A Message of Thanks
I am a fan of sarcasm, I may even go so far as to call myself a connoisseur of sarcasm. One of my favorite movies is Clerks. Randal has sarcasm down. (Glib and flippant comments are appreciated as well.) Some may feel it’s a character fault, I like to think of sarcasm as an under-appreciated art form. it’s a great defense against the real world.
So, when I came across a blog post that hit on all my hot button issues and was executed in possibly the most dripping, sloppy and smarmy sarcasm you can get, I thought “Perfect!”
From the Automatic Earth please see VK’s guest post - it follows the introduction by Ilargi
Some highlights…
I was thinking of writing something about the age of consequences that we have entered. With the world going all topsy turvy and unending chaos. I wanted to write something about the decline of complexity, an age of payback or blowback but before I do that, I reckon I want to thank the old farts who got us here. I mean the baby boomers -and gen X’ers to some extent-. No really, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart from Gen Y. It is not even conceivable how ridiculously spoilt the boomers and Gen X’ers are.
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I thank you also for the environmental gifts you have given, pollutants, CFC’s, methane and carbon. Dirty rivers and smogged-up cities. Dead babies and frankenseeds. Thank you so much, we’re well past the climate change tipping point at 350ppm, the permafrost meltdown will come to us, from Russia with love, adding god knows how much methane into the atmosphere.
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Now please, let the kids sort things out. You geezers should take a hike. Quite literally, go to a park, go trekking, like try the Great Beyond. You’ve done enough damage as it is.
I think VK is a little hard on the Gen Xer’s - I guess cause I’m one - mostly because I think we’re pretty screwed too. Seriously, I will be living in the same crumbling world the Gen Y’s and millennials will be.
Still, in the sprit of VK - thanks, at least it’ll be interesting.
Tags: agriculture, Baby Boomers, Economic crisis, global warming, peak oil, war
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Every generation blames the one before. And with all this blame that has gone through the century - has anything really changed?
So Chris, you really don’t think that our father’s generation went above-and-beyond the call of duty when it comes to excess? They may not have believed they were going to screw the next generations as bad as they did, but I would have hoped that they would have maybe investigated the possible ramifications of their choices a little. I’ve read plenty of articles point the finger directly at their generation for depleting financial and natural resources to the point of scarcity.
The Boomers and the Greatest Generation had chances to bring things under control. During the 1970’s environmentalism, alt. energy, conservation and energy independence were the subject of everyday life. Then - boom - everything was back to business-as-usual as soon as the calendar turned to 1980?
Didn’t say that at all Chris H - I said what I said.
Every generation blames the problems of the current generation on the one before - and yet with each generation that passes, very little is done.
James raises a valid point - only when faced with potential personal hardship does anything change. Again, what has our generation changed as a collective?
We’re consuming more than ever before - material goods and resources.
Yes - economics - by necessity we’re reacting. Voter turnouts among our generation are abysmal. And in all honesty - I see a lot of lip service from our generation. Yes - small groups are trying - as they did in the 60’s and 70’s.
But as a collective en masse?
Do we investigate the ramifications, for example, of disposing of CFL’s? Do we investigate the ramifications of disposing of all those batteries from electic cars? No generation has looked forward 50 years - why should they - it doesn’t impact them. Most people, unfortunately, only think about the now.
Sites such as this one, raise consciousness - but so did the “hippies” of the 1960’s. Not a criticism - just an observation.
Until we each get over our fine selves and fully appreciate the interconnectiveness of each other as well as the environment - change will be driven by necessity or brute government intervention.