Is the Greatest Generation the greatest?

[Whiskey_Clear]

My head always spins when I read or hear about someone who "won the Purple Heart ..." Those whom I know, probably much like your grandfather, never considered getting shot "winning". (Which is part of the present disengagement of civilian and military: a lot of folks don't even know what a Purple Heart represents.

No one in the military then, before, or now consider “winning” a Purple Heart a success in and of itself. “Winning it” refers to being awarded (I hope that terminology doesn’t make your head spin as well). Despite some military humor regarding the citation...it’s not a “I forgot to duck medal”. It’s a medal awarfed to those who put their necks on the line for their country and paid a physical price for doing so. And thank God for them.

 

[MountainBuzzMan]

Before I moved I had lunch about once a month with a WWII B17 pilot, then 90, actually completed 25 missions over Germany, had a couple of planes shot to pieces but never lost a crewman, and viewed it like this: "Anybody who flew through that and came back was just lucky. All you could do was keep that thing straight and hope to come out the other side with 10 live bodies. All you needed to come home was to do it 25 times." He objected to being "the Greatest Generation" and was convinced his grandsons were just as worthy as both his and his kids' generation. Just didn't take that seriously. But when I had occasion to introduce him to a friend it was always as an American hero.

My uncle was a P-51 crew chief during the war. I did not realize he also received a purple heart until a few years ago when I was at his hanger and saw it on the wall. He had it mounted with a spent Nazi cannon casing from one of their fighter planes. He was stationed close to the front to get the P-51's in France as close to Germany as possible. He said his base was a regular target for what few planes Germany had left. During a strafing round, he jumped into a circular fox hole they had scattered on the base as the planes went over. He said he felt a sharp pain in his head and then woke up hours later. Turns out the cannon casing hit him in the head and knocked him out. He needed a few stitches. That was the casing he had with his purple heart. The P-51's were causing all kinds of problems for the Germans and the Germans were able to get behind the US lines and attack his base a few times. He was nicked in the shoulder by a German sniper while working on a P-51 one day as well. He said they had to turn into infantry troops for a few days to help clear out the Germans.

He said they lost more pilots than ground personnel. Being in a plane was a deadly place to be.

 

[LibertyTurns]

No one in the military then, before, or now consider “winning” a Purple Heart a success in and of itself. “Winning it” refers to being awarded (I hope that terminology doesn’t make your head spin as well). Despite some military humor regarding the citation...it’s not a “I forgot to duck medal”. It’s a medal awarfed to those who put their necks on the line for their country and paid a physical price for doing so. And thank God for them.

It’s a lot easier to joke about it when you were only shot at occasionally. If you’ve been surrounded by body bags it’s a whole different deal. I don’t know how those guys sleep.

Yes God Bless them all!

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Well think about what the kids are being taught. Marriage is whatever we say it is. An unborn baby is only a baby if we say it is. Your gender is whatever we say it is. If anybody seriously has a problem with the current 15-25 year olds, then blame their parents who teach, endorse, and advocate for moral relativism and don’t believe in objective truth.

 

[wishbone]

Unfortunately our military has become a disconnected caste in our society. "Thank you for your service" too easily fills in for a remarkable lack of knowledge of what they do for us and the cost.
Off topic...consider compulsory military/social service. Military, Peace Corps, Habitat, any thing to get these kids out of moms basement and working.

 

[Wrecking Ball]

Gotta disagree about our softness as a society in general. As a whole each generation has gotten softer than the great generation. That doesn’t mean each generation doesn’t put out tough as nails badasses (just look in our special forces, they are present). And it doesn’t mean the greatest generation didn’t have some pansies too. But all in all we are trending down.

You guys need to get outside and stop playing video games in your moms basement. Read something. Broaden your horizons.

Socrates was complaining about how soft the youth of his day were - 2,500 years ago.

You guys are great about feeling better about yourself by killing straw men.

 

[Wrecking Ball]

Well think about what the kids are being taught. Marriage is whatever we say it is. An unborn baby is only a baby if we say it is. Your gender is whatever we say it is. If anybody seriously has a problem with the current 15-25 year olds, then blame their parents who teach, endorse, and advocate for moral relativism and don’t believe in objective truth.

I don’t know anyone’s parents who teach them this. Cite sources.

Do you people have social lives at all? Where are you going that there’s this terrible society out to destroy you and everything you hold dear?

Where is this secret cabal of immoralizers?

Man I live in rural GA and good church kids from good homes still turn out confused and have a lot to learn - which has always been true of young people. You ever read Aristotle or Plato? Hell, you even read the Bible? I doubt you do, but you sure can thump it.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

I don’t know anyone’s parents who teach them this. Cite sources.

Do you people have social lives at all?

Where is this secret cabal of immoralizers?

Man I live in rural GA and good church kids from good homes still turn out confused and have a lot to learn - which has always been true of young people. You ever read Aristotle or Plato? Hell, you even read the Bible? I doubt you do, but you sure can thump it.

Like I said, keep it up and you're about to get blocked with all this oral diarreah.

Instead of just having a seizure, slow down and actually think about what I wrote. There are kids (ie, teenagers and younger) who are saying they are the opposite gender of how they were born. Some are taking hormone therapy drugs. I don't care who you are, your child doesn't do this kind of garbage unless you support it in some fashion. Everyone knows that kids brains don't fully develop until around age 25. So to let someone half that age make life altering decisions that border on delusion, you are failing as a parent. And I could go on. But I think you get the point. Your child doesn't grow up being spoiled unless they grew up being spoiled.

 

[Wrecking Ball]

Like I said, keep it up and you're about to get blocked with all this oral diarreah.

Instead of just having a seizure, slow down and actually think about what I wrote. There are kids (ie, teenagers and younger) who are saying they are the opposite gender of how they were born. Some are taking hormone therapy drugs. I don't care who you are, your child doesn't do this kind of garbage unless you support it in some fashion. Everyone knows that kids brains don't fully develop until around age 25. So to let someone half that age make life altering decisions that border on delusion, you are failing as a parent. And I could go on. But I think you get the point. Your child doesn't grow up being spoiled unless they grew up being spoiled.

And this is happening at a statistically high enough frequency to constitute an accurate generalization of a generation of 65,000,000 people, the largest in American history?

That is spread throughout a continent-spanning nation that features incredibly diverse geography and culture?

This is called cherry picking in statistics.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

And this is happening at a statistically high enough frequency to constitute an accurate generalization of a generation of 65,000,000 people, the largest in American history?

That is spread throughout a continent-spanning nation that features incredibly diverse geography and culture?

This is called cherry picking in statistics.

SLOOOOOOOOW DOWN. I never said that. What I said was that if you want to try and paint the Pokemon Generation with a broad brush, you should start with their parents. I gave a few examples as just an illustration of it. CLEARLY, a high majority of kids and their parents are NOT in the bucket I described. But I chose that particular bucket of people because that was the group being attacked.

What is really funny is that I was defending that group of kids, saying it wasn't all their fault. LOL.

 

[Wrecking Ball]

SLOOOOOOOOW DOWN. I never said that. What I said was that if you want to try and paint the Pokemon Generation with a broad brush, you should start with their parents. I gave a few examples as just an illustration of it. CLEARLY, a high majority of kids and their parents are NOT in the bucket I described. But I chose that particular bucket of people because that was the group being attacked.

What is really funny is that I was defending that group of kids, saying it wasn't all their fault. LOL.

There’s no context in your comment or in the comments around it to indicate that this was not just a general moral panic post.

If there was and I missed, then that’s on me.

But just FYI it’s not so clear to about half of these posters that a high majority isn’t in that bucket because they don’t have diverse information sources about the world. Moral panic is their default state.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

There’s no context in your comment or in the comments around it to indicate that this was not just a general moral panic post.

If there was and I missed, then that’s on me.

But just FYI it’s not so clear to about half of these posters that a high majority isn’t in that bucket because they don’t have diverse information sources about the world. Moral panic is their default state.

So here's how this website works - I posted something (the one you're referring to). It contained no previous reply, it quoted nobody. It was like a comment into the air, as you implied. When that is the case, it is helpful to go back and look at the original post that started the thread. That's who I was replying to, and I apologize I didn't include that first quote in my post. Its way too late to edit my post now, so it will continue to sit there in its own thread bastardness.

 

[Wrecking Ball]

So here's how this website works - I posted something (the one you're referring to). It contained no previous reply, it quoted nobody. It was like a comment into the air, as you implied. When that is the case, it is helpful to go back and look at the original post that started the thread. That's who I was replying to, and I apologize I didn't include that first quote in my post. Its way too late to edit my post now, so it will continue to sit there in its own thread bastardness.

I don’t see how it’s a direct response to the first post. The first post didn’t specifically just attack the group you highlighted?

 

[Deleted member 2897]

I don’t see how it’s a direct response to the first post. The first post didn’t specifically just attack the group you highlighted?

DUDE, READ. Here is the post, quoting an often and wide felt belief about today's kids. If you haven't ever heard anybody say these things, maybe you do live way out in rural Georgia. . This is exactly how tons of people feel. There are thousands of memes about it. etc.

"When did so many of us begin to believe that today's recruits, mostly 18, are so soft and frilly, Pillsbury Doughboys who seek, who demand, kid gloves and that loving feeling when asked to play a sport that hits people in the mouth? Repeatedly? How is it we believe we are producing a generation of whiners, wimps, wusses and wannabees who expect to be escorted, gently please, to the playing field, game to be called if muddy or it snows, and parasols issued if it rains? Who expect to be told how great thou art by the head ball coach himself, no second line position coaches or coordinators, please, the head man only, preferably, white gloves, bowler and dinner jacket?\ Who have never heard a curse word and will faint dead away at the dreaded F bomb, words their parents never, ever, used and no coach or teammate ever uttered? Who will recoil in abject terror from a coach -- any coach from anywhere -- who is direct, straightforward, unapologetic, hard edged if you will? How did we get from the Greatest Generation to ... this?"

 

[Wrecking Ball]

Ok. I just don’t think it’s that widespread. I also think Fox News is in the business of creating the perception it’s widespread.

Just like MSNBC wants everyone to think hate groups are everywhere. On that note the KKK by the SPLC estimates is less than 4,000 members in a nation of 350 million.

I just want folks to unplug from the cherry picking outrage machine.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Ok. I just don’t think it’s that widespread. I also think Fox News is in the business of creating the perception it’s widespread.

Just like MSNBC wants everyone to think hate groups are everywhere. On that note the KKK by the SPLC estimates is less than 4,000 members in a nation of 350 million.

I just want folks to unplug from the cherry picking outrage machine.

HA! Yep. I mean, the SPLC themselves is a hate group. They should put their own logo on their hate map, LOL.

 

[Wrecking Ball]

HA! Yep. I mean, the SPLC themselves is a hate group. They should put their own logo on their hate map, LOL.

They’ve jumped the shark for sure.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

You guys need to get outside and stop playing video games in your moms basement. Read something. Broaden your horizons.

Socrates was complaining about how soft the youth of his day were - 2,500 years ago.

You guys are great about feeling better about yourself by killing straw men.

Your first paragraph is proof to me that you are a complete fool. I bet the mom’s basement line is your favorite go to when you don’t have an actual argument to make.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

You guys need to get outside and stop playing video games in your moms basement. Read something. Broaden your horizons.

Socrates was complaining about how soft the youth of his day were - 2,500 years ago.

You guys are great about feeling better about yourself by killing straw men.

Read that quote somewhere and found it highly entertaining initially. Then became a bit suspicious.

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/01/misbehaving-children-in-ancient-times/