bobby Kennedy. From the Boomers, we get...oh wait, they forgot about race and social equality before dragging their yuppie bucks in to colonize and gentrify most of the liveable inexpensive urban neighborhoods, didn't they?

Much of that money came during the mad deficit spending of Reagan's term, tacitly supporting raiding the future state economy for generations to come in order to inflate an economy and make a quick buck. No--it was to crush the "threat" of Communism; the Soviets were just dying to come invade the U.S. Or something. And if they happened to be the bulk of the staff for defense-contract, stockmarket and technology booms of the MAD era, well, so what?

Of course, now that some are starting to look at retirement--don't think of "raiding" Social Security to pay some of that money back. The system pays out far more than it takes in already, they're the largest generation yet, and their children and grandchildren will suffer for it twice by paying for Boomer retirements now and not having any system for their own retirement. The next generation is smaller--this means we'll be paying substantially more into SSI, in all likelihood never to see it again at any point. But, "raid" that money--Hell no!

From another generation, a cure for polio. From the Boomers, the spread of AIDS. Sure, I can't pin the whole disease on them, but they played an awfully big part in its reaching epidemic proportions first through Boomer-era sexual irresponsibility, and then a hypocritical unwillingness to acknowledge sex and work to educate (and thus protect) first gay men and now teens.

Fuck the Boomers.

 

[Natalie Nessus]

Each generation has the greatest and the worse of their time - sometimes we can not tell the difference

 

[Lost Cause]

I find it amusing the number of armchair quarterbacks that can judge a particular generation of their accomplishments. Funny how all this whining is about the U.S. The question you've got to ask yourself....what have you done to change your present day system? Do you vote? Do you walk the talk? Naahhh..I didn't think so. Your view of what is changes really radically when you're in a ditch with the bad lil commies trying to kill you. Well now we have the Taliban, who want to kill you just for being you. Now, it's your turn to make this generation live up to it's destiny.
Are you gonna sit back and bitch about how this could have been handled different? Gonna blame a politician for what is going on? Gonna flinch everytime you hear a "Bang!"?
If you think there are better places run better than ours, go there! I'm tired of wading in all this negative shit being shoveled out by the snivelers that have not been on both ends of the question!
(DAG) Drinking a Guiness

 

[Marxist]

I find it amusing the number of armchair quarterbacks that can judge a particular generation of their accomplishments. Funny how all this whining is about the U.S. The question you've got to ask yourself....what have you done to change your present day system? Do you vote? Do you walk the talk? Naahhh..I didn't think so. Your view of what is changes really radically when you're in a ditch with the bad lil commies trying to kill you. Well now we have the Taliban, who want to kill you just for being you. Now, it's your turn to make this generation live up to it's destiny.
Are you gonna sit back and bitch about how this could have been handled different? Gonna blame a politician for what is going on? Gonna flinch everytime you hear a "Bang!"?
If you think there are better places run better than ours, go there! I'm tired of wading in all this negative shit being shoveled out by the snivelers that have not been on both ends of the question!
(DAG) Drinking a Guiness

You've got a point, people have to vote for change, but I'm more afraid of apathy than voices of dissent.

 

[juicylips]

I liked your other av better...

the real you....

Cassidy
*kisses*

 

[Marxist]

I liked your other av better...

the real you....

Cassidy
*kisses*

How do you know which one's which. I could've clipped that pic from a Sears Back to School ad for Boys clothing. You people are so easily duped.

 

[christo]

Arguing about which was the greatest generation is like arguing who had the greatest defense of all time, the 1975 Steelers, the 1985 Bears, or the 200 Ravens. There's no way to prove right and wrong, it's just something to argue about in bars.

My grandparents generation won World War II. I'm sure that they would have preferred to stay home and not die in the hundreds of thousands in Europe and Asia, but the Nazis came along and they had to. The fact that the Boomers didn't have a apocalyptic war to fight shouldn't be held against them. Tho disco, perhaps, should be.

You could argue that the "Greatest Generation" did a lousy job raising the Boomers and therefore should be blamed for the excesses of the 70's and 80's. Then again, if the sins of the father should not be visited on the son, then the sins of the sons shouldn't be...you get the point.

The Boomers will have to guide us through our current war, so let's see how they do. Ten years ago Generation X were called a bunch of apathetic slackers. Then the dot.com boom happened and we were a bunch of visionairy entreprenuers. Then the bubble burst and we're morons again. Now we're involved in a war and it's salt-of-the-earth time again.

Maybe we should wait 200 years or so to tally up the generational scorecard. All the generation from the late 1700's did was create a country that has become the beacon of freedom and liberty for the entire world. Not a bad legacy there.

Oh, and by the way, the Steelers had the best defense of all time. In case you had any doubts.

 

[juicylips]

Too Cute...

If you wanted to sit in my lap, Marxist, all you had to do was ask

Making your av a toddler makes me want to scoop you up and hold you close.

Cassidy.
*kisses*

 

[Marxist]

Re: Too Cute...

If you wanted to sit in my lap, Marxist, all you had to do was ask

Making your av a toddler makes me want to scoop you up and hold you close.

Cassidy.
*kisses*

My plan for world domination shall commence now!!!

Where can I go to take a peek at the real Cassidy?

 

[Duckman PD]

Who do you think you are "Shadowsource, the Next Generation"?

Sure, when my butt starts singing show tunes.

 

[Marxist]

Sure, when my butt starts singing show tunes.

That's droll. Do better next time.

 

[Marxist]

...and another thing...