Response: P..p..people Try To Put Us D..d..down
Yikes, Bunkshooter, your description of Roadrunner Rally is positively chilling to the likes of this Gen Xer and homefront survivor of the Cold War. Reading your description of the mindless drone of a couple hundred kids singing schmaltzy patriotic anthems conjures up filmstrips we used to see of the Young Pioneers in the Soviet Union marching amid the gawd-awful missiles while singing schmaltzy patriotic anthems through brilliant smiles, red scarves clutching their necks.
I've read quite a number of articles and seen a few books in recent years that characterize your generation (but certainly not you) as docile and easily led, although demographers, sociologists, and pundits can't yet agree just why. Among the suspects are Ritalin and its rowdiness-inhibiting pharmaceutical satellites; day care centers and their one-size-fits-all child development model; the general malaise of world events between Glasnost and 9/11; helicopter parents; and older parents. There are probably many other reasons as well. Like, maybe these morning assemblies you describe. I'll bet the real culprit wasn't the pledge or Lee Greenwood, it was probably Raffi (he actually covered this Soviet favorite) and Sharon, Lois & Bram, and
But still, some of you guys are 25 now. Generation X had Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Sophia Coppola and others who achieved early. We had a movment and spokesman with grunge and Kurt Cobain. The Boomers had Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and many movements and spokespeople. I haven't seen a lot from this group yet. I haven't seen any movements or spokespeople. Myspace, Facebook and Napster (all created by this gen) just don't really wow me. But then, I'm old. I'm not s'posed to be wowed by it.
After I think about it, maybe we're going to need a populous generation acting in concert to fix some things around here, like global warming, the political system, competition with China and India, breaking the corporate stranglehold and the cultural void left by Paris Hilton and reality TV. I hope there's a Teddy Roosevelt or a Will Rogers or a Woody Guthrie amongst them.
posted by St. Fiacre @ 6:42 AM,
1 Comments:
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At Wednesday, October 11, 2006 2:35:00 PM,
A Contemporary Bunkshooter said...
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Docile? Easily led? Sheeplike?!! Yeah, you're probably right.
