Boy, I don’t remember where I got this information from… I think it was probably a radio show or podcast… maybe Radio Lab?
But the “kids these days” idea is extremely common throughout recorded history. Like there are records from ancient Greece where people are complaining that kids don’t show the respect that they used to, and pining for the old days when people used to act better.
And you find the same sentiment over and over whenever in history you look, wherever people kept personal records.
Reminds me of this quote by George Orwell:
“Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.”
What’s strange is, I’m 42, and I don’t have that idea at all. I have it in reverse. I see stories on the news about how some kids in high school are protesting new laws, or banding together to get the whole school to do something wholesome for the disabled kid at prom, or hosting events to bring awareness from their town that gun violence has no place in schools, or the one story where a 12 year old solved some science thing that actual scientists were stumped on.
I see all that. They’re trying to make the world a better place. They’re dealing with a world that quite honestly is far darker and scarier than I grew up with. The world has shoved them into this mess and said “deal with it”. And they are.
But then I look at boomers, and think “These assholes had everything handed to them growing up, took everything for themselves as adults, and now bitch and moan that there’s nothing left to take now that they’re elderly.”
The kids are alright. Fuck the boomers though.
But if you look at the baby boomers when they were young, they were protesting things like the Vietnam War and marching against the government.
Perhaps it’s not at all inconsistent. Although my politics are based on morality and I’ve gotten much more left wing as I get older, maybe a lot of people are just selfish assholes who make decisions with almost no information, and will support whatever politician promises them more money. When they’re young, it manifests as progressive, and when they’re old and have money, it manifests as conservative.
I want to make sure to emphasize that I think it’s obvious that conservatives today back policies that make their constituents poorer, especially with regard to healthcare. But if you’re uneducated and don’t know anything, politicians can just say the words “lower taxes”, and greedy dumb fucks will flock to them.
A lot of the most radical boomers died young due to poverty and political violence.
I know. And I get it. And I’m old and wise enough to know I don’t know anything about anything.
Also, I know I’m as wistful of my youthful times as my great grandfather probably was, but the world today vs the 80s/early 90s… The Internet thing is an epoch shift. It’s crazy that our grandparents grew up without planes in the sky and we’re expected to navigate cable news, yes, I get that.
But to go from… the world… to… the world plus the globally interconnected virtual world… is fucking nuts. I had lots of screens. I wrote code on a CRT in 88 and fucked with my share of bunny ears or played Civ 1 for entire school breaks. It’s not just screens. The library of Alexandria x a million in our pockets, everyone everywhere all the times accessible to one another, constant surveillance from walking down the block to our most private digital thought, all of it capitalized and personalized to perfection to encourage obsession and consumption and spending.
I have one of the rare boomer parents, that for however crazy she is, she’s flat out said, “I understand it’s impossible to get a mortgage and get started these days. I don’t understand how kids go to college and start careers.” Vs “but we did more with less. Fuck off.”
These are actually different times. Things were less anxious and bombarding and all consuming.
I think this is completely legit. I grew up in an area with some local people who would just get around some instruments and sing to pass the time and I think it is fucked up that this isn’t more normal. It’s so enriching to just sing and make music like that even if it’s not for anyone (maybe especially so). I do think that it’s better to do things like this because it’s an active collaboration between everyone instead of passive enjoyment, unlike sitting in a room listening to music or sitting in separate rooms watching tik toks
This is great if you enjoy singing. But if you don’t enjoy singing and you’re forced to do it because your family is like “this is family time and we’re going to do this” then it’s pure fucking torture.
This applies to literally anything though. Movies, tv, etc
Yes, the problem in my eyes is people with nostalgia for times they thought were perfect and trying to enforce those on younger generations.
Edit: I should add, to me that’s what this cartoon represents. An older generation waxing nostalgic about how lives were when they were young and frowning upon the younger generation doing their own thing. And it’s a cartoon that has been remade many many times, it’s basically one of the oldest memes.
Sometimes when my family comes into town we’ll grab what instruments we play and jam along to whatever someone wants to sing.
It’s a way that people have made art together for centuries. Before modern recording, the only way you’d hear music was if someone you knew made it.
I love listening to recorded music, but I do think people are missing out if they don’t have a way to make music with others. There’s a magic to it.
Is this what the kids mean by aura farming? 🤔
Is mom smoking a doobie in the second panel? I’ve never seen anyone hold a cigarette like that…
Is the family listening to a radio?
Kids these days. Lazing around all dressed up nicely in the room with their family listening to the radio. What has society come to?
That’s what people would do before TVs became common. In addition to music, there were all sorts of radio shows with voice acting and sound effects and stuff.
And then… Karaoke
No, we fire ze mizzles!
One year later they were off to war
Well…I’m usually pretty anti-war. I’m 42, and can’t think of a single justified war my country (usa) has been in during my lifetime.
But even I will admit, war was needed to stop Hitler. Now that I’m thinking about it, WWII may actually be the last justified war we’ve been in.
When I see them (which is rare these days) I’ll salute anyone who wears those hats that say WWII Vet. Whereas I ignore the ones that say things like Vietnam Vet, or Afghanistan 2003 Vet.
Those wars mean nothing. There were no legitimate threats to safety. There were no reason to draft or volunteer. Freedom wasn’t being defended. It was just a dick measuring contest between governments. The soldiers were just the ruler used to measure.
I think Korea was necessary
Sometimes its better to listen rather than just being vocal all the time. You can learn more.
We are like that, except with phones and AI.
Some things never change, and that’s not necessarily a bad one.
These kids and their damn steam locomotives!
And their velocipedes!
