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goobster  ·  2706 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Looking for information on Generation X

Good question, and I wondered if it was a "get off my lawn" statement when I wrote it.

But it isn't.

It's a pride in that my generation took personal responsibility for our actions. (I can't speak to other generations, since I am not one of them,) If we fucked up, we owned it, and dealt with the consequences.

Slipped on the ice? Well, I shoulda been more careful/worn the right shoes, etc.

Crashed into someone else's car? Alright, my bad. I can't blame the manufacturer for "unintended acceleration". If the car accelerated, I shoulda grabbed the key and turned it off.

Etc.

There is an instant inclination now to look around and see who we can blame for our failures, because no matter how stupid it sounds, there's always a lawyer around with no shame who is willing to take the case.

Prior to the explosion of lawyers in the late 1980's, you'd come to a lawyer with a stupid case, and he'd say, "This is stupid. Get out of my office."

Now he says, "Ya know, I think I can find a loophole and get you some settlement money."

I realize this sounds like a "get off my lawn" argument, but there are all kinds of articles like this one from the LA Times during the early 1990's about the glut of lawyers entering the profession and the explosion of frivolous tort cases.

All those lawyers needed to validate their existence, so they made up reasons by taking stupid cases.