Lets not forget that this generation also included people like Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King Jr., and John F. Kennedy. Compared to the generation before them and the generation that came after them, it is easy to see why they seem so great by comparison.
Are the ones that are voting for Obama primarily because he is a viable black candidate racist?
Regardless of Kerry’s personal activities, the general response to returning vets from 'Nam had a whole lot more to do with My Lai, photographs of Kim Phuc running down a road, naked, following a napalm strike, the summary street execution by General Loan of Viet Cong terrorist Nguyen Văn Lém, and dozens of other stories and images. (I am aware that there are back stories on the photos–neither of which involved the U.S. in any way–that mitigate the actual events, but the images shaped the perceptions of the folks back home, leading to a general revulsion of the war and a desire to avoid associations with returning soldiers that went far beyond the limited results of dry Congressional hearings that tended to be watched only by those who already had a vested interest in prosecuting or ending the war.)
As already noted, King was not a member of “the Greatest Generation,” having been born ealy in the period of “the silent generation.”
You are actually making Liberal’s point, so I am not sure why you phrased it as a challenge. JohnnieEnigma asserted that the lower numbers of pro-Obama voters in a particular demographic was a demnstration of racism. Liberal pointed to another demographic with high pro-Obama numbers and rhetorically asked whether one should ascribe racism to those numbers (without considering any other factors) simply based on the demographic, itself. Your point is the same.
One of the difficulties with labeling a generation is that not all of the members meet the qualities that are ascribed to it…only some of the more memorable ones stand out and above, but in general the majority of the generation back up the ideals and give support to the best of their generation. And some resist the changes that come with each generation.
As a member of the silent generation, I would point out that many of the basics of gender and racial equality were influenced greatly by members of “my” generation. However, we as a group did not have the challenges that my father’s generation (the “greatest generation”) faced. If any of us had to go through times like the depression, and then fight a war on the terms of WW2, we would better understand and appreciate that generation. I well remember living in plywood shacks that were made to house the veterans coming home from the war; there simply weren’t any houses available. To understand that generation, I would suggest that a bit of reading and research would clarify why they are called the “greatest generation”.
Sure, I’ve had times in my childhood when we had only fried flour for supper, and no TV in our house until the late 1950s, and we had almost nothing when compared to my own children’s generation, but we didn’t actually suffer. Not so with my father’s generation. Our challenge was that of building a more prosperous and equal society based on the previous generations foundations.
I hope that Obama’s message of hope and possibilities will inspire the current generation of 20 to 40 year old folks to make our society even better. What will this current generation be? What will their generational “title” be?
How could you have left out Bob Dylan?
I’m a boomer, and Vietnam affected me far less than WW II affected my father, who went to Europe, or my mother who stayed home and worried. We didn’t have rationing. We could buy new cars. While people did get drafted, not nearly as many did. Vietnam had more impact than Iraq, but a lot, lot less than WW II.
It was just another generation with all its challenges and flaws that any generation faces. Just calling any one special is fun with language but loose on truth.
I am an elderly and will likely vote for Obama.
It is a myth that it was Boomers who brought pressure on their elders to end Vietnam. Rightly or wrongly, it was the WWII generation who opposed Vietnam, and the younger ones who supported it. Cite
On the other hand, we can give the Boomers credit for Disco, so there’s that.
I think you’re missing an important point here. There is a world of difference between not voting for a candidate because you believe his race makes him inelectible, and not voting for him because he is black. You may attribute the belief that he is “inelectible” to prejudices, but there is a different way to look at it. For people who grew up with institutionalized racism, for whom racism is not just something that happened a long time ago, but something that they were personally aware of in their lifetimes, it may be very difficult to believe that those attitudes have completely changed even for people who do not, and never did hold those beliefs.
The group from which I have most frequently heard the “inelectible” argument against Obama, both in the media and online, has been African-Americans. They are intimately familiar with racism, and for some of them, it is very difficult to believe that those prejudices have been conquered enough to allow the election of a black president. That does not make them racists. It makes them voters who are bringing their own personal experience to bear on their decision about who would have the best chance of getting elected. Similarly, the Greatest Generation is bringing their own experiences of growing up in a world where it was impossible for a black man to be elected president, to bear on their choices.
It was the “Greatest Generation” that caused the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to be passed by Congress. As I wrote in this thread:
As a member of the so called “greatest generation” I must say I do not think our generation was any better than the generation’s that have followed, there was somethings better and some things worse.
There was less need for locks on our doors, a person’s word was good enough they would be counted on to do as they said, A job well done was considered part of one’s pay. but there was a lot of things that were hidden from public view.
I meet many considerate people every time I go out in public. The percentages of good and bad (I believe) are about the same. The population is much larger now.
Our generation would rather own what we bought instead of borrowing and didn’t judge a person on what they owned. If a man worked hard he was respected more than nowdays where a person like" the" Donald could file bankruptcy and still considered to be a person to emulate.
Monavis
But this kind of mentality only holds people back. For the people I know living in Boston to suggest that Obama doesn’t have a chance because the country is not ready for a black president, this only holds back and marginalizes Obama as a person. It lowers his self worth and value.
I shun this type of rhetoric.
Well this is the worst kind of self-defeatist racism. I heard fifty cent say that he doesnt’ think that America is ready for a black president, and that he think’s they would kill him. I’d like to give him a slapupsidethehead for that comment.
How do blacks want to get a head and have representation with this type of mentality? They need to rise above this self-defeatist mentality and start thinking that anything is possible… we’re in America after all. Anything is possible.
They need to rise above their “personal experiences” and think positive about this. Obama has every right to run for president and think he could win. He clearly could win. I am calling it right now. Obama will be our next president.
I don’t want to hear anything from african americans except for “yes. we. can.”
That’s right.
And no more calling successful african-americans “uncle tom’s”, like people did to Colin Powell and Condaleeza Rice.
I think the voters are speaking. Obama has like 90% of the Black vote, and in Virginia, he is gaining in support from those greatest generation people. That’s big time!!