Re: The Super thread of literature, art, music, life, and the universe in general
Posted by:
Sawfish (IP Logged)
Date: 31 July, 2021 10:38AM
Knygatin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I grieve and miss the happy short illusion created
> by those born in the 1940s- early 50s. They
> created the Grand Illusion and most delicious
> Self-deceit, this Temporary Window of pretended
> happiness in history, right after WW2. A brief
> Golden moment. Children in the 40s, growing up in
> the 50s and 60s, they tasted the short Best part
> of the Industrial Age, full of Hope and
> Confidence, and naive humanitarian Ideals. Born
> with Pluto in Leo, being perhaps the best
> musicians and visual artists ever, with incredible
> intuitive artistic force, wholly free of the
> self-consciousness we see in sophisticated
> art/film today. My favorite decade was the 70s,
> since I was a little kid then, and I idealized it
> long after. The "hippie-decade" (don't remember
> much of the 60s, since I was too young then), the
> 70s was really the sunset of this Golden period,
> with the greatest music, art, and movies, created,
> with the greatest intuitive authority; Neil Young,
> Corben, ... This generation were Masters of
> passionate Illusion! In the 80s the decline
> definitely started. The 90s were a free fall of
> cynicism, irony, kitschy back-reflections, and all
> of that brief Golden period was then lost. The
> 2000s and 2010s were a living nightmare of
> intentional Deception. And the next step is
> Totalitarianism.
>
> What perplexes me is how most of that baby boom
> generation don't seem to value or miss the
> privileged time they grew up in, or grieve the
> loss of it (I miss it more than they do, even
> though I only got to taste the last few
> reflections of it); but instead they actually
> welcome the present destructive nightmare anarchy
> changes. They still hold onto those naive hippie
> ideals of World socialism, even though it has
> proven again and again not to work, not for
> society, native culture, nor for Nature or the
> environment.
Less than you think, K. You've hit upon a phenomenon that I characterized, rightly or wrongly, some years back. Here's how it has worked...
In the mid-60s thru the early 80s, you HAD to be aligned with the liberal/progressive movement, and the reason was simple: if you supported the conservative movement, you'd be saying that you were happy with the idea of being drafted and sent to VN.
It was that simple, really.
I was always a sort of middle of the road person, but I actually found myself agreeing with ancillary ideas that were associated with the reistance to VN: redistribution, AA, higher taxes, free love, etc.
So people like myself felt that the Weather Underground and the SLA were probably *good* things--Jane Fonda *must* be cool--because they were against the System, the Man, and the system would send you to Vietnam.
Then the draft and Vietnam went away and we were entering out late 20s/early 30s, and into our careers. We tasted significant money for the first time, many of us, and found it good. And the steadily increasing taxed, year after year after year, like Joe Frazier body shots, were also taking their toll--perhaps taxes were not such a good thing, after all.
But this caused cognitive dissonance, because it was pretty clear that we were becoming the Man...
Now here's where it got as you see it now.
Very man of my peers are egotistical to a degree that previous generations were not (it's common now, and expected among the succeeding generations--it's called "Attitude") and were well aware that not 10 years earlier they had loudly and publicly proclaimed their know-it-all disgust and disdain for the System, and yet here they were, not only a part of it, but advancing it more vigorously than their predecessors. So, basically, they denied connection with the System, while actively deriving the benefits from it.
Much like folks like Soros and Buffett.
It's good to recall that Reagan won two landslide victories and he could not have done this without a whole lot of Boomer votes.
So basically, the successful college Boomers were/are lying, dog-faced pony soldiers, with very little philosophically in common with the emergent Millennials and Zoomers, except that we were saying pretty much the same silly things, with almost, but not quite, the same level of smug self-assurance.
So, K, my question to you, right straight from the classic film, The Warriors, is...
"Can you dig it?"
--Sawfish
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~