Young People Aren't Generally The Future Just Another Generation Of Mediocrity

Has anyone noticed we are supposed to buy this," We are the future", bit about young people, when ever they want something. It all seems to be that anyone older than 22 (I am 37) should be screwed over so they can have what they want. Is it not bloody obvious that even those that get into uni, will end up in some dead end job eventually become a middle manager complaining about their pension, who has about as much impact upon the world as a wet fart. Most have no disadvantages which of cause would take them out of the argument totally ( working class, or disabled kids do not get anything). It seems if your family are pretty well off then a life of screwing over the populace is assured.

reply to post by s12345

Number one. Couldn't you have thought of a bunch of happier questions for a Friday night?
Number two. Have you ever tried working and saving half your working life to be told that all you had invested had just vaporised itself? Spontaneous combustion, if you will.
Number three. Why is an "older" person, but still doing a regular job, the enemy?

ETA I'm 40+ and probably read it all wrong. Apologies.

ETA2 No employer wants an old, grumpy, stubborn and uncheap employee like me. Found me one now though. Well, for a year at least but I hope it lasts longer.

reply to post by s12345


I agree.

When you are young they fill you with the myth that the future is in your hands and everything is possible. Just work hard to make someone else profit and you will be 'successful'.

It is all complete BS. Reality is, unless you are lucky enough to be born into capital, you will spend your life competing with everyone else in order to get by. You will attempt to live beyond your means, because the consumerist system is constantly creating desire. You will spend your life making profit for someone else. Even if you open your own business. Capitalism only really works for those at the very top of the pyramid scheme.

Originally posted by LightSpeedDriver
Number three. Why is an "older" person, but still doing a regular job, the enemy?

I don't think that is what the OP was saying?

The OP was pointing out that the young are not the future as us older folks can tell you, the young will not do anything to change anything in our future, but simply follow the traditional route of dead end job, and complaining about everything on ATS lol.

Well that's interesting.

You know that the most powerful force in society is a well educated, passionate and confident electorate right?

So the young people ARE the future, as long as WE raise them to be. It's our fault that the kids of today have so many issues, we created the society they live in.

Telling them they have no power in the system and that the system will remain as such regardless of their actions, doesn't help anybody, other than those who have enslaved you.

It's kind of ironic to see people working for TPTB & the MSM..for free.

~Tenth

I'm not so sure, the youth of today are growing up with social media which makes it a bit harder to propagandize them. Think about why the baby boomers were so easily distracted: information was scarce and hard to disseminate. With the internet and social media, the opposite is the case. It is much more difficult now to sway public opinion.

Not to mention after the current generation in power is dead and gone, with them will likely go their backwards beliefs. The youth of today will hopefully liberate itself, and future generations, from this plague of mediocrity once they are elected into public office.

Time tends to play the role of a great equalizer; regardless of what these imbecile incumbents shove down our throats, their time will pass and they will die, allowing those who are fed up with their wrongdoings to fix them.

The trouble is they are told that everyone else has to sacrifice their life for them, so they can have what they want which is somehow worth more than what you want. I have noticed it's always the richer kids who are told to expect this the most. It is in very few powerful peoples interests to create a level playing field for everyone, of any age. It's amazing how bigoted they are too, anyone below them socially they really believe should roll up and die. This all means of cause that everything is supposed to go the richer: even that the poor have.

You could be just a bloody head on a table, and still they would want what you have: never mind what the poor head wants, just give it to them. Real change would mean that spoilt group of people wanting to take the chance of their social status lowering if they aren't very good.

They will be another generation of mediocrity if we allow it. Especially here in America where we are bred to be the muscle not the brains. We MUST teach our children not let others teach them. They only want to indoctrinate our children into the system instead of the truth.

The guy who got it right was the guy who talked about capital: if you have it you can easier make more, if you don't have it you get screwed.

If you have the money and power behind you to get let in you need no talent, and if you don't no amount of talent is enough.

reply to post by ANOK

YOu sound like somebody who just had a bad turn of events while playing Entropia Universe.

Here's a fact I learned while playing EU:
1) Since there's a finite supply of currency then there's also a finite number of people who can be top earners. What this means is that if you dream of being in the top 1% then it's going to be a fight.

Power isn't given, ti's taken. This is because power is in limited supply.

I also learned that stressing over PEDs makes almost everyone (outside my circle) an enemy. Why is this, they ask. It's this way because people are out to exploit by buying low and selling high. Etc.

And then there's this:
www.livescience.com ...

In a series of nine experiments, researchers found that money enhanced people's motivation to achieve their own goals and degraded their behavior toward others. The concept of money, they suggest, makes a person feel more self-sufficient and thus more apt to stand alone.

The scientists said the study had nothing to do with making a person feel wealthy. When real or fake money, or even a photo of cash, was placed in sight of participants, they became selfish.

And lastly, this:

Originally posted by jonnywhite
reply to post by ANOK

 

YOu sound like somebody who just had a bad turn of events while playing Entropia Universe.

Okaay whatever that is LOL.

Or just someone with enough life experience to see the reality vs the illusion you're fed, and by the time you realise it's too late?

But then the people posting on ATS are not the dumb vast majority, or you would be watching Gerry Springer re-runs or something (that is a bad joke btw, not a slight), so this probably doesn't apply to you anyway. I'm sure you'll remain outside of the masses of people struggling daily to feed themselves and/or their families, unemployed or constantly in fear if it.

If kids new this reality maybe they wouldn't expect so much handed to them, and maybe they'd think before settling for that life of mediocre job, two kids, and a mortgage in arrears. One generation, somewhere, has to break that cycle, or we will forever remain wage slaves raised to make profit for someone else.

Edit; I replied before you edited. Still no more clear of your point though.

reply to post by ANOK

My point is I walked away from EU dispirited about the whole thing.

Wanting power, wanting money, but feeling sick of it too. Hating myself for desiring power. And also realizing the uphill battle it's. Getting power isn't fun. It's stressful. It had no soul. It was grating.

And also realizing that everytime I "profited" I was just exploiting the ignorance of another person. Maybe their wallet was too big. Or maybe they don't understand numbers. Or maybe they're just plain dumb.

Working has no soul in my mind if I'm not on a more equal ground with the customer. That's really what I'm getting at. EU had a lot of that. Exploitation. Just using others to fill your account. Making spurious justifications. Real-life has this too, but fortunately, democracy allows us to stop it from getting too bad.

Originally posted by ANOK
reply to post by s12345

 

I agree.

When you are young they fill you with the myth that the future is in your hands and everything is possible. Just work hard to make someone else profit and you will be 'successful'.

It is all complete BS. Reality is, unless you are lucky enough to be born into capital, you will spend your life competing with everyone else in order to get by. You will attempt to live beyond your means, because the consumerist system is constantly creating desire. You will spend your life making profit for someone else. Even if you open your own business. Capitalism only really works for those at the very top of the pyramid scheme.

Really? I started a lawn company 12 years ago. it began with one van and a dream. Today the company has 14 trucks and services about 300 properties a day. I wasn't born into money, I don't have a silver spoon in my mouth. The thing many people forget is how hard your have to WORK in order to be successful. You can't wait for things to happen for you it takes incredible work ethic, tenacity, and a failure to ever quit. It takes working 80 hours a week. Especially in the beginning in order to build a business. Not many people have that work ethic which is why not many people are successful in starting their own business. The same people that sit around complaining about lack of opportunity and how they aren't getting their fair share in salary(big shots) are the same people most likely running out the door at 5:00 oclock to go party. Success doesn't work that way. Do at least 10-20% more than the next guy and watch how fast you can achieve greater success.

reply to post by libertytoall

There're the complainers but there're also the exploiters. So while the complainer leaves at 5'oclock to party, the exploiter deletes the stat sheet using hidden code that you, the manager, don't know exists.

And exploiters can make a lot of money.

reply to post by jonnywhite


Yeah but what has that got to do with me? I don't know what that game is, and I have never sought power.

Originally posted by libertytoall
Really? I started a lawn company 12 years ago. it began with one van and a dream. Today the company has 14 trucks and services about 300 properties a day. I wasn't born into money, I don't have a silver spoon in my mouth. The thing many people forget is how hard your have to WORK in order to be successful. You can't wait for things to happen for you it takes incredible work ethic, tenacity, and a failure to ever quit. It takes working 80 hours a week. Especially in the beginning in order to build a business. Not many people have that work ethic which is why not many people are successful in starting their own business. The same people that sit around complaining about lack of opportunity and how they aren't getting their fair share in salary(big shots) are the same people most likely running out the door at 5:00 oclock to go party. Success doesn't work that way. Do at least 10-20% more than the next guy and watch how fast you can achieve greater success.

I think that is what I was saying. You didn't take the path of being stuck in a dead-end job, and expected hand-outs.

But then on the other hand not everyone can do what you did. Not everyone has the capability, for many reasons.
I for one have, or never have had the desire to start a business. It's not what I want my life to be about. I am an artist, I'd suck at business if I wanted to do it.

Also if everyone opened their own business, there would be no one to work for them. Capitalism can never work unless it's a minority exploiting a majority. We have to accept we will always need manual untrained labour, you can't get away from it. The only way to make the economy work for everyone is through worker ownership. Otherwise it will always be a minority with the majority of economic power and the system will always be shaped by them for them. A minority class ruling over a majority class, just like it's always been.

reply to post by ANOK


Let's add a sprinkle of reality here:

a) Once you have studied and learnt how to do more than an average schoolkid you are an asset to be used by others,
b) Unless you have learnt to communicate and interpret peoples motives, you will be lulled by false praise and used til u burn out,
c) If u can communicate and interpret people you will start playing the politics game and either be manipulated or burnt out by stress or,
d) you will lose all humanity and use others like a gallon of petrol,
e) sooner or later you will see that you can only get a fair deal by being selfish and shafting/using others, or...
f) by being visionary enough to create a new market and milk enough money out of it in 12 months to pay for the rest of your life, before... someone jumps on your bandwagon and tries to shaft you...

Nothing has changed from 10,000 years ago... it's still dog eat dog...

The only difference is that when we are comfortable enough to think abut others, we try to help them



This cycle kills me because it teachs me that the only way to change the game is to leave it....

I don't wish to stereotype all young people together, but too many have an unrealistic sense of entitlement.

I'll use myself and my oldest son to make my point. I have traded notes with other parents, and find my situation is far from unique.

To start with, my parents had raised me to be ready to fend for myself at 18. I joined the military, and have no regrets, other than what I've mentioned in other threads. I managed to earn 2 degrees while serving in the military. I retired from the military at 38, but I also managed to save much of my military pay, and became independently wealthy as a result. Saving money meant that my wife (not the mother of my oldest son) and I lived below what my income could afford. Basically, we deprived ourselves of excess material crap in order to achieve financial security. Despite the wrecked economy, my personal finances are thriving still.

My oldest son, on the other hand, opted to go to college, and further his education. I admire that, and I have been giving him $3,000 a quarter to help with is costs. However, he continuously asks me for more funding of his education and lifestyle. I'm rather reluctant to pay for more than what I already commit to. I believe that he needs to learn responsibility for himself. I don't think there would be anything wrong with him working or getting a job.

Another sore topic, with my oldest son, is how he complains about the new Toyota Camry I bought for his High School graduation. He often points out how his vehicle didn't even cost 1/3 of any of my personal vehicles.

I just don't know what he expects. I could provide him much more assistance, but why should I? I really don't have to provide what I do already. I've compared notes with many of my friends, and it seems the same for most of them. Their kids also insist on having everything handed to them, and then some.

Unless my son matures, he will be shocked when I start my dirt nap, and he's been left with nothing.

A full sense of entitlement, and no appreciation. Those traits may see my oldest sons generation achieve a level below mediocrity.

i dont see why most people judge success by income and type of job.

mediocrity and moderation are actually qualities that young people don't appreciate nor exude anymore. i would argue they are the extremity of their parent's weakness. ie most everyone i know who has divorced parents, get divorced alot. those who i know would complain their parent(s) cheating, are now cheating on their spouse. those whose parents were always shopping and broke, are going bankrupt and dont even know what they spent 100K on, shopping etc.

there IS a record increase in violence and substance abuse and divorce and indebtness among other things in our generation.

id say young people are our present dilemma's, squared.

Nobody has told them how hard life can be. Life can literally destroy you, or completely f%ck you up in may different ways; they need to know they will need to get through these times: if it kills you that's it, if fit f%ck's you up you must go on, or you can lose the rest of your life.The get told that life is unfair, but perhaps not quite how unfair it is at times for everyone.