What will our generation be remembered for?

Question

Past American generations were defined by what they did, be it the W.W.II generation, the hippie generation, the lost generation after W.W.I. Will our generation be remembered for averaging seven plus hours a day of TV? For apathy? For embracing technology to isolate ourselves from each other? For being obese couch potatoes? For blind allegiance to our leaders? For rekindling the crusades in our lust for oil? For religious fanaticism? For liberation or loss of the family unit? The consumer generation, perhaps, as we save less than any other before us.

I would like to say that the development of technology or something positive, but that was
developed by a relative few though it affects many. It is the mass of Americans and how they react, what
their actions are, that will define us. What I'm asking here is what will define our generation as a whole.

Perhaps there are some positive reflections I'm missing in my shadowed state of mind.

Answer 1

We generally tend to remember the exploits of past generations with a sense of nostalgia, and look at our own generation as being made up of a bunch of degenerates. Something in human nature imbues our historical perspective of ourselves in a positive light, and we, for some reason tend to denigrate our current predicament in relation to our predecessors. I honestly don’t think we are all that much worse off than those who came before us, but prior generations that you mentioned, which fought in WWI and WWII had their own share of vices. For example, during both World War eras there was rampant discrimination both de facto and within our written laws. That no longer exists today. I can go on and on delineating the various positives, aside from technology, that our generation can be remembered for. Let me mention just a few:

1. A healthy mistrust of our government so that we will never let a war go as far as Vietnam. Look at how we are already calling for a return of our troops in Iraq, after only 3,000 were killed, were as in Vietnam it was a death rate of 50,000 plus that finally caused that generation to stop the bloodshed. I think if anything that underscores this generation’s current sensitivity and willingness to call the government to account, instead of blindly trusting the government until things get way out of hand.

2. A great improvement in race relations, and a concerted effort to incorporate more people into the public square, regardless of gender, race, religion, or sexual orientation. In other words, we instituted what the civil rights movement merely got into legislative form. We are, with some exceptions, putting the notion of equality into practice.

3. We no longer blindly follow the dictum, that was so credulously accepted by generations prior, that our country can do no wrong, and in fact we measure every action against our moral compass.


These are just three of many positive things that this generation has contributed to humanity. Granted there are many negative things you can also mention, but that is true of any generation. If history will teach us anything at all, is that imaginative minds will always find someway to make the generation prior to them more enlightened and more magnanimous than their own. I am sure when it is time for our history to be written the same will occur.

Answer 2

Oh, the bloomers---the free sex/pre-AIDS crowd.T hat's when everyone when went buck wild and it was ok,. Isn't that when shacking up began being accepted, but babies out of wedlock was still a no-no? People were raising Kane over "All in the Family"; that is weird when you look at reality shows. The music was decent,too. Parents didn't mind listening to the Bryds, Led Zeplin, the Supremes, 5th Dimension and the Four Tops. You didn't have to worry about 2 Live Crew and Snoop back then. As a matter of fact, Snoop wasn't Calvin Broodus, Jr. until '71.

Answer 3

The generation that viewed Britney Spears' cooch from around the world. The generation that gave us Guitar Hero. The generation that gave us the riveting, culture-smashing dance Chicken Noodle Soup.

Don't expect much. The few intellects that we have in our generation will probably succumb to peer pressure and join the mold before they hit 30. Nothing come from nothing, you know.

Answer 4

Technology, loose morals, and the kingdom of "SELF".

Answer 5

excessive behaviors.

Answer 6

all the perverts

Answer 7

NOTHING GOOD or the DESTRUCTION of HUMANKIND, all thank to the JEWS