Does my generation know evil? (I am 29)

[UConn James]

to flip this around, I'd argue the 24 hour news cycle has numbed us to evil. With these atrocities, various wars and terrorist attacks...the Jersey Shore...being beamed into our faces all day the shock and confusion that came with witnessing pure "evil" has faded. Evil actions and evil personalities become obnoxious talking points for partisan hacks as opposed to moments that actively shock us. Can you imagine what the coverage of the Cuban Missile Crisis would be like today? We'd be praying for the apocalypse just to get the chumps on CNN and Fox to shut up.

 

Agree 100 percent.

 

The bigger problem, though, is that if people this generation actually had to do an honest day's work with their hands and figuring things out in their heads, it would probably kill them.

[SageAgainstTheMachine]

Agree 100 percent.

 

The bigger problem, though, is that if people this generation actually had to do an honest day's work with their hands and figuring things out in their heads, it would probably kill them.

 

While your statement isn't without merit, don't you think that (to some extent) each aging generation feels this way about the younger one?

[Pilsner]

Actually there is Evil in the world. The Bilderberg Group. Most people are just not aware of them yet.

[LeviF]

Actually there is Evil in the world. The Bilderberg Group. Most people are just not aware of them yet.

Bah. They're just rich and powerful people who like to get together and get drunk with other rich and powerful people. All that one world government conspiracy stuff is a load of crap.

[Pilsner]

Bah. They're just rich and powerful people who like to get together and get drunk with other rich and powerful people. All that one world government conspiracy stuff is a load of crap.

 

You don't have to agree with me. Just keep your eyes open though. Always try and be aware of what's going on.

[LeviF]

You don't have to agree with me. Just keep your eyes open though. Always try and be aware of what's going on.

My thinking that they have a power complex the size of Rosie O'Donnell doesn't mean I'm not paranoid

[boyst]

Thank you to all of those who continue to respond to my post.

 

I have not found one point that anyone has made not to be true. With us being such a complex, diverse world and country there are a million viewpoints and each one of them is equally as powerful. I have recently decided, however, that the previous generations are logically incorrect in pointing out that each subsequent generation is to blame for their misdoings. It was just 12-14 years ago my generation was flooded with Britney Spears, Christina Aguiwhatever, Jerry Springer, etc. It was our fathers, mothers, and grandparents that were the directors, producers, financial backers, and sometimes even the guests on these things. I am not pointing blame at anyone but I feel that no one is perfect and even just making a racist joke can perpetuate intolerance and ignorance. While the kids may have only wanted what was cool at the time it was the parents giving it to us, allowing us to view/listen to it, and this propelled the sexuality movement of today.

By no means am I suggesting that this is wrong, or that there is a culprit. I think there are far too many fingers to point. How many of us learned in elementary school that Columbus discovered America only to find out that it was a myth and the Vikings had discovered this place? How many of us turn on ____ news program and hear that _____ is behind _____ and never take the time to look in to the real cause?

While our world culture is a much bigger picture, here in the US we have many problems that never come to light. Then, we have many that do. In the past month I have heard much more about Christine O’Donnell being a witch, Snooki and the Jersey Shore than I have about Darfur, the new healthcare plans, and the solution to bringing our troops home. We are a country that I feel, for the most part, believes that so much of the world has nothing to do with us and we already have enough problems to worry about Chinese factory workers. Many of us do, too. The families here who struggle to feed their children, the man working 2 jobs 18 hours a day to send his child to college, and there are numerous other situations. Personally, I believe you should not procreate unless you are capable of supporting that child, but there are always situations out of our control that cause great misfortune. Government aid should be given out in entirely a different method; reward those who work. Rewarding the needy is important but it never diminishes the need.

Through all of this, can I say my generation is weaker? No. Can I say we do not know the hardships past generations have suffered? No. My generation is seconds away from anything we need, reliant on computers and instant communications to satisfy our needs and desires. For better, or for worse, we are a generation of instant gratification. While we may not appreciate the time it takes to bake a loaf of bread or read a book we choose to buy our meals and watch television. In a matter of minutes we can debunk any politician’s speech, such was done with Hilary Clinton, or we can create a movement. Just 10 years ago PETA was half of the force it is today with the internet fueling its hate-speech. There is no need to mention 9/11, and the 2 wars we have entered in the Middle East. There is no need mention of the massive layoffs that still continue during this recession. I simply think that this generation is like any other generation. So, my answer to my own question is simple. My generation is no different than any other generation past. From those after the invention of the wheel to those after the Great Depression.

 

Torcher? Yeah...um...no excuse there.

[thebug]

I try to be less of a grammar/spelling nazi than I used to be, but seriously?

 

 

Wutz rong with that?

[DC Tom]

In the video that I finished a while ago a thought came from what was said in the video, that we are in a generation now that does not know evil, pain, torcher,

 

...spelling...

 

 

Part of it is that our grandparents' generation was depression-era, and lived privation and hardship; our parents' generation didn't live it so much as learn it from our grandparents. Ultimately, our generation has been spoiled by our parents' generation wishing to avoid depriving us like our grandparents' generation did then (because of our grandparents' experience). The past 40 or so years of American life and culture have been extraordinarily benign and wealthy in both an absolute and relative sense, leaving the post-Baby Boomer generation of Americans truly ignorant of real pain, suffering, deprivation, "torcher" [sic - seriously? Really?]

 

And I'm sure someone will bring up the plight of inner-city poor, and how much pain and suffering they experience. To which I wouldn't even respond with the obvious retort of "Auschwitz". Not when I can just as easily respond "Nor'ilsk, Bosnia, Rwanda, Iraq, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Botswana, Mali, Gaza, etc." Even the worst-off Americans are better off than most of the world.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

And I'm sure someone will bring up the plight of inner-city poor, and how much pain and suffering they experience. To which I wouldn't even respond with the obvious retort of "Auschwitz". Not when I can just as easily respond "Nor'ilsk, Bosnia, Rwanda, Iraq, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Botswana, Mali, Gaza, etc." Even the worst-off Americans are better off than most of the world.

 

Our church just welcomed back a second mission trip from Haiti. The pictures were disturbing. One lady gave up one of her two pairs of shoes to a woman who hasn't had a pair of shoes FOR OVER A YEAR.

 

I can't imagine that kind of privation. No shoes FOR A YEAR? And yet, for the majority of history, that's been the experience of MOST of humanity.

 

We are truly jaded in this country.

[Chef Jim]

Our church just welcomed back a second mission trip from Haiti. The pictures were disturbing. One lady gave up one of her two pairs of shoes to a woman who hasn't had a pair of shoes FOR OVER A YEAR.

 

I can't imagine that kind of privation. No shoes FOR A YEAR? And yet, for the majority of history, that's been the experience of MOST of humanity.

 

We are truly jaded in this country.

 

And here I want to retire in a climate where I don't have to wear shoes for a year. I suck.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

And here I want to retire in a climate where I don't have to wear shoes for a year. I suck.

 

There's a differerence between not HAVING TO WEAR shoes and NOT HAVING shoes.

 

Especially when the streets are unpaved, strewn with garbage and sewage.

[BuffaloBill]

Thank you to all of those who continue to respond to my post.

 

My generation is no different than any other generation past. From those after the invention of the wheel to those after the Great Depression.

 

 

 

 

Great original question and excellent post above.

 

I am 44 and I would argue that my age bracket say bounded by 10 years is actually pretty fortunate. Not to say there has been an absence of challenges but largely we have not had to make significant sacrifices. I look at my grandparents who cam e of age during or just after the depression and then through WWII and think that by comparison my generation has had it easy. I would argue that as Americans we have lost sight of what it really means to sacrifice.

 

 

Pure evil is likely to always be present somewhere in the world - there is only a question of how closely, if at all, are we exposed to it. Genocide, wars, slavery etc. etc. are all very much alive today.

Edited October 21, 2010 by BuffaloBill

[bbb]

To be fair, it was at one in the morning. Any number of drinks could have been flowing through his brain at the time.

 

The only question I had when I was drinking was where is the rest of the booze and where are the women?

 

Now when I was smoking pot, I'd come up with questions like these....That's why I liked drinking a lot more than smoking pot.

[LeviF]

The only question I had when I was drinking was where is the rest of the booze and where are the women?

 

Now when I was smoking pot, I'd come up with questions like these....That's why I liked drinking a lot more than smoking pot.

:lol:

 

True, that, my good man.

[Kiwi Bills fan]

 

Well let's see, just 7 years ago we had many in the media and government conspire to get US into a bloody war based on a bunch of manufactured evidence. Many lives were lost and many people came back maimed and cripppled. Seems pretty damm evil to me.

[shrader]

Pure evil is likely to always be present somewhere in the world - there is only a question of how closely, if at all, are we exposed to it. Genocide, wars, slavery etc. etc. are all very much alive today.

 

We've pretty much nailed the easy examples of pure evil in this thread with the things you mentioned. There's so many other less obvious things out there though. The first that comes to mind would be Fred Phelps and his incestuous army of wackjobs.