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Still at war? When I look back over the blog posts in 2003, especially from April, July, and October. I can see myself struggling to understand the national uproar that ensued when the war began to depose Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq. How did this mesh with my belief that we might have entered a Fourth Turning, or Crisis era, after the September 11th terrorist attacks? Shouldn’t we, as a society, be rallying around our national leadership at this stage? Well, as some of the participants at the Fourth Turning Discussion Boards have pointed out, that is the wrong perception to have. Think of the Crisis era as the “hashing it out” period. Just as there were different regional loyalties – even shifting loyalties – in the Revolutionary War and in the Civil War, the American people today have different loyalties to the Chief Executive’s Global War on Terror (I know, I know, it’s now the Global Struggle Against Extremism, but I’m talking about 2003 stuff here.) One could almost imagine a paragraph in a history book sixty years hence: “One of the common myths about the early Twenty-first century is that Westerners were united in the struggle against violent extremists. Nothing could be further from the truth. Evidence from archived discussion forums on the primitive ‘Internet’ of that era shows a deeply ideologically divided people, unable to decide on appropriate military, legal, or social solutions to the intractable problem of terrorism that plagued their societies.” Posted by Steve at 10:49 PM Two Boomers with more in common than you might think. I’ve been looking over the posts on this web log, started almost three years ago, and rethinking some of my thoughts about politics, personalities, and the cycle of the generations. For instance, I posted this about the presidents:
What I was trying to do was contrast Bill Clinton the Third Turning president with George W. Bush the Fourth Turning president. What was I thinking? It seems pretty obvious that both of these Boomer presidents are polarizers, each fiercely despised by the partisans on the opposite end of the political aisle. And their administrations have actually looked a lot alike, as the 90s vs. 2000s table demonstrates. Both two-termers, they each have faced a scandal of some kind in their second terms which helps define their presidency. For Clinton it was Monicagate, and for Bush it is Plamegate, surrounding his decision to invade Iraq. Clinton faced his troubles late, and survived impeachment over them - but Bush has weathered a reelection facing the uncertainty of the war, and it’s doubtful this scandal will do much to him. Still, as with his predecessor’s sly lies about “that woman”, Bush’s shifting justifications for military action point out his generation’s character flaws: irresponsibility, megalomania, and lack of judgment. Posted by Steve at 9:59 PM
Oh, these uncertain times. With terrorism abroad and a relentless insurgency inflicting damage on our nation-building efforts, we show amazing resiliency as a society. The Dow just doesn't seem to care! Americans continue to borrow and spend like never before, but also to worry, worry, worry. For how long can we keep up the pace, wonders Clyde Prestowitz at the Chicago Tribune? He seems to want a "war on globalization" to match the "war on terror!" If he paid attention to the generations, he would know that the Boomers and Gen-Xers in the the adult age brackets just aren't likely to adopt the kind of "big project"-like commitment he's hoping for, not until something really snaps in their minds - and despite all the shocks of this decade, that hasn't happened yet. Meanwhile, the fearmongering continues over those undesirable illegal immigrants - who are stealing jobs from teenagers, at least when they can find time away from their taxpayer funded college careers. Is there no hope for the native born? Of course, these articles' titles reflect a desire to cast aspersion on a group, so we have to think a little about the generational patterns underlying the stories they report. Teenagers these days show an overall pattern of underemployment, reflecting the sheltered upbringing of the Millennial generation, and immigrant Gen-Xers now do the low-status jobs once considered a part of teenage life. And these "illegals" in college, as the story makes plain, are Millennials who have been living in the country for years, and will plainly spend the rest of their lives here. So let's educate them, already! So we can see how a generational view can help us understand the big picture, and maybe alleviate anxieties that might arise as the newsmongers ply their fearful outlooks. Posted by Steve at 6:44 PM
Millennials on the war. When you read stories about the War on Terror or the Iraq War and the way the Millennial generation has been affected by 9/11 and risen to the challenge of this new struggle of the age, you'll find that the story was written by someone from an older generation, someone with a perspective that has a - shall we say - bit of a "red state" color to it. When an actual Millennial has something to say, his or her opinion is liable to be less, um, sanguine: Generation Y's Silent Protest But if you must read a rah-rah Millennial war story, here's one that fits the bill, featuring a young hero showing traits of courage and modesty, with a trace of masculine gender role thrown in: Dean Foils Insurgent Attack Posted by Steve at 6:41 PM
Generations on the web. I just love the ageless project, which simply collects web sites and lists them by the author's date of birth. Since you have to provide your birthday to be included, it is possible to organize the listings by generation, and since there are a couple thousand listed, there are actually enough sites for the list to be a representative sampling of the generations on the web:
Caveat: this isn't just Americans' web sites, and a few of the sites might not be active. Looks like Generation X rules the web! Posted by Steve at 4:17 PM Rearranged generations. The background information on the generations has been significantly updated recently, with many links added to web pages that show some of what is published by individual members of each generation. This sort of gives you an idea of what each generation's "online presence" is about; for example, you really get a feel for how much the Boomer generation dominates in traditional media. I've also decided, based on personal observation and just my own intuition, that 1981 should be the first birth year for the Millennial generation. So I've gone ahead and changed the "ages" table and all the background info to reflect that belief. So there. Posted by Steve at 3:50 PM |
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1416
580| Lost | 106+ |
| G.I. | 82-106 |
| Silent | 64-82 |
| Boomer | 46-64 |
| Gen-X | 25-46 |
| Millennial | ?-25 |
| Homeland | ? |
| High | 1946-1964 |
| Awakening | 1964-1984 |
| Unraveling | 1984-? |
| Crisis | ?- |
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Strauss & Howe Generations Sites
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The Fourth Turning Discussion Boards
Generations at jamesgoulding.com Generations on Wikipedia Model for the Saeculum The TimePage LifeCourse Associates |
Blogroll
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Aging Hipsters
Generational Dynamics Generations in Conversation Generation Next TimeLog Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow Ypulse |
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Where noted, background information on generations theory is copyright 1996 Broadway Books. All other content on this web site is copyright 2002-2007 Generation Watch and Steve Barrera. All rights reserved. |