Re: Eliminating competition: The Zeitgeist of the late 90's

[Doug Masson <dmasson@iquest.net>]

On Tue, 28 Jul 1998, Norm wrote:

> On Sat, 25 Jul 1998 16:50:14 -0400 (EDT), Doug Masson wrote:

<snip>
> 
> 
>      Ah...but that's okay, I can remember how much I hated being
> lectured by 'older people' when I was your age.  However as I got older
> I've found there is something much worse, and that's being lectured by
> some naive kid without a clue who's never taken even one of their baby
> steps in your shoes.  When you have a mortgage to pay and a few kids to
> feed *THEN* you can tell us how terrible "being safe" is (albeit my bet
> is that we'll need to make more room for YOU in the cage).  Of course I
> guess we could have do a few things differently that would have made
> security less important an issue...not have *ANY* kids.

Indeed, not having children is an option...after all it's not as if the
world is lacking people. And you are quite correct I have not chosen to
shackle myself with a mortgage as yet. However, I'm not sure why I or
anyone else should subsidize your decision to reproduce by giving up my or
their liberties. Perhaps you are not the one craving censorship on the Net
in the name of children, but by and large the battle cry has been one of
"Won't anyone PLEEEAAASE think about the children." Well, no, they're not
my
kids...don't muzzle me to keep them sheltered. 


> 
>      Now that I got *that* off my chest I will concede that age doesn't
> give you all the answers (as a matter of fact it's more likely to leave
> you with a greater number and more difficult questions than you had
> before)...only that it does give you more experience to pull from in
> your effort to come up with the best answers.  I don't mean to bust
> your chops here but your blanket statement about 'boomers' is incorrect
> and way out of line.  There are plenty of 'boomers' out there who work
> hard and live their lives by a high moral code that don't deserve to be
> painted in such a tainted light.  Believe me, although your opinions
> may not change with age (although most of ours have) I guarantee your
> perspective will.
> 

Oh, I have no doubt that my perspective will change with age. However,
I've found that if one does not lube up their scruples with a healthy dose
of self-righteousness from time to time then the folks who have NO
perspective will simply run rough-shod while the more rational individual
stands idle wringing their hands over competing, valid worldviews.
(Meaning, that understanding all sides of an argument is all well and good
for figuring out what's going on around you, but it is quite ineffective
when it comes to provocative (and, let's face it, fun) rhetoric.)

And, my apologies for laying down a blanket reference to boomers. I'm sure
you all are as different as Gen-X ers are despite what the mass media
would have you believe. However, I was responding to a blanket statement
about boomers and I am a slave to parallelism.

Now hurry up and get on social security so I can double my work week while
halving my purchasing power. (How could I have kids...I have to support my
elders.) ;)

(My apologies to Declan for the emoticon).

---Doug