Posted on 01/09/2006 4:43:34 PM PST by tbird5
With the oldest of the Baby Boom generation now starting to turn 60, it seems inevitable that we will soon be inundated with books and TV specials assessing the impact of this huge cohort on American society. The Greater Generation, by American University professor Leonard Steinhorn, can be considered a very sympathetic brief for the defense. No doubt some opportunistic right-wing scribe is energetically pitching Regnery Press on the merits of prosecuting Boomers for their various crimes against humanity, even as some third party is pounding out an even-handed assessment. Hopefully at some point, Friends of the Forests will step in and remind everyone that a generation is an awfully large category to make meaningful generalizations about, and perhaps we should spare the trees. But for now, back to Leonard Steinhorn.
Readers will recall that it was Tom Brokaw's great good luck as a journalist, as a reporter of news, to uncover that back in the 1930s and 1940s, a large mass of young Americans had to suffer, a) the trials and deprivations of the Great Depression, then b) fight a terrible war —a “world war” in the parlance of the time—against countries bent on global domination.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonmonthly.com ...
da,,what's the 60's?
Doogle
We should be grateful we got past Y2K without a whole year about how the 60's were the begin all end all of everything.
Not even the 60s were The Sixties.
This is hogwash and inaccurate, to boot. Boomers were kids during the sixties. All of the changes cited were led by people like King, LBJ, and Nixon, and they were leading, for the most part, the greatest generation. At the edges, young people like me marched and broke some rules but the important decisions were made by the adults, as always.
Do these hippy wannabees realize that America had history PRIOR to the Baby Boom generation and since?
I am REELLY sick of the boomer-bashing articles and threads that are showing up.
Why is it the the MSM insists on portraying the boomers as a bunch of hippies, when they were more likely to be wearing olive drab and carrying an M-16?
The boomer generation has been split by demographers into two halves now, the so-called late boomers were BORN in the 1960s, so how can you be responsible for a decade that ends when you are 5 or 8 years old?
You can google "Generation Jones" to read about the "new" generation that behaves almost the opposite of the boomers. (Hint: highest age based demographic in support of GWB and R's in the last election.)
Also, many books have already been written on the horror of the classic boomer generation. David Horowitz's are among the best.
I personally cannot stand Tom Brokaw. However, the generation that he wrote about was the greatest generation since the days of our founding fathers.
Unfortunately, this does not not apply to the politicians of their time. They set us on the course of the " entitlement" culture, which has bankrupted our country on three separate occasions during my lifetime.
Personally, I would give up all retirement benefits due me, if my kids could have the opportunity to opt out of social security and medicare.
ping
Why would any sane person want to take credit for the 60's?
If you remember the 60's...you weren't there...
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations (i.e. The Baby Boomers) are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.
Ever since I took some of the brown acid at woodstock man, I don't know WTF is going on man...
Its been a long strange trip, but I keep on truckin, and go with the groove ya know.............man....
Hell, after the '60s, the '70s and '80s are a blank. I got up one day in 1990 and found out I'd been married for 24 years and had two kids!
Bingo!
The short answer is because it was you who were wearing olive drab and carrying an M-16 and it was the members of the media who were the bunch of hippies.
Even more briefly, it depends on the meaning of "is"...
Muleteam1
Hey, the 80s rocked and I'm appreciating the 70s more and more every day.
Actually, I think there were previous generations that had a lot to do with the cultural shifts of the 60's onward. The various Woody Guthries, Dr. Spocks, Leonard Bersteins, Timothy Learys, assorted "pinkos", etc. The couldn't complain about fascism, workers rights anymore, so they populated universities, added their voices to the civil rights struggle, harped on about Vietnam, influenced art and pop culture. I think the Boomers were very impressionable as well as spoiled (compared to previous generations, that is). I don't think that the 20-somethings and teens back in 1966 onward just decided to rebel on their own, but they got some encouragement and instruction.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.