What a Long, Strange, Thoroughly Obnoxious Trip It's Been

[Ed Anger]

Generation X hates you.

[Queequeg]

And mine.  I'm not sure which one of us hates the baby boomers more.

I hate the Boomers too, though to be fair, I include you in the toxic Counter-Counter Culture that was just as bad.

[Razgovory]

The Boomer scapegoating is getting old.  I guess it never occured to me to think that a few kids partying down ruined our country forever.

I mostly disagree.  The Counter Culture and, arguably even worse, the Counter-Counter Culture that propelled Nixon came as close as anything to destroying the foundations of this country as anything since the Civil War, and we are still being hit by the repurcussions.  Just read Nixonland.  Hopefully we Millennials, side-by-side with our allies in Generation X, will bury the last of the Culture Warriors and sing merry dances on their graves.

Indeed.  The horrors of the Reagan Revolution lie at the heart of the Baby boom.

[Eddie Teach]

I mostly disagree.  The Counter Culture and, arguably even worse, the Counter-Counter Culture that propelled Nixon came as close as anything to destroying the foundations of this country as anything since the Civil War,

We need a :spellus: smilie for moments like this. Perhaps one first rolling its eyes, then shaking its head.

[Queequeg]

Generation X hates you.

My generation may suck, but at least we are somewhat low key with our suckness.  Unlike the Boomers.  It is a lot easier to ignore My Chemical Romance concerts ( ) than Woodstock.

[Queequeg]

I mostly disagree.  The Counter Culture and, arguably even worse, the Counter-Counter Culture that propelled Nixon came as close as anything to destroying the foundations of this country as anything since the Civil War,

We need a :spellus: smilie for moments like this.

Watergate?  The Chicago Convention?  The Weathermen?  The race riots? A ton of important political and cultural figures assassinated?  The rise in crime?  The rise of addictive drugs? Dramatic destabilization wasn't the end result (more stagnation and angst during the 1970s, followed by a self-conscious return to "normalcy" in the 1980s), but it probably could have been. 

Let's say Nixon was assassinated, and President Spiro Agnew comes in on a wave of popular disgust with the Counter Culture and near unlimited authority to deal with domestic terrorism.

Things were pretty bad.  We seemed  to have experienced more instability coming out of a reasonably prosperous period than during the greatest recession in our nation's history, mostly as the boomers sucked.

[Eddie Teach]

Watergate?  The Chicago Convention?  The Weathermen?  The race riots? A ton of important political and cultural figures assassinated?  The rise in crime?  The rise of addictive drugs? Dramatic destabilization wasn't the end result (more stagnation and angst during the 1970s, followed by a self-conscious return to "normalcy" in the 1980s), but it probably could have been.

If those are the biggest cracks you can find, the foundation is pretty fucking strong. Besides, much of that was driven by pre-boomers.

[Sheilbh]

If those are the biggest cracks you can find, the foundation is pretty fucking strong. Besides, much of that was driven by pre-boomers.

I've read the book MP's referencing.  I really recommend it.  I think Perlstein's gift for incredible details and images sometimes mean it gets sometimes over-heated.  Though his narrative and the details he picks out are very readable and fascinating.

You may think the foundations are pretty strong, but MP said that the boomers/60s drove them to as near collapse as they've come (with the exception of the Civil War), what do you think of that?

[Queequeg]

You may think the foundations are pretty strong, but MP said that the boomers/60s drove them to as near collapse as they've come (with the exception of the Civil War), what do you think of that?

That part being key.  The US as not going to collapse in 1969 without some huge catastrophe like an alien invasion or nuclear holocaust. The shock to the American system was intense, but I think it is actually a pretty great credit to the US that we came through it without so much as a whiff of a coup.

[Sheilbh]

You may think the foundations are pretty strong, but MP said that the boomers/60s drove them to as near collapse as they've come (with the exception of the Civil War), what do you think of that?

That part being key.  The US as not going to collapse in 1969 without some huge catastrophe like an alien invasion or nuclear holocaust. The shock to the American system was intense, but I think it is actually a pretty great credit to the US that we came through it without so much as a whiff of a coup.

Sounds like a missed opportunity to me:

[Queequeg]

Sounds like a missed opportunity to me:

That's the exact example I was thinking of.  American Democracy > French Democracy.   

[Eddie Teach]

You may think the foundations are pretty strong, but MP said that the boomers/60s drove them to as near collapse as they've come (with the exception of the Civil War), what do you think of that?

I'm skeptical. Reconstruction, Indian wars, problems with immigrants, Anarchist bomb throwers, the Nisei Internment, the Red Scare, etc. etc. etc. American society has never been perfectly cohesive and never will be. But it's a mistake to give too much importance to the events of that era.

Billy Joel agrees with me. 

[BuddhaRhubarb]

What a load of drivel.

That describes the Baby Boomer's to a t.  From hippie to yuppie they screwed the country up six ways to Sunday and expect to be thanked for the effort.

Sure.

All of the "this generation is this that or the other" is 99% solipsistic drivel.  That includes whatever boomer "we are awesome" crap that annoys you, but it also includes the anti-boomer, "woe-is-us-who-have-to-deal-with-boomer-egos" crap.

:yep: annoying topic.