Quote:
Originally posted by Melusine:
quote:
Originally posted by Ronn_Bman:
The original or my comment on it? [img]smile.gif[/img]
The original contains some undeniable facts, but also some insinuations. I don't look at it as a put down on the younger crowd though. It just helps me understand how very different things have been for them. Just as things were different for me from my parents and their contemporaries. Our opinions are influenced by our upbringing, surroundings, and memories.
Anyway, I didn't mean anything unfavorable about the youth of today. I wish I was one of them..lol 
|
But it DOES put them down, IMO.
"They don't know Reagan was shot. They know nothing about the Cold War. The WWs are ancient history to them. They have never heard of this. They know nothing about that."
How putdownish can you get?? Looks like the writer of that article based his assumptions about the general knowledge of today's youth on his own meagre intelligence.
I agree with you it's very good to keep in mind the different eras someone grew up in (applying to any age - like realising your grandparents lived through the world wars and may have known poverty like you never knew it, as well as realising your little daughter doesn't realise Russia or Germany was the big enemy once.) but I don't think that's what this article does - and it gives young people far too little credit. Just my 2c 
[/QUOTE]As a broad joke, it fits pretty well if you look at it from the standpoint of American youth, who generally live very much in the moment, in a nation that lives in the moment. Sadly, humor of this type is based on some truths, in this case the lack of respect for history, even recent history, that is prevalent in American society. It doesn't play as well for other nations who focus more on history in their schooling and social commentary. Like all jokes of the type, it pokes fun at an unreal entity made up of preconceptions and generalizations.
I found it more of a poignant reminder of how fast things move as you age, and how easily overlooked the events that seemed so immense at one time.