Wednesday - May 02, 2007

Condemnation

The period following the end of the US Civil War and the end of the 19th century was the era of the Missionary Generation, known for being labor anarchists, campus rioters, and ambitious first graduates of black and women’s colleges. In rising to adulthood, they had an Awakening that had given birth to the Bible Belt, to Christian socialism, to Greenwich Village and to labor reform, temperance, and women’s suffrage movements. They were wild idealists who were out to change the world, for better or for worse. They left their mark on society in ways that still reverberate today.

The turn of the century saw an end to those idealists and their struggle for a better world with the advent of World War I and the unimaginable horror of trench warfare that saw the wholesale slaughter of an entire generation of young people. The survivors of that dreadful period picked up the pieces and became so disillusioned and bitter about the human race that they became what is commonly called the Lost Generation. An entire generation just went out to lunch and never came back. They tried to shrug off the emptiness left by the Great War with the raucous lifestyles of the Roaring Twenties and daring economic ventures. Living on the edge, so to speak.

Of course that all came to a crashing end with the Depression and World War II, which saw the arrival of what some have called the Greatest Generation. I prefer to call it the Forged Generation. That generation grew up in the middle of starvation, economic breakdown and a hard-scrabble existence where just getting by another day was an achievement in itself. The rise of racism and dictatorships bent on conquering the world with genocide further tested that generation. They were cast and forged in the furnace of worldwide depression, then further tempered and crafted into the finest steel in the confrontation with pure evil in he form of Nazism, Fascism and Bushido. Their world was black and while, good and evil, live or die. They accounted for themselves well during their time.

What followed them is an embarrassment. I am referring to the Incompetent Generation, also known as Baby Boomers. Why do I think of that generation as “incompetent”? Because we are ... and yes, I include myself in that piss-poor excuse for a generation that has now managed to screw up just about everything we have come in contact with over the last fifty years. Let me explain and see if you agree ...

After World War II, our parents came home from the war flush with victory and thanks to the GI Bill they went back to school, obtained degrees and set about doing all kinds of wonderful things that previously had only been dreamed of or predicted in Sci-Fi novels. They wanted to build machines that could think and automate for us. They wanted to build robots to make manufacturing cheaper and give everyone a better lifestyle. They even wanted to explore other planets. They dreamed ... while we slacked.

We played in the safe world of the 1950’s under the careful supervision of “Ike”, and the Commies were held at bay thanks to the nuclear technology our parents dreamed up and made real. Our parents bought us TV sets and we glued our little eyeballs to Hopalong Cassidy, Milton Berle, The Untouchables and Bullwinkle. We played while the grownups handled all the nasty stuff like Commie spies, un-American activities and the dueling match with the Russkis. Life was good.

Unfortunately, my generation entered the 1960’s with pimples, plastic and Elvis. Our parents listened to Swing music and jazz. We became beatniks and rock and roll freaks. That is the point where we started losing our parents. Strike that ... we didn’t lose them, we just tuned them out. Teenagers have been known to do that since the dawn of time. Only this time it went a little too far.

The last great battle our parents fought was the “negro problem” as some of them called it. They had to face their own prejudices, acknowledge the mistake and correct a hundred-year-old injustice. That took a tremendous amount of courage and humanity. All my generation knew was things around us suddenly got more colorful ... in more ways than one. You see, at this point my generation faced its first real tests ... drugs and freewheeling sex. Some of us screwed and toked our way into young adulthood while others among us took up the battle against the Commies in Southeast Asia. We had alienated our parents and now we were dividing ourselves into two distinct groups with very little in common.

This bipolar disorder in my generation came to a low point as the 1960’s ended and the whole world seemed on the point of collapse. We had failed our first test and things were about to get much worse. The 1970’s could have given us a little breathing room with the end of the Vietnam War and we could have healed the rift between us and taken up at the point where our parents were nearly ready to pass the baton of responsibility on. Instead, some of us got married, started making families and beginning careers and some of us dressed up in polyester suits, danced the night away in discos and discovered cocaine. Meanwhile, the rest of the world was starting to get rowdy ... but most of us didn’t pay attention - we were too busy indulging ourselves and seeking satisfaction. It’s a wonder this country survived that narcissistic period.

Then in the 1980’s we looked around and noticed we were getting old, some of us approaching 40 (God forbid!). We started tallying up our lifetime accomplishments and came up with a big fat ZERO. So we became greedy. “Greed is good”, so read the mantra of the 1980’s. Everyone out for him or herself. Get it while you can. We’re not getting any younger. Our parents were still pretty much in charge but on their last legs ... and running out of patience with us. During the Reagan/Bush years, we worked ourselves silly, piddled with our new personal computers and once again left the heavy lifting to the real grownups.

The 1990’s came on us in a rush out of nowhere as our parents started dying off in wholesale lots and we suddenly found ourselves in charge of things and making important decisions. Looking back at that decade, it is fast becoming apparent that we didn’t have a clue what we were doing and were just winging it. The technology revolution swamped us and the economy boomed. We thought we were doing great now that we had become managers, CEO’s, Generals. The poster child for this period would have to be that stupid hick from Arkansas who somehow managed to stumble into the White House. He has been called one of the smartest men in the world - by his friends. If that’s the best we can do then we are not only incompetent but delusional.

No, I am sorry to say, now that my generation is getting older and in their late 50’s and 60’s, the report card looks pretty bleak. We have let the space program rot. Our technology boom has turned to bust and young people in other countries are eating our lunch. We can’t even make decent cars any more. Our infrastructure is falling apart and the trade deficit growing as we continue to slack off and skate through life.

A large portion of this generation has even decided that protecting ourselves is not an option. They think it is better to just surrender and walk away from any challenge than to stand up and fight for what we believe in and what is right. Our parents, if they were alive, would probably be quick to tell us that group was adopted.

No, there isn’t much hope at this point for the Incompetent Generation. We’re pretty much set in our ways by now. We can only hope that the generations that follow us will have better sense and will use us as an example of what not to be when they grow up. The greater cosmic irony in all of this is that this generation of slackers will reach retirement age just about the time the Social Security retirement funds start to dry up due to fewer workers in the generations following and our government robbing the funds over the years to make ends meet.

At that point we will finally have to admit to ourselves that were about the most useless, incompetent bunch of morons ever inflicted on this great nation. America will survive, of course. Our country has managed so far in spite of us. America is now and always be a great nation. How the history books treat my generation in the far future is another matter entirely.

Posted by The Skipper     on 05/02/2007 at 01:16 AM   
Filed Under: • Editorials •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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