A broadside from inside the greenhouse

[zotz]

Someone should point out to Joanna Lumley that you're officially old once you start complaining about the morals of youth and that things were much better in your day.

Comments

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I noticed that. Isn't it just the same stuff they were saying about TV and pocket calculators 30 years ago?

[hoiho.livejournal.com]

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they allow disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children now are tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.” -- Socrates

plus ça change, plus c'est la meme chose!

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Exactly the quote that I was trying to find!

[nils.livejournal.com]

While that quote is frequently attributed to Socrates, there is no evidence that actually said it - the quote first turned up in a book in 1953.

Though there is the following (genuine) quote from Hesiod, another ancient Greek:

"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on
frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond
words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and
respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise
[disrespectful] and impatient of restraint"

Your point still stands - people have been complaining about the "youth of today" for millennia...

[hoiho.livejournal.com]

Well, my excuse is the only classical literature I've ever read are Institutes of Gaius and Justinian, and the like (and they're not even classical, really, just Latin).

[zotz]

And they were right. Everything was better before we came down from the trees.

Actually, I've just been reading Cosmicomics, which is absolutely full of that kind of stuff, and highly recommended.

[djm4]

*puts on Youth Of Today by Amy MacDonald*

[zotz]

. . . which raises the interesting possibility of Youth of Today writing a song called "Amy MacDonald".

Actually, I like Amy MacDonald on principle. Nobody is from Bishopbriggs. Nobody. It has absolutely no public profile whatsoever, and as an ex-resident I have a soft spot for the place. And I like that album, too. Haven't heard the newer one.

[djm4]

*grin*

I've only very recently got into her, but I'm a total convert. The second album is ... different. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I'd say it's a bit less 'folky'. I still like it a lot, but someone coming to it on the basis of liking the first album may feel there's something a bit ... off.

I have a recording of her live (thanks to yoyoangel), in which she proves that she and her bassist may join the select list of people who are permitted to cover Fairytale of New York. ;-)

[zotz]

I think I'll have to chase that up. Thank you.

[hoiho.livejournal.com]

C'mon, it's not quite that obscure: Peter Capaldi, Jack Bruce and the Poet Jackie Kay are all from ra 'Briggs! Oh, and my wife, too.

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

Mmm, Peter Capaldi.

[nickys.livejournal.com]

Well, she's got a point on the lack of opportunities for kids to take responsibility for stuff, and being capable of achieving much more.

The thing about all kids being shop lifters is ridiculous, of course, but I'm wondering if this is another exciting mis-quote of respected public figure in the mode of the Stephen Fry stuff...

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

Celebrities these days!

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

Very true.

I have worries about getting up to Edinburgh Beltane. All possible routes from here are likely to involve London and there's some kind of wedding going on there that weekend, I believe?

[zotz]

I know this is very much the long way round, but . . . catch a Cardiff train and change at Bristol? Or give it a couple of days leeway either side.

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

Let me ponder that one...