Are today's 12-28 year olds the worst generation the U.S. has ever seen?

You're smarter? Not with writing skills like yours

Compared to the WWII generation, everything afterward is a large group of soft pussies. Those people spilled a ton of blood that the US has milked and squandered for 60 years. We're now getting our asses handed to us by China and we deserve it. Rather than saving and investing in infrastructure and innovation we've become primarily a culture of consumers with irrational personal debt levels. Everyone thinks marble contertops, hardwood floors, SUVs, mocha coffees and john mayer albums are brithrights. And all the government has done is enable this retardedbehavior. It would be funny if not so extremely depressing.

I don't think you can make a sweeping generalization of a whole generation like that. There are good and bad with every generation. I'm sure the WW II crowd had its share of losers. I know a lot of people in the age group in question, and I certainly don't see how my generation (50-somethings) was any better. It's an individual thing. A lot of these young people were in Iraq. They've seen things we've never seen or never will see. Just like all the young people from the sixties weren't hippies, I would imagine that the vast majority of today's young people are not part of the OWS, or whatever stereotype you get from TV and movies. What an insult to those who are driven, hardworking and operating with integrity.

fgfg wrote:

1970s

we played self orginized sports 3-4 hours a day

parents never saw us play sports and and we never care if they did, never even accured to us

the feid we played in now has 15 foot trees

I remember those days well. Everyday after school from 4:00 - 6:00 and all day on the weekends. Football, basketball, and baseball. We were all in good shape and there wasn't an overweight kid in the neighborhood. By middle school I began to take up running.

this is nothing new wrote:

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for

authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place

of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their

households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They

contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties

at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers."

ATTRIBUTION: Attributed to SOCRATES by Plato, according to William L.

Patty and Louise S. Johnson, Personality and Adjustment, p. 277

(1953).

In short, every old generation hates the new one and thinks there is something inherently wrong with it. There isn't - you're just getting older. Fact.

This is basically it. This conversation is largely pointless. "Worst" has not defined in precise terms so accurately answering this question is impossible. Anecdotal evidence aside, what real evidence is there that the 12-29 year old generation has contributed less to American society than previous generations?

fgfg wrote:

1970s

we played self orginized sports 3-4 hours a day

parents never saw us play sports and and we never care if they did, never even accured to us

the feid we played in now has 15 foot trees

What does this have to do with anything? Fitness, albeit important, is hardly a way to decide whether a generation is "bad" or not. We won't know until my generation is "leading" the country. Let's see how many useless wars we start before any claims get made. Just because my classmates were fat doesn't mean they weren't worthwhile in a different manner.

Complaints about the younger generation have continued unabated since Plato's time. Go to a high school XC meet & you will see 99.9% of the athletes on their way to a bright future. I have been seeing this for 15+ years.

I disagree. The 12-28 year olds aren't any worse than any other generation, they just happen to be living out their youth at a time when the Western world has hit its economical/political/social/cultural/nutritional/athletic low point.

moose muppet wrote:

logicalman wrote:

no, not at all. morals have nothing to do with fairy tales living in the sky at all.

perhaps we're saying the same thing.

You know, people would take you atheists a lot more seriously if you didn't try to offend everyone you're attempting to "convert".

It's like if I tried to convert people to Christianity by saying "you'll burn in Hell if you don't". That's just stupid -- it makes people angry, it probably isn't true, and it serves no purpose but to inflate one's own ego.

I'm a Buddhist you dolt.

logicalman wrote:

let's add false sense of self-entitlement to your list of wonderful attributes.

Go F' yourself old man.

You can't fault this guy. After all spokespersons for angry, hateful, bitter, failed bigots inc need to get paid.

I'm one of the oldest people on here. Obviously circumstances confronting each generation vary greatly (REALLY greatly) so conclusions like "worst" are impossible to validly make ...and also pointless.

Here are a few things I will say about the current 12-28s:

1) They seem to be far less willing or interested in doing semi-mundane jobs as starters. That is both good and bad. Some of these gigs are truly time-wasting and spirit-killing. But the fact that my boss at my first job after college was a drunken socialite who left me to do everything was both good and bad. I sure learned a lot.

2) They are certainly far more involved in philanthropic and humanitarian endeavors than previous generations were. Whether this is chiefly to impress college entrance selectors or not is sort of beside the point. It's a good thing anyway.

3) A good percentage of them have evolved entrepreneurial instincts, something my generation of sorely lacked that I probably didn't even spell it right. These instincts are good to have. In fact, in 2011, they're essential.

4) They can teach me stuff on the computer. When my nephew was 14 I told him "you're more employable than I am." He was.

5) On the other hand, the reliance on electronic gadgets is getting out of hand. Anyone who has to text or Tweet that often may have problems forming deep personal bonds. On the other hand, I realize THAT may not be a goal anymore (hey, that's two "on the other hands"). When I saw a car pull down my street containing four young women who were talking on four cell phones instead of to each other, I thought maybe we had a problem.

"I don't think you can make a sweeping generalization of a whole generation like that."

That's definitely true. I also agree with the comments that the current baby boomers got us into a horrible financial mess. It's hard to argue with that.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

The only thing I know is that my elders knew nothing.

Playing video games and surfing the social networks is better than working 60 hour weeks how?

Your generation spends way too much time entertaining itself, and not nearly enough time working 60 hour weeks.

Minimalist North wrote:

Playing video games and surfing the social networks is better than working 60 hour weeks how?

Your generation spends way too much time entertaining itself, and not nearly enough time working 60 hour weeks.

Your generation should have taken a break from rolling doobies on the cover of your Jefferson Airplane records and studied an economics textbook.

A report was recently released that showed that 56% of 21-29 year olds would decline a job if they couldn't use social networking at work. That tells you all you need to know. Absolutely disgusting.

I won't comment on video games and social networking....because that stuff does seem to be out of hand. Certainly people said the same thing when TV and Phones came out too...maybe?

But I disagree with the rest. Work, make a living, support yourself and your future family...but for the rest of life...freaking enjoy it.

I may be young and naive - and perhaps this will show shortly in my life - but I think life is supposed to be enjoyable. I'm honestly not one of those "blah, blah, life is short", kinds of people...but I don't think there is anything wrong with working to live versus living to work.

Who are you to tell me, let alone my generation how to live our lives?

But to finally answer your question, and in the simplest way I can...I'd say it's a lot better, because perhaps I'll be able to look back at my life and smile knowing that I traveled, spent time with my friends and family, and lived a comfortable life because I wasn't a greedy SOB.

Or I could work 60+ hours the rest of my life and be a bitter old man.

I don't know, I started working 40 hours a week as soon as I was legal...so maybe I'm just pissed that I didn't enjoy my summers as much as all of my friends did growing up.

Magic 8 Ball wrote:

o wrote:

Colombia University.....END OF THREAD

Not the end of thread... you misspelled Columbia.