NationStates Jolt Archive

Well I was talking about this to friends. We're all going to be turning 18 within the next year and we were discussing if we were the last generation. The generation that avoided what,imo, seems to be a world going over the top about safety and stupidity. I mean one thing I grew up watching Tom and Jerry like generations before and did not have the urde to smoke. I think this has gone over the top. Years ago it was easy to just go exploring the local woodland but now they're basically off limits and also a few years ago if you fell over on the pavement you got up and forgot about it. Now thanks to all the lawyer adverts one of the first thoughts that comes into peoples heads is to sue. Is it me or has the world gone crazy?

Well I was talking about this to friends. We're all going to be turning 18 within the next year and we were discussing if we were the last generation. The generation that avoided what,imo, seems to be a world going over the top about safety and stupidity. I mean one thing I grew up watching Tom and Jerry like generations before and did not have the urde to smoke. I think this has gone over the top. Years ago it was easy to just go exploring the local woodland but now they're basically off limits and also a few years ago if you fell over on the pavement you got up and forgot about it. Now thanks to all the lawyer adverts one of the first thoughts that comes into peoples heads is to sue. Is it me or has the world gone crazy?

We went through that in the US in the 1980s. You should see all the warnings and safety rails everywhere.

Well I was talking about this to friends. We're all going to be turning 18 within the next year and we were discussing if we were the last generation. The generation that avoided what,imo, seems to be a world going over the top about safety and stupidity. I mean one thing I grew up watching Tom and Jerry like generations before and did not have the urde to smoke. I think this has gone over the top. Years ago it was easy to just go exploring the local woodland but now they're basically off limits and also a few years ago if you fell over on the pavement you got up and forgot about it. Now thanks to all the lawyer adverts one of the first thoughts that comes into peoples heads is to sue. Is it me or has the world gone crazy?
One thing you will realize as you get older is that it's all the same crap.

People were bitching about the lawsuit culture in the 80s. People bitched about how coddled and protected kids were in the last generation, too. Every generation has bemoaned the loss of "the way things were."

They bitched about all this same stuff when your generation was in the womb. They will continue to bitch for generations to come. Don't sweat it.

I don't think we're the last generation. People are still having babies, and not nearly as many people are paranoid in Canada as they are in the US or UK.
I will say, though, that people are getting married and settling down a lot later in their young lives than they used to.

One thing you will realize as you get older is that it's all the same crap.

People were bitching about the lawsuit culture in the 80s. People bitched about how coddled and protected kids were in the last generation, too. Every generation has bemoaned the loss of "the way things were."

They bitched about all this same stuff when your generation was in the womb. They will continue to bitch for generations to come. Don't sweat it.

While the lawsuit culture doesn't make us "the last generation", it can certainly make us "the idiot generation".

I'm sure the "duck and cover" generation thought the same thing. But lo and behold, we're still here.

Yeah, don't sweat it, just look forward to the day when you can say, "When I was your age ..." :D

Yeah, don't sweat it, just look forward to the day when you can say, "When I was your age ..." :D

I've already caught myself saying that... :(

Well I was talking about this to friends. We're all going to be turning 18 within the next year and we were discussing if we were the last generation. The generation that avoided what,imo, seems to be a world going over the top about safety and stupidity. I mean one thing I grew up watching Tom and Jerry like generations before and did not have the urde to smoke. I think this has gone over the top. Years ago it was easy to just go exploring the local woodland but now they're basically off limits and also a few years ago if you fell over on the pavement you got up and forgot about it. Now thanks to all the lawyer adverts one of the first thoughts that comes into peoples heads is to sue. Is it me or has the world gone crazy?


The world has gone crazy but there are some sick ppl out there! Safety may have gone overboard but unfortunately its necessary. My sister is almost 11 years younger, the difference between our upbringing is incredible. During summer months I was allowed ramble around the fields behind my house, stay out til 10 pm ( I was about 9) go wading in streams with my brother and neighbours, build forts with hay bales 6 fields over. My sister(she is 10) wasn't allowed around the front of the house last summer unless someone was out their with her. A lots changed in 11 years.

While the lawsuit culture doesn't make us "the last generation", it can certainly make us "the idiot generation".
I don't know about that. We're the best informed generation to date. We're the most literate generation, and the most highly educated generation so far. We have our own special stupidities, to be sure, but every generation does. I don't think we're any more (or less) idiotic than the generations which have come before us.

Well I was talking about this to friends. We're all going to be turning 18 within the next year and we were discussing if we were the last generation. The generation that avoided what,imo, seems to be a world going over the top about safety and stupidity. I mean one thing I grew up watching Tom and Jerry like generations before and did not have the urde to smoke. I think this has gone over the top. Years ago it was easy to just go exploring the local woodland but now they're basically off limits and also a few years ago if you fell over on the pavement you got up and forgot about it. Now thanks to all the lawyer adverts one of the first thoughts that comes into peoples heads is to sue. Is it me or has the world gone crazy?
what does lawsuits have to do with being the last generation?

what does lawsuits have to do with being the last generation?

Not a bloody thing.

what does lawsuits have to do with being the last generation?

Retro-active lawsuits will see people winking out of existence everywhere.

Sometimes I hope we are the last generation.

If you are generation Y, then no it will be your children...

If you are generation Y, then no it will be your children...

Very good point! :)

No, I don't feel like this. I am 15.

This year, we demonstrated against CPE, we blocked our school to protest and even conviced our Headmaster that we were right.
My friends and I often chat about Politic situation in our country. And about the world...
We already had this conversation together. And we really don't feel stupid:
We are not adults yet but we are able to fight for what we think is right, defend our rights etc...

A great french writer told some months ago on the radio:
"When we were young, in 1968, we didn't understand anything, but we knew everything. Now, young people don't know anything, but they've understood everything."
I think he was right. We should be idiots. That would be a thousand time easier for politicians and that all if we were. But, unfortunatly, I'm certain we're clever. I'm certain we really have the will to change things. If we don't believe adults, if we try by ourselves, we could really prove that we're not idiot.
And no, we're not the last generation.
Our parents are making war, (i mean, our parent's generation) but we could change thing. After all,it's our world, isn't it?
Youth of the world is more and more desesperate. Why? More and more young people commit suicide every day. Why?
No, really, we're not the last generation. But, strangely, the consequences of everything are ours, now. I think we should do something.
My Physics teacher says "We let you the world. Ok, that's not really a beautiful gift, but it's up to you to change it. If you're only good to criticize your parents and finally let the things go on, there's no reason to be proud of what you are. But I think that you're all clever. I'd like to be old enough to see if, finally, you'll change the world or, on the contrary, let it become more and more insane, crazy and dangerous...I may look like a mad person but I'd bet that you'll change things..."

I'd like to make him be right, don't you?
Our future is not already decided, isn't it? We still can change it? Or, at least, I like to believe it...

How can we you be the last generation...Im genration y...and my sibblings are the generation z or something

/*Sarcasm*/

Oh yeah, nobody should get to sue at all. Businesses don't need to be responsible if what they do or their products harms people. Thats just tough luck, people need to toughen up.

All those people at Bhopal [URL=http://www.bhopal.org/whathappened.html] should thank Union Carbide for putting them out of their misery. They would die one day anyways. They're a bunch of slackers and free-loaders, asking for money after they get poisoned.

/Sarcasm/

The OP means "are we the last generation [that isn't over-protected]". This has nothing to do with pondering if humans will stop bumming each other tomorrow.

On an unrelated note - what the eff is "CPE"?

CPE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrat_premi%C3%A8re_embauche)
It basically meant that the employers could fire anyone under 26 without a good reason. And it went wrong. Huge protests by students, and the law was rescinded (to paraphrase wiki)

Well I was talking about this to friends. We're all going to be turning 18 within the next year and we were discussing if we were the last generation. The generation that avoided what,imo, seems to be a world going over the top about safety and stupidity. I mean one thing I grew up watching Tom and Jerry like generations before and did not have the urde to smoke. I think this has gone over the top. Years ago it was easy to just go exploring the local woodland but now they're basically off limits and also a few years ago if you fell over on the pavement you got up and forgot about it. Now thanks to all the lawyer adverts one of the first thoughts that comes into peoples heads is to sue. Is it me or has the world gone crazy?
Nah, you missed the boat entirely. When I was a kid, and for a little while after, you could be out alone after dark, you could play on a school playground when school wasn't in session, no one sued anyone else when you and your buddy got into a fight, and so on. I don't know where this litigious and over-protective bunch of pansies came from, but they sure have ruined things for the kids that came after them.

I don't know about that. We're the best informed generation to date. We're the most literate generation, and the most highly educated generation so far. We have our own special stupidities, to be sure, but every generation does. I don't think we're any more (or less) idiotic than the generations which have come before us.
Unfortunately, none of that education equates to common sense.

When I was teaching, my students (undergrad physics and aeronautical engineering) showed so little aptitude for solving problems outside their education, it was frightening. I'd throw a couple Marine Corps flight aptitude test questions on a quiz, just to see how things went and a good number of the students couldn't figure out which way the horizon should appear when in a left or right hand turn.

Nah, you missed the boat entirely. When I was a kid, and for a little while after, you could be out alone after dark, you could play on a school playground when school wasn't in session, no one sued anyone else when you and your buddy got into a fight, and so on. I don't know where this litigious and over-protective bunch of pansies came from, but they sure have ruined things for the kids that came after them.

Don't worry fighting, tresspassing and hanging around after dark are still populor and very rarely result in sueing anyone.

Unfortunately, none of that education equates to common sense.

When I was teaching, my students (undergrad physics and aeronautical engineering) showed so little aptitude for solving problems outside their education, it was frightening. I'd throw a couple Marine Corps flight aptitude test questions on a quiz, just to see how things went and a good number of the students couldn't figure out which way the horizon should appear when in a left or right hand turn.
But, again, this is no different than any other generation.

We're not any smarter or any more given to common sense. However, we do have an amazing level of access to amounts of information that were unthinkable even one generation ago. Does it make us smarter? Not really. But it makes us better informed, and it doesn't make us any stupider than any other generation that has come before us.

But, again, this is no different than any other generation.

We're not any smarter or any more given to common sense. However, we do have an amazing level of access to amounts of information that were unthinkable even one generation ago. Does it make us smarter? Not really. But it makes us better informed, and it doesn't make us any stupider than any other generation that has come before us.


It makes your generation more indecisive.

Proof of point: flipflop and spinelessness.

ner ner ner - buncha War Virgins.

It makes your generation more indecisive.

Proof of point: flipflop and spinelessness.

ner ner ner - buncha War Virgins.
Heh. :)

I've always loved how members of a certain older generation like to try to insult mine by pointing out that our generation hadn't got a war...particularly since it's my generation dying at this very moment for a war started by THEIR generation.

At any rate, I wish we were "War Virgins." War doesn't make boys into men or girls into women, any more than fucking does.

It makes your generation more indecisive.

Proof of point: flipflop and spinelessness.

ner ner ner - buncha War Virgins.

So? Who the fuck actually wants to be at war?

But, again, this is no different than any other generation.

We're not any smarter or any more given to common sense. However, we do have an amazing level of access to amounts of information that were unthinkable even one generation ago. Does it make us smarter? Not really. But it makes us better informed, and it doesn't make us any stupider than any other generation that has come before us.
I don't know about that. I think there is a lack of something in this generation. It might not be common sense. It might be the inability to solve problems that require more than a pencil and paper. Probably a little of both.

Maybe it's the way my friends and I grew up that's different. We were on our own, solving little problems with the materials on hand. If we wanted to swim in the creek, we built a dam. If we wanted a tree swing, we found the tire, found the rope, and figured out how to hang it. There wasn't a lot of serious engineering that went into either effort, but the results were usually satisfactory.

It's really great to have the amount of information available, but it's a heck of a lot more fun to go out and do things.

Heh. :)

I've always loved how members of a certain older generation like to try to insult mine by pointing out that our generation hadn't got a war...particularly since it's my generation dying at this very moment for a war started by THEIR generation.

At any rate, I wish we were "War Virgins." We'd be all the better for it.

Bulldust.
If, given 2 persons, a loaded gun, and an order to decide whom to kill,
you dilly-dally, then you're not worth keeping alive in the first place.
Expendable, a waste of good oxygen.

Bogmarsh Commandment nr 21:
'pacifism' equals 'license to breathe air CANCELLED'.

So? Who the fuck actually wants to be at war?

Jihadis for one.

Therefore, go forth and do to them, before they do it to you.

You don't have to like it, you merely have to obey orders.
Or, failing that, die.

Jihadis for one.

Therefore, go forth and do to them, before they do it to you.

You don't have to like it, you merely have to obey orders.
Or, failing that, die.

Jihadis arn't a country so its kinda tricky to go to war with them thats why theres alot of "flipflop" and this generation has actually seen quiete alot of war if you think about it.

Iraq, Somalia, Afganistan, Iraq (again)

Jihadis for one.

Therefore, go forth and do to them, before they do it to you.

Jihadis want war, the evil fuckers, so we'll show them...we'll give them exactly what they want!

Makes perfect sense.


You don't have to like it, you merely have to obey orders.
Or, failing that, die.
I assume you are typing these words from the front lines, then?

Jihadis want war, the evil fuckers, so we'll show them...we'll give them exactly what they want!

Makes perfect sense.


I assume you are typing these words from the front lines, then?

Perfect Sense is not needed - merely compliance.

Jihadis arn't a country so its kinda tricky to go to war with them thats why theres alot of "flipflop" and this generation has actually seen quiete alot of war if you think about it.

Iraq, Somalia, Afganistan, Iraq (again)


An there's more - so get cracking.

Bulldust.
If, given 2 persons, a loaded gun, and an order to decide whom to kill,
you dilly-dally, then you're not worth keeping alive in the first place.
Expendable, a waste of good oxygen.

Bogmarsh Commandment nr 21:
'pacifism' equals 'license to breathe air CANCELLED'.
Holy wow, Batman. Your credibility on any subject: CANCELLED.

Holy wow, Batman. Your credibility on any subject: CANCELLED.
It was cancelled for me ages ago, when he said that anything up to and including genocide is perfectly fine if the majority condones it.

Perfect Sense is not needed - merely compliance.

So I guess you have never heard of World War I. Because if you had you would have learnt that that sentiment is utter crap.

Bogmarsh is a pretty fun troll
He's probably one of those fat americans that sits round playing army videogames all day. Occasionly loosing at paintball despite buying all the guns and specialist gear.

Eh, our current rate of lawsuits per capita is nowhere near the rate of the early days of the US. Everyone sued each other over everything.

The OP means "are we the last generation [that isn't over-protected]". This has nothing to do with pondering if humans will stop bumming each other tomorrow.

On an unrelated note - what the eff is "CPE"?

WE have a wiener!!

I don't know about that. We're the best informed generation to date. We're the most literate generation, and the most highly educated generation so far. We have our own special stupidities, to be sure, but every generation does. I don't think we're any more (or less) idiotic than the generations which have come before us.

Funnily enough, I was just reading this editorial (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/18/AR2006081800976.html) over dinner (it came out in todays print newspaper here), which addressed the illiteracy of the current generation of college students. 4.0 GPA college sophomores who don't know words like impetus, advocate, lucid, pith, derelict, brevity, or satire. A class of 17 colloege sophomores who as a group can only name one author - Dale Brown. A college senior who calls Il Principe "Machiavelli's novel".

I assume you are an exception, but if that's what now passes for the "most literate" generation... :(

Funnily enough, I was just reading this editorial (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/18/AR2006081800976.html) over dinner (it came out in todays print newspaper here), which addressed the illiteracy of the current generation of college students. 4.0 GPA college sophomores who don't know words like impetus, advocate, lucid, pith, derelict, brevity, or satire. A class of 17 colloege sophomores who as a group can only name one author - Dale Brown. A college senior who calls Il Principe "Machiavelli's novel".

I assume you are an exception, but if that's what now passes for the "most literate" generation... :(
Yes, there are many graduates who are idiots. Again, this is nothing new. I have been clear throughout this thread that I acknowledge the presence of idiots among my generation. The simple fact is that each recent generation has become more literate and more educated than the one before it; this doesn't mean anybody's achieved 100% literacy yet. Nor does it mean that education or literacy will magically do away with idiocy. There are plenty of highly educated idiots in the world, and always have been. Why is this such a hard concept to grasp?

Perfect Sense is not needed - merely compliance.
Oh, well if an internet troll requires my compliance, then who am I to argue? Clearly I should have no higher goal in life than to blindly obey whomever is the first to hand me a gun and order me to kill!

For the Fatherland!

:D