Flower Power Gen Turned Gestapo

[the iron horse]

The baby boomer generation are now in control

*all the hippies and the all for freedom folk*

What do we get?

Smoke-free, Sugar-free, Caffine-free, Fat-free, rubber seated swings, tracking devices for kids, drug sniffing dogs in schools, cameras everywhere, metal detectors, (and don't even think about fireworks, guns, booze, gasoline cars, or fattening foods.


Yeah, the 60s spawned...what?

Rewind or fastforward where?

What do you think?

 

[doubleU]

 

[Se7en]

they must've found jesus.

i'm still looking.

 

[melon]

The baby boomer generation just went from one addiction (drugs) to another (greed) to another (Jesus).

But, really, they're not much different than the obsessive-compulsive generations that commanded the 1920s or the 1890s, for that matter. Film and videotape just ensures that we never forget.

Melon

 

[WinnieThePoo]

jesus is a great addiction ,
Any Color You Like ,
lived fast , died young ,
produced and played with Jim Morrison ,
Elvis Presley
& Jimi Hendrix


Is This Like A Tape Recorder , do we have to rewind this one again ?

 

[Golightly Grrl]

The one thing about some boomers that always bothered me is they never cared about an issue until they faced it. They never cared about kids until they became parents and then everything had to be for the children or made family-friendly and politicians catered to Soccer Moms and Nascar Dads only, leaving the rest of us to grab for crumbs.

Now the boomers are facing retirement and old age and I can only imagine their demands and sense of entitlement.

 

[A_Wanderer]

Well I think that they deserve a hearty bugger that and have the youth flee the country, or we could all just slice pensions to an extreme ammount

 

[verte76]

They want their retirement checks.

 

[nbcrusader]

The baby boomer generation just went from one addiction (drugs) to another (greed) to another (Jesus).

Melon

Cute - the flower power generation found Jesus during the 70's. Perhaps they've forgotten what they found.

This is the classic pattern of idealism worn down by reality over the decades.

 

[the iron horse]

The one thing about some boomers that always bothered me is they never cared about an issue until they faced it. They never cared about kids until they became parents and then everything had to be for the children or made family-friendly and politicians catered to Soccer Moms and Nascar Dads only, leaving the rest of us to grab for crumbs.

Now the boomers are facing retirement and old age and I can only imagine their demands and sense of entitlement.

And a point I was trying to make
on the 'Boomers" is how the so-called "free spirited" generation (who are now in control) have now become the Food Police, the Tobacco Police, the Drug Police, the "Your Kid Must Wear a Helment while Riding a Tricycle" Police...etc....


I wish I could find one solid wood swing seat in a public park.

I hate those crappy rubber seats.

 

[DaveC]

Yeah, rubber swings mean the end of the world.

 

[doubleU]

And a point I was trying to make
on the 'Boomers" is how the so-called "free spirited" generation (who are now in control) have now become the Food Police, the Tobacco Police, the Drug Police, the "Your Kid Must Wear a Helment while Riding a Tricycle" Police...etc....


I wish I could find one solid wood swing seat in a public park.

I hate those crappy rubber seats.

Iron horse, I like your posts, the ones I've seen, for I too am a libertarian, one that leans right. But I don't get how you don't understand that the "free spirited" generation was very much divided and it wasn't just one side that took power. In all honesty the "hippies" of the generation were far too free spirited and it allowed others to take control.

And honestly what wood swings have to do with this means nothing. It doesn't take a scientist to realize that rubber swings mold better and are much safer than those of wood.

 

[DaveC]

the "Your Kid Must Wear a Helment while Riding a Tricycle" Police...etc....

Promoting safety for children? Now that's just crazy!!

Those wacky acid-fuelled hippies must be stopped from promoting their "healthy kids" agenda.

 

[indra]

Technically I'm a boomer. Very, very tail end of the baby boom, unless the dates on it have been changed.

And you know, just like any other "group" baby boomers aren't this giant homogeneous blob. Many boomers I know are still hippies; many never were.




* edited to note: I just looked at Wikipedia and apparently I can choose to be either a Boomer or a member of Gen-X. I don't really find that either one is a perfect fit...but then again, what in life is?

 

[nbcrusader]

Promoting safety for children? Now that's just crazy!!

Those wacky acid-fuelled hippies must be stopped from promoting their "healthy kids" agenda.

Dave - you need to consider what has changed in the world from the multiple generations who engaged in behavior without mandated safety devices - and lived to tell about it.

There are plenty of people my age who remember bouncing around in the back seat of a car - seat belts didn't exist, were not requried, and no one heard of a booster seat for a 5-year old.

Raising the question as done in this thread does not automatically imply one is agaisnt child safety.

 

[the iron horse]

Iron horse, I like your posts, the ones I've seen, for I too am a libertarian, one that leans right. But I don't get how you don't understand that the "free spirited" generation was very much divided and it wasn't just one side that took power. In all honesty the "hippies" of the generation were far too free spirited and it allowed others to take control.

And honestly what wood swings have to do with this means nothing. It doesn't take a scientist to realize that rubber swings mold better and are much safer than those of wood.

Thanks doubleU,

It's nice to meet another Libertarian in a world seemingly so bent on welcoming totaltarianism with open (safe and so secure) arms.

I agree that some of the "hippies" gave it over to others, but I was talking in general terms on the age bracket.

That age group now controls the school where I teach. Their new idea (i could go on with others), following all the other control boomers in other states, is to ban regular soft drinks and only allow fruit juice and diet sodas.

*all in the name of fighting obesity*

Do a Google Search on the dangers of Aspartane (and other artificial sweetners) and tell me this is a good idea.


And the rubber swings...the wooden ones are much more fun. They are much more comfortable. You can stand on them. And you have to dodge them if they come your way.

Danger can be fun and be a great teacher.

 

[yolland]

If schoolchildren drank regular soda and ate French fries and Pop-Tarts in MODERATION, then unregulated access to these things would be fine. Unfortunately, they increasingly do not, and that is why diabetes and obesity are becoming epidemic among children. Aspartame may or may not cause brain tumors when consumed in large quantities, but it is virtually guaranteed that regular megadoses of corn syrup and trans fats will do bad things for your heart, pancreas and teeth. Ideally, it should be parents' job to inculcate "moderation in all things" in their kids, but it's not the fault of school administrators if that's not happening. There's no way schools can force kids to consume soda and deep-fried foods in moderation if they have soda machines in the lobbies and McDonald's in the cafeteria. As I understand it, these kinds of measures are just schools' attempts to do what they can to at least not be part of the problem.

And honestly, I just don't get why anyone, particularly parents, would be opposed to safety measures like seatbelt laws, rubber swings, etc. Sure, there were plenty of folks who bounced freely around in their carseats in the old days and lived to tell the tale, but on the other hand there were plenty who went through the windshield, broke their necks and didn't. When my oldest son was a toddler, he fell off the monkey bars at school onto good old-fashioned blacktop, suffered a compound elbow fracture which severed his brachial artery, and almost bled to death before they could get him to the hospital. Had the ground below been covered with pea gravel or wood chips as the "gestapo" now require, his injuries would have been much less severe. I just don't get why anyone would oppose measures like this.

Fireworks? If you really have to have your Roman candles to feel festive, you can always find one of those truckstop fireworks superstores that will sell you those, and pretty much anything else, in return for signing a laughably unenforceable waiver. As for weapons in schools, frankly, knowing that they are indeed there, I would rather have security guards on hand who are trained to deal with them. And I don't see how baby boomers are to blame for these weapons being available, either.

 

[Angela Harlem]

A bad diet does not cause diabetes in children. It's a very common misconception. Type 2 is appearing in younger people but is not an epidemic. Perhaps 'yet' needs to be added. Type 1 is the childhood version and not related to diet, though.

I had to laugh at the first post. True as it might be, and as humourous as it is, I wonder if you've asked why? I remember when we were kids, fireworks were legal back then. We'd hound dad to help us build a huge bonfire. Mum would help us throw old junk on it so we'd have a mini tip to burn all night. Neighbours would join in to watch the debris and old wood fire burn. Of course they'd get on the cans and then dad would start the fireworks. He's finish off with nailing a catherine wheel to the old dead gum tree that was um, next to the house. Do I need to paint a picture here? Mum and dad weren't irresponsible or stupid. We never got hurt. But others did. Accidents or acts of stupidity are not related to hippy-dom or political persuasion. It wasn't the liberals who caused this. It was enough stories of kids being burned, houses burning down, bushfires starting as a result, which saw the end of fireworks.

Seatbelts are a similar story. It wasn't the stupid Liberals who had too many accidents which required lawmakers to say 'maybe if we strapped everyone in, they'd not go flying through the window'. It wasn't any one group's fault. If you insist it were the liberal baby boomer hippies who insisted on it, then perhaps they'd sobered up enough to realise it was safer. Then I'd ask why you firslty object, and what were you doing while this was ebing decided? Ignoring the problem? Dont get angry at the people sensible enough to do something about deaths on roads.

Guns? I dont want them in the hands of people who think a seatbelt is unnecessary. Guns need to be handled by those trained, and with VALID CAUSE. Ya know, the police and military. I dont want guns in the hands of someone who thinks kids being blinded or ending up with 3rd degree burns from fireworks is not a valid reason to ban them.

So I suggest you take your guns, your smokes, your fireworks, and help warm up mars so when the environment is destroyed by your petrol fumes, you have somewhere else to fuck up and run freely amok in.

 

[the iron horse]

"Guns? I dont want them in the hands of people who think a seatbelt is unnecessary. Guns need to be handled by those trained, and with VALID CAUSE. Ya know, the police and military. I dont want guns in the hands of someone who thinks kids being blinded or ending up with 3rd degree burns from fireworks is not a valid reason to ban them."

Yes, welcome to the Brave New World.
The police and the military are coinsidered the only
trainied and valid people to own a firearm.

They will protect you. They have a valid cause: Inforcing the laws of the state.

*i miss the day when a firecracker could really split a tin can up in the air*

The ones now are whimps. Couldn't blow a twinkie in half.

 

[Se7en]

weapons in the hands of the general populace will not protect them from state power at this point. you may have your .22 or 12 gauge but brigadier general john j. smith has a sniper squad, a division of light infantry, howitzer artillery pieces, and a handful of abrams under his command. good luck.

i have no problem with hunting, provided it is not of the trophy sort.

 

[Kieran McConville]

If I thought a whole 'generation' (what? everyone born between say 1945 and 1964?) could be summed up as an ideological bloc, I might actually have the energy to be annoyed by this thread.

But I don't and I don't.