Nope, but I already know what it it says.

I can't wait for Baby Boomers to just finally die.

>>930703

This.

Thanks for fucking up the world and overzealously spoiling every future generation to fuck, you Boomer bastards!

>make huge leaps and bounds in technology and science in past 60 years
>raise generations against this backdrop
>indulge them with technology catering to their needs
>break them intellectually creating new generations of retarded assholes uninterested in anything but social technology and willingly excessive consumption

>hurr durr y r they so dumb? back in my day herp derp

Shut the fuck up about how we 'waste all our time on social networking', Mark. Like you and your fucking generation didn't do the same thing. God damn poseur Baby Boomers so 'committed to political action, man' and then fucking ten years later voting for Reagan, panem et circences (yeah you see that Mark? That's some fucking LATIN, you like that shit, Marky? Can I call you Marky?), overly entitled, smug, went to college to avoid Vietnam, motherfuckers.

Jesus Christ, WE refuse to grow up? We refuse to grow up? It's your fucking generation that refuses to compromise one cent on either spending or tax hikes. It is your fucking generation that is spending us into a hole in the fucking ground, and taking all our fucking money for social security, and running up massive god-damned deficits that you're going to pass on to us. If that's your model of political engagement, well, then I guess all I can say is fuck you.

Baby BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWmers

Also, given that you are a professor, writing this book is straight-up an insult to every fucking student you've had in the last ten years

Real fucking classy, motherfucker

>>930726
>Oldfags want entitlements.
>Youngfags want to kick them in the dentures.
>"OH NOES DON'T TRUST DA YOUNGINS THEY DUMB!"

>>930735
It's not even that I want to kick them in the dentures. Like, it's a complex issue, and the fact that promises of repayment were made to older people has to bear some weight.

It's just this bullshit about how shitty our generation is and how we're 'not politically active enough' and waste all our time on facebook that bothers me, because the baby boomers were never really any more politically motivated than our generation, beyond poseur political activity for social reasons and FUCK YOU GOT MINE. And, again, they apparently refuse to acknowledge any problem with entitlements or the massive deficit that they're creating and passing on to us, because they're politically engaged and don't go on facebook (actually a lot of them do go on facebook even though they're like 55 but whatever)

>steal from your kids
>steal from your grandkids
>ask for more and complain about how much your kids and grandkids suck

fuckyeah.jpg

OP here

so has anyone read it?

When the baby boomers were my age, 25, they were hanging out in communes and having sex orgies while on heavy drugs.

Free love and all that bullshit.

>>930738
I'm aware of politics and pay attention to them, it's just that I don't give a shit. It's obvious that the United States is being fucked over repeatedly and that's what I hear on the news and internet on a day to day basis.

>>930726

I'll quote you on that.

>>930762
Can you correct the spelling error I made in the heat of the moment? Circenses takes two Cs and two S-es.

Our generation may not be the twilight of the West, but I'm sure we'll do our best to hasten it.

The Boomers are redoubtably the worst generation, though.

I don't like the implication that giant robots are for stupid people.

Not yet, but I'll get to it for the sake RAGE.

>>930765
Done and done. Cheers, mate.

Mark's a trolling cunt. Big surprise.

It looks like one of those books that only complain, and offer no real solution.

We got A LOT of those in Germany, even something in the same vein, and I regret spending 10 bucks on it now.

Every single generation thinks the one that comes after them is the dumbest ever. Seriously, they were saying this shit back when the Roman Empire was the next big thing. It's just pure bullshit.

>>930829
Our generation seems the dumbest because it is easier than ever for dumb people to get their voice heard on the internets.

In reality, there is no sudden change in human nature.

>>930795
Yeah books or essays that simply argue why something is a problem but don't put any time into considering possible solutions really annoy the fuck out of me. Half the time they don't even bother to pay lip service to a "call-to-arms" "Lets get some shit done!" chapter that simply urges others to find solutions . . . they just portray a reality that is a hopeless quagmire and then drop you.

Fuck those books.

"Most apathetic generation" would work better.

Bunch of narcissist asshole.

Baby boomer generation: Grew up during a period of unprecedented economic prosperity and international dominance

"Dumbest" generation: Growing up during a period of economic turmoil mostly brought about by the greediness of "baby boomers" in power and a shift in international relevance

And then they're called dumb because they seem so preoccupied with social networking when all these people did in their younger years was drugs or fuck other people

>>930700
it's just catering to the market

>>930924

You're a moron. The baby-boomer generation did not consist 100% of hippies, and I really don't understand where people are getting this idea from. It's so silly. Hippies, and extremist left-leaning youths were a minority, not a majority.

Haven't read it, but heard the interview with the author on NPR a while back. From what I understand, his argument for our generation being the "dumbest" is based largely on the idea that we don't memorize things anymore (I remember him rattling off a number of examples that were all pretty much "young people these days can't recite x poem from heart!"), which is just fucking stupid. Why memorize shit when you don't have to? It's a waste of brain-space when we have easily accessible artificial external memory at our fingertips at all times. Furthermore, rote memorization of facts and texts isn't exactly indicative of intelligence.

right, because I have all the information at my fingertips, and have learned how to listen to the odyssey audio book that I downloaded via torrent while posting on 4chan all while being under the age of 16, I'm a big dummy oh and just to fact check that the book wasn't being satirical in the title I looked up a review http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-book5-2008jul05,0,6248930.story
apperently as the review starts out it comment on how our generation doesn't have time for lengthy reads and we should be on our way to facebook. which there is nothing wrong with people taking less time to read through some thing, before the invention of paper and alphabet, people would spend there entire lives memorizing one or two books now people can learn about thousands of things in just one day thanks to the internet

>>931285
Yeah, most of them were moma's boys or dady's girls who did what they were told and then felt alienated in life because the world didn't turn out like their (their parents) dream of how things should be. So, they blame their kids while trying to carve a short-sided niche out of life for themselves in hope they can create an illusory world around themselves, that's less real than any video game or social networking service can hope to be. The way I see it, the hippies were those of them that should have inherited the world, if not for all the brain destroying drugs.

>>931285
television supports this idea, but of course if you just wiki it will tell you the truth.

>>931285
Nowhere did I say that was the case lol
Point is these people who experienced a relatively worry-free coming of age seem to be the ones calling our generation lazy and stupid

>>931304
lol

>>931304

>directed by michael moore

>>931322
Actually, I'd rather expect Michael to attack his own generation than us.

>>931322
more like Ben Stein

>>931293
I love it when people use that logic to show that young people are dumb.

These young'uns can't remember when the Battle of Bunker Hill took place! maybe because our education isn't just rote learning of facts. Maybe a baby boomer could explain how to set up a wireless home network or digitally touch up a photograph or even just use social networking to organise an event or protest.

this thread
>implying that there aren't millions of dumbass american kids who slobber all over facebook all day

Most Americans are dumb. Period.

>>931332
I agree with you, and the battle of bunker hill was fought June 17, 1775, wikid it
old people ownd

>>931335
>With the emphasis on kids.
I hate how many of the 4chan tough guys are falling into the exact same trap as the baby boomer generation.
Inexperience =/= folly. Sure, you can call your siblings and their friends "retarded" but so were you there age and, if you can not recognize that fact you are arguably still in that state.

>>931337
that's actually most of the problem, american education has gone way down since the baby boomer decade, it has nothing to do with the digital age, it has to do with political intervention, like the recent rewright of text books by the texas board of education which doesn't just effect texans but everybody, except California who make there own.

>>931351
But they are retarded. The difference between our generation and the baby boomers is that we understand they'll stop being retarded one day.

>>931335
I will agree that facebook is ridiculous and some of my smartest friends who aren't nerdy enough to need something else to support there social interaction with others have deleted there facebooks, but most kids who slobber over facebook are nothing like how they are on there in real life

Another problem with the Baby Boomers. They expect us to "grow up" or do this and that while we're in our teens or early adulthood but instead of teaching us or showing us they expect us to find out on our own. But back in their day, father/son, mother/daughter, mentor/student relationships were a cornerstone in growing up. You can't expect me to become interested or good at baseball dad if you never play with me you dumb fuck!

Seems like it would be similar to The Shallows. The author of this books seems to be placing the blame on the younger generation, instead of on themselves who actually brought about the digital age and didn't teach the younger generation to think for themselves.

>>931360
nonsense, your just tolling

So when my generation finally controls America (2040s-2050s), what will it be like? Will we be more impulsive when it comes to military action or even more apathetic? Will we revamp shit to where it's completely different such as education and even our political system? Will the Nuclear Family finally be disbanded? Gay marriage and weed legalized across the board?


I hope we're awesome as hell.

>Gundam
>dumb

>>931367
uh, ok some family issues brought out on the interwebs

>>931387
You really want to know what will happen to America by then?

Mexicans. Mexicans everywhere.

>>931387
it'll be the same as it always fucking is except America won't be the huge power it was before

we'll be like france

>>931377
that generation didn't make the digital age what it is

idea's like the ones this book presents are weak and invalid. using scapegoats is disgusting and people love to point and say "hey thats the sole reason everything is like it is".

>>931389
Hardly. The baseball analogy is false since I don't live in the states and while I'll admit that the relationship with my father has been shaky at times, my situation is too abnormal to be considered the norm. In short, I was generalizing what many of my close friends feel is the source of the problem.

Maybe our generation would be more politically active if the baby boomers didn't try their hardest to keep us out of politics and keep saying how dumb we are and how worthless our opinions are.

>>931424
maybe people tend to be on the retarded side and that's why democracy is fucking stupid.

also, look at our age group. i mean seriously.

What I'm interested in is if there's an antithesis out there that puts forward a more realistic view on the situation or even dares to go all "fuck yea Generation X/Y". Because I'm tired of all the nay-saying and of the bleak future already laid on for us by the previous generation.

>>931461
When the baby boomers were young they were saying don't trust anyone over 30. Now they're the generation in charge they're stamping on the next generation just like they were stamped on.

>>931463
Yeah. Let us hope we won't repeat that process. I'll personally try to avoid it.

>>931463
they they us us

fuck off

>Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers.
>Socrates

This is not a new argument.

>>931471

That's one of those false quotations.

>>931474
did google tell you that?

>>931471
Socrates wouldn't say that, unless jokingly.
Plato, acting on his behalf totally would though.
Mind, I don't claim this as a truth, I'm only basing this on the differing feeling I get when I read Plato's earlier, supposedly truthful texts on Socrates and the later texts where he uses him as a vehicle for his own ideas.

Well, what do you expect?

The death of the nuclear family due to over 50 percent of marriages ending in divorce compounded with the need to have both parents working full time, has caused a lot of youngsters to retreat into digital environments and find gratification/attention from other sources.

But I'm sure that's our fault too, right?

Old and middle-aged people are, of course, geniuses.

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/gallery/dumbestgeneration/

>1. They make excellent "Jaywalking'' targets
>2. They don't read books -- and don't want to, either
>3. They can't spell
>4. They get ridiculed for original thought, good writing
>5. Grand Theft Auto IV, etc.
>6. They don't store the information
>7. Because their teachers don't tell them so
>8. Because they're young

>>931477

Regardless of who said it, the sentiment has been around since forever. Bawwwww, young people do things differently and it scares me. They must be stupid since they're not the same as I was at their age.

>>931504
Yes, but what is alarming is how actively the BB generation has acted against us on that sentiments behalf. Many of them basically view their own children as enemies.

so its like a greek tragedy then

>>931517
Yeah, it kind of is. Except you can exchange overall maliciousness with greed and ignorance as the main source of conflict most of the time.

>>931471
>tyrannize their teachers

>>931471

That's mostly minorities.

We need to bring back lynching :P.

>>931540
I didn't know that privileged white children were a minority

>>931544

Now you do

>>931507

Well, they've created little monsters. We're assholes. We're arrogant, attention-craving, little shits that aren't afraid to take the reigns in our personal lives but too apathetic to step forward and do something on a grander scale. Worse, we're more educated than ever before, and we love to argue. So instead we've adopted a world (the internet) where we can satisfy our own needs and they can't figure out how to even work the damn thing. In turn, we've also made it an us vs. them game because of all the responsibility they've burdened on us. Like our parents at this age, we don't want wars or deficits or even high paying careers with some soulsucking company. We want to create, impress, and have fun with our youth. Play video games or read/write books, or travel. Not go into the workforce. At the same time, the reality of the future looms on the horizon and we know that the party has to end at some point. We also know who's footing the bill. That makes those who are aware want to raaaaaage.

At the same time I also believe there are a lot of stupid people our age. Just as there are a lot of stupid older people. Stupidity knows no age gap.

These are generalizations, which naturally don't apply to everything, but I can see why there's so much generational divisiveness.

>>931544
they are. 90% of the world lies outside their category.

Fuck him, our generation is more worldly, and more forgiving than his ever was. And our major drawbacks (unbridled narcissism) are only the direct fault of the previous generation. What looks like ignorance and apathy from over the hill is in realty a greater awareness. Our generation cares, we just don't care about the shit our father's cared about, which is arguably a good thing because the shit they cared about is fucking asinine.

Thoreau said it best, "Practically, the old have no very important advice to give the young, their own experience has been so partial, and their lives have been such miserably failures, for private reasons, as they must believe; and it may be that they have some faith left which belies that experience, and they are only less young than they were. I have lived some thirty years on this planet, and I have yet to hear the first syllable of valuable or even earnest advice from my seniors. They have told me nothing, and probably cannot tell me anything to the purpose. Here is life, an experiment to a great extent untried by me; but it does not avail me that they have tried it. If i have any experience which i think valuable, I am sure to reflect that this my Mentors said nothing about. "

>>931548
I disagree. While it's true that general apathy is a problem with us I think its source lies heavily with the media, who demonizes us to a point were everything we say or do holds no value within the consensus of those who come before us. It is also a question of material and intellectual greed. The Boomers, like us, want to play their games, read/write books and travel. So, they divide the slice of comfort amongst themselves and expect us do do their dirty work at the cost of our desire to play, because they sure as hell don't want the Mexicans to do it for us.

Every generation is dumber than the last because there's no natural enemy to eat the stupid ones. They don't starve to death or fall of cliffs or stupid shit like that. The stupid of our generation are coddled through life and then they breed six kids for the welfare because they're too dumb to get and keep a job.

This kind of social criticism is only acceptable if it is self-criticism (author is under 30 in other words). Unless English profs have some kind of profound understanding of what it was like to grow up with a SNES, they need to STFU.

>>931548
>too apathetic to step forward to do anything on a grand scale
This is 100% a good thing. 99% of the problems in the world are directly due to people "stepping up" and butting their filthy stinking assholes in places where they aren't wanted. Can't you imagine how much better the world would be if everyone just minded their own goddamned business for once, instead of going on some holy moral crusade at every opportunity?

Honestly, so much of what gets mistaken for apathy is just not getting our panties in a bunch of stuff that frankly doesn't concern us.

>>931581
Im a social worker, very much this.
Defying darwinism on a daily basis.

>>931597
> implying stepping up equals holy moral crusade
Fuck civilization, let's all go back to hunting and gathering.

>>931610
It does imply that. The time of the strong alpha male leader is over. It was an illusion that did more harm than good. Our generation will step up because it is needed, not because it is desired.

No. Maybe we're getting lazier, but not dumber.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect

We got Moot to the top of the Time 100.

>>931581
The thing is, I don't even think our generation is any dumber than preceding generations. It's just that it's not PC to talk shit about oldsters, so our generation gets all the shit.

>>931606
HA

a social worker.....
kill yourself you tax eating faggot

>>931625
>implying the IQ system is not 100% bullshit

>>931649
It may be, but is there a better way of measuring these kinds of changes?

>>931646
>tax eating

We're no more retarded than any other generation of young adults.

I do think so much time on the google-machine leads to shallow thinking though. There are so many really smart people who sit around googling and wiki'ing all day, learning little bits and pieces about everything but never focusing on and mastering one subject.

>>931649
>Implying it is.
It is far from perfect, and only examines a limited range of intelligence, but its an acceptable estimate in some cases. I just wish that it would be recognized as such and that people would quit making its results into the badge of honor/shame that it truly does not provide.

Really don't mind if you sit this one out.

My words but a whisper -- your deafness a SHOUT.
I may make you feel but I can't make you think.
Your sperm's in the gutter -- your love's in the sink.
So you ride yourselves over the fields and
you make all your animal deals and
your wise men don't know how it feels to be thick as a brick.
And the sand-castle virtues are all swept away in
the tidal destruction
the moral melee.
The elastic retreat rings the close of play as the last wave uncovers
the newfangled way.
But your new shoes are worn at the heels and
your suntan does rapidly peel and
your wise men don't know how it feels to be thick as a brick.

>>931705
And the love that I feel is so far away:
I'm a bad dream that I just had today -- and you
shake your head and
say it's a shame.

Spin me back down the years and the days of my youth.
Draw the lace and black curtains and shut out the whole truth.
Spin me down the long ages: let them sing the song.

See there! A son is born -- and we pronounce him fit to fight.
There are black-heads on his shoulders, and he pees himself in the night.
We'll
make a man of him
put him to trade
teach him
to play Monopoly and
to sing in the rain.

The Poet and the painter casting shadows on the water --
as the sun plays on the infantry returning from the sea.
The do-er and the thinker: no allowance for the other --
as the failing light illuminates the mercenary's creed.
The home fire burning: the kettle almost boiling --
but the master of the house is far away.
The horses stamping -- their warm breath clouding
in the sharp and frosty morning of the day.
And the poet lifts his pen while the soldier sheaths his sword.

>>931709
And the youngest of the family is moving with authority.
Building castles by the sea, he dares the tardy tide to wash them all aside.

The cattle quietly grazing at the grass down by the river
where the swelling mountain water moves onward to the sea:
the builder of the castles renews the age-old purpose
and contemplates the milking girl whose offer is his need.
The young men of the household have
all gone into service and
are not to be expected for a year.
The innocent young master -- thoughts moving ever faster --
has formed the plan to change the man he seems.
And the poet sheaths his pen while the soldier lifts his sword.

And the oldest of the family is moving with authority.
Coming from across the sea, he challenges the son who puts him to the run.

What do you do when
the old man's gone -- do you want to be him? And
your real self sings the song.
Do you want to free him?
No one to help you get up steam --
and the whirlpool turns you `way off-beam.

LATER.
I've come down from the upper class to mend your rotten ways.
My father was a man-of-power whom everyone obeyed.
So come on all you criminals!
I've got to put you straight just like I did with my old man --
twenty years too late.
Your bread and water's going cold.
Your hair is too short and neat.
I'll judge you all and make damn sure that no-one judges me.

>>931666
I kind of see what you're saying. Personally, I think "intelligence quotient" is a pretty misleading name for it.

>>931713
You curl your toes in fun as you smile at everyone -- you meet the stares.
You're unaware that your doings aren't done.
And you laugh most ruthlessly as you tell us what not to be.
But how are we supposed to see where we should run?
I see you shuffle in the courtroom with
your rings upon your fingers and
your downy little sidies and
your silver-buckle shoes.
Playing at the hard case, you follow the example of the comic-paper idol
who lets you bend the rules.

So!
Come on ye childhood heroes!
Won't you rise up from the pages of your comic-books
your super crooks
and show us all the way.
Well! Make your will and testament. Won't you?
Join your local government.
We'll have Superman for president
let Robin save the day.

You put your bet on number one and it comes up every time.
The other kids have all backed down and they put you first in line.
And so you finally ask yourself just how big you are --
and take your place in a wiser world of bigger motor cars.
And you wonder who to call on.

So! Where the hell was Biggles when you needed him last Saturday?
And where were all the sportsmen who always pulled you though?
They're all resting down in Cornwall --
writing up their memoirs for a paper-back edition
of the Boy Scout Manual.

LATER.
See there! A man born -- and we pronounce him fit for peace.
There's a load lifted from his shoulders with the discovery of his disease.
We'll
take the child from him
put it to the test
teach it
to be a wise man
how to fool the rest.

QUOTE
We will be geared to the average rather than the exceptional
God is an overwhelming responsibility
we walked through the maternity ward and saw 218 babies wearing nylons
cats are on the upgrade
upgrade? Hipgrave. Oh, Mac.

>>931719
...etc
http://www.boudnik.org/~cos/music/JethroTull/Albums/ThickAsABrick-lyrics.html

>>930795
Your people complain A LOT, Krautfag.

I fucking hate Germans and Germans living in America because of their shitty sense of superiority and entitlement. They constantly give Americans unneeded and patronizing advice that they won't shut up about. If you're a foreigner living in America you have no right to talk about how you think it's people can be improved. Fuck, please get someone in America to deport all your immigrants and expats here back to your own fucking country.

>>931581

Education system=natural selection

It's like the author watched Wall-E and decided to apply the situation to real life. I use the internet, play GTA, and am a law student. This guy just wants to make a buck by pissing some people off and making other people nod their heads.

I think I'll write a book called, "Why Old Guys Are Angry: A Study of Erectile Dysfunction"

>>931729
>Implying Americans don't complain as much or even more than Krauts.
>Implying that you didn't just have a bad day and are projecting.

>>931665
Maybe this is not such a bad thing. I wouldn't be surprised if the future favors a broad, qualitative knowledge over specialized, deep knowledge. Without a massive increase in energy production, hard science is not going to grow nearly as fast as it has in the past, and this means that progress is going to come mainly from trying novel combinations of pre-existing technology. The people who are going to do this best are going to have to have a very broad education.

>>931740
Or just a really broad scope of knowledge. I have a feeling that all this "useless, junk information" we're supposedly rotting our brains away will prove to be surprisingly valuable when the time comes where we take over. Just because they can't understand it doesn't mean it isn't of any value, to us at least.

>>931729
>superiority and entitlement
No one could accuse you of being guilty of that, could they?

If it's not in regard to Baby Boomers, then it's complete bullshit.