This started as a comment in response to the comments my previous diary elicited from some obviously thin skinned folks who chose to ignore the message and attack the messenger much in the same way their counterparts on the right are fond of doing. I've been arguing online with right wingers online for roughly 25 years now so those types of responses are something I'm used to although it has taken me a while to realize that the "left" is not only just as capable of using these tactics in their version of engagement as is the right, they're also just as apt to do so.
The fact that so many chose to respond to my rant is actually rather gratifying in that it tells me that you at least glanced at it, maybe even thought about what I was saying for 15-20 seconds, even if you didn't get it. The fact that so few of you actually did get it, with the majority preferring to focus on the manner of delivery rather than the message itself however, is not so gratifying. All I can say to that is, "Hey! It got your attention.".
Rather than try to respond to each individual attack I thought maybe it would be OK to just sum it all up in a new diary before moving on, having learned, if nothing else, that when you scratch away the thin veneer of self righteousness with which we all armor ourselves against the world, we're all... Progressive or Teaper... pretty much the same quivering little balls of totally self absorbed ego, ever alert to anything that might require us to think beyond our own little personal circle of awareness and ready to strike back instantly at any perceived attempt to do so.
I finally gave up worrying about smug self absorbed progressives being offended by what I write. As far as I'm concerned, they're just marginally less (if even that) responsible for the shape this country is in than the right is. You don't have to be a millionaire to embrace the "I've got mine, eff you" philosophy that is the hallmark of American Neocapitalism.
Yesterday's post apparently failed in its purpose because of my lack of skill in presenting my message. I never claimed to be a writer and I wouldn't really know where to start answering some of the smug self righteous comments even if I thought I could provide any answers that any of you would accept.
I could say in the one instance, "No, my generation did NOT give us Reagan, a part of it did, just as a part of YOUR generation gave us George W Bush. Twice. And yeah, I know, he stole those elections yadayada but he still had to get enough votes to steal them. Somebody damned sure voted for him.
We could have looked at the things your generation has failed to maintain using your own yardstick, many of which I mentioned in the rant and don't need to repeat... but after reading the comments here I've realized that specifics are the last things any of you want to talk about, preferring instead the usual snarky little putdowns and straw man attacks that mark most exchanges of opinion on the Internet where it's more important to come off "cool" than it is to actually engage someone.
The fact that so many of you can only see the rant as "generational warfare"... a couple of you even managing to work lameass "get off my lawn" references into your enlightened responses... doesn't alter the fact that it was the generations before yours that provided any advances for the common people that have occurred since WWII and it is yours that is standing by and watching them being taken away one by one.
So continue your little march over the cliff, accepting no responsibility for what's happening today because it's easier to blame it all on something you think happened (or didn't happen) before you were born, as in "Our generation was the first to inherit a world worse than our parents did.". Pretty piss poor excuse for not busting your ass to make it better for the next generation I'd say but hey, you guys have already dismissed that as "generation wars" and I've got nothing else.
You can't avoid the fact that every one of the things I mentioned and you refuse to talk about is occurring on YOUR watch and that you had a chance to correct our "mistakes" instead of compounding them. Instead you are choosing, of your own volition, to give up the apparently inadequately and too few good things we DID manage to fumble around and accomplish while claiming it's because we didn't do enough? Effing incredible!