In the 60s the economy was completely different. If you went to college, you could get a summer job, often in a factory, and make enough in the summer to pay for an entire year of college. (I did it.) If you didn't go to college, that same factory job put you in the middle class. Compared to the cost of living, wages were incomparably higher than they are now.

@Viking380

Жыл бұрын

The United States today is experiencing global competition for jobs for products that and for natural resources.

@chamboyette853

Жыл бұрын

The rich were much less extravagantly rich back then as well compared to now.

@scottparis6355

Жыл бұрын

@@Viking380 Yes. And?

@heavenhelpus479

Жыл бұрын

And that trend continued in the '70's. I bought a new car and put myself through college in the late '70s on my earnings at Safeway. I worked 32 hrs a week and had enough money to chase a new girlfriend every 6 months. Then greed took over the country.

@BabylonWatchTV

Жыл бұрын

You lot had it easy at a detriment to later generations

ah back when middle class still existed. those were the days

@chrbotno1920

Жыл бұрын

Now getting from lower class to middle class is like hitting a speed bump full speed.

@MadzHere75

Жыл бұрын

My sister and I have been calling The WORKING .... Right! - AMEN

@MadzHere75

Жыл бұрын

@@chrbotno1920 OH yeah Working Poor!

@AllergicFungus

Жыл бұрын

@@chrbotno1920 lmao. No joke

@bouzoukiman5000

Жыл бұрын

Free college helped. How did state schools become a business?...is the question

I was born in 1953 and grew up in white middle class suburbia in the 60’s. My childhood was about as idyllic as you could get. My family basically took care of everything for me, including paying the entire cost of my college education. Of course tuition was much cheaper back then: my 4 years at a University of California school cost $10K, and that was for everything. Today I see things through an adult’s eyes and it seems like things keep getting worse and worse. We seem to be a society of the haves and have nots, which is so different from the 60’s when the middle class seemed liked it was so solid and expanding. Not anymore, sadly.

@C.Church

Жыл бұрын

$10,000 in 1963 is $97,000 today. That was a RICH sum of money. And you didn't have all the expensive student services students DEMAND today. So you might say "That near 100 grand included housing though" But as a white student with very minimal special needs you slipped through whereas a lot wouldn't have. With today's standards you'd have easily paid the equivalent of $5k($50 grand) a year. And kids needing extra help or social support groups and proper support would have gotten to go. I'm saying 10k is still expensive.

@djimiwreybigsby5263

Жыл бұрын

1954 here and I see through similarly programmed eyes ... I see our culture becoming increasingly toxic and divided against itself. Every great culture rises and falls. Our version of capitalism, (a rapacious vs a sustainable version) along with the toxic social media culture seems to cultivating a generation of people who are generally reactive and seemingly looking for things about which to be offended. There's so much more to explore. The insane profitability and constant promulgation of war and the puppet show that politics has become. I ask you, sir; is your assessment of today's culture one of hope or fear? His comments on the evolving state of collective consciousness is equally intriguing

@a_changedworld

Жыл бұрын

@@djimiwreybigsby5263 Empires rise and fall and the attitudes of the people living in them reflect which stage the Empire itself is in, almost regardless of who, when are where these people existed otherwise. A dominant empire has gained that position from expansion, the conquering, and subsequent destruction and/or integration of these defeated peoples and their empires. However, at some point this expansion requires more military might than the Empire has from within so it starts to increasingly rely more heavily on mercenaries. Paid fighters don't fight for an empire the same way the citizens of the empire do because it's just a job for them (they're not defending their culture, homeland, way of life, etc). So, the empire needs more mercenaries than standard troops to get the same job done. This cycle continues and becomes ubiquitous across the empire, expansion requires more manpower, these men (and women) come from elsewhere, and soon the citizens feel like a minority in their own empire while the immigrant population is growing and changing the empire as it does. They say 'change happens very slowly and then all of a sudden' and that's what happens with Empires. There is a flashpoint where the empire either fractures and fights/civil war/revolutions happen as the empire crumbles, or the existing power structure adapts, consolidates and begins a new cycle. We are currently at the stage where a flashpoint is inevitable, it's the stage of empire where no one cares about the empire or it's future anymore. The citizens become lazy, entitled and disconnected from the realities of life. Apparently, during this stage it's common for the people to make celebrities of their best chefs - a nice reflection of said societies' values.

@C.Church

Жыл бұрын

@@a_changedworld I especially like the part where you insult the people ONLY in the current era in your faux intellectual "baffle them with BS." You are why even elder women and minorities get lumped in with crusty old white guys who see themselves only of heroism despite the reality. They say stuff like "It was perfect when I was a boy. THEY ruined it. Get off my lawn!" And your 20yr old analog judges everyone in the reverse direction. You're all part and parcel.

@C.Church

Жыл бұрын

@Tess Stickels Manynof the people are the same. If you're looking at an angry, judgmental, self-interested old white guy, you're looking at an angry unfairly judgmental, self interested teen or 20 something. Different ages, same entitlement to hate people they don't understand. ps. Inb4 the cheap tu quoque: "Ooo aren't you doing the same thing? Hating what you dont understand? Hmmmm?" No. Truthtellers tell you what they see. Equal opportunity observation here. No one is perfect, but these are the far flung people of the pendulum creating the momentum of whiplash in everyone caught in the middle.

He never mentioned the birth control pill that came out around 1960. I think its influence on the sixties was huge.

@z0z111

Жыл бұрын

Also, Bob Dylan.

@jaenboston2683

Жыл бұрын

@@z0z111 the music and lyrics says a lot too.

@dalethelander3781

Жыл бұрын

@@z0z111 I didn't get into music until I discovered KISS.

@Mtnfarmer55

Жыл бұрын

Yes indeed. The time between the advent of “the Pill” and a couple of decades later, AIDS, was a unique time frame that will never come again. The structures of so much, on so many levels, changed and adapted from the folkways and morays of the time, enough to become unrecognizable by the elders who were born in the late 1800’s. Just imagine!!!!!

@dalethelander3781

Жыл бұрын

@@Mtnfarmer55 *Mores. A moray is an eel. Can you explain, in plain english, that word salad you wrote?

When it was their turn to give back, they didn't. It's a cautionary tale.

It's true. I was born in '62, but I was an outsider, with the only divorced parents in the neighborhood, so I was more like a generation X, latch key kid, who had to raise himself in relative poverty. I could see the spoiled and hypocritical hippies and baby boomers the way a child sees the older siblings and older bullies, from the underbelly. I trusted Hippies about as much as Nixon trusted hippies. In the seventies and eighties, I was working for them and enduring their abuse and lies. Their affluence became annoying because I was poor and working hard, while going to school. I didn't get the celebrated Spring Breaks, and I wasn't welcome at parties. The media seemed to want to add insult to injury because it kept picking on generation X as useless and lazy because it wasn't doing as well as they did, but generation X was experiencing sharply raising costs of education, rent, energy and everything else, and a lack of any jobs but fast food, minimum wage jobs, and the minimum wage was stagnant for an entire decade while the boomers were rolling in affluence. They took all the good jobs and planned to hold them for life. When I asked about a job as a forest ranger, I was told the jobs were all taken and there was a waiting list. Boomers who took the available jobs planned to hold them for life, and they have only begun to retire now. Now, I see advertisements for forest service jobs at last, but I doubt they would take me at my age. Some things are simply demographic like that, and generation X was not to blame for its struggles. But the older generation assholes liked to pick on them because they weren't getting their fries fast enough to please them. The boomers are still like a hoard of all devouring locusts, who need bank bail outs so their houses can be their retirement accounts, while young people with children could never hope to afford them, because the prices never fell back to market value.

@tsb7003

Жыл бұрын

Couldnt have said it better

@shasmi93

Жыл бұрын

Hello, fellow millineal here…. I think? Born in 1993. I AGREE with everything you said! I hate to be savage but I can’t WAIT for older generation to go and leave this planet to us so we can clean it up (or try) without them interfering any longer.

@tony3313

Жыл бұрын

Instead of blaming a whole generation on your social inadequacies, take a look in the mirror for your discontent. BTW your still a boomer like it or not.

@Red4score

Жыл бұрын

@@shasmi93 and who decided to let these confused corrupt boomers run America.

@shasmi93

Жыл бұрын

@@Red4score other confused, corrupt boomers. You must be one; seeing how you had to ask that question…

I actually relate more to my grandmothers generation that had hard times, going through wars and not having much financially in her life. She taught me to appreciate what I have and cherish family over anything else!

@S___________

Жыл бұрын

I Think of my grandmother very often , She migrated to the USA from el Salvador. That woman is strong as any man who has ever lived. Its that example of strength, pride and persevereance that still keeps me going and is allowing me to face the harsh parts of life. Its a shame we do not value our elders more highly. I was born in 95 so you can get an idea of my grandmothers age. she is retired and living in an island now. god bless her heart and soul

@sadhu7191

Жыл бұрын

A homeless person could of told u dat

@Legoman69469

Жыл бұрын

Yep… Them boomers certainly had it good and easy. Then greed set in

@joseho-guanipa6044

Жыл бұрын

100%.

@babbsromero3471

Жыл бұрын

@@sadhu7191 true, but I would not have been hanging with the homeless at 10 and what my Grandmother said stuck because she was my rock!

those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end. But they did, oh how they did. End. I'm 80, and it is so clear now. Father doesn't know best. At least mine didn't. There was no affluence in our family. There was poverty and alcoholism which gives you a different outlook.

@jamesweatherford988

Жыл бұрын

And now mother's don't know either.

@fallon7616

Жыл бұрын

We were poor and White

@marjoriegarner5369

Жыл бұрын

@@72marshflower15 we never had affluence, so, it didn't suffer. "We" just suffered.

@greenacres9287

Жыл бұрын

That was my parent’s childhood- poverty, alcoholism, death and orphans. Tried to get on their feet only to have the government-IRS- make them, me, and my sister, homeless people when I was 10. This video was not everyone’s story.

@jamesweatherford988

Жыл бұрын

@@greenacres9287 I hear you.they slowed you down but they didn't stop you.pat your self on your back and to hell will send them back.spread the truth ,yes sir Mr B green.

No loyalty is right, not even to their own children!

Just say it, narcissists

@teodorfon8159

9 күн бұрын

1:34 🤷‍♂️

This guy Theodore Roszak was such an effortlessly brilliant thinker. He articulates entire waves of cultural phenomenon with pinpoint accuracy. Imagine how much the average kid today could learn about the last 100 years of American history if Theodore Roszak was their professor. RIP, great mind.

@w.geoffreyspaulding6588

Жыл бұрын

THANK YOU for saying who this is! I could not find. A reference to his name Anywhere!

@markcounseling

Жыл бұрын

Great comment. I'm stunned by the relevance of everything he's saying. Such a temperate, balanced, clear-eyed view, with insights I'd never heard before.

@dalethelander3781

Жыл бұрын

He's no Carl Sagan.

@cindylewis3325

Жыл бұрын

I found him quite the “elitist”. This was his view not mine. Jerry Rueben of the Chicago 7 ended up fat working on Wall Street and died of a heart attack a member of the establishment he so vehemently protested. Abby Hoffman, went on the run, surfaced then got involved with the environment movement but suddenly died. Every generation has its hero’s and evils. I hated the way we treated the veterans that came home from Vietnam, I hated the war, so much that I actually went to work for DOD. You know you cannot effect change unless you understand the beast. What I found were truly dedicated people working to protect our country. I’ve done many things in my life and not ashamed. My children live off the grid with solar, grow their own food, work & raise a family. They see the problems before them and are trying to live a better greener way. I would hope other younger people would do the same. They never asked me how, they just did it.

@dalethelander3781

Жыл бұрын

@@cindylewis3325 I'm semi-retired from an agency closely associated with DoD. NASA.

Wow just to hear that his education was free and the little laugh afterwards shows how different life is for young adults today.

@7th_CAV_Trooper

4 күн бұрын

Back then there were full-ride scholarships for smart kids. But nothing is free. Someone paid for them.

There are two groups of baby boomers; the ones who were in college in the sixties were the first group. I am in the second group, high school in the seventies. I was never spoiled; I grew up being bullied by neighborhood kids and parents who ignored it. There is no such thing as a spoiled child, only irresponsible parents.

@jhandle4196

10 ай бұрын

Born in '62 doesn't really classify as a "boomer." You were only 6 or 7 years old during Woodstock. "Boomers" are the generation spawned by the return of WW II veterans.

@alukuhito

10 ай бұрын

That's Generation Jones, or possibly early Generation X in terms of North American culture. To me, that is the strangest generation. They always seem to be in a different mind set than others. A hazy mind set that was partially created by casual drug use, casual sex, and older siblings who were hippies.

@frogger1952

9 ай бұрын

Bullies have existed everywhere and at all times. We had a bully in our neighborhood and I got so pissed at him that I fought him even though he was bigger and stronger than me. He beat the crap out of me, but he also never bothered me again. He decided to pick on someone that presented fewer problems for him. Lesson learned.

@riffcaster

6 ай бұрын

​@@frogger1952ahh no... you graduated. The bully left you alone because you were no longer weak. That bully did you a favour. Don't be a victim about it now.

@frogger1952

6 ай бұрын

@@riffcasterCan you read? Where did I say this occurred in my school? What does my graduation have to do with it? If I stated I learned a lesson from him how does that make me a victim?

When he spoke of the influence of Mad magazine a bell went off. I agree with his assessment of the magazines influence, never having considered it as such until he mentioned it. But growing up as a kid loving the satire and editorial content, it shaped my perception and ability to question the norms of society. A healthy skepticism. I wonder if others had that same take away??

@MCM_Savage

Жыл бұрын

Agreed. I remember I couldn't wait for a new one. And Cracked magazine came out soon after. Then of course, there was the more riske stuff like Heavy Metal magazine and of course... Those Fabulous Fury Freak Brothers. Hahaha. 🤟😋

@markcounseling

Жыл бұрын

Exactly so, and I was born in the mid60s. Mad and Cracked were just part of the atmosphere. Little did I know the impact, very clear now in retrospect. The ubiquitous "irony" of GenXers has a root in that.

@dalethelander3781

Жыл бұрын

I dunno. I stuck with DC.

@luckydave328

Жыл бұрын

@@MCM_Savage 'Risqué' not 'riske' and 'Furry Freak' not 'Fury Freak' (Brothers). Just like to help ! Otherwise yes !

@Teeveepicksures

Жыл бұрын

POTRZEBIE!

I'm a baby boomer and there was no tension between my siblings and my parents. They had gone through the depression and the war (my father was away for several years). Because they had been through so much, they were happy that we were healthy and had enough to eat. They didn't have fixed ideas about the world, they concentrated on the small things of life and that's how they got through the tough times. We were aware how hard there lives had been.

@Seemsayin

Жыл бұрын

Excellent reply. My grandparents, though not dirt-poor during the depression & WWII, were not self-righteous or bigoted or selfish. They did what they had to do to see that everyone got fed. They didn't have anything fancy, and NEVER acted like someone owed them a living. They did the right thing, because it was the right thing to do. And like yours... they concentrated on the small things in life and that's how they got through the tough times. They were aware how hard their lives had been, and impressed their values onto their kids. Sometimes I wonder how Boomers got such a bad reputation, because our lives were NOTHING like the typical stories you read. We've always prided ourselves on not having had to ask for a handout. We all worked for what we wanted, like I'm sure a LOT of other families did. I'm 58 years old, and I've never received an inheritance, nor a handout. At the same time, I don't think I've ever been associated with a typical Boomer. I'm at the cut-off for Boomers, and still don't know what all the hype is about. Then again... I don't get out much.

@jimwellnitz1751

Жыл бұрын

Happy to have food. That is how petty people have become.

@Vometbomb

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for ruining the future of human life and the planet

@billyj3842

Жыл бұрын

If only we were free now adays. Now we are stuck with tiktokers and a crap standard of living with 3 people richer than 200+ millions americans

@billyj3842

Жыл бұрын

@@wdcurry111 that is an effective way to maintain a healthy mindset. But the fact that our kids have zero hope reflects the situation at hand. Both political parties in this country share the same donors. So we only get to pick neoliberal politicians who only serve their donors and not our children's future. Why would I want to be silent as I wait for younger generations to get us out of this mess. Trump and biden gave trillions to wallstreet within the last couple years and let's not even mention nafta and the Iraq war. We cant let neoliberals fool us. These arent talking points its just basic knowledge that we have to address. The sooner the better.

This is very intriguing. As a gen-Xer this is an insightful analysis of the relationship between my late grandparents and their children (my parents.) Knowing this analysis of the culture of their time really helps me read between the lines. This kind of thing helps me understand why my baby boomer parents had so much tension with their parents. Because I only knew their parents (my grandparents) when they were already retired and softened. I didn’t see the height of their stressful parenting years in the midst of the 60s. Thank you for sharing these interviews. You’re widening my perception of my family and society as a whole.

@getx1265

Жыл бұрын

The Generation Gap was our reality during the 60s. A common undercurrent was that of not trusting anyone over 30. Crazy nowadays to contemplate a reality like that.

@deirdre108

Жыл бұрын

I was born in '52 so close to the middle of the boomer generation. One thing that was different then was that almost all the kids around my age that I knew had fathers who were WW2 and/or Korean War veterans. My father was one of those. They were typically very stern, strict, no nonsense men. You knew that they loved their family but there was a distance between them and their children (sons, anyway) that led to remoteness and tension as the children became adults.

@deirdre108

Жыл бұрын

@@thealternative9580 I think you're right although my mom and dad were an exception. They were married 62 years when my mother died.

@OldHeathen1963

Жыл бұрын

Very interesting I was born Dec '63. My parents were silent. Mom was 30 in '67. Dad 7 years older. One like the GI Gen. Mom like the Boomers ..more like. Both parents were married 3 times. ( one divorced 3 ) I'm from the 2nd marriage for each. I have the alienation and sense of belonging nowhere. Of missing the boat.

@patriciaburkell8024

Жыл бұрын

Born in 1963... Every adult male in my family was military. I adore my uncles who grew up in the Depression, fought WWII and had a work ethic hic that still leaves me in awe. What the spoiled children do not understand is how ridiculous their temper tantrums were and are. When you go through hard times you ar able to triage bullshit from important issues.

Yes, hello. I’m a millennial, born in the 90’s………we are not okay.

Prescribed identities 💡. He said it all didn't he? The whole idea of the middle class relied heavily on consumerism and affluence-still does! Those businesses that those neighborhoods were set up for have disappeared so have those mega malls. I'm GenX but I remember my mom and her friends as adults in the 80's living out these ideals staying at jobs they hated for 20-30 years. They all had to drive certain vehicles and own name brand appliances, and clothes ect. Now officials are working strategically to give younger generations less. Your videos should be shown is schools. They are so thoughtful.

@TheWorld_2099

Жыл бұрын

Can you say a little more about ‘officials working strategically to give younger generations less’..? I’m Gen X also, and my take about our generation is that Baby-Boomers really snapped up everything, by virtue of government programs designed for American expansion. Are millennials forced to deal with even less, and then GenZ eventually less as well?

@dalethelander3781

Жыл бұрын

And who set up consumerism? Greatest Generation and Silent Generation corporate executives. Boomers weren't old enough to produce and market appliances and toys and cars and fashions and fuck all. Affluence? Hardly. My parents were far from affluent. Actually, I was raised by my Greatest Generation grandparents. All my mother did was pay for my Catholic education on her single-mom salary. My dad? Nowhere to be found. All I know is that he left mom after meeting another woman with the same name as my mom. I lived in a shit-on-a-shingle middle class neighborhood. The town I grew up in was a railroad town outside of Chicago. I mowed lawns or shoveled snow for money to buy what I wanted; comic books, model kits, baseball cards. I wasn't handed anything. I bought a 10-speed bike with money from my first afterschool job. Your failure is that you stereotype everyone in an entire generation; that we all grew up the same, had the same experiences, lived cookie-cutter existences. You couldn't be farther from the truth. Sorry about your cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias.

@dalethelander3781

Жыл бұрын

Oh, by the way, megamalls are still thriving here in Los Angeles and all over Southern California and still hubs for teens and young adults to congregate and socialize. One big-ass mall near me just built a 20-screen AMC megaplex movie theater.

@TheWorld_2099

Жыл бұрын

@@dalethelander3781 um, angry much? The whole point here is that while a certain segment of the population lived in affluence, it’s painfully clear that that didn’t apply to everyone. there’s a whole lot of white people who missed that boat, but also mostly black and brown people.

@dalethelander3781

Жыл бұрын

@@TheWorld_2099 I don't see where you got anger from.

I was born in 1956 and this highly articulate man managed to finally clarify what was really going on back in those very confusing times. Thanks David!

@davisholman8149

Жыл бұрын

Not in my neighborhoods. I was a 1956 baby too - daughter of an Air Force Sargent - parents divorced & my mom with 3 kids lived hand to mouth. Yes, we all had a good life in typical America. We all felt every opportunity could be ours. I got academic scholarships for college. This man is talking about the top 10-20% of intellectual hippie/counter culture - not the average American.

I graduated high school in 1971. All you had to do was get a job parking cars at the airport, or something, and you could afford to rent an apartment and put a down payment on a Vette. I had friends who did this. I went to college and lived at home. College was virtually free. What happened?

@mattmarbury5399

Жыл бұрын

Imho, Richard Nixon followed by the Ronald Reagan era got the ball rolling to where we are now. Now here we are in the late stages of uncontrolled Capitalism and plutocracy killing off the middle class.

@edwardglass1173

Жыл бұрын

College became a business and prerequisite for professional success in the business world. The world economy became more competitive and Americans white males faced combative and aggressive societal pressures from minorities and American white women specifically.

@normbograham

12 күн бұрын

Sounds like your father was paying for your college.

@jays1079

11 күн бұрын

Reagan decided it would be in the best interest of the nation if we made college more expensive.

@bonniegaither3994

5 күн бұрын

Reagan. That’s what happened. Reagan didn’t believe in subsidizing college education.

Interesting video. I was born in 1963 and I remember my parents disdain for the hippies; I remember how horrible our country treated our VN veterans! I was raised in a small, Quaker town near NASA in Texas.

@yodservant

Жыл бұрын

@Jorge Chavez I agree as I was born in 1962 and consider myself a Kennedy era baby just after the Great Aquarius Gateway of Feb 5 1962...I feel much more Gen X than boomer. My dad was born in 1934 and my mom in 1941.

@leslielousma7913

Жыл бұрын

@@yodservant My folks were born 1931 and 1933. My in-laws were both born in 1936. It amazes me that to this day they still have the Great Depression ingrained in every aspect of their lives. I’m blessed to have learned so much from them.

@leslielousma7913

Жыл бұрын

@@Galen_G I’m so sorry about your dads medical issues. I grew up in Friendswood and we went to Kemah frequently to buy fresh Gulf shrimp right off the boats. NASA was hard on everyone who worked their asses off to get the job(s) done. Too many divorces and most kids hardly ever saw their dads. I wish my dad was still alive to celebrate his wonderful career with all his buddies. It’s upsetting that so many of the original astronauts and support folks are gone now.

@williamadams8353

Жыл бұрын

I was born in 1963 as well, and was not middle class or affluent. My mom was a divorcee in the 60s who came from a big Russian German Catholic family and I and my sister's always felt like we had an invisible mark on us. I got my first paycheck job at age 14, and never stopped all through high school. I did some horribly brutal jobs and got paid less than $5 an hour at the time. It did make you think about what you wanted to do for the rest of your life, and eventually I ended up getting an education in accounting, and worked in that field for a few years. I worked for several temp agencies since no real companies wanted to hire you with no experience in the field. My last temp job ended in me being recruited by a fortune 100 company and working for them for the next 6.5 years until they sold that division to Wells Fargo bank. That time period was the closest that I came to being in the middle class, but I was a single parent that whole time, so it was on the bottom tier of the middle class.

@leslielousma7913

Жыл бұрын

@@Galen_G I’m also collateral damage as were many NASA families. My mom couldn’t cope with my dad always gone to FL or at JSC so she turned to alcohol and pills. She died at 54.

My college campus was in the rice paddies of Viet nam 1966.

@seanwieland9763

12 күн бұрын

The man in the black pajamas.

@d.owenpowell9023

12 күн бұрын

When we returned home these kids, aka our fellow citizens, some friends, and splinters of our associates became hard-core liberals, that splintered off to become a Rachael Madd-cow or Stephen Colber-take 5. That said, all in all, it was good times and not-so-good times. But, as this old man reflects back. The good times we remember, stand foremost in our minds, and we reminisce about the “good ole days”. I really don't think that much has changed, only that we are more divided than ever, and there is so much chaos in the world. Now it's time to reset.

@7th_CAV_Trooper

4 күн бұрын

I got a PhD in how the world really works from the Army.

David Hoffman, you are one of the best unintentional historians we have on this platform. Your work of collections of people from all parts socioeconomically demographically in the USA solely from your passion of photography and videography is important for those of us taking some time to learn from the past and understand what is still today similar as well as different and ponder about how we can get ahead and further ourselves and hopefully further our communities etc. Thank you for all that you've done and continue to share with us.

@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for that beautiful complement. But I am no historian. And proud not to be one. Unless I consider and you consider the social side of history. How people live. What people think. What people do and don't do. Rather than the "facts and dates." That never interested me much. But people? They/we/you and me - that interests me plenty. David Hoffman filmmaker

Always enjoy a video from David! So sad that the middle class is basically disappearing in today’s world.

@SassyAF.

Жыл бұрын

@@DRourk I don’t shop at large corporations! Always the mom & pop shops for us! Even our grocery store is owned by a local family in my small town, it has everything we need and it’s worth a little extra to not give my money to larger businesses like Kroger or Whole Foods! But I also have a garden each year and grow my vegetables and I am canning all summer for our food for the winter! Unfortunately we live paycheck to paycheck and when something happens like what happened to my husband, we are screwed some weeks! My husband got Covid pneumonia and was hospitalized for over a month! We’re on the verge of losing our house! All because of Covid and the fact we didn’t have enough money to save and put back 😢 no on cares about their neighbors like they used to. It’s a sad world we live in

@mousc460

Жыл бұрын

@@DRourk What local businesses?

@SassyAF.

Жыл бұрын

@@DRourk that imaginary disease almost killed my husband! Covid pneumonia and in the hospital for fkn a month and a half, no damn pay! No help from the union he’s been in for the last 34 years! We went 3 months with no one damn dime! Nobody cares! Nobody gives a rats ass anymore about people! He served in the USMC and because he wasn’t in a war, no help from them! We couldn’t even get food stamps without having to mail in damn check stubs and bank statements that we DIDN’T get and the idiots turned us down! It’s pathetic and yes I’m pissed! I sure the hell don’t want someone preaching to me about my situation when you don’t have a clue as to what we’ve been through!!

@lifeonmars03

Жыл бұрын

@@SassyAF. so sorry to hear that. Hope you staying strong

@10secondsrule

Жыл бұрын

That’s what happens when you milk it dry… stop supporting corporations.

Hoffman is a genius interviewer . He uses the one thing that most people want at some point in their life , which is to just be heard . He sets up the initial conditions , asks a simple question and then sits back and listens without comment or judgment . This puts the person being interview in a very safe space allowing them to express more deeply what is in their hearts and minds .

@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for the compliment. It is true that when I ask a question, always putting it in the context of the viewers who will be seeing it, I then sit back, clear my mind, and just listen. After the comment is complete, then I think of what I might want to ask next. David Hoffman filmmaker

I was always respectful, and loyal to my parents. We weren't affluent but we had a family. That was what was the richness.

I was born in 1955 in white middle-class New Jersey and agree with 80-90% of what he is saying. Imagine my surprise when about 15 years ago I read the - somewhat forgotten today - 1922 best selling novel “Babbitt” by Sinclair Lewis and discovered that the characters were much like those we satirized in the 1960s. The language and themes are of a somewhat dated 1920s vintage, but the themes resonate across time. The teenagers are restless, idealistic and critical of their parents and their expectations. Middle-class America is prosperous, but provincial, narrow-minded and status obsessed. The middle-class, middle-aged male protagonist is disappointed in his life, sick of incessant boosterism but incapable of breaking away…the quintessential 1960’s “MisterJones”….only Lewis wrote this incredibly insightful spot-on satire over 40 years before Bob Dylan wrote “Ballad of a Thin Man”…and the book was immensely popular. I can’t believe we were reading “The Great Gatsby” in HS rather than “Babbitt”. We might have ended up having more respect for our grandparents.

@sarahmariah100

Жыл бұрын

Lololomg I looooove Babbitt. You are so right about Gatsby v Babbit for high schoolers - for everyone. Why is there no Babbitt movie? Gatsby made me want to die in HS, well, still - but later Babnitt provided comfort. Something must be wrong w me bc I totally love & empathise w that guy (character). PS lol i dont know who all needs to hear this right now, but: Read Yourselvess Some Sinclair Lewis STAT

@josephhuether1184

Жыл бұрын

@@sarahmariah100 Yeah…Babbitt IS a sympathetic character. The creature comforts of his middle-class midwestern life and marriage…in its inevitable state of ennui…don’t bring him happiness. He eventually reconnects with his wife through a health crisis and reconciles with his kid’s desire for autonomy. Much is tame by 1960s standards…I love how sex and sexual fantasy is handled and made palatable…but the human dilemmas are nevertheless easily recognized by a contemporary person. I love the book for its somewhat timeless examination “dissatisfaction with success” and its detailed depiction of American life in that booster-laden early 1920s. No mention of the 1918 Flue pandemic BTW. I also find it very interesting that the book was very very popular at the time. A significant portion of the reading public was obviously not afraid to take a good hard look in the mirror. “Main Street” is also great and both have unique female characters.

@christinecollins6648

Жыл бұрын

Though, Great Gastby is a truly great book. Maybe it is locale specific. It shows prestige being tied to your class of birth. It also shows that even if you revamp yourself to aspire to join a higher social strata, if you don’ share interests with the people you’re trying to hob nob with, you won’t form meaningful friendship bonds. This can put you in an existential crisis. I find the story similar to The Who’ Quadrophinia were the mes en scene setting ( see, sand for Quad, belt parkway, dock for Gatsby give a bucolic relief from personal insecurities

@josephhuether1184

Жыл бұрын

@@christinecollins6648 I love Gatsby also. Didn’t mean to disparage. BTW…and this is a bit of NY metropolitan area trivia (I don’t know where in the country you live) but the Valley of Ashes in Gatsby was based on a real place…now occupied by Flushing Meadows Park, Citi Field, Arthur Ashe Stadium and the Queens Museum. It was the enormous Corona Ash Dumps, a coal ash landfill that received ash from the NYC sanitation department and the Brooklyn Ash Removal Company…back in the days of coal fired domestic furnaces. Fitzgerald uses it in a somewhat metaphoric manner but it WAS a real place. Interesting, up until just recently, the land tract was home to a small remaining cluster of very funky automobile repair shops, body shops and (probably) chop shops at Willets Point…the last remnant of its original grimy “city outskirts” industrial use. Robert Moses is primarily responsible for transformed the area into parkland and Robert Caro writes about this in The Power Broker. Flushing Meadows Park, though not as famous as New York’s Central and Prospect Parks, is one of the last grand oasis in NYC that primarily serves working-class / immigrant-heavy New York.

@karenwaddell9396

Жыл бұрын

Same with Cheaper By The Dozen…. It’s life

I was born in 1961. Talk about falling threw the cracks!!! My parents did not ever lecture us. No allowances, time outs, grounding, curfews, corporal punishment, or being sent to our room. We were told to work and be home around midnight. By 12 years old, I worked at, Baskin-Robbins, washed windows, babysat, mowed lawns, and had a paper route. At 15, I moved to another state to make more money. By 16, I was an assistant manager of 3 convenient stores, in Shawnee, Oklahoma. I drove an El Camino "Black Night," and lived in my own trailer behind my bosses house. Today, (at 61) I am a college graduate and a Roman Catholic Monk of 16 years. I live on 4 acres, with trees and a creek, in a 5500sqft. house, W/sub-basement. I live next to The Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, in "Medicine Park-The Holy City," Oklahoma.-Named by FDR in 1934. So, even though I lived in the 1960's and 70's, I never had time to be a part of that culture. I spent most of my time with people born in the 1940's. I had friends in Oklahoma who were my age, (16-21), and I had a lot of parties. So, I saw the culture, but, I was never, in the culture of the group we now call hippies. I missed that time by about 5 years. Brother James Kendall Moore OSB OFS OSC

@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker

10 ай бұрын

Beautifully said. An extraordinary life you are living. Thank you for sharing it with the community Brother Moore. David Hoffman filmmaker

@eviegibbons2267

28 күн бұрын

Groovy Brother!

@tulip811

10 күн бұрын

Why are you a monk who uses the internet

“A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It's where the rich use public transportation.”

@Michael-qe1xo

Жыл бұрын

Well said. Wow

"Do your own thing" ... just another way of saying, "Do as thou wilt," and we can see where that landed us as a society (if it can be called social..

@debraengland3827

Жыл бұрын

A brilliant observation.

@gts1067

13 күн бұрын

This is critical

@seanwieland9763

12 күн бұрын

💯💯💯

@RIVALContentJammerz

10 сағат бұрын

We always said, "To Each their Own Hell"

As the tip of the tail of the beast (1964) I enjoyed feeling well off even though it might have only been perception at the time. I now know that I was raised smack dab in the middle of the blue-collar "working class." My money came hard and was easily spent. Living through the 70s as a young teen was unreal. I was spoiled by great music in an unforgettable culture that no longer exists. Anything pre-internet and cell phones is a blessing, not a curse. There isn't much room for self-reflection and processing things on your own. It's all done for you by AI or others on TED Talks.

If to be happy and free is to be spoiled Its kind of implies that your not supposed to be personally free or happy..

Perspective is everything. The only constant in life is change. Peace ✌️

The number of narcissists in the baby boomers is shocking. Especially in the males. Most have to be a macho tough guy. One who knows everything, done everything, and is never wrong.

@tartgreenapple

Жыл бұрын

@@thealternative9580 I feel you bother. Their hypocrisy is stupefying.

@sadhu7191

Жыл бұрын

Drugs are so much better now. Homegrownhigh grade genetics weed seeds online. Lab tested kratom, phenibut,and high dose homegrown shrooms with people starting churchs

@sterlingcooper3978

Жыл бұрын

Projection?

@chaoswitch1974

Жыл бұрын

And how they worked their butts off for everything they have.

@chaoswitch1974

Жыл бұрын

@@thealternative9580 same family? Are you my brother? Yeah.

The initial slip in the fall from grace always seems fun.. at first.

@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker

Жыл бұрын

Certainly true but I must tell you that for many, the 1950s was not a period of grace as is sometimes presented today. David Hoffman filmmaker

@springrain9438

Жыл бұрын

@@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker oh I hear you. I don't buy into the whole age of grace propaganda from the churches. Judgment awaits us all especially in this country, if we don't repent. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling is the foundation of the gospel. We now are reaping the results of the seeds sown from the changes that happened in that generation. Sin is fun for a season but always leads to death and slavery. Peace and many blessings to you and yours Mr. Hoffman.

This video is worthy of watching multiple times. Taking notes and reading some of Professor Roszak's writings as well as researching some of the topics in light of his perspective would be very enlightening. As always, I'm indebted to David for bringing us only the best! I learn so much about the times in which I have lived.

@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Marty. David Hoffman filmmaker

Thank you David. Your efforts are most appreciated.

@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for your comment. If your resources allow, I would sure appreciate your using the THANKS button under any of my videos including the one you have commented on. It is something new that KZread is beta testing and would mean a great deal for my continuing efforts. David Hoffman filmmaker

Love videos like this! Because I was born at the tail end of this era and I was raised by parents old enough to be my grandparents, I was too young to understand what was happening. I was an only child and my parents did tell me information about forbidden topics like sex, the Holocaust etc. as their parents before them did. We had very open conversations. My father and I would watch controversial TV programs together and he would explain to me what those shows were about.

This was a fascinating view into the culture and lives of the Baby Boom generation. Thank you for doing this important work back then, Mr. Hoffman, and thank you for sharing it with us today. I was born around 1980, and I always felt like I straddled a line between my older siblings who were born in the early 70s and the younger people born after me throughout the 80s. But I've always felt this very close connection to the kids who grew up in the 60s who pushed against societal norms. In fact, my bedroom in high school in the 90s was covered in Beatles posters and, for my junior year, I eschewed most modern clothes and wore basically only vintage tops (mostly 70s polyester) to school. I loved movies like Forrest Gump and all of the music from that era. I often felt like I was born out of time, and I just love to hear stories about what life was like for people during that time. I'm a visual artist now (living the 60s counterculture dream!) and I have plans to start collecting stories and photos from people I know who grew up during that time. Their lives and the culture they grew up in were so different from my youth and from the youth today, but there is something that is so familiar that it's almost tangible -- like looking at an old photo and just immersing yourself within the scene as if you were there. Thank you for sharing these videos. They are certainly an inspiration to people like me. ❤️✌️

UnAcknowledged (PTSD) I think contributed to the lack of guidance to given to children during this time .

The openness for free speech and dialog that was experienced in the 60s has been replaced by the death of the First Amendment today!

As a 74 year old boomer i don't remember going off to college and protesting. My parents were middle class and said if you have time to protest you can stay home and get a job. Yes they wanted us to have nice things but also have a strong work ethic.

I was born in 1960 and I remember the influence of the college kids of those days who were my cousins, babysitters, older siblings of my friends, summer camp counselors, etc. The biggest effect I've noticed from this era is the one it had on the US military. Boys were drafted and forced to fight in wars before 1975. Everyone paid the price when we went to war. Now only volunteers who enlist end up in the military. The general public at large remains largely unaware of what our US military is up to. Now when we want to have a war with a country, we have to trump up support for it by saying they are or might be attacking us, or saying that their dictators gas their own people, or give some other reason that fills the public with feelings of patriotism and righteous indignation. Then the public says, "Bome them back to the stone age," and the military does, and the American citizenry feels powerful and proud of our dominance. We don't see the cost of war or the misery it inflicts on our soldiers or the civilians of other countries. Now we are at war with 5, 6, or 7 countries at a time while the American people continue to live their regular lives. The effect is a tremendous amount of propaganda perpetrated on average unaware American to continue our wars while billions of tax dollars flow from public masses into the private hands of a very few individuals and/or corporations, and this increases their power and influence over us and reduces our ability to object to them or reject their policies. This is not sustainable, and eventually we will come to see it as the bane of our future and of our American legacy around the world.

@cesarperez10

Жыл бұрын

I'm sorry, but you couldn't be further from the truth on this. The american propaganda machine was always in effect and always the american populace was far removed from conflicts the neo-colonial empire engaged in the world at large. In vietnam only 2 million out of the eligible 27 million actually served, and of those, not everyone was in a combat role. From the frontier conflicts to now, the american populace was always fed distant narratives, always removed from the actualities of those conflicts bolstered up by the natural geographic barriers and technologies of the time. From even the 1700s newspapers were incredibly common purchased to a degree unlike any country on earth in those times. Add to that the telegraph, the radio, and then television, the US practically invented this modern form of propaganda beginning at its inception. Correspondence between the founding fathers about achieving independence even wrote about how they viewed the people and how little they knew about what they were actually celebrating. Falses narratives were crafted to justify aggressions towards native americans, from having practically every event twisted to support their views in the American Indian Wars. Independence of modern-day haiti resulted in the banning of literacy among slave populations so that they couldnt learn about the revolutionary movements in majority black carribean. The false narratives about border conflicts with mexico were used to justify the unjust acts of aggression against mexico used to then storm the capital and take their lands in the Mexican American War. The USS Maine later was the center focus for propaganda used to justify the Spanish-American War, resulting in the death of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos. Countless events were twisted justifying incursions in south america to maintain US corporate hegemony in those lands from the Roosevelt Corollary, which laid the foundation for the later support of destabilizations, subterfuge, and genocidal conflicts against natives in latin america. The Zimmerman telegram and the sinking of the Lusitania were used to justify entry in WWI despite the fact that Mexico never showed any signs of even responding in kind or the fact that countless other british ships were sunk during that period. Propaganda used to benefit the small few to a large extent was the norm and probably a defining characteristic for colonial america.

@jamesanthony5681

Жыл бұрын

That propaganda machine has ALWAYS been in place, going back to the Spanish American War and even before. 'Bomb them back to the stone age?' I believe Curtis LeMay said that first when asked about Vietnam.

@abelflores1593

Жыл бұрын

Rite on

@judy4419

Жыл бұрын

Very well said

@jamesanthony5681

Жыл бұрын

@@purpuratigris8483 The draft ended in 1972, no?

THANK YOU for posting. I LOVE your channel🫂sharing Chicago IL.

@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker

9 күн бұрын

Thank you. David Hoffman filmmaker

These interviews make me see so clearly how depending on your life experiences growing up and such, it produces your vision of what life in America is like. It's when that bubble of innocence is severed for the first time it doesn't matter how good you have it, regarding your physical needs being met growing up, when that innocents is hijacked the world then becomes a dangerous frightening place. All the barriers that seem like little bumps to others are giant mountainous hurdles for you. You become on the defense instead of seeing opportunities. Someone like this persons analysis of things is interesting to listen to but it sure makes me think how so much of this type of analysis is completely irrelevant to actual truths. So much dysfunctional, neglect and abuse within families occurs thru the generations and it evolved into a monster. That's why kids within different generations become spoiled or neglected which leads to distractions of all kinds. Seems most are running from some trauma or another. Most never achieve the American dream these days not because they are spoiled or lazy but because all the traumas throughout their generations build up and are never dealt with so you get parents who have no idea how to focus on their families without it getting tainted through their personal filters. These interviews trigger me to really reflect on things.

Very interesting and accurate description of a crazy time in the life of young Americans of the 60s. As a septuagenarian, I'm thankful to have made it through the time, benefitting from what good it had to offer and still retaining the redeeming values of the past.

He is so correct in the stark difference between now and the 60s as far as open sexuality. To give you an example in the show I Dream of Jeannie she wasn’t even allowed to show her belly button! I may be a geezer but I think it’s gone way too far the other way today. F’ bombs being thrown every which way, and constant scenes of sexual perversions as if it’s normal. Just mho

@S___________

Жыл бұрын

highly oversexualized to create midless robots controlled by only lower desires sadly you are correct

@deirdre108

Жыл бұрын

Also Lucy had to hide that she was pregnant on the show and she and Ricky had to have separate beds. Rob and Laura Petrie also had to have separate beds.

@KingOfGaymes

Жыл бұрын

“Sexual perversions” I get the feeling you mean anybody who isn’t straight 💀

@crpggamer

Жыл бұрын

This incorrect. In mainstream films there was a lot of racism and sexism. In indie films there was a lot of sexploitation starting with playboy, hustler, and there are lots of perverse indie films. You need just look for them on the internet. I think this started around the 60s, but there was porn even in the 20s of a sort. Before that there were things like prostitution and brothels. The clean look of the early periods in tv shows and movies only shows one side of the story. Those are the family films. I would even go so far as to say today is cleaner in a lot of ways as there is more protection for women and children in recent years with different movements on social media.

@w.geoffreyspaulding6588

Жыл бұрын

@@KingOfGaymes perhaps more like young men having access to extreme S&M porn online and then expecting that all “normal” women that they might date like to be whipped and gagged etc. the extreme porn that you can find easily online now is, to me, a shock. And no, most women arent wired that way, and to most it is not enjoyable. But it seems, from what I have read, to be an expectation of young men these days.

The always stimulating David Hoffman. I remember reading Roszak when he first came on the scene. Found it breaking down or intellectualizing societal symptoms, but less concerned with how to build alternative communities. This I found in Roszak"s rival theorist William Irwin Thompsons's At the Edge of History, and also Ivan Illich's Tools for Conviviality. In 1967 my (suburban) American family drove us to Montreal for Expo 67, which was a revelation in applied 60's counter cultural ideas. Every time I hear The Whiter Shade of Pale, a ubiquitous tune of the time, I think of the radio playing it in the family station wagon on the way to Montreal. One of those alternative communities, Stephen Gaskin's The Farm still exists in Summerville, Tennessee.

@debrac1688

Жыл бұрын

Can I move to Summerville?

@margaritavsk

7 күн бұрын

I went to Expo 67! I was 13. We drove from Toronto. It was so amazing for a kid.

I suggest watching an episode of the 1960's TV show, "Room 222" to compare what is said here and how the characters on the show were displayed to their audiences of the time. Taking into account the differences in generally accepted acting styles between then and now it is still quite entertaining and relevant in some aspects of intergenerational / interracial interaction on and off campus...

@bellbottomblues131

Жыл бұрын

Room222 GREAT SHOW!!

@Barry101er

Жыл бұрын

@@bellbottomblues131 Ditto!

@jamesanthony5681

Жыл бұрын

I suggest NOT watching old TV shows to give you clues about the political climate and zeitgeist of the times. That's Hollywood. They can give you clues, however, about how kids dressed and wore their hair.

Very thought provoking. Thank you for finding and posting this.

I don't really blame boomers for the decline but I blame then for refusing to be empathic in any way for the fact this isn't the 1970s anymore

@lm7092

Жыл бұрын

I’m sorry you have that experience about lack of empathy. I’m very disappointed in how things are so much harder for current generations. It’s worse for all of us. We’re living in the same era. I do hear people say kids don’t want to work but I don’t see evidence of that. I see a broken social contract. I see more politicians with no ethics. There’s a stratification that didn’t exist before.

@DeathSpellXVI

Жыл бұрын

You should blame them though, a lot of them and their offspring are the greediest sobs in the history of humanity. They’re the ones to blame for the decline of this country as their selfishness has led them to destroy future generations. We the young are to blame for our continuing decline as well , we can change things but refuse to stop living a fake reality inside social media while the world around us collapses.

These clips are very incisive and provide valuable social commentary as far as where our society has ended up today. As usual great work David.

Im 37. My great grandparents generation went through the hell of the Great Depression to get my grandparents generation to be able to build a middle class… then my parents generation (boomers) got to take advantage of that middle class and squandered the American dream for everyone that came after them by electing an entirely corrupt government who are still in there today… And now? There’s only the American nightmare. They partied it up and left us with the tab. There is hardly any upward mobility. The middle class isn’t simply shrinking, poverty is growing, and now Gen X - and millennials are going to have to live through our second “once in a life time” recession in our working adult lives, and Gen Z are going to be handed an economy much like my greatgrand parents generation that we’re handed a Great Depression. The vicious cycle continues.

@jasonkracht6723

Жыл бұрын

☝️unfortunately, this is exactly what most of us 30-45 yr olds feel about our parents generation. Still to this day they burry their heads to what’s happened & buried our future.

@ozzyrichardson4075

Жыл бұрын

Baby boomer presidents (starting in 1992) & congress gave us NAFTA & the WTO with China (which exported well paying manufacturing and technology jobs in exchange for Walmart jobs), left us with a debt that cannot be paid back, turned our financial markets into a casino, pushed degenerate cultural values as well as the breakdown of the family unit. And oh yeah, the social security system even will be bankrupt within a decade. So yeah, that's the bar tab and we're gonna be paying it for the rest of our lives.

@down-to-earth-mystery-school

12 күн бұрын

Yep, GenXer who grew up with three Boomer hippie parents (stepdad included), who had all grown up in suburban middle class homes. They were helped into the world and then they didn’t do that for me. I worked multiple jobs for ten years to get a college degree and now that I’m 51, still paying off my student loans. The grunge movement was a response to the decadent of the yuppies in the 80s and our anger for being neglected and abandoned by our parents who spent most of their time self-actualizing.

"For the first time, with youth culture, the younger generations were more influenced by their peers than their parents and seniors. (paraphrase)" A very astute observation, it may very well be the spark that created such big generational divides. I am terrified when I think about it. I was a good kid who listened to my parents, and almost everything my parents taught me about how to lead a good life is completely obsolete now (study hard and college, college, college!). Their advice is just not relevant today. That's just scary to think about as a future parent. That I won't be able to understand my own kids, no matter how hard I try because the world is changing way too fast. Millenials and zoomers already have their differences. If this keeps up by the time I have a child, me and my kid might as well be from different planets.

@susanvanduyn2847

8 ай бұрын

If you can just keep talking to them, you'll be ok. Hubby and I are late Gen X-ers, our first 4 kids are zoomers, the last 2 are Gen Alpha (interesting name, I think). I was intrepid when our oldest started high school, but it was ok and we got through without too many bumps. Same with the other kids. She left home almost 3 years ago and we talk in some way most days. No, your worlds will not be the same, but keep talking and you'll be ok.

@le13579

10 күн бұрын

I don't think that's true. In the 19th century the rich were at boarding school with their peers and the poor were at work with their peers. Tom Sawyer doesn't spend a lot of time with his "parent".

My dad is from that time period as an Mexican immigrant. In those days you didn't need much to climb your way to middle class. My pops did it and didn't even need college to find good paying jobs. My mother never had to work during the 60s and 70s. I envy my parents generation. They had everything nice. My grandparents didn't even speak english and they even had it nice by the 1960s.

Those we're the days my friend I thought they never end. Thanks for sharing this video David Hoffman, so cool to see this.👍👍📸😁in 1989 I was 14 in middle school.

A great interview! This guy is so eloquent. Thanks!

This is one if the first time I've ever heard this period spoken about in this historical sort of way. It was always more of sort of this period my uncles and people I know went through. This is giving it a very interesting perspective.

Fantastic video, thank you for sharing. Great perspective for younger generations like myself

This man is very clear in his understanding of the period, and what was happening. We, who lived those years as teenagers felt we were unique in questioning authority and the expectations adults had of us, as opposed to what we felt our own expectations should be. We saw adults drinking and use of Valium and other prescription drugs as no different than our own explorations of altered states of consciousness, and felt their concerns about our drug use was missing the point of their own. We wanted peace and connection, a freedom to be what we felt passionate about, and not settle for something less. I think we did not respect our parents, perhaps as much as we should have, but they were not sharing the truth of their own life experiences, and we knew it. They didn’t want us to have to experience War and Depression…so they created a kind of fantasy for us, and it didn’t ring true. Once we knew they had lied about things like weed, we had to ask what else were they lying about. We questioned everything, and tried to find truth, knowing that few things are true for everyone. I appreciated hearing his thoughts on these things, and his understanding of what motivated us. We weren’t right about everything…but we did get a lot of things to change in positive ways. Thank you for this very insightful interview David, you never disappoint.🖤🇨🇦

@morgandraegar7301

Жыл бұрын

This.

@tamarrajames3590

Жыл бұрын

@@morgandraegar7301 Thank you.🖤🇨🇦

@drewpall2598

Жыл бұрын

@Tamarra James... The story I heard activist Jack Weinberg said, “Don’t trust anyone over 30!” in 1964, rather offhandedly, during an interview in Berkeley at the height of the free speech movement. Much to his surprise, after Weinberg’s quote appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, it was picked up everywhere in the media.

@tamarrajames3590

Жыл бұрын

@@drewpall2598 Yes! And it seemed so sensible at the time…we decided that when we turned 30 we wouldn’t be able to trust ourselves.🖤🇨🇦

@mojomojo5779

Жыл бұрын

@@tamarrajames3590 The fact that a collective statement was embraced about not trusting anyone over 30 illustrates just how ignorant people were during that era. It is all confirmed by the fact that the country has steadily decayed since then and is not helped by having those people of that era now running the country and corporations

What a great discussion with simplistic and logical examples.

Thank you for posting this David. This film is fascinating. I was born in 1959 in Encino California grew up in the San Fernando Valley.

Dang Mr. Hoffman great subject matter, boomers think we have the same opportunities as them, when my paycheck can barely afford an efficiency apartment. I couldn't afford college and I can now only have entry level jobs because you need a degree for any job. Boomers walked into their dream job with no high school and got the job because they have a firm handshake.

@samtabulous7295

Жыл бұрын

Not just that. They pick winners now based on skin color and gender. So in fact if you are not these things you will work outside. Another great advancement.

@sterlingcooper3978

Жыл бұрын

Need more Kleenex?

@lennomenno

Жыл бұрын

The government wants you to fail. And they are succeeding.

@melindagallegan5093

Жыл бұрын

@@samtabulous7295 White girl here passed over for brown women in job offers.

@chaoswitch1974

Жыл бұрын

@@melindagallegan5093 maybe they assume your white privilege ='s inheritance?

“Hard times make strong men, strongmen make good times, good times make weak men, weak men make hard times.” I think the boomers never grew up and have done more harm than good. 😢

He is such a articulate speaker. He is able to talk about the great value of the 60s youth culture to the future society and at the same time point out it's failings. He romanticises the culture of this period as I do but in a very measured way. Thanks for posting this talk.

@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker

Жыл бұрын

Here is another great speaker. The video goes live at 11:45 AM Pacific today - kzread.info/dash/bejne/aaiGsbSiiq7HhNI.html David Hoffman filmmaker

🏆🏆🏆👍🇺🇲🙏 Thank you for sharing

Great video. Spot on. Thanks for posting. 💯👍🔥

Now I understand my father's older siblings. And that time in America. Thank you for sharing this work!

Refreshing. Haven't heard such a clear and accurate perspective of WTF happened in 50' to 70's American society .Thanks

I love the discussion of "normal." A friend and I talked about that when we were in our early twenties.

My parents are boomers. They didn't lead an extravagant lifestyle, had a modest home in the suburbs, 1 car, and our holidays were visiting the rellies. My mum stayed at home until I was 10 yo, then went to work casual. They both worked hard, gave to charity, paid off their home, and saved for their retirement. And I am so grateful that they did, because they have always been there to help us when we've really needed it. When you're a child you can think that there cannot possibly be anything worse in the world than not having what your peers have. Wearing hand me down clothes and taking Home Brand food to school. Well, in the last 3 months, my family and I have had to move out of our home and rent it out to keep it, thanks in part to 13 interest rate rises. Yes, Mum and Dad have been there for us again, opening up their home.

Sounds exactly like my brother. Full of virtue, yet no room for motivation or time to spend with our family. He is on academic probation and he is failing all classes except one. He cares so much about thinking about what he is going to do or what people think he should do, he doesn't do anything.

It was a great time to grow up.I'm living proof.I feel blessed.

As a young person, it is very illuminating to hear cultural shifts discussed occur that I never really considered. I take for granted many intangible things like culture and attitude and a nation's outlook on the future

Another awesome vid david !! This feels like a podcast but from 1989. I find my self thinking about the 2000s in the same way hes talking about the 60s

Great interview. Thanks David.

Education was free, Jobs, a decent income, Health care, then came deregulation and greed. Swinging London.

The comments to this video are so much better than in almost any youtube video I've found. Myself, I was the youngest in a huge family where I was the only Gen-X after a bunch of Baby Boomers and Greatest Generation parents who had me late in life. What I see is that the Boomers never got over the '60s and are making damn sure none of the rest of us can either. I see a lot of our current political issues to be driven by aging Boomers still holding on to resentment and bitterness about one thing or another from when they were children or in their 20s. The problem is that much of it is just projecting. Even as a Gen-Xer I can honestly say, my older siblings were already pretty out of touch with my reality by the late 1980s. That economy they were born into died in the '80s and is never coming back. I literally worked the same summer factory job some of my older brothers had and was surprised to find out that the factory job that paid me $7.00 an hour in 1987 had paid one of my older brothers $15.00 an hour in 1969! I saw my older siblings use college job money to buy cars and stereos, while I remember rummaging through the garbage cans of a sorority house (with other college kids), because that "prosperity" was already no longer being equally distributed by the late '80s and early '90s. It took me longer to get through college. But I make no apologies for that. I wasn't partying like my now rich and conservative older siblings had done. I was struggling to survive. So I can relate to younger Millennials & Gen-Zers who don't understand why older people can't grasp how much has changed.

@down-to-earth-mystery-school

12 күн бұрын

GenX here and I completely agree with you! Both of my parents were hippies and their advice to me in high school was to go to college, study and self actualize. Which is what I wanted but by the time I left with an art degree, conservative Boomers (Bush) were slashing all the art jobs in favor of STEM, because we were “falling behind” over nations and needed to compete to be #1. I didn’t care about being #1, just about getting a nice job as a teacher and buying my own home. It took me 10 years to get my degree, working multiple jobs to do it. The prosperity my parents enjoyed was not passed on, still hasn’t been.

@barnabascee1889

11 күн бұрын

@@down-to-earth-mystery-school VERY well said! I agree with everything you said. And, regarding the arts & liberal arts vs. STEM, literally what is the point of a civilization without a balance. We absolutely NEED artists, musicians, writers, etc. They're literally what gives life a MEANING! Not only that, but creative people can be used by non-creatives for problem solving and generating ideas that are out of the box. Back in the '40s-'60s (roughly), the Bell Telephone Company had "Bell Labs", which literally highbred musicians and artists to work with their equipment, creating their own art, for art's sake. But they found more glitches, and potentials for their inventions than a bunch of engineers would have ever found. Sorry for being so long-winded. I'm passionate about this topic.

@brian4507

Күн бұрын

Similar dynamic in my family. You nailed it

Hoffman’s documentaries are great. :) Thanks for posting them.

Fascinating discussion, David... and right on target.

Thank you so much for this David. I’m studying American in the 60s as part of my university module ‘Revolutions’. This clip will be really valuable for me 😊

I wasn't spoiled. 2nd of 16 children. Worked my way thru college. Overcame childhood abuse. It has NOT been an easy ride.

@naysayer1238

Жыл бұрын

He clearly says he is not even remotely talking about everyone of that generation

@joanmccarthy4809

Жыл бұрын

Also the fact that you even could work your way through college shows a huge difference in opportunity compared to today

@naysayer1238

Жыл бұрын

@@joanmccarthy4809 Tougher, but not impossible. My wife worked her way through, not too long ago. Took about 7 years.

@rosabscura

Жыл бұрын

@@naysayer1238 no one should be made to work twice as hard just to have the bare minimum. Y’all are weird. Just because you or someone you know did it, doesn’t mean everyone can..

@naysayer1238

Жыл бұрын

@@rosabscura No, you are weird. It's very weird for you to invent words for me. Please show me where I said "should" or "everyone can". Joan suggested that no one can do it. I merely said that I personally know that that is not true, so calm down.

Great talk. Captures a lot if ridiculousness that we went through.

Wow. Amazing. Thank you for this one. I appreciate the even-handedness.

I wish we still had a counterculture, it sure created some good music.

I really enjoy watching your videos. Keep us informed 👍. Thank you 😊

@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker

Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much Maryjane for your comment. If your resources allow, I would sure appreciate your using the THANKS button under any of my videos including the one you have commented on. It is something new that KZread is beta testing and would mean a great deal for my continuing efforts. David Hoffman filmmaker

@maryjanebeaton8454

Жыл бұрын

@@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker I do this from your videos? When I figure out what you mean. I'll definitely do it. Thank you 😊

@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker

Жыл бұрын

thanks button is below the video screen on the right side. Thank you David Hoffman filmmaker

DH, Wonderful work that was made for today more than when it was made.

I watched wonder years starring Fred Savage as Kevin Arnold and it definitely eclipses the turbulent times of the sixties and seventies. I cried at the last episode when Kevin’s father who was born in 1928 passed away at age 47 due to a heart ❤️ attack. I’m getting emotional 😭 just thinking about and writing ✍️ about the ending of the wonder years.

Being born in 64, I grew up in the divide between hippy culture and buckle down and work / go to college/ career. I liked the middle class version of life much more than the pan handling, dirty hippy tuned out young adults.

Hard to believe this interview was from 1989 almost 25yrs ago

Again: this videos are a truly diamonds ! They are very illustrative and educational. I love them.❤❤❤

- grew up in affluent america - dropouts couldnt drop too far - protest against any form of restriction: college was for them - called narcissistic; otherwise took advantage of economic boom/freedom - raised in a period of Affluence: the sky was the limit; no environmental/ecological restraints - you went to college for free and then got a stable job - dr spocks permissive pedagogy: spoiled kids - ideal family image pushed by government/industry didnt match ideas in generation like in mad magazine - a certain cynicism of their parents who came out of depression and a war - parents wanted to spoil their kids in economic boom - spoiled with extravagant suburb live - back then still affordable - rise of free universities demanded by students (eg courses on tarot cards) - people wanted an unique identity - made possible by affluence - rise of lifestyles - romantic ideas found a large audience questioning industrial military complex (for the first time) - opened door to opening doors of perception through drugs - change the way you experience things - lots of people put off by adolescent attitude of protesters but still contagious so won out - broke taboos, started to use words like f*ck and v*rg*n - protest against vietnam had exhausted protests in society leading up to watergate - no (less) respect for deferred gratification - "I want it now" / "customer is king" - environmental movement came out of late counterculture - late 70s feeling of affluence dissappeared; then job worried/survival worried: limits/constraints - expectations changed dramatically through 70s and 80s

I love this gentleman and his way of thinking.

@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker

Жыл бұрын

me too.

I'm ADD, grew up then. I wouldn't say I grew up in wealth, affluence. I was cluelss, did poorly in school because it was boring. I was being groomed to become a suit, work in an office. What I wanted was to be a craftsman, but I was told that was for the "dumb" kids. I have a high IQ, but no interest in being wealthy. Money meant nothing to me, except when I got broke. I'd get some kind of job. Sometimes it was a good job, sometimes a lousy job. Sometimes it payed well, other times not. It didn't matter. I got by. I kept it up. Even being self-employed at various tasks. You mention dropping out. I did. In 1999 I decided to become homeless. The first year, I actually had fun, winter and all, living in my van (literally) down by the river (Susquehanna). It became stressful. I had work, and it started paying a lot less ( fewer hours). I became stressed, which wore me down. I started getting sick a lot... Eventually, I got a room.... plumbing is amazing. I continued having health issues from being homeless for the next 10 years, some requiring surgery, hospital stays... I always bummed around, getting by. I lucked out, so many times. I've had solo adventures, cycling, wow... I was out there. I finally got a decent job with good pay. I saved enough for a down payment on a cheap piece of property, then retired. My mortgage is about a thrid of what I could rent this place for. Retirement is a joke. I'm busier than I've ever been... I'm in good physical shape because I work hard around my place. So much to do. It's endless.

@down-to-earth-mystery-school

12 күн бұрын

Sounds a lot like my journey. It wasn’t always easy, but I had some really great experiences I wouldn’t have had, if I just bought the house with theirs picket fence and popped out some progeny.

This is an excellent video...one that I'll likely rewatch several times. I feel his analysis of the period is very accurate.

I would've loved to watch this in history class in highschool because I believe this interview has a place

Been gone awhile. Glad to be back. Great work as always, David. 😎 The middle class in the 50s and 60s enjoyed theur strength due to the New Deal of the 30s and beyond: strong unions, high taxes on the uber-wealthy, bank regulations and so forth. I think many Boomers may have no idea that they were very fortunate to have been raised on perhaps the best time for supporting the middle class. This is why, as they are well In their 70s now, many of them just dont seem to see that those safety nets are not longer here anymore. While I will always respect what my parents did while at school, in terms of protests and defiance, in Stanford in the mid to late 60s, I think they may be the last generation to have enjoyed the fruits of what leg-ups they were given.

David, this interview was such a pleasure to listen to. This guy is amazing. Would you or anyone else care to recommend a few of your other videos that might rise to the same level of insightfulness?

@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker

Жыл бұрын

It depends on your interests Billy. I have many videos that rise to this level. That is what my channel is largely about. But you are going to have to search using keywords for subjects that interest you. Search within my channel. David Hoffman filmmaker

@youtoocat3953

Жыл бұрын

There's two great ones from Vietnam Vets that are definitely worth a listen

This is so relevant today... Thx David 🙏

This is great, thanks Mr Hoffman!