"We had a way harder life than you!"

[Lejsen]

My dad used to try to convince me that he grew up like the four yorkshiremen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo

I saw through his bullshit of course, that said, I've had it pretty easy my entire life.

 

[SEXTON HALE]

My dad likes to remind me that when he was my age he had to share a pair of underpants with his brother im not sure how they managed to do it but aparantly they did.I dont think that constitutes a harder life just a more uncomfortable one.So yeah I believe we have it easier in some areas.

 

[MorganL4]

my response: Your generation benefited from the post WW2 boom of the middle class, then killed all the social programs the previous generation had created to allow for your success, and then starting 15 years ago screwed with the economy to make jobs a scarcity.... The response: Yeah your right, sorry.

THEY had it hard, at least in their day a bachelors degree was effectively a ticket to a middle class wage. Now there is barely a middle class to speak of.

 

[I-Protest-I]

The four Yorkshire-men sketch from Monty Python is exactly what my Mums side of the family was like. Which made it alot funnier because I am from Yorkshire and they sounded like my 3 uncles and granddad at Christmas.

 

[HardkorSB]

Have you ever heard this from your parents when you were growing up? Maybe when you did bad at something, like school, and you tell them that you tried your best, but they come up with some snappy response like "You ONLY studied for 5 hours for ONE test. I had to memorize the entire textbook, and they were twice as thick back then!"

Is the statement really true though? Is "Our current life" easier than what it was back then? Or is it actually harder, and they're just trying to push us? Sure, we have way more/better technology than back then, but is that really a positive point? Or does it just make things more complex?

What do you guys think? Did we have it better back then, or do we have it better now, even though there are way more options in our life?

We have much more than better technology. We have less discrimination, less racism, less prejudice, less conflict in the world. It's generally better.

You can always tell them that the reason why the current textbooks are thinner is because we got rid of all the useless crap that no one ever used outside of school
You can also tell them that today, the job market is way more competitive than back in their days and that you're more pressured to do good because you KNOW that not all the students in your class/school will get employment in the future.
You can add that the amount of knowledge that humanity possesses is much bigger than a generation ago and that you have to know a lot more things from a lot more areas than your parents. Often, you have to get that knowledge on your own because many schools can't keep up with the rapid progress of society and the world in general.

 

[Cowabungaa]

It must be nice as hell having your head so far up in the clouds you can't see how society is doomed to nuclear armageddon.

And such a convincing counter-argument you provide. You still have nothing to back up your statements other than "They're completely nuts!"

Not just that, but you also lowered yourself to personal attack. If you're going to provide a logical and well-constructed argument for your statement, do present it.

 

[Cowabungaa]

It must be nice as hell having your head so far up in the clouds you can't see how society is doomed to nuclear armageddon.

And such a convincing counter-argument you provide. You still have nothing to back up your statements other than "They're completely nuts!"

I'll let you know when I feel the need to give you anything better than "Because that's my opinion". You're just a nameless, faceless avatar on a forum I'm not even that fond of these days, I have no reason to give you any compelling arguments. If "Because that's my opinion" isn't enough, then tough.

Someone's a little annoyed today.

For the sake of argument then? Because really, it's a topic worth discussing.

 

[Lugbzurg]

It goes up and down, really. There were a lot more hardships "back in the day", but, now, society has become a lot more complicated, idiocy and laziness are not condemned nearly as much, anymore, people are trying to force ideals and concepts down complete strangers throats rather violently, striking up the most idiotic "controversies", etc.

 

[RubyT]

If you're going to ***** about swear words and then turn around to use one later on in that very same post don't be surprised when you get called a hypocrit. Either use them or ***** about them, doing both in the same post just makes you look like an idiot.

1) I didn't ******* about your swear words, I noticed how you used them instead of facts.

2) It wouldn't be hypocrisy, it'd be a double standard. Telling you to stop the fuck swearing ain't hypocritical, because I'm not implying that I ain't swearing or that I wouldn't be. It's a double standard, because I want you to behave differently than me.

Common mistake. And I wouldn't expect you to now the difference.

 

[DugMachine]

"WE NEVER HAD AN XBOX." No shit because it wasn't invented yet ya dumb cunts.

OT: Yeah, my parents gave me plenty of "We had it harder" speeches when I was younger. Mostly my dad just because he started working at 15 and I didn't get a solid job until 19. My mom thinks she had a hard life but it was just because her dad hit her around a bit. She was still rich and had a vacation house in Mexico and a beach house. Yeah she totally had it hard.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

I'd have to agree that life in general was probably harder in the past. What I'd disagree with is that my schoolwork is easier than theirs was. When adults try and tell me that, I show them it, and they usually change their tune. It really, really pisses me off how adults keep saying how exams are too easy these days when they've never seen the fucking exam papers and have no clue what they're on about.

 

[Al-Bundy-da-G]

My dad is keen to remind me that in the good ol' days, [Insert relevant example here]
I tend to remind him that times have changed from 50 years ago.

I always like that. The good ol' days involved them eating bland cheap food, working 16 hours a day 6 days a week for 4 bucks a hour, being drafted, having no excess cash to enjoy, and yet that's better than having excess cash, 12 bucks an hour, 12 hours a day 4 days a week, and delicious food.

What part of that life was good again? I'm a little confused

 

[Cpu46]

My parents used to say that until they looked at my homework one day and realized that I was learning things that wouldn't have been covered for another two years of schooling in their day. After that I just got a lot of encouragement and help from them.

 

[galdon2004]

I got that as well. I do not buy it. My parent's anecdotes were way too conflicting. For example, they loved to tell me that I was lazy and didn't want any work during periods of unemployment because 'finding a job was so much harder when they were young' and 'they could have found a job in one week if they really wanted to'

I'm left thinking "If you could find a job in a week, clearly you did NOT have a harder job market back then" though both of them ran away to the army early on, so they had preference as having military history when going for work.

Plenty of sabotage as well; they 'helped' my job search, by finding the absolute worst jobs imaginable just to have me refuse it and give them an excuse to tell me how lazy I am. And when I say bad jobs, I mean things like 'cleaning dead bodies to prep them for funerals'

 

[Shadowkire]

Cold War (actual possibility of Apocalypse).

We're more likely to get nuked to oblivion now than we were then. MAD kept Russia and America from firing. MAD isn't going to work against a nation run by people who believe dying in battle is a good result and who genuinely hate our very existence.

If certain nations, which are trying their hardest, manage to acquire ICBMs, we will be closer to Armageddon than we ever were during the cold war.

I assume one of the countries you mean is Iran. The people who run the country do dislike/hate the US and they do follow a religion that (supposedly)gives out rewards for dying in a holy war. However they are unlikely to ever use a nuclear weapon because their religion values peace and life more than dying and the populace has already shown that they are not willing to let their leaders continue on with their crap for much longer.

In addition if Iran fired an ICBM at the US no other country would cry foul if we then turned said country into an unlivable hellhole. That is because no other country would want someone around who has actually tried to start a nuclear war.

Also it would make a bit more sense for Iran to nuke Israel because the latter is closer so you don't need as advanced a system to deliver the warhead. And even that isn't going to happen because nothing says sacrilege quite like turning a place your religion holds sacred into a radioactive wasteland.

As for North Korea, I doubt they would actually use a WMD because to do so would mean they would also be destroyed. You have pointed out ...somewhere... in this thread that North Korean leaders don't really care about their people that much, which seems to be accurate, but they do care about themselves and their lifestyles and personal powers. That is why they are unlikely to 'press the button.'

The main reason these countries want WMDs is as insurance against foreign military action against them, something North Korea has been fearing for quite some time.

[edit]
OT: I think we have it easier in some ways(transportation, information) and harder in others(they didn't have a generation that screwed up everything before they took control).

 

[phantasmalWordsmith]

I have two responses for that situation; silent with sarcastic nodding or a long winded rant that shuts them right up. Its hilarious to do the latter but takes too much effort if you ask me

 

[lettucethesallad]

My dad always flooded me and my siblings with encouragement. Then again, his grades were always shit and for some reason we all worked really hard with school, so he's always made a point to tell us how proud he is and what hard workers we are.

 

[Broady Brio]

My dad is keen to remind me that in the good ol' days, [Insert relevant example here]
I tend to remind him that times have changed from 50 years ago.

I always like that. The good ol' days involved them eating bland cheap food, working 16 hours a day 6 days a week for 4 bucks a hour, being drafted, having no excess cash to enjoy, and yet that's better than having excess cash, 12 bucks an hour, 12 hours a day 4 days a week, and delicious food.

What part of that life was good again? I'm a little confused

Ask my dad, I'm sure he will gladly remind you. Also the price of anything was dirt cheap, especially compared to now.

 

[Al-Bundy-da-G]

My dad is keen to remind me that in the good ol' days, [Insert relevant example here]
I tend to remind him that times have changed from 50 years ago.

I always like that. The good ol' days involved them eating bland cheap food, working 16 hours a day 6 days a week for 4 bucks a hour, being drafted, having no excess cash to enjoy, and yet that's better than having excess cash, 12 bucks an hour, 12 hours a day 4 days a week, and delicious food.

What part of that life was good again? I'm a little confused

Ask my dad, I'm sure he will gladly remind you. Also the price of anything was dirt cheap, especially compared to now.

Yea and he didn't get paid shit what 2 dollars an hour. Tried to tell my dad, yes prices go up but the average pay goes up too so that it balances out. That's how inflation works. He called me a dumbass who grew up too spoiled.