(no subject)

[danuv]

Apparently Harry Potter is forcing children to drink Coke. When oh when will people start taking responsibility for their own lives and those of their children instead of looking for anything or anyone else to blame?
Oh my gosh! Harry Potter has a sword on in the picture on the news story... Harry Potter is telling children to slay each other with swords. He must be stopped!

Comments

[psymonetta.livejournal.com]

I also wanted to tell you that I agree with what you went on to say in that particular post. I've been running round robin with bsgi over this for almost a month now. He seems to think that my idea of democracy (which is pretty similar to the Socialist Libertarian/ Anaarcho0syndicalism of Noam Chomsy and other non-elitist intellectuals) is a threat to him and his way of life and to the United States itself, therefore it is dishonest, and any literature or commentary that supports this view is dishonest.

Certainly it doesn't advocate accepting the status quo but at the same time Anarcho-syndicalism actually realizes the core values reflected in the US constitution more effectively than the status quo. This is becoming painfully apparent in light of recent events and pending legislation.

I am not advocating anarchy, particularly anarchy of the ilk and definition that people fear the most. I'm only advocating a more representative form of democracy and a more sustainable lifestyle. This is not dishonest, and I am well supported by many intellectuals, religious leaders, social service organizations and activists.

I will refrain from citing specific hypocrisies I see in bsgi's lifestyle choices when they are compared to his self-righteous diatribes and condemnation of people who challenge his views, except to say that I have the ability to point out examples of the dishonesty of his generation in his actions and words.

[danuv.livejournal.com]

It bothers me that his arguments with the people he is arguing with have turned so heated and seemingly spiteful. I am sure he is as set in some of his opinions as you are in some of your's, but I wish that he and perhaps (I haven't really been following it all so I don't know the attitudes of all involved) could see this debate as something positive and not just something to hate one another over. There is enough hate floating around right now. America can be largely defined by it's diversity. We are a country made up of people who were raised differently, who think differently, who's cultural, moral, and ethical lives vary widely. That is what makes our country beautiful. We shouldn't let those things seperate us and cause anger. I wish the anger in the conversations would get toned down a notch (or three). :)

[psymonetta.livejournal.com]

I think what it comes down to IS a generational conflict. The real key defining attitude of GenX, which was defined by Douglas Coupland, whose book Generation X is what we are named for, is the feeling of futility in the actions of the individual combined with a distrust of organized social movements because we watched our parents, the baby boomers, go from the extreme of activist in the 60's to complacent participant in the 80's/90's. So, we feel isolated as individuals, yet we inherently distrust social organization. It breeds internal conflict whose only precipitants are cynicism and skepticism. We share the ideals our parents held in the 60's, yet we watched them betray those ideals as we got older.

or as I like to say, cynicism is just distilled idealism.

Baby boomers, on the other hand, still identify themselves as socially organized. They posses a mass cynicism that allows them to turncoat on their earlier ideals, while still feeling like they belong to the movement, therefore they are still acting out of some socially supported idealism.

What Coupland did when he wrote Generation X gave Gen X'ers the same sort of social unity that the baby boomers posessed. We became united in our cynicism and skepticism. This is what is allowing our generation to organize and protest institutions like the WTO and the World Bank. This is what is allowing us to vocalize our thoughts on the hypocrisy of the baby boomers. We've had years of solitary practice in tearing down anything in numerous ways and now, we get to publicize these arguments. What bsgi sees as my dishonesty is merely my ability to change the scope of my argument as necessary, without changing my actual conclusion on the subject. I like to call it holistic thinking, as opposed to linear thinking.

[psymonetta.livejournal.com]

and Harry Potter sucks ass...

[danuv.livejournal.com]

Hehe, never read any of the books. I just thought the article was hysterical. I grew up in a conservative christian home where everything from My Little Pony to Count Chocula cereal was considerd satanic.

[psymonetta.livejournal.com]

Ha...me too.

Do you ever feel homicidal when you hear Amy Grant muzak?

[danuv.livejournal.com]

More so when I hear Michael W. Smith's. I caught a snippet of "Friends are Friends Forever" the other day and almost fell over. Amy Grant I dismiss in the same way as Backstreet Boys or Ms. Spears. Mindless pop, most of it, though Lead Me On was a departure for her that I actually appreciated at that point in my life.

[psymonetta.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I watch the music videos on TBN for a good laugh.

[danuv.livejournal.com]

I understand what you are saying. My mother and I had many discussion about my generation before that book came out regarding the lack of a unity that we demonstrated and how the only thing we seemed to have in common was our cynicism (and skepticism). I suppose in many ways we were born with our cynicism. As I said to bgsi (somewhere in there) I don't think we are anymore critical of our parent's generation than they were of their's. Every generation has it's own hypocrisy as will our's. When our children come of age they will rail against us and what we did or did not do. It seems to me to be an important part of the cycle of change.

[psymonetta.livejournal.com]

It's the dialectic...the normal ebb and flow of social sentiment. Hegel was a genius.

[psymonetta.livejournal.com]

I also wanted to add this little ponderance

I wonder if Bob (bsgi) has ever actually read Generation X?

[danuv.livejournal.com]

I haven't... meant to and then kind of forgot about it.

[psymonetta.livejournal.com]

Girlfriend in a Coma and Life After God are great too.