He should speak for himself. Maybe he is.

I, for one, am thrilled. We will be able to dominate and plunder the younger, stupider generations. How hard can it be to exploit and control a cultural and historical illiterate who can't compose a complete sentence or identify Australia on a map? They will function in indentured servitude, because they are not equipped to do anything else.

I feel richer already!

I've done all those things except hitchhike.

BunnyGirl, I like you.

A friend of mine, who goes by the handle Atheism-is-Unstoppable 4 on YouTube, refers to this generation as Generation Pussy.

Likewise, all but hitch-hiked. But I have driven across, from SF, down to LA, then across the Southwest to Texas, and from there to the Mid-Atlantic.

In 4 days.

Oh, and Pronouns ?

I have con badge ribbons, that read:
***
My pronouns are:

m'lord Master Your Imperial Majesty
***

It really pisses off "Social Justice" type when I wear it, so I pass them out to all my friends.

And, yes, there IS a female version. My wife and daughters wear them on THEIR con badges:
***
My pronouns are:

milady Mistress Your Royal Highness
***

(EVIL GRIN)

I hope none of the referenced generation actually clicks the link and reads Fred Reed. The level of micro aggression will probably make their poor little heads explode.

>Canvasback
>He should speak for himself. Maybe he is.

No, Fred is a country boy & veteran, nobodies wimp. He is also a clear eyed social observer. He's been a journalist and writer since he served in Vietnam. He reports on what he sees, and doesn't really care who's ox he gores.

We can disagree with the man, but we should respect him.

Hasn't this been said of the current generation since Socrates?

Everything frightens Americans.

Not red-blooded American Ted Nugent. If he had a cat, it would be a Bengal tiger and when it died, he'd mount its head on the wall and eat the rest of it. Raw.

BunnyGirl: I've done all those things except hitchhike.

I wouldn't blame any woman for not hitchhiking and, when I think back about it, of all the people I've seen trying to score a ride throughout my life, I've never seen a woman or girl hitchhiking by herself (I've seen some male/female couples, but not many.)

That brings back memories...

I hitchhiked a bit in my younger days. Fortunately, never had a problem with anyone that picked me up, and I probably helped that perfect score by refusing rides from a few sketchy-looking characters. When I first moved to Seattle, I lived on a hill (Queen Anne Hill) north of downtown and worked downtown. I usually took the bus but, since that line was very crowded, I'd hitchhike a couple times a week. Since I was wearing a suit, I always got picked up, usually right away. Typical comment from a driver was (of course), "You never see guys in a suit hitchhiking."

My favorite experience hitchhiking was in Ireland on my first trip to Europe. I'd bought a BritRail pass for travel in the U.K. but that didn't cover Ireland (except for Northern Ireland) and, knowing the Irish to be an outgoing lot, I figured my odds of getting rides were very good . I also assumed that, unlike in the U.S., my odds of encountering a violent thug were far lower. Getting picked up quickly did, indeed, turn out to be the case in general but I did have a couple of long waits, including about a 3-4 hour one on a rainy and blustery day in county Clare. That turned out to be a fun experience though because the ride I finally got was from two cool French couples in two white VW vans who took me to my destination, Tralee, on their way south to the Ring of Kerry.

I also picked up hitchhikers when I was younger, and never had a problem that way either.

I haven't hitchhiked.

Also this Jeopardy question/answer is vary appropriate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNho5MaFN4g

This week's episode of South Park is very appropriate for this theme. If you can watch it On Demand, I would recommend it.

Hasn't this been said of the current generation since Socrates? ~ Posted by: Janet C at October 25, 2015 11:07 AM

Yes, but in this case, the younger generation is actually scoring lower than its peers and its predecessors in needed skill sets. That means, if your computer is on the fritz, you're better off calling Grandpa than Junior.

Read the Forbes article linked by Reed.

http://fortune.com/2015/03/10/american-millennials-are-among-the-worlds-least-skilled/

Thing is, I don't blame the Millennials as much as I blame their parents' generation. They're the ones who didn't teach their kids to fish, fight, shoot, build a camp fire in the rain, cook over an open fire, read directions, or follow logical programming. They're the ones who didn't hold their progeny responsible for school grades, blaming instead the teacher or the school system. They're the one whose dinner table conversations were about the Kardashians and not history or politics or science. They're the ones who raised their children in a bubble and didn't teach them how to fail.

I've done all those things except hitchhike. ~ Posted by: BunnyGirl at October 25, 2015 2:08 AM

Likewise, all but hitch-hiked. But I have driven across, from SF, down to LA, then across the Southwest to Texas, and from there to the Mid-Atlantic. ~ Posted by: Keith Glass at October 25, 2015 6:48 AM

I've done all but hitchhike and catch a fish. I've fished, but was never able to land a fish (my almost-catches always got away).

Like Keith, I've never hitchhiked, but I have driven long distances solo, in my case, Florida to Illinois and back - in a car that was barely up to the trip and required a lot of TLC along the way.

So, canvasback - don't like Fred Reed? Try Jeffrey Snyder: A Nation of Cowards

If that's not you, OK. It's somebody else - and a lot of them.

Yeah, I've done all of that except the hitchhiking. I do want to do a cross country drive some day, and I want to do most or all of it off-Interstate.

"It is a jellyfish threatening to collapse under any serious stress. Corrupt, seriously divided racially, the middle-class sinking, ruled by fools and kleptocrats, a house of pudding cannot stand. Scared, fat, weak, fragile, narcissistic, herd-minded, prissy, censorious and, increasingly, ignorant. Deliberately ignorant."

I wish it weren't true; but, I fear he is spot on.

Deliberately ignorant.

That's the scary part.

In his book, Amusing Ourselves To Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business,, Neil Postman pondered the differences in Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World:

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.”

In an ironic twist to Huxley's vision, we've become so caught up in trivialities and manufactured resentments that we're unable to focus on, or even recognize, serious matters.

I don't know Fred Reed. I've done all that stuff, except I went north-south on the hitch hiking, not east-west. But this isn't a pissing contest. I just think he hasn't met everyone and so he made an unreliable claim.

I read a lot of Fred Reed, some years ago.

I find it ironic that this is the same supposedly tough guy who, IIRC, doesn't have the guts to break away from religion - or at least have more respect for those who do.

Oh, and I've done pretty much all those things except fire a gun.

Come again, you ask?

Well, we went fishing (twice) and most of us didn't catch anything.

And when we were preteens (I was living in Spain) our class went to the island of Minorca and we were dropped off, divided into groups of two and three, and told to hitchhike to the other end of the island. I kid you not - I suppose parents and teachers alike wanted to save money on transportation.

Granted, that WAS more than 30 years ago...

It's not everyone Canvasback. But it is a large and increasing portion of the population. And in the end the solution is standard and simple. You shun.

Can't do the work on time and without crying, fired. Get out. We don't need you.

Tedious and whiny, guess what. Get out of my house. We aren't friends and stay away from me and my family.

And for the love of god don't support welfare for the incompetent.

Once they have no friends except other whiners and they can't get a job some of them will figure it out. But being nice is the worst thing to do. Have some standards and enforce them.

63 now. When 16 hitched all the way across the country, then panhandled enough to fly home. Used to memorize the USGS maps in the library for my cross-country (no trail) hikes because I couldn't buy them. Camped out no tent (ie, in the open with just a sleeping bag) when it was cold enough that my canteen froze solid during the night. Painted houses during college. Am a good shot with gun or bow. And I don't consider any of this unusual or extreme, just what normal guys should be able to do.
Women really should reconsider taming their men or children as much as they have been--the world needs and families need real men. Do you even lift?

And, may I add, if I had a pet and it died, I would NOT be wasting money on therapy. Pets are SUPPOSED to die before you do, as a rule, and as was pointed out in a recent thread, most pets will not die painlessly in their sleep, so you have to do it for them. If you can't handle that, don't get a pet.

Once they have no friends except other whiners and they can't get a job some of them will figure it out. ~ Posted by: Ben at October 26, 2015 10:16 AM

No they won't. The whiner friends will reinforce their resentments. They'll see other people getting by or even getting wealthier (without seeing the work being put in) or simply happy and resent them even more. Then, they'll be convinced it's the rich guys'fault (mistaking middle class for rich) and start agitating for social justice. They'll join the Occupy movement and destroy some neighborhood businesses. They'll vote for the candidate who promises to take Donald Trump's money and give it to them. When the candidate fails to do that and the economy collapses under the weight of high taxes and heavy regulation, they'll become convinced it's the fault of corporations and rich dudes and stew deeper in their resentment.

Once they have no friends except other whiners and they can't get a job some of them will figure it out. ~ Posted by: Ben at October 26, 2015 10:16 AM

No they won't. The whiner friends will reinforce their resentments. They'll see other people getting by or even getting wealthier (without seeing the work being put in) or simply happy and resent them even more. Then, they'll be convinced it's the rich guys'fault (mistaking middle class for rich) and start agitating for social justice. They'll join the Occupy movement and destroy some neighborhood businesses. They'll vote for the candidate who promises to take Donald Trump's money and give it to them. When the candidate fails to do that and the economy collapses under the weight of high taxes and heavy regulation, they'll become convinced it's the fault of corporations and rich dudes and stew deeper in their resentment.

That's why I said some of them. I agree the majority are a total loss and will never be worth anything. But if you cut off their money supply from enabling fools they don't have the ability to go get any more. At that point they can go starve by the side of the road for all I care. But at least they won't hurt anyone else with their idiocy.

Honestly this is one reason I'm for legalizing pot. These worthless skin bags will toke up to the max and forget how to vote or even how to leave their apartments. It even helps sterilize them so they don't reproduce and pass on their worthless values.

If it were THAT dangerous to fertility, I think we'd have heard a lot more about that by now, given how much publicity there's been about infertility in, say, aging women. Besides, plenty of rock stars do all kinds of drugs and still manage to have plenty of kids. I DO remember some TV public service message about how tobacco can make men impotent, but nothing on TV about pot and infertility, per se.

Not to mention that by now, some pro-pot spin doctor would have found a way to say "this could become the new contraceptive Pill, with legalization and funding!" Look at all the other potential uses that have been advertised for hemp and pot, after all. Supercapacitors, for one.