Scuzz
6558
You actually think an entire generation will suddenly decide to be ethical and moral in all they do. I think if that is your hope then you don’t understand people very well.
Banzai
6559
It’s sure as hell running the game now, and it’s not looking good for anyone but businesses and the people who own them. Which I can see, and many of my peers can see, so maybe we’ll be the generation to curtail it. Probably not, but hope and all.
magnet
6560
They also enacted the GATT.
It seemed Iike a good idea at the time, and maybe it really is. But it is also the root cause of pretty much every complaint made by GenXers and Millennials.
Banzai
6561
Hoping and thinking are different, so no, I don’t expect an entire generation to suddenly get all moral and ethical, but I do hope as more people understand what is happening, that more people will start to do something about it. Not sure if Gen X has the awareness or ability to do it, but it should happen with one of these generations soon. Assuming the GOP doesn’t stay in charge of mis-education.
I wonder how this conversation goes in Germany.
“After the Horriblest Generation nearly destroyed our country and murdered millions, the Boomers, when not informing on each other to the Stasi, did the hard work of rebuilding, and now we Millennials and Gen Xers are enjoying the fruits of a robust economy and strong social democratic system. If only Trump weren’t coming to destroy it all…”
Scuzz
6563
1). Did they have a choice?
2). The first led to the second.
America was in a unique position in 1939. We could afford to ignore an almost world war for two more years while others fought and died. We were insulated from the world by geography, and that would disappear soon enough. That America came out of the war the most powerful economic country and the most powerful military country is no accident.
ShivaX
6565
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”
Does anyone else constantly have Bad Religion songs stuck in their heads after reading some of this stuff?
More this lately but yeah
Enidigm
6569
The Four Big Post-WW2 Events in Western Civilization
- Creation of globalized military-industrial complexes
- Industrialization of Third World and rise of globalized economics post 1990.
- Rise of Information Technologies
- Transition from a budget surplus to budget deficit economics and politics propping up western standards of living
Much of the merit and/or blame of a generation has to do with their interactions with these broader forces, most of which they either have had little or no direction in. Vietnam and the “Revolutions of 1968” shattered and shifted politics from socioeconomic to cultural. Globalized economics foresaw the rise of massive multinationals and leveraging third-world labor, leading to massive accounting deficits. Communication and computer technologies led to the rise of information economies which, often being nontangible, destroyed far more jobs than they created, and concentrated wealth in an increasingly small number of “heroic” entrepreneurs. Globalized communication and information, starting with radio, television and film and moving up at an accelerating pace and which smooths out regional differences, has led to slow growing but deep populist counter-reaction with large pockets of traditionalists across cultures rejecting and fighting against this new information and cultural homogeneity, both politically and militarily. And deficit economics constraining the action of governments to regulate and direct their own socioeconomic destinies.
Where “your generation” falls along this spectrum as it unfolds is probably the most determining factor in its results and responses to events.
That’s when I reach for my revolver.
Bannon isn’t really serious about running - though it would be fitting if he did. Being both physically and morally riddled with corruption, he perfectly embodies the modern Republican party.
It’s just his latest con. Some of the marks are the rubes who give money to Breitbart, who need to be reassured that Bannon is still an Extremely Important and Relevant Person and not just a plaything Donnie used for a night and then tossed in the gutter with the rest of the trash.
But the main mark is Steve Bannon. He more than anyone needs to con himself that he’s an Extremely Important and Relevant Person, because his ego is even bigger and more fragile than Donnie’s. (So far as I can tell Bannon’s only concrete accomplishment at the White House was making sure there were plenty of glowing “the genius behind Trump’s victory” pieces published about him.)
He’ll drop some hints, raise some money, go to Iowa, and make sure there are plenty “The GOP’s Dark Horse” articles. Then he’ll bolt as soon as he needs to do any serious work.
He’ll be 2020’s Newt Gingrich, in other words. Though, just like Newt, he may inexplicably find himself closer to the finish line than expected, because he underestimated the depths to which the average GOP voter will sink.
He’s like a Robbie Conal poster come to life.
RichVR
6576
Sort of like The Picture of Dorian Grey if Dorian Gray had the picture painted on his own face.
Once I had my heroes
And once I had my dreams
But all of that is changed now
They’ve turned things inside out
The truth is not that comfortable, no
