The most dangerous time since the Civil War

[Kinser79]

(01-11-2018, 01:05 PM)pbrower2a Wrote:

(01-11-2018, 04:12 AM)Kinser79 Wrote:

(01-10-2018, 04:11 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: 1. Generation X did go to school.

Yes, as has every generation since the GIs.  Irrelevant to his point.

But they did go to school, I am not saying that Generation X is as qualitatively well-educated as Boomers or Millennial adults, even though they have the third-highest likelihood of any generation to get post-secondary learning of all prior generations.  Much more than the Lost, decidedly more than the GI's and Silent. They were much less likely (because they had to pay more for education than did GI, Silent, or Boom young adults for their education and were had more pressure to pay off student loans) to get liberal education which has subtle effects upon many adult tasks.  Not learning what was normal for educated adults of other generations, they have been more amenable to the popular culture... and American popular culture is now often reactionary and anti-intellectual. 

I would like to know what popular culture you're consuming if you think it to be reactionary. I'll give you anti-intellectual as the Left also wants people to not think either. After all, if one actually thought about reality they would understand that BLM* is a terrorist organization, and that racism if it exists at all these days is clearly anti-white.

*Note: For those particularly dense Boomers here that BLM stands for the group that styles itself as "Black Lives Matter" which is really good at starting riots wherein black people kill each other in numbers far higher in one incident, than have been killed by police officers of other races over the course of decades. Because statistics be all rayciss and sheeit.

Quote:If you wonder how a solid liberal-arts education makes one more desirable on the job... one communicates better (which makes one a better salesman or manager) 

I take it then that you've never hired anyone in your life. I hire people every week. I see a liberal arts degree and see someone who wasted their money and time at a university.

Quote:, one recognizes the legitimate needs of subordinates, one has some recognition of the relevance of history, one recognizes one's temporary inadequacies of knowledge when one confronts them, and one is less likely to succumb to primitive desires (material gain and excess, mass low culture, booze and dope, cheap thrills, bureaucratic power, and sexual indulgence).

A liberal arts degree indicates none of that. A liberal arts degree indicates that you went to a college somewhere, and spent a bunch of money to get a degree that does not really qualify you for anything. I'm not saying that having some people so educated is undesirable, but the fact remains that for most things in the economy being educated beyond basic high school reading is unnecessary. If anything the problem with Millenials is that they are over educated and are now carrying massive loads of debt.

As for "succumbing to primitive desires" you're simply wrong. I've met people who had no connection to those desires who hadn't finished the eighth grade, and persons who had PHDs who actively pursued all of those. Having a piece of paper from this or that educational institution tells me nothing about a person's moral fiber. At one point in time having a degree could tell me something about a person's intellect--since IQ tests were banned as a method of applicant screening. I am allowed to use personality tests to screen applicants but I find that most that are used by employers are easily manipulated by someone with an average intelligence to come off on the tests as being like someone they are not. This is a unintended consequence of a decision by the courts in the 1970s.

Quote:  Hollow people can decide that if they get an adequate bonus or get to keep a plum job that they will dump toxic waste into a stream that feeds the water supply of a city downstream.

Well read people would do the same in a situation wherein they have a plum job. Some may even convince themselves that doing so is actually improving the health of others. After all fluoridation of public drinking water supplies, in the localities that still do that bullshit, typically use Hydrofluoric Acid instead of fluoridated calcium. Hydrofluoric Acid is generally understood to be a toxic substance.

The number and types of degrees a person has, nor their intellect tells us anything about their moral fiber. In fact the higher the intelligence, the more likely one is able to fool themselves that doing something that is objectively wrong, is subjectively right. Why? Because persons with higher intelligence have a tendency to be able to make rational sounding arguments for their point of view.

Quote:I would probably do most things right as a parent.

I would say that that is a groundless assertion. By and large there are two strategies that neuro-typical adults apply when rasing their own children. 1. They copy the behavior that their parents used with them with situational modifications, 2. They do the inverse of the behavior that their parents used on them with situational modifications. In neither case is that doing "most things right as a parent".

Children unfortunately do not come with a user manual, are incredibly easy to mess up, and eventually will have the physical strength to attack you. Kind of like a super smart American Staffordshire Terrier puppy that will live on average 70 years. Since I know you have a fear of dogs I picked that example to drive my point home.

Quote:But if hippie types are ultimately inadequate in performing adult functions, Boomer economic elites have been absolutely dreadful. They created a world in which they defined human worth as being most like them -- as in never having endured real hardships in life. Thus the unusually low and rigid glass ceilings... and the treadmill of qualifications for employment in white-collar occupations. Thus the extreme economic hierarchy in American life. Generation X has done far better than Boomers by choosing blue-collar work and starting businesses.

I'm not going to debate with you over your grievances (if there are any real grievances) with your parents. I've done so elsewhere and my positions have not changed as no new information has been presented.

The hippie types if they are employed at all typically end up working for the state. Teaching is a popular choice for them, and they are by and large dreadful at it. I will of course admit that I'm biased having had former hippie teachers myself and being acquainted with the various persons with whom my husband works. (I inevitably get roped into periodic social functions with these people as he has to attend them as well for some reason. I believe it is to save face or something along those lines--he's as miserable around these people as I am and would rather spend an evening grading papers [a task he hates--and one of the reasons he never assigns homework grading based on tests and quizes instead] or smashing his fingers in a car door than be around them longer than absolutely necessary.)

The treadmill of qualifications is an unfortunate consequence of a court ruling that prohibited IQ testing in hiring. Over the course of time the elites of all generations (not just Boomers but they implemented it to the fullest extent lacking by and large experience from before that ruling) it was determined--wrongly--that collections of degrees from educational institutions was the best method by which to determine if someone had the required intelligence to perform a task. It is an understatement to say that this system is imperfect.

I would say that Xers by and large in that they pursued other avenues of success such as the trades, skilled labor (like myself) or entrepreneurship have been successful to escape the rat maze that was constructed for them. Millennials have been less successful in this, but they also largely had Boomer parents who were and still are largely ignorant of the world preferring their own opinions derived from their voyage to the interior. Zeds with Xer parents seem to be more inclined toward the trades, skilled labor and entrepreneurship finding that university degrees and that rat race require either spending most of their life in debt serfdom or having rich parents.

Quote:(I will fault the Silent for failing to start businesses other than professional practices which generate money but employ few people). Small business used to be commonplace in such areas as banking, retail, and manufacturing. Not only did the Silent fail to start businesses (the biggest job-creator among the Silent was Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's, a fast-food chain) -- they preferred becoming veterinarians to keeping the small-town store intact when Wal*Mart came to town.

I would say that the Silents faced a social situation that is unlike what is faced today. During the last 4T if you had a job at the local factory you could support the family, during the 1T one could support a family on just about any job. They didn't feel the need to start their own businesses when they could be comfortable enough working for others.

That said, I do like Wendy's. I'm a big fan of their salads.

Quote:True. Donald Trump is a paragon of emotional immaturity, and this country is paying a high price for that.

A roaring stock market, rising bitcoin and gold prices, and full employment are acceptable prices to pay for the president having a bad haircut and wearing cheap bronzer. As to his emotional immaturity--I'm convinced that is fake news. No one ever mentioned it before he decided to run for president and I've not noticed him being substantially different now than he was say ten years ago. (Which is hardly surprising for a man in his 70s.)

Indeed the latest job figures have the unemployment rate ticking up but a lot of that is people leaving current jobs for better jobs. I say further restrictions on immigration and we can get everyone off welfare and have unemployment at rates that haven't been seen since the Great Prosperity.

Quote: When we get through with this mess we will probably react by pushing more civic attitudes in public life and making people less naive about language, character, logical consistency, and economics. That will be so even if America goes in a conservative direction.

When we are "through with this mess", Boomer neo-liberalism and Neo-conservatism will both be dead. PC culture will be dead. There will be a more civic attitude but it will be driven by nationalism and people will be less ignorant about the fact that nations live and die on the basis of Borders, Language, and Culture. The right will be ascendant until the next 2T at least. I'm hoping for a nice long 1T to enjoy my old age in.

Quote:The working class and the petty-bourgeoisie still form the majority in any generation, including Boomers. To X and Millennial generations I would have to give the warning that 'voyages to the Interior' are costly and with little payoff.

As to point one, that is not an argument. As to point two, X already understands that intimately. In general unless one is part of an adaptive generation people don't go on such voyages in middle age. Hence why I'm warning my son, my niece and nephew about those things now. While there is debate as to if my son is a Zed my niece and nephew certainly are.

Idealist generations have the luxury of having a 2T in their youth and thus can have such a voyage while the stakes of having one are relatively low. That being said, I have no hope of having an influence on the generation that comes after Zed.

Quote: One might focus on something more obviously productive, like animal husbandry or becoming a better waiter -- unglamorous, but necessary roles in any economic order that must produce food.

There is a movement of some Millies and Xers to a lesser extent away from the cities and to rural environments. Some of it is crunchy environmental clap-trap, some of it is just being tired of the rat race.

http://www.returnofkings.com/139722/youn...o-the-land

Quote:Serving what someone considers 'the best hamburger' or 'great meat loaf' is a positive exchange at a very low level.

Hence why my Dunkin makes more money than any of the others in the local franchise. I push serving the freshest sandwiches, the most perfectly brewed coffee, and the presentation of the donuts must be exquisite (one of the reason why most of my overnight finishers are Aspies).  

Quote:But most of us are consigned to low levels in an economic order as crassly materialist as ours. Elites get indulgence, and non-elites get to compete for what the elites do not grab for themselves.

Only if one insists on working within the system as it exists. Going around it, one even at a low level in the economic order can find a modicum of happiness. I certainly find enjoyment in my economic role, so does my son. We are both blue collar though. My husband does not but I don't think he'd be happier doing anything else. He'd miss the kids--his misery is related to incompetent colleagues and bureaucracy but such is the nature of being employed by the state.

Quote:Many people lack the talent for suffering with a smile. Any society that demands such is sick and in need of radical reforms, if not overthrow. 

Or they could get a job at a warehouse where smiling whilst "suffering" is not required. I think that Boomers in particular suffer from a delusion that people are supposed to have fun at their place of work. Such, if it occurs at all, is a bonus not a requirement. Hence why work is called "work" and not called "happy fun-time". But I think letting Red Foreman handle this is appropate.

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

Quote:...Hair dye? I used to have the sort of hair color that many women would kill for

Key phrase there, used to. As I'm graying now if I didn't shave that hair off, I'd probably dye it. As it stands shaving makes more sense since I have more than a little male pattern baldness, and the health department prefers males in the food service industry clean shaven.

Quote:Bronzing? I try to avoid sunburn.

Well at least I know for a fact now that you are heterosexual. I you had claimed otherwise I'd have to pull your fag card for not knowing that bronzer is a cosmetic used to make lighter skinned people appear more tanned and has nothing to do with radiation burns caused by excessive UV light (AKA sunburn).

Being black it is hard for me to get sunburned, but I have before. It is not an experience I wish to repeat.

Quote:  I admit to my age.

Good for you. I do too--mostly because I don't bother to lie about it..

Quote:The money that Boomer elites have made can be in rentier activities as Donald Trump does (he is basically a rent-collector whop exploits scarcity that he tries to keep intact) or as the executive elite, which functions much like the Soviet nomenklatura by taking what it can and ensuring that there be no competition for its privileged role in corporate, and now even government and non-profit bureaucracies. Such people do not so much create wealth as grab it. Those Boomers who have done genuine innovation or creative activity are gems.

This merely demonstrates that you don't understand what Donald Trump did in the private sector. As a real estate developer he built and owned many buildings. Did he have renters? Sure. Renting property for others to use is a net positive for society and the economy. Also if people who rented from Trump didn't like his rents, they could go and rent from somewhere else. There is no monopoly on rental property in the US.

The boomers ho have caused genuine innovation or creative activity are about as rare as gems I agree...they are common place if you know where to look.

I'm not going to bother with the rest of your post because it is the same canned nonsense you've been spouting for years and I've already debunked that elsewhere. A lot of it when I was still a Marxist which indicates you need new material.