OK, Millennial.


Posted On: Saturday - January 11th 2020 9:39AM MST
In Topics: 
  History  Americans  Artificial Stupidity

(This is pretty much a continuation of Hey, you t-t-t- talkin' 'bout My g-g-g-generation?.)

Can you even read a freakin' map?



It's well past Festivus, but I got a problem with you people!


As Peak Stupidity noted > 2 years back in Smart Devices / Dumb People - Will Moore's Law hold?, young people don't even know how to read a map anymore (yeah, and quite a few old people too, without their spectacles). The ubiquitous Artificial Stupidity has been doing a number on the thinking ability of people of all ages for > a decade now, but young people (oh, and women and minorities, of course!) have been hardest hit.

Then there is the total laziness in thinking, more in the "that's not my job" sense. You can just tell that if you try to do anything out of the ordinary, at a workplace staffed by young people, they freeze up and give you that look. That looks say "OK, Boomer", and it means "I don't want to do any thinking. You can't make me!" There is that total lack of understanding of why anyone, say, some Boomer, would want privacy and mind giving out his life story to computer when getting a haircut, buying a pizza, or paying for a part at Advance Auto.

OK, all this is just a function of the times. I'm not sure it makes this young generation bad in any sense, just often stupid in some, well, MY sense of the word. That again does not go for everyone, but it's fairly pervasive. I suppose that they could say the same about my g-g-g-generation, as, yes, as a matter of fact, I DON'T like dealing with touchscreens that just start doing stuff when you're trying to simply pick the damn thing up. I don't really like the world of information that much, and would rather make a bet with someone on a fact that we both are so sure about, yet disagree on, by betting 20 bucks* rather than by pulling out the phone and asking Siri**.

The prepper novel I've been reading (again, review to come) made out the Boomer couple in the book, as seen 15 years hence, to be selfish and above all, unable to accept getting old. (They had their grandchildren call them by their first names, eschewing "Grandpa" and "Grandma") I guess that it simply the author's guess on what the major gripes against that generation will turn into. It's true that the Boomer generation, especially the 1st portion, came up in a time of prosperity and American strength and was a very large group, hence they would get their way per the marketing people, making them spoiled I suppose. Sometimes, though, I think every young person's view of that generation is nothing but a hold-out from 1967. They still picture them wallowing around in the mud at Woodstock getting free sex, and ... well, get very jealous.

It's true that the Boomer generation had it very good, due to the prosperity gained by generations past. Maybe lots of them squandered it and ARE too selfish to help out their kids much. At the political level, I'd say the Neocons of this generation (and others) squandered the huge amount of goodwill America had around the world by the end of the Cold War, after having defended the whole world from Communism. However, as said in that previous post, it's not ALL of them. We know the ratio of real conservatives to the lefties, and possibly on these personality/attitude factors, the ratio is also not a "landslide".

What the young people do resent is their elders (yep, don't deny it) will tell them to "buck up", "get a job, pull yourself up by your bootstraps", "save for college over the summer", and other nuggets that have just become bad advice or just plain stupid in this day and age. No, the economy is NOT what it was, when the Baby Boomers were young adults, and not nearly as good as when Gen-X were young adults either. It's tough.

On the other hand, 25 y/o Baby Boomers were told a lot of BS by their parents too: "Hey, I drove a truck for $1 an hour. Don't complain about picking tomatoes with Mexicans. It's good for you". That's after the high inflation had hit (say, by the late 1970s, when an early-1950s-born BB had been floundering around at 25 y/o). "Dad, 2 hours pay can't even get just me into the movies much less a date who may want popcorn. DO! YOU! GET! THAT!?" [ / young Tucker Carlson wannabe]

Now that these grievances have been aired, let me just say, parents don't always keep up with the changes in society. What worked good for them may not be something to advise the next generation of children. The very Who discussed yesterday sang "I hope I die before I get old", and some head hippie (probably a "Silent Generation" guy, really) said "don't trust anyone over 30". The Millennials are wondering if those people have become hypocrites. It's just that young people don't know anything about life yet. The Baby Boomers were a BIG group of young people that didn't used to know anything about life. It's OK to be stupid in that respect. The Millennials are. Hopefully, they won't stay that way past 30.


* Yes, it turns out that California IS slightly bigger than Japan. I'm 20 bucks poorer, and my wife is 20 bucks richer.

** Siri won't answer much anymore anyway after my last question to her. I asked "Siri, show me your tits."

Comments:
Dtbb
Monday - January 13th 2020 1:08PM MST
PS:If you're interested, this is a cool website.
https://www.tampapix.com/jannus.htm
Dtbb
Monday - January 13th 2020 12:49PM MST
PS:Yep, both still alive and kicking. I don't get to the beach much. Too much of a tourist trap and very expensive.
Moderator
Monday - January 13th 2020 9:19AM MST
PS: I read up on Tony Jannus, Dtbb. Imagine that one-passenger (it must have been, right?) flying boat service. You know the area (Tampa/St. Pete) better than me, but I'd guess, at 75 mph, it'd be a 15 to 20 minute trip vs. the many hours, as the wiki page indicated.

That was the time a man could just be an entrepreneur without any BS. No,FAA, no OSHA, no nothing.

BTW, I do remember the Don Caesar hotel on St. Pete Beach? Is the Hurricane bar and grill still there? (It was long, long ago...)
Moderator
Monday - January 13th 2020 9:16AM MST
PS: I think I at least briefly railed agains that auto-correct crap before - check the "Curmudgeonry" Topic Key - there's a whole lot there! I wonder why?

I wish these types of "features" were not made the defaults, as every time some new version comes out, not only do you have to spend time deactivating new features (if you even CAN), but you must learn the NEW WAY to deactivate stuff, which is, yep, you guessed it, one of the new features! Fuck this shit.

Can you tell that you've hit a sore spot here too, Mr. Ganderson?
Ganderson
Sunday - January 12th 2020 8:22PM MST
PS I don’t know if this is off topic or not, but my Boomer complaint, not a complaint about Boomers mind you , but a complaint by a Boomer. And I am a Boomer, in fact exactly in the middle of the baby boom generation, born in 1954. I hate auto correct. It has no idea what I’m trying to say and it corrects me even though it doesn’t have any knowledge of anything. In some ways it reminds me of the kids, the high school kids, that I teach. Anyway that’s all for today, although I heard a great version today of Desolation Row from I believe , March 1990. Made this old Boomer happy
BTW: AutoCorrect just corrected Boomer to tumor. I’m sure there’d be more than a few people would agree with that.
Moderator
Saturday - January 11th 2020 11:05PM MST
PS: I just plugged your link in, Dtbb, and am reading it now. That was really early on in aviation. Things progressed very quickly.
Dtbb
Saturday - January 11th 2020 3:51PM MST
PS:Sorry for straying OT, but from context I gather you are involved with aviation. Your post about Neil Peart got me thinking about concerts and venues I've been to. My favorite venue is called Jannus Landing. Ever hear of this guy?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Jannus
Dtbb
Saturday - January 11th 2020 3:24PM MST
PS:Great post. As usual you nailed it. Nothing to add. Thanks.
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