Free Republic

The rapidly disappearing cohort of Americans that endured the Great Depression and then fought World War II is receiving quite a send-off from the leading lights of the so-called 60s generation. Tom Brokaw has published two oral histories of “The Greatest Generation” that feature ordinary people doing their duty and suggest that such conduct was historically unique. Chris Matthews of “Hardball” is fond of writing columns praising the Navy service of his father while castigating his own baby boomer generation for its alleged softness and lack of struggle. William Bennett gave a startling condescending speech at the Naval Academy a...

One of the generation gap angles seen in Iraq is the reaction to email and VOIP (phone calls via the Internet) availability. Older troops, who served overseas in the days before email and VOIP, find these connections to the folks back home a great improvement. But for the young troops, who grew up with email and cell phones, expectations are high. Internet access in Iraq is via satellite links, and that’s expensive. Internet access is a combination of links set up by units, for their own troops, or commercial Internet cafes, available for $2-5 an hour. Unit based access is...

Generational tensions have always existed in the workplace, just as they exist in every other facet of life. Yet many see a deepening of generational rifts arising from the different ways that different age groups of workers either adapt or fail to adapt, and either embrace or resist the technology now involved in nearly every form of commercial enterprise. Dr. Gloria Wren, an assistant professor of information systems and operational management at the Sellinger School of Business and Management at Loyola College, has spent a great deal of time studying these technology-related inter-generational tensions and the impact they have on...

Young reactionaries, aging radicals;the U.S. Catholic Church's unusual clerical divide  by Andrew Greeley   .....   ome forty years ago, as the dramatic events of the Second Vatican Council unfolded, a spotlight was trained on the Catholic Church. It was, commentators said, a revolutionary time. The Church fathers broadened the canons of scriptural interpretation, invited other churches and denominations to engage in friendly dialogue, and attempted to understand the strengths of the modern world. They defended religious freedom, condemned anti-Semitism, and recalled the traditional notion that the Church was made up not just of its clerical hierarchy but also of...

Meanwhile: War reaction reflects China in transition Jianying Zha NYT Thursday, April 10, 2003 BEIJING 'Tolstoy would have said that every democracy is different, but all totalitarian countries look the same," my cousin said, as images of Baghdad streets rolled by on television. The pictures reminded him of his visit to Pyongyang, but I could have easily suggested Stalin's Moscow or Mao's Beijing. He added, "The leader puts his statues everywhere and gets 100 percent of the vote - and you know life must be living hell in that country." This was the second day of the war, and we...

A New Generation Gap Chuck Colson As part of her coursework in persuasive speech, Afton Dahl had to make a presentation about a controversial issue. Dahl, a sixteen-year-old sophomore at Red Wing High School in Minnesota, chose abortion. "I think it would be better," she told her classmates, "to overturn Roe v. Wade." Dahl was not just repeating what she heard in her pro-life, Christian home. In fact, her remarks came as a shock to her thoroughly pro-choice mother. But they are a hopeful sign that pro-life arguments have not fallen on deaf ears. Dahl was not the only person...

March 2, 2003 Rallies in Seoul Differ on U.S., Highlighting a Generation GapBy KEITH BRADSHER EOUL, South Korea, March 1 ?South Koreans took to the streets today for two large demonstrations that underlined a deep generational divide here in attitudes toward North Korea and the United States, as tensions between those countries continued to rise. A rally at noon in front of Seoul's City Hall turned into the largest pro-American, anti-North Korean gathering in recent memory. Up to 100,000 people, most of whom appeared old enough to remember the Korean War, showed up to hear speeches by prominent conservatives...

Is it just me, or has the median age for post-postmodern rock stars been getting younger? How else to justify all those fawning profiles of suburban scofflaws Sum 41 making out like they invented disorderly conduct? Sure, it all comes down to what the marketing execs call "positioning," like how the Sums' video for the hooliganistic "Still Waiting" carves into the Strokes/Hives/Vines, while their concurrent spoofs of mid-'80s metallic bombast seem lost on the band members themselves, let alone their desired audience. If "rock" is indeed "back," who can tell the difference between the mooks and the mockers? Part of...