This comment was from JP McMahon on the post by Jake DiMare “Boomers Beware: How Do You Want to Be Remembered?”
Jake, How old are you anyway? You cannot be that old if you think things are going to hell and a handbasket. I’m old enough to remember pollution so bad that you couldn’t hang your laundry outside. I’m old enough to remember educated white people who actually didn’t know better using the N-word at my parent’s cocktail parties, because that was the word you used. I remember when a woman being beaten by her husband was “nobody’s business”. I remember middle class people flipping over police cars because they were mad about school bussing. I remember watching a city on fire after MLK was killed. I remember when the word “cancer” was never even spoken because it was a death sentence. I remember when New York City was a totally dangerous shit hole. I remember kids getting beaten by adults and COPS simply because they had long hair. I remember when poor people were actually POOR, and their worst health problem wasn’t obesity. I remember when the best most women could aspire to was being a teacher, a nurse, or a housewife. Period. I remember when their were a grand total of four stations on television, and two newspapers per city where you had to get ALL of your information. I remember young guys getting a letter in the mail that was a non-voluntary, one way ticket to Vietnam. I remember lying awake at night wondering whether or not the city I lived in was about to be hit by a nuclear weapon, because it was a very real possibility. Dude, what made you write this? Did you go to the Whole Foods and they didn’t have your brand of organic yogurt? You live in a paradise with the highest standard of living in history! What history books are you reading that make you think that things are worse now than in the past, or that it is all going to fall apart for that matter. There have always been problems. Your generation needs to stop whining and get to work on some of them. We havealready solved plenty. I don’t claim Madonna though. I much prefer GaGa.
photo: violettalough / flickr
I also remember the black soot that settled on top of snow before leaded gasoline was done away with.
It’s nice to see at least some of the inconveniences and ridiculous level of taxes doing something positive for a change.
“Did you go to the Whole Foods and they didn’t have your brand of organic yogurt? ‘ Yes, let’s talk about food. I remember when the only bread available was either wet cotton like Wonder Bread or similar non-food crap. The range of vegetables in a supermarket was half what it is now. The only beer available was corporate swill like Budweiser and Miller (although I happen to like both – non-sugary soft drinks are a life saver in the summertime.) wine was either sub-standard, expensive second rate stuff from France or else alley-drinking jug wine – the California, and… Read more »
As for old-school pollution, don’t forget the river that was so polluted that it caught fire and burned for three days.