How does the World view America these days?

[goDel]

The blame game. Some things which will never change, I guess. Whether you're a boomer or millennial, there's always blame to be put on something or someone else. 

 

It's easy to blame in hindsight. In the years to come, we will be blamed equally by the younger generations as well. And to a degree rightly so, perhaps. And for reasons we're likely not even aware of right now. 

 

Hakuna matata. And the man in the arena, and all that. 

 

In the end though, Gibney's book sounds like a collection of wasted paper which should have been better off being a tree. imo

[caze]

incredibly dumb interview. boomers did not ruin america, in fact they had it pretty shit for most of their lives relative to kids today. they did not inherit some kind of utopia, they had far more crime, shitter access to education and healthcare, what they actually did was create a society with a far better standard of living for their children than what they grew up with. also nonsense saying they didn't have to deal with any kind of generational trauma because they weren't involved in WW2, they had Vietnam instead. other shit they had to deal with: the oil crisis, stagflation, mass social and political upheaval (including the assassinations of JFK/MLK/RK, race riots, no civil rights LGB folk either). fucking vox.

[ignatius]

incredibly dumb interview. boomers did not ruin america, in fact they had it pretty shit for most of their lives relative to kids today. they did not inherit some kind of utopia, they had far more crime, shitter access to education and healthcare, what they actually did was create a society with a far better standard of living for their children than what they grew up with. also nonsense saying they didn't have to deal with any kind of generational trauma because they weren't involved in WW2, they had Vietnam instead. other shit they had to deal with: the oil crisis, stagflation, mass social and political upheaval (including the assassinations of JFK/MLK/RK, race riots, no civil rights LGB folk either). fucking vox.

 

 

yeah.. it's kind of hilarious and though i've not read the book.. it's hard to not think of it as a giant bag of stats.  all the social progress that happened is because of boomers.  were they all pointed in the same direction? no of course not.. neither is any fucking generation. 

 

my dad had a cross burned on the front lawn when he was in his 20s because he spoke out about segregation and spoke against the vietnam war in church to a bunch of conservative 'patriots'.

 

every bit of struggle and social change was paid for in blood.  lot's of people were always trying to do the right thing.  pretty much every green/womens/progressive etc movement that exists today got its birth in the 60s. 

 

are there always capitalists and me first fucks gobbling up a much as they can of everything and exploiting everyone and everything regardless of consequences?? yes of course. 

 

laying it all on "all the boomers" is dumb.  it's unregulated capitalism that fucked us. capitalism that poured money into politics and every crack of influence to control the process and swing it all in the favor of corporate gains. 

[goDel]

Hear hear!

 

/british politician

 

edit: no not the blame capitalism game as well... here we go...

 

you started so good.. :/

Edited November 25, 2018 by goDel

[ignatius]

Hear hear!

 

/british politician

 

edit: no not the blame capitalism game as well... here we go...

 

you started so good.. :/

 

 

_unregulated_  capitalism.  militarism. 

[Braintree]

Interesting read:

 

https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/2017/12/20/16772670/baby-boomers-millennials-congress-debt?__twitter_impression=true

 

Good quote:

 

 

Sean Illing

What’s the most egregious thing the boomers have done in your opinion?

Bruce Gibney

I'll give you something abstract and something concrete. On an abstract level, I think the worst thing they’ve done is destroy a sense of social solidarity, a sense of commitment to fellow citizens. That ethos is gone and it’s been replaced by a cult of individualism. It’s hard to overstate how damaging this is.

[ignatius]

 

Interesting read:

 

https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/2017/12/20/16772670/baby-boomers-millennials-congress-debt?__twitter_impression=true

 

Good quote:

 

 

Sean Illing

What’s the most egregious thing the boomers have done in your opinion?

Bruce Gibney

I'll give you something abstract and something concrete. On an abstract level, I think the worst thing they’ve done is destroy a sense of social solidarity, a sense of commitment to fellow citizens. That ethos is gone and it’s been replaced by a cult of individualism. It’s hard to overstate how damaging this is.

 

 

 

that sounds like something ripped out of an adam curtis documentary.  this kind of thing needs lot's of supporting paragraphs.  also needs to be way more specific. who exactly? er.. seems like this guy's book shold've been more about cultural changes and what drives them than "baby boomers did it".  

[Braintree]

That's why he said it was abstract.

The concrete argument about infrastructure is fairly obvious.

[goDel]

Destroying a sense of social solidarity, eh? How many of you would enjoy going to church? A lot of that good old social solidarity was about a priest telling you what to think or do.

If you want to be abstract: way before the existence of boomers, Nietzsche predicted we'd become a bunch of nihilistic f@cks because we wouldn't and couldn't cope without some fatherly religious oversight. Plenty of words have been written on why that is. Way more convincing than the "boomers did it" schtick, imo.

[ambermonk]

lol @ 6ix9ine. He looks like his original teeth got knocked out in a brawl and got replaced with Cap'n Crunch. His inmates are gonna have a field day with him.

What the hell has happened to hip hop anyway? It's like all the OGs are either dead or retired and then all these baby mama bastard children took over.

[YangYing]

Destroying a sense of social solidarity, eh? How many of you would enjoy going to church? A lot of that good old social solidarity was about a priest telling you what to think or do.

If you want to be abstract: way before the existence of boomers, Nietzsche predicted we'd become a bunch of nihilistic f@cks because we wouldn't and couldn't cope without some fatherly religious oversight. Plenty of words have been written on why that is. Way more convincing than the "boomers did it" schtick, imo.

[usagi]

lol @ 6ix9ine. He looks like his original teeth got knocked out in a brawl and got replaced with Cap'n Crunch. His inmates are gonna have a field day with him.

 

What the hell has happened to hip hop anyway? It's like all the OGs are either dead or retired and then all these baby mama bastard children took over.

 

sending straight for these bozos:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebXpst5X_g8

[Braintree]

Destroying a sense of social solidarity, eh? How many of you would enjoy going to church? A lot of that good old social solidarity was about a priest telling you what to think or do.

If you want to be abstract: way before the existence of boomers, Nietzsche predicted we'd become a bunch of nihilistic f@cks because we wouldn't and couldn't cope without some fatherly religious oversight. Plenty of words have been written on why that is. Way more convincing than the "boomers did it" schtick, imo.

 

I think what he means in terms of social solidarity is social programs and having value in community. Willing to invest in them (infrastructure, public education, etc). American culture tends to value the individual over the community as a whole.

[chenGOD]

That idea that boomers ruined America is neither new nor particularly controversial. The policies that got put in place to pacify them as a voting bloc have generally been fucking short-term gainers, at the expense of the future. Things like deregulation of the financial markets and banks, ever-expanding tax cuts while trying to grow Medicare/Medicaid etc. etc.

Written by a boomer:

http://time.com/5280446/baby-boomer-generation-america-steve-brill/

 

I don’t know about all that “social solidarity” bit, cause America really wasn’t built around that, but the economics and policies are squarely at the foot of the boomers.

[ignatius]

 

Destroying a sense of social solidarity, eh? How many of you would enjoy going to church? A lot of that good old social solidarity was about a priest telling you what to think or do.

If you want to be abstract: way before the existence of boomers, Nietzsche predicted we'd become a bunch of nihilistic f@cks because we wouldn't and couldn't cope without some fatherly religious oversight. Plenty of words have been written on why that is. Way more convincing than the "boomers did it" schtick, imo.

 

I think what he means in terms of social solidarity is social programs and having value in community. Willing to invest in them (infrastructure, public education, etc). American culture tends to value the individual over the community as a whole.

 

 

 

i don't know. it sounds incredibly vague which i guess is where the rest of the book becomes relevant.. 

 

didn't "white flight" happen post war because of those scary inner cities and boom of the automobile and freeways going everywhere while streetcars and public transit were shut down? 

 

"value in community" i don't know.. there's a lot of really great home owner's associations ;)

 

i think community was destroyed in a lot of places by mass movement of people to the burbs who created a new community around high school football and cheerleading and bake sales and stuff. and of course country clubs.. 

 

america is quite different in lots of places though.. what goes in one town don't go in another.  the NE vs the midwest Vs rural communities in nebraska or kansas are all different things with very different histories and social environments and values even.. 

 

a 'history of everything' would need to be in the preface of this book for it to be believed. 

 

i think madison avenue ad execs drove a lot of things.. cultural movements were various and competing. 

 

but i think american culture does place a high value on the individual.. it's why there's so many shitty people disconnected from their surroundings.. but a lot of that is enforced by car culture and suburban living. you get in a bubble at your house that takes you to your job and after your job you get back in the bubble and go home and only interface w/a handful of people. 

 

is this all boomer's fault? there has to be more at work here? 

 

edit: i see pacifying them as a voter bloc to be a separate issue and is not w/o competition. there were arguments had. money spent. careers made. careers ruined etc. 

 

but yeah.. clinton did some dumb shit and he's a boomer to the core. smart as fuck and probably wishes he'd done some things differently but he wanted to get re-elected which is where most of the people make a bargain. "i could have principles or i could keep my job..hmm"

Edited November 26, 2018 by ignatius

[Braintree]

Yes, it's intentionally vague because it's abstract. It's something implied in the society, not concrete, which is why he put it that way.

[ignatius]

Yes, it's intentionally vague because it's abstract. It's something implied in the society, not concrete, which is why he put it that way.

 

 

lol.. yeah i get that. i understand what abstract means but i think even in the abstract it kind of doesn't work for me. shrug. 

[ignatius]

Likely died from complications of extreme dehydration. Beaten and denied medical care in immigration detention center.

 

https://www-m.cnn.com/2018/11/27/us/transgender-asylum-seeker-wrongful-death-claim/index.html

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rubin Farr]

US / Mexico border, or Escape From LA?

 

[cwmbrancity]

regardless, Trump's 30-sec power jerk-off material

 

"Yuge loads ! The BEST jizz. So sweet, seriously. Big strong American rivers of seamen. It's not spelled that way? F.U. fugazi Shakespeare, where's that intern......."

[Nebraska]

https://youtu.be/1oWriRzLyhw

[ignatius]

https://youtu.be/1oWriRzLyhw

 

 

how is a police supposed to deal w/the autism ?

[Hk47]

Not like that.

My daughter's autistic... I would be absolutely enraged if police dealt with her like they did there.

 

Defuse with words, or find someone who can. They should never physically force someone with autism, it just makes everything worse.

Edited November 28, 2018 by Hk47

[ignatius]

Not like that.

My daughter's autistic... I would be absolutely enraged if police dealt with her like they did there.

 

Defuse with words, or find someone who can. They should never physically force someone with autism, it just makes everything worse.

 

 

obviously not like that. 

 

I watched season 2 of Atypical and there's an episode where the main character (who's autistic) get's arrested because he's in midst of a panic and trying to calm himself w/repetitive phrases etc and the cop thinks he's on drugs. so was thinking about that when my sarcasm wasn't so obvious. 

 

anyway... i see no reason to tase that kid in the video. they could've talked him down. he wasn't being violent really.. cuffing a kid in school is fucked up but probably necessary sometimes if a kid is being violent.  there's 2 full sized adults there to deal w/that one kid.  but, judging by the reaction of the other students it seems that it's not the first kid to get tased in school. 

Edited November 29, 2018 by ignatius

[Hk47]

Yeah, sorry about that... Video triggered me.

=X