A post at Global Astrology Blog last Saturday, "Banks, Baby Boomers & Generational War" brought to mind a couple of my own on a similar topic, but from a very different standpoint. (See here and here.) The Global Astrology piece, and pieces linked within it, are interesting but disturbing.
Generations are but another way of dividing the population of the USA - as if it's not divided enough already! We have the sharp division of left/right political opinion; racial and ethnic divisions; pro-life/pro-choice; divisions of religious beliefs......do we really need another dividing line? Actually, getting right down to it, generations provide several different dividing lines, none of them pretty and none of them useful except perhaps for the purposes of astrological research.
If the young American mindset is bent on the kind of generational gang warfare reflected in some blogs and articles around the internet, what hope can there ever be for a peaceful future? There are serious problems to be faced now, problems which affect not only the USA, but the whole planet. Infighting is not going to help solve any of them.
What's done is done. Arguing about whether it was right, wrong or a mixture of both, and by whom it was done, isn't going to change anything. Things are as they are. If future generations are to have a planet to inhabit, cooperation ought to be the keyword now, not recrimination.
"The Boomers" are the target of anger from age groups labelled Generations X and Y. I belong to none of these three generations. I'm a War Baby. I have first house Pluto at 0 degree Leo. At present transiting Pluto forms a scratchy qunincunx aspect to its natal position in my chart. This is no doubt reflected in my own "scratchiness" on this topic. War Babies have a life memory of World War, and many of us born in Britain(like myself), or in mainland Europe and Asia have uncomfortable childhood memories which vividly colour our judgement.
Generations X and Y are said to pride themselves on their wish for peace in the world. How come, then, that they are more than willing to wage war, even if it's simply a war of words, on some of the people closest to them?
Generations are but another way of dividing the population of the USA - as if it's not divided enough already! We have the sharp division of left/right political opinion; racial and ethnic divisions; pro-life/pro-choice; divisions of religious beliefs......do we really need another dividing line? Actually, getting right down to it, generations provide several different dividing lines, none of them pretty and none of them useful except perhaps for the purposes of astrological research.
If the young American mindset is bent on the kind of generational gang warfare reflected in some blogs and articles around the internet, what hope can there ever be for a peaceful future? There are serious problems to be faced now, problems which affect not only the USA, but the whole planet. Infighting is not going to help solve any of them.
What's done is done. Arguing about whether it was right, wrong or a mixture of both, and by whom it was done, isn't going to change anything. Things are as they are. If future generations are to have a planet to inhabit, cooperation ought to be the keyword now, not recrimination."The Boomers" are the target of anger from age groups labelled Generations X and Y. I belong to none of these three generations. I'm a War Baby. I have first house Pluto at 0 degree Leo. At present transiting Pluto forms a scratchy qunincunx aspect to its natal position in my chart. This is no doubt reflected in my own "scratchiness" on this topic. War Babies have a life memory of World War, and many of us born in Britain(like myself), or in mainland Europe and Asia have uncomfortable childhood memories which vividly colour our judgement.
Generations X and Y are said to pride themselves on their wish for peace in the world. How come, then, that they are more than willing to wage war, even if it's simply a war of words, on some of the people closest to them?
Generation Gap: A chasm, amorphously situated in time and space, that separates those who have grown up absurd from those who will, with luck, grow up absurd. ~Bernard Rosenberg, Dictionary for the Disenchanted, 1972
14 comments:
Love the Rosenberg quote!
Personally I have always felt carefully cultivating a sense of the ridiculous is healthy . . . especially if applied liberally to one's own precious opinions!
I too love the quote. I see so mcuh divisiveness today, particularly in the health care issue in the states which is tragic. Women have been so betrayed, we are so expendable. Along with the gays and the DADT philosophy.
Why oh why are so many marginalized in our never wealthier society?
XO
WWW
Neith ~~~ True! I wasn't familair with the book that quote comes from, so I've just ordered a used copy. :-)
WWW ~~~ Yep! Trouble is that genuine grievances, of which there are many, get blown up and built into dividing walls between sections of society, then we lose sight of "the bigger picture". I suppose we are all guilty of it in different ways.
My nicest friends are all older than me, some significantly so. I also have young friends and friends right around my age. I don't do the divisive thing-- it limits our growth.
The interesting - and funny, if one will - thing is that for the past 50 years or so the people have been divided to generations mainly by marketing people. The division has been made based on what we consume, not the common experiences. For instance, I'd be defined a member of Generation X. However, being born in 1976 I definitely have shared more experiences (starting from the TV shows we watched as kids) with Generation Y people born a couple of years after me than with the people born in the mid 60's who should be "my generation".
Deb ~~~ Exactly! I'm sure there are many who think as you do.
I'm glad. :-)
Candela ~~~ Yes, marketing people planted and grew this phenomenon, for their own ends. In years gone by, before marketing became the big business it now is, I doubt the idea of generational division ever entered anyone's head - at least not in the way it is considered now.
"Generations X and Y are said to pride themselves on their wish for peace in the world." - presumably this is why they spend all their time playing violent computer games?
RJ ~~ Hmmm - another anomaly! Sadly equivalent age-groups a few decades before them had to "play" with the real thing. Let's hope they will never have to do the same.
so strange how we get upset with divisions and then perpetuate them. I am from South Africa and in the early 90's went to London. People treated me really badly there - as if I were to blame for apartheid - interestingly, my parents weren't born into apartheid and neither were my children, only me, so one generation born into a system not of my choosing and then being ostracised because of this. A few years ago when America went into Iraq, I was walking in the road and heard Americans and was disgusted, wanting to walk on the other side of the road. I really had to catch myself and think very clearly of my own experiences and what I had learnt from them.
'"Generations X and Y are said to pride themselves on their wish for peace in the world." - presumably this is why they spend all their time playing violent computer games? '
We actually don't. Many of us, including me, are stuck to Tetris, Solitaire and Bubble Shooting. But even more complicated games are popular among the Gen X and Y mainly based skills they require than the graphic content. For instance, the "violent" games including shooting and fighting usually require a good eye-arm cordination, not unlike sports games or "real-life" darts and pool/snooker. In fact, people (mostly men) who enjoy these games are actually more likely to play pool than be violent. But many popular games based mainly on social and strategic aspects
Natasha ~~ Hi, and thank you for your input of personal experience.
Apartheid is the ultimate division, I guess, apart from life/death. I have no personal experience of anything similar, except for the Irish "troubles" back in the 1970s when Roman Catholic and Protestant factions divided themselves and fought - and at great cost.
I agree that it's very difficult to avoid taking sides and becoming part of the problem oneself. We are all guilty of it in different ways (I'm repeating myself there).
Being aware of it helps, though.
:-)
Candela ~~~ I suppose that we non-computer game-playing individuals get the wrong, or not completely correct, ideas at times, based mainly on the TV commercials and adverts elsewhere which show violent war game types of computer game software. Back to the guilty marketing monster!
I'm glad there are plenty of other, non-violent kinds!
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