You are delusional if you think the current generation was impacted by 9/11 the same way you were by JFK and your father's generation by WWII.

People in your generation did not dress up as a dead soldiers on Halloween and think it's funny. Burning Twin Towers Costumes

I'd be surprised if half of the current generation can tell me what al-Qaeda is.

I think you are too hard on a whole generation.   I think you are right in that 9/11 did not have quite the impact as December 7 or November 22, but an impact was surely made and perhaps in ways not yet evident.  

My generation and by extension Yang's generation are cynical about life. We grew up with a lot of promises about technology and futures, then we were left out in the cold. The current generation of young adults are not less patriotic or sensitive than the generations of JFK and FDR, but we embrace our cynicism and  disdain for realities much more than earlier generations. People in the past were shocked inhumanity; today, we are expecting the next the shoe to drop and merely laugh at it, because the world is a sad and horrific place where people die for no other reason than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Being cynical and expecting the worst may be a coping mechanism but I can't recommend it.   Idealism, hope and a sense of progressive optimism may have disappointments, but being positive is a much better place to live than being negative in my experience.   It is sad when our idealism is shaken by a horrific event but the ability to pick ourselves up and move on can be inspirational.   

I am a realist, but I also retain my optimism because cynicism can too easily be a self-fulfilling prophecy.   People with lowered expectations expect less and usually achieve less.  Cynics are also quick to point out that others are sitting back and waiting for someone to do something instead of doing something themselves.  

Is it still cynicism if one's fears are constantly being met? Distrust in the absence of untrustworthiness is paranoia and cynicism. Distrust in the presence of untrustworthiness is the new realism. Being positive isn't going to save my life the next time someone flips out with bottled teenage angst and shoot me at the mall.

Being positive isn't going to save my life the next time someone flips out with bottled teenage angst and shoot me at the mall.

And being cynical...IS going to save your life should that happen?

It's arguable that this, and pretty much all of 1968 to come, served as a veritable Pandora's Box for those of us coming along later - thus we, sadly, had had the bar lowered compared to in 1963.

I do wonder if the irresistible urge to never forget such tragedies, and so strongly at that, in fact contributes to the larger culture of cynicism that persists now.

And being cynical...IS going to save your life should that happen?

Perhaps it could.

Perhaps being cynical is what prevents me from raising my expectations, hoping for the best and venturing into the bad part of town at night thinking I'm not going to get mugged or thinking that I'm not gonna pass out from eating something a rando gives me at a bar or that I'm not gonna get a disease from having unprotected sex all the time

I do wonder if the irresistible urge to never forget such tragedies, and so strongly at that, in fact contributes to the larger culture of cynicism that persists now.

I think it does.

Because it's also a constant reminder of everything that went wrong too.

But none of this was my original point...my original post was me saying our generations are differently impacted because kids these days don't give a sh*t about anything other than maybe what the Kardashians are doing tomorrow.

On another note, Yang, your cynicism is sort of sexy

Some days, you just wonder how screwed up the world is and realize that the world is not screwed up, but you are for thinking that it can be better. After the cold war, kids that grew up in the 90's enjoyed unparalleled freedom and hope. We had unlimited prospects in front of us with new technology like the Internet and new discoveries from the human genome project.

Now look where we are, a new global war against an ideological and cultural foe that may never end, an economic recovery that is uneven and uncertain, and people acting crazier and crazier every day with their actions. You can die watching a movie, going to the mall, flying on a plane, or even just walking on the sidewalk. We are cynical today, because human life has dropped in value and meaning from where it was in the 1960's.

I've been cynical about a few things that I've seen and heard off and on in life, but I refuse to let them make me a cynic.  I would hate to think my child or grandchild grew up to be a cynic because that is the example I put out there for them to see.  Thinking positive, and always being optimistic doesn't always get results, but it sure beats being cynical. JMO

FYI there is a big difference between living life as a gloomy pessimist and living life realizing shit is about to hit the fan and taking an active role to ensure we don't drown in it ourselves.

The only way we can improve our circumstances is to acknowledge and maybe even embrace all of our shortcomings instead of being delusional and just repeating to ourselves that things would okay, we're all perfect, and everything will all be fine.

"The only way we can improve our circumstances is to acknowledge and maybe even embrace all of our shortcomings instead of being delusional and just repeating to ourselves that things would okay, we're all perfect, and everything will all be fine."

I don't think having a positive attitude means you can't be a realist and take steps to avoid known hazards.  Neither does it mean you should be delusional and just wish things to be ok.   Being positive means you take active steps to effectuate a positive outcome in all your actions and reactions.   Cynics are usually too sure of bad results no matter the probabilities and usually fail to take any proactive measures as they assume they will fail or fate will intervene and ruin things anyway.  

The message I am trying to convey that while we live in a less than perfect world that has always had what seems to be insurmountable problems, humanity has so far managed to carry on and in some ways overcome.    Look at the medical advances in the last 60 years, especially vaccines and even treatment for AIDS which was death sentence for so many years!