[manasecret]

I guess I should have quoted KillerGremlin? My post came after his, it was response to his, not yours. I wasn't calling you glib, I didn't say you wanted to start a World War, etc. Please reread and repost, as you obviously replied with the wrong idea in your head.

I'll respond anyway to some of it because of how much crap you spew, which of course must be all completely correct because you teach a class on the subject. While I respect that you teach and kudos to you, excuse me for doubting your complete expertise on the subject simply because you teach a class on it.

Originally Posted by Professor S

There is so much here, I would have to quote every single sentence to point out every flaw. Instead I'll list the main ones:

1) You are completely different from previous generations, just as my generation is completely different in most aspects from Baby Boomers and they are completely different from Veterans, and we are from different generations (I'm an GenX, you are a Echo Boomer or Millenial).

Our generation being "completely different" from previous generations, "completely" being the key word here, is false and you know it. I figured someone used to arguing wouldn't use absolute terms like that.

Yes, of course the generations have differences. But going back to what KG was bringing up (and what I was responding to), do you really think that our generation today cares any less and does any less about the world's problems than the generations before? If so, prove it, because until you prove otherwise it sounds like just more of the nostalgic crap that every human on this earth seems prone to.

KG mentioned American Idol specifically -- haven't there been celebrities and the adoration of celebrities for the whole past century? He mentions the broke-as-fuck two-party system like it hasn't been that way for two centuries prior, with some major breakups in the system only two or three times. You pick apart my post, but not KG's post. KG's post, which is an opinion piece that boils down to the same ol' trite, "This generation is so much worse than previous generations, back in the day everything was great!" argument that I hear all the time, but never has any facts to back it up with. That argument, or lack of one, irks me.

To act as if our generation doesn't care or do anything about the world problems is asinine and insulting. Here's a list of things off the top of my head that our generation has participated in:

1. Peace Corps
2. Live Aid - EDIT: I must be thinking of a different concert charity, I could have sworn Live Aid or something similar to it still goes on annually. I must be thinking of Live 8 and Live Earth.
3. UNICEF
4. Countless volunteer programs at universities and high schools across the U.S.
5. Child's Play
6. Countless facebook groups and events raising money for countless charities

And these are ones I just thought of. And in response to the inevitable argument about facebook groups (or anything similar) being useless, raising awareness and raising money are noble goals. Is holding a rock concert any different?

I teach a class on generational Identities that is based on seven published studies, so I doubt you know more on this subject than I... unless you, you know, GOOGLE it, then you would of course be an expert, just like your generation apparently has mastered Africa's ills by reading a Wikipedia entry.

2) Do your generation really know that much about starving children in Africa? If you do, why doesn't anyone care enough to do anything about it? Has knowing about starving children in Africa stopped ANYTHING? No, while we might know MORE about tharving childen in Africa, in the end our knowledge changes NOTHING. Actions change the world, not knowledge, and you can only act on knowledge when history and experience put that knowledge into context.

By the way, I find your arrogance about how much your generation KNOWS to be silly. If your generation knows so much, why was LIVE AID created by Baby Boomers ands the Children's Miracle Network created by Veterans? We've known quite a bit about Africa and world events for a long time now, without the aid of the misinformation and bias bible that is the internet.

I didn't mean that our generation has mastered Africa's ills any better than any previous generation. What I meant was that our generation as a whole knows more about the problems of Africa and the rest of the world than previous generations at a similar age simply by the mass of information out there. (To clarify just a little more, I mean that more individuals know more about the world's problems than the number that did in previous generations.)

How was information spread to the masses before the 1990s? Through newspapers, TV, libraries, and other media. How is information spread to the masses now? Through all of those sources, PLUS the biggest and most complete and most up-to-date library the world has ever known and that only gets stronger every day, the internet. Now, which one trumps the other in how much information is available?

Heh, Internet bashing, that's a new one for me, especially odd since of course you use the internet for the same purposes as the rest of us. How many of your arguments have you waged with facts gleaned solely from the internet?

3) And I never said I wanted to start a World War, and in history, it has been INACTION that has made World Wars inevitable. I could run through every single parallel bewteen this situation and those in the past that have lead to horror, but you've made it quite obvious making decisions based on evidence and history mean nothing to you, so I won't bother.

This one makes me laugh. Please prove that I have made "it quite obvious making decisions based on evidence and history mean nothing to" me, and make sure to include references to evidence and the history of my posts. Or maybe that was just a shot because you thought I was responding to your post?

In the end my main reason why I think the younger generations don't care about world events, but they know about the, and that makes it worse. Knowledge is not a virtue, and in fact, if you are aware of the evils of the world, but still do nothing or advocate inaction.... well, someone said it better than I:

In the end, my main point was that denouncing our entire generation as a bunch of people that don't care about the world is hogwash, and if you're going to say that then at least attempt to offer some proof for your opinion. (Another hint -- a thread from a board about video games doesn't count.) To me it sounds like the exact same thing that every previous generation says about the generation that comes after them. Everyone always thinks their generation was the best one ever, and kids these days never do anything right, not like in my day! And yet the world keeps on turning as different generations come along, and the world is a far better place today then it was 100, 80, 50, 20, whatever years ago.