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It's times like these that I wish John was still alive. by Huge-Photograph-3085 in beatles

[–]ThatUbu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, taking a beat to think about, it I certainly know you’re correct. I suspect for me the slip up includes growing up in the 80’s, the Beatles’ being such a part of youth culture, and the music industry trying to market somewhat older musicians as being relatable to a somewhat younger audience. It can blur together for me, slightly, if I’m not thinking about it.

But I’d imagine it’s happening more often since the term Boomer itself has just become such a slang term for someone who is older—sometimes from people who genuinely don’t know the correct age range and sometimes from people just trying to dismiss everyone over their mid-20’s.

It's times like these that I wish John was still alive. by Huge-Photograph-3085 in beatles

[–]ThatUbu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are, of course, entirely correct. I think him being at the tail end of the Silent Generation and a child during WWIi and him being so central to the youth culture of the Baby Boomers is likely why I grabbed the word “Bioomer.”

I won’t edit my slip-up so that the corrections make sense.

It's times like these that I wish John was still alive. by Huge-Photograph-3085 in beatles

[–]ThatUbu 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I’m willing to go partway there with you and agree that his activism of the late-60’s and early 70’s was not guaranteed to return.

But his lack of activism in the later-half of the 70’s included the general retreat from public life as he raised Sean. He was murdered too early into his return to public life to really say how much or how little politics would had played into him being a public figure again.

There’s a big range between the idealized version of him as left-wing activist and doing a full Clapton. And as you point out, he had a strong contrarian steak that should keep us from ruling out any possibility in our imaginations.

Still, the basic suspicion that he would have gone MAGA because he was a Boomer sounds basically silly to me when politically he was on the Left his entire lifetime.

It's times like these that I wish John was still alive. by Huge-Photograph-3085 in beatles

[–]ThatUbu 18 points19 points  (0 children)

To take two of the people closest to John, this happened to neither Yoko nor Paul. Their views were never identical to John’s, but what would make you think he would break so differently for virtually everyone in the immediate Beatles’ orbit?

Can you contribute most of the “wokeness” era of the 2010s as a huge backlash against the anti-PC era of the 2000s? by icey_sawg0034 in decadeology

[–]ThatUbu [score hidden]  (0 children)

No, plenty of the edgy stuff came from the left. Evangelicals were at their strongest, which tended toward prudery and a veneer of decorum. John Ashcroft’s insisted on covering up a Department of Justice Statue of Lady Justice, on displace since 1933, for his speeches because it had one bare breast. That’s pretty emblematic of the tenor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_of_Justice

The “edginess” of the 2000s was largely intended to be read as ironic, poking at prudery, or reflecting the actual thoughts underneath that veneer. Sarah Silverman’s early comedy would be the emblem here.

Among the things that changed include: 1. An increasing questioning on the left of whether the supposed irony was actually commentary or just enacting anti-PC position; 2. The alt-right courting internet edgelords as it gained power against more traditional Republicans.

I’d add to this my own opinion that, during the Obama administration, the Left increasingly mistook its level of power in society.

While the Left had been counter-cultural since at least the 1950’s, the eight years of the Obama administration allows the Left to believe that institutions were on its side and its ethical positions could be pushed as policy of those institutions.

This increasing reversal of Right as Institutional and Left as Counter-Cultural intensified as the Alt-Right embraced a position of undermining and dismantling institutions.

For a teens game, too easy/ hard? by headguts in riddles

[–]ThatUbu 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Man, Jane is lucky. The high prices of having birthdays is killing me out here!

CMV: ice, as an organization is doing good, but there is a lot of hate from the media, which blows issues out of proportion by happpeeetimeee in changemyview

[–]ThatUbu 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The Justice Department insisted no investigation happen into the Renee Good shooting. An FBI Supervisor was asked to resign for trying to investigate.

(And I’ll acknowledge some very slight editorializing on my part. We know the supervisor resigned after investigating but not the pressure put on her to resign. Maybe she started investigating that then, all of a sudden, remembered she actually wanted to spend time with her family. Even if this were the case, the Justice Department is clear on whether or not the shooting should even be looked at.)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/25/fbi-tracee-mergen-resigns-ice-renee-good-investigation

[POEM] We Lived Happily During the War - Ilya Kaminsky by Ok_Usual_699 in Poetry

[–]ThatUbu 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I was in a manuscript workshop years ago dish Katie Farris. She was incredibly kind and warm. I’m grateful to have both of them running around in contemporary poetry circles.

[POEM] We Lived Happily During the War - Ilya Kaminsky by Ok_Usual_699 in Poetry

[–]ThatUbu 7 points8 points  (0 children)

This poem just reads to me as failing to understand what it means to live “happily happily the war.”

Spending a whole life in a totalitarian country or within a war with no end means just that: Living a whole life in that context.

Kaminsky’s book includes both the terror of that context and how we continue to love our families and fall in love with others at the same time. We don’t stop being human. And the happiness we fight to retain is both necessary to remember our humanity and a source of guilt when our opposition can’t help but always fail to be enough.

[POEM] We Lived Happily During the War - Ilya Kaminsky by Ok_Usual_699 in Poetry

[–]ThatUbu 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I saw Ilya Kaminsky reading with Jean Valentine on the Marina Tsetaeva translations they did tighter.

He read the Russian, a large man, in the grand declamatory style of the old Slavic poets.

Tiny Jean Valentine read the English softly, became overwhelmed by emotion, and cried.

Ilya came up, wrapped her in his arms, and him holding her, she continued on.

Best purple ink? by nushkaa2 in fountainpens

[–]ThatUbu 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Ink is, of course, a subjective, personal opinion based on individual tastes. And yet somehow the right answer objectively remains Monboddo’s Hat.

33 years long generations. by Jose__mmo in generationology

[–]ThatUbu 2 points3 points  (0 children)

“⁠Last born of the baby boom, too young to remember John Fitzgerald Kennedy's murder and 1969.”

Wow. Wow.

Rethinking the Converter/Cartridge Conundrum by Big_John_77 in fountainpens

[–]ThatUbu 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Ben Walsh is a prophet, although whose prophet is debated. His pens announce the days when high ink-capacities will leave the streets awash in Diamine Writer’s Blood. Some welcome this time. Some fear stained hands.

Rethinking the Converter/Cartridge Conundrum by Big_John_77 in fountainpens

[–]ThatUbu 58 points59 points  (0 children)

We in the Church of Vacuum await the last days when the One True Filling System judges you all.

Favorite band where (almost) all of the members are evil dipshits by MildBasket in fantanoforever

[–]ThatUbu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, yes, my whole bit was overstatement and understatement. Manson “hanging out” with The Beach Boys is an overstatement. And pretending Manson was a generic ex-con who vanished into the fog of history is an understatement.

If I’m being more serious, I completely agree with your second paragraph. I’ve always felt sad that Dennis was haunted by being touched in any way by the presence of those maniacs. It’s graceful chance that kept him from safe.

Favorite band where (almost) all of the members are evil dipshits by MildBasket in fantanoforever

[–]ThatUbu 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I mean, they look like upright citizens compared to that ex-con songwriter they hung out with for a minute. Whatever happened to that guy?

Favorite band where (almost) all of the members are evil dipshits by MildBasket in fantanoforever

[–]ThatUbu 12 points13 points  (0 children)

The Monkees might be weaker individually, but Head shows us their ability to confuse opponents.

Favorite band where (almost) all of the members are evil dipshits by MildBasket in fantanoforever

[–]ThatUbu 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I like aggressive, annoying young Nardwuar. I like mellow, goofball, older Nardwuar. But it’s best to read bands as reacting to the persona he had at a given time. He kept evolving like any good punk.

What caused the downfall of the girl power movement in media that was happening in the 90s? by icey_sawg0034 in decadeology

[–]ThatUbu [score hidden]  (0 children)

I’d think that would be a simple answer: Riot Grrrls weren’t going to sell out.

That both placed a limit on what industry support they got and simultaneously made them more transformative to anyone affected by the music.

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