Pixies Place Forums - View Single Post - Generational Difference?

While I agree that society has left behind some very positive things - like physical fitness by necessity of work, (mostly) low stress, and so on, it is scarcely deniable that many of the beliefs and practises of "the olden days" were the genesis of our current and recent problems. It was my grandparents' generation that kickstarted the nuclear arms race, the most significant wars in memory, assisted and in some cases installed brutal dictators, initiated conscription (at least in this country), and told my and my father's generation that AIDS was a "gay disease", and withheld what they knew to be dangers of smoking tobacco. The boom of big industry and automobiles preceded environmental concern, and it was during this time that McCarthyism appeared. Today, my grandparents are afforded opportunities of medical treatment, communication, cultural tolerance and diversity, social welfare and entertainment that were hitherto unknown to them. I have no doubt that my grandchildren, should I have any, will look upon my generation as having allowed all sorts of things to happen on our watch that shapes their lives in ways that aren't necessarily positive, and they'll probably be right. But I think to ponder "where it all went wrong" is to take a very rose-coloured view of history.