"Me,me,me" Generation

[Papenbrook]

Originally Posted by BubblyShell22

But the problem is, PK does this and acts like he/she is a victim every time. He/she has even gone so far as to do this in the Nickelodeon TMNT section and talked about fat shaming. So, PK is part of the problem.

I don't want to feel like the victim. I just analyzed the show from my perspective.

Yes, I know I am part of the problem, but so is everyone else. We aren't perfect, but we can try to be better.

[Refractive Reflections]

I would say our generations (Generation X and generations after) are more self-absorbed due to two particular factors:

1) The increasing speed of technology. With so much information at our fingertips, it unknowingly aids in immediate gratification for things that would normally take a longer time. Sending emails (rather than using regular mail), scanning documents (rather than mailing them in a package), purchasing products online (rather than going to the store or restaurant), and gathering information from the other side of the globe (due to the internet). This accustomed expectation in parts of our society can inappropriately be placed on people or in fulfilling goals/tasks that normally take a much longer time to develop.

2) Our generations (thankfully) haven't experienced the brutality and chaos of generations past, which traditionally confronts humanity with their own mortality in a ruthless manner. Our grandparents (the "Greatest Generation") experienced the Great Depression & the Dust Bowl (with up to 25% unemployment in the U.S.) and World War II (60-85 million killed), and our parents ("Baby Boomers") experienced the tumultuous 60s & 70s (with life-altering sacrificial actions against racism, sexism, military drafting) and the Cold War (with the Korean War [1.2 million] and Vietnam War [1.5-3.6 million]). (The numbers are the full death tolls for all belligerent sides, plus civilians.) If one compares the experience of the more recent generations, our more sheltered experiences pale in comparison to our parents and grandparents, who encountered the brutality of life in a more sudden and aggressive way than we have experienced.


So since our generations (from a societal perspective, not individual perspective) are not used to patience (because of faster technology that surrounds us), and relatively haven't experienced the immense hardship that our parents or grandparents endured (which made them to mature quicker), are a couple reasons as to why older generations feel that we are more self-absorbed. ...At least what I'm thinking...

...But if we are talking about why human nature is selfish, well that's always been there.

[pennydreadful]

We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact.

[CyberCubed]

Our generation experienced 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. To say our generation doesn't know the brutality of war like past gens isn't exactly true. Sure, World War II has never happened again and we're not under the fear of nuclear strikes, but we've experienced a terrorist attack on our homeland.

[Refractive Reflections]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Our generation experienced 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. To say our generation doesn't know the brutality of war like past gens isn't exactly true. Sure, World War II has never happened again and we're not under the fear of nuclear strikes, but we've experienced a terrorist attack on our homeland.

9/11 was a shock of course. But our generation sure hasn't experienced the mass causalities of war like our parents and grandparents did, especially since they (and not us) experienced military drafts.


U.S. military causalities (from Wikipedia):

War on Terror (2001-Present): 6,717, Deaths/day: 1.57

Korean War (1950-1953): 54,246, Deaths/day: 45
Vietnam War (1961-1975): 58,209, Deaths/day: 11

World War II (1941-1945): 405,399, Deaths/day: 297

[Mayhem]

Originally Posted by pennydreadful

We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact.

That's a nice summation. People have been tricked and deluded by family and friends into thinking they are special, they are unique, the world owes them a living and respect, and you don't have to earn it. And then shows such as America's Got Talent (and our equivalent shows here), with its acerbic put-downs, reveals the horrible truth to them, they are no better (and often worse) than everyone else, and they can't take it.

[plastroncafe]

The biggest sin of generation Naught thus far that they believe they're any different that the ones that came before them. We've seen technological advancement at a breakneck pace before. We've seen social upheaval before. We've seen bigotry before.

Are the challenges different? Yes, of course. But the tropes are the same, and they only way to break the cycle is to get out of the status quo.

We have the greatest communication tool our species has created to date, and we use it to make people feel bad about themselves. And then pretend that they are the problem when they call us out for being douchebags.

That's the legacy of the internet egotism, not selfies. That everyone with a keyboard foolishly believes that what they have to say is worth listening to.

[ProactiveMan]

We were raised by parasitic marketing, simplistic moralizing, half-baked social theories, and an experimental education system. We inherited a civilization that our parents' generation pulled apart, without knowing how to put it back together again. Now there are more of us than ever before, fighting over limited resources and paying into a system that will fall apart unless the population continues to grow exponentially. Maybe we're self obsessed, or maybe we're just a bunch of monkeys fighting over the last banana on the tree.

And to make matters worse, you have millions of assholes like me, writing depressing things on the internet.

[plastroncafe]

But the thing is...none of what you've said is new.
This is the same thing our parents said about their parents, who said the same thing about the parents before them.

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by plastroncafe

That's the legacy of the internet egotism, not selfies. That everyone with a keyboard foolishly believes that what they have to say is worth listening to.

This is the worst thing.

[ProactiveMan]

Originally Posted by plastroncafe

But the thing is...none of what you've said is new.
This is the same thing our parents said about their parents, who said the same thing about the parents before them.

You are probably right.

I can't wait to see what munted horrors we hand off to the next generation. They got it coming though, little SOBs.

[BubblyShell22]

Originally Posted by Purple Kraken

I don't want to feel like the victim. I just analyzed the show from my perspective.

Yes, I know I am part of the problem, but so is everyone else. We aren't perfect, but we can try to be better.

Well, at least you're brave enough to admit you're part of the problem. I don't believe that you analyzed the show from your perspective. You pretty much just acted like it was fat shaming because of the models when that wasn't the case. Seemed like you were grasping at straws to me. But you always do that in the Nick section because you hate the show so much. You nitpick on every little thing and that's what's the problem.

[lindz247]

There's always been selfish people and there always will be and even if you can't stand their little bratty selfs just ignoring them is the easiest thing to do. And look at yourself too. A few years ago I realized I was a little selfish myself and that it had to change. It gives you a whole nother outlook!

[SophieDem]

You know what? I hate my generation, too.

[BubblyShell22]

Yeah, but it's not just our generation. My dad comes from a different generation and he's a selfish a**hole, too. So it's all over.

[CyberCubed]

People who grew up in the wild west of the 1860's probably hated the kids born in 1900 as well. And so on and so forth.

[ProactiveMan]

Originally Posted by Busadara

You know what? I hate my generation, too.

Don't - you're no worse than any other group of people born between two arbitrary dates. The more I think about it, the more annoyed I get at the concept of generations. It's not a tangible reality; just another side effect of our need to mentally simplify the world, to fool ourselves into thinking we understand it.

We all know what it feels like to be crapped on for something we can't do anything about, e.g. when we were born. I'm going to try not to do it any more.

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by lindz247

And look at yourself too. A few years ago I realized I was a little selfish myself and that it had to change. It gives you a whole nother outlook!

If you're not constantly disgusted by your former self you're not growing as a person.

[senpai]

Originally Posted by Peanut

If you're not constantly disgusted by your former self you're not growing as a person.

Humility is important. But so is learning to embrace and forgive yourself. I know, Peanut, you're probably using the term loosely here though I don't think its healthy to look back and be disgusted with who you once were lol. Acknowledge, learn, forgive, and love~

[Peanut]

Exaggerating for effect.