"The Generation M Manifesto" Excellent rant I ran into.

[Odin2005]

The Generation M Manifesto

8:01 AM Wednesday July 8, 2009

Dear Old People Who Run the World,

My generation would like to break up with you.

Everyday, I see a widening gap in how you and we understand the world — and what we want from it. I think we have irreconcilable differences.

You wanted big, fat, lazy "business." We want small, responsive, micro-scale commerce.

You turned politics into a dirty word. We want authentic, deep democracy — everywhere.

You wanted financial fundamentalism. We want an economics that makes sense for people — not just banks.

You wanted shareholder value — built by tough-guy CEOs. We want real value, built by people with character, dignity, and courage.

You wanted an invisible hand — it became a digital hand. Today's markets are those where the majority of trades are done literally robotically. We want a visible handshake: to trust and to be trusted.

You wanted growth — faster. We want to slow down — so we can become better.

You didn't care which communities were capsized, or which lives were sunk. We want a rising tide that lifts all boats.

You wanted to biggie size life: McMansions, Hummers, and McFood. We want to humanize life.

You wanted exurbs, sprawl, and gated anti-communities. We want a society built on authentic community.

You wanted more money, credit and leverage — to consume ravenously. We want to be great at doing stuff that matters.

You sacrificed the meaningful for the material: you sold out the very things that made us great for trivial gewgaws, trinkets, and gadgets. We're not for sale: we're learning to once again do what is meaningful.

There's a tectonic shift rocking the social, political, and economic landscape. The last two points above are what express it most concisely. I hate labels, but I'm going to employ a flawed, imperfect one: Generation "M."

What do the "M"s in Generation M stand for? The first is for a movement. It's a little bit about age — but mostly about a growing number of people who are acting very differently. They are doing meaningful stuff that matters the most. Those are the second, third, and fourth "M"s.

Gen M is about passion, responsibility, authenticity, and challenging yesterday's way of everything. Everywhere I look, I see an explosion of Gen M businesses, NGOs, open-source communities, local initiatives, government. Who's Gen M? Obama, kind of. Larry and Sergey. The Threadless, Etsy, and Flickr guys. Ev, Biz and the Twitter crew. Tehran 2.0. The folks at Kiva, Talking Points Memo, and FindtheFarmer. Shigeru Miyamoto, Steve Jobs, Muhammad Yunus, and Jeff Sachs are like the grandpas of Gen M. There are tons where these innovators came from.

Gen M isn't just kind of awesome — it's vitally necessary. If you think the "M"s sound idealistic, think again.

The great crisis isn't going away, changing, or "morphing." It's the same old crisis — and it's growing.

You've failed to recognize it for what it really is. It is, as I've repeatedly pointed out, in our institutions: the rules by which our economy is organized.

But they're your institutions, not ours. You made them — and they're broken. Here's what I mean:

"... For example, the auto industry has cut back production so far that inventories have begun to shrink — even in the face of historically weak demand for motor vehicles. As the economy stabilizes, just slowing the pace of this inventory shrinkage will boost gross domestic product, or GDP, which is the nation's total output of goods and services."

Clearing the backlog of SUVs built on 30-year-old technology is going to pump up GDP? So what? There couldn't be a clearer example of why GDP is a totally flawed concept, an obsolete institution. We don't need more land yachts clogging our roads: we need a 21st Century auto industry.

I was (kind of) kidding about seceding before. Here's what it looks like to me: every generation has a challenge, and this, I think, is ours: to foot the bill for yesterday's profligacy — and to create, instead, an authentically, sustainably shared prosperity.

Anyone — young or old — can answer it. Generation M is more about what you do and who you are than when you were born. So the question is this: do you still belong to the 20th century - or the 21st?

Love,

Umair and the Edge Economy Community

Amen

[conscious evolution]

1. I like this

[TexasObserver]

2. Naive bullshit.

[Odin2005]

5. That's what they said about the memes of the 60s and 70s, too.

The elites always like to get people to think that "this is just the way it is and there can be no other way, thinking so is naive".

[TexasObserver]

7. It's naive because it makes faulty assumptions based upon ignorance.

ALL such rants are pathetic and evidence of ignorance and naivete on the part of those who write or worship such silliness.

If one wishes to inveigh against a generation - which is a patently absurd approach - one would start with the youngest adult generation in America. Never have so many spent so much time communicating with each other and said so little. Texting, tweeting, and filling their myspace with self indulgent, poorly written screeds is the hallmark of today's youth. Big on talk. Weak on walk.

Stop being the generation that is about nothing but new shiny objects, then critique others.

[Odin2005]

8. BS!

Texting, tweeting, and filling their myspace with self indulgent, poorly written screeds is the hallmark of today's youth. Big on talk. Weak on walk."

If it wasn't for my generation John McCain would be President right now. It was THE YOUTH VOTE that put Obama in the White House. The Millennial Generation is the most liberal living generation. It is us Millennials that are USING THE COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY YOU ARE BASHING to bring change.

[TexasObserver]

9. Yes, you should get one. Then a masters, Then a doctorate.

Then get back to me with your earth rattling notions.

[Odin2005]

10. Yes, I am currently a part-time college student working on my B.Sci in Biotech.

And?

Oh, I also was local volunteer for the Obama campaign last year.

[TexasObserver]

79. That's great. And you pay for college yourself, with no support from parents?

Until you are a self sufficient adult, you really don't know what living is about. Until you face the job of not only caring for yourself but caring for others, you're a net TAKER, not a GIVER, on the planet.

You're 23, you're in college, and you've never had to deal with any real problems of adulthood yet. You're idealistic and arrogant, two fellow travelers of youth and college.

Unless you voted twice, you voted exactly the same number of times everyone else voted for Obama. Your generation did not elect Obama. Your generation helped elect Obama, just as mine did.

Your folly is believing that you have any idea what any generation has accomplished, including your own. You're full of youthful ideas, the kind of ideas that flow when one is not responsible for anything more than showing up for class that someone else is paying for.

The classes you attend, the buildings you attend them in, the teachers you have, the loan programs you have, the scholarships available to you, the internet, the computers, and the satellite system that allows you to text madly with friends when you should be paying more attention in class - all the work of people of other generations, not yours.

If you're going to be a grown up, you're going to need to lose the belief that your generation is special, is better, and will dramatically change the world. Life is a long, long walk, and you don't even have your shoes on yet.

[Why Syzygy]

83. You have missed the entire point.

Get a doctorate? So the likes of you will listen to them?

How many Master's degrees are currently working WalMart? Look it up.
Then get a degree in Reality Knocking.

[TexasObserver]

84. No, I didn't, but you have.

Blaming "generations" for anything is silly. It's used to rationalize that there are such things as real "generations" (such as boomers, X, next, or M). There aren't such generations. There are people who live in different times, and most of them have almost nothing to do with creating the world and culture in which they must live.

Whether it is youngsters whining about mommy and daddy's generation, or grandma grumbling about the kids, it's equally annoying and inaccurate. Blaming any "generation" for any problem is pathetic.

Those who are in college at age 23 now aren't very different from those who were in college at age 23 in 1969, or 1979, or 1989, or 1999. They just think they are.

When one gets out of school, gets a real job, actually works for a living, pays their own way in life, takes on other responsibilities in life, and has children and raises them, one has a much better understanding of life than when they're still in school, living off their parents, scholarships, grants, and student loans. Growing older and growing UP are what we hope all students will eventually do.

[Why Syzygy]

89. I've done all that

gets out of school, gets a real job, actually works for a living, pays their own way in life, takes on other responsibilities in life, and has children and raises them

And I still agree with the OP. The OP makes it clear this isn't an AGE thing.

Who DOES have responsibility for the culture we live in? Not you because you followd the rules? Many are ready for NEW RULES.
That's what the OP is about. It's about the old ways, not old folks.

Show me the greatness that our current college industrial complex is churning out. Where is the great art, philosophy, science, innovation you believe comes from institutions which are on the brink of flying into pieces? Where is our great success amongst the 9.5 unemployment rate, the $500,000 debt placed on every US household by the Bankerment?

Your times are over. Thank the fates. If you don't want to participate in new ways, at least do us the favor and get out of the way while the rest of us do it.

[TexasObserver]

91. fairytale land

Your imaginary world where you're a battler and I'm the status quo exists only in that fairytale land in your head.

[Why Syzygy]

95. If only ....

[conscious evolution]

98. If its a fairy tale

Why waste time attacking a fairy tale?

Other than defend the status quo what have you been doing to make the world a better place?

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[FatDave]

74. This Gen Xer agrees with you and appreciates you.

Your generation is my hope for the future. At least I should get to enjoy my retirement. Thank you for all you've done, and please keep up the good work.

[Odin2005]

78. You are welcome!

:hi:

[lildreamer316]

16. You're reading it wrong.

The 'generation' , the writer pointed out, was not an age group but an idea group.
Besides, way to broad-brush a bunch of people there.

[omega minimo]

21. Yeah he's living in his own private Texas Secede Already!!!!!!

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

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[nadinbrzezinski]

86. You know what is wrong with people like you? YOU FAIL

to see the change under your feet

This weekend was a PUURRFECT example. I produce an RPG, I am a one person show. Well the Twitter provided me with a very good MARKETING platform to let the peeps at Comic-Con know I WAS THERE. I could NOT afford the adds... but boy I could afford the tweets.

And yes, I got some people looking at this product of mine.

[TexasObserver]

87. Thanks for using one more post to try to sell whatever it is it you are trying to sell.

If you want to address my comments in an adult and intelligent manner, I'll be read them.

Technology advances are great, and have nothing to do with any of my comments. I alluded to twittering, texting and other such activities in my prior post because most of them are frivolous conversations that entail little or no action of any significance.

As for your use of twittering to promote your game, I could care less. It's a game. I'm talking about things that matter.

[nadinbrzezinski]

93. I know popular culture matters little to people like you

after all cell phones are here because of Star Trek and the kids that started thinking about stupid shit like that when they were kids. Then they grew up and became Engineers.

Yep, people like you have no clue how the world changes.

Free fucking huge clue, things like popular culture are part of it.

And I did not say what game it was, so fine, in your face now

www.deistgames.com

[TexasObserver]

94. Popular culture matters, but your personal quest to sell your toy does not interest me.

Why don't you stop trying to hijack a thread about generations, so you can try to promote some game that you have?

[nadinbrzezinski]

109. I gave a VERY CONCRETE EXAMPLE OF THE USE OF THE NEW TECH

but you cannot comprehend the point, that daft?

[wolfgangmo]

102. Tell that to the "tweet revolutionaries" in Iran.

When the US tired to overthrow the democratic government in Venezuela they were defeated because of IM on cell phones. They shut down the traditional media and it didn't matter.

[truedelphi]

52. What is odd about this, Odin, is I have yet to see

You join in on the philosophy that exists inside your OP.

You ARE FOR Monsanto - while those who want a smaller, and more rewarding for the average individual business model are all opposing Monsanto.

A person simply cannot arrive at any of the dictates inside this Manifesto and be for Monsanto. Regardless of their age, or their skin color or their religious beleifs.

SO is it that you truly do not understand what Monsanto is about? Or is it that you would rather attack older people and pat yourself on the back for being younger - as though age has anything to do with one's wisdom in embracing those policies thatwill work for a more sustainable future.

I guess what I am asking you is this - Are you posting this manifesto because you are an age-ist?

[Tangerine LaBamba]

61. This should be interesting -

I applaud you for this query, and I await the response.

Good one.................

:popcorn:

[Odin2005]

75. I am not "for Monsanto".

Just because I think GMOs are a good thing does not mean I don't think some are abusing the technology (genetically engineering plants so you can put more pesticides on them is simply stupid, the pests just evolve resistance to the pesticides, it's a moronic use of the technology). Calling GMOs evil is like calling the Internet evil because governments can use it to spy on citizens.

Ageism has nothing to do with this, there are plenty of good Boomers and out there, unfortunately most of the Boomers in power are on the dark side and I think the rhetoric used by many Boomers on the good side is stuck in the 70s and has become ineffective. Most of the big, innovative ideas now days are coming from Gen-Xers and are being "internalized" by us Millennials.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

77. How very kind of you!!!

"... there are plenty of good boomers and (sic) out there..."

Really? And what are your criteria?

What frame of reference, what expertise, gives you the wherewithal to judge anyone?

Your comment about "stuck in the 70s" gives away what you don't know about Boomers.

You are fit to judge nothing except your own behavior and your own accomplishments. You claim to have 'elected' Obama, without understanding that you HELPED to elect him. A lot of other Americans worked to get that office for him, not just your age group.

It's all ageism, but primarily, it's inexperience speaking. And you're inexperienced. Which is how it should be. You're young and haven't had time to accomplish very much. Each generation builds on the failures and accomplishments of the preceding one, but the looking-down-your-snotty-nose at the people who got you here is just a bit too twee for my tastes.

We changed the world for women, we made sure abortion became safe and legal, we brought forth children who are now trying to make their way in this world. We stopped a war.

What have you done?

Get out in the world, do something, make a difference, raise some children and make sure they grow up to be good people, have a career, influence students or employees, get some life into you, and then you'll have a platform that's not a joke.

For now, we Boomers, who did a whole hell of a lot and continue to do more, will carry you and get you to the next step, if only by showing you that nonsense like that OP was a big fat waste of your time unless you can take the lessons from it............

[Greyhound]

24. Spoken like the person this is directed to. n/t

[Kid Dynamite]

3. Gimme a break

Sounds like these guys just want their cut

C'mon? Could there be a bigger list of shit bags: Larry and Sergey, the Twitter team, Tehran 2.0 (whatever the hell that is), Jobs, Yunus

Sounds to me like they just want to attach hip first names to business-as-usual

[jwirr]

4. Hopefully we will work together to make Minnesota into that sustainable

community you are talking about.

[Odin2005]

6. Yes We Can!

:hi:

[dflprincess]

11. Don't let the bastards get you done Odin2005

just because my generation didn't live up to its potential doesn't mean yours won't.

[Odin2005]

13. Thank you!

:hug: :hi:

[Orwellian_Ghost]

12. Horrifying

Lame platitudes from the Harvard Business School. Feel good peonage?

Jobs, Yunus, Sachs and the like are the prototypes of the New Humanitarian Financial Imperium. In short what this buffoon points towards as the solutions is more of the same in a better dressed costume. What else would one expect from such a sinkhole as Harvard?

"Post-modern" colonial claptrap is what this idiot is peddling. You buying?

[Odin2005]

14. LOL, you just proved the essay's point.

Your thinking is just as dinosaurian as the Corporatist Right. Your mind is stuck in the past.

[Cid_B]

15. WTF is this?

You wanted growth — faster. We want to slow down — so we can become better.

If you can't keep up get the hell out of our way. Let me guess, they need time to "find themselves".

What a whiny melodramatic "feel-good" pile of claptrap.

[conscious evolution]

101. Its not about finding oneself

Slowing down the pace is about having more time for the lessons to soak in.
Its about slowing down to see how something new effects what is already here.
Its about using feedback to see how well things are going instead of plowing ahead without thought of the consequeances of actions taken.
Its about thinking things through instead of basing decisions on knee-jerk instincts.

BTW,most gen M's have already 'found themselves'.Its what they have found out about themselves that is helping to motivate them to bring about a change in the cultural paradign.
You can think the internet for this.It is what allowed them to easily find themselves by giving them access to a much wider world view and more information then what most people ever experienced in pre 'net times.

[omega minimo]

17. "It's the same old crisis — and it's growing."

[Greyhound]

25. The more things change, the more they stay the same. n/t

[leftstreet]

19. LOL this manifesto was obviously too big to fit on a Starbucks cup

What bs

[omega minimo]

22. Let's see

you had a career in aerospace
had your family in the 70's before Reaganism sent the nation down the poop chute
already own your home and have a pension of some sort
put your kids through college when it was cheap
don't know people of this age group or sensibility
arent' too concerned about globalization, food production or climate change.


How'd I do?

[Tangerine LaBamba]

23. Yes, this is correct - and Generation M

will, no doubt, do everything better than any generation or group or mind-set that came before.

After all, Generation M is the first group to have access to the Internet(s) Tubes almost from the beginning, so, almost by definition, this makes them different.

They will cure cancer, and free the oppressed, and they'll look damn good while doing it. No one has ever set out to do this before, so this is a very good thing.

They will change everything, and leave a perfect world for their children. This is a consummation devoutly to be wished (someone else wrote that a long time ago, a member of another generation that didn't do a very good job with things).

My hope is that they will be kind to whomever of my generation survives, that they will treat us with compassion and forgiveness, and will allow us to live out our miserable, wasted lives in a modicum of stoned comfort.

Yes, Generation M is starting out 'way back because our people have done such a lousy job of things, but they will prevail, of that I have no doubt.

How do I know this? Because Umair said so. And Umair is omniscient, a proud holder of all knowledge, supreme confidence, and is not burdened with a comprehensive and deep knowledge of history.

No one before Generation M ever wanted "to humanize life." My group just thought that all humans deserved a break and to be treated fairly.

We failed in that, but I am still sentient enough to remember that we tried, and, in many significant ways, we even succeeded. Civil rights in the American South aren't anything that Generation M knows about. That's all right. They don't need to know such things. It might slow them down.

But, Generation M doesn't give any points for trying and failing Generation M, virginal and untested, is confident enough in its youthful ignorance of how the world works, they are an unforgiving and tough group.

They had better be perfect, though, because it's so easy to Monday morning quarterback when you've done nothing except play under the bleachers while the real game was going on. Touch football is your game, while we old timers played tackle.

But, what's wonderful about youth and vacuousness and vapidity is that they are always accompanied by so much energy. This is a wonderful thing. Generation M will now set out to discover fire and the wheel and certain other immutable facts about life and the world, and that energy will come in handy when they break out into a collective generational sweat as they work hard to compromise and collapse when their idealistic bubble-wrapped wheels hit the jagged macadam surface of the highway.

That all said, I hope Generation M is successful. I do hope you change the world into the utopia you describe, cleaning up the mistakes we made as we lived, the detritus of our doing our best.

There is a lot of anger behind that Manifesto. Not far removed from the Ted Kaczynski kind of anger, but close enough. And I think I know where it comes from.

See, our generation was the last that had as much sex as we wanted, whenever we wanted, however we wanted, without the risk of getting HIV-AIDS. We just fucked our collective brains out, and we did it for years, all the while toking on some mellow, lovely spliffs, and just loving it up everywhere we went. It was heavenly and it lasted for so long, and then it was over, and having sex with someone you just met - one of the friendliest ways to invite newcomers into the community - wasn't a risky adventure that might net you a death sentence.

So, there's a certain crankiness that would inspire a heaving like the Generation M Manifesto. But, while Umair and his Community were busy spelling out the ways in which they would do it better, we were taking it easy, not entirely pleased with how it's all turned out so far, but content in the knowledge that we espoused "Make love, not war," that we stopped a war, that we went to poor foreign countries in hopes of helping to make their lives better, that we have old letters that we can read, letters full of hopes and dreams, tales of adventure - us in the Peace Corps, us in Viet Nam, us all over the world - stories of when we were young and believed that it would just keep getting better if we worked hard enough.

I haven't yet seen what Umair has done, besides take credit for Obama's election, and it's good that youngsters turned out the way they did for our candidate. Your energy, our money - a winning combination. But, Generation M has yet to accomplish great things, because they're young.

And sexually frustrated. Condoms really are a drag. I feel for you kids.

You have told us in this Manifeso how badly we fucked it up. Now, you have a duty not to fuck it up, but, of course, you will. Then, you will have your old emails to read and relive.

No, that doesn't work. E-mails aren't scented, wrapped in pack with a blue ribbon, bearing exotic stamps and postmarks. It doesn't work.

You can reflect on how your protests and anti-war activities stopped the Iran and Afghan invasions and occupations.

No, that hasn't happened, so that doesn't work, either.

Well, I'm very sure you'll do wonderful things. And I honestly do hope that in forty years, you'll read this and get the good laugh that I got from it.

And don't forget to wrap that rascal. You are the Condom Generation, as well as Generation M, and, really, with all that we had and all that you don't have, I wish you the best of luck...............................

[omega minimo]

26. You're wrong

"They had better be perfect, though, because it's so easy to Monday morning quarterback when you've done nothing except play under the bleachers while the real game was going on. Touch football is your game, while we old timers played tackle."

Their game was T-ball.









Flowery tissue and paper parasols, yet again, petarderizer. :toast:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

38. You're wrong -

the games was pigskin.

You mixed metaphors.

Pretty, but a fail.........

[omega minimo]

50. It's not a metaphor

Their game was T-ball. For healthy self esteem.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

55. My comment -

it was about games involving pigskins, and had nothing to do with the generation.

After all, it's not a group - it's a movement.

So, you can have t-ball for your own post, but touch and tackle football speak to the Boomers - circa JFK......................

[omega minimo]

56. Not in for any humor, huh?

:scared:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

58. Always,

but I really didn't get it - sorry.

Lame me...........

:yourock:

[omega minimo]

60. You poked the skin

of my self esteem :cry: :spray:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

62. I gotcher skin right here, toots -

[omega minimo]

63. you PIG

aargh that's wrong on so MANY levels........................

I'd eat haggis before being poked in the eye with that again!!!!! :kick:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

65. PIG? Treyfe?

So now you're going all Jewish on me?

Oh, really?

Take THIS!

[omega minimo]

66. LOL. THAT pig is definitely LESS equal than others.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

67. That one is my special

hommage to Republican members of Congress.

I got it out special, just for you ..................

[omega minimo]

68. Yeah well

if yer lucky no one will notice that "Jewish" comment.................... :hi:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

73. Treyfe?

That word even confounds a lot of Jews, so I'm still giggling............ :hi:

[omega minimo]

76. "So now you're going all Jewish on me?"

[proteus_lives]

30. All generations take positive and negative steps.

The OP is being arrogant and you're fulfilling the role of the elder generation looking down in its nose while the kids have theirs up in the air. Story as old as time. The were doing in ancient Egypt.

As for your sexual gloating, maybe the reason we wear condoms is that the permissive sexual habits of your generation is what caused AIDS/HIV to spread like wildfire?

[Tangerine LaBamba]

39. Oh, that's rich -

Yes, having sex spreads disease.

So, if only people had stopped screwing, there would have been no HIV-AIDS?

And, I admit, naive untested arrogance inspires and amuses me.

You're a riot. Thank you for that laugh........................

[glowing]

34. Well, it seems you don't want in as part of Gen M idea. It distinctly says

its not generational; its idealogy. I'm not so sure I believe in the slow down.. I think there are many things that have needed to take place 40yrs ago.. but I understand the slow down as to mean perhaps time to enjoy life.. not start out in debt up to your ears.

I suppose you just consider yourself as part of the problem..

[Tangerine LaBamba]

40. I thought I made it obvious -

I consider myself part of Umair's problem, as perceived by Umair.

You weren't able to understand that?

Pity...........................

[glowing]

49. That's too bad.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

59. How very cryptic -

empty, empty, empty..................

[Odin2005]

36. Oh wow, all idealism is comparable to the Unibomber. Brilliant reasoning!

:eyes:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

41. Oh, wow -

one sentence is all you can grasp.

Yeah, that's working for you .......................

[Lorax]

103. Agreed 100%

As usual, you said it much better than I could hope to.

[Liquorice]

29. Wow, these "Generation M" people are really full of themselves! Just remember, you'll

all be "old" in no time (the twenties go by fast), and a new generation will creep up behind you before you know it and tell you all what a bunch of old, a-hole losers you are.

I was born in the middle of Gen X, so I'm young enough not to be blamed for the world being messed up yet, but it's coming (I just know it), and then you'll have your turn. Nobody is young forever, and the worst part about it is that people younger than you are being born every single day! So enjoy it while you can! :-)

[conscious evolution]

31. The hippy haters sure came out of the woodworks

in this OP.
I have been watching a Gen M tribe(I call them neohippys my self) coming together next door for the last year.If they are representative of todays youth I must say I am impressed with what they are doing and where they are headed.These kids have drive,determination and the basic skills required to cultivate a cultural movement.They also have one other motivation-They recognize that unless they do something their generation is the one that will have to pay for the mistakes and fuck ups of the boomers and generations X and Y and they are resentful over the fact that they are expected to clean uo someone elses mess.(Rightfully so,imo.)
These are kids who grew up hearing the saying 'We are the ones we have been waiting on' Well guess what-They are not waiting anymore.They see just how fucked up our culture has become and are determined to change it.Just like their hippy forefathers.Only this time they have a chance at actually succeeding.

[Odin2005]

37. +1

[rockymountaindem]

42. Thank you n/t

[Terry in Austin]

48. Small point: "hippy" is an adjective

It denotes a generous backside span. "Hippie" is the noun. It's the Time Magazine moniker foisted on members of a subculture that emerged in the late sixties and is still giving straight folks the fits.

"Hippy" can be used as one of those subtle, get-the-name-slightly-wrong kind of put-downs like "the Democrat Party" instead of "the Democratic Party."

[conscious evolution]

96. Hip International Political Party for Youth

I remember reading that somewhere a long time ago.
When people use hippy most people don't think of it as meaning a fat ass.

Technically,you are right,though.I'll try to remember it in the future.

[conscious evolution]

32. kick

[I Have A Dream]

33. I'm one of the "older" generation, but totally support all people...

who want to make the world a better, more fair place. I'm actually quite disappointed by what my generation has done to the world. (Thank goodness there are exceptions such as the people of my generation who come to DU and fight the good fight.)

Never give up. Don't let anyone take away your enthusiasm for making the world better. Thank you for the work that you do.

I'm happy to K&R this.

:thumbsup:

[LaurenG]

35. Maybe you really mean "Dear Unconscious People."

I'm probably one of the old people you refer to due to my age but I am a fair person, willing to give the benefit of the doubt to OPs like this. I think your heart is in the right place but you are mistakenly taking your frustration out on an entire generation rather than looking at the big picture.

Some of the most misdirected and selfish people I know are in their 20's, and 30's they are so immature that their parents still cater to their every whim, including calling their bosses and telling them off if the "kid" gets a write up for not working during work hours. Their goal in life is to have the most toy's, the sexiest bodies and throw tantrums when they aren't getting the attention they desire. No doubt there are some like this in every generation but the "kids" that I am referring to are totally self absorbed and have no clue how to navigate the real world. They can't cook, garden or figure out how to get along when the power goes out.

The bottom line is they make choices based on whats in it for them. Does this type of behavior sound familiar? It is a matter of self absorption, not age and I would appreciate if you thought about what you just stated about a whole bunch of innocent people.

Did it ever occur to you that old people are among the most idealistic of all. Do you think that the old people (40 -60 year olds) made these choices for our planet? Most of us had no choice as we too inherited this world the same way you did, the elitist have run the country since it's inception not the regular people. Point the finger and project away, and I think you'll find that you are really part of the problem especially since you haven't even figured out what ageism is yet. Take a good long look in the mirror and check out what is really going on in your own head, then come back and look at all of the people who helped to make the good and decent parts of our lives what they are. You are where you are, able to think and deduce because of those who came before you, and you are also part of the problem.

on edit: I can't figure out if you are really amen-ing the concept of old thinkers or just older generations. Hopefully we are on the same page and I misunderstood the concept behind this.

[Fearless]

43. Cute... but full of generalizations.

First of all, Steve Jobs is a capitalist like all others. Otherwise iPhones wouldn't cost... oops... Obama is proving to be anything but new and exciting. Regardless of if he is better than Bush. No one is "humanizing life" through Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace polls. They're fooling themselves.


There are plenty more generalizations, but I'm bored and won't bother because it would hypocritical of me to post it on yet another of this generation's "gadgets".

In short, not very well written. Even if there could be some point, if the crux isn't age.

[conscious evolution]

45. What I am seeing with the new technologys

and many of todays neohippys is that they see all of the new gadgets as tools to use.Not as status symbols nor as substitutes for real life interactions.

[Odin2005]

47. Something the luddites can't seem to figure out

[Tangerine LaBamba]

64. Oh, so anyone

who doesn't buy into those specious generalizations you posted is now a "luddite"?

(The word is to be capitalized, by the way. You should at least know what the word means, and you obviously don't.)

Your lack of knowledge is showing, and your capacity for unfounded and shallow generalizations seems far too large ever to be minimized.

Time and education and experience with life will enlighten you and you will realize, with no small amount of embarrassment, how silly this post was. Your profile shows that you're twenty-three years old. That's so sweetly young and hopeful.

But, that's what living a rich, full life will bring you - the capacity to look back and view your youthful "expertise" with a good laugh................

[Odin2005]

69. I ain't claiming special divine wisdom, I'm just sick of cynical "NO WE CAN'T" thinking.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

71. Read the OP again -

there is a plethora of claims of how much better Generation M will do things.

I wish you all well, knowing how hard life can be, how complicated this world is, but that OP was full of "LOOK WHAT YOU'VE FUCKED UP" nonsense, and provoked exactly what it deserved.

You'd better read your OPs more carefully from now on...........................

[Fearless]

80. I'd also note...

That I'm 22. I don't have anything against innovation at all, quite the opposite. I do however have things against kids spending their free time online all of the time instead of getting exercise. Staying up late because that's when the "good things" are on TV. Coming to school tired. Believing that teachers are there solely to keep them happy. And txting in classrooms and then having them lie directly to my face while slipping it back into their pocket or purse. I could go on....

The fact is that no generation is perfect. OR BETTER for that matter. Just different. Each generation is simply the average of the experiences of each of its members. EACH does what it can to make this world a better place.

[Ohio Joe]

44. Meh...

There comes a point when every generation decides to look around and the reaction is always the same. "Holy crap... things are fucked up and it is all the fault of the last generation. HA! We'll show em how to do it right!". They then proceed to fuck things up until the next generation comes along and says "Holy Crap..."

[boomerbust]

46. Gen. M

A generation raised by boomers.

[depakid]

51. Interestingly enough- over the next two decades, as petroleum prices go through the roof

A good many of the changes will come about- in communities that adapt successfully.

[DailyGrind51]

53. This is an example of "generational generalization"!

Where are your generation's demonstrations? How many of your generation have ever been jailed in an anti-war protest? How many of your generation have ever been beaten and murdered in the name of civil rights? How many of your generation have ever been shot at a university anti-war rally? Oh, your generation bloggs! Like that gets results!

My generation brought an end to a war and brought down a corrupt president, show my generation what yours is willing to do, before you pass judgment.

[Odin2005]

70. My generation elected the first African-American president and is creating...

...a communications revolution that is revolutionizing politics and culture. You are blind to the transformation happening around you.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

72. So did mine, my friend -

so did mine.

You seem to think your generation accomplished Obama's election all by yourself.

Get real..............

[mamaleah]

85. LOL. It was not just your generation that voted.

But uh.....go ahead and believe that all you want.

Generations before you laid the ground work to finally see an African American President. The Baby Boomers, love em or hate em, marched for civil rights, which led us to this moment.

Your generation might be all ADD mad for the technology, but those that preceded you gave a lot more than mad furious internet rants. They marched, got arrested, sometimes got shot at, were alienated sometimes from friends and family (your parents don't know what you tweet; theirs knew that they were marching/protesting), and dealt with many more disappointments in their struggle.

But I keep forgetting that your generation, all on its own, elected the first African American President. :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[DailyGrind51]

92. Your generation alone could not have elected President Obama

without "Boomer" votes! Technological innovations leading to the communications revolution you speak of were invented by my generation. You, my young inexperienced friend, are ignorant of history!

[conscious evolution]

97. Wearing blinders would be a better description.

When they are not trying to pulll the wool over others eyes,that is.

[LiberalAndProud]

100. Okay. Have at it.

I don't care who gets the credit really... Generation M, Hippies, Yuppies, Troglodytes ... I just don't care. I just want everything right already.

[laststeamtrain]

54. "New" & "Improved".

People who divide people into generations usually have something to sell. Something "New" & "Improved". It's usually neither.

The language of marketing doesn't do justice to the complexity of the real world.

It's become the 'real world' for some people but that's not my problem. I feel I will always be able to live outside the Idiocracy.

There's a lot of sizzle & very little steak here.

[stevedeshazer]

57. Total stab here...some rich kids are bummed with their lot in life.

Wait until they turn 30 and buy houses and new cars.

The Nouveau Riche revolt. Good luck with that, kids.

[Fearless]

81. Gated communities be damned!

[Fearless]

82. Someone was coddled as a child... so sad...

Just as crippling as the opposite.

[RadiationTherapy]

88. Wow. This post certainly brought out the baby boomer defenders.

Hilarious.

I too think that the boomers and 'greatest *burp* generation' have specifically lacked foresight and long term planning regarding their consumerism and politics in general.

[sendero]

90. Funny..

... I'm a boomer and I want the same things.

[redqueen]

99. "Anyone — young or old — can answer it."

"Generation M is more about what you do and who you are than when you were born. So the question is this: do you still belong to the 20th century - or the 21st?"


A lot of defensive kneejerking going on in this thread, it seems like. Interesting.


I'm glad there are people thinking this way... not just to do better, but to do things altogether differently.

[Lorax]

104. Divide and conquer?

How does encouraging divisiveness fit into the plan for global change? The OP is nothing more than a wordy take on the statement, "you're either with us or against us." Quite a polarizing and divisive tirade from someone claiming to be working toward social progression.

Perhaps instead of spending so much time defining and insulting our differences, the author might find it more productive to define the ways we can combine our differing strengths to enact meaningful solutions to these problems.

Laying blame and making righteous claims might feel good for a moment, but it rarely solves problems.

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

105. Hi all, "Work 4 Food Program" can arrive at your door.

I hadn't been getting much response to my Free Veggie Seeds posts, first in Rural/Farm, then The Lounge, then Marketplace, but the pace picked up when I entered General Discussion. I have followed TexasObserver's advice and come here to post the seed I could mail you. whereupon you could start a garden for fall and winter gardening. The kale can have it's flowers removed when they show and it will grow for years. I have gotten some lettuce to re sprout when I don't pull them up too.

Anyhow check this out, and PM me your address and some seed will be in the mail:

Arugula, a spicy green like cress. For salad or stir-fry.
Red Giant Mustard, aka Chinese Mustard. Burgundy top with green underside of leaf.
Red Spot Lettuce, a Romaine type, Heirloom Seed I have saved and grown for years.
Green Lettuce, This may be Black Seeded Simpson, not sure, but a great leaf lettuce.
Curly Burgundy Lettuce, First year for me, quite colorful. Leaf lettuce.
Mizuna, another salad or stir-fry green. A mustard.
Turnip type greens, Something that comes up year after year in my garden.
Cilantro/Coriander, Cilantro is the parsley like greens, Coriander are the seeds as spice.
Red Kale, or Russian Curly leaf Kale,

Let me know if you just want a few things or a little of everything, when you send your address. These could be grown in pots and brought into a sunny window if you live in a heavy frost area.
ADW

[MilesColtrane]

106. And when you fail to remake the entire world over to fit your new vision....

...you will blame the generation that comes after you.

[mamaleah]

108. Or the one before

for messing things up so much.

Every generation thinks they are the greatest thing since the telegram.

[bvar22]

107. Well Hey, better get to work....

...cleaning up the mess we made. LOL

You took credit for getting Obama into office.
My suggestion is to study up on politics and start supporting Progressives instead of Status Quo "Centrists" if you really want to see "change".

Now, stop whining and get to work!