Now, I know I belong in the group I'm criticising, but I still find it very remarkable, and worrying.
I was thinking this morning, the whole inter-generational situation is so, so similar to the social dynamic during the late 60's regarding the Vietnam War and the peace movement. American (and Australian) politicians were un-swayed by youthful protest marches, and the older generation would claim that the protesters were naive, self interested and needed to get a job and a haircut and let those who understood things more clearly (such as the threat of communism) work it out. (Isn't it funny - in a sad sort of way - that with climate change denial, a core dismissal tactic is the very same thing used in the Vietnam War - "you young people, you just don't understand the danger of communism/socialism, and climate change is all a socialist plot.")
Yet, of course, in the long run, who does history judge as having had a better take on the situation, in the big picture, regardless of the educational attainment or naivety of many of the protesters?
I think we're seeing exactly the same thing happening with much of the reaction to Greta Thunberg and the youth protest movement around climate change (as well as in the marches we saw against Brexit in Britain.) Sure, the protesters are not making any immediate gains, in terms of swaying politicians to action, and it's easy to say "but what is their actual plan?" (Well, in the case of Brexit, that was pretty simple - just don't do it.)
Yet what's the bet that in the long run, history will judge the protesters as being right, in the big picture. Climate change denial and inaction will be deeply regretted, as will (I am betting) Brexit.
And I really don't understand why people - men in particular - who are old enough to remember (or even know about) the social situation in the late 1960's don't see that they are playing the same, ultimately losing, role in their cynical reactions to Thunberg and her popular youthful following.
Update: I now claim this in support:
18 comments:
If they are old enough to remember the 30's they will know it was hotter than.
Does this mean you found the evidence today? Did you find any evidence Steve? I cannot find it and I'm actually trying to look. So I don't think you've found it.
yes Steve ,you and I are at fault.
We need to recognise climate change!!
Why oh why are they so blind?
Is that sarcasm in your first line, Homer? Not entirely sure...
Well you see you've become extremely strong believers in things that have no underlying basis. With me I'm still waiting for evidence that CO2 warms a little bit or cools a little bit. We can rule out any major effect at sea level. But the compilation simply isn't available yet.
But two of you believe strongly, contrary to all evidence of a strong beneficial link of deficit spending and employment. You believe in this global warming lie. And you fell for also the current impeachment campaign. They weren't impeaching him for allowing the Yemen tragedy. It was something without the slightest basis. So we see both of you falling for these things time and time again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7--vjtP2j4
yep. the lowest form of wit
Homer, it's just the facts. We belong to the most dangerous generation, when it comes to climate change; but of course, there is a significant minority within it who are on the right side of history.
There is a huge change happening with the Millennials.
Huge drops in smoking rates.
Huge drops in drinking rates.
Big drops in illicit drug use(even though marijuana is now socially acceptable it is the oldies in the USA who are smoking it, not the teenagers).
They are much more health conscious.
They are not even getting licences at the same rate which is odd because getting licence was a step towards adulthood in prior generations.
They are much more environmentally conscious than prior generations. Not just AGW but in a broader sense.
Much higher rates of vegetarianism, probably a combination of animal welfare and environmental issues.
I'm seeing a lot of criticism directed at them but oldies seem to missing the big changes coming in the following generations. This is nothing like the 60's, it is something unique in the Western world.
In other words a generation of pussies
Jason I don't care if they are pussies just so long as they aren't economists😁.
So, Jason is for people who not just hurt themselves by unwise self indulgence, but bring down the rest of the planet with them in the process.
How dare people complain about that, hey?
Other than Soon, the rest of you guys fucked up on the Cardinal Pell issue didn't you? So I think we see a common problem here. You don't know what evidence is. So your judgements are meaningless.
Do I have that right? Yes I do.
Other than Soon, the rest of you guys fucked up on the Cardinal Pell issue didn't you?
You don't even know my opinion on Pell and have the temerity to judge me on the issue. For the record: I think it was an atrocious outcome. You're spare parts.
John
Partly being flippant but there are a lot of other things about the younger generation that put me off:
- there's increasingly a trend that ppl who don't cook order in rather than go out to restaurants. in some countries where this is far advanced they are already thinking of just downgrading to takeover counters. this looks like it's becoming prevalent. in my neighbourhood where there are restaurants easily walkable to, every second bike seems to be food delivery. so these antisocial fatarses can't even be arsed going out and having a proper meal, they need to order in for everything and restaurant culture is fading. Note I'm not whinging about people cooking more - that would be great. But when they're not they prefer to be holed up in their apts playing with their iphone
- speaking of, there's this whole iphone obsession. yes, older adults who should know better are falling into it too but it's increasingly a thing. There have been moments when I've been tempted to grab an iphone off some millenial's hands and throw it down the stairs because they're playing with the fucking things even when going down the stairs, ordering food (minimal courtesy to the waiter) and walking on crowded streets.
- downloading everything for free from some hole in the internet even if netflix isn't that expensive. actually cinema culture is dying too
so no I don't think this less drinking, less smoking, less meat thing is actually about health. it's because the new generation are basement dwelling pussies who don't know how to have real fun in the real world and would rather just play with their iphones
Well, yeah - I do have considerable sympathy there to those specific points made by Jason.
I just don't get the food delivery thing - both because obviously the food is not likely to be superhot when it arrives, and because the pathetic payment to the delivery rider feels pretty exploitive.
Impolite phone use in adults over 40 is the worst thing to see...
an Iphone?
Whats that
Jason
My point was to highlight that there appears to be a distinct shift going on. There are problems like very high rates of anxiety and depression, the phone obsession, an apparent lack of resilience so they are easily offended, and not leaving the nest so relying on their parents for too long which may explain why they now never cook their own meals and get take out, their excessive reliance on psychiatric drugs rather than learning to manage their emotions.
I see what you are getting at. The psychology issue concerns me the most. There has been a huge spike in antidepressant use in recent years. I was offering the other side of the ledger, the hopefully more positive aspects of the emerging generations which typically isn't addressed in the media and elsewhere. It is very much a marked generational shift in major lifestyle issues. I have no idea why that has come about and if I were to seek an explanation the first place I'd look would be modern parenting styles. It might even represent a very anxious and sensitive generation that has made those lifestyle changes not for positive reasons but as a means of anxiety management. Now that's a scary thought.
Related. Some shocking stuff https://mobile.twitter.com/pegobry/status/1206662934388191233
Gee. I used to get rubbished at Catallaxy for suggesting they should compulsorily force porn into one corner of the net (say, an ".xxx" domain) to make it easy to filter access out. Now a former owner of the blog is quoting a conservative article on the dangers of internet porn generically.
I don't know, Jason - that article seems a bit hyperbolic to me.
I don't have time to look into the links, but some of the claims sound pretty dubious.
Nonetheless, I don't doubt that porn, and some strongly objectionable versions of it, has become too normalised via the net, with some undesirable effects.
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