I've been seeing comments recently condemning us older folks for the state of the world we are leaving the young. In part I resent the implication that every one over 55 is equally complicit in what ever mess we're leaving. I also think it isn't true.
It is true that we are the ones who have contributed most to global warming and have failed to reverse it. On the other hand our generation identified the problem so that it can be confronted (I hope there is still time).
Over population continues to plague the world. and is getting worse. On the other hand our generation made birth control legal and acceptable - even popular. Maybe we should have been more enthusiastic in using contraception. If we had there would been fewer young to give us grief.
A good part of the world is miss-ruled. But totalitarian Communism is a fading memory.
Nuclear war still hovers on the horizon and my generation and the one before is totally responsible for that. WE have also been responsible for a great deal of effort toward limiting the danger of global annihilation. I hope the younger set can do better.
Race-ism and bigotry are still around and seems to be enjoying a nasty resurgence. On the other hand slavery and Jim Crow are no longer the law of the land. Overt racism can get you fired where as not long ago it was more likely to get you hired. (Is the bigotry boom in the last few years recent enough that blame for it could be shared by the young?)
I have no doubt that I bear some personal responsibility for some any number of problems. Please let me know what they are and what I can do about them. I think it is also fair to ask the whining young to report what they are doing and will do.
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I think you may have fallen into the same trap you believe they have: generalizing about huge masses of people who have the smallest, most basic commonality among them. Perhaps your best option is to let go of the defensiveness and simply point that out to whomever condemns you, no matter what their age.
I see your point and agree. However I was trying to make a larger point which may have little to do with the generational divide. The point is simply this: There is lots of awful stuff happening in the world but lots of progress has been made toward making this a better world.
The hand wringing and finger pointing has the potential to roll back the enormous gains that have been made in the last 50 or 60 years.
As long as we listen to the mainstream media every day we'll never question anything.
Right now there are people living in tent cities, like refugees, in the United States. Yet we're told this is better than a guaranteed home, job, health care, education and pension under communism.
There are many who lament the passing of Communist East Germany. I don't endorse all forms of communism but it's clear we are being taught to hate Communism and Socialism by our rulers. And the main question to ask is 'why?'
Part of the reason we have President Dumbass is becuase young people didn't bother to vote or got pissy becuase Bernie didn't get the nomination and didn't vote. So they fucked themselves. There are consequences for inaction.
Or they wasted their vote with stupid write-ins like 'Harambe.'
I've seen a lot of generation-blaming, and it really does need to stop. From my perspective, it seems like people were bitching about millennials as a group, so then I started seeing gripes about baby boomers. Maybe it didn't start that way.
But there are people who just want someone to blame, and it's easy to cast a wide net on an entire generation. I've seen people calling millennials the Tide pod generation even though a very small portion actually stuffed Tide pods in their mouths. Likewise, I've seen people refer to baby boomers as racists even though many of those baby boomers marched alongside Dr. King.
It's a cheap and lazy way to bitch about problems, and I get tired of seeing it happen to both groups.
Meh. Boomer hate.
Every generation blames the prior.
Nothing new.
Is true