Gibo

This "Hit the problem...i.e. a generation with no or very little hope" is a BS statement

Explain why this is a generation with no or very little hope.

I've got three kids from the current generation who would be flabbergasted to find that they have no hope!

So it seems that what Gibo et al wants us to do is to take a group who are full of hope and expectation for the future, convince them that they in fact have no prospects or hope and then give them hope?

Took the words right out of my keyboard mhaze.

If anything, my kids and their dozens of friends think we're the hopeless generation - not because we don't have hope, but because we've stuffed up so badly. We have trouble thinking outside the old squares.

Sensationalist media stories about alcohol and drug soaked youngsters are only convincing as long as you don't come into actual contact with lots of young people.

Gibo, "this is SUPPOSED to be the prime internet site in all of the country for intellectual discussion"

If you want to be taken seriously perhaps you could start with justification for the claims that you are basing the thread on. Based on the comments so far it's clearly not accepted that todays late teens/early twentys are "a generation with no or very little hope".

You have a habit of starting threads on a false or unsubstantiated premise and expecting all other contributers to assume that your starting premise is correct.

When you are clearly shown to be wrong based on empirical and detailed studies of the issue you then generally duck for cover about not likeing studies and that "your life experience" is all you care about. If you want a serious discussion of what you see as a problem then first demonstrate that the problem is as you describe. In the mean time it looks like more of the same old poorly founded garbage.

R0bert

RObert,

I understand how you feel about Gibo and others like him. I know who Gibo is, and actually came across this forum website while doing a Google search concerning some authors Gibo had mentioned while writing letters to the editor of a newspaper under his real name. Actually, the Google search only gave a handful of results, and they were all Gibo's postings on this site and other sites. I never found any info on the author he mentioned. (I can't remember who it was). Gibo writes a lot of rubbish to newspapers and on other forums.

What is frightening about Gibo is that he is actually a person of intelligence, and he doesn't just write this stuff on forum web sites but I also believe he bombards Members of Parliament and other Government Departments with his absurd ideas. Gibo is a former Police Officer, however I believe he was discharged due to his mental state of health, which I have noticed by the tone of his letters to newspapers over the past 10 years is getting worse.

His views on Christian morality are extreme, almost Puritanical. While he attends a Pentecostal Church, less than 5% of Pentecostals in Australia would support his views. While most members of Pentecostal Churches are teetotallers, very few of these would campaign for alcohol prohibition. Most acknowledge that Jesus Christ himself drank wine, in fact the Bible tells us that not only did he turn water into wine, but it was also the best wine. (And it was alcoholic. Most Christians who claim it was non alcoholic know nothing about the wine making process). I wonder if the wedding in Cana which Jesus attended was full of members of a hopeless generation?

Dear Gibo,

Raising children into decent human beings
has never been an easy task. Each generation
encounters its own problems.

If you think about it, a good portion of
our efforts are as parents devoted to
external matters that may not really
matter at all.

What is important is the content of
our children's hearts and minds, or what
is often described as character.

I've said all this in another post some time
ago. We have growing agendas for raising our
children. We are feverish about
providing our children every opportunity
from music lessons, tennis lessons, to a
college or university degree.

Every parent I know lives with the uneasy sense that
their children are growing up too fast. We spin our wheels
worrying about, 'reading, writing, and arithmetic,'
our children may be missing the 'real basics'
like respect, loyalty, and a sense of fair play.

Survey after survey shows that children who will be
the best educated and most privileged in human
history, are too willing to do anything it takes
to 'get ahead.'

In answer to your question Gibo, I don't pretend
to know all the answers. However, what I do know
is that my children, growing up are facing tough choices
and complicated situations that can't be addressed with
simple lectures on the values of kindness or
isolated chats about standing up for one's beliefs.

I want to surround my children with a sturdy sensibility, a
world view, and I want it to be different from
the "Me" mentality of modern culture. How do I do that?
It's a 'work in progress.' There are no easy answers.
I'm involved in their lives - we talk about everything.
I am aware of what they are reading, who their friends are,
what music they listen to, where they go and who with.

Whether I will succeed or not - I guess only time
will tell.