For those born between 1967-1977

[Lila]

I'm doing an essay on my generation. I had to give it my own name, which I had no problem doing. I need help though, from other people's opinion about events during the period of 1982-1992. I'm not talking completely about high profile events, but trends of the times. Here are some yes and no questions. If you would like to give explanaition with your answers, that's just fine.

1. Do you think the lawsuits between 1982-1992 rose in frivilousness (Don't know if that's a real word) and plain selfishness? In other words, was it simply for 'me, me, me'?

2. Do you think some fatal crimes were committed in complete selfishness? If so, can you give me some examples of ones you knew of?

3. Do you think the media had an effect on the forming of your peers?

4. Was there any particular TV shows that showed disrespect toward parents and their authority?

5. Did you see any examples of lawsuits against parents for simply trying to do thier duty?

6. Did you see any public figures/heroes that did things simply from selfishness? What examples.

If I can think of anymore, I'll let ya know. All information is greatly appreciated.

Lila

 

[OrionGirl]

1. Do you think the lawsuits between 1982-1992 rose in frivilousness (frivolity)(Don't know if that's a real word) and plain selfishness? In other words, was it simply for 'me, me, me'?
I don't know if it was selfishness, or just failure to accept personal responsibility. I think the realization "It's not my fault" to "It must be someone else's fault" to "Someone owes me for everything bad that happens" was a sad progression, but I don't know if it was based in selfishness.

2. Do you think some fatal crimes were committed in complete selfishness? If so, can you give me some examples of ones you knew of?
Nothing fatal--but at the base, most crimes involve some degree of selfishness, I think.

3. Do you think the media had an effect on the forming of your peers? If I say yes, does that implicate it's formative effect on me, as well? I don't think that the media unduly influenced most of my friends or myself. We were pretty cycnical about most shows, outside of comedies, but I don't think most of us wanted to be like anyone we saw on TV.

4. Was there any particular TV shows that showed disrespect toward parents and their authority?
Rosanne--but that went both ways, as she didn't respect the kids at all either. Married...With Children--though I never saw the show until recently. I didn't watch much TV back then--no cable, working a lot, and going to school.

5. Did you see any examples of lawsuits against parents for simply trying to do thier duty?
Can't recall any--wasn't it later that there were so many child actors that sued their parents?

6. Did you see any public figures/heroes that did things simply from selfishness? What examples.

Many athletes strike me as being more motivated by money than an appreciation of the game, much less the fans. This was also when there was a such a huge spike in the number of people getting implants and cosmetic surgery--which strikes me as being very selfish, since it certainly doesn't make them a better person.

 

[becky_e]

1. Do you think the lawsuits between 1982-1992 rose in frivilousness (Don't know if that's a real word) and plain selfishness? In other words, was it simply for 'me, me, me'?

yes, but I don't know if it was so much for the people placing the lawsuit or the lawyers. The McDonald's hot coffee case was in 1992, the woman who was burned wanted $20,000 to cover her injury costs, but with the lawyers it became a lot of money.

2. Do you think some fatal crimes were committed in complete selfishness? If so, can you give me some examples of ones you knew of?

I'm not sure what you're asking here ... are these accidents, crimes where no death was intended but one occurred, or murder. I know of some local crimes where murders were committed during those years for selfish reasons, but I'm not sure if that's what you meant. One man killed his girlfriend for getting pregnant (a rather common crime actually,) and another woman in my suburb killed her husband for the insurance money. Come to think of it, most murders are done for very selfish reasons.

3. Do you think the media had an effect on the forming of your peers? Yes!!!! MTV! I didn't have cable growing up, but everyone was talking about MTV.

4. Was there any particular TV shows that showed disrespect toward parents and their authority?
I don't remember any, but I was too busy as a teen to watch TV and when I was a kid my parent's controlled what we watched completely ... cartoons and educational programming.

5. Did you see any examples of lawsuits against parents for simply trying to do thier duty?

Yes, especially cases involving non-permanent damage by corporal punishment. Permanent damage or excessive spanking is abuse, but the cases I remember locally were all teens who weren't hurt bad who took their parents to court for hitting. Both cases the judge ruled for the parents and in one the judge recommended that the 15 y/o girl go to juvenile detention and get counselling. Our high school told them to report corporal punishment to the police, but really, no 15 y/o should go from Ohio to Georgia with 5 guys over the age of 18 without even warning her parents and expect everything to be fine when she gets home! The judge said her mom went light on her.

6. Did you see any public figures/heroes that did things simply from selfishness? What examples.

If I did, I wasn't aware of it until after 1992. I didn't understand the Ollie North stuff at the time. I was born in 1977, so I'm on the young end of your generation. Most of the stuff that affected my perceptions of world leaders and heroes came after 1992 ... like the Bill Clinton sexual scandals (I don't like how the media handled it,) and Micheal Jackson (I liked his music when I was 8 or 9.)

 

[val]

1. Do you think the lawsuits between 1982-1992 rose in frivolity and plain selfishness? In other words, was it simply for 'me, me, me'?

Hard to characterize it as such. The 80s saw the rise of asbestos and lead base paint litigation, and the effects of that have been enormous. If you've seen the movie Erin Brockovich, she was a real person and her landmark work was early 90s.

2. Do you think some fatal crimes were committed in complete selfishness? If so, can you give me some examples of ones you knew of?

This question is symptomatic of what? OK, you had the wilding victim in NYC (she just wrote her memoirs, pretty interesting read). I would say most fatal crimes are the result of selfishness and have been so since time immemorial. I think you're looking for more allusions like the Menendez brothers in California, but are they any more selfish than a Lizzie Borden?

3. Do you think the media had an effect on the forming of your peers?

Absolutely. MTV has been mentioned already. We also got our opinions on Vietnam from M*A*S*H and before Britney there was Madonna. No, wait, we still have Madonna...

4. Was there any particular TV shows that showed disrespect toward parents and their authority?

Well, since the Brady Bunch and Partridge Family, most TV parents have been pretty clueless and lack much in the way of authority. Family Ties and The Cosby Show, while much more wholesome than some of the dreck we get lately, still had parents who were frequently played by their kids. Phylicia Ayers was the only one to have much in the way of authority, Bill Cosby was the big Santa in the Sky.

5. Did you see any examples of lawsuits against parents for simply trying to do thier duty?

Really trying to take this parents-have-lost-control thing to the fullest...

6. Did you see any public figures/heroes that did things simply from selfishness? What examples.

Most everything we do is out of selfishness, so I wouldn't phrase it so. I think the issue could be better phrased by looking at why do we care so much about the trivial lives of our public figures. I really don't care about Alan Iverson's past, what Martha Stewart is wearing at her trial or who is dating who. In the 70s, if I might make a cultural generalization we started caring about the "whole" person, and yet, what "whole person" can stand up to the level of media scrutiny that we have these days? The big change from this era, Lila, is the explosion of media available to us. CNN and Headline News started programming 24 hours a day, and now we have to fill it with something. I don't know if we can really talk about the internet in 1992, but certainly we had public access cable, and that started the feeding frenzy that has become blogs and personal web pages. Also remember the first time you saw HBO? Round 1985 or so, if I remember correctly. Now you could have a real choice of entertainment, and the repeats were so easy, we could see movies literally hundreds of times. I know people who saw Sound of Music literally a dozen times over a two year period in the 60s, now I've seen every one of my favorites twice that amount.

 

[Lila]

The purpose of question one: Example was already given with the hot coffee from McDonald's. I was wondering if anyone new of other ones from their area that was in the same general area of nonsense.

#2 ... In my hometown, there was a murder of a young girl. The man admitted to doing it simply so he could go back to prison, where he was given shelter and food. His concern was not what he did to the girl or her family, but for himself. I'm looking for ones more direct like that. If they're out there.

Thanks for the response