Our Hedonistic Parents : What a waste of a generation.

[Robin]

I am thinking about our parents' generation. What a waste, the 'what is in it for me' generation:

Sixties:
They get off to a good start, with progressive ideas that would expand personal freedoms and expose the ruling dogmas that define racial class structure, authoritarian abuse, and political corruption. But it doesn't take long before the idealism gives way to 'what is in it for me' hedonism. Free love, originally a genuine political movement, gives way to the abandonment of sexual responsibility. The expansion of personal freedoms becomes awash with drug abuse, and the anti-war movement morphs into the general abdication of social responsibility. While the pure idealism of the decade survives in handfuls of the population, it is the hedonism that starts to most broadly define the generation.

Seventies:
Sixties hedonism evolves into cocaine, disco, key parties, and polyester -- the vices and fashion of a people that has abandoned earlier social reform for more traditional life patterns -- marriage, 9-to-5, and absentee parenting.

Eighties:
Beginning to have real power and political influence, our hedonistic parents completely abandon any thought of social responsibility for others, and we see the rise of conservativism – ie. How can we protect our ill-gotten gains (think Savings and Loan crisis)? These are the years of gratuitous breast flashing in bad movies. In an utterly symbolic gesture our hedonistic parents murder John Lennon.

Nineties:
The dawn of the information age, and a new hope. Culture turns away from our parents and looks to entertain us. We get Seinfeld, Friends, the X-Files and a lot of really good movies. I would like to think these cultural trends reflect a tendency for my generation to have better values than those of our hedonistic parents, and a tendency to distrust the hedonist generation. And where are the hedonists during all of this? They are more preoccupied with REAL power… we find them in the White House.

Present decade:
Bush represents the hedonists’ generation in full bloom – self serving with no long-term plans for the future.

[il Padrino Ute]

My parents are from the generation preceding yours. Born during the Great Depression, educated in the 50's, raised a family from mid 60s-late 80s (first child born in '64, last child graduated high school in '89) and retired in the late 90s-early 2000s. All the while maintaining the same consistent lifestyle - God fearing, respectful of others beliefs and politically conservative.

The parents of which you speak are the children of the Greatest Generation. They are unappreciative of what their parents did - not only for their kids but for the entire world. Those who participated in WWII (which pretty much includes all of them either fighting in Europe or Asia or here at home building the planes, tanks, etc. and keeping things running in this country) were the best of the best. They sacrificed everything so their kids would have to sacrifice nothing.

[Venkman]

please tell me that's not your picture Robin

[Robin]

Originally Posted by Venkman

please tell me that's not your picture Robin

Why?

[creekster]

Originally Posted by Robin

We get Seinfeld, Friends, the X-Files and a lot of really good movies. I would like to think these cultural trends reflect a tendency for my generation to have better values

Really? You think Seinfeld, the show about nothing, reflects your new hope and belief thatr your generation (and I exclude myself from it, as I am about 20 years older than you) has 'better' values? Please expalin.

[Venkman]

Originally Posted by Robin

Why?

it's creepy

[Robin]

Originally Posted by creekster

Really? You think Seinfeld, the show about nothing, reflects your new hope and belief thatr your generation (and I exclude myself from it, as I am about 20 years older than you) has 'better' values? Please expalin.

Sorry Creekster. You are one of the hedonists

I'm not talking about the values on display in the show. I am more interested in the quality of the show, and the intelligence reflected in the writing. But upon further reflection, I don't think this point stands up particularly well, since I still think MASH was one of the smartest shows going. In general, the status of current culture as it reflects the values and interests of my generation can be summed up thus -- they were the best of times and they were the worst of times. From the unparalled heights of programs like Deadwood and The Wire to the abysmal lows of most reality television, current media suggests a real intellectual schism in society.

But that doesn't change the fact that you are part of the WORST generation in the history of history.

Cheers

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by Robin

Sorry Creekster. You are one of the hedonists

I'm not talking about the values on display in the show. I am more interested in the quality of the show, and the intelligence reflected in the writing. But upon further reflection, I don't think this point stands up particularly well, since I still think MASH was one of the smartest shows going. In general, the status of current culture as it reflects the values and interests of my generation can be summed up thus -- they were the best of times and they were the worst of times. From the unparalled heights of programs like Deadwood and The Wire to the abysmal lows of most reality television, current media suggests a real intellectual schism in society.

But that doesn't change the fact that you are part of the WORST generation in the history of history.

Cheers

IMO, the best written show in tv history was The Andy Griffith Show.

[myboynoah]

Originally Posted by il Padrino Ute

IMO, the best written show in tv history was The Andy Griffith Show.

Hard to dispute that. Leave it to Beaver was great. The Many Loves of Doby Gillis had its moments. My wife loves I Love Lucy, which, for the most part, I find irritating.