Victor Davis Hanson: Thoughts About Depressed Americans

pajamasmedia.com ^ | March 20, 2009 | Victor Davis Hanson

[RipSawyer]

“Middle-aged and older people have been filing similar complaints about society and the younger generation since the dawn of history.”
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This much is true but consider this. Back in the fifties when the young were going wild over Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and a whole host of others, their parents were lamenting that there was no good music being written just as I say today. The big difference is that today I see many young people listening to the music from the fifties and sixties, they are voting with their ears for music from their grandparents time. This wasn’t happening back then.
Occasionally I attempt to listen to what passes for the new popular music and it seems either lifeless and dead or just anarchistic noise that leaves me at a loss to explain why anyone, young or old, wants to hear it.
Also it is obvious that young people no longer have any knowledge of history or any understanding of governments and the consequences of choosing the wrong form of govenment, they are granted university degrees without learning the things that we had to learn in grade school. I have had conversations with university graduates who know little more about American history than they do about brain surgery, no wonder we have such an absurd collection of “leaders” when we grant the vote to people who, after sixteen or more years of school, cannot name the country from which we declared ourselves independent, cannot name the century, let alone the year, when the war between the bue and the gray started, cannot name the branches of government, are certain that this nation was founded as a democracy when in fact the founders considered democracy a dirty word and put in the constitution a guarantee of a “Republican” form of government. I am sorry but Hanson is right, we have failed to pass on the values that created this great nation and the youngest among us will soon pay the price.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

This much is true but consider this. Back in the fifties when the young were going wild over Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and a whole host of others, their parents were lamenting that there was no good music being written just as I say today. The big difference is that today I see many young people listening to the music from the fifties and sixties, they are voting with their ears for music from their grandparents time. This wasn’t happening back then.

I honestly haven't seen a trend of younger people listening to music from the '50s-'60s. Little girls these days are screaming over the Jonas Brothers, not Fabian or Frankie Avalon.

And that's the thing about the names you listed - those were musical giants whose music has stood the test of time. But for every great artist, there were 50 mediocre or lousy ones. That was true then and it's true now.

Occasionally I attempt to listen to what passes for the new popular music and it seems either lifeless and dead or just anarchistic noise that leaves me at a loss to explain why anyone, young or old, wants to hear it.

So do I. I was a kid during the '70s and '80s, and I listen to music these days and wonder how anyone could prefer today's music to what I grew up with and love. But then I don't tend to remember what I didn't like back then, just the music I did like - it's a shock when I hear some awful Madonna song from my teen years and remember how bad it was and is. That's the thing about memories - we tend to apply our own filters. We also tend to be less open to new things as we get older - very few things can compete with a fond memory.

Also it is obvious that young people no longer have any knowledge of history or any understanding of governments and the consequences of choosing the wrong form of govenment

I agree that the educational system seems to be getting steadily worse. We have quantifiable evidence.

[RipSawyer]

I honestly haven’t seen a trend of younger people listening to music from the ‘50s-’60s. Little girls these days are screaming over the Jonas Brothers,
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Yes, I know the Jonas brothers are big with the bubble gum set but I have met quite a few twenty somethings who would rather listen to fifties and sixties music than anything more recent. I have a stepson who is 33 and he has never shown any interest in current music. I met his mother in ‘93 when he was 18 and he was hooked on Frank Zappa and the Doors and Moody Blues among others. He studied music and played trumpet in school and studied guitar, he just never seemed to be interested in any music that came along after he was born. I had a conversation with a young man about the same age who was working at Target and saw me looking at some CD’s. He also was hooked on the old stuff that predated his birth.

[oldbrowser]

I have been to some senior citizens communities where you notice a certain confidence about the people. They know that they lived their lives through the depression, world war II, built the greatest nation in history. They lived through great sacrifices and struggles, survived and prospered. They seem to enjoy their happiness more than we do. They seem to be more sure of what they think than we do. They were a made of different stuff than we are.
Morals, spirituality, pride, grit, all of the old fashioned ideals have been defeated by the slicksters and the something for nothing mentality.

[AlanGreenSpam]

-—”I see my country going down the drain and recognize that over half of it’s inhabitants don’t have a clue.”

If it’s any consolation, just remember that half of the population is below average... ;-) Heheheh!

[cgk]

bflr