Greatest / Worst 20th Century Generation

[Al Khalifah]

A complaint from one of my grandparents that my parents' generation had achieved nothing that would be remembered by history and were the most irresponsible in history inspired this thread.

The definitions for the generations that I have chosen to go by is that of William Strauss and Neil Howe's books Generations.

They define the following generations of the Great Power and Millenial Saecula:

Missionary: Prophet 1860-1882
Lost: Nomad 1883-1900
G.I.: Hero 1901-1924
Silent: Artist 1925-1942

Baby Boomer: Prophet 1943-1963
13th Generation: Nomad 1964-1976
Millennial Generation: Hero 1977-1993
New Generation: Artist 1994-2006

The years given are the rough years that someone of this generation would be born into.

So, what do you think? For the millenial and new generations we will obviously have to speculate, since we have yet to have our time in the spotlight.

I suppose this will depend on nationality as well, since the Silent and Baby Boomber generations in England oversaw the dismantling of the British Empire where as in America these generations witnessed their countries rise to greatness.

I personally would have chosen generations by experience of significant events. For example, I would define someone as being in the new generation if they were unable to appreciate the true significance of September 11th attacks and their aftermath, while the millennial generation will have little memory of the fall of communism.

[The Stranger]

is he a hero or a GI a lost or a nomad.

atleast i'm a HERO hehehe

[Al Khalifah]

Oh the Prophet, Nomad, Hero, Artirst stuff is supposedly based on the cyclic nature of human development.

To take the Wikipedia entry for it:
A Prophet (or Idealist) generation is born during a High, spends its rising adult years during an Awakening, spends midlife during an Unraveling, and spends old age in a Crisis. Prophetic leaders have been cerebral and principled, summoners of human sacrifice, wagers of righteous wars. Early in life, few saw combat in uniform; late in life, most come to be revered as much for their words as for their deeds.
A Nomad (or Reactive) generation is born during an Awakening, spends its rising adult years during an Unraveling, spends midlife during a Crisis, and spends old age in a new High. Nomadic leaders have been cunning, hard-to-fool realists, taciturn warriors who prefer to meet problems and adversaries one-on-one.
A Hero (or Civic) generation is born during an Unraveling, spends its rising adult years during a Crisis, spends midlife during a High, and spends old age in an Awakening. Heroic leaders have been vigorous and rational institution-builders, busy and competent in old age. All of them entering midlife were aggressive advocates of technological progress, economic prosperity, social harmony, and public optimism.
An Artist (or Adaptive) generation is born during a Crisis, spends its rising adult years in a new High, spends midlife in an Awakening, and spends old age in an Unraveling. Artistic leaders have been advocates of fairness and the politics of inclusion, irrepressible in the wake of failure.

[The Stranger]

cool. and i'm a Hero. its quite true. so i have to live my adults years in a crisis. Terrorists here i come

[PanzerJaeger]

The best was the GI and the worst was the Baby Boomer. I cant stand hippies/socialists and what they did to the world during the 60s/70s. They royally screwed America, and Europe didnt fair much better from their influence.

[scooter_the_shooter]

The hippies were by far the worst.

[Strike For The South]

The best was the GI and the worst was the Baby Boomer. I cant stand hippies/socialists and what they did to the world during the 60s/70s. They royally screwed America, and Europe didnt fair much better from their influence.

3 cheers

[Steppe Merc]

Worst was the WW2 generation who settled into suburbans for the 50s. Such a boring and horrible culture, where everyone wanted to be the same.

Best is hippie culture. But many baby boomers screwed things up when they turned conservative.

[Al Khalifah]

The biggest problem with the baby boomer generation is there's just too damn many of them and not enough of them are dying young enough.

It's a demographic crisis.

[Kaiser of Arabia]

Worst: Hippy
Best: WWI Era

[ichi]

Generations are not great or poor, individuals are. There may be shared experiences or common themes to a generation, but each contains good and bad, rich and poor, strong and weak, kind and angry.

To me, the worst of all are the intolerant, the hateful. Each generation has these. The best are those who place others before themselves, who work for the common good.

ichi

[scooter_the_shooter]

Worst was the WW2 generation who settled into suburbans for the 50s. Such a boring and horrible culture, where everyone wanted to be the same.

Best is hippie culture. But many baby boomers screwed things up when they turned conservative.

Many of The ww2 generation died so the !@#$ hippies would still have a right to do the !@#$ they did. Show some respect to the ww2 generation. We will never see one as good.

[Strike For The South]

Many of The ww2 generation died so the !@#$ hippies would still have a right to do the !@#$ they did. Show some respect to the ww2 generation. We will never see one as good.

Here Here

[Steppe Merc]

ceasar010, what the soldiers did was admirable. However, it doesn't stop the fact that their culture was boring and everyone strove to be exactly the same, as well as causing consumerism as it is today.

[scooter_the_shooter]

There was also less crime. Less divorces, Less gun control, etc There was more morality (in the north at least...to much racism in the south)

[Duke Malcolm]

Missionary: Prophet 1860-1882
Lost: Nomad 1883-1900
G.I.: Hero 1901-1924
Silent: Artist 1925-1942

Baby Boomer: Prophet 1943-1963
13th Generation: Nomad 1964-1976
Millennial Generation: Hero 1977-1993
New Generation: Artist 1994-2006

The years given are the rough years that someone of this generation would be born into.

So, what do you think? For the millenial and new generations we will obviously have to speculate, since we have yet to have our time in the spotlight.

I suppose this will depend on nationality as well, since the Silent and Baby Boomber generations in England oversaw the dismantling of the British Empire where as in America these generations witnessed their countries rise to greatness.

It was Clement Attlee who did an awful lot of Empire dismantling, and he certainly was not a baby boomer - Lost or GI I would have imagined...

Missionary or Lost would be the best, having been taught the honourable principles of war of the line, expanding the Empire, and fighting the Great War.