"The Dumbest Generation"?

[nightrunner]

I play video games and enjoy them. That doesnt make me stupid or ignorant does it? Urghhh

do you spend every spare moment of your time doing it?

I'm 19 and I have to say I am embarassed of my generation and my peers. Most dont have a clue about what is going on around them, much less in the rest of the world or even national news. Sure i play video games and surf the internet too, but i dont spend every second of my time doing it. I, too grew up with my mom taking me and my sister to the library at least once a week, and I am soooo glad she did. Reading is the basis for learning in general.

[Punisher84]

You know I hate to play Devil's advocate here, but it's the older set that has put this country in the shape it's in. Not the under 30 crowd. Take a look at the president, congress, and senate. They are all over 40. Generalizations about generations are useless. It is always the few that stand out the most and the many who just carry on and DO.

[Mike.357]

I play video games and enjoy them. That doesnt make me stupid or ignorant does it

too easy, video games did not make you stupid or ignorant.

but it's the older set that has put this country in the shape it's in. Not the under 30 crowd.

Your generation has not had the oppurtunity to do a thing to date. The fault lies with my generation who has done everything they could do to make your life easier and better than ours. A mistake but a mistake with good intentions.

[I_Like_Pie]

Folks...I know as many people x > 30 as I do x < 30 who are down right idiots.

The only difference is that the younger crowd still has a chance to redeem themselves.

[Punisher84]

Your generation has not had the oppurtunity to do a thing to date. The fault lies with my generation who has done everything they could do to make your life easier and better than ours. A mistake but a mistake with good intentions.

That's all generations though. That's why parents try so hard to make a better life for their kids. The thing is though, my generation has seen the fastest economical, technological, and society growth of any generation before us.

I'm 23 years old and look how much has changed just in the past 5 years since I got out of high school. Gas has gone up 2 bucks a gallon, phones are the size of money clips, and you can get on the internet anywhere!

My generation is not the greatest, but remember this... It's the video game generation that is fighting a war in Iraq and Afghanistan, it's the video game generation that is patrolling the streets day and night, it's the video game generation that is fighting for change. It is also the video game generation who will take up the 2nd amendment fight after the elder generation is done talking down to the younger generation.

[I_Like_Pie]

The best of a generation will always be good and will always provide leaders. But the general run of people under 30 is just atrocious: atrocious education, atrocious manners, atrocious work ethic.

There is some truth to that...there are some real go getters and there are some real losers. The difference that I see is that there isn't much middle ground.

[strickj]

This shows the stupidity of young voters.A 19 year old freshman has been elected mayor. You should at least be old enough to get laid before something like this

[ame]http://youtube.com/watch?v=QGfE-txdVj4[/ame]

[Guest atomemphis]

There is some truth to that...there are some real go getters and there are some real losers. The difference that I see is that there isn't much middle ground.

I just said this.

[I_Like_Pie]

I just said this.

Awsome...that means that there are exactly two people with a mutual agreement in this thread.

[Guest UofM Matt]

Energy is still cheap relative to what it was 40 years ago. You enjoy a quality of life that your grandparents probably only dreamed about. You are safer today in virtually anyplace in America than people were 30 years ago.

The best of a generation will always be good and will always provide leaders. But the general run of people under 30 is just atrocious: atrocious education, atrocious manners, atrocious work ethic.

Energy prices (and I'm basing this on gas prices) are actually higher than forty years ago.

http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/statistics/nytimes_gasoline_price.jpg

Crime rates per capita have also increased, so I would argue we are not safer. See the statistics from the USDOJ for yourself.

http://bjsdata.ojp.usdoj.gov/dataonline/Search/Crime/State/StatebyState.cfm

All we, the younger generation, are asking is that you do not generalize us. There are those of us who have been able to get great educations , who do have manners, and who do have work ethics.

I would also point out that many of us do recognize the many opportunities given to us by our parents and because of this strive to meet and hopefully exceed the expectations that come along with those opportunities.

Edited May 16, 2008 by UofM Matt
Had the DOJ initials incorrect

[Marswolf]

OK folks. These personal attacks need to end - now.

Debate the issues. Don't attack the poster.

[Marswolf]

You know, every generation thinks the younger generation is stupid and going to Hell, while the younger generation thinks the older ones can't think, and are really dumb and regimented.

Of course the younger guys eventually grow up and find their parents and grandparents weren't so dumb after all.

Middle age? Well I just passed by the TV and saw a bunch of middle age people standing out in the pouring rain in New York so they could watch the revival of New Kids on the Block. Now that's stupid.

[The Rabbi]

Mars, it goes beyond that. It is true that the Vietnam generation had little respect for their parents, the WW2 generation (at least until recently).

WHat the book points out is not intergenerational conflict but the very real change in education and values, largely prompted by the internet and the new technology of instant communication.

It had been the idea that these things would lead to people being more knowledgeable since knowledge was so easy to get.

In fact what has happened is that experience and opinion have been elevated above facts and reasoning. Some of the posts you deleted showed this admirably. I haven't looked into it too much but I would bet YouTube and Myspace are filled with personal information about soldiers from Afghanistan and Iraq, as if the war were simply a more dangerous version of "My Summer Vacation." There were very real, international issues at stake in the war, whatever side one wants to take. But defining it as the sum experience of the grunts on the ground nullifies all of that and cheapens debate over it.

[molonlabetn]

Considering that the 'Baby Boomer' generation is the first in history to be leaving this country in worse shape, overall, than when they received it, there really isn't any valid argument in their defense. That doesn't diminish the lack of responsible or intellectual individuals which have been successfully nurtured to improve the situation, but this is arguably a manifestation of the 'sins of the father...', not a natural progression of social breakdown.

Who is to blame that the youth of today have no sense of responsibility? Their parents (or lack of them, in many cases)...

[Guest Phantom6]

..... I have met some exceptional, extremely impressive, smart, very responsible and driven people under 30. They are easy to spot because they usually wear pants that fit. I have no clue if there is a connection to be made.

Yeah, I always thought that robbing a market was pretty stupid but then when you compound that by wearing baggy pants and no belt so you have to run with the loot in one hand and the knife or gun and your britches hitched up in the other to keep from tripping on your baggy pants and foiling your own get away well, that's just ludicrous. Oh, wait a minute, Ludacris (he can't spell it but he is absurd) is one of those idiots with the sag thing going on rappin' 'bout violence, drugs and disrespectin' da hoes ....er, ah ...bitc..., no, ah, women. Yeah, women. Dat's it, women!

[The Rabbi]

Considering that the 'Baby Boomer' generation is the first in history to be leaving this country in worse shape, overall, than when they received it, there really isn't any valid argument in their defense. That doesn't diminish the lack of responsible or intellectual individuals which have been successfully nurtured to improve the situation, but this is arguably a manifestation of the 'sins of the father...', not a natural progression of social breakdown.

Who is to blame that the youth of today have no sense of responsibility? Their parents (or lack of them, in many cases)...

Gee, I dont think so.

Let's take Bill Clinton as the forefront of the Baby Boomers. He was born in 1946 so turned 21 in '67. He and his cohorts inherited a world torn in two by the Cold War, with the threat of total nuclear annhilation being very real. From the post-war boom of the 1950s and 1960s there followed the stagflation and increasing global competition of the 1970s and 1980s. Interest rates soared as did inflation. The Japanese were kicking our butts economically while the RUssians were doing so politically. The top rate on income taxes was 90%.

By the time Clinton left office the Soviet Union was no more, the U.S. was the sole superpower, the economy had transitioned to more service oriented stuff and was still the largest in the world, providing a level of goods and services unknown in the past except to the wealthiest. This is still largely the case. Inflation is still low, unemployment is still low, taxes are still low, politically the biggest threat is from Muslim extremists, and they lack the means of total destruction of the U.S.

[molonlabetn]

Social Security and Medicare.

[Guest Phantom6]

strickj posted->

This shows the stupidity of young voters.A 19 year old freshman has been elected mayor.You should at least be old enough to get laid before something like this

Huh? You can't "get a little" before age 19? IMHO this 19 year old kid must be one slow 19 year old kid. Actually upon further consideration if he can't screw his girl friend then maybe he can't bring himself screw the whole town. On the other hand his lack of, shall we say experience with the fairer(?) of the sexes, could lead to mental illness (plus extremely hairy palms along with severely decreased vision- so I was assured) and he could really lay pipe to the whole town. I'm going with the mental illness thing. That town is in SERIOUS trouble.

[molonlabetn]

I must be slow then... I waited until I was married.

[Marswolf]

Social Security and Medicare came from the WWII generation - FDR and LBJ.

[molonlabetn]

Social Security and Medicare came from the WWII generation - FDR and LBJ.

Indeed, but the current generation will be bearing the brunt of it's gross mismanagement by the previous generation.

[I_Like_Pie]

strickj posted->

Huh? You can't "get a little" before age 19? IMHO this 19 year old kid must be one slow 19 year old kid. Actually upon further consideration if he can't screw his girl friend then maybe he can't bring himself screw the whole town. On the other hand his lack of, shall we say experience with the fairer(?) of the sexes, could lead to mental illness (plus extremely hairy palms along with severely decreased vision- so I was assured) and he could really lay pipe to the whole town. I'm going with the mental illness thing. That town is in SERIOUS trouble.

Cause that is what it is all about...screwing.

Good grief the young'uns can't win for losing with some folks.The thread started complaining how useless that young people are and we bring up a guy who is 19 who is bright enough to do something that 90% of the old geezers couldn't do.

..and we blast him for being to young to have screwed a lot of women?!? I am somewhat at a loss for words here...however the sarcasm meter is acting a bit crazy.

[Guest atomemphis]

The Japanese were kicking our butts economically

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH [deep breath] hahahahahahHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

You said 'were', as if they aren't now! Add in their neighbors (China) who have driven the cost of steel up tremendously, and this is some funny stuff.

I guess that comes from not working in the global economy, but rather just getting information from a news outlet and working in a smaller scale consumer market. At the international engineering firm I work at (not too far from your shop, in Brentwood), such increases in cost of building materials due to the consumption by the Japanese and Chinese has driven construction costs up several fold. Their huge increase in raw material consumption can be directly attributed to such a booming economy.

Lets not be so naive to think that your parents didn't say the exact same thing about you, that you now say about the next generation.

And the fact that you now have such abundant information, via the internet, and 857 channels on television, does not alone make the youngest population stupid, you are just now well informed about how low the intelligence of people across the board is.

This is nothing new; you just know about it now.

[The Rabbi]

Indeed, but the current generation will be bearing the brunt of it's gross mismanagement by the previous generation.

There was no gross mismanagement. S.S. has about 2 problems:

-Demographic. When the program started not many people lived much past 65. Additionally there were many more workers supporting fewer retirees. You could say the gov't failed to change the standards to keep up with demographic changes, not that it hasnt been tried.

-Indexing for inflation.

Change those things and it will be a solvent system again.

On Medicare, the biggest problem is the increased cost of care, largely driven by increases in quality. There are lots of other issues but that is the biggest. Adding a drug benefit was the worst move of the Bush Administration. And of course getting rid of it will be politically impossible.

[Guest c_o_jones]

I tend to blame hippies for pretty much everything wrong these days...