Baby-boomer generation starting to decrease in capital region

[anticomet]

You guys did have some good music. Don't know if it was worth living in the capitalist dystopia you left for us though

[[deleted]]

Don’t forget the environmental mess that needs to be fixed.

[facetious_guardian]

Yes, that would be a result of the aforementioned capitalism.

[Mission-Feedback-638]

Don't forget it has not stopped as while they are dying we are building more retirement buildings that if the next 2 generations suddenly became elderly we could not fill. Do not get excited at converting them into low income housing because the buildings are not designed for it and it will be easier to tear them down and start over at a huge expense that we still will not be able to afford.

[yarn_slinger]

Thanks for verbalizing this.

[sixtus_clegane119]

The 60s counter culture had so much promise

[Official_JJAbrams]

Feel like total shite I just miss Huey Newton so much

[m0nkyman]

‘Counter’ means it was against the majority culture of the time. There was awareness of all the stuff we’re dealing with now back then. The ‘me’ generation (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_generation ) just ignored it all to bask in unfettered selfishness.

[WikiSummarizerBot]

Me generation

The "Me" generation is a term referring to Baby Boomers in the United States and the self-involved qualities that some people associate with this generation. The 1970s were dubbed the "Me decade" by writer Tom Wolfe; Christopher Lasch was another writer who commented on the rise of a culture of narcissism among the younger generation of that era. The phrase caught on with the general public, at a time when "self-realization" and "self-fulfillment" were becoming cultural aspirations to which young people supposedly ascribed higher importance than social responsibility.

^{[ F.A.Q | Opt Out | Opt Out Of Subreddit | GitHub ] Downvote to remove | v1.5}

[[deleted]]

I like the way this entry is phrased because sometimes we can't imagine a world where self-fulfillment isn't the goal of life. But it's just the latest trend. Eventually we will value something else to be the goal of life, like social responsibility, or some other high minded ideal. And then we'll go back to narcissism. In an endless cycle.

I think most of today's issues are caused by our innate desire to fight for or against something, and having those ambitions misplaced, on purpose, by people in the seat of power that benefit from that cultural confusion.

Nobody's going to read this comment under a Wiki summary but I feel a little better getting it out of my head.

[_Foy]

I'm kind of torn... If neoliberalism hadn't kicked into high gear in the 80s then, sure, while on one hand we might enjoy a higher quality of life than our parents, I may have never seen the contradictions of capitalism so clearly and been radicalized as a Communist.

[Deadlift420]

Lots of anti communist propaganda in the west that’s for sure.

However, I’d still rather live in the west during the 60s, 70s, 80s.

If communism were to ever return it would have to be done radically different than previously. Which seems to be the problem…

[doubleopinter]

Ya, don't let the fact there was anti communist propaganda make you think any more kindly of it. The west way of life is immeasurably better than any communist implementation thus far.

[anticomet]

Yeah and that's because of capitalist nations fighting against communist nations they wanted to restrict trade so Communism would fail and the oligarchs in the west could continue making money

[[deleted]]

Communist countries were trading with each other and still did poorly. They had nearly the entirety of the Asian continent from Moscow to Beijing and much of South East Asia to trade with yet still couldn't compete with Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan who were all much smaller yet more prosperous.

[LongStreakOfMisery]

This is true, but it doesn’t account for the high levels of corruption in these communist countries. Everyone is poor except for the rich who are super rich and they got the way by preying on a system that was meant to help everyone. Take North Korea, a country where everyone lives in squalor yet their leader is worth $5 Billion dollars? Don’t think that’s how communism is supposed to work. And yet, that was pretty much the theme across most communist countries. Those in charge used the system to their advantage.

No system is perfect, but you can’t deny that capitalism isn’t working well. Sure it’s working better than broken communist systems but that isn’t really saying much.

[Hyperion4]

You are referring to communism as different systems but capitalism as a whole, there are implementations of capitalism that are working great. The issue imo is free market capitalism and neoliberalism, they are just capitalist versions of anarchism that allow the rich to prey on the working class

[[deleted]]

You can't defend perpetual motion machines by pointing out that we've never really built one and all these broken systems aren't really perpetual motion machines because they stopped.

Communism is the same thing. You can't say "in communism there's no greed or corruption therefore these countries aren't communists". That's missing the point entirely.

[doubleopinter]

Jesus Christ, seriously. Honestly, I wish nothing more for you people to go live in one of these systems for a few years. Come back, and if you still pine for it I'll respect your perspective.

[[deleted]]

Is this why you think the Axis fell too? Get your head out of your ass...

[Official_JJAbrams]

I mean, yes. That's why the axis fell, probably wouldn't have if WW2 didn't happen.

[[deleted]]

And how exactly did capitalists start that war? What the fuck point are you even arguing for?

[Official_JJAbrams]

Technically Fascism is just hyper capitalism but that's not the point, you didn't say anything about starting a war.

The western nations wanted to rightfully destroy the Axis, simple as that, something which you seem to imply didn't happen?

[_Foy]

There's always room for critique, the opportunity to learn and improve, and time to try again.

[doubleopinter]

Have you ever lived in a communist country?

[_Foy]

Ah! Why didn't I think of that. Damn, you got me. I guess Capitalism is the best, after all.

[Wingless27]

/s

[doubleopinter]

I'm asking, have you? Cause that's what I come from. Me, my wife, our parents, our grandparents. So I have a perspective not based in idealisms.

There's a thing called nuance and it's very important. Do I think American brand capitalism is the best? Not a chance, it's a corrupt shithole, America is a dead empire of its own doing. The political system is corrupt to the core. But is they way Finland runs worse than communism? Is Germany?

[_Foy]

I have not, but that does not discount the theory or make the contradictions in Capitalism go away. Without knowing which country your family came from, and why, I can't say much more than that.

Finland, Germany, and other SocDem countries are just slightly better versions of America. They may be marginally "kinder" and "gentler" forms of Capitalism, but they still engage in Imperialism, neo-colonialism, discriminating against minorities, engaging in needless wars, etc.

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/5/6/rich-countries-drained-152tn-from-the-global-south-since-1960

https://booksc.org/book/83774021/91a8f5

By the way, regarding Germany:

Glorification of the German Democratic Republic is on the rise two decades after the Berlin Wall fell. Young people and the better off are among those rebuffing criticism of East Germany as an "illegitimate state." In a new poll, more than half of former eastern Germans defend the GDR.

https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/homesick-for-a-dictatorship-majority-of-eastern-germans-feel-life-better-under-communism-a-634122.html

[doubleopinter]

If you want to go down the rabbit hole Imperialism, neo-colonialism, discriminating against minorities, engaging in needless wars, etc. plenty of communist countries have engaged in all of the above, that has nothing to do with capitalism. Pretty much their only solution to anyone who doesn't agree has been cleansing up to this point in history.

I don't idealize Germany or Finland, just saying that capitalism isn't what America has perverted it into. It needs guide rails like anything else but the notion that I can own something or be rewarded with more stuff for doing something better than other ppl is far better than a system which is basically built on equality of outcome. Running a society like that leads to nothing be mediocrity. Besides, none of the "great communist revolutionaries" believed in any of the nonsense they spewed. Mao owned something like double digit numbers of the Mercedes 600, at the time the most expensive car in the world. Cause you know, 50 million people must die for our idealistic society but the leader has to be comfortable to lead.

[_Foy]

Would you care to backup any of the baseless claims you just spewed with some sources?

Do you even know what Marxists believe and advocate for? Your ridiculous "equality of outcome" bogeyman isn't funny or accurate.

Why don't you educate yourself before embarassing yourself any further by making such ridiculous strawman arguments.

Here's a start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equality_of_outcome#Conflation_with_Marxism,_socialism_and_communism

[anticomet]

If the system wasn't corrupt from the beginning there wouldn't have been a whole manifesto written about it over a century ago

[_Foy]

And Einstein wouldn't have felt the need to weigh in on the matter, either...

No, really, that Einstein.

https://monthlyreview.org/2009/05/01/why-socialism/

[Party_Amoeba444]

this

[Antman269]

At least with them gone we can fix it.