Generation Gap study...

[Dr. Fong]

And some die of sadness for young people, who face propaganda machines that Goebbels could only dream of, and a State bristling with technology to quell threats to its' existence with swift retribution - Tibet and Iran are recent examples.

 

 

You play with the hand you're dealt.

[Jim in Anchorage]

You're the same age as me,and I know EXACTLY what you're talking about. Things were alot looser in the '70s. Much cooler time to be a kid. Cruising on Friday and Saturday nites,drive-in movies and parents that didn't yet know the symptoms of being stoned!

Cops that didn't care if you where drunk come to mind.

[ExiledInIllinois]

I think it's interesting that people that were at one end of the biggest generation gap in the 60's find themselves at the other end today.

 

I do too. I find it interetsing and obvious why things are the way they are now. Being born a little too late to be a boomer and by parents that weren't boomers... I have always saw the contrived shame that the boomer generation was and still is. There in lies the problem IMO, when you have one concentrated generation pulling the strings on the puppet that is the country/society.

 

We went from the "Greatest Generation" to the a "Me/self-entitled Generation." Looking back on it, we should have seen this coming a from miles away. Much of the problem is people that were breaking all the rules are now the ones with the keys. They knew what they broke and now are determined to make sure nobody else does the same. Classic.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Cops that didn't care if you where drunk come to mind.

 

 

Oh, they cared... They just took your booze/beer away and drank it themselves.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Sadly, I think that my generation is in the forefront of screwing things up with the things described by stuckincincy. Bans, strict rules, government seizure of homes (for businesses), and a disregard for religion are just some of the things that my generation is currently marked by. Many people who were once frolicking nude in the mud at Woodstock while stoned on weed and tripping on acid now want bans on noise, eating meat, smoking in bars (you knew I would throw that in ), etc.

 

So true... Growing up on our street as a young child, we had some older hippies that just ran wild. I remember my mother saying how she would talk to some of them... Saying: "You will think about all this when you have children" Guess what? Right before my mother passed away she bumped into one of them... He remembered her... He started talking about the old days and how things were... Said he had two older teens... Lived in a nice house out in Amherst or something... And that how that "hippy business" of selling flowers on the street turned into quite a lucrative distribution business... And how now he was at wits ends on how his children were acting. You know what? It never changes. My mother just smiled and gave him a hug.

 

On another note... Somehow, somewhere... It started prior to the boomers... That they thought they were invincible. You think? We were!

[ExiledInIllinois]

People tend to get more conservative as they age. That will not change.This is a cycle that will continue forever. People will always think that the generation gap they're living thru is the biggest ever.

 

 

Bingo!

 

The Puritans were at wits ends with their children. What gets me is the boomer generation and how special they think they are... How certain things are "theirs"... Quite extraordinary, really the first generation in America to REALLY think this way.

[Bill from NYC]

So true... Growing up on our street as a young child, we had some older hippies that just ran wild. I remember my mother saying how she would talk to some of them... Saying: "You will think about all this when you have children" Guess what? Right before my mother passed away she bumped into one of them... He remembered her... He started talking about the old days and how things were... Said he had two older teens... Lived in a nice house out in Amherst or something... And that how that "hippy business" of selling flowers on the street turned into quite a lucrative distribution business... And how now he was at wits ends on how his children were acting. You know what? It never changes. My mother just smiled and gave him a hug.

 

On another note... Somehow, somewhere... It started prior to the boomers... That they thought they were invincible. You think? We were!

 

The music tells a huge story. My mother listened to Frank Sinatra and Perry Como. She loved a song called "Moon River." I am guessing that her parents enjoyed music that was quite similar. I came home with Hendrix and the Grateful Dead, and this was after the Beatles "shocked" America.

 

Imo, the work ethic was also different, but I am less sure of this. I remember a hot girl who was 22 or so in 1977. To collect unemployment in those days, you had to go on job interviews. This girl was smoking hot, and one summer she was afraid that someone would hire her, thus negating her opportunity to take the summer off and collect. She chewed gum during the interview, and actually took it out of her mouth and put it on the guy's desk.

Btw, you are correct. After Viet Nam, a lethargic mindset did take hold upon many young people. I dedicated the better part of 10 years to seeing how many women I could hang with if you will, and of course drinking beer, although I always worked. The women were far less inhibited than they were in past generations. I don't think there is any doubt about that. I had a huge amount of fun, but lost out on educational opportunities, etc.

 

Now, I am an old man going part time to Community College. The classes are roughly half adults and half "kids." I am an A student, but, as I'm sure you can believe, this says more about the kids than it does me. A large portion of the young people cannot write a legible paragraph. That fact alone deserves its own thread.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Now, I am an old man going part time to Community College. The classes are roughly half adults and half "kids." I am an A student, but, as I'm sure you can believe, this says more about the kids than it does me. A large portion of the young people cannot write a legible paragraph. That fact alone deserves its own thread.

 

How times change yet things stay the same.

 

Believe it or not, my mother said the SAME EXACT thing back in 1978 when she was 38! Really, she went back for her accounting degree after being out of high school for 20 years (ie: being a housewife).

[John Adams]

Imo, the work ethic was also different, but I am less sure of this.

 

I hear a lot about this from older folks and see it as BS. Of those who work for a living today, most work a lot more hours than 30 years ago. Hell, there was once a 9-5 "norm" in this country. That's a joke. I know of almost no full-time person who gets out of work before 6 and most people I know with higher paying jobs are not home for dinner except on Fridays. A large percentage of the people I know work weekends--some almost every weekend.

 

Even consider the concept of "happy hour." That used to be a real "thing to do." Now it's just a small draw for the handful of people who got out of work early.

 

Growing up, my dad was always home by 6. He rarely worked weekends (maybe once a year). He's still working and even he admits that his work life is now dramatically different as he is rarely home for dinner and often works weekends.

 

If anything, what the workplace has lost is a sense of family/outside life. People are expected to work more hours and even work when they are off work (check emails, voicemails, be available by mobile phone). To me, that's the worst thing that's happened in the last 30 years in the workplace.

 

Now, I am an old man going part time to Community College. The classes are roughly half adults and half "kids." I am an A student, but, as I'm sure you can believe, this says more about the kids than it does me. A large portion of the young people cannot write a legible paragraph. That fact alone deserves its own thread.

 

You are doing well because you know how to budget time and get work done. They are kids. When I went to night school after a decade working full-time, I couldn't believe how much easier it was than when I was 18. I didn't get smarter--I was just more focused.

[el Tigre]

I hear a lot about this from older folks and see it as BS. Of those who work for a living today, most work a lot more hours than 30 years ago. Hell, there was once a 9-5 "norm" in this country. That's a joke. I know of almost no full-time person who gets out of work before 6 and most people I know with higher paying jobs are not home for dinner except on Fridays. A large percentage of the people I know work weekends--some almost every weekend.

 

Even consider the concept of "happy hour." That used to be a real "thing to do." Now it's just a small draw for the handful of people who got out of work early.

 

Growing up, my dad was always home by 6. He rarely worked weekends (maybe once a year). He's still working and even he admits that his work life is now dramatically different as he is rarely home for dinner and often works weekends.

 

If anything, what the workplace has lost is a sense of family/outside life. People are expected to work more hours and even work when they are off work (check emails, voicemails, be available by mobile phone). To me, that's the worst thing that's happened in the last 30 years in the workplace.

You make an interesting point. The workplace has changed in a very negative way over the last 30-40 years. And the young guys are having to deal with it. My dad was a local-run truck driver with a high school education. He worked 45-50 hours a week with weekends off,and was home every night. My mom never had to work,she stayed home and raised me and my brothers. My parents were able to afford to buy a modest home,feed and clothe us kids and have a comfortable life,all on my dads income. My parents now live comfortably on his Teamster pension and health benefits in the house they raised us in. You cannot afford that lifestyle anymore with a job like my dad had,it now takes 2 incomes. Moms gotta work and that sucks. The family suffers. I don't know what exactly has changed,but it hasn't changed for the better.

[Chef Jim]

You make an interesting point. The workplace has changed in a very negative way over the last 30-40 years. And the young guys are having to deal with it. My dad was a local-run truck driver with a high school education. He worked 45-50 hours a week with weekends off,and was home every night. My mom never had to work,she stayed home and raised me and my brothers. My parents were able to afford to buy a modest home,feed and clothe us kids and have a comfortable life,all on my dads income. My parents now live comfortably on his Teamster pension and health benefits in the house they raised us in. You cannot afford that lifestyle anymore with a job like my dad had,it now takes 2 incomes. Moms gotta work and that sucks. The family suffers. I don't know what exactly has changed,but it hasn't changed for the better.

 

How many computers, cell phones, iPods, big screen tvs, cars, etc, etc did your parents own? How many side projects did the have to pay for you and your siblings? Now you know why parents have to work 60 hours a week compared to our parents.

 

BTW my dad ran his own businesses and worked from 9am to... well I'm not sure when because I was always in bed when he got hom.

[Whites Bay]

The music tells a huge story. My mother listened to Frank Sinatra and Perry Como. She loved a song called "Moon River." I am guessing that her parents enjoyed music that was quite similar. I came home with Hendrix and the Grateful Dead, and this was after the Beatles "shocked" America.

 

Imo, the work ethic was also different, but I am less sure of this. I remember a hot girl who was 22 or so in 1977. To collect unemployment in those days, you had to go on job interviews. This girl was smoking hot, and one summer she was afraid that someone would hire her, thus negating her opportunity to take the summer off and collect. She chewed gum during the interview, and actually took it out of her mouth and put it on the guy's desk.

Btw, you are correct. After Viet Nam, a lethargic mindset did take hold upon many young people. I dedicated the better part of 10 years to seeing how many women I could hang with if you will, and of course drinking beer, although I always worked. The women were far less inhibited than they were in past generations. I don't think there is any doubt about that. I had a huge amount of fun, but lost out on educational opportunities, etc.

 

Now, I am an old man going part time to Community College. The classes are roughly half adults and half "kids." I am an A student, but, as I'm sure you can believe, this says more about the kids than it does me. A large portion of the young people cannot write a legible paragraph. That fact alone deserves its own thread.

 

First off, I have to admit it. I have no fuggin' idea of how you guys isolate a paragraph of text as a quote. Click and drag? No clue.

 

The point is that I'm only responding to Bill's point about being able to write a legible paragraph. I hate to be the grammar/syntax/composition Nazi in this place, but tell the truth, Bill - don't you see that ineptitude in 99% of the posts and responses on this board? Jesus, I'm not that old (I don't think so, I guess). I can't believe I've reached that point where I'm saying "Kids these days......", but I've done the teenage daughter thing, and WTLF is with these fuggin' kids?

 

LEARN HOW TO COMPOSE A GODDAMN SENTENCE!

 

I might be your next boss.

 

I will read your resume.

 

I will not hire you if you "f" it up, because that piece of paper is YOU.

 

If I hire you, and you write like crap, I will withold the opportunity for you to present yourself to higher ups because you will reflect badly upon me for being the worlds biggest moron for hiring your #%$@ing stupid ass.

 

Take one note to heart - we ALL write for a living. Learn it, for God's sake. Learn it. Communication separates you from the lower primates. That and the fact that chimpanzees don't use Ipods.

[drinkTHEkoolaid]

Oh, they cared... They just took your booze/beer away and drank it themselves.

 

i missed the good ol' days... now every special interest group :cough: MADD :cough: and greedy lawyer ruin everything