Does the older generation always think the subsequent generations are soft? \ stacker news ~FiresidePhilosophy

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Does the older generation always think the subsequent generations are soft?

2234 sats \ 62 comments \ @stack_harder 16 Nov FiresidePhilosophy

"Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.” ― Marcus Tullius Cicero

For modern generations, we could probably change the last bit to 'making a tiktok', instead of a book, but the point stands.

It seems like all older generations see the next generation as soft, weak, decadent, or a combination of all of them.

My question is, are we always getting softer on aggregate? Ii mean I'm sure a ww2 vet would be horrified at my lack of ability to survive in the woods, then again, maybe it's just because as time goes by, we just have different things we prioritize that make us money or help us relax?

I mean, I even think of my 20-something cousins as soft af because they have zero attention span and can't even have a normal human-human interaction without a device.

What do you guys think?

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215 sats \ 1 reply \ @frostdragon 18 Nov

Great conversation starter, kudos.

The older I get, the more I realize everything can be taken away at a moment's notice, and it seems like I probably should to know how to literally survive in the woods. Not that I've done much towards that, but to your point, I do think we're becoming increasingly dependent on technology (especially with incoming AI products), and while there's a lot of potential to continuously "stand on the shoulders of giants" and innovate and expand out knowledge to infinity and beyond......... it does seem it like most of the population is going the way of the Wall-E people.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 18 Nov

I have contemplated going on survival courses or something to be honest, not because i expect to be running around in a loincloth in the woods anytime soon, but because it's skill acquisition and because i suppose you never know.

Just the knowledge of having the skills is quite satisfying i think

208 sats \ 8 replies \ @k00b 16 Nov

I think every generation is that self-centered.

"We live in the most important time in history"
"We have it tough"
"We are tough"
"Those other generations are lazy"
"Those other generations had it easy"
"The time I'm living in is different. It's like no other time that's ever existed in history"

348 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 16 Nov

one thing is for sure, a couple of hundred years ago, things didn't change that much between generations, the pace of change we've seen maybe the past 100 years has been crazy

19 sats \ 0 replies \ @Msd0457890 16 Nov

These are just excuses. Many generations had more opportunities than the current ones and they were unable to emerge. It only depends on the thinking, the culture and how each generation developed at the time in which they lived.

32 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve 17 Nov

Baby boomers and millennials are more narcissistic and politically strident than other generations.

Edit: Who embraced political correctness and woke?

High schools and colleges providing safe spaces for grieving students because their candidate lost is embarrassing. Same thing happened in 2016.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve 17 Nov

https://www.campusreform.org/article/tashjy-no-milk-cookies-normandy/26783

How is it possible that in two generations, our country could go from producing the “greatest generation,” which liberated millions of people from fascist and Nazi oppression, to a generation that is arguably the most narcissistic and emotionally fragile ever?

Look, don’t get me wrong, passion is good, but what we have these days, particularly among many college students, is a lot of passion with very little perspective.

10 sats \ 3 replies \ @Imyourfed 16 Nov

Old man be like : jeez today's kids getting wealthy by tapping this ⚡️ button on some place they yell SN

97 sats \ 2 replies \ @zapsammy 16 Nov

it's a pay to post platform for getting richer in smarts, not richer in so-called money.

(oh no, the dark side has gotten to Sammy)

23 sats \ 1 reply \ @Imyourfed 16 Nov

I know was just kidding man! Would a 80 year old man who don't know a shit about btc would understand it? He would just say kids are making few bucks! That's it!

getting richer in smarts, not richer in so-called money

Very well said!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @zapsammy 16 Nov

218 sats \ 2 replies \ @jk_14 16 Nov

see testosterone decline:

"For decades, testosterone levels have been declining. Your grandad may not have been quite as swift with Excel, but he probably one-upped you where T levels are concerned.

It’s normal for testosterone levels to decline as you get older, but for some reason, there’s been a population-level drop with each generation, at least since the 70s [1–4]. This means, on average, Gen Zers and millennials have significantly lower testosterone levels compared to their predecessors."

https://www.medichecks.com/blogs/testosterone/why-do-gen-z-and-millennial-men-have-lower-testosterone

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @Bell_curve 17 Nov

Disturbing trend

Are these measurements of testosterone credible?

11 sats \ 0 replies \ @jk_14 17 Nov

https://www.google.pl/search?q=testosterone+decrease+generation

81 sats \ 5 replies \ @grayruby 16 Nov

Technology improves standard of living so the next generation will typically have more tools to access to make their lives easier. Does that make them soft. Probably.

It likely takes war or crisis to find out though.

51 sats \ 4 replies \ @Undisciplined 16 Nov

That's the line I was thinking along, too.

If you took someone from now and put them in a previous generation, their reaction would likely be that it's tougher to live like that.

If you take someone from a past generation and put them in the present, we know that they will tend to find it confusing.

40 sats \ 3 replies \ @stack_harder OP 18 Nov

reminds me of how recently they gave one of those remote island tribes starlink internet and phones, and all the men just immediately became addicted to porn lol

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined 18 Nov

I didn't hear about that, but it's not surprising. NYC did something similar for the homeless and all of a sudden they were just watching porn everywhere.

19 sats \ 1 reply \ @stack_harder OP 18 Nov

that was what I read, although I did also see this article that refutes the claim, the whole situation is quite amusing none the less

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/world/americas/no-a-remote-amazon-tribe-did-not-get-addicted-to-porn.html

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 18 Nov

Well if the New York Times says it didn't happen...

15 sats \ 1 reply \ @Coinsreporter 16 Nov

Older people always think the subsequent generations are idiots. They even say so but at heart they know the subsequent generations are always gonna be better.

This is what my father says after he has used two or three Hindi slangs (abusive words).

We have a proverb that says "Sitar ka goo, na lipan ka na potan ka" loosely translates as "you're turned into shit of a dog, not of any use." They say this for they want everything to be done as they want it to be done.

I'm not against any older generations but morality is transferred the old to the young. The west that is now subject to this young-old differences, imo, is because the west don't have a system of Joint Family.

In short, I don't see a typical Indian family doesn't have this dilemma.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 16 Nov

that's a pretty harsh proverb lol

78 sats \ 3 replies \ @siggy47 16 Nov

"when I was your age..." I heard that every day as a kid. Now I use it

43 sats \ 2 replies \ @Imyourfed 16 Nov

Grandpa?

26 sats \ 1 reply \ @siggy47 16 Nov

Not yet. In a few years, maybe.

43 sats \ 0 replies \ @Imyourfed 16 Nov

Trust me, you'll be the coolest grandpa in the world :)

84 sats \ 6 replies \ @didiplaywell 16 Nov

It's not a line but a cycle: hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, weak men create hard times.

Here in Argentina the younger generations see the previous ones, their fathers specially (our boomers), as weak and naive. And they are right. In today's political arena the teenagers are the sharpest, and boomers are helpless.

0 sats \ 5 replies \ @stack_harder OP 18 Nov

this is quite interesting because in the West, the boomers feel like the smartest and best generation ever because they have all this money and wealth built up. like, how can I not be smart, look at all this wealth i have from hard work, and look at this 20-something living with people in a house.

43 sats \ 4 replies \ @didiplaywell 18 Nov

Here the boomers feel the exact same, except that their special cocktail of not having a clue on economic and political affairs, thus being solely responsible of the current economic and political distress, and on top of that, vehemently rejecting and ridiculing the one guy that came to fix it (Milei), made them a laughing stock for the youth. The teenagers are solely responsible for our current comeback from never-ending decadence. You have this kids explaining their fathers how reality works. It's to be recognized that, besides the blind pride of our boomers, which almost causes Milei to lose last year, most at least have a reluctant but noble inclination to hear their sons. Had this happened in previous generations, Milei would not exist for teens were culturally forbidden to raise up an opinion to their fathers.

20 sats \ 3 replies \ @stack_harder OP 18 Nov

presumably the boomers are also getting some of the state benefits etc, pensions and whatnot that make them also want a continuation of the status quo, even if it's shit

26 sats \ 2 replies \ @didiplaywell 18 Nov

It's quite divided here:

There's an army of millions of state parasites who "work" for the state (all of them being progressively severed by Milei right now), who are in all aspects and senses a modern nobility, for the state grants them special economical and legal privileges. Those are the ones which hold a status quo, but are not a majority.
There's a 10x bigger (hard numbers, 20 million indigents) army of parasites who live entirely out of pensions and state benefits, but dwell in cluttered slums. The trick there is to have them always on the edge, so that even if they despise socialism, they have to vote for it just to not to die from hunger.
Then there's the other half of the population who works entirely just to keep the two groups above, but are so indoctrinated into socialism that despite of being humiliated and exploited by it (no wealth, no status quo), still will vote for it because is the only thing they can understand. When something is "private", is "evil", when something belongs to the state, is "holy". And all failures and shortcomings are due to the evil imperialist countries who permanently boycott the country to make socialism fail.

20 sats \ 1 reply \ @stack_harder OP 18 Nov

it seems very ingrained across society, Milei warned the UK we could end up in a similar trap and i think he might be right.

still, must be quite satisfying to watch him chainsaw the shit out of the parasites

26 sats \ 0 replies \ @didiplaywell 18 Nov

i think he might be right

Oh, he is. I can tell you.

must be quite satisfying to watch him chainsaw the shit out of the parasites

Orgasmic, that's the word. It feels orgasmic.

66 sats \ 5 replies \ @ContraMundum 16 Nov

It’s a logical fallacy. The older generations blame the younger generations as soft as if they weren’t the generation that raised up the younger generations. So really who’s to blame? That’s like saying, If the next generation is soft, maybe the older generation forgot they were the ones who molded the clay.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 17 Nov

Best comment.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 17 Nov

this is a good point actually, as you point out, the people in charge of raising us could be blamed for making us soft

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Bell_curve 17 Nov

Public school teachers and college professors lack maturity and promote crybabies and prolonged adolescence today. There are no adults in the classroom

11 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 17 Nov

And parents (at least some) are finally realizing this. But this isn't new. It's just gotten worse in the last 20 years. Government schooling was always a problem but it's reached new lows.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @denlillaapan 17 Nov

That's a nice way to put it!

10 sats \ 1 reply \ @wilto 16 Nov

It really depends on the country, culture, and the level of parental involvement in their education. However, if kids are growing up spending too much time watching TV, browsing YouTube, Tik Tok, Neftflix and whatever nonsense and generally being online much of their spare time —with little outdoor exercise or social interaction—it's not surprising that they might be seen as 'soft'.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Msd0457890 16 Nov

In that you are right, the country and the culture have a lot to do with it. Well, in Latin America we have always tried to create an active entrepreneurial society. I wouldn't know how to talk about Europe or Asia because I have never been there.

50 sats \ 3 replies \ @Myshkin 16 Nov

When we study historical events, we struggle to grasp how human life was considered back in the days. Life was meaningless but also precious. In ancient roman times or during the middle ages, your best friend would have killed you if your two families had some sudden litigation. People used to kill for honor, for futile things like looking someone in the eyes or not crossing a road to show respect.

But life also had a meaning, life meant something every day: sufferings were meaningful, the daily grind was precious. Rest time was so scarce that the pleasure of it was unbarable. Having a piece of red meat once a month was an opportunity for a party.

Now we are not soft, we are simply despaired and without meaning. And we try to tell ourselves that mankind has never seen such progress, such wealth, such technological achievements. That may be true - although I have some doubts. What is also true is that we lost our relationship with the Five Senses.

We watch but generally don't see; we hear but we generally don't listen. We touch but don't feel. Anything seems to have lost its smell and its taste. Our softness is predicated on that, nothing seems scarce, so our westerners sick brains started giving most things for granted. And we give for granted the Google Maps help, so we don't care to remember routes; give food for granted, so we generally don't remember the taste of the steak we eat nor the taste of the eggs.

Softness is not predicated on the fact that we don't have wolves or bears looking actively for our flash. Softness is not predicated on the fact that we don't have an enemy soldier aiming at our windows with their sniper. Softness is in the Grey.

Our parents didn't live through wars, they are relatively young. Possibly, they never suffered thirst nor hunger. They lived though the daily grind of western human life as all of us today are doing, but they are not soft. They fight for what they believe is true, they stand for themselves and for their ideas. They don't punch people because they don't agree with them, even though muscles are not lacking under the skin.

That's not softness, it's lack of A battle to fight. Once you have something to aim for, your softness disappears. Even if you're a thin adolescent in a 21st century western wealthy country.

21 sats \ 2 replies \ @stack_harder OP 16 Nov

the lack of a battle to fight is a thing for sure, it;s like if a younger generation doesn't have a good cause to rally behind , they find something, or just become apathetic slugs

31 sats \ 1 reply \ @Myshkin 16 Nov

It seems to me that we're failing the challenge Nietzsche set up: the death of God means that individuals need to find meaning within themselves, or Ideology could rise (as marxism did). We're testifying the inhabiliy of human beings to find meaning with introspection and no God.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 18 Nov

there's a lot of truth in this, reminds me of what happened in Russia with the fall of communism, no ideology left to believe in and we end up seeing yet another personality cult form

53 sats \ 3 replies \ @anon 16 Nov

These days 75% of kids age 17 to 24 are ineligible for military service due to obesity, drugs, physical and mental health problems, misconduct, and aptitude. What does that tell you?

11 sats \ 0 replies \ @chairman_pretense 16 Nov

Tells you universal health care might be on the way in the USA, if the UK history from the Boer war is any example: https://history.port.ac.uk/?p=2264

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Myshkin 16 Nov

Are this numbers referring to USA?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 16 Nov

that we were right all along lol

26 sats \ 1 reply \ @JesseJames 17 Nov

I wouldn't call World War II generation soft, they got it hard as hell, during the war and after. Imagine you are 18 and being thrown into that crap and if you end up on the wrong side the shit just started...lol Thinking that kids are soft today is kinda natural methinks, we try to make the live better for the next gen, it ain't appreciated so we lash out...lol But I can tell you that I wouldn't like living in the 14th century where it was a time of swords and raids... naa thanks, I will take computers and the internet, thanks :-)

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve 17 Nov

Helicopter parents

15 sats \ 0 replies \ @random_ 16 Nov

The subsequent generation is soft.

See: obesity rates, literacy rates, socioeconomic status. A generation in decline.

10 sats \ 1 reply \ @crrdlx 16 Nov

I don't know...but them snowflakes these days!

1 sat \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 16 Nov

people getting offended at everything is pretty exhausting

10 sats \ 1 reply \ @Msd0457890 16 Nov

Certainly the current generation has been idiotized by phones, by social networks, by all that, which means that you cannot even have, as you said, a social interaction without any device. Many people live in their virtual world, in that world that has them asleep. Certainly past generations focused on love, on interacting and being a better society.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 16 Nov

previous generations would be able to survive in more situations i think for sure, basic survival etc. we're more abstracted away from a lot of things, myself included , although i can at least maintain a social interaction

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @zapsammy 16 Nov

"times are bad, children no longer know their gender or their parents, and everyone has a podcast they listen to or host."

people under mind control are not normal. they experience a dis-ease of the mind, due to toxic attacks in the stories, air, water, and food. it's very hard to maintain higher spiritual vibrations under constant bombardment, with little time to reflect. original thought is almost absent, it's usually a regurgitation of someone else's thoughts, and where did they get theirs?

older folks are stuck in their ways, younger folks are confused, and collaboration is absent. where are the grandparents?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Rothbardian_fanatic 17 Nov

No, I don’t think we are really getting softer in the aggregate. The older generations look at their children and think, “I raised them since they couldn’t even hold their own head up.” Parents raise their kids and give them a lot of what they want. In the parents’ points of view, that may make kids “soft” where they may be very tough. Perhaps there is coming a time when the soft and the tough are separated. The prepared and the unprepared. The willing and the unwilling. I think some separations are definitely coming to us. Deagle’s prognostications were that the US would loose over half of its population, to 99 million.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Shugard 16 Nov

It seems like a downward trend until the next big war to clean out the gene pool. No advocacy for wars! Just a stupid observation

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Satosora 16 Nov

Doesnt each generation think the previous generation to be archaic? While the previous generation thinks the new generation has become soft? I dont diagree with both points, but l believe there is a bit of truth in both.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @chairman_pretense 16 Nov

They simultaneous think the younger generation are softer, but also more dangerous.

They consider younger generations weaker, but also more criminal.

Less able to survive, but somehow dominating and threatening to the current order.

Any time you see someone arguing these kinds of contradictions you know they're a fool.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Msd0457890 16 Nov

As a young person, I agree with you. Sometimes society, apart from being fooled by social networks, is often very violent, does not control its impulses and sometimes commits atrocities. As a society, whether ancient or current, we should move towards building a better future, of course by improving the culture and education of our children or those we will have in the future.