OK Boomer! (looking for info)

[shadowmouse]

If you are interested in good articles i suggest subscribing

At the least, I'll bookmark that for the day I'm not locked down by the Great Firewall. Right now, while the link loads, it appears to be something that consolidates posts from other sources to the pocket function -- and many of those sources are <cry> blocked right now. There was a time, just a couple of years ago, that TGF wasn't turned up to FUBAR. I could reach at least chunks of Youtube and other sites, but we've gone from SNAFU, to FUBAR, to the point that the acronym TGF may need to be used as the ultimate level of screwed up.

Anyway, many thanks for that link!

Critical thinking is one thing I try to get across, creativity another, business ethics yet a third, but I never know what I'm apt to get hit with and that's why I've gone as open ended as I could with the question. It comes down to me making an effort to understand potential audiences and to keep up on things they might find interesting. I find online classes make that more of a barrier than ever and Prof Shadowmouse has to work a bit harder when it is 0200 for some of the students. My student assistants normally try to keep me up to speed, I've even got more than one this semester, but even they are worn to a frazzle and need something to kickstart their thinking.

So, were there any topics that you've been following that are a bit more off the beaten path? Would you mind throwing me an example or two?

[Ghostpanther]

There is a reason Mother Nature struck so many boomers severely with covid-19. Think of it as a type of planet ideological cleanse.

That reason is too many of the older people are suffering from being overweight, diabetics, smoked in the past, do not exercise or eat right, are not blessed with good genes and the pure fact as we age, our immune system begins to deteriorate the same as the rest of the body does. You should be so blessed to find out one day.

And if you are a Boomer, Shadowmouse will learn something.

[Acidbaron]

At the least, I'll bookmark that for the day I'm not locked down by the Great Firewall. Right now, while the link loads, it appears to be something that consolidates posts from other sources to the pocket function -- and many of those sources are <cry> blocked right now. There was a time, just a couple of years ago, that TGF wasn't turned up to FUBAR. I could reach at least chunks of Youtube and other sites, but we've gone from SNAFU, to FUBAR, to the point that the acronym TGF may need to be used as the ultimate level of screwed up.

Anyway, many thanks for that link!

Critical thinking is one thing I try to get across, creativity another, business ethics yet a third, but I never know what I'm apt to get hit with and that's why I've gone as open ended as I could with the question. It comes down to me making an effort to understand potential audiences and to keep up on things they might find interesting. I find online classes make that more of a barrier than ever and Prof Shadowmouse has to work a bit harder when it is 0200 for some of the students. My student assistants normally try to keep me up to speed, I've even got more than one this semester, but even they are worn to a frazzle and need something to kickstart their thinking.

So, were there any topics that you've been following that are a bit more off the beaten path? Would you mind throwing me an example or two?

Honestly i haven't been following anything in particular, it generally gives me a handful of articles about science, technology, psychology and so on, my main interests, it is indeed an service that takes "read worthy" articles and throws them together in a single spot.
I am currently reading "Thinking fast, Thinking slow" from Daniel Kahneman, if we are sticking to the subject of critical thinking, this is a book that attacks your biases or how your brain is split in a fast and slow thinking process what leads you to pulling the wrong conclusions.


Yes if you are stuck behind that firewall i don't think there's that much i can provide you, i mean how blocked is Spotify? That might be another great source of inspiration.
Let's see what podcasts i visit...

https://philosophizethis.org/ As the site title suggests this is about philosophy. The person is very well read on the subject. All episodes are very good and they range on a handful of subjects and the teachings of a large list of important philosophers.

A good episode i found was #130 Lipp and Dewey on Democracy where it also speaks of the amount of information we are exposed to and how this actually can have a negative impact on how well informed we are. So maybe we should impose a voting system where we give the vote of a person a certain value based on how well they are informed but there are also negatives attached to that like creating an elite class again.

If you can use that, it might produce a few interesting discussions in the class room. It's not all new but some subjects are never really old and still relevant today.


Beyond that i also use https://www.dancarlin.com/hardcore-history-series/ Hardcore history has a few subjects available for free at any given time but i am not sure that would fit in with what you are looking.

- - - Updated - - -

That reason is too many of the older people are suffering from being overweight, diabetics, smoked in the past, do not exercise or eat right, are not blessed with good genes and the pure fact as we age, our immune system begins to deteriorate the same as the rest of the body does. You should be so blessed to find out one day.

And if you are a Boomer, Shadowmouse will learn something.

It's not your gene's it is how you live, there is a reason we are now considering teaching kids proper nutrition.

[shadowmouse]

Yes if you are stuck behind that firewall i don't think there's that much i can provide you, i mean how blocked is Spotify? That might be another great source of inspiration.

Spotify loads a screen telling me it isn't available in China, but I really appreciate the various links and hints. They're going on my list of things to hit this summer, when Shadowmouse gets back to the world at large and wonders who the hell moved my cheese! Sigh, I'll have to catch up on much of the last couple of decades (the small stuff and nuances, not so much the headline stuff), but at least I'll have a heck of a lot of movies, shows, games and music to catch up on.
@Indara OK, fair enough! Thanks! Those are sort of headline issues, but you'll be looking at them from a different standpoint than I would. This is probably one of the first, major world events as you start your career. That's a spin students can probably relate to: "oops! I went to college, the world got weird, and now I need to be able to analyze my plans for the future."

[Acidbaron]

Spotify loads a screen telling me it isn't available in China, but I really appreciate the various links and hints. They're going on my list of things to hit this summer, when Shadowmouse gets back to the world at large and wonders who the hell moved my cheese! Sigh, I'll have to catch up on much of the last couple of decades (the small stuff and nuances, not so much the headline stuff), but at least I'll have a heck of a lot of movies, shows, games and music to catch up on.
@Indara OK, fair enough! Thanks! Those are sort of headline issues, but you'll be looking at them from a different standpoint than I would. This is probably one of the first, major world events as you start your career. That's a spin students can probably relate to: "oops! I went to college, the world got weird, and now I need to be able to analyze my plans for the future."

You are welcome, always glad to provide informative sources for those willing to use them.

[shadowmouse]

What does headline issue mean? Sorry, English is my 3rd language.

I'm used to it. I'd said that I was looking mainly for things that weren't already regular headlines in mainstream media. COVID-19 has pretty well dominated the headlines, but you reminded me that it would look different to you than it does to me. That gave me something I could use.

[Shadowferal]

I'll be 55 in a couple of months.
Ive a list of issues that practically scream dystopia for the future.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Local issues: Increase in violent crime, some gang of young men running around setting fire to cars and now buildings, less and less maintenance done by our landlord despite rent going up. These are minor though, I don't lose sleep over them.

Global issues: Climate, rising inequality and hard pushback to change from those that have AS WELL AS those who don't cuz "rich worship". Rising far-right sentiments becoming more mainstream,, our government striving to be "Little 'Murica" with shit like changing worker's rights and the model of renting a home, there's even those wanting us to switch to the US system of healthcare...

I don't lose sleep over these neither, if I was younger than my 34 years, I might be far more anxious over the climate especially. It's enough to make me change the way I consume though.

[Stormdash]

NGL from the thread title I just assumed this was some thirsty search for neekolul

[Forgettable]

Look, we're speaking English here, don't try to go Chinese on me. Say what you mean. "If you flip everything I've said" Why would I, and why would you want me to guess what your actual intent is? If I ask if you like orange juice, telling me that there is an environmental cost to producing orange juice, and that a lot of orange juice labeled as fresh isn't actually freshly squeezed tells me something ... but it still doesn't tell me if you like orange juice.

I expected that a professor would be able to see the intents and values from my original post, but since you want to know if I like orange juice, here's a list of my concerns/topics of interest (as Endus pointed out):

Orange Juice (Yes I do like it)
Climate change
Sustainability
Critical thinking
Technological advancement
Education
Progressivism - Not in the political sense, but in the future facing sense
Truth
Rationality (https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/YshR.../why-truth-and)

Also I feel the need to state this - For someone requesting what I would consider a favour from random strangers on the internet, I'm pretty disappointed with your unsavory response to me. I thought there'd be at least a simple "thanks for sharing your views" or something.

[Strawberry]

25 and younger?
What about us millennials?
We're the dominating force behind the change, 25 and below still haven't figured out what they want in life, much less made an opinion about boomers (this is why the term "ok boomer" comes from, that's about as much as they can come up with).

[shadowmouse]

@Stormdash Well played! I had to do searches to translate that.

Oh, more local issues?

Could be, doesn't have to be though. Anything works and I appreciate you adding to the list.

Also I feel the need to state this - For someone requesting what I would consider a favour from random strangers on the internet, I'm pretty disappointed with your unsavory response to me. I thought there'd be at least a simple "thanks for sharing your views" or something.

How's the air up there? Nice horse! Requesting a favor would have been asking people to fill out a survey. We're generally stuck in the news doldrums where things tend to be Trump and/or COVID-19, and many of us are under some form of lockdown. I chose to post a topic that was something I cared about enough to ask.

Unsavory is when someone goes out of their way to ask that a topic not be taken a particular direction ("There isn't much point in venting about a generation when you have an audience of two, so try to give constructive feedback." Emphasis added), and then you directly take the topic squarely there. You didn't share *your* views, you bitched about your parents but didn't comment on your own positions.

With that said, in this post you bothered to share a link and the link does fit what I am interested, for that I'm perfectly willing to say thanks. Thank you.

25 and younger?
What about us millennials?

Ah, you get to do both -- bring up points the younger crowd might hold, and also comment on how you see them!

[Strawberry]

Ah, you get to do both -- bring up points the younger crowd might hold, and also comment on how you see them!

If you ask me, they can piss off with their climate change issues just like boomers can with their politics :P
We need work reforms. More free time! More pay! More choices!

[Shadowferal]

Wisdom found in people and heritage, not in technology

I believe the older crowd would believe this more than the younger.

[Acidbaron]

Wisdom found in people and heritage, not in technology

I believe the older crowd would believe this more than the younger.

I don't believe that is an age thing, it is a culture and tradition aspect of the family or community you reside in.

There are tales or perhaps even research about communities still far more disconnected from technology then we are being able to read nature around them better. I vaguely remember something about fishermen indigenous to an island having certain techniques and knowledge to pin point good fishing spots or even 'sense' storms coming by paying attention to certain things around them. Could be the Hawaiians they speak of in that article i am not sure.

While you are a good bit older than me, i do have to say that at one point when i was young and barely having computers or video games going out in nature was far more common than it is in today's youth. Although it is not completely lost movements like the boy scouts are still very much popular.

Technology like mobile phones over a distraction that's for certain but i don't believe they are the root cause as why some things are being forgotten as they are afterall merely tools. I believe we were losing certain customs and traditions long before we had mobile phones.

[Forgettable]

How's the air up there? Nice horse! Requesting a favor would have been asking people to fill out a survey. We're generally stuck in the news doldrums where things tend to be Trump and/or COVID-19, and many of us are under some form of lockdown. I chose to post a topic that was something I cared about enough to ask.

Unsavory is when someone goes out of their way to ask that a topic not be taken a particular direction ("There isn't much point in venting about a generation when you have an audience of two, so try to give constructive feedback." Emphasis added), and then you directly take the topic squarely there. You didn't share *your* views, you bitched about your parents but didn't comment on your own positions.

With that said, in this post you bothered to share a link and the link does fit what I am interested, for that I'm perfectly willing to say thanks. Thank you.

You are completely dismissive of the constructive feedback I have offered you and so therefore I offer you exactly what you did not want: OK Boomer.

/ignore

[Endus]

How's the air up there? Nice horse! Requesting a favor would have been asking people to fill out a survey.

That would have required more effort on your part, to set up the survey, and less on our part.

You're doing the least possible and expecting accolades for reaching out. You're being disrespectful and condescending. That you don't realize it is, I guess, the point. You're expressing your own sense of entitlement, here, and a lack of respect for those younger than you.

You didn't share *your* views, you bitched about your parents but didn't comment on your own positions.

So, am I psychic? Because I apparently picked out Forgettable's positions pretty accurately, by their own confirmation.

If I'm able to understand their positions based on that post alone, since I don't know Forgettable from boo, then you could have, too. You just couldn't be arsed to. Which, again, is sort of the point.

The biggest thing GenX and Millenials want is basic levels of respect. And you're unwilling to offer that.

[TEHPALLYTANK]

@Farndrape Erm, why do you assume I'm going to discuss them at all? How do the points you've mentioned help young students understand most classes?

Let me imagine this: "Hey guys! Good morning, or evening, whatever timezone this is for you. Today's class is about emerging ethical issues in the work place, but some guy using a burner account on a forum thinks it will be useful for me to tell you that Boomers polluted the planet and stole the wealth of future generations. You guys, the ones in Africa, stop laughing so hard and don't make fun of colonialism again!"

Dang, guys! Come on, I'm looking for the stuff that for the most part isn't generating clicks on the main pages of Yahoo and CNN (which, thankfully, usually aren't blocked). I'm looking for the stuff like whatever the current version of Gamergate is, or there was a time when a big worry among some of my students was whether they should get plastic surgery (and where should it stop) to get a job in a competitive market. Those are things that might be relevant to younger posters, and I might well be unaware of (or unaware of the nuances). I realize some of these things you will, at best, be able to mention only obliquely because of banned topics. That's just one of the forum quirks that I'll have to live with, so please stick to forum rules on such things.

So you're basically asking people what superficial shit they gossip about? Because you don't seem interested in real answers, that is the impression I get from your posts in this thread.

If you want a stupid answer I'm fine with giving you one. I look forward to your generation dying out, because the idiots among it continue to fuck everything up with regards to politics and the economy and the rest of you aren't doing enough to stop them from hurting future generations. I want people to stop stacking the fucking deck when it comes to life, and to stop treating people like shit for bigoted reasons.

I have an enormous mass of resentment, hope, and apathy warring inside me all the time as a consequence of thinking about the chains of events that have lead us to our current state of affairs. It is really hard to be hopeful when your generation gives me nothing but pain. I have zero family members in your generation that I like; the ones who aren't dead I'm estranged from because they're unwilling or unable to accept any perspective that differs from their own.


And there you have my stupid answer to a stupid question, it isn't very useful in the context of actually answering specific questions but maybe it'll check the boxes you were looking for when you started this thread. None of my big worries are superficial, which is frankly why I'm so fed up with your generation and bigotry.

I have too many worries to list without you being more specific in your questions. Ask specific questions if you want specific answers, if you don't know how to ask specific questions then I think it is safe to assume that is one of the flaws you as an individual and you should work on improving that.


Final note: Sorry about the excessive amount of hostility in my tone, the recent shootings by civilians who refused to wear masks when requested have definitely engendered some negative feelings; I don't foresee a reduction in the scope or scale of deaths from stupidity during this pandemic in the USA and it has me quite upset. I'm not going to bother editing it to tone down the hostility because I think the hostility itself might provide you with some perspective (though I may edit it if I reread it later, to find typos and fix them).

I'll be 26 later this year, if you wondering my age range.
[Infraction]

[Rennadrel]

Almost every "old person" I know has picked a political stance, and refuses to ever change because obviously they're right. Conservative, progressive, it doesn't matter the side. The problem is they're stuck in this tribalism and they spend more time fighting "the other side" than trying to work on solutions to make things better.

I think this is pretty much the case regardless of age bracket or generation. Social media makes it even more obvious how much some people are hard liner's when it comes to their political views. It's funny, I'm a lot like my parents politically, we tend to go with the tide as much as possible and not stick to any one side. I'd say we are all a centre-left family, even my brother who is a practicing Christian (the rest of us are non religious), doesn't have his head shoved up God's ass and incorporates the positive messaging in Christianity into his beliefs and doesn't let the negatives dictate how he thinks. I still think of myself as centre-left, but I am against the current movement of totalitarian leftist ideology that has come to dominate the left wing side of politics recently.

I work with a lot of boomers though, most of them are slightly right leaning, some of them are stupid and like populist buffoons like Donald Trump, and being a Canadian, Doug Ford (who has only proven himself to be useful by letting others guide the policy, hopefully this pandemic has humored his ego and set him on the right path towards being a good politician). My perspective on boomers is mixed. Like I said, a lot of my opinions on them come from the people that I work with, which most of them are egotists who are so anti-socialist (which I find hilarious now since so many of them are off work and taking money from the government) and right leaning. Let's just say that I don't get along with my co-workers very much because of their political leanings. They are very rigid in what they believe in.

[shadowmouse]

Final note: Sorry about the excessive amount of hostility in my tone, the recent shootings by civilians who refused to wear masks when requested have definitely engendered some negative feelings; I don't foresee a reduction in the scope or scale of deaths from stupidity during this pandemic in the USA and it has me quite upset. I'm not going to bother editing it to tone down the hostility because I think the hostility itself might provide you with some perspective (though I may edit it if I reread it later, to find typos and fix them).

Actually, no problem. Your final note pulls things together and puts your writing in perspective as intended. Unlike the post I took issue with, you did fill in more about your personal concerns and while you may have seen it as superficial, some of your points fill in emotional context for things. Recall that I'm asking the open ended questions in this thread from a particular context -- for me, your last 20 years were something that happened nearly on another planet, but I could more or less keep up as they happened. That has, however, stretched into 20 years worth of time. I'm asking open ended questions because 20 years of disconnect (literal, not in the same culture or even region disconnect) doesn't lend itself to particularly specific questions.

You gave an honest and detailed answer, so allow me to reply even if it does mean we'll be visiting the topic of generational stereotypes. This is an off the top of the head forum post, from behind the Great Firewall where a quick google of something is not that useful and with things as they are right now it is starting to get to practically trash levels. In other words, there will be personal opinion and anecdote, without supporting links.

So, just as an example, the whole Boomer thing? It doesn't really translate. Where I've spent the last 20 years, I've been watching the last of those who lived under the Qing fall. Those after that weren't the ones who went to Woodstock and then put on a suit to start stuffing their pockets. They were, instead, the ones who grew up at the end of a civil war, following what they saw as a regional war (The War of Japanese Aggression), and they then lived through a whole load of crap after that up to Nixon and opening up. Where I am, the ones who followed that period are the ones who took risks (because responding to things like the Hundred Flowers Campaign had not gone well), and their kids are now what is becoming the Chinese equivalent of Boomers -- the wealthy second generation (fu er dai), the "Little Emperors and Empresses" produced by the One Child Policy. To really complicate the generational perspective though, I'm in a culture where family is put first, there are specific names for each person's place in the family, ancestor worship isn't really quite a thing but family trees may be displayed during Spring Festival and be the object of ceremonial remembrances, and heads of families are given great power through tradition and the hukou system. At 60, I'm supposed to be a polite lawn ornament, "respected" and humored, and taken care of. My quasi-adoptive daughters know me well enough and are Westernized enough that they aren't ready to put me out to pasture, but I'm already being invited to retire in the care and keeping of former students. That's the outside that I'm looking in at the current anger about Boomers from, and to be frank I'm left wondering WTF about much of it. That's just the imbroglio over Boomers, and that's why what is superficial in your eyes might be WTF completely off the radar for me.

That would have required more effort on your part, to set up the survey, and less on our part.

You know what? I'm going to go there. When you post on science related to your field, I have some respect for your opinions, but you aren't a mod any more.

This is an open post in Gen-OT, during COVID-19 lockdowns, posting an idle question -- just as much as the posts about going to clown college or WWE wrestling holds. I feel a mild obligation to explain why I've asked because I see that as a basic courtesy, but if I wanted to do an actual academic survey, I would have bloody well used one of those platforms. Nope. While I've explained myself, I'm just another guy shitposting in Gen-OT ... and you are too.

You're doing the least possible and expecting accolades for reaching out. You're being disrespectful and condescending.

Seriously, disrespectful? Guy, you're the one taking up the generational flag and expecting something because of your age. Other than trying to take me to task for your generational stereotypes, what are you adding to the thread? Hells, even the guy you're using as a talking point threw in a decent link. If you want respect, make the effort to earn it.

So, am I psychic? Because I apparently picked out Forgettable's positions pretty accurately, by their own confirmation.

Congratulations! You're starting to figure it out, but the nickle hasn't quite dropped yet. You, a guy closer to Forgettable in age, living in the same culture, having a base of shared experiences that cover most of your lives, see things in a particular light. Well, of course you do.

The last 20 years of that shared experience, I wasn't around for, and where I have been things are pretty different. I left Europe at a time when I still had to specify East or West Germany. I left North America while the World Trade Center was still standing. Just going back to the US after a whopping three years in West Germany left me trying to figure out what the hell was up with things like the show, Dallas. So, you're trying to project your generational issues, assuming that things I don't get are because I'm a Boomer. No, for the purpose of this thread, I'm a complete flipping outsider wondering how the devil the place I was born in took some of the turns it did.

Now, I'm aware of how you manage to have a post count that probably exceeds a significant chunk of Gen-OT combined. If you want to just argue, we can, but maybe take a step back from your presumptions and put yourself in the position of having seen the last 20 years of North America and the EU through the lens of Yahoo and CNN for the most part (since other sites keep winding up blocked), with no Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, etc. for much of that period. It doesn't make me Rip van Winkle, but he has my sympathy.