Don't blame the Boomers

[Mythsaje]

When you get right down to it, I think the generation MOST to blame for disregarding their duty to be involved in the political process is MY generation. Generation X. With our cynicism, our rejection of any argument that didn't stroke our fragile egos, WE are the ones that capitulated control of our political process to the RW wackos and religious freaks who fought for their beliefs (screwy as they were) and actually bothered to go out and vote.

I realize this isn't true of ALL Gen Xers, but entirely too many of those I know of my generation repeat the universal mantra of the uninvolved "I don't DO politics." They didn't want to know, they didn't want to think about it, and it is THEY who have helped bring this nation to its knees through their disregard.

No, don't blame the Boomers. Most of those who were politically active remain politically active. It was they who fought for what my generation took for granted. The end of the draft, environmental protection laws, defense of endangered species, etc...etc... Many of the Boomers I know are politically conscious even now.

We can't blame the Gen Xers for Reagan, I'll admit. But we certainly didn't do everything we could to keep Bushco out of the White House. Too many of us bought into the Nader thing that the Democrats and Republicans were the same. It's fair in some respects to say they're opposite sides of the same coin, that they are, to some extent, beholden to similar corporate interests...or, at least, some are. The military/industrial and prison/industrial complex, for example. The former has become a mainstay of our economy and the latter is trying very hard to get there. And it's being tolerated.

My generation didn't bother to look up from their current fascinations to notice the damage being done by the Drug War to our Constitution and civil liberties. Those from areas outside the big cities were far too tolerant of racism, sexism, and homophobia. They didn't really STAND for anything, so they stood for nothing at all.

Too many completely rejected politics as something that had "nothing to do with me" when, as we all know, it certain DID. They, WE, gave up our power and never noticed.

Certain members of the Obama club will regularly bash Boomers, and say, in not so many words, that their time is done--that they're holding onto old and expired values. But I disagree. There's nothing wrong with THEIR values. It's the generation that came after them, the one that really exhibited NO values other than angst, nihilism, and self-obsession, that is truly to blame. The baby boomers fought hard for what the youngsters today seem to take for granted.

Shame on anyone who doesn't appreciate their sacrifices, and shame on the huge swath of Gen X that capitulated its duty to help maintain the values that the Boomers represented. Race equality, gender equality, civil responsibility, political awareness, environmental concern, and standing up for the underdog.

I'll accept my share of the blame for not being more involved earlier. I bought into the argument that I couldn't really affect anything, that these things were outside of my control. I neglected my potential role as a voice for the voiceless, and a potential herald for the People for FAR too long.

You doubt my words? Look at the voices of Gen X. The musical artists. I can only think of a few who made it their business to say what should be said, who stood in open opposition to the powers-that-be. How many of US are/were the target of the same kind of hatred and loathing on the part of the Right Wing as our predecessors? I can only think of a few.

Think of the most popular of the Gen X musicians, the one proclaimed as a genius. What did HE have to say about anything? A voice capable of reaching millions, and all he did was wallow in angst and despair and offer nothing positive to any of us.

Need I say that I wasn't particularly impressed? Sure, after some of the ridiculousness of the eighties, which was in many respects equally as pointless, it seemed like a much needed change. But there were strong undercurrents even during the eighties...American punk, progressive metal, and even socially conscious New Wave stuff. When the nineties hit, and grunge ascended, all of THAT was rejected along with the pop metal pap.

Too much of Gen X's music has been meaningless, saying nothing of import, offering nothing of hope, or a call to action against those who would grind us ALL underfoot. Just undirected anger, angst, and hopelessness.

Don't blame the Boomers. Blame US. I DO.

I hope Gen Y can do better. They can hardly do worse.

[acmavm]

1. You know what, we ARE partially to blame. We knew what shits this country

was capable of putting into power and we didn't stay vigilant. AND, we did not teach you guys that lesson. We truly believed the 'never again' mantra and when Nixon got on that plane, we took it for granted that everyone would pay attention and recognize that they had a duty to stand up for what was right, to educate themselves on the political process, and to investigate and research the people that were getting into positions of power.

We knew and we just rolled over and played dead when we thought we had won the war. Fuck, we had just won a major campaign, that's all.

[liberal4truth]

8. Lots of our problems stem from the "Greatest Generation" who put Reagan in the Oval Office....

So dont blame yourselves too much being a Gen-Xer.

Most of you couldn't vote in 1980 or 1984, not to mention for Daddy Bush in 1988, but we Boomers and
our parents the Greatest Generation did just that. (Not that I voted for that creep, Ronald Reagan or Bush #I, myself but my conservative GG parents did).

12 years of Republican's from hell all during the 1980's. What a horrible time that was.

Not to worry, however, as the unwise choices our now deceased parents voted for will be coming back to haunt us now that we are coming into retirement age or at least into our mid-40's, for the youngest.

Just rememeber to wave at all the Baby-Boomer Walmart "door greeters" who
will be working well past the age of 65 and in a way our parents certaintly were not accustomed to. :-(

[Mythsaje]

12. Welcome to DU...

Yes, I think some of the blame definitely falls to the Greatest Generation, but some of it I can forgive simply because their understanding of America was different than those who followed them. They lived through the dark times of the Depression, and stood up to fight Nazi Germany, which was certainly a worthwhile cause, and saw the glorious gleaming technocracy of the fifties as their reward for their sacrifices. The white-bread American Dream come to fruition. Then came the sixties, the civil rights movement, the counter-culture that stood up to protest the Vietnam war and ended up effectively rejecting the very premise of the realization of the Greatest Generation's dream. They saw through the illusion and said "Hey, this isn't cool." They rejected the artificial morality of an America that still stigmatized and discriminated against minorities, and still treated women like they were somehow less important than men.

The seventies was a placeholder decade, when the iconoclastic movement of the counter-culture vied for control with those still trying to maintain the facade of moral perfection. Reagan's election was a victory for those who prefered illusion to reality and wanted to believe they DESERVED their "just due."

I say I can forgive because they were so heavily influenced by the propaganda generated during the war and immediately afterward. By the time Gen X came around, we'd gained some immunity to the constant barrage of visual and auditory "information," immunity that the Greatest Generation never had time to develop, and the Boomers only managed to evade through utter rejection of its premises. We countered with cynicism, a complete lack of belief in institutions of ANY kind--from the government to the labor unions. Many of us saw ALL of them as self-serving rather than acting on the behalf of the people.

What's more is that by this time our education system had began its slide into mediocrity. It began its process of teaching to tests, and formulating conventional wisdom. While various individual teachers still maintained a desire and need to teach the students to analyze data and formulate their own opinions, there were also entirely too many who wanted the students to absorb and regurgitate accepted and acceptable answers to very complex questions, basically dumbing down the whole process. In history, dates and one-dimension depictions of events and personalities became more important than understanding the multi-layer causation and consequences of historical events. People became accustomed to getting pat, simplistic answers--and learned to pass tests that expected such pat, simplistic answers. Rather than essay questions that allowed the students to explore more of the related data, they were given one-sentence multiple choice answers from which to choose. And, what's worse, many of the questions that offered a slightly different view of the situation were scored as the "wrong" answer, even though they might offer a perfectly valid alternate viewpoint.

I think all in all the path we took, or were taken on, to reach this point was long and winding, and most of us were never allowed to catch a glimpse of the ultimate destination. Those that did were openly mocked and marginalized and we're only now getting the chance to stand up and say "We told you so!"

We were warned, but entirely too many people weren't really listening.

[femrap]

16. There are many life long Dems who NEVER

would consider voting for a Raygun or a bush. The Evangelicals became a major force during this time....go blame them.

And maybe folks should ask BO about those 'excesses of the '60's and '70's' that turned everyone to Raygun. Uppity women and Blacks scared the suburbians!!

And if you want to blame the true reason for Raygun beating Jimmy Carter...blame OPEC. Iran held the hostages and Americans were standing line trying to get gas in their tanks...depending on whether your license plate's last # was odd or even determined which day you could buy gas. And Jimmy tried to tell the Greedy, Spoiled Americans to lower the thermastat to 68 degrees. We knew that oil was going to run out back then. And Jimmy wouldn't play with the OIL companies...he actually had integrity and that is NOT allowed in a president of the US of A.

The Corporation went out and found Raygun for its puppet. And dumb fuck Americans fell for it. Anyone with a brain didn't. Oh...and by this time the Repugnants had their own Media Conglomerate via the Think Tanks such as Heritage.

Many circumstances came together that caused Raygun....and poppy. But the Repugnant machine was starting to hit is stride then. Thankfully Poppy had a crap economy and Bill had charisma.

[Tyler Durden]

36. Speak for yourself.

As a Democratic Socialist and a member of the Democratic Party since before I could vote, It was ALWAYS the YOUNGER members of society (since WE got rid of the draft, brought on Voting Rights, secured Women's rights) who supported these idiots. YOU obviously weren't paying much attention to the YOUNG TURKS of the day, Chanting "Greed is GOOD!" making money off of the middle and lower middle class until there wasn't one anymore.

You could always snow one of them. I watched it happen. MY parents (even my "Rockefeller Republican" Dad) voted for Democrats: I don't know about yours.

[mitchtv]

2. Thanks

Tho not literally a boomer-1944. they have been my generation, and as far as I am concerned I never stopped my involvement, tho I stopped going to places where I might get arrested, cause when you go to Jail for your beliefs, you go alone. believe me. At demonstrations i've been to since '00, the average age is about 50.

[femrap]

17. You are exactly right! I always look

for younger people and find a couple....I always told them to bring more of their friends.

[cornermouse]

3. Not that it's likely to impress the Gen Xers, but

John Fogerty, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson are all still active. I think, but am not sure I saw Mellencamp had done something too.

[housewolf]

4. As a Boomer, Thanks, but you (Gen X) don't get ALL the blame -

After all, it was the Boomers who raised you...

There's plenty enough blame to go around.

When the Hippie generation turned into the Yuppie generation and infiltrated the world of big business, advertising and the media, with our sense of self-centered (remember the "Me Generation"???) entitlement, we created this mess that we see today. I only hope and pray that folks from your generation and younger can create something better out of it.

:hug:

[Warpy]

7. The tweeners also raised Gen. X

You know, the ones who were born during the latter 30s and before 1946. They were too young to know much about the Depression or WWII or even Korea and too young to pay much attention to the McCarthy witch hunt. They were the ones who were the biggest suckers for right wing snake oil because they didn't understand the need for a social safety net. They were joined in crime by the second cohort of Boomers, too young to have experienced the 60s except as something their parents were alarmed about, and some of GenX. All three cohorts were willing to accept money in place of justice.

Unfortunately for them, the money they accepted was funny money. They're about to get a very harsh lesson in what the words "net worth" mean to a family's long term financial survival. They were all just a little too eager to accept debt in place of just wages.

You're absolutely right to point out the differences in music. You only have to compare the intensely political stuff that came out in the mid 60s to early 70s with its successor, disco, to get a sense of where the country was headed.

I know there is a broad brush being used here and the next ten posts will undoubtedly be from people from these cohorts squawking that since they don't vote GOP and never have, I can't possibly be correct. However, somebody had to be voting for the current crop of conservative losers in both parties and it's not the largely leftish first cohort of Boomers. We were simply outnumbered by the people who came just before and just after us.

GenX only let it happen through massive alienation. They had the help of the cohorts who were active participants.

The good news is that we can vote to change it now. We might not even be too late.

[bpeale]

31. well, i accept NO part of that blame

my daughter is 30. she was 22 during election 2000. she became politically active just the year before that election at age 21. i have taught her about her responsibility not only to this country, but to those even less fortunate than she was (i was a single parent with NO support from her father). so your comment does not fly with me.

[abelenkpe]

5. Nah.

One could argue that Gen X is a natural even predictable reaction to the Boomer generation. So we'd still be in the same situation.

Or Maybe I just love blaming my parents. :o)

Interesting book to read on generational cycles is The Fourth Turning. If correct Gen X will get the honor of cleaning up the mess.

You are right about the vacuousness of Gen X music. You can pretty much say the same for our entertainment business/news media in general.

No matter who wins the presidency there will be change. That is why it is more important than ever that we make sure the most progressive person is elected.

[femrap]

18. Change is the only Constant. nt

[blues90]

6. As an older boomer I can say this

I did attempt to keep aware of what was going on and tried to keep the people I was around aware but no one wanted to hear it even when expressed without anger and with simple ideas .

No one wanted to talk about the issues . It was really apparent when Reagan came along tossing the mentally ill out in the streets but people did not want to hear it , to them these people were bums or nut cases to be ignored and in the way .

All I got was to be told how bad Carter was , the peanut farmer .

Even when Bush sr who was rarely seen during the Reagan years came out with read my lips , no new taxes and then he decided to attack Iraq and we watched endless TV of oil fires being put out . This was an indicator of what was to come , the focus was on the oil only and not the wrong of the gulf war .

The news brought this to us as the first live video capture of a war , real time , I thought , what a horror this is and where are people and what are they thinking . To many the war was great and the oil was ours to take .

I knew it was the end of my generations voice long ago .

Our music holds it's meaning for us and our times as does out ideals . I see that it's over , what I don't know is where I fit in this so called future when everything I know and have skills in are gone now .

As a boomer who tried to not waste and consume I find myself in a strange world .

[acmavm]

11. Yeah, I remember when old Ronnie was running myself. It was surreal.

I could not believe that people were willing to elect that old b-grade movie, had to take second billing to a monkey, SOB to governor of California let alone put his rotten senile ass in the White House. People found out real fucking fast what a horrible creature he was. How heartless. How greedy. How grasping. But it was too late by then. He changed the whole dynamic of American politics.

May he rot in hell for eternity. (And just saying that puts my immortal soul in jeopardy, at least I firmly believe it does. But he was just that evil.)

[femrap]

19. A job of the future is: 'ConservaTION Engineer.'

You already don't waste...sell some of those ideas.

The US is going to be hit like a ton of bricks soon....and our lifestyle of waste is going to be over.

From what I've read, we will have to return to Community...growing our own food, starting our own banks, restaurants, shops, car repair, etc. It will be like Withdrawal from heroin...but it will be oil instead. Some people will flip out, be angry, or scared. To me that's the CHANGE we are goin to see.

Learn how to install solar panels or wood burning stoves, etc. The grid may just not be there.

I agree with you about this strange world...American Culture of today makes me sick. But I would like to get back to basics and be prepared. Many will feel as if the rug has been pulled out from under them.

Good luck!!! I think the Greed and Consumerism 'is in its last throes!' (Cheney had thought it was the insurgents....dumbass! lol)

[blues90]

23. I would like to see it return to a community

I have the skills to take care of what I need . I can build a house and repair just about anything . I continue to do repairs on our own stuff that breaks down .

I don't have any money but I have always been aware of energy bills and keep things off to the minimum .

I could live without a cell phone and computer and I don't have anything else left to lose .

It's close to impossible to grow any food here in an apartment but we do buy only food to sustain ourselves . Nothing fancy just the basics .

Alot depends on where you live in what you can do . The community here has broken down years ago . People come and go here when at one time people stayed and you got to know people , not anymore .

They continue to build new tall buildings here , I have no idea what use they will be . In the 80's just around the time of the S&L scandal they were removing small homes and building apartments and condo's and they stood for years un-finished , the ones that were went forever even with one months rent to move in sitting empty .

They finally were rented but now I see more and more moving vans loading up and not unloading from these very same buildings .

Somethings got to give or many will be out of luck .

I certainly don't count of elections making any change that will effect much at all , these are not the answer after all the damage has already been done . Perhaps with the right people there will be change 25 or 30 years from now , provided the entire structure of the economy changes where people fit in and can make money off something better than a capitalistic system , it's clear that does no work any longer , not for people just the corporations .

I guess we will see , I don't think the worst is over yet .

I do wish that people would have years ago put as much effort into stopping this madness as they do in the candidates .

[femrap]

24. The worst is far from over...the big poop

is about ready to hit the fan. You sound like such a reasonable, common sense person so I believe you will be OK.

It is a damn shame what the Corporations and the politicians who suck their d*cks have done to this country.

I have been buying extra canned goods, rice, etc. And I love beans...great source of nutrition and if you don't like their 'side effects,' just add a tad of apple cider vinegar to them...My grandfather taught me that...and voila!

If you have the skills to build houses, I would encourage you to look into the 'straw-baled house'...that is what I want. Great insulation. Plus I want some solar panels and geothermal. This is the wave of the future...google these and you can be on the edge of what people want to live in!

Small communities is what will happen...OFF THE GRID!!

The people like us will survive. We're not greedy and realize what is important in life.

[misanthrope]

25. It won't be the nirvana many think as billions will die...

...in the chaos created by waning petroleum. A lot of folks don't think about the dilemmas that will be created by the lack of pharmaceuticals, medical supplies and energy to medical facilities alone.

It will be catastrophic and when many people deduce the reduced effectiveness of law enforcement, life will become very violent. Civilization is flimsier than many realize. Just look at Africa and Eastern Europe for examples.

[femrap]

29. If only....

we had continued in the direction that Jimmy Carter had headed.

I have a friend living in Cleveland with 2 adult roommates...she had a 'house' meeting a couple of years ago and all decided it was best they each have a firearm and pass the test to carry it.

She said that if the police were called, it would be up to 20 minutes before they would arrive.

I hate the thought of getting a gun...I did take the weekend class required to carry a firearm, but have not bought the gun. But in the back of my mind, I know I will eventually have to. Some have told me to stock up on ammo because of the 'planned shortage' forthcoming.

'Civilization is flimsier than many realize.' Oh so true.

[Fovea]

9. What happened to the boomers.

This is a generation born into fear, raised into fear, mislead by fear.
At it's youthful first stirrings of power, it tried to reject fear and embrace love.
The forces of fear killed an entire generation of its leaders.

In return, the boomers almost brought America to a standstill in 1968 when the forces of racial injustice met the fury of post MLK civil rights advocacy. When the anti-war movement hit the streets in Chicago and Kent State, America stood at the brink of general insurrection. Our expectations had changed. Boomers were not going to live in Jim Crow America, and Boomers did not want an empire.

In the wake of two world wars of our parents' world, boomers tried to say no to war. Why couldn't they? The boomers could not reject war because they were, first and foremost, consumers. And as consumers, they were sold war with the oldest motivator they knew, fear. They were sold products that allayed in some small way, our insecurity. You have a medicine cabinet full of them, if you are an average American. We actually have caused a new crisis in bacterial strains *because* of our fear of the old strains.

"There's a bear in the woods." "The fight against drugs is the moral equivalent of war." Munich, Aquili Lauro, proliferation, Palestinians, Wahabbists, Shiítes, and so on right up to today.

Our idealism was shocked and awed out of us, and more and more evil empire building took place in our mental landscape. What was the answer to our opposition to the Vietnam war?
Peace with Honor and Arclight raids. What was the answer to free love and hedonism? AIDS.
The disease that would be currently a thing of the past if it preferentially targeted rich people.

And here is what the elite has accomplished with the tools of consumerism, "The Hidden Persuaders", "The Organization Man", seminal works on consumerism were subsumed in the 'me generation' phase by the non-fictional choir of Gordon Gecko clones. "Winning through Intimidation" and naked power became the inner landscape of the boomers, and it drove them apart from each other. This is the generation that turned the mentally ill out on the street.

The more stuff you have, the better you are. No. Really. That was our motto.

Sadly, we as a generation seem only now ready to pick up the shovel and remove the crap. So we don't have a fucking lot of time to hand off the world to X, Y, and whatever. I see it in the Democratic Primary, and in the spasmodic death of the Republican party, with Social conservatism snarling at NeoCons and the GOP Biz Base so engrossed with fat from the endless trough of BushII that they cannot even stagger like Jabba the Exxon CEO away from the juggernaut recession they themselves invoked with their staggering greed.

Boomers know down deep that the future cannot be the expansion of the status quo. That the sci-fi utopian or dystopian worlds were so because of technology, resources, and the limits of both. We are already facing the limits of our global carbon economy. Someone clever said that things that cannot go on forever, don't

Tomorrow cannot look like today. That much is clear. Let us start actually designing, welding, pouring, and mortaring in that future. After 911911911911911911911911 past the point of nausea we just are too shell shocked to flinch anymore when loud noises occur-- we just keep shoveling. We simply are out of time to wait.

Maybe that is what the X etc generations coming online have that we boomers don't... the ability to whole heartedly hope.

I think that down deep, some of us boomers are a bit jealous.

[femrap]

21. "The more stuff you have, the better you are. No. Really. That

was our motto." I am a Boomer and I always felt that was the Republican's Boomer motto....not mine.

When I drive by someone with a Hummer, I always look over and mouth the word, ASSHOLE. Maybe I should say Selfish Asshole.

I always thought those who fell into the 'keep up with the Jones' were insecure.

[Karenina]

10. Forget assigning BLAME to a particular group.

When everyone who has time on their hands, having had the rug pulled out from under, whether graduating from H.S. with no prospects but the military or having been ripped off after a lifetime of paying into the system, converges on the Townhall, County Seat, Statehouse and D.C. with torches and pitchforks, tar and feathers, the REAL ISSUES will be addressed.

[truedelphi]

13. Great post! wish I could recommend your words, K! n/t

[Donnachaidh]

14. thank you Mythsaje! k&r

"It's the generation that came after them, the one that really exhibited NO values other than angst, nihilism, and self-obsession, that is truly to blame."

And when the shit hits the fan looks to blame everyone else but themselves. Yes, they are not totally to blame, but even in THIS election cycle it's more of a *MY candidate's better than yours - so there!" neener neener stance than it is any REAL attempt at finding out the REAL issues and working to get them heard.

From what I see locally (I am in a red state) Gen Y will do FAR worse - by doing nothing at all. They have the shiny toys to keep them busy. :shrug:

[loser_user]

15. Nostradamus made predictions too

Give it time. The oldest of Generation Y are in their early 20s and haven't hit the moment of self realization of being worthless yet.

[WheelWalker]

20. There's plenty of blame to go around. As Boomers, we should have learned that if

you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

Let's not fix the blame...let's fix the problem.

[lumberjack_jeff]

22. Absolutely correct. You took the words right out of my mouth. n/t

[devilgrrl]

26. I blame my generation - Generation Jones

Yes, us who were born between 1955 and 1965.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=2236544

http://www.marstoncomm.com/Denver_Post.pdf

http://www.jonathanpontell.com/aboutgenjones.htm

[Biscottiii]

27. Not looking to blame anyone, many things add up to create distress.

Yes, I lived through the gas lines from those days. Depending on the letter on your license plate meant which day of the week we got to buy gas, pretty inconvenient if one worked M-F and had to do it on the weekends LONG LINES for blocks & blocks, maybe 5-6 hrs just to buy gas! Carter was hammering to get cars more energy efficient - but look how many SUVs and Hummers are now running around guzzling. Nothing much came of it. I always wondered: "Doesn't anyone else remember standing in the gas lines?" Me, I walk or take the bus and fill my tank (at 200 miles, have to write it down and track it, because the gas gauge is broken) every 4-5 months.

Something that makes me CRAZY too. Water is such a precious resource that's probably one of the BIGGEST issues in the middle east if you check it out. Yet, how often does one see somebody turn on a faucet blasting out water - as they wander around looking for a pan in the kitchen. Heck, that water is going to boil fast enough once they put it on the stove or into a microwave dish. Or ... while getting ready to brush the teeth - leaving the faucet running as they're wandering into the bedroom deciding which clothes to wear? (Not ONLY the young people, I see Boomers doing it too!!! Not my parents generation so much, since they lived through the Great Depression and have respect for any resources they're going to have to pay for.)

Or people totally unwilling to recycle. My niece especially gets the Dumb Bimbo award for that. A young woman that can figure out EVERY Blessed feature on her cell phone couldn't POSSIBLY comprehend that an aluminum Pepsi can might possibly be recyclable? Crap, she tossed her cat litter into the recycle bin. And soon after, I tossed her little deadbeat (non-rent paying) a$$ out after I cleaned out the recycle bin. Straw that broke the camel's back.

So, my point is that this planet could use a little bit of kindness. Get Bush OUT and then we get working together. I think this year's momentum with the elections may just be the catalyst we need. Save SOMETHING for all the Peoples' (be it Gen X or Boomers) Grandkids to inherit. Bush/Cheney/Rove crowd have done everything imaginable to destroy it, now we need to fix. Sorry, Rant over.

[Biscottiii]

28. Must admit, something that makes me feel hopeful

I live across the street from a park, about 3 blocks from the community college. Young people park on my street to avoid paying the college parking fees. Don't blame them, they aren't bothering me.

So often I find in my recycle bin other people's cans or plastic bottles. Rather than toss them in the street, it pleases me to see them SHARING my recycle bin. Sharing the planet.

[bpeale]

30. thanks for your support of the Boomers

we tried to do what was right, but without a generation coming after us, well, we're just plain getting tired of carrying the whole load ... not only the load of the generation before us, but the load of the generation that came after us. it's damned tiring.

you are right on! thanks.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

32. Go ahead, blame the boomers

Way back then, we boomers blamed "the greatest generation" for vietnam and segregation.

You got a gripe? Go ahead and blame us.

Kids born today are going to blame you, someday, for something.

[madokie]

33. I'm a boomer with a fifteen month indoctrination into what is not right

and have been paying attention and screaming at the top of my lungs for so many years that my vocal chords are now permanently damaged. All these years I've known where I would find us today and have been fighting hard to prevent it so yes where we are today can't be lain at our feet only. Mine anyways ;-)

[LanternWaste]

34. Every generation will blame the one preceding it...

Every generation will blame the one preceding it while denying anything of import that generation did do and focus only on what that generation didn't do.

Regardless of age or date of birth, I think we all share both blame and culpability for our inequities, and credit for the the achievements that have come.

[Alcibiades]

35. A very thoughtful post

I don't think its particularly useful to tar our generation with too broad a brush, however. To a great extent, we did learn the lessons of the boomer generation, though they may have been the wrong lessons. We saw them in their millions fight the war and civil rights movements using the political process, only to see that many of the changes that they wrought were ephemeral: poverty remained endemic and the military-industrial complex retained its power to bang the drum for profitable wars.

Many of the factors associated with political participation are due to factors that are, broadly speaking, exogenous or due to lifecycle changes. Political participation is associated with things such as getting married, buying a house, and having kids, or those things that have traditionally been called "adulthood." When you look at the trends in our generation, you find that these milestones have been delayed, but many of the reasons why this has been the case have not been due to any fault of ours. More of us went to college, which delayed settling down, and more went to grad school, which did the same thing. Unlike the boomer generation, there was no draft or war that caused an early entry into politics for our generation. If you look at rates of political participation among the young, they peak in the early 1970's, shortly after the adoption of the vote for 18 year-olds.

I do agree with you that our popular music has contributed to the problem, or lower levels of political participation in our youth, but I think that's asking too much of music--which is, after all, primarily a diversion, an entertainment. Moreover, musicians of our generation, and creators of culture generally, have been at a disadvantage in the marketplace. We have been, to some extent, missing from popular culture, but some of that is due to the pressures of the mass market. Throughout our lifecycle, we have been eclipsed by the bulge of the larger, older generation. There has always been more money to make marketing things (including culture) to boomers than our generation. I do also think that there's a little revisionism in your account. Sure, there was Cobain (to whom I think you allude) and Morrissey (himself technically a boomer), who, by and large, popularized despairing music, but don't forget that Public Enemy and Rage Against the Machine were also quite popular.

I'm glad you're involved today. When I was a younger man, I was politically active (though perhaps less than I am today), and I did note the disinterest in politics you ascribe to many in our generation, and lamented it. There was also, however, a certain lack of leadership back in the 1980's when we aged into the voting population. I volunteered for the Jackson campaign in 1988, but other than him, there was little for a young person to get excited about in the way of mainstream politics. Who was there to get excited about? Reagan? A doddering crypto-fascist. Dukakis? A technocrat. Clinton? A DLC-type centrist, more concerned with NAFTA and "ending welfare as we know it" than addressing the real problems of youth. You can't be clean for Gene if there's no Gene for whom to be clean.

The story of our generation isn't over, we're still writing it. It may not be particularly useful to look at intergenerational politics in such starkly oppositional terms. The boomers did accomplish much, but when you look at the leaders who helped them along, you can see that they didn't do it alone. For every Abbie Hoffman or Gloria Steinem, there are many folks such as Woody Guthrie, Eugene McCarthy, Timothy Leary, Bella Abzug, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Ken Kesey. We all stand on the shoulders of giants. Maybe you were not personally active in speaking out against the politics of Reagan as a young man, but many of us were. I take great pride in our generation today when I attend a political function and see that many of the leaders are fellow genXers. Maybe too many of us were apolitical earlier, but we are not, as a generation, apolitical now. We have our especial virtues: we have not had anything handed to us, and are hardworking as a consequence; many of us are organizationally adept; we are well-educated and empowered. Our time has finally come to craft a politics that is our own, and I think that part of that politics should be a willingness to work with anyone and everyone, older and younger, who shares a progressive vision of the future.

[sentelle]

37. I understand what you say.

However, after some thought, I would disagree with some of your premise.


When you get right down to it, I think the generation MOST to blame for disregarding their duty to be involved in the political process is MY generation. Generation X. With our cynicism, our rejection of any argument that didn't stroke our fragile egos, WE are the ones that capitulated control of our political process to the RW wackos and religious freaks who fought for their beliefs (screwy as they were) and actually bothered to go out and vote.

"Lead or leave" capitulated control? I think that rather than talk about 'capitulation' Gen X'ers would rather talk of 'doing the right thing' rather than 'good vibrations'... We have all heard the talk. Gen Xers want pols to walk the walk, hence our cynicism.


But we certainly didn't do everything we could to keep Bushco out of the White House. Too many of us bought into the Nader thing that the Democrats and Republicans were the same.

When you get to where the rubber hits the road, where things are getting done, control being weilded, the people's work being done, and action being taken to protect the US against enemies inside and out, how has the actions of either party differed? I am not saying that I buy Nader. I think he too has sold out, or whatever. While he has made contributions to the nation in the past, I do not see where Public Citizen has done anything in the last 8 years. This again, points to action, not words.


Too many completely rejected politics as something that had "nothing to do with me" when, as we all know, it certain DID. They, WE, gave up our power and never noticed.{/quote]

Did we? You assumed that we had some power. We were busy trying to figure things out, since the ways of our parents made us latch-key kids, who were told to be careful of sex, since the sexual revolution was now over, right when we were coming to that age (thanks AIDS).

We were asked to be a part of a process where our earliest memories were a very corrupt president Nixon, followed by a cypher, a do-gooder who was a poor president (and a good man), followed by Reagan and Bush. We were the soldiers of Iraq war I, seeing Vietnam, and the derision, and then being told that Iraq was not a 'real war'. We realised we were being manipulated by pols, by the media, and we could discern propaganda almost through osmosis.

{quote]
You doubt my words? Look at the voices of Gen X. The musical artists. I can only think of a few who made it their business to say what should be said, who stood in open opposition to the powers-that-be. How many of US are/were the target of the same kind of hatred and loathing on the part of the Right Wing as our predecessors? I can only think of a few.

Think of the most popular of the Gen X musicians, the one proclaimed as a genius. What did HE have to say about anything? A voice capable of reaching millions, and all he did was wallow in angst and despair and offer nothing positive to any of us.
{/quote]

The musical artists.... play what the record companies let them. Tell me exactly what happens to musicians that don't follow the label's line? They get blacklisted. as for the one proclaimed as a genius (and I know all too well, living in the Seattle area who that is), he stated the problem. We don't need to be preachy about what the solution is. Do you really expect a mainstream artist to tell American youth to not buy buy buy? not to be good consumers? to not worry about the drug industry (who's that with the rogaine song? ). When there are about 5 Media companies that control 95% of all the stuff on it, then you get what you get. The onus is on the ones who regulate that industries, and chances are, they are not Gen X'ers..... again, action, not words...

I'll be honest, I don't really have much hope for the gen y's, too full of entitlement, good at getting information, but poor at people skills. they take the propaganda at face value...

[Radical Activist]

38. I'm not sure what you're blaming them for, but I disagree.

First, if Gen X had a huge rate of participation they still couldn't have overwhelmed the number of baby boomers in the voting booth. It simply wasn't in their power to have a ballot box revolution.

Second, Gen X was almost completely ignored by Bill Clinton and the entire Democratic Party after the '92 election. I was just writing on another thread that from 1994-2006 you heard Democratic leaders talk about almost nothing except prescription drugs and health care FOR SENIORS but not the rest of us, and protecting social security.

Now, every generation has its activists, including Gen X, but you can't expect the majority of any young generation to get involved in politics when the political system is ignoring them completely. The Democratic Party saw that young people don't vote, Gen X was relatively small, and then decided to focus completely on seniors instead as a short-term electoral strategy. They didn't vote because no one gave them a reason to and ultimately that IS a legitimate reason to not show up on election day.

College campuses I visited in 2000 had stronger Campus Green groups than College Democrat groups. That was the result of 6 years of the Democratic Party ignoring young people and losing its vision. It all comes back to Bill Clinton's triangulation and short-sighted identity politics.

That being said, the WTO protest in Seattle was one of the most important protests of the 20th century and you can thank Gen X for it. The neo-colonial trade system we have is the great issue of our time and it is closely tied to the war in Iraq. Maybe we wouldn't be here today if more people had listened to Gen X.

[Radical Activist]

39. I guess you've never heard of Pearl Jam, Ani D. with Lilith Fair, or Rage Against the Machine.

Those are some of the most politically outspoken bands of ANY decade and there were many more. You have selective memory. Kurt Cobain got involved in some issues, although I'm sure he would have done more had he lived and dealt with his drug addiction. Nirvana's bass player became a full time activist and still is.

[iamthebandfanman]

40. both to blame

all generations that are still alive played some part in it, unfortunately.


we were all fed the american dream.

the fantasy is merging with 'reality' finally.

[JHB]

41. When a nation has been assaulted for a generation, which generation is at fault?

It's been some 30 years -- a generation, by most definitions -- since the driving forces in the Republican party stopped compromising and started relentlessly grabbing as much as they could.

Is that any one "generation"'s fault?

Enough already!

[iamthebandfanman]

42. just wanted to add ,

the 80s were a very ...well.... interesting time as far as corporations asserting their power.

if you think about it , the 80s was when corporate control and advertising were coming into full swing.


we were influenced by those corporations.

they told us what to wear, what to do, what to eat and drink....
still does to this day!

[LSK]

43. what musician are you talking about???

:shrug: