Free Republic

And AIDS was such a bad consequence as well. Up until herpes, sexual diseases were easily cured, but then these incurable viruses arrived and it all changed...

It depend on where you fall within the age spectrum of GenJones. The oldest Jonesrs would have been 18 in 1972 and could have voted in the Nixon-McGovern race. Others voted first in the 1976 Carter-Ford contest. But yes, I do think that Reagan was the formative President for most Jonesers.

Yeah...we Jonesers definitely have fine-tuned BS Detectors...

Good points. We Jonesers really were the sex, drugs and rock&roll generation. That’s usually said of the “real” Boomers (born from the early 1940’s to early-1950’s. But it was just a small, albeit disproportionately visible and vocal segment, of the Boomers who were actually living that lifestyle. It was more that the Boomers introduced this radical new lifestyle in their music and with their opinion leaders. But very few Boomers actually did drugs, engaged in free love, had long hair (as guys), etc.

It was when Jonesers came of age, arrived in high school, that these these lifestyle choices became mainstream. Suddenly, starting in 1972, guys in high school (ie. Jonesers) started growing their hair long (the contrast between 1971 vs. 1972 high school senior guy yearbook photos was dramamtic. I think I read it went from something like 6% of guys with long hair in 1971, to over 40% long hair of guys in 1972). Generational change: the first Jonesers were born in 1954, which made them high school seniors in 1972.

But it was much more than guy’s hair length. Jonesers smoked pot at much higher rates. Very few Boomers smoked pot in the 1960’s, despite all the media hype. It was Jonesers in the 1970’s that were the big pot smokers. By then, it was mainstream , and you were unusual if you were in your teens then and not smoking dope.

And sex? Jonesers were much, much more sexually promiscuous than Boomers. It was post-The Pill, and pre-herpes/AIDS. Sexual experimentation was in the air, and Jonesers were doin’ it like rabbits.

When we think about generations, we are not saying that every member possesses all the stereotypic characteristics. Of course “People born 42-53 are not all aged hippies who turned into squishy Republicans”. But in broad strokes it rings true.

People do tend to become more conservative as they age. As the British Parlamentarian Edmund Burke put it: “If you’re not a liberal at 20, you have no heart; if you’re not a conservative at 40, you have no head”

And as far as Trump: he has his good and bad points, but to claim he is an “uncorrupted businessman” is to ignore the Mount Everest of evidence that obviously says otherwise.

Um...losing the election. Who knows what happens here, but there is no denying that Trump is behind in the polls.

Great point. In fact, it was Jonesers — back in the 1970’s — who really fueled the sense of postmodern irony that has become such an integral part of out culture.