Recurring Canadaguns Politics and Debate Thread

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[u/Beneficial-Ride-4475]

Is that a surprise though? There is a reason for it.

But first, some context!

The 1950s & '60s saw a boom in economic growth and prosperity previously unseen in North America. Motor vehicles became available to everyone, single family homes in ridiculously large (and notably insolvent) suburbs became the norm, refrigeration became more accessible (keep this particular point in mind), etc.

Now those things had their own drawbacks (especially housing), but a cultural shift also occurred.

Being in the land of plenty ment that waste sky rocketed, a lack of appreciation for what you had ment you simply threw away what was "old" for what was new became a prevalent social trait. If it wasn't new, you could say you were successful. If you couldn't display your success, you couldn't flex on your neighbour. Your neighbour, who had gone from community member, to being your social competition effectively overnight. The term "Keeping up with the Joneses" really saw the light of day here.

North America had become culture of excess and the showey display of one's wealth.

Good, if not the best examples of this shift towards excess in all things, actually come from cookbooks. Even in the late 40s, cookbooks still displayed recipes that were within one's means. They were modest, and simple. By the mid 1950s though, all restraint and reasoning had disappeared from cookbooks. This is, funnily enough, typified by the obscenely common appearance of gelatin, and the meteoric rise of truly monstrous abominations like the Spaghetti'O Jello Ring, or the daft Tomato Aspic were birthed into existence.

(If one wishes to curse their eyes and obtain the knowledge of true evil:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShittyGifRecipes/comments/qyk4m7/spaghettio_jello_ring/

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rEL9HpF__k8)

Now why was this? Simple, gelatin requires refrigeration. By serving a jello dish, you could flex on your neighbours.

But enough with the examples.

Now, other than me being a pompous history nerd and wanting to show it off, what purpose does this context serve? What does this have to do with boomers?

Well, what kind of mentality or attitude dose it take to maintain such an excessive and showey lifestyle? If you are going to say "be a proper jerk" I'll have to agree.

The environment a child grows up in, and who they are raised by, and the societal philosophy they are exposed to at an early age. Will effect their development and what kind of humans they become. Children are smarter than we give them credit for and pick up on things pretty quick, even subconsciously. If you grew up in a society that valued excess, showing off, having the newest and best thing, proving yourself to be better than your neighbors. Is it any surprise then that a child would pick up on that, and internalized some of it at least?

I'd wager that the reason many boomers are so entitled, arrogant, or selfish, is specifically because they internalized the behavior of their parents and the 1950s/60s society they grew up in. I'd wager that to them, greed, irrational selfishness, showing off, excess of material goods, and looking down on those of lesser economic status, are "entirely normal" behaviors.

To them we are probably the weird ones.

So I'd say no, it shouldn't be a surprise they behave so poorly.

[u/OxfordTheCat → u/Beneficial-Ride-4475]

The 1950s & '60s saw a boom in economic growth and prosperity previously unseen in North America

It's almost as if all the competing markets, from the UK to Belgium to Moscow to Beijing and Tokyo, had been completely devastated and ravaged by war; leading to an opportunity for unprecedented and unrepeatable growth and prosperity on a short term basis...

... anyone that is trying to sell any type of policy or thematic return to "the prosperity of the four decades after the greatest conflict in human history wiped out the traditional economic powerhouses" is selling the purest of the pure form of snake-oil.

There is a reason for the boom and the unrepeatable amount of prosperity, and short of the rest of the world degrading into catastrophic conflict which somehow leaves all of North America virtually unscathed yet again, it's never happening again.

It is an impossible task to return to the prosperity of the post-war economic circumstances that Canada and the United States enjoyed in the latter half of the 20th century. No policy or government can bring it back.

[u/Beneficial-Ride-4475 → u/OxfordTheCat]

Fantastic points!

[u/gamercast1337 → u/OxfordTheCat]

I agree overall but kneecapping our economy because ?????????? Isn't good for, well the economy.  We couldnt recreate the economic boom back then but we absolutely should be way richer than we are now with our critical natural resources we have.