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-   -   Are you a Baby Boomer? (https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=614902)

islandguitar 05-10-2021 01:17 PM

Early boomer here..........'47.

Back in the early years, it was nothing to see someone hitchhiking.....and nothing to pick somebody up! Imagine!!

Walking back from high school football, we'd stop at the local "pharmacy" and catch a double dip ice cream cone....... 10 cents..........kids today find this inconceivable!

I was in high school English class when Kennedy was shot. Someone burst in the door and just shouted, "The President's been shot"! The concept was so unbelievable that kids actually laughed! It wasn't till a short time later I entered the locker room and saw my coaches crying, that the reality of what happened hit home......never will forget it.

Wade Hampton 05-10-2021 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DCCougar (Post 6712845)
Currently 86% of the members on this site are boomers. That's..... interesting. :D

86% of the people responding to the poll are, anyway. A segment could not be responding.


whm

Brucebubs 05-11-2021 06:12 AM

My Dad during the occupation of Japan.

Check out the wild 'barely regulation' slope of that cap he's wearing.

https://i.imgur.com/Sm20mPch.jpg

619TF 05-11-2021 06:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton (Post 6713135)
86% of the people responding to the poll are, anyway. A segment could not be responding.


whm


Probably a fairly large section because of the thread Title. NonBoomers probably read just the title and don't bother to even open it if their answer is no.

RP 05-11-2021 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brucebubs (Post 6713673)
My Dad during the occupation of Japan.

Check out the wild 'barely regulation' slope of that cap he's wearing.

OK. Here's my Dad, on the left, with his brother in France circa 1945 after the German surrender...

Wade Hampton 05-11-2021 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 619TF (Post 6713680)
Probably a fairly large section because of the thread Title. NonBoomers probably read just the title and don't bother to even open it if their answer is no.

Still, I think that we’re getting a fairly accurate cross section. This forum is frequented by older people: there would be plenty of evidence if it wasn’t.


whm

RP 05-11-2021 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton (Post 6713943)
...This forum is frequented by older people: there would be plenty of evidence if it wasn’t. whm

The Mods would have to work at least twice as hard, and there wouldn't be so many threads about retirement...

masterofnone 05-12-2021 08:47 AM

My sisters were '53 and '54, I was '59. I was a kid in south Florida, which was not anything like what it has become. Mr. Sachs experience is very much like mine. In no particular order here are a few other things. Cigarette adds. Everybody smoked, everywhere. I was part of it, but thankfully I've escaped.
Music- I was hooked early on. Before I was old enough for elementary school, I started every day listening to WQAM. "Tiger a go-go." Always excited while waiting for the tubes to warm up. The Beatles- The girl across the street had that "Meet the Beatles" album. It probably wasn't everyday, but we listened to it a lot. So there's a social thing that is hard to explain to people who weren't there. As transistor radios became more common, music was everywhere. I don't know the reality of it, but in my mind there were only a couple of radio stations, one that parents listened to, and the one we (young'uns) listened to. Every kid my age listened to the same stuff for about a four or five year period which is an eternity when you're a kid. It gave us a common ground. People have mentioned the Beatles and Stones. Elvis was still a musical force. But don't forget the Supremes, Temptations, Four Tops, Stevie, Smoky. I heard about 9/11 from the guy in the paint room at work. I was expecting a punchline. Also of note, the guy who first poisoned the tylenol, leading to the packaging nightmare we live in now. Why would someone do that? The texas tower shooter. So we're here now, things aren't the same anymore but I expect that a lot of the people on this website share an idea. I'm down about a lot of what I see, but feel extremely lucky to have lived in those times. There really was a hope, even an expectation that the world would continue to become a better place. I miss that, who wouldn't? I could be sad about it but like I said, I'm lucky. Perhaps I shouldn't be, but I am sometimes sad that there are so many people around who never got to see it or feel it. The 60's had a lot of good and bad, like today's times. Maybe something really good can still come from it. I'm never out of hope, and I can still play a guitar!

RedJoker 05-12-2021 09:08 AM

I'm not a boomer so this thread is interesting to me. The biggest thing that stands out is everyone is saying how much "better" things were when they grew up. I think things were "better" when I grew up and I'm willing to bet that the kids growing up today will look back at how much "better" their time was. It's kind of the nature of things. Most people look back fondly at their childhood and remember the good things while forgetting / blocking / ignoring the bad things.

There are a lot of different view points of the world but we all have to remember that a vast majority of people are doing their level best. We can all only see things from the perspectives we have and that won't be the same perspective as everyone else.

Interesting thread!

raysachs 05-12-2021 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedJoker (Post 6714632)
I'm not a boomer so this thread is interesting to me. The biggest thing that stands out is everyone is saying how much "better" things were when they grew up. I think things were "better" when I grew up and I'm willing to bet that the kids growing up today will look back at how much "better" their time was. It's kind of the nature of things. Most people look back fondly at their childhood and remember the good things while forgetting / blocking / ignoring the bad things.

There are a lot of different view points of the world but we all have to remember that a vast majority of people are doing their level best. We can all only see things from the perspectives we have and that won't be the same perspective as everyone else.

Interesting thread!

I don't feel things were "better" when I was growing up. I mean, in some ways they were, but in some ways they were far far worse. I mean, I'm a reasonably comfortable white guy who came from reasonably comfortable white parents, so things were pretty good for me growing up, but they have stayed pretty good for me right along. My brother and I often talk about how being born into the generation we were born into (never mind the differences between early and late boomers, which we've also discussed a lot), in the the US specifically, we have in many ways lived in the peak of what civilization has ever had to offer. Of course, this is partly the result of a shared world view that things are getting worse now and our kid's and grandkid's lives are likely to be much more challenging than our's have been. Hopefully, we'll be wrong about that.

Nonetheless, as bad as things still are for various minority groups in the US, they were far far worse 60 years ago. I have gay acquaintances who are far FAR better off than they would have been 60 years ago. Women are still not treated equally in our economy, but they're finally getting real close - a woman could barely get a credit card in her own name 40 years ago, let alone 60. I remember traveling about the Middle East and Europe for about 6 months 40 years ago right now, and not having cell phones or email or internet cafe's or any of the other ways we take for granted about staying in touch these days. I was meeting up with people in various places who were friends of friends, and how we were able to make all that work seems inconceivable to me now. I sent my parent's a few letters and I think talked to them ONCE during that whole time - they were worried sick, but what could they do? SOOOO much easier to stay connected these days.

Not to mention, when I was growing up, learning to play guitar, there were NO ELECTRONIC TUNERS!!!! Anyone who says THAT was better needs to have their heads examined! There were no loopers either, or online lessons. I don't remember how we did any of it.

I think most of what seemed better then was just based on the innocence of youth, which get's back to the point RedJoker was making. It looked good to us, because we were young and full of hope and we didn't have anything to compare it to anyway. That's true of most kids today too, as it always has been and hopefully always will be. The one thing that gives me some hope for the future is that old men like me have ALWAYS been predicting the end of civilization as we know it, the world is falling apart, etc, etc, etc. I feel that way now, but every other generation of old me has been wrong so far. It would be awfully arrogant of me to assume that I'm right when they were all wrong. I mean, I'm sure I am right, but I hold out hope that I'm just old and stupid and I'll turn out to be wrong too!

-Ray

ewalling 05-13-2021 05:53 PM

I also visit TGP. I have the feeling that the demographic is more Gen-X over there. That may have to do with the fact that most of them are electric rather than acoustic players.

ishtar 05-13-2021 06:07 PM

I'm just Jones'n....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones

fumei 05-13-2021 09:55 PM

Definitely boomer here. And since we seem to be putting up Dad photos. My dad - Royal Engineers 1944 Bombay India
https://i.imgur.com/6yx11mc.jpg

Jim Owen 05-14-2021 04:22 PM

Really good photo!
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by fumei (Post 6716078)
Definitely boomer here. And since we seem to be putting up Dad photos. My dad - Royal Engineers 1944 Bombay India
https://i.imgur.com/6yx11mc.jpg

I’m loving the dads in uniform pics. I’d contribute, but my only shot of my dad in fatigues is in my office desk drawer—in N.C.

Kh1967 05-14-2021 05:39 PM

Gen X, here. This pretty much sums it up:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6c0722f34d.jpg


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