>Maybe my age is showing, but I just don't get this generational
>thing. Do Americans in their 20s and 30s have any friendlier
>attitudes towards government programs than those in their 40s and
>50s? And when Queenan - who's a reactionary misanthrope, by the way -
>writes about his "generation" isn't he really writing about American
>culture? Why generationalize it? is it more ideologically acceptable?
Good point. I'm twenty-nine and I have to say my generation is no less kind toward government programs than baby-boomers. However, where do we learn our attitudes? And the Finnegan quote was about the hypocrisy of people who dismantle government programs after they've enjoyed the benefits of them.
I showed the same quote to my father and he said that he agreed "100%" with it. As he noted, there are many members of his generation who never would have gone to college without government aid. There was a general sense in his time of a social contract between high school students and the country. You didn't have to be wealthy or super-intelligent in order to take advantage of the benefits of higher education. Of course, this is simplfying things a bit. (Were the same advantages given to blacks and whites equally?) However, the notion that such an unspoken contract existed would undoubtedly surprise many of my generation and the current crop of teenagers.
Historical illiteracy can't be excused, but it can be more easily generated by ignorance of the times in which you had actually lived.
-- David
P.S. As for Joe Queenan, he's just a guy who picks on a few easy targets -- Stallone, Molly Ringwald, SNL -- and passes himself off as a maverick.