Remember blaming the previous generation for screwing up the world?

[Philosoraptor]

I do. I remember many young people in the late sixties found it fashionable to blame the 'establishment' and their parents and grandparents for the turbulence and strife and chaos etc. And I remember the trendy phrase, "never trust anyone over thirty", as if the new, hip generation were the only trustworthy people. Hey, I did it too, many of us did.

We wanted to be better stewards of culture and society than our stupid ol' parents were, we were idealists about the future and we figured we'd discovered peace for the first time.

We hailed the dawning of the age of aquarius, and we took some lofty vow to change the world because only we could, because the older, worn out generation had failed, and we were just so sure and confident that a whole new sane world was coming. Man, what were we smoking?

Silly huh? But it happened.

Now here we all are, just look at us.

Now, all these years later, I imagine one of my grand kids asking me when he's about 15, "Grandpa, how did the bush years even happen, why didn't anyone try to stop them from destroying the world"? And I don't know quite what to say to them.

Well Sonny, I guess you could say we were distracted. We lost focus, we became complacent and comfortable in our luxury and materialism, we gave up collectively and we let our guard down. We grew fat, our children grew fat, we let your parents down by not being better examples.

We had to work all day, and when the day was done we just wanted to veg out and relax and watch the game or the old t.v. shows and we just sort of turned into cattle and forgot what it meant to be human. We allowed others to handle our affairs and we sort of surrendered when we should have been fighting them.

But please Sonny, don't blame the previous generation too harshly, we weren't all bad, many of us were really nice folks, payed our taxes, loved our kids, went to church on Sunday, really, we were good people.

[skids]

1. If most of your generation were as humble as you...

...I'd rarely complain about them.

[Kutjara]

2. The wave flows on, we're just the water.

Generation after generation, the young blame and despise the 'old' for the shortcomings of the world. Youth promises to cast off the hidebound ways of their predecessors and bring about an new Eden, a better paradise. Yet the young themselves age, mature, settle, and become the substrate for a new generation of growth.

Every generation should be content in its ultimate fate as the loam from which new seedlings grow. There can be no rebellion without something to rebel against. Perhaps our generation can take some comfort in being so contemptible that we'll be exceptionally rich fertilizer for the revolution to come.

[Philosoraptor]

3. People try to put us down, just because we git around.

things they do look awful cold, I hope I die before I git old.

.........My generation, the Who

I don't mean to sound too harsh on the so called hippys, in their own way, they did change the world on many levels, but the revolution part sort of petered out.

[Kutjara]

4. Maybe their time hasn't come yet.

Future historians may see the 'counterculture' of the '60s as an inspiration for the 'Great Uprising of 2034' or the 'Oh Fuck It, Let's Just Get Along With Eachother' movement of the 2040s. Viewed in that light, the Hippy movement wouldn't have petered out, merely gestated for a bit longer than expected.

I must confess, though, that when I first saw Roger Daltrey advertising American Express, my sense of optimism took a temporary dive.

[Selatius]

7. Lots of social revolution, little economic revolution

There's more tolerance and acceptance today than there was 50 years ago. Lots of social taboos were defeated and removed, and your generation deserves credit for that, but the corporate robber barons remained, and they would later finance Reagan and Bush's rise to power for their own gain...in the form of preferential treatment and tax breaks. They got the drop on all of us.

[Vidar]

8. Good point.

[ikojo]

11. Yep, they smoked their pot...dropped their acid

went to concerts, MAYBE protested the Viet Nam war (not everyone in college in the much vaunted 60s was anti war). After they graduated from college or grad school (that is if the draft was still in place) they pretty much became their parents, living in little boxes made of ticky tacky.

[Hav]

9. .

On the other side, the youth is always seen as a threat to society or a generation without values by the older generation ;).
These things never change.

[orpupilofnature57]

5. Genocide Lite

[Kutjara]

6. Maybe 'Genocide Franchised' is a better term.

Your comment made me think of the implications behind 'lite' products and targeted branding.

What is 'extraordinary rendition,' the 'War on Terror,' 'fighting them over there (TM)', and other terms, if not attempts to brand genocide? Yes, we are creating 'genocide lite;' not light on death, merely light on the public perception of death. We are franchising our brand of death. Kill in an approved way: we won't bother you. Kill in an unapproved way: you're screwed.

[orpupilofnature57]

10. Your version is exquisite!

[ktlyon]

12. fortunately one generation does not run this country

everyone is to blame
I too had great hope that our generation would have a major impact and get this country off this track to totalitarianism and fascism that seems to be our future.
One thing, having children and trying to survive has take the bloom of the rose so to speak.
This country has no real vision, we do not have a plan. We just let things go on and hope for the best.

[lostnfound]

13. Embedded in it is a cultural blindness to class and the nature of power

Those who grow up in a country with a 2% oligarchy can clearly see the route to change, and just how difficult the road would be that might lead to success. They know that change will not come from within the halls of power itself (nor from their offspring who are being inculcated with privilege).

Here we grow up with the illusion that "anyone can grow up to be president" and that we mostly have a meritocracy "work hard and you'll succeed". There is some truth to that illusion, but powerful interests are constantly shaping and filtering who is able to come to power. Among the masses, people of good will are trying to climb that ladder, but they are like ocean fish finding themselves trying to climb a salmon run.

Did the hippies believe or assume that those who would lead the country and its powerful institutions in the future would come from their own ranks?