Remembering V-E Day, 75 Years Later — A “Greatest Generation” We Are Not

[whitehall]

I suspect political motivation from people who claim to have been conservative. How many people claim to be liberal? The modern concept of the "greatest generation" is based on a book by a disgraced "liberal" journalist, Tom Brokaw, who never served in the Military. I find it vaguely insulting and self serving but the notion of the Vietnam War draftee victimhood is well ingrained in pop culture. The loss of 6,000 Marines in a month on a stinking island that we could have bypassed in WW2 is part of the generation that we credit for greatness but a Thousand Military personnel killed in Bush's) Iraq to enforce U.N. sanctions and overthrow a dictator doesn't qualify because the political motivation is suspect.

 

[basquebromance]

all about us we can see clearly now that the west is passing away.

in a single century, all the great houses of continental europe fell. all the empires that ruled the world have vanished. not one european nation, save Muslim Albania, has a birthrate that will allow it to survive through the century.

the character of every western nation is being irremediably altered as each undergoes an unresisted invasion from the Third World...we are slowly disappearing from earth

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

the Germans killed Theodore Roosevelt's son, then immediately apologized, and honored the kid

not many people know that

Why do you lie or are you stupid?

Theodore Roosevelt Junior died of a heart attack in July 1944.

 

[Mac-7]

Andrew Bacevich is one of my favorite Conservatives. From a traditional military family, long teaching military history and political science at West Point, he is today a main spokesman for pulling back the forward U.S. military posture in the Middle East. Some say losing a son in Iraq had a profound influence on him. Others say it was his service in Vietnam. I just know I respect his views. Though not always agreeing with him, I often find his historical essays thought provoking:

V-E Day Plus 75
From a Moment of Victory to a Time of Pandemic
By Andrew Bacevich

The 75th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s surrender in May 1945 ought to prompt thoughtful reflection. For Americans, V-E Day, as it was then commonly called, marked the beginning of “our times.” The Covid-19 pandemic may signal that our times are now coming to an end.
I was born less than two years after its counterpart V-J Day, marking the surrender of Imperial Japan in August 1945.... I was born and raised in the Midwest.... I am a mostly observant Catholic.... I am, so I persist in claiming, a conservative. As a young man, I served in Vietnam.

Yet let me suggest that ... various differences matter less than the fact that we ... came of age in the shadow of World War II -- or more specifically in a time when the specter of Nazi Germany haunted the American intellectual landscape. Over the years, that haunting would become the underlying rationale for the U.S. exercise of global power, with consequences that undermined the nation’s capacity to deal with the menace that it now faces....

Boomers are generally associated with having had a pampered upbringing before embarking upon a rebellious youth ... and then as adults helping ourselves to more than our fair share of all that life, liberty, and happiness had on offer. Now, preparing to exit the stage, we Boomers are passing on to those who follow us a badly damaged planet and a nation increasingly divided, adrift, and quite literally sick. A Greatest Generation we are not.

How did all this happen? Let me suggest that, to unpack American history during the decades when we Baby Boomers sashayed across the world stage, you have to begin with World War II, or more specifically, with how that war ended and became enshrined in American memory....

Tomgram: Andrew Bacevich, A Greatest Generation We Are Not | TomDispatch

The WWII generation was the greatest

If it had one fault or failure it was spoiling the Baby Boomers rotten

 

[francoHFW]

Andrew Bacevich is one of my favorite Conservatives. From a traditional military family, long teaching military history and political science at West Point, he is today a main spokesman for pulling back the forward U.S. military posture in the Middle East. Some say losing a son in Iraq had a profound influence on him. Others say it was his service in Vietnam. I just know I respect his views. Though not always agreeing with him, I often find his historical essays thought provoking:

V-E Day Plus 75
From a Moment of Victory to a Time of Pandemic
By Andrew Bacevich

The 75th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s surrender in May 1945 ought to prompt thoughtful reflection. For Americans, V-E Day, as it was then commonly called, marked the beginning of “our times.” The Covid-19 pandemic may signal that our times are now coming to an end.
I was born less than two years after its counterpart V-J Day, marking the surrender of Imperial Japan in August 1945.... I was born and raised in the Midwest.... I am a mostly observant Catholic.... I am, so I persist in claiming, a conservative. As a young man, I served in Vietnam.

Yet let me suggest that ... various differences matter less than the fact that we ... came of age in the shadow of World War II -- or more specifically in a time when the specter of Nazi Germany haunted the American intellectual landscape. Over the years, that haunting would become the underlying rationale for the U.S. exercise of global power, with consequences that undermined the nation’s capacity to deal with the menace that it now faces....

Boomers are generally associated with having had a pampered upbringing before embarking upon a rebellious youth ... and then as adults helping ourselves to more than our fair share of all that life, liberty, and happiness had on offer. Now, preparing to exit the stage, we Boomers are passing on to those who follow us a badly damaged planet and a nation increasingly divided, adrift, and quite literally sick. A Greatest Generation we are not.

How did all this happen? Let me suggest that, to unpack American history during the decades when we Baby Boomers sashayed across the world stage, you have to begin with World War II, or more specifically, with how that war ended and became enshrined in American memory....

Tomgram: Andrew Bacevich, A Greatest Generation We Are Not | TomDispatch

the fault is not the generation comma it is the god damn lying law and order, giveaway to the rich covert action GOP lol...

 

[francoHFW]

The WWII generation was the greatest

If it had one fault or failure it was spoiling the Baby Boomers rotten

the problem is not the generation, it is the lying super capitalist giveaway to the rich covert action stupid wars and catastrophes GOP

 

[Mac-7]

the problem is not the generation, it is the lying super capitalist giveaway to the rich covert action stupid wars and catastrophes GOP

The problem is the generation

The Baby Boomers in the Democrat Party are no better in any way than other Boomers in other parties

 

[francoHFW]

The problem is the generation

The Baby Boomers in the Democrat Party are no better in any way than other Boomers in other parties

except they didn't vote for the Ronald Reagan covert action giveaway to the rich screw everybody else garbage propaganda stupidest wars ever corrupt bubble and bust incredible mess we have now. change the god damn channel

 

[Devils_Advocate]

To be fair, The Greatest Generation couldn't text or use an Android app to save their lives.

Yeah, but M, Z and Y can’t hunt, fish or know how to fuck, so ya know the greatest generation has them beat!