I always need my coffee!
I will say, however, that on the Internet people are kinda mean to each other for no good reason.
1 Like
And itâs just like the Millenials to think theyâve got it the worst!
1 Like
Well, we did have the worst economic disaster since the 1930s happen right when we were graduating from high school and college. So we kinda stacked up an enormous amount of debt, under the foolhardy encouragement of our parents and the old people. Then once we were ready to go out into the world, and when we most counted on the economy relatively stable (we didnât need a good economy, just an economy generally), all the old people drove truckloads of ANFO into it.
I think thereâs a case to be made that weâve had it the worst since the great depression.
TL;DR, we do kinda have it the worst, and itâs not even our fault. Its the stupid old peopleâs fault. Thanks a lot mom and dad.
3 Likes
On the plus side, you could make sure your kids have it even worse!
2 Likes
I swore I wouldnât ever become my dad, thank you very much.
2 Likes
I read an interesting book, The Fourth Turning, in the 90s about generational repetetion, sort of Seldonesque theory that the finite span of a human life causes a cyclical forgetfulness to spiral history through foru generational phases leading up to a crisis and reset. It appealed to me as I was already a fan of Asimovâs foundation books.
http://www.jamesgoulding.com/generations.htm
http://www.lifecourse.com/about/method/the-four-turnings.html
As for American boomers being selfish douches, at least they didnât fight a justified war to return home to a lifetime of greatly rewarding themselves paid by the generations both before(despised depression era and WW-I) and after them until today.
(edit) I think part of the problem is that not just wealth but opportunity for cool stuff is being concentrated in the hands of fewer humans. Technology means we need less fighter jocks, fewer actors, fewer musicians, fewer firefighters, less writers, and more âjobsâ are being created to provide minimum wage part-time menial servitude to the few who ended up either the best connected or rarely the most competent. Hearing that even having a drivers license is becoming less than universal is in a way a sign of the drop in wealth, not unlike the drop in licensed pilots in the 70s and 80s.
(edit2)
It is interesting that by the Fourth Turningâs view we may have already had the predicted ~80 year economic collapse and if so are headed next for an all out crackup world war climax as that spreads instability.
2 Likes
In debt AND under water!
3 Likes
And theyâre such potty-mouths!
4 Likes
âReinventing the Chinese Zodiacâ
1 Like
I see lots of talk about arbitrary firing, but no talk about unions. Are they just for boomers?
2 Likes
I enjoyed the 4th Turning as well and agree that the repeating patterns are too similar to be ignored. However, if you go back further in history, the 2 great wars in the 20th century are really the anomaly compared to earlier generations. Although the larger point stands that economic instability breeds political unrest and a general rise in nationalistic policies. This will certainly lead to more and more conflicts unless we take steps now to ameliorate them.
3 Likes
There are also these pendulum swings of history:
Missouri Compromise > Emacapation Proclamation & Reconstruction > KKK & Jim Crow > Civil rights > White supremacist terrorism > Integration > GOP dominance of the Old South > Barack Obama > Rebirth (#3) of KKK and segregationist policies
1 Like
I prefer this Matt Walsh: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0909768/
Speaking as an old poop, this was so unnecessarily rude to millennials it made me want to create a rival set of panels: âIs your Boomer still whining? Hit him with the shovel a couple more times before you resume covering him.â
Signed, a boomer who kinda likes the damned kids. Aw, hell, you can party on my lawn if you want. Just donât tell my insurance company I let you.
4 Likes
All the people running are either Boomers, who wrecked the economy truck into the gulch, or Gen Xerâs who just barely managed to escape the calamity that befell the millennials. The boomers are too old to let drive the truck anymore. Theyâve demonstrated sufficiently that they canât be trusted with those keys. The Gen Xers arenât any better, smugly scoffing at us, quizzically asking âHow is it at 25, you donât have a job in the field your degree is in?â
The answer of course is that all the entry-level positions that can give us a leg up for our careers are exclusively reserved for Gen Xers and Boomers who already have their 5 years of experience, and masters degrees and tons of social connections within the industry. All the jobs arenât meant for millennials. And weâd rather vote for someone whoâd work to try and fix this shitpile of a country, rather than think the status quo worked out just fine for them.
Itâs alienating, looking at all the people running, and not seeing a single person my age who had all this shit dumped on them. Weâd vote for people we have confidence in, but Obama burned us too. I personally didnât get my hopes up, but I thought âat least he couldnât be much worse than Bushâ. Turns out the old people donât give a fuck about the future, all they care about is getting their rocks off right now.
Enjoy your families, stable jobs, pensions, decent cars, respect and people thinking you have value. We never really got that. Just empty praise to âbuild our self-esteemâ, then endless scorn when it turns out that you canât grow an apple tree in sand and saltwater.
3 Likes
With regard to the generations, I think one factor is that there used to be around 20 years between generations and now thereâs 30-40. Which means in some ways kids growing up today are being raised by their grandparents, from the point of view of what shaped their caregiversâ childhood. If you look at cultures where the actual grandparents do the lionâs share of raising the kids â China is a good example â you see more conservative parenting behaviors which are often out of sync with what is happening in real time. So when a Boomer raises a Gen-X or Millennial, the âwisdomâ they (full discloser: we) impart is based on very much outdated knowledge.
Not saying this is an excuse, just that itâs a component.
1 Like
Nice. The article you refer to is also very good. More people should read it, although from most of the comments here I think it would preaching to the choir:
You have done our work for us, then called us lazy.
You have threatened our teachers, then told us âjust an Aâ isnât good enough.
You have gotten our jobs for us, and called us underachievers.
You have recorded everything we do, like researchers breeding a better mouse.
You have made us trophy-seekers, then mocked us for our walls of worthless awards.
You have pitted us against each other in a fight for success, which has become survival.
You have given us a world in which even our college degrees are meaningless because there are just too many of us.
You have made us depend on you. When we followed your instructions â went to the best schools, got the best grades, took the most internships and did the most independent study projects, met the right people and got into the right grad schools and chosen the right majors â weâve ended up stuck in your basement because nobody in your generation is willing to pay us a living wage.
6 Likes
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
