Search Results: grandparents

Same as your sibling, parent, grandparent, cousin etc.

George Carlin's thoughts:

"I saw a slogan on a guy’s car that said “Proud to be an American.” And I thought, well, what the fuck does that mean? Proud to be an American. You see, I’ve never understood national pride. I’ve never understood ethnic pride. Because I’m Irish, and all four of my grandparents were born in Ireland, so I’m fully Irish. And when I was a kid, I would go to the St. Patrick’s Day parade, and I noticed that they sold a button that said “Proud to be Irish.” And I could never understand that because I knew that on Columbus Day, they sold a different button that said “Proud to be Italian.” Then came black pride and Puerto Rican pride. And I could never understand ethnic or national pride because, to me, pride should be reserved for something you achieve or attain on your own, not something that happens by accident of birth. Being Irish isn’t a skill. It’s a fucking genetic accident. You wouldn’t say, “I’m proud to be 5’11”. I’m proud to have a predisposition for colon cancer. So, why the fuck would you be proud to be Irish or proud to be Italian or American or anything? Hey, if you’re happy with it, that’s fine. Do that. Put that on your car. “Happy to be an American.” Be happy. Don’t be proud. Too much pride as it is. Pride goeth before a fall."

For example, I'd say that the 1950s—which were once heavily romanticized, but I'm not noticing this as of the 2020s, which is interesting—were more like the 1920s for certain than they are the 2020s. I used to romanticize the 1950s as a child, which is why this observation interests me so much. It does make sense, since they're only 3 decades apart, but it's still interesting to me to think that my grandparents lived through an era that was more similar to the 1920s (which are ancient to me, not nostalgic in any way) than our modern times. It also begs the question: are the 60s, 70s, and 80s more like the 1920s or the 2020s?

In fact, you can even use this post to talk about connections you notice between different decades that are over a decade apart (for example, when I was younger and obsessed with the 80s, I absolutely noticed more parallels between the 80s and 50s than I did the 70s and 50s).