I often wonder why the “battle of the sexes” (however many) seems to get all the headlines, alongside the battle of the so-called “races” (as with “sexes” their number keeps changing) whereas the inter-generational battle seems to me more front and center, yet not as much in the news.
The elderly are committing the young to fight each other over obsolete ideologies, and are refusing treatment, in the form of more up to date thinking (better ideologies). Is that because the old don’t want to feel lonely in their beliefs? If the younger folk revolt over their debtor status, how will the older folks pay the bills?
For example, most Boomers watching USATV, absorbed the view that the world was conflicted over two leading ideologies, capitalism versus communism. The more educated learned of a “third world” that was opting out of this conflict, with the freedom to stay friends with both sides.
The terms of debate were not always crystal clear however. The Pentagon always seemed plenty socialist in its ways, with LAWCAP (the so-called military industrial complex or MIC, as studied by our AFSC) needing military socialism to stay on top.
Then communism seemed to whither away, becoming socialism also, in the form of central government spending and a growing public sector.
China invested big time on commuter rail and high rise apartments, and in taking over manufacturing from the so-called “west” (as if Europe were not in Eurasia) with its spanking new facilities.
Meanwhile, Russia went back to being more of an oligarchy, much like the USATV system, now run through six or so controllers.
Telling the defunct USSR and emergent USSA apart has become increasingly Orwellian, with words like “authoritarian” bandied about i.e. each side calls the other an oppressor of its own people, while appealing to the neutrals and non-aligned, to finally align. Sweden succumbed. Switzerland and Austria remain proud.
Except what are these “sides” anymore? Don’t we just have unfree peoples everywhere you look, and isn’t that “double plus ungood“ (Orwellian utopia-talk)?
By unfree I mean, in part: “programmed to hate the baddies” from a young age, then trained in weaponry, then sent, in kill mode to, if required, die on command against the other side. That’s called “being a hero”. The elderly applaud and make cemeteries, as that’s what many of them had to go through too. They’re just passing the torch. Who needs an upgrade?
As a Friend (NPYM’s Annual Session goes on without me — I’m visiting family this year) I see older generations, more comfortable in power roles, sending younger generations into Great Tragedy scenarios, to act as extras (and stars), as a part of the backdrop, as the obsolete ideologies duke it out in the foreground, trying out various new forms of rhetoric, looking to see what sticks.
In the meantime, our campaign to push an updated ideology meets with roadblocks at every turn. The investment in keeping any newer technology out of the schools is highly selective. Machine Learning is allowed to flood in, taking over a lot of responsibilities. Human Learning is put on the back burner.
However, Human Learning (yes, a form of reprogramming, lets face it) is what it takes to give a younger generation a sense of better prospects and new possibilities.
“Why are we being sacrificed?” is a good question. I encourage them to keep asking it.
Don’t let them tell you it’s “for God and country”. That line has worn thin.
