Did Baby Boomers Sell Their Souls To The Devil?

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Topic:	Religions > Atheism
User:	"Sound of Trumpet"
Date:	29 Jul 2006 05:27:00 AM
Object:	Did Baby Boomers Sell Their Souls To The Devil?

http://closedcafeteria.blogspot.com/2006/07/baby-boomers.html
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Baby Boomers
Newsweek has devoted considerable space to the baby boomers this week.
Here excerpts from an article headlined "Did Baby Boomers sell their
souls to the devil? The Faustian generation"
My cohort of early baby boomers has been called a lot of names in its
nearly six decades of existence-we were the insolent teenagers of the
1950s; the self-centered Yuppies of the 1980s; now we are the aging
spendthrifts who will bust the federal budget and bankrupt our children
with unreasonable demands for creature comfort in old age.
But maybe it would be more appropriate to think of us as the Faustian
generation. We didn't exactly sell our souls to the devil-not
collectively, anyway-but as we jog toward senior status, it's hard to
escape the sense that we were complicit in our own unique kind of
unholy bargain.
Most of us born in the early years after World War II grew up in a
world of stability and order: lasting marriages, moms at home, fathers
with permanent employment, local merchants who knew us and watched us,
neighborhoods where the people next door were ever-present and
predictable. The three television networks ran essentially the same
programs; the bread and soup and cereal all tasted alike. It was snug;
it was also, as we all know, widely perceived as monotonous and a
little claustrophobic, as well as unfair to many members of society.
"The dull ache will not depart," Faust says in the first part of
Goethe's epic, as he laments the cozy tedium of his cloistered life. "I
crave excitement, agonizing bliss." That does pretty well as a mantra
for the best and brightest of the early baby boomers as they reached
mid-adolescence in the early 1960s.
Faust was offered a simple form of relief for his confinement: He
contracted with Mephistopheles for 24 years of unending novelty,
physical gratification and encyclopedic knowledge. The baby boomers
didn't sign any such contract, but as they became adults the most
fortunate soon found themselves tasting similar treats: the erosion of
sexual restraint, the ability to travel virtually anywhere, magic
electronic devices that brought instant knowledge and entertainment
even Faust never imagined, and most of all, ever-expanding choice-the
freedom to make important life decisions and then unmake them at will:
new locations, new spouses, new careers, all subject to endless
re-evaluation out of a concern that something more exciting might lie
around the corner.
.......
By the late 1980s and early 1990s, a fair number of these early baby
boomers began expressing a sort of Faustian bewilderment at the
excesses of temptation and the erosion of rules and standards. "I want
to live in a place again where I can walk down any street without being
afraid," Hillary Clinton lamented in her mid-40s, when she was First
Lady. "I want to remember what I used to be able to do when I was a
little kid." In her own way, she was suffering from Faustian overload.
When you watch movies from the 1960, you can watch an entire society go
apeshit - and embarassingly so. All of a sudden, scores of scantily
clad idiotically giggling girls populated the screens, along with
nudity and really dumb sex talk, accompanied by dumb music and the
obligatory psychedelic colors. Serious actors all of a sudden found
themselves in seriously stupid movies - I remember several with Walter
Matthau and Jack Lemmon. Pop culture all of a sudden was dominated by
mentally ill artists, addicted to every drug under the sun. What once
was institutionalized now was idolized. It's not that I am shocked,
it's that I am bored by such widespread idiocy. Free love is no love.
Free love means paying the doctor soon thereafter.
There used to be a saying in German-speaking countries "wer zweimal mit
demselben pennt, gehoert schon zum establishment" ("Anyone who sleeps
with the same person twice already belongs to the establishment") -
what a highpoint of Western Civilization. Oh, and the wonderful
freedoms people had! Divorce all of a sudden became very easy - you
know, just for extreme cases of course - and, lo and behold, we now
have a divorce rate of some 50%. Abortion was allowed - you know, just
for extreme cases of course - and, lo and behold 50+ million babies
were aborted.
All the big promises and grand new ideas resulted in disaster. The
Great Society, the War on Poverty resulted in conditions worse than
during segregation, welfare dependency, urban flight and so forth.
Freedom from "conventions" resulted in one broken home after another,
euphemistically called "patchwork families". A culture of dysfunction,
self-pity and narcissism. Of course all these pathetic currents had
been around for a long time, it was just that they came to fruition in
the mainstream. And, capitalism essentially being a *****, business
couldn't get in on the stupid filth fast enough.
Apart from questions of morality, I find the progressive mindset
intellectually insulting. Going against nature (and "nature's God") is
simply not a smart thing to do. Therefore, it is not surprising that
that generation's sins are so painfully tedious.
posted by Gerald Augustinus at 12:21 AM
.

User: "The Chief Instigator"
Title: Re: Did Baby Boomers Sell Their Souls To The Devil?	29 Jul 2006 06:11:30 AM

"Sound of Trumpet" <sound_of_trumpet@lycos.com> writes:

[...]
You really need to live in reality, once in a while: as one of the Boomers
who was born pretty near the middle of that demographic spasm from the
beginning of 1946 to the end of 1963, I can point out your basic inability to
add and subtract numbers - there were *no* teenage Boomers at all until
January 1, 1959. If you can't even sweat the small details like that, why
should anyone bother with taking you seriously in anything else?
--
Patrick "The Chief Instigator" Humphrey (patrick@io.com) Houston, Texas
chiefinstigator.us.tt/aeros.php (TCI's 2006-07 Houston Aeros)
LAST GAME: Milwaukee 4, Houston 2 (May 9)
NEXT GAME: Saturday, October 7 vs. TBA, 7:35
.

User: "Johnny"
Title: Re: Did Baby Boomers Sell Their Souls To The Devil?	29 Jul 2006 07:02:38 AM

"The Chief Instigator" <patrick@io.com> wrote in message
news:szk64hgekd9.fsf@fnord.io.com...

"Sound of Trumpet" <sound_of_trumpet@lycos.com> writes:

http://closedcafeteria.blogspot.com/2006/07/baby-boomers.html

Thursday, July 27, 2006
Baby Boomers

Newsweek has devoted considerable space to the baby boomers this week.
Here excerpts from an article headlined "Did Baby Boomers sell their
souls to the devil? The Faustian generation"

My cohort of early baby boomers has been called a lot of names in its
nearly six decades of existence-we were the insolent teenagers of the
1950s; the self-centered Yuppies of the 1980s; now we are the aging
spendthrifts who will bust the federal budget and bankrupt our children
with unreasonable demands for creature comfort in old age.

[...]

You really need to live in reality, once in a while: as one of the
Boomers
who was born pretty near the middle of that demographic spasm from the
beginning of 1946 to the end of 1963,

I already told you that your definition of boomers is in error.
The Baby Boomers are post-WWII babys, and it does not include from the
Korean War on.
I am not in Baby Boom one.
I wasn't a teenager during the sex-drugs, rock 'n roll, woodstock, sexual
revolution, hippie days of the sixties.
There are many in the South and probably the North, too, that do not like
being classified with such persons.
I wasn't even in puberty during 1973, so you can stuff your ***** ideas
into the toilet.

I can point out your basic inability to
add and subtract numbers - there were *no* teenage Boomers at all until
January 1, 1959. If you can't even sweat the small details like that, why
should anyone bother with taking you seriously in anything else?

--
Patrick "The Chief Instigator" Humphrey (patrick@io.com) Houston, Texas
chiefinstigator.us.tt/aeros.php (TCI's 2006-07 Houston Aeros)
LAST GAME: Milwaukee 4, Houston 2 (May 9)
NEXT GAME: Saturday, October 7 vs. TBA, 7:35

User: "qwerty"
Title: Re: Did Baby Boomers Sell Their Souls To The Devil?	29 Jul 2006 10:19:32 AM

"Johnny" <wxpprofessional@msn.com> wrote in message
news:87Iyg.181$l7.29@bignews5.bellsouth.net...

"The Chief Instigator" <patrick@io.com> wrote in message
news:szk64hgekd9.fsf@fnord.io.com...

You really need to live in reality, once in a while: as one of the
Boomers
who was born pretty near the middle of that demographic spasm from the
beginning of 1946 to the end of 1963,

I already told you that your definition of boomers is in error.
The Baby Boomers are post-WWII babys, and it does not include from the
Korean War on.

The general definition used to define the Baby Boom Generation are those
born between 1946-1964.
http://www.bbhq.com/whatsabm.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boomer
http://www.answers.com/topic/baby-boomer
.

User: "Johnny"
Title: Re: Did Baby Boomers Sell Their Souls To The Devil?	29 Jul 2006 10:57:44 AM

"qwerty" <nospam@all.noway.com> wrote in message
news:80Lyg.77231$Lm5.32155@newssvr12.news.prodigy.com...

"Johnny" <wxpprofessional@msn.com> wrote in message
news:87Iyg.181$l7.29@bignews5.bellsouth.net...

"The Chief Instigator" <patrick@io.com> wrote in message
news:szk64hgekd9.fsf@fnord.io.com...

You really need to live in reality, once in a while: as one of the
Boomers
who was born pretty near the middle of that demographic spasm from the
beginning of 1946 to the end of 1963,

I already told you that your definition of boomers is in error.
The Baby Boomers are post-WWII babys, and it does not include from the
Korean War on.

The general definition used to define the Baby Boom Generation are those
born between 1946-1964.

Error. That is the 'expanded' definition. The original definition only
includes persons who were born after WWII and up until the Korean War.

http://www.bbhq.com/whatsabm.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boomer
http://www.answers.com/topic/baby-boomer

I do not need your bogus cites to try to convince me of something that was
not the case when Baby Boomers were originally defined.
.

User: "The Chief Instigator"
Title: Re: Did Baby Boomers Sell Their Souls To The Devil?	29 Jul 2006 05:53:52 PM

"Johnny" <wxpprofessional@msn.com> writes:

"qwerty" <nospam@all.noway.com> wrote in message
news:80Lyg.77231$Lm5.32155@newssvr12.news.prodigy.com...

"Johnny" <wxpprofessional@msn.com> wrote in message
news:87Iyg.181$l7.29@bignews5.bellsouth.net...

"The Chief Instigator" <patrick@io.com> wrote in message
news:szk64hgekd9.fsf@fnord.io.com...

You really need to live in reality, once in a while: as one of the
Boomers who was born pretty near the middle of that demographic spasm
from the beginning of 1946 to the end of 1963,

I already told you that your definition of boomers is in error.
The Baby Boomers are post-WWII babys, and it does not include from the
Korean War on.

The general definition used to define the Baby Boom Generation are those
born between 1946-1964.

Error. That is the 'expanded' definition. The original definition only
includes persons who were born after WWII and up until the Korean War.

So where's your cite, Foaming Duck?

http://www.bbhq.com/whatsabm.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boomer
http://www.answers.com/topic/baby-boomer

I do not need your bogus cites to try to convince me of something that was
not the case when Baby Boomers were originally defined.

In other words, you've already made up your mind, so the rest of us are
wrong. Emotionally, you're part of the New Silent Generation (2001-).
--
Patrick "The Chief Instigator" Humphrey (patrick@io.com) Houston, Texas
chiefinstigator.us.tt/aeros.php (TCI's 2006-07 Houston Aeros)
LAST GAME: Milwaukee 4, Houston 2 (May 9)
NEXT GAME: Saturday, October 7 vs. TBA, 7:35
.

User: "qwerty"
Title: Re: Did Baby Boomers Sell Their Souls To The Devil?	29 Jul 2006 11:03:11 AM

"Johnny" <wxpprofessional@msn.com> wrote in message
news:AzLyg.27121$Nt.15582@bignews8.bellsouth.net...

"qwerty" <nospam@all.noway.com> wrote in message
news:80Lyg.77231$Lm5.32155@newssvr12.news.prodigy.com...

"Johnny" <wxpprofessional@msn.com> wrote in message
news:87Iyg.181$l7.29@bignews5.bellsouth.net...

"The Chief Instigator" <patrick@io.com> wrote in message
news:szk64hgekd9.fsf@fnord.io.com...

You really need to live in reality, once in a while: as one of the
Boomers
who was born pretty near the middle of that demographic spasm from the
beginning of 1946 to the end of 1963,

I already told you that your definition of boomers is in error.
The Baby Boomers are post-WWII babys, and it does not include from the
Korean War on.

The general definition used to define the Baby Boom Generation are those
born between 1946-1964.

Error. That is the 'expanded' definition. The original definition only
includes persons who were born after WWII and up until the Korean War.

Cite please......
What definition is used TODAY?

http://www.bbhq.com/whatsabm.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boomer
http://www.answers.com/topic/baby-boomer

I do not need your bogus cites to try to convince me of something that was
not the case when Baby Boomers were originally defined.

Your cites?

.

User: "Johnny"
Title: Re: Did Baby Boomers Sell Their Souls To The Devil?	29 Jul 2006 11:09:32 AM

"qwerty" <nospam@all.noway.com> wrote in message
news:3FLyg.77238$Lm5.41554@newssvr12.news.prodigy.com...