Readers will recall that it was Tom Brokaw's great good luck as a journalist, as a reporter of news, to uncover that back in the 1930s and 1940s, a large mass of young Americans had to suffer, a) the trials and deprivations of the Great Depression, then b) fight a terrible war —a “world war” in the parlance of the time—against countries bent on global domination. Not only did Brokaw have the courage to bring to light this virtually hidden chapter of our history, but he or an associate had the marketing savvy to title the book The Greatest Generation, an irresistibly flattering phrase which sustained the book through many printings and multiple sequels.
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6 Comments:
This reminds me of Benedict Anderson's riff in Imagined Communities on the development of the tomb of the unknown soldier, the proliferation of that idea around the world and its subsequent currency.
The Brokaws of the world fell over themselves to canonize a generation that accepted entrenched, codified racism as fait accompli. How that goes unnoticed is beyond me; I hasten to add that certain nostalgias among black elites contribute to the myth too (this is a big take home message in Adolph Reed, Jr.'s work).
Of course, these sort of dialectic conflicts aren't always bad, and sometimes it's the marketing that works against itself, making clearer the delineation between haves and have nots, making it the stuff of revolutionary youth movements, too.
>>The Brokaws of the world fell over themselves to canonize a generation that accepted entrenched, codified racism as fait accompli.<<
Well, Steinhorn apparently gives credit to the Boomers for fixing the sins of the Greatest Generation, which is one of the things that make them "Greater".
There's also the idea that Boomers are somehow more spiritually attuned than Hip-Hop Gen folks, like they've got a direct line to God and we gotta call them first. Per Malanowski, take credit for the renewal of fundamentalism, too, then.
But what do I know anyway?
I, speaking as a... ugh... "Millenial" was fine being referred to as "Generation Y" or "Spawn of Aging Hippies." "Millenials" makes us sound like very peculiar flowers.
Beyond that, I think these old dudes don't have a clue what we're up to... or at least some of us. One of the funny things about generations is that the ones who aren't changing anything are always the same as their equivalents in previous generations
When thinking about different generations of music, I think it's important to realize that times do change, as evidenced in Chang's book. Yesterday's generation had original passion for the music they created while much of today's music culture is based solely on making money and making women dance explicitly. This has also led to the evolution of muscial genres. We all know that the south has risen with its "lean with it" style. Every other part of the U.S. has had it's time, and they will surely have a second chance as time passes on.
I don't think these guys and can take a few high school students from some small town and sum up what's going on with "millenials" as a whole. What they found is what's going on in their world. The majority of those kids were white, which does not completely represent the newly labeled generation of millenials. The results of their findings would be more accurate if that completed surveys from multiple high schools in more urban areas all over the country. May be these guys should take a few pointers from Jeff Chang when it comes to giving information. Chang informed us about hip-hop through all ethnicities involved in creating the culture. He took information from multiple sources and peaced them together. Great Job on the book "Can't Stop, Won't Stop." It was very informative!!
I would say it is ambigious to name a generation the "greatest", considering the fact that there are many more to come with the potential of achieving greater things. Furthermore, can't characterize a generation that has not yet reached its fullest potential. However, Jeff Chang did a good job putting information together enhancing different point of views, giving a non-bias point of view. Great book, "Cant Stop Wont Stop".
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