Are 20 somethings and younger shallow?

[]First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.[]~Impressively, our generation survives that too, which is not to say we don't get stillborns and malfectives from it, because we do, and gues what, you did too.

[]They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.[]~What an impressive non-sequiter as none of those things cause diabetes. What's more, just because they didn't get tested for it doesn't mean they didn't get it.

[]Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.[]~Lead based paint isn't actually bad for you unless you come into regular contact with it or you are inthe presence of it while wet. The reason it was removed was because so many people met these qualifications.

[] had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets,

not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.[]~Hmm, sounds like you had better parents then we do to look out for you and amke sure you didn't get into those things. Oh wait, your generationwould be our parents wouldn't they?

[] children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.[]~And it was dangerous. Mayber people were better drivers back then so you didn't need the safety precautions. but then, you'd be the ones driving today, huh?

[]ding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.[]~We have AC now, it's also a special treat. However, in the country or mountains I often find myself doing this.

[]ank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.[]~I would do that more if people from your generation would stop yelling at me for doing it. And perhaps you would have been drinking water from a bottle if you'd had it available. It's pretty convinient stuff that your generation invented.

[] shared one soft drink; with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.[]~I've also never known anyone to die from this, however I can name 10 people of the top of my head who got mono from it, that was fun.

[] ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING![]~Amazingly we do that today too. But perhaps we would have less overweight children if your wonderful generation would enforce some damn disciplinge and stop inventing all the great things that keep us inside. Also, white bread just tastes disgusting.

[] would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.[]~We still do this.

[] one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.[]~It seems to be your generation hypochondriacing about this issue, not ours.

[] would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.[]~We lack the scraps and the bushes thanks to your generation. At least where I live however we did make a pretty bad ass hovercraft out of a surfboard, and electric car, and skim boards. But that's just our generation. (We also learned from the past and put the brakes on beforehand.)

[] did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, DyeStat, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them![]~I wonder whose generation brought my generation these things and whose generation continues to insist that they're the second coming? I wonder whose generation is parenting my generation and not excersising any control on their children. I found my friends today, we went to the beach,it was good times. Then we came back and played Wii, also good times. then we went for a run, can you guess? Good times.

[] fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.[]~I believe it would be your wonderful and litigious generation which is filing all those suits, not ours.

[] ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.[]~That's just an odd thing to say. We probably would eat worms were they available and be smart enough to assume they didn't live in us forever.

[] were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays and we threw lawn darts at family reunions in the summer, and we did not put out very many eyes.[]~But you did put them out apparently. We have paint-ball and airsoft now, more fun and less dangerous, who could imgaine?

[] rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them![]~Did that until I was 16 and got a car. I know people who don't have cars and still do it. What else would you do, teleport?

[]ttle League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!![]~I wonder whose generation it is that insists every child must not learn to deal with dissapointment and who insists on everybody getting to play. Not mine.

[]e idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law![]~And yet, it's the parents of your generation bailing kids out. My parents wouldn't do it, they'd laugh.

[]is generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.[]~Yes because certainly Newton's generation, or Da Vinci's, or the generations of Greeks and Romans did nothing at all that was ever more inovating than your generation. I mean you generation invented democracy, sailed the world, discovered calculus, pioneered the use of 0, built plumbing and aqueducts out of stone, invented guns, and developed all the languages of the world. You're just that kick ass. What risk takers you are, you're willing to venture up to 505 of your capital on a risky investment with a possible yeild of 200%. Columbus risked his life and limb to sail into uncharted waters just to prove his point and bring back gold for other people's benefit. Your's is clearly the greatest generation in history. And don't even ask what my generation's done, when we've had as much time as you've had it'll be pretty clear whose is better.

[] had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL![]~ We still have these things, and those who don't seem to be held back by your generation.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?![]~Actually had a pair of scissors go through my had doing this. But you know, whatever, it's not like it's your generation that's telling us not to run with scissors or anything. That would be crazy.

Oranges,

You need to read page 2 and see 45657's post.

Are you taking shortcuts and not being thorough?

Funny post though maybe it is worth repeating.

I guess we know who my generation inherited its supposed 'shallow'ness from. Had you been paying any attention whatsoever you'd see that I copied his post and then replied to each individual statement of it pointing out that amongst other things, many of the parts that are meant to be knocks on my generation are indeed forced on my generation by yours. All the crap about us being over litigious safety freaks, that's you guys.

...most of your counter-points were weak and/or sarcastic, containing very little in the way of substance.

For example...

"...stop inventing all the great things that keep us inside."

Ouch! That one really hurts; I simply don't have a good come-back for that one!

Go back to "pwning noobs" in Halo 2, kid. I'm confident that your peers in the post-game lobbies will be sufficiently impressed with your trash-talking.

I am 19 and I believe I am part of the generation some of you believe are shallow and disconnected. I know from personal expirience that alot of my generation and my personal friends get swept away by drug abuse. Some of us are so materialistic that it seems to be the driving point behind our lives. These things stem from being forced to grow up to quickly. Most of us are thrown responsibility at such a young age that we have trouble figuring out what things are really important and what thing are ussually irrelevant in the long run.

Even if the original statement is true. The kids are not to blame it is the people who raised them.

There was poetic beauty and truth behind my commentary, Oranges. And like the other poster said, you really struck out trying to refute those comments. By trying to take a shot at each comment, you managed to make me look even more brilliant!

Next time, leave the brilliant commentary alone, kiddo. You may think you can carve up the poetic classicists like Keats, Byron, e.e. cummings, or myself, but once our artistry is finished, there isn't much left to do but admire our genius. Take that as a lesson, son.

45756 wrote:

There was poetic beauty and truth behind my commentary, Oranges. And like the other poster said, you really struck out trying to refute those comments. By trying to take a shot at each comment, you managed to make me look even more brilliant!

Next time, leave the brilliant commentary alone, kiddo. You may think you can carve up the poetic classicists like Keats, Byron, e.e. cummings, or myself, but once our artistry is finished, there isn't much left to do but admire our genius. Take that as a lesson, son.

Well said!

Kiddo? Son?

HAHA! Self-righteous AND a tough guy! I love it!

And yet... wrote:

...most of your counter-points were weak and/or sarcastic, containing very little in the way of substance.

For example...

"...stop inventing all the great things that keep us inside."

Ouch! That one really hurts; I simply don't have a good come-back for that one!

Go back to "pwning noobs" in Halo 2, kid. I'm confident that your peers in the post-game lobbies will be sufficiently impressed with your trash-talking.

I stand by that statement. No one in my generation invented viedogames, computers, the internet, or HDTV, nor did anyone in my grandparent's generation. For all your platitudes it is the members of your generation who invented these things, marketed them to my generation with the hope that we would use them and make them a part of our culture, and then berated us and belittled us for not harkening back to the times of old. WE are a direct result of the things that YOU set before us and let us have. Want to know why we have a growing obesity probelem in this country; it starts with your generation, not ours. Want to know why we're inside all day instead of outside enjoying the splendors of nature; because your generation poured boiling tar on top of it leaving us with pixels where there aught to be pines; mp3's where there used to be song birds. It's your generation that has led us to war, not mine. It is your generation who insists that if some evil befalls their child heaven forbid it be their bad parenting; no it must be the corporations: McDonalds, MTV, videogames, MySpace; they're what are corrupting our youth they're the reason our children are locked in jails or doing durgs; it couldn't be because of your generation's awful parenting because lord knows you had nothing to do with any of those things; except that you are involved in all of them. My generation, whatever faults you seem to find with it, whatever shallowness you think we exude, whatever rapacity, or sloth, or ignorance we show is a direct reflection of what your generation has foisted upon us, what you generation has brought us into, and what you generation continues to scape-goat for your own selfagrandizement and pleasure. I am not your son, I am not your 'kiddo', whether you like it or not I am part of your future; if you choose to continually act as though you have nothing to do with us then it will be the members of my generation, who managed to have the parents and aldults around that would not submit to the overwhelming majority of maldefects in your generation, to fix whatever horrible problems you leave us with before we can even begin to comprehend the problems that you've instigated for the generations ahead. Don't bother acting so high mighty because for all the talk of the 'Greatest Generation' you were at best capable of finding clever things to do with electronics, and at worst hypocrites who decry the very society they created.

The original question was are 20 somethings and younger more shallow? It was not a blame thread, nor an attempt to indict anyone. It's one of those simple "yes/no" questions.

If the original poster struck a nerve, ORANGES, I guess it was a very sensitive nerve.

To me, if you want to blame everyone and their mother for your perceived shallowness, you can . . . but you're not answering the question within the original poster's "yes/no" parameters.

Points off for that, bud.

Also, lack of pargraphing is indictive of poor organizational skills that so plagues your generation. Overall, your generation's writing skills are weak.

Major point deduction!

"paragraphing" sorry, a typographical error.

"indicative" another typo.

My generation has very good proofreading skills! We take a lot of pride in writing good stuff!

ORANGES! wrote:

I am not your son, I am not your 'kiddo'

Thank heaven for that. My son actually has a much more realistic perspective regarding his peers. He doesn't have an acute case of "denial" like you do, and while he does enjoy an occasional session with the Xbox 360, you seem to prefer the blame game.

It sounds like you are just educated enough to know how to over-rationalize. That's a shame.

Whatever helps you sleep at night, kid.

The answer is no. Such a broad generalization cannot cover the entire generation. Are many? Yes. Are most? Impossible to tell, but likely not. The question posed has no gaugeable answer and is thus simply an invitation for the sharing of personal anecdotes that relate to the question. My original post, and the subsequent one, were not a response to the OP's question, but to your rather off base list. As the conversation had shifted from "Are 20 somethings and younger shallow?" to a more general discussion of how certain members of your generation seem to think themselves superior to my own my response was entirely appropriate, especially if you consider that your own post also did not answer the question.

If your going to take points off for not paragraphing you might also want to take points of from a one Mr. e e cummings whom you likened your own (I suspect copied) work to. Paragraphing, for the record, is done when there is a break in subject matter. My subject matter was the same the entire time.

Further...

[Quote]Thank heaven for that. My son actually has a much more realistic perspective regarding his peers. He doesn't have an acute case of "denial" like you do, and while he does enjoy an occasional session with the Xbox 360, you seem to prefer the blame game.

It sounds like you are just educated enough to know how to over-rationalize. That's a shame.

Whatever helps you sleep at night, kid.[Quote]

I never denied the poblems that some members sof my generation have. What I did do was respond to the total lack of culpability on the part of members of you generation for this problem. For some reason your generation seems set itself apart from having anything to do with mine despite the fact that many of faults mine has are direct results of what your generation has done, and is doing.

It's also entirely fascinating that despite the fact that I at least made some effort to refute the rather dubious claims of Mr. 45756, both you and he have yet to make any response to refute mine. Instead you've resorted to attempting to belittle me and mocking my grammar. You've yet to make a coherent arguement towards the original question as to whether my generation is shallow, nor have you made one on the new topic that you two started as to why your generation is so much braver than ours or so much better.

I'll add the following side note to 45756's orginal post; Those lawyers and members of government that you so decry for apparently making my generation cowards and controlling everyone's lives, those are the mebers of your generation. Just a thought.

I don't think my generation (I'm 23) has a greater proportion of individuals who are 'out of touch' than any previous generation. A previous poster mentioned more people throwing around hate comments than ever before. Part of the reason you see this mass media. You used the Zeigle situation so I'll use it as well. Take that situation back 30-40 years and how many runners across the nation find out about it? I would guess not too many outside the state of Colorado, probably very few outside of CU. The internet has made publication of anything easy. Magazines, newspapers, and various other forms of media are nearly obsolete when you can find information faster and easier using the internet. Track and Field News is a good example of this. I would like to see their subscription numbers for the past 20 years and watch the sharp decline since 2000.

As far as voting goes, the ones in my generation who don't vote simply don't care and sometimes it's hard to blame them. There have been several elections where I would have loved to vote for an independent or 3rd party candidate but didn't. I realized it would more or less be wasting a vote so I voted for the lesser of two evils: a republican or a democrat. The political climate in this country is so polarized and annoying that most people my age don't care. I'm not old enough to know when the last time was that our country had a great leader for President. People my age would really like to see some kind of middle ground established instead of worthless bickering between a currently crappy two party system.

Besides family members, I can't think of very many people from your generation who have made a reasonable effort to get to know me. Never have they displayed 'deepness, reason, oratory skills, or anything else you mentioned' to me. This despite having spent numerous volunteer hours with the elderly population. I can think of a handful of hospital patients who I had some great moments and conversations with, but beyond that they have not reached out to me in the same way my grandparents have.

4567 posted:

"There was poetic beauty and truth behind my commentary"

There were some interesting things listed there but I doubt it was your commentary. It was probably something you found on a random internet site or in an email. If you really believe it to be poetic then you have some serious reading to do.

Lastly, humans are naturally resistant to change. With every generation comes change in nearly every aspect of life. I think it is only natural for some people to pine for 'the good ole days back when'. The reality is that it simply won't happen and change is inevitable. 20 somethings now are just different than 20 somethings from 1970 in almost every way. People have been saying this type of thing about every new generation. 20,30, or 40 years from now it will be talked about all over again.

nyc wrote:

I could be wrong, but it appears that you defended my post. I know their are reasons for the change in attitude.

However, I would hope that you could come up with better reasons than by stating that life is hard.

You are wrong. In that and in your perception of the older generation, their actions and motivations. Their actions need no "defense" as you will be doing EXACTLY the same thing when you are older.

have a nice day

Well put ... and the answer is no.

A. Kaufman wrote:

And I mean more shallow and superficial than in previous generations.

NO. Not more so than previous generations. What in the life of a typical 20-year old makes them deep in any way? Nothing. I would even get rid of your age restrictions and say that anyone without real responsibility (children, sick loved one to take care of, country to protect) is shallow.