Simple poll. If you could be any other generation, which would it be and, of course, why?
You MAY NOT pick your own generation.
- Join Date
- Sep 2006
- Location
- Savannah, GA
- Posts
- 1,450
The Generation Game
Simple poll. If you could be any other generation, which would it be and, of course, why?
You MAY NOT pick your own generation.
I picked Silent. Now they had a cool lifecycle. They were the moody motorcycle-riding teenagers of the '50s and then the intricate geniuses of entertainment and politics in the '60s and '70s. As elders they were able to leave the scene well-respected by younger gens, not blamed for society's problems.
The Silent Generation had an influence on society which quickened the pace of change. Acting became more realistic. Movies in general became more realistic. Music became more multicultural, more moody, more complex. Politics became more diplomatic, more conciliatory, more sensitive to civil liberties.
The only Silent in my family was an uncle born in 1939 who died at 58 of emphysema. I wish I were able to ask him today about his memories.
NOTA-first choice, 2nd-
Cavalier-Glorious Cusper: I could enjoy the Restoration Theatre and inform HM of the coming treason of 1688.
______
Republican: I could write to my fellow farmers John Taylor of Caroline and Thomas Jefferson, there would not be any telephony
The Generation Game
Drudge currently has the following big headline:ABCNEWS SWEEPS SPECIAL: DC MADAM TO NAME NAMESHere's how the generations game is played: said "DC MADAM" will enhance the reputations of some politcians, while utterly destroying others. Think Rep. Mark Foley and Rep. Barney Frank. Very cool, eh?
When any one member of any generation stands for something the only one left standing at the end of the day are the American people. Better to stand for nothin' and be left standing at the end of the day. The American people will admire mushy moderates far more than heroes, no matter what generation they hail from. Then, as said long ago, "History will tell lies, of course."
Last edited by zilch; 04-29-2007 at 09:06 PM.
OK, but my interpretation which has me as "Joneser" makes it such that which one I'm supposed to strike out ? Gen -X or Boomer. Once I know this, I can pick the other option.Originally Posted by 1990
MBTI step II type : Expressive INTP
There's an annual contest at Bond University, Australia, calling for the most appropriate definition of a contemporary term:
The winning student wrote:
"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and promoted by mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of shit by the clean end."
Does this mean you selected Lost? I had a great great Lost aunt who lived to be 90 who was a madam. She taught us how to play this card game called "spite and malice".
MBTI step II type : Expressive INTP
There's an annual contest at Bond University, Australia, calling for the most appropriate definition of a contemporary term:
The winning student wrote:
"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and promoted by mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of shit by the clean end."
I think I'd have to go with the Lost.
Between the technological changes that they saw in their lifetimes and my interest in the nineteen-teens and twenties - that's definately where I'm pulled first.
This one's a no-brainer: Gen X. Late wave Gen X, specifically. I wouldn't mind being 30 again, it would give me the chance to rectify a few things i was doing wrong in life before it was too late. Might not have had as easy a childhood as I did, but then, I've long concluded that my indulged-yet-protected upbringing was a mixed blessing at best.
"Better hurry. There's a storm coming. His storm!!!" :-O -Abigail Freemantle, "The Stand" by Stephen King
Whichever you prefer.
I pick the GIs because they may have seen America at its best, most of that est their doing. Almost everything that they did they did well.
I consider my Boom Generation quite possibly the most destructive in American history, the one that presided over the most inexcusable introduction of social inequity, We have the most corrupt politicians and the most rapacious executives, and we have shown that we are not the ones to solve the problem.
We were soldiers in the first war that America lost (granted, it was a mistake not of our doing to get into that war), but we had Lt. William Calley to discredit the American war effort as no Vietcong propaganda could otherwise do. When we got into the same power to start wars, our President started one with a flagrant falsehood.
Some of us (Karl Rove. among others) found the seams in our Constitutional system of government and tried to exploit them to establish a single-party dictatorship. We include participants in the worst business scandal (the fall of Enron Corporation) in anyone's memory.
In 1992, 15% of national income went to the top 1% of earners. In 2005 that became 22%. If one figures that we haven't increased real income by about 25%, then most of us are doing worse.
If culpability were food, we Boomers would be fat
Who cares?
Whoring is ordinarily a voluntary activity. Getting screwed economically isn't so voluntary.
ROLMFAO
The highest reward for a person's work is not what they get for it, but what they become of it
Getting screwed economically can be voluntary as well. I think it all depends on the angle one approaches getting screwed out of money.
One can be screwed out of things even more precious than money. Like freedom. Health. Reputation.
I could make some cheap shots at some political leaders who choose to prostitute themselves to special interests. I could name names, but that would be excessively partisan.
Likewise I could blame the victim who blundered into a bad situation, such as some girl who is told that she could make a good living working (by standards in which she lives) in a restaurant as a waitress, only to find that she becomes a pawn in a sex trade that brutally exploits her.
Swindlers and outright thieves will always be among us. It's best that conscience moderate the acquisitive drive so that those who get the opportunity to cheat others choose to refrain from dishonest and devious practices. The worst swindlers and thieves are those who take control of the public treasury and use it to enrich themselves or their cronies while stripping the common man of all but the illusion of consent.
In a late-stage 3T the opportunities for dishonest gain can overwhelm the means of honest gain, especially as the disparities intensify and the luxuries proliferate for the hucksters and manipulators. In a 4T the opportunities for dishonest gain practically disappear. Reality then trumps image, and display becomes empty to the knowledge of everyone. We will soon be in a 4T, not so much because of our choice (a 1T will be more lucrative and a 2T more fun) but instead because of the need for a 4T for putting an end to what I call plutolatry.
After the clarification form 1990, I selected Gen-X, based on my Lost elder life experiences. I also did this since the cohorts of my younger sisters don't seem to have the pathologies and Boom like intensity.
Gads. I wonder what's going to happen when the younger cohorts gain control.I consider my Boom Generation quite possibly the most destructive in American history, the one that presided over the most inexcusable introduction of social inequity, We have the most corrupt politicians and the most rapacious executives, and we have shown that we are not the ones to solve the problem.
Obviously, Vietnam was over when I hit 18, so I can't really add much to the above.We were soldiers in the first war that America lost (granted, it was a mistake not of our doing to get into that war), but we had Lt. William Calley to discredit the American war effort as no Vietcong propaganda could otherwise do. When we got into the same power to start wars, our President started one with a flagrant falsehood.
[quuote]
Some of us (Karl Rove. among others) found the seams in our Constitutional system of government and tried to exploit them to establish a single-party dictatorship. We include participants in the worst business scandal (the fall of Enron Corporation) in anyone's memory.
[/quote]
Fastow , Rosie, and Axl are all Jonesers as per below. So we have an Enron exec, a shock jock at least as shrill as Howard Stern, and a really messed up rock star. Ugghh.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Fastow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosie_O'Donnell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axl_Rose
True enough. Marathon's CEO is a Boomer and is into this "shareholder value" crap. He outsourced IT and I got the boot. Luckily I got on with the outsourcing company, but I'm pretty passive agressive now at work. It spans the gamut of sending "Diversity" and "Living our Values" emails to /dev/null to working straight 40 hours weeks, to panning Marathon when I find opportunities. An example would be to send say Greenpeace some obscure public information they can use to bash Marathon or do something bad to them. (The above may well be an example of JoneserIn 1992, 15% of national income went to the top 1% of earners. In 2005 that became 22%. If one figures that we haven't increased real income by about 25%, then most of us are doing worse.
If culpability were food, we Boomers would be fat
rage as anything else... )
MBTI step II type : Expressive INTP
There's an annual contest at Bond University, Australia, calling for the most appropriate definition of a contemporary term:
The winning student wrote:
"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and promoted by mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of shit by the clean end."
Granted, we have yet to see the best that an Idealist generation can do -- typically in elderhood. GIs can remember the principled, visionary, decisive leadership of elder Missionaries... as well, of course, as (in some cases of very old ones) the inept leadership that America knew during the 1920s, a decade with obvious parallels. The world got away with bad Idealist leadership throughout most of the 1920s, only to pay for it badly.
The Millennial generation shows much promise should it get appropriate direction, much as did GIs. They look like the sorts who can redeem the world through their efforts if they get the chance. But will they get the chance? The potential for apocalyptic destruction is far greater. There might be no world for them to inherit and improve.
I picked GIs over the Silent because the Silent, no matter how well they had things through most of their lives, have displayed some guilt. They messed up their kids' lives and ended up paying for it, unlike GIs. I picked GIs over Millennials because GIs will be off the scene when the next Crisis Era -- quite possibly an apocalypse that makes the last one tame by contrast -- erupts. Over Boomers like myself? I have never fit into the worst tendencies of Boom pathology. I recognize the worst tendencies of an Idealist generation all too well and have so far gotten few rewards for bucking the bad trends.
Thirteeners? Arguably more messed-up than Boomers, on the whole. To be sure, we have seen the equivalents of Al Capone and not of Dwight Eisenhower.
...Perhaps as a late adapter of technology (I use the computer heavily for such archaic purposes as research and communication; I have no cell phone, LCD/plasma/DLP television, or IPod, and I have yet to recognize the convenience of electronic pickpockets in banking) I don't appreciate technical modernity as some do. Maybe Millennials can find something in technology that I don't.
I can't vote in the poll, since you didn't include "Millennial."
I'll take Manhattan, it is the...
Hi! If I could choose one of the generations not listed…It would be the Millennial. I have suffered from a very debilitating clinical Depression since I was fourteen and have not been able to lead anything approaching a normal life since then. That is probably one of the reasons I have always hated my generation. Only recently have I found an anti-depressant that works, at least partially. So even if The End Of The World is neigh, or if Pain And Sorrow is in the cards, I would at least have been partially alive to appreciate my youth.
I hail from the Isle of Joy, in the State of the Empire. I was born exactly 18 years prior to the day that JFK was assassinated.
Up to 40 percent Silent when I’m not in such a state of Depression .
Up to 100% Boomerwhen I am!
MBTI: INFP
Last edited by anti-boomer,boomer; 05-24-2007 at 01:01 PM.
Millennials haven't experienced enough yet in their lives to be worthy of jealousy. Half of us aren't even legal adults yet.
I also picked the Lost, and for many of the same reasons. They got to see the arrival of Modernity(TM), and to directly involve themselves in creating it.
In the '60s, the '20s look like an older version of the present, much like the '60s do to us today. In the 1920s, the 1900s were already old and quaint. The Lost went from the horse and buggie to landing on the moon. What a trip!
Marx: Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
Lennon: You either get tired fighting for peace, or you die.
Originally Posted by Child of Socrates
I can't vote in the poll, since you didn't include "Millennial"
You're a Joneser, so you can select "your own generation" from the list.
True enough. Since the trial by fire hasn't happened yet, it's hard to say how things will turn out.
MBTI step II type : Expressive INTP
There's an annual contest at Bond University, Australia, calling for the most appropriate definition of a contemporary term:
The winning student wrote:
"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and promoted by mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of shit by the clean end."
Ya, we Millies might all be blowed' up 10 years from now.
I chose Transcendentals. Not sure why.
Well according to the rules, I couldn't pick my own generation. So, I chose my parents generation as being ny next best choice. Gee, I must be the only Gen Xr who looks back on his youth with a high level of fondness.
As per the above, I sort of could. As a "pure cusper", I selected Gen -X based on how things went for my younger Atari wave sisters. They don't have some of the Boomer baggage which goes with being a cusper. I've seen some of my cohorts go off the deep end on some crusade which would match any "real" Boomer.
Perhaps not if you add in cuspers. I rather enjoyed wearing whatever I wanted to to school, getting smashed , and anything else my heart desired. I think our youth was probably the only time in the saeculum where there were no rules at all. It was nice even in college. We got in and out before the PC crap started and costs started going nuts. I have very fond memories of college. That's when we'd go to class, do homework, play Atari games like Pac-Man/Space Invaders, etc. in the student lounge, and get totally blasted on weekends. Getting blasted was no big deal, nobody cared and there wasn't any punishment. The drinking age was 18 at that time as well.So, I chose my parents generation as being ny next best choice. Gee, I must be the only Gen Xr who looks back on his youth with a high level of fondness.
MBTI step II type : Expressive INTP
There's an annual contest at Bond University, Australia, calling for the most appropriate definition of a contemporary term:
The winning student wrote:
"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and promoted by mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of shit by the clean end."
You're just a whore for Susan B. Anthony, right?
