I really don’t have time to respond to this issue, but it’s been coming up a lot on various talk shows and really, someone has to respond. If it helps, don’t think of it as a slap in the face so much as, “Tough love.” Oh yeah, I’d join the “Premium” boards but I literally can’t afford dinner – so this is going in this chat room.

First of all, this is NOT meant for the handful (and we’re not talking about a lot) of committed activists who have dedicated their lives to a progressive society. We know who you are and we appreciate everything you have done. We did, after all, learn our trade from you. This is meant for the increasing number of Boomers who are accusing the younger generation of being lazy or complacent.

This usually goes something like: “where are those kids at? Here we are, in dire straights, our nation is in flames with the world itself teetering on the brink of chaos: So where are those damn kids? I mean, I was at the (insert major protest here) against the (Pick one: war, global warming, immigration “reform”, general fascism, other) and I didn’t see anyone other than fellow baby boomers. And wow, do we still look GREAT! But back during Vietnam we totally ended a war, and we only had stone tablets and signal fires to work with! These lazy bums today have a whole internet and spend all their time on video games while the world burns.”

Let me, on behalf of our generation (Gen X, Y, Z, Q, “the sweetest demo ever,” or whatever you people are calling us these days) address the above complaint.

Where were YOU?

When Al Frankin was doing Clear Channel rallies and we were in the streets with our Books Not Bombs protests. The politicians were fooled, most of you were staying quiet and the media was silent, but we were in the streets. And you wrote letters and complained (and I’m talking about “liberals” here. NOT conservatives) about the demonstrations “making people late for work” and “not being a responsible way to express your message.”

How about when my partner, about 90 others and myself were pepper sprayed in an anti-war demonstration outside a recruiter’s office in Madison? The only “boomers” present were aiming fire extinguisher sized canisters of chemical at us. But you sure didn’t miss out on the post demonstration hand-wringing “Obviously the demonstration got out of control – that sort of thing gives us good liberals a bad name.” Nicely done.

So now, four or so years later, you take a flex day and saunter down the DC Mall and have the shear audacity to want to know where I AM?

Where were YOU when “Greed became Good?” Where were you when Regan, Bush, and even Clinton were elected President? Where were you when this nation adopted free trade? Where were you when the healthcare system was “overhauled?” Where were you when the media was deregulated? When the American society decided that money and individual prosperity was more important than community and the greater good? Where were you??

YOU WERE IN CHARGE.

You have handed my generation a smoking ruin of a nation, riddled with poverty, racism, ignorance and dysfunction. I realize some of you have been working hard to oppose these things, but you haven’t been successful. You ran the campaigns of losing candidates; and you developed the “move to the center” strategy that has success stories like Joe Lieberman to its credit.

Where have we been?

First of all, sorry but we’re fighting the war at the moment. You know, like IN it. A good number of our generation knows what it’s like to see someone’s face get blown off. For real. Not in a movie. And then your generation (the senior officers) expect them to keep moving, keep killing, keep putting off going home to see friends and family. Whose generation ordered this war? Whose generation ran the elections to put our politicians into power?

A great number of our generation are committed activists and non-profit founders/workers. It’s not as glamorous as a high-visibility march down the mall, but we do much of the non-profit dirty work. Youth mentoring work, LGBT activism, civil rights work, public aid legal defense, local environmental activism, literacy work, are all low visibility but high impact activities. Many of our generation blend into the background working to get the job done and move on. Do you notice the 20 something at the soup kitchen? How about the 20-year-old inner city Teach for America teacher? If you don’t see us, perhaps it’s because you’re not looking in the right spots?

Then there are others running websites, blogs, and media campaigns. And how about the young businesspeople who are proving that environmentally and socially conscious business models DO work? Do you “see” them?

Then there are the people too poor or uneducated to play a leading role in any domestic fight to restore the nation to greatness and prosperity. When you are overcome with worry about dinner you couldn’t care less about Democracy. Which is not really their fault now is it?

Do be kind enough to remember what your generation has given mine. Huge college debt, no healthcare, at-will employment, low skill service industry jobs, rising living costs and a government that actually enjoys hurting people. Many of my generation do not have the *means* to be active. And we are just entering a time period where we can start to act in the numbers needed to be effective.

So I really would not bring up the topic of your generational responsibility. Because your generation is responsible for the mess mine has to deal with. And believe me, we realize that all too well. And we don’t like it at all.

Stop trying to blame others and instead hold the individuals within your own generation responsible for either actively causing this mess or for being complacent. And be very nice to the younger generation who is charged with fixing your mess.

I'm too old to be a "baby boomer" having been born at the beginning of WW2 but we also had our dreams of making a better world for those that came after us-but we have been lied to by "both" parties.

They promise us one thing but do another or nothing at all.

Too many of us believe in a imaginary supernatural "god" and that life now is only a preperation for "life" after death so this world and what happens to it doesn't matter to many of these folks.

Hello "believers" what is it about "dead" you don't understand?

DEAD is DEAD!

We don't "leave the earth" when we die, we don't "go to a better place" after death, we rot and become compost for those that come after us.

We need to recognise that ALL LIFE is connected, and we must treat the earth and it's life as sacred even if we don't believe in a god or great spirit.

No "god" is going to clean up our messes and too many of us have chosen to remain ignorant of what's real because it makes us uncomfortable or doesn't jive with our "belief system".

That's why we are in the mess we are in now, too many ignorant,foolish, superstitious people having too many children and wasting too much and too many of us have no respect for the earth and all the amazing living things that live on it so we care not what we destroy, we must continue to have "growth" at any cost and it's costing us dearly.

It will cost our children dearly as fossil resources go into decline and the life they expected to have fades away into hardship and endless wars for the remaining resources.

We tried to get the word out about the dangers of "growth" but no one wanted to hear it, our economy demands endless growth to function, our ever growing population demands more resources, a demand that cannot be met.

We fought against our endless wars and were not listened to, so these horrible,stupid, unjust wars continue.

Our foolish "belief systems" have doomed us and our children to an awful future and it's too late now to stop the coming collapse.

I'm sorry we couldn't succeed in stopping the ignorant, greedy, short sighted and foolish from doing what they have been doing but we did try, at least some of us have so don't condem all of us elders for what some have done, we aren't all guilty as charged.

Hi, Phoinix,

Welcome.

Good essay, with a good bit of insight. Reminds me of a song from an earlier generation, "We Didn't Start the Fire."

Phoinix, here's what I got from your essay.

You can't afford dinner and you want other progressives to agree with you. Good luck, I hope things work out for you.

Sheila, My mother died last October. She loved one man her entire life. My father died in the seventies and my mother spent her last few decades an angry, bitter and lonely old woman, not because she had four kids who loved her and some grand kids she loved as well, but she never got over losing my dad.

You sound as angry as her and as fatalistic.

Phoinix, Sheila-

Don't pay much mind to Sawdust. He's a curmudgeon who won the Horatio Alger lottery.

lol.

quote:

Do be kind enough to remember what your generation has given mine. Huge college debt, no healthcare, at-will employment, low skill service industry jobs, rising living costs and a government that actually enjoys hurting people. Many of my generation do not have the *means* to be active. And we are just entering a time period where we can start to act in the numbers needed to be effective.

Hats off for your activism Phoinix Although I understand your frustration, I don't think the above statement though reflects the true situation or indeed is helpful if we truly want to change things.

I'm 40 and have been activist in peace and social change issues for years and more latterly (becoming supposedly older and wiser) involved with charitable organisations and NGO's in voluntary and legal capacities.

If I've learned anything over the years is that things are simply not as black and white as pointing at history and placing blame. Today's effects are the result of many causes from many different sources both in the US and beyond. To point at 'our' generation with the finger of blame is to misunderstand the situation and also to create another unnecessary division.

If we are ever to move forward and evolve then I personally think that divisions should be healed rather than created, responsibility shared and past 'wrongs' forgiven. We have the means, we have the intelligence and in folks like you we have the the spirit. If we include our soul in our undertakings then the future will be bright indeed

quote:

If I've learned anything over the years is that things are simply not as black and white as pointing at history and placing blame.

One of Thom Hartmann's chief preoccupations in life. (Ive only listened to his show maybe thirty times since he started, but every time I listen he uses his historic knowledge - which is considerable in my opinion and his use of primary sources, if not overly slanted - to cast blame on the conservative movement and commend the liberal movement.) I don't think a black and white world view is productive either nor the blame game; what I do find productive is reflecting or mirroring the black and white world view back from whence it originates, along with the blame game, what they do with it is their business.

It is also interesting to note in Buddhism one of its axioms: "Dont take anything that is not freely given." Sounds to me like a black/ and white position but one I ascribe to.

quote:

ascribe

Interesting word choice, sort of a combination of "subscribe" and "aspire."

quote:

Originally posted by SheilaCH:
I'm too old to be a "baby boomer" having been born at the beginning of WW2 but we also had our dreams of making a better world for those that came after us-but we have been lied to by "both" parties.

They promise us one thing but do another or nothing at all.

Too many of us believe in a imaginary supernatural "god" and that life now is only a preperation for "life" after death so this world and what happens to it doesn't matter to many of these folks.

Hello "believers" what is it about "dead" you don't understand?

DEAD is DEAD!

We don't "leave the earth" when we die, we don't "go to a better place" after death, we rot and become compost for those that come after us.

We need to recognise that ALL LIFE is connected, and we must treat the earth and it's life as sacred even if we don't believe in a god or great spirit.

No "god" is going to clean up our messes and too many of us have chosen to remain ignorant of what's real because it makes us uncomfortable or doesn't jive with our "belief system".

That's why we are in the mess we are in now, too many ignorant,foolish, superstitious people having too many children and wasting too much and too many of us have no respect for the earth and all the amazing living things that live on it so we care not what we destroy, we must continue to have "growth" at any cost and it's costing us dearly.

It will cost our children dearly as fossil resources go into decline and the life they expected to have fades away into hardship and endless wars for the remaining resources.

We tried to get the word out about the dangers of "growth" but no one wanted to hear it, our economy demands endless growth to function, our ever growing population demands more resources, a demand that cannot be met.

We fought against our endless wars and were not listened to, so these horrible,stupid, unjust wars continue.

Our foolish "belief systems" have doomed us and our children to an awful future and it's too late now to stop the coming collapse.

I'm sorry we couldn't succeed in stopping the ignorant, greedy, short sighted and foolish from doing what they have been doing but we did try, at least some of us have so don't condem all of us elders for what some have done, we aren't all guilty as charged.

Good Lord.

Don't they make pills for this kind of outlook?
For your own sake, stay away from edges of buildings and sharp instruments.
Hopefully you are not a public school teacher.

Tomorrow will be a better day.

quote:

Where were YOU when “Greed became Good?” Where were you when Regan, Bush, and even Clinton were elected President? Where were you when this nation adopted free trade? Where were you when the healthcare system was “overhauled?” Where were you when the media was deregulated? When the American society decided that money and individual prosperity was more important than community and the greater good? Where were you??

YOU WERE IN CHARGE.

I have never understood how this generation was raised by the "greatest generation". The war protests of the 60's have long impressed me (looking back on a time I was just a little young to see first hand) as the beginning of their self-indulgence. I submit that only a small minority - probably about as many as in any other war - of war protesters were true concienteous objectors. The rest, and this would be most of them, were more concerned with keeping themselves from getting shot at, with staying in college and living the hippie lifestyle of sex, drugs and rock and roll, with avoiding the sacrifices their parents made than with the moral issues of war they hid behind.

Johnson's approach to the war may not have worked in the best of circumstances, but their refusals to go certainly didn't help any either.

You are only partially correct in labeling the boomers as "in charge" during all that you see going wrong with this country. They were the driving force, they were the greediest of those who made greed good. What makes a better statement about where these people ended up than the use of Janis Joplin's "Mercedes Benz" to SELL MERCEDES BENZ TO THEM.

There have been numerous articles about the indulgence, the preference for top end adult toys (electronics, luxury cars, etc. not somthing else that "adult toys" might imply - although they likely own a disproportionate amount of those, too), the lack of actual participation in community organizations. The self absortion began with that "Where were you when Kennedy was shot?" which always suggested to me that the biggest thing that happened in their lifetimes was the biggest thing that happened.

Look at the Ameriprise retirement fund commercials aimed at these folks. It's all go do what you always dreamed of doing, and the dream is never anything altruistic, we'll make sure you're wealthy enough to do it. And speaking of thier retirement, they are intent on sucking Social Security dry just ahead of my scheduled retirement date. Sacrificing even a little of their benefits so the system can survive will be just another duty to those coming after them that they will shirk.

I look forward to the day when enough of them pass from the scene that we can take the country back from them.

"Slabmaster" said-"Good Lord.

Don't they make pills for this kind of outlook?
For your own sake, stay away from edges of buildings and sharp instruments.
Hopefully you are not a public school teacher."

What's your problem? can't take reality?
Who's been doing the inquisitions, witch burnings, jehads, racizm,anti earth and warmongering? BELIEVERS that's who.

If you believe that being dead is better than living, why value life and other living things?

Our actions toward the earth and all the wonderfull living things that inhabit it show we couldn't care less about the future including that of our children.

How is lamenting that attitude make me a wack job in need of tranks?
I called it as I see it, and I see a "civilization" in deep doo doo.

Another thing, we AREN'T "in control", we are in as much "control" of what happening as a little child was when it sat in it's car seat and played with it's fake steering wheel so it could steer the car just like daddy does.

Our "vote" is as effective in changing things as was that fake steering wheel.

Is there any real movement to impeach Bush and Cheney? Will the congress vote to stop funding this illegal, unjust war and occupation?

Don't hold your breath, most of the dems are as much in bed with the military industrial complex as the cons are.

Do you really think we will finally get universal health care? not as long as the insurance companies and the drug companies have anything to say about it.
Here in Oregon, Ron Wyden is proposing that everyone be required to have health insurance, PRIVATE health insurance, FOR PROFIT health insurance!
That's not a fix for the health care mess we are in, that's another gift to the health insurance industry.
If I seem depressed about the state of the world it's because I've been paying attention to whats been going on for the last 50 years and it's not pretty.
I'm sick and tired of "bait and switch" being done by "our" representatives and the lies we have been told over and over again.
Most of us were not a part of the "greed is good" generation, we couldn't earn enough money to buy those "adult toys", the big cars, big houses and fancy cloths, we were lucky to just be able to pay the rent on our trailer.

We will get this country back when the greedy rich multinationals have sqeezed every drop of profit out of it and us.

quote:

Originally posted by SheilaCH:
What's your problem? can't take reality?
Who's been doing the inquisitions, witch burnings, jehads, racizm,anti earth and warmongering? BELIEVERS that's who.

If you believe that being dead is better than living, why value life and other living things?

Our actions toward the earth and all the wonderfull living things that inhabit it show we couldn't care less about the future including that of our children.

How is lamenting that attitude make me a wack job in need of tranks?
I called it as I see it, and I see a "civilization" in deep doo doo.

Another thing, we AREN'T "in control", we are in as much "control" of what happening as a little child was when it sat in it's car seat and played with it's fake steering wheel so it could steer the car just like daddy does.

Our "vote" is as effective in changing things as was that fake steering wheel.

Is there any real movement to impeach Bush and Cheney? Will the congress vote to stop funding this illegal, unjust war and occupation?

Don't hold your breath, most of the dems are as much in bed with the military industrial complex as the cons are.

Do you really think we will finally get universal health care? not as long as the insurance companies and the drug companies have anything to say about it.
Here in Oregon, Ron Wyden is proposing that everyone be required to have health insurance, PRIVATE health insurance, FOR PROFIT health insurance!
That's not a fix for the health care mess we are in, that's another gift to the health insurance industry.
If I seem depressed about the state of the world it's because I've been paying attention to whats been going on for the last 50 years and it's not pretty.
I'm sick and tired of "bait and switch" being done by "our" representatives and the lies we have been told over and over again.
Most of us were not a part of the "greed is good" generation, we couldn't earn enough money to buy those "adult toys", the big cars, big houses and fancy cloths, we were lucky to just be able to pay the rent on our trailer.

We will get this country back when the greedy rich multinationals have sqeezed every drop of profit out of it and us.

Yeah, reality seems to keep escaping me. At least the version that you've described.

I'm sorry that you feel so bitter towards....everything.
Not sure where the " being dead is better than living" comes from. The only people I hear preach that dribble is jihadists with the 72 virgin fantasy.

I see hope, prosperity, opportunity beyond belief, and good days ahead for those that are willing.
It is a huge blessing to be alive and I thank God daily for the few precious years I have to be here.
IMO, it's your life to make of it what you will. Blaming others and caustic bitterness will only cause you misery.

Good luck to you.

quote:

If I've learned anything over the years is that things are simply not as black and white as pointing at history and placing blame. Today's effects are the result of many causes from many different sources both in the US and beyond. To point at 'our' generation with the finger of blame is to misunderstand the situation and also to create another unnecessary division.

If we are ever to move forward and evolve then I personally think that divisions should be healed rather than created, responsibility shared and past 'wrongs' forgiven. We have the means, we have the intelligence and in folks like you we have the the spirit. If we include our soul in our undertakings then the future will be bright indeed

Refreshing

Every generation inherits the good and the bad of the ones that came before them. While I admire Phoinix's passion, I can't agree with some of the flawed arguments. His is not the only generation that has been handed a nation riddled with poverty, racism, ignorance and dysfunction. His is not the only generation represented in the military men and women fighting in wars at the moment. College debt isn't nearly the evil portrayed, if one has the debt, he must have received the education freely chosen..same thing for at-will employment, without it workers couldn't up and quit just because they want to (it works both ways), and the healthcare problem isn't because healthcare doesn't exist... albeit this generation enjoys the most advances in modern medicine, that doesn't mean they can see a doctor when they need one. Neither could my great-aunt Ethel who died as a child back in the 1920's.

Kate:

quote:

Don't pay much mind to Sawdust. He's a curmudgeon who won the Horatio Alger lottery.

lol.

No offense meant, but "Horatio Alger Lottery"? I have never seen anyone fuse (or confuse?) the left's and the right's veiw of how one attains material success before, much less in 3 words.