I was listening to a radio show this morning about the effect of TV on American culture, and the speaker made many references to the Greatest Generation. He also discussed in great length the short comings of the boomer, GenX, Gen Next and the most current unnamed generation, and how, in essence, they lack the moral character of the Greatest Generation, and how American culture as a whole has degraded. He made reference, like most news shows are apt to do currently, to the Osbourn's, and implied that they are a representation of the current moral climate in America.

I realize that there are many great aspects of the Greatest Generation (or traditionalist as they are more formally know), but to imply that this was a generation greater than any other that has come before or afterwards is arrogant at best. They lived in a world of racism and seperationists. A world of McCarthyism and black lists. A world where the cold war was fueled by a common fear of Communism. A world where fear and hate and distrust of things outside the mainstream was prevalent.

I would much rather watch Ozzy mutter around and curse (well, be bleeped out) on TV, than to see the McCarthy hearings re-manifest themselves. The false reality of Ozzie and Harriet is more troubling to me than the current Osbourn's. Sure, the Greatest Generation looked pretty good portrayed by Leave it to Beaver on TV, but I imagine that didn't mean much to Rosa Parks, or Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

The very idea that we need to turn back to the good old days of America values is absurd to me. The era of the Greatest Generation might of been great for middle class capitalist Christian white men, but I imagine the rest of America might feel a little differently.

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The Greatest Generation? - by Howard Zinn