The dumbed-down generation

[XanderF]

Originally Posted by tycho102

That's America. Life is good. I've been saying that the moslems don't know what the hell they're doing. And it is very strange because it's the most logical conclusion from their perspective. When they flip on the television to study the kuffir enemy, who do they see? They see Britney Spears, Madonna's bobbies, Sean Penn, Paris Hilton, Susan Sarandon, The Sopranos, and Spiderman 3.

They don't see god damn CSPAN. They don't see Questions for the Prime Minister. They don't see Maria Bartellomo or Donald Trump (at least, not anymore) or Bill Gates or Steve Jobs or Warren Buffet or Ross Perot.

New York was nothing. It took the financial sector 3 months to divy up the pieces -- the emotional damage took 4 days, mainly because the news channel anchors got bored with the same story. It could have taken a month or two had the entire cast of Friends been wiped out, but they weren't.

If they ever hit Hollywood, stand by. Break out the bottled water, fill your bathtubs, load your firearms with the heavy stuff if they aren't already. It will bring this whole damn country to a stand still like nothing since 1929 -- financially and emotionally. Trading will be suspended for over a week straight -- either by fiat, or procedure (2% for one hour, 5% for the rest of the day).

Did you sleep through 2001??? The damage to the economy from that was QUITE severe. Mostly from alarmist investors and the complete shut down of air travel for several weeks. We had to lay off a lot of employees around then, and finding jobs was NOT pleasant.

Hitting Hollywood would do squat to the country. Heck look at any given celebrity death, the OJ trial, whatever - sure, they get more news coverage than is reasonable, but it doesn't actually make ANY difference to the country. No economy shift happens, no massive layoffs, cutbacks, etc.

I'm hoping you were being sarcastic with your above post, or maybe are not actively employed or something, as I find it hard to otherwise believe anyone could be that out of touch.

[Ishmael]

I thank 30 years of budget cuts in basic education for this. Combine that with the circuses fed to us by the corporate media & what do you expect? A free and informed citizenry is the last thing they want. Ignorant people are easier to control through fear.

[XanderF]

Alright, seriously, I HAVE to ask.

What is the average age of the posters in this thread?

Because it sounds to me like a lot of "when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders."

[robbo180265]

Originally Posted by XanderF

Alright, seriously, I HAVE to ask.

What is the average age of the posters in this thread?

Because it sounds to me like a lot of "when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders."

Heh ! Well I for one am 42 - so well spotted there matey

[fatty]

Dadgummit, sonny! Back in my day we knew better than to take anyone on the idiot box seriously! Garsh, in my day we couldn't even afford an idiot box!

[Yahoshua]

Originally Posted by robbo180265

Bono with Bush

Bob Geldoff with Blair

Bono was back in 2005 and about the AIDs' movement and poverty-stricken nations in Africa. Haven't heard of many results from that meeting.

I've never heard of Bob Geldoff, and I'm witholding judgement on that meeting since it was just recent (April 24) so we'll see if anything comes of it.

[Heibges]

Never heard of Bob Geldoff? Have you ever heard of a small rock album called "The Wall" by any chance.

Both Bono and Geldoff have been politically active for 20 years.

[Yahoshua]

Originally Posted by Heibges

Never heard of Bob Geldoff? Have you ever heard of a small rock album called "The Wall" by any chance.

Both Bono and Geldoff have been politically active for 20 years.

umm...no. Never heard of the album either . I practically live in a hole in the ground with this forum being one fo the few outside interests I have.

So no I haven't heard of either of them until now.

[Payoff]

I'm still waiting for "Mr Voicemail" Baldwin to move to Canada or France or where ever it was he was going to relocate to. Hollywood

[Heibges]

I love it in the South Park Movie when Mr Garrison yells, "All the Baldwin's are dead!"

I totally forgot about Tomas Masaryk and Vaclav Havel in Czechoslovakia.

Plus, in the United States in the 60's, things were very close to a total change in the power structure do largely to the rather odd tactics of the New Left, and many of the influential folks in this phenomenon, for want of a better word, were artists and others outside the traditional political arena.

Allen Ginsberg
Jack Kerouac
Bob Dylan
Tim Leary
Ken Keasey
Robert Heinlein
Peter, Paul, & Mary
Herman Hesse
Abbie Hoffman
William Burroughs

Unfortunately, the best these folks were able to do was Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.