Next Prophets/Nomads/Heroes?

[nguyenivy]

Is it too soon to imagine the coming Turnings that will shape the generations to come and vice-versa? We already know climate change will be an ongoing theme of the rest of the century, probably beyond. So in a world where trying to reverse the damage that has been done to our planet, I imagine each generation has their own roles and angles of input they are good at taking part in.

[beechnut79]

Let's see where to begin: The late Silent/early Boomer crown let its subconscious take them on a ride (Think the song "Magic Carpet Ride" by the rock band Steppenwolf). Twists and turns, new trains of thought, visiting new places, and welcoming the unusual were all par for the course from the late 60s until events largely out of control more or less forced them to sober up. There were the economics shocks of the 70s, Watergate, stagflation, and later on the AIDS scare.

This is a separate paragraph because what I am saying here still largely applies to the current time. Their moods can be as wild as the ride described above, which later would lead to outburst from pressure groups such as the Moral Majority, even before AIDS became a thing. The MM set the tone for so much of what is happening today: crackdowns on sexual adventures of all types, also muzzled by longer working hours for many, which is the total opposite of what many pundits expected with the advent of modern technology. The propose overturning of Roe v. Wade has got to be the latest jewel in their crown.

[JasonBlack]

[pbrower2a]

Some Boomers really deserve to be kicked out the door once and for all. The "Believe-it-or-Burn: fundamentalist Christians are obvious enough. The private equity people -- the sorts who borrow against the assets of a company, drain those, and leave a debt-laden husk behind -- are hard to associate with any virtue of economics. Private equity exploits weaknesses in the charters of old corporations to grab the assets and to operate the company "leaner" before selling off a wreck. The tradition was that a large corporation got richer through its retained earnings and used cash dividends to distribute surplus cash to shareholders.

This said, the aria "The Lord High Executioner" from Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado has proved adaptable to changing attitudes. Computer spammers and virus-spreaders (whether computer or COVID-19{ surely won't be missed. Especially... those who call you claiming to be from Microsoft that you need to send them money on a pre-paid card to get your computer working again.

Private equity as corporate raiders constitutes a perverse form of capitalism, one which destroys the old virtues of capitalism in favor of... high rents, low wages, and businesses on the brink of bankruptcy so that the raiders can suck a business of its assets.