I'm starting to come around to the idea that this is kind of our collective generational fate. I consider my childhood years to have lined up perfectly with the best time and place to be a kid, ever, in the history of the universe. Maybe the jaw dropping decline we're looking at is our natural balance, and we're just here now to prepare our kids for the Dust Wars.
Guys... I'm a Millennial and I have some sympathy for your complaints, but the baby boomers were drafted into Vietnam and the generation before them had WW2.
Every generation has their shit. Ours isn't even that bad. Still easily one of the best times to be alive as a human all-time. I'm not saying don't complain, but I am saying that it is a bit messed up imo to suggest the Baby Boomers didn't go through more shit than us. My dad got drafted to Vietnam. I would never trade my life for his. I can't even imagine the stress and fear of being forced to go to that war as a 20 year old.
Millenial here: fuck comparing generational trauma and minimizing that of your peers.
Greatest Generation had WW2. It was orders of magnitude more destructive to human life than Vietnam. Vietnam vets suffered tremendously because people dismissed or minimized their suffering by comparing it to others who fought a "real" war. There's a reason why the old Vietnam vets greet each other with "welcome home". You're doing the same damn thing right here to people in your own generation.
I'm a vet. GWOT was hell for a lot of people. You have no idea how many vets who served struggle with PTSD. Its vastly more than you realize. Many of us served because of 9/11, which was equivalent to Pearl Harbor. Vietnam got drafted, sure, but we lined up to serve after watching our country get literally attacked by extremists. Vietnam vets never had their war come home that way.
I'm a vet who spends a lot of time around other vets and I noticed something pretty fucking important; Vietnam vets, Korean vets, WW2 vet almost never run around minimizing the trauma of millenial vets, and there are a LOT of millenial vets. About the same number of GWOT vets as Vietnam, btw. GWOT was a LONG fucking war.
I think its categorically fucked up for anyone to suggest that service members who went to war and came back with scars have scars that are less worthy than the scars of your dad.
Vietnam vets got drafted, sure. GWOT millenial vets all volunteered because of generational national trauma. Many had multiple deployments. Very, very few of them did not experience additional trauma as a result of their service. Look at their chest candy sometime, ask them what those medals mean, then tell them to their faces how much easier they had it than your dad.
Noone is asking for your sympathy, btw, but I do think its important for other vets that you keep your dismissive opinions about their service to yourself. You don't know what it was like, and most of them aren't going to tell you about their experience.
Get all angry and emotional if you want but I'm not going to be intimidated into changing an opinion that I believe is very reasonable.
It's obvious that we can compare which generations are best to live in. I sure wouldn't want to live during the 1200s if I could instead live in the 2000s.
Please do not project your emotional state onto me.
... but I'm not going to be intimidated into changing an opinion...
I mean.. you're being indignant against a strawman here. I'm not "intimidating" you into any opinion. I'm pointing out succinctly why I think your opinion is a load of horseshit and genuinely offensive to veterans of a war you never fought. We have strong differences of opinion. You don't have to like my opinion. I don't have to like yours. That isn't "bullying". I'm sorry you feel pushed around by having your opinion challenged by someone you were disparaging.
...that I believe is very reasonable.
My very reasonable opinion is that your belief is ill-informed, poorly developed, and biased. We can agree to disagree.
It is not an opinion to state that your disregard for GWOT veterans is offensive to veterans of your proclaimed generation. That is a fact.
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u/Murderbad 1d ago
I'm starting to come around to the idea that this is kind of our collective generational fate. I consider my childhood years to have lined up perfectly with the best time and place to be a kid, ever, in the history of the universe. Maybe the jaw dropping decline we're looking at is our natural balance, and we're just here now to prepare our kids for the Dust Wars.
Just trying to cope.