Subject: Re: 13 Gen'ers<-----the unlucky bunch
From: Andrew Kennis (kennis@math.grin.edu)
Date: Fri Mar 07 1997 - 13:54:41 GMT
On Fri, 7 Mar 1997, Sasha Stone wrote:
>
> Why do you insist on whining about our present condition?
>
Why do you insist on denying and/or downplaying the atrocities that reign
free on our generation?
> Are we the only ones *forced* to live in such a society? So you're
> saying our future looks bleak, eh. Does it look more bleak than before
> the Revolution when we didn't even have basic Freedom of Speech?
>
What revolution? The American Revolution? Shit Sasha. When you have to go
back 100's of years to find examples to support the position that "things
really aren't that bad for our generation", I know you're struggling.
And besides, you're only being brainwashed by corporate America if you
think we've even come close to fully securing our basic "Freedom of
Speech" right in this country. The government *and* corporations
routinely engage in censoring practices. They cooperate in this venture.
Do you have no idea what I am talking about? If not, rent "Manufacturing
Consent" by Noam Chomsky, one of the foremost intellectuals in the
*world*.
>
> Still, you can complain all you want - we've got it comparitively easy.
> Part of the reason I'm embarrassed to be part of "gen-x" is that we can't
> possibly be taken seriously as having ever had any real problems when we
> make arguments like you're making. It is our need to constantly be the
> victim of society that makes us an interolerable group.
>
Wrong, wrong, wrong. The arguments that I am making, *are rarely* used by
fellow 13'ers. There are few other members of my generation who bemoan
the horrors and atrocities that are realities to the youth of America.
Most are brainwashed and subscribed to the belief that you are putting
forward....that we have it "easy", as you put it. This is exactly what
the boomers and the silent generations want you to believe. This is the
belief that is continually espoused in the media. The postulate that
13'ers do not have it easy and to go about recognizing this fact and
advancing it, is one that is unfortunately rarely posited.
>
> I didn't say it has no problems - just not more.
>
> > Um, it did, in '89.
> >
>
> Oh it did? Tell that to my ninety year old grandmother who didn't
> eat fora week until she and her husband found a dollar on the sidewalk. Your
> comparison is an insult to those who suffered through the real thing.
>
Uh, I'll tell your grandmother this Sasha. Less than 1 percent of her
generation is in poverty. 20 percent of mine is. I think that's worse.
Call me crazy, but I do.
Call me crazy about this too, but we have no New Deal Sasha. There is no
WPA anymore. The little safety net that we finally started to build with
the New Deal and the Great Society is having its shreads torn off.
Welfare was the first to go as reactionaries in this country effectively
scapegoated innocent children and welfare mothers. Affirmative action is
about to go, as minorities are effectively joining the bunch of
scapegoats. Xenophobia is reaching a high in this century as we continue
to approve of Prop 187 like measures. Our government is fighting us *now*
Sasha, not helping us. Was the stock market crash in '89 as bad as the
one your grandmother had to deal with? No, it wasn't. Is the lack of
governmental support now as compared to then, a reality our generation
has to deal with? Yes, it is. Are there atrocities that are realities to
our generation being downplayed, ignored, or tossed off as mere
complaints? Yes there are. You can call me a complainer but I am only
trying to dispell the myth advanced by corporate America and
disappointingly also by older generations that 13'ers are stupid, lazy,
spoiled, and without problems and, as you keep saying, "have it easy".
That's bullshit and I know it. Sucks that you don't.
> Oh, yeah - those inbred morons living in Idaho dressing up in sheets and
> throwing up one overworked arm now and again, killing black people
> occasionally? Well they are scary to be sure but they are not a threat
> like the Nazis are a threat. Your comparison is an insult (of epic
> proportions and it's sad to see that you don't realize this) to the *six
> million jews* (hello? Is anybody home?) who died in the Holocaust.
>
Er, do not tell me that I am not compassionate that my people got
slaughtered by the millions in Nazi Germany. Don't even go there. At the
same time, don't even begin to tell me that Nazi'sm is functionally dead
and that anti-semitism is nearly non-existent. These ideologies are still
alive and well.....no there isn't a holocaust to show for them, but the
ideas are still out there and are embraced by millions across the world.
>
> This is laughable at best. Now you're comparing long lines to women and
> blacks not having the right to vote? Are you out of your mind?
>
Um, once again you go back 150 years and almost a quarter of a century to
point to a "worse time". I do not think that doing this, makes much of a
point. I do think that pointing out the fact that our turnout is the
*worst* in the world among industrialized Democracies and that it has
steadily declined over the last 30 years, once again, dispells the myth
that you are advancing and supporting; which is that Democracy is alive
and well in America. I'm sorry, when there are elections with a 25%
turnout rate that result in electing a bunch of bigoted assholes led by
someone who is abhorrent, at best, there is something wrong with our
voting system in this country. Until we even begin to compete with our
contemporaries in turnout rates I cannot agree with you that we can boast
any sort of claims about being very Democratic.
>
> Listen fancy pants, I know you're younger than me so I'm going to try and
> be semi-nice about this but I am no elitist. Man, I wish I was sometimes
> but I grew up poor. Dirt poor. Welfare poor. 16 year old mother four
> children sleeping in a Mission poor. I am still poor. Broke is a better
> term for an adult but please don't insult me by asuming because I disagree
> with your moronic logic that I am an elitist. Quite the contrary, bub.
Sasha, Sasha, Sasha......have you always been this defensive? I really
don't recall stating directly or even insinuating that you are an
elitist. I think you effectively self deny to yourself the atrocities
that apparently have befallen you and our generation, but I never assumed
you were an elitist. In now becoming aware of how tough life was for you
while growing up, I am now at a loss for why you insist on denying the
atrocities that are very real and that are very present and that are
taking their toll on us.
> If you've lived on the fringe and really had gone to bed hungry a few
> nights you would be more grateful just to have a roof over your head - you
> wouldn't be whining about long lines and skinheads and no jobs.
Er, Sasha? I wasn't whining about long lines. I was pointing out that our
turnout sucks. Did you even know as much? Do you even care? I thought you
might have as you were in the midst of thest chumping boastful claims
about how Democratic we are.
> What are you going to do? What is our whole stupid generation going to
> do? Sit in the corner and whine about what we don't have or actually
> do something.
First and foremost Sasha, as much as older generations and the corporate
media would like you to believe, we are not stupid. Secondly, you ask
what are "we" going to do? Well, I hope that out of our disgust and in
years to come with gained experience and wisdom, that we will become a
very politically active bunch. I hope that once we start running this
country, we can dispell the myths and correct the problems and uncover
the lies. I can tell you with certainty, that I am and will
continue to be a part of this effort. Are you? Will you be? Or, rather,
are you going to continue to characterize those who insist on not denying
the atrocious realities that greet our generation daily as being just a
bunch of whiners? When we do get the opportunity to change things as
older, wiser, and more influential citizens, are you going to be
screaming about how easy we have it and how we should bow our heads down
and not complain? I hope not. I really hope not. I really do.
> >
> > Sasha, you might not have it rough, but the rest of the struggling youth
> > of America does.. Get out of your hole.
> >
>
> You know what? If people like you are leading our country into the
> future creatively and otherwise - we are in more trouble than even you
> could imagine. You piss me off kid. Because you aren't thinking. Use
> your brain. Become something else.
>
>
Why do I piss you off Sasha? Because I will not deny the realities that
you so quickly dismiss? Because I do not accept low turnouts and false
notions that the U.S. is the premier example of a Democracy? Because I do
not accept 20 percent of my peers being in poverty? Because I do not
accept the fact that as insidious as it may be, racism, sexism,
anti-semitism, homophobia, Nazism, and Xenophobia are still healthy
ideologies? Or is because, I refuse to accept the corporate and boomer
notion that my generation is lazy, stupid, and without creativity? Or
Sasha, is it because I refuse to stand idly in apathy saying that life is
meaningless, and instead act on my beliefs? Which one of these reasons is
it Sasha? I'd really like to know.
Do I really sound like someone who "isn't thinking" Sasha? Hmmm? Do I
sound like someone who doesn't use their brain? It's clear to me that you
are really losing your temper in this discourse and that can only tell me
that you are feeling less and less confident about the position you
continue to vehemently defend. Though, this isn't necessarily a bad
thing...........perhaps now, you will realize many of the things that you
you have seemingly denied to yourself and others. Perhaps....hopefully.
--AK
-
To remove yourself from the bananafish list, send the command:
unsubscribe bananafish
in the body of a message to "Majordomo@mass-usr.com".
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Mon Oct 09 2000 - 14:59:59 GMT