Who seemed like the worst people of the American baby boomer generation when they were under 30 ?

[Bombtrack]

I know that now it's pretty easy to see who they are today in their 50's and early 60's:

George W. Bush
Bill O'Reilly
Karl Rove

But I'm wondering if smart, good members of society had their own most hated awful YOUNG people back during the 60's and 70's.

I know there are people from generation Y who are leading the awful parade, but they tend to be much more isolated in the arena of pop stupidity and so-called entertainment. Your Paris Hiltons, your 50 Cents, your faceless shit reality tv young hotshot producers and stars everywhere, churning out everything from American Idol knockoffs to "Tiara Girls".

[Warpy]

1. We sure did.

They dressed in Ban-Lon, drank a lot of beer, and were members of really gross fraternities and the YAF (Young Americans for Freedom).

Those are the characters who grew up to be neocons, theocons, thieves, and lunatics.

[Bombtrack]

2. the young republican and/or asshole crowd is pretty much a given

I'm wondering if you had any famous young douchebags to annoy you though.

[Warpy]

4. Joe Pyne was the Lamebawl of the 70s, no use for him,

and of course we all wanted the entire Nixon administration charged, tried, convicted, and thrown into the prisons they wanted US thrown into.

We thought the FBI infiltrators were pretty funny, they were so easy to spot, so we didn't waste dislike on them.

A lot in my generation despised "hard hats," the construction workers and other assorted blue collar types Archie Bunker represented. I got into hot water at the SDS for suggesting these were the very people we needed on our side, oh well.

A lot of us, you'd be surprised to know, resented the hell out of Jane Fonda for her grandstanding in North Vietnam. We were afraid with good reason she was losing support for the antiwar effort.

I'm sure other people have names to add to their own shit lists. These were the top turds on mine: YAF members, Nixon & his gang, Joe Pyne, and (gasp) Jane Fonda.

The lattermost has redeemed herself. I still have little use for the rest of them.

[Glorfindel]

3. Nobody...everyone under 30 was a liberal back then

or else pretended to be. The great divide was between under-30 and over-30. How tragic that the generation that was going to change the world with its love and peace produced the monsters you mention plus others too numerous to mention. On the other hand, everyone smoked, too. ;(

[Bombtrack]

5. I don't know if statistics back up that notion. Didn't the youth vote for Nixon in a higher % than

adults against McGovern ?

18-27 year olds were all baby boomers in '72.

[Warpy]

6. Not so fast

Don't forget "that generation" covered two separate cohorts, and within those two cohorts there were subgroups.

The big college towns had the most liberal of us, but they also had a sizable number of fratties, YAF members and Ripon Society members. That's where our monsters came from, not peace marches.

Blue collar towns produced young conservatives because they were hell on anybody who was different and spoke out. Love and peace weren't considered much in hardscrabble towns that were beginning to face plant closures as industry moved first south and then offshore.

The "peace, love" people were always a minority, something they failed to realize back in the day and a lot of young folks fail to realize now.

We did manage to rattle a few cages and get a few things changed, though.

[sandnsea]

7. The Jesus Freaks

And no personality comes to mind right off the bat from the 70's, but among the regular folk, the Jesus Freaks just freaked us out. There was some movie making the rounds then, I forget the name now, but it was distributed by Billy Graham. And Campus Crusades. That should have been a real clue to what we were headed for. I'd have never thought they'd have so much sway.

[randr]

8. The ones who did not inhale

[SoCalDem]

9. Robert MacNamara..hands down

[omega minimo]

10. Beware! The most vicious new-Nazis are usually

the biggest dork geek gross loser set ridiculed and bullied in junior high who grow up and wreak havoc on "normal" people.

:evilfrown:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. The Young Republicans, the "Up With People" crowd,

and the Campus Crusade for Christ. Back in the '60s these characters were extraordinarily tiresome.

[annabanana]

13. "Up With People" - lord, I had forgotten them.. them and the

Ayn Rand fan clubs.... sheesh

[Hamlette]

12. We were pretty anti-military, so ROTC was a target on campus

but that is not the same thing as being "against the troops". A moniker I've never figured out. Hell, we WERE the troops. We all had friends who had been drafted or signed up to avoid going to Vietnam (myth was, if you signed up for 3 years you could avoid being sent to Vietnam).

We knew the difference between those who were forced to serve and those who we considered to be war mongers.

It's also why I believe in a draft. People who were not in favor of war (or Republicans) were sent to war. Now it seems the whole military is GOP.

Our generation was influenced by the civil rights movement too so we were pretty anti white southerners.

But mostly, we hate "old white guys". which of course, we've become.