Friday, March 30, 2007

Where Did We Go Wrong?

(Note: I initially wrote the linked article and mistakenly referred to Generation X instead of Y. Not surprisingly, I offended an entire generation of people because of the vague time frames each generation covers. I apologize and thank the many readers that quickly corrected me.)


Raising a generation of slackers may just be the legacy left behind by a retiring Baby Boomer population. No one really wants to say it out loud, but by giving them everthing they wanted except direction and parenting, Generation Y got a bad deal from their parents. I explore this edgy little phenomenon here.





Most parents aren't going to like what I've written, but if they look at them selves and their children honestly, society has a chance of recovering.

One thing is certain, denying there's a problem won't help anything.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read with interest your article titled "Is Generation X ready to take over from Baby Boomers" in which you state that by parenting as friends instead of as slackers that you have brought up a litigious generation. Secondly, you mention on your website that you gave birth to a generation of slackers. Then I find that you were actually talking about Y?

I find it amusing, because everything you mention to me, as a Gen Xer and no doubt to a Y, seems to describe the Baby Boomer Generation. Brought up after the world wars and after the depression, the baby boomers were brought up thinking they were the most special people on the planet. As a consequence of that, Gen X & Y has to see you insult them, by calling them litigious, and slackers? Sure you may have introduced women's lib, and stopped racial segregation, but you also:
Went to war with Iraq - for whatever reason, you'll be gone and we'll be cleaning it up
Introduced AIDs
In UK commonwealth - introduced compulsory student fees when you got them free
In UK commonwealth - introduced compulsory superannuation for the GenXers and Ys, yet we are paying for BB superannuation despite BB fees university fees
Quite happily polluted the earth - leaving it for us to fix
Will live longer - and we have to pay for it
Made Barbara Streisand famous
Surely you are not so arrogant as to honestly believe that your generation is faultless? Perhaps, with some research that is based on something, you may realise that gen X believes in individual responsibility, and in a work ethic. Your generation has made the world what it is today, when you die, we have to clean up your mess.
By the way - not every nation on the planet is litigious. Genberation X outside of North America wouldn't dream of suing - that's seen as being part of the American culture.
By the way - your generation has introduced the terms of ADD and ADHD. We simply have top live with it. Thanks.

Thanks guys.

Ron DeYoung said...

Annoyed...
Thanks for the comments. First of all, I'm a Cusper or someone on the fringe between the Boomers and the Xers. These are my observations of life in American culture, not UK Commonwealth, which I know very little about.

This article also places blame on the boomer generation, not just the x and y's. As with all things there are exceptions and you must be one of them who is contrary to my observations. This was not intended as a personal attack, but rather to bring the situation out into the open for discussion.