Shazzaam, Group Blogger-heads!! Rog here. As my cherry blog entry, this'll be my official step into the 21st century since, well, since I first jumped into the Internet rather late in the 20th century. It's fabulous to see all your beautiful 1's & 0's shining through the LCD (although, I don't know who some of you sneaky peeps are, with your witty and misleading names for your blogging avatars...)
Pennyway, since we're getting all politicized here (as well we should), he's my Curtis James Jackson III minus 48 cents for the day:
There was a typically solid Frank Rich article in yesterday's NYTimes, about the Republican Party painfully but undeniably sporting a scratchy, old, woolly, smelly, and moth-ball infested sweater as the “Grand Old White Party.” But, I’m even more fascinated by a Washington Post article Rich mentioned and linked to in his editorial. This Washington Post article is entitled “The Boomers Had Their Day. Make Way for the Millennials.”
The idea behind this article (and the authors’ recently published book) is the cyclic nature and inherent differences between idealist generations and civic generations in American history, particularly in light of the Obama phenomenon. (BTW, I heart Obama these days.) The authors speak of the post-1982 "milliential generation" being the largest and most diverse in US history (bigger than the boomers) who may well be looking to remake the country in what I think will be some kick-ass ways. If you don’t want to link to it above, here are a few quips:
"Today's millennials are the largest generation in U.S. history -- twice as large as Generation X and numbering a million more than the baby boomers... About 40 percent of millennials are of African American, Latino, Asian or racially mixed backgrounds. Twenty percent have at least one immigrant parent."
"Civic generations are committed to political involvement and believe in using and strengthening political and government institutions. In the 1930s, young members of the GI generation regularly voted in greater numbers than older generations. Similarly, millennials have led this year's surge in voter participation, especially in Democratic contests."
"...[N]ow, with another civic generation emerging, the times, as boomer troubadour Bob Dylan sang, they are a-changin'. Civic generations react against the idealist generations' efforts to use politics to advance their own moral causes and focus instead on reenergizing social, political and government institutions to solve pressing national issues. Previous civic realignments occurred in 1860, with the election of Abraham Lincoln, and in 1932, when the GI generation put Roosevelt in office. It's no coincidence that these "civic" presidents, along with George Washington, top all lists of our greatest presidents. All three led the country in resolving great crises by inspiring and guiding new generations and revitalizing and expanding the federal government."
I don't know about ya'll, but that's got me all giddy for both the present and the future. Maybe Bri and I won't have to move to Australia, Canada, or Ireland after all! Take care and much love to you lovely peoples.
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5 comments:
OMG.
did mom give you enough attention?
are you crying out?
i think i agree with what you say; but i plan to re-read War and Peace and come back to your post.
carol diagnosed me as ADD, so it might be me.
go Obama! (right?)
You just had to go there, didn't you QCP?
Hooray for overt family dynamics on the blog!
Rog, it's interesting to me that you bring the whole generational thing into it. I feel like you've been fascinated by this for a long time...Gen X, Gen Y, and now the millenials. Any thoughts on why?
Side-note--this school year began with a whole discussion about the Millenials and their differences from previous generations (e.g., multiple daily contacts with parents, need for constant praise, belief that if they play by the basic letters of the law, they should be duly rewarded with A's...)
B-Rad, I don't know where my interest in generations comes from. Sadly, part of it comes from my experience over summer 2000, just after graduation, at a sales-training firm where I helped research how Army recruiters could better connect with Gen X and Gen Y/Millenial students (Yikes!) There's just something interesting to me about a group of individuals with cultural similarities due to the timing of their births and their shared experiences. For instance, Pearl Harbor for Brokaw's Greatest Generation, the JFK assasination for my parents' generation, the Challenger explosion, or the OJ case, or 9/11 for our era. It's also sorta interesting to me because I think we fall just between a number of similaries between Gen X and the Millenials, showing signs of both but not fully in either. I wonder if there is such a generational focus in other nations whose presidencies might not change every 10 years or so, or who don't break-down the last century into decade blocks like Americans do...
Helpin' the man! Aw, shit. What did you tell them? That we're all homos who are into pink fuzzy dice and mini collectible spoons. I'm tellin' y'all it's sabotage!!!
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