General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThere is no "generation gap"
Yes, we are all products of our generation. The Boomers witnessed some of the most horrific events in our history. GenX had to pretty much raise ourselves (not the Boomer's fault, but rather the decline in real wages forcing both parents to work,) and the millennials came of age with 9/11 as a starting point.
But we are all Democrats, all Americans (mostly) and all have empathy.
How do I know we have empathy? Because this is Democratic Underground, not the Free Republic. DU is empathy, FR is antipathy.
But I see jabs at generations from others, or perceived jabs by generations.
We're all on this dying planet together.
We're all on this sinking ship.
At this point, does it really matter if we're sitting on the North or South end of the doomed vessel?
Does it really matter who boarded first?
And we are at war.
Not with one group, or a cabal, or even a party.
Our enemies are in both parties, and they have been since we can remember.
I invite all of you to read up on a little history. It's called "The Business Plot."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot
The plan was to overthrow FDR in 1933. You will recognize a lot of the family names: there are Morgans, Bushes and many others.
They failed because their chosen leader, Maj Gen Smedley Butler (who later wrote "War is a Racket" turned them in instead of going along with the coup.
No one went to jail, no one was even reprimanded. The story was buried. But they didn't go away.
When you hear Grover Norquist talk about "drowning government in a bathtub" or other such nonsense - this is what the business plotters had in mind. They hated FDR and especially VP Henry Wallace. They wanted corporate fascism, where the corporations told the government what to do.
Sound familiar?
This is our war.
This is our enemy.
Peace.
starroute
(12,977 posts)The perception of a generation gap in the 1960s was based on a sense that the World War II generation was stuck in certain attitudes -- about race, about sex, about popular culture, even about what was important in life -- and seemed unable to recognize that their children saw things very differently.
There's been nothing equivalent to that since. What we have instead is an attempt to play off one generation against another on economic grounds. To claim (quite falsely) that the Boomers always had things easy, benefited from a buoyant economy throughout their working lives, and are determined to hold onto their jobs out of simple greed.
This is the generational equivalent of racism. Instead of claiming that immigrants would steal your jobs, the power brokers are now claiming that middle-aged members of the working class have already stolen all the jobs and don't want to give them up. And that's not only a lie but -- like similar racist narratives -- is intended to set the exploited at one another's throats and prevent them from recognizing the real oppressors.
It's pure propaganda and should be called out as such whenever it rears its ugly head.
Freddie
(9,231 posts)You hear a lot about "helicopter parents" watching over their college kids via electronic devices; it's true. I am closer to my kids (27 and 23) than my folks were to me and we talk about things, personal and political, that I would have never dreamed talking about with my Greatest Generation parents. Maybe it's the economy but I also help my kids, especially babysitting my grandchild, in ways my folks never helped me. I see this with other Boomers with young-adult kids too.
Taverner
(55,476 posts)And I remember their sheer misery
I still remember being driven back from swimming by a friend's mother - she was really drunk and her daughter had the task of controlling the steering wheel while she would apply the gas. We kids at the time thought it was a riot.
Looking back, wow, that's a parenting FAIL!
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)Triana
(22,666 posts)DonCoquixote
(13,615 posts)For ops that go beyond K and R, I nominate this..
K & R
daleanime
(17,796 posts)still wish we had done better, although I don't know how. It seem you need truck loads of $ to get government to listen to you anymore.
Uncle Joe
(58,111 posts)Thanks for the thread, Taverner.
retired rooster
(114 posts)...is something I have been trying to bring to light for years. It's well documented, there was a very real attempt to seize power by big business, and they have not given up. Corporations are still at it and will not stop until they are stopped by "we the people". Spread the word whenever and wherever you can.
Taverner
(55,476 posts)Joseph Kennedy, despite what you may have heard, feared these people
And they didn't care much for him