[Omnitir]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Omnitir', '.')..I seem to recall many stories about living in constant fear of nuclear war.

[duke3522]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', 'I')f they're older than 42, they aren't Baby Boomers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boomer

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('duke3522', '
')
I was born in 1961 but I do not consider myself a Boomer. I think to be a true Boomer you have to be able to remember the JFK assassination. I believe that this event had a tremendous effect on the young folk back then.

Duke of Indiana

[frankthetank]

YOu bastards who grew up in the 80's are sooo lucky. I love everything about the 80's, but hardly remember most of it (i was born in 78). God you guys are soo lucky! I really have to get my hands on a Delorean.

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Omnitir', 'Y')es, yes, the world is so over populated. Don’t you just hate people? We are so doomed… (sarcasm). Sorry, but I don’t buy into the way past carrying capacity hype.

[MattSavinar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', 'I') work with more than a few boomers. ...They said something to the effect of "our generation (the boomer one) is getting more screwed than yours". Me, being a mere 24 years old, being told this by two 40-somethings.

[MattSavinar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Omnitir', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', '
')White, male American Baby Boomers with good educations are unquestionably the single luckiest demographic group in the history of the human race. All who come after us will have it worse than we did. You may have a few electronic toys that we didn't have, but that's about all you have over us. We had confidence, serenity, security, and unshakeable faith in the future.

[EnergySpin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Omnitir', '
')Not a chance. From my perspective, we are currently living in the greatest period of human history. Yes we will face some difficult issues, but I believe that we are also going to see a transition to a better world.

To use the tired party metaphor; the party is almost over, which scares the hell out of the people that partied all night. But soon the sun will rise on crisp new day, which fills with excitement the people who see more to life then gluttonous partying.

[Schweinshaxe]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('frankthetank', 'Y')Ou bastards who grew up in the 80's are sooo lucky. I love everything about the 80's, but hardly remember most of it (i was born in 78).

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Schweinshaxe', '.')..The boomers at least had Pat Boone.

[galacticsurfer]

I am 41, just missed the acid test being born in 1965. I just got a book" the fourth turning which cuts up US history into 4 generation cylces which always run 80-100 years in total and make for a cyclical historical run. Apparently they went through a lot of history to get at this and I have yet to read it.

Here is their ad for the book (1998)

http://www.fourthturning.com/html/fourth_turning.html
The Fourth Turning offers this bold prophecy:

Just after the millennium, America will enter a new era that will culminate with a crisis comparable to the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Great Depression, and World War II. The survival of the nation will almost certainly be at stake.

Strauss and Howe base this vision on a provocative theory of American history as a series of recurring 80- to 100-year cycles. Each cycle has four "turnings"-a High, an Awakening, an Unraveling, and a Crisis. The authors locate today's America as midway through an Unraveling, roughly a decade away from the next Crisis (or Fourth Turning). And they recommend ways Americans can prepare for what's ahead, as a nation and as individuals.

As Future Shock did in the 1970s and Megatrends did in the 1980s, this groundbreaking book will have a profound effect on every reader's perception of America's past, present, and future.


I have always been sick of the ad nauseam rehashing of the experiences of the boomers in the 50's and 60's as I grew up in the 70's(Happy Days-50s retro) and 80's. The focus has been on this generation and their coming of age, their pain, etc. as long as I know. To get away from my personal grudge of the media hype caused by TPTB(the boomers actually- Clinton then Bush 16 years long then Clinton II another 8 years and my generation will be too late for any power at all.)

Anyway this book seems to satisfy my desire for a structured look at history in terms of cycles and to look at the generations but not to get stuck in personal grudges or a small world view about us here and now, my generation against yours,etc. I hope it lives up to its promise. If they are right the cycle has come around for deep shit to hit the fast moving fan real soon and they are not talking my beloved astrological planetary cycles so scientific skeptics can probably swallow it.