The Worst Generation
By Johnny Roosh
Sadly the passage of the stimulus bill to an all-too-willing President serves to mark the certain end of an era.
We have become a nation ruled by a majority no longer able or equipped to face our challenges head-on, rather deferring them ever further into the future for our children to solve.
In a bygone era, we collectively strove to live our lives and suffer sacrifices to lever the rarefied benefits of freedom and enterprise for the sake of future generations in the interest of a higher standard of living.
A great many among us even risked their very lives so that America could remain free and were thus christened The Greatest Generation.
Alas, long gone are the concepts of thrift and sacrifice that faded memories of a great depression taught us generations ago.
There once was a time when the trappings of success were acquired once you were actually successful. Nowadays young people feel they deserve to pick up where their parents left off.
Indeed, our entire commercial culture is predicated on the fact that whatever you wear, whatever you drive, the very house that you live in is obsolete the day after you acquire it.
An anachronism indeed is the concept that if you can’t afford it don’t buy it. In its place: buy now pay later; you deserve it!
Is it no wonder then that our government is an apt reflection of we who sent them and are now levering the future for today?
Driven by an insatiable appetite for consumerism, enabled by institutions all too willing to lend with greater margins of risk, risk falsely mitigated by high minded liberals hell bent on gerrymandering and meddling their way to Utopia, our nation has been sowing the seeds of this crisis for decades.
Growing under the dark clouds of a three decade long supercyle of personal, corporate, institutional and government borrowing, the seeds needed only a nudge to emerge.
Now germinated, a crisis that has left our government so clueless as to the solution that it offers a larger dose of the poison as prescription.
Liberal politicians have hijacked the will of half of our electorate, skillfully conditioning their impressionable sensibilities and aligning millions behind the notion that mother government is somehow able to absolve them of their responsibilities as a citizen of a free nation.
They have been led to believe that they are entitled to the coffers, filled now only with obligations to future generations, or to be defaulted upon entirely, because they are entitled to be equal to those vilified by their choice to work hard, employ others, save and invest.
These hapless many are being reminded that all men are created equal, and entitled to remain so.
Substantiated by billions to be spent with no chance of any economic impact, this stimulus bill is the manifestation of all of this coupled with the inexorable will of liberals to enlarge our government as an instrument of their collectivism ambitions. This crisis is not seen as a challenge to solve rather it is a gift not to be squandered. The American people are vulnerable; time is of the essence for a liberal political land grab.
…all sold under the guise suffering and sacrifice are no longer modern concepts, offer no tuition and are to be avoided at all costs; even at the expense of our children’s financial future – even at the expense of our freedom as a nation.
Wars were once fought with sticks and stones but the wars of the future may very well be fought with financial instruments. The battleground may be the internet and in the financial markets. The strong, preying on the weak, especially those destroyed from within.
This battle may already be afoot.
This generation has brought our nation to its knees. Now manifested is the notion that a democracy made aware of it’s power to vote itself it’s riches will do so, and with a vengeance.
February 14th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Cue the off-point idiotic remark about Bush and Iraq….
February 14th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Before you read this, understand that I am writing in generalities about generations as a whole, don’t take this personally! I have known great Boomers & wrenched Xer’s.
I went to a George Carlin show back in the early 90’s. In my early 20’s at the time, my friend & I were the youngest people there. It was largely us & 3500 Boomers & Jonesers.
There was one part of his show that was written just for us Gen-Xer’s. Carlin told us if we really wanted to do ourselves & the world a favor, each one of us should go out & kill a baby boomer. It was a hilarious bit, but there was only like 10 people in the crowd who thought so.
I still haven’t carried through with my part, & honestly not all Boomers & Jonesers are bad, but they as a generation have just dominated everything, & not really to the betterment of society.
I was talking to my grandma, who was wondering where they (the Silent generation) went wrong in raising the B&J generations. I posed that after sacrificing so much during the Depression & WWII, they didn’t want their kids to have as hard of a life, so the spoiled them rotten (as a collective generation.) The B&J generations have sat, like a massive chunk of dark matter, on the fabric of the cultural space-time continuum, sucking in & distorting every particle of culture to their interest since being born.
Everything has revolved around them, everything has always been done for them. Now they are feeling stressed, & they expect, even demand that more be done for them. As always, it will be up to my generation to endure & begin the clean-up so my children’s generation is able to muster some form of identity for themselves.
February 14th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
1969 was forty years ago.
Here are the top ten songs of 1969:
1. Whole Lotta Love – Led Zeppelin
2. Proud Mary – Creedence Clearwater Revival
3. I Want You Back – Jackson 5
4. Honky Tonk Women – Rolling Stones
5. Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival
6. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes – Crosby, Stills & Nash
7. Dazed And Confused – Led Zeppelin
8. Gimme Shelter – Rolling Stones
9. Come Together – Beatles
10. I Can’t Get Next To You – Temptations
Forty years before 1969 was 1929.
Here are the top ten from 1929:
1.Sweetheart Of Sigma Chi” by Ted Lewis & His Band
2.My Blue Heaven” by Gene Austin
3.Mine, All Mine” by the Coon-Sanders Nighthawks
4.Mary (What Are You Waiting For?)” by Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra
5.Changes” by Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra
6.Blue Skys/Falling In Love With You” by Jesse Crawford
7.Fifty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong” by Sophie Tucker with Miff Mole & His Little Molers
8.Shaking The Blues Away” by Ruth Etting
9.Varsity Drag” by Ruth Etting
10.It All Belongs To Me” by Ruth Etting
Needless to say the top ten of 1969 are still a part of pop culture to an incredibly greater extent than the top ten of 1929 were in 1969. These Boomers doth usurp all time and space.
Obviously conservatives have made some fundamental errors. They were handed a golden opportunity in the election of Reagan in 1980 and in Gingrich’s congressional victory of 1992. I believe that they failed, not because they did not fundamentally change the economy of the United States for the better, but because they neglected culture.
Marxists believe that economy drives culture (as do Libertarians, but I digress). It should be painfully obvious by now that the opposite is true. By stressing economic growth over cultural change we have surrendered the tactical high ground to the enemy. It will take a long time to get it back.
February 14th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
As an almost Boomer I must say, Shut up and give me my bennies!
Friggin whippersnappers.
February 14th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Nice fiddling, wingnuts. But Rome is burning. We’ll let you know when the smart guy in the White House fixes the problem caused by the stupid guy.
February 14th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
When we get a smart guy in the White House, let us know.
February 14th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Your analysis is as compelling as an Andy Rooney segment, Roosh. A couple points you left out of your cranky old man screed:
1. And how about that rock and roll music the young people listen to nowadays? It’s nothing but jungle music, by cracky!
2. And how about the long hair the young fellers have? It’s gettin’ so’s you can’t tell the boys from the girls!
3. Hey you kids, get off my lawn!
4. Why in my day….Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
February 14th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
There’s a smart guy in the White House? Is Nancy house sitting while the Messiah is in Chicago kissing Dailey’s ass?
February 14th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
I know you don’t mean that, Kerm. It’s just the stupidity talking.
February 14th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Team Obama nominated people to his cabinet knowing they had tax problems, including the guy who’s supposed to oversee the IRS. They seemed genuinely surprised that this would be an issue.
Team Obama is using the same technique to pump up the economy that has failed to pull Japan out of a recession that began almost two decades ago.
You are going to have to come up with a better taunt then “our guy is smarter than your guy was!” taunt, AC, until you have freakin’ evidence other than that he edited his college paper.
February 14th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
The smart guy will be coming after your paycheck clown. The guy running your city will be coming for what’s left. Good luck with that.
February 14th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
I’m 45, so I guess technically that makes me a Boomer. Those songs that Terry posted from 1969 are all worth hearing. I have every single one of them on my MP3 player. I don’t think they are the issue. Although I may have to see if I can find “The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi,” which sounds like a rockin’ tune. Most of the girls who dated Sigma Chis at my school probably needed regular courses of antibiotics, though.
Each generation has its failings. And we tend to forget things. There are a lot of people who don’t remember the 1970s. Many of them voted for AC’s Smart Guy. Jimmy Carter had a reputation as a Smart Guy, too. Maybe it will turn out differently this time. But that’s not the way to bet.
February 14th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
1964 puts you in the last year of the Jones Generation.
See the generational cohorts section on this wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics#Generational_cohorts
February 14th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Mr. D, I’m not passing judgment on the songs. Don’t you ever feel creeped out when you are driving down in your car and some dude comes on the radio and tells you that you are now about to listen to “Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones? Kind of twilight-zoney?
February 14th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
A couple points you left out of your cranky old man screed:
1. And how about that rock and roll music the young people listen to nowadays?
I do like Slipknot’s “Psychosocial” but a lot of other stuff I hear these days is just “whiney, kiddy-rock”, like: “You don’t understand what I’m going through, Mom!!!”
It’s nothing but jungle music, by cracky!
If you must know, Malaysia was hell on my allergies (and I didn’t even make it to the Borneo side). . . but if you’re looking for some cool African music, you might check out “Wanita” by Mali’s Rokia Traore…
2. And how about the long hair the young fellers have? It’s gettin’ so’s you can’t tell the boys from the girls!
Dude! “Easy Rider” ain’t exactly rolling down 35W in 2009! (But you CAN still catch Dee Snyder’s retro “House of Hair” Sunday mornings on 93X. . .)
3. Hey you kids, get off my lawn!
I’m glad you enjoyed Eastwood’s “Gran Torino”, too!
(and “nyob zoo” right back at ya!)
4. Why in my day…(you mean, before “Wayne’s World”?)
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. *too-doodle-doo* *too-doodle-doo*
Wake up, Mr. Clown! It was all just a dream! (OR, WAS IT??)
February 15th, 2009 at 2:31 am
Angry Clown thinks Dee Snider is really a chick. And Hot!
February 15th, 2009 at 10:56 am
I know you don’t mean that, Kerm.
You’re right. It takes a pretty smart guy to lie convincingly to 100 million people and get them to agree.
February 15th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Don’t you ever feel creeped out when you are driving down in your car and some dude comes on the radio and tells you that you are now about to listen to “Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones? Kind of twilight-zoney?
I take your point, Terry. I dunno — I guess I’m glad that the best of the music of that era is still readily available. There’s obviously still a market for it. I gave up trying to stay current about 20 years ago and while there are some good new bands around, I find that the new stuff I like are things that sound like old music. There was a song that came out about three years ago called “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley. It was an enjoyable song, but it would have fit perfectly in a 1972 playlist. As I am writing this, I’m listening to WXRT, a radio station out of Chicago that I can get on iTunes. They are playing a contemporary song called “Mercy,” by some gal named Duffy, who is apparently Amy Winehouse with less substance abuse. The arrangement is pure Dusty Springfield, unlike Winehouse, who is pure Shirley Bassey.
I don’t have a lot of interest in blaming one generation over the other about the state of the nation. I understand where Shirt and Roosh are coming from, but it just doesn’t seem like a useful way to approach the issues of the day.
February 15th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/republican-meeting-open/1018742/
February 15th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
I’m with you Mr. D., I don’t think this is a very useful way to approach the issues of the day either.
I have never particularly agreed with the assertions about generational cohorts. Someone has always been decrying people who are either older or younger with usually stupid generalities; be it not being able to trust anyone over 30, or under 30, or…whatever.
Roosh fails to make a cogent argument here.
February 15th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
So now we know. Clownie takes his political instruction from SNL. Very astute.
February 16th, 2009 at 12:26 am
sorry but the baby boom generation is different, and a major pain in the ass for all who do not belong to the cohort.
February 16th, 2009 at 7:09 am
Shirt, if its any consolation to you, eventually younger generations will be in power and you’ll be able to cut off funding to these guys. So you got that goin’ for ya.
February 16th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
So now we know. Clownie takes his political instruction from SNL. Very astute.
So now we know. Clownie takes his political instruction from SNL. A veritable ass toot.