Originally Posted by graciegirl
Well since you asked............
I think the ethical generation(s) came from the children raised by moms and dads who beat the livin' crap out outa kids if they stole something, or got in trouble at school. I think that the ethical generation spewed forth from being monitored 24/7 by someone who loved you to death and had a very intense interest in how you turned out. I think we were scared into having a conscience and I think that a certain group of us learned a lot more about values because we didn't have as MUCH as the people who are now under 55. I think that those of us who had our shoes repaired and our vegetables canned and our fannies spanked belong to the ethical generation(s).
The rest of the folks running around with their underpants showing and those who weren't expected to have summer jobs or need summer jobs and those who are given new cars and fished out of "slight embarrassments" at school, who never lived in a family with one car and one bathroom and two to a sleeping room, and didn't HAVE to do what they were told and couldn't afford dance lessons or tutoring to get them through school belong to the not quite so ethical generations. FEAR of consequences is an awesome catalyst for ethical behavior.
I may be wrong and frequently am.
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I can see any number of things about your "ethical generation" that I wouldn't be too proud of. Thinking of the Vietnam war, the history of discrimination against people of color in this country; the history of discrimination against women in this country, and so on. The baby boomers started questioning social values and had a more altruistic bent. They formed protests against the Vietnam war, and paved the way for our withdrawal of troops; had heroes like Martin Luther King and oversaw integration; passed laws giving women rights they were entitled to....and each generation that follows will build on the previous generation. I don't think it is valid to say any particular generation has the moral high ground.
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