Yesterday my husband showed me this video of Freda Payne because she’s singing out song and because her hair is so big.
“The clothes were better back then,” I said. “Look at those colors,” I said, mesmerized by the man wearing green from head to toe.
“Look at how we danced back then, P. We danced like chickens,” he said, bowing his arms out and flapping them like wings. “These kids today think they know how to dance but back then we got our dances from the barnyard!”
I laughed because I like our generation. Later I posted about reducing the strife in my life and of course someone showed up in the comments to insult me.
I deleted the comment and made a few of my own and then wrote this about the ill-mannered commenter, “mick”.
“As the so-called “public person”, I am to not supposed have reactions or feelings (especially negative feelings) about anyone who shows up and that’s just not realistic. I think mick is a punk and if he spoke to me like that in front of my husband (aka in real life) my husband would knock a few teeth out because in our world, men don’t disrespect women, especially his woman. mick would see this of course, in real life, and he’d show some decorum.”
What I said was true. It’s so distasteful for a man to disrespect a woman, to cheat 0n her, to leave her with his babies, etc. Women can also be distasteful of course. My point is that people internalize the values, tastes and trends of their era and this stuff is baked in.
There is an idea out there that one ought to keep up with the times. This is true to an extent. A computer is more versatile than a typewriter. As I age and it’s harder to see, a kindle might be the thing that allows me to continue reading comfortably if I can increase the text size. But on other fronts, it is most definitely not true as most agree that we are now a society in decline.
If something works better and improves your life, it makes sense to progress in that direction. If something “new” degrades your life, you’re going to be better off sticking to your old and so-called antiquated ways.
To identify our generation, my husband and I have Pluto in Virgo. We both are appalled when we see a man disrespect a woman, and appalled that women put up with it. It’s just not done in our world and I wonder what your world is like. What qualities do you share with others in your generation (or culture). What beliefs are “baked in”?
What is your world like?
While I am from a younger generation, and am up on a lot of the “modern day trends” and what have you, at my root I think I am still quite traditional. I just think my values are old-fashioned. A lot of what you describe in your posts, Elsa, I find the same to be true about my own family and the way that I was raised. Cap rules my IC and I have Saturn in the 2nd house.
I’m appalled, too, and I haven’t liked what I’ve seen for much of my life, actually. I just told a taurus who had been in my life, when he emailed me (yesterday), never again to tell me that my feelings don’t matter. I thought he was a good man (in the past – part of a dying breed), but he hasn’t been one for a while.
Your posts about Saturn in Libra, and politeness, keep nudging something in me. I’ll have to try to write a board post about it.
come on people now, smile on your brother everybody get together and learn to LOVE one another..right now!
Ok, released in 67 and a bit ahead of their time for the Youngbloods. But that’s “our song” I think says Pluto in Libra at 2 degrees on the edge of Pluto in Virgo 🙂
And, I would like to add..I’ve taught people of all ages in dance. From 10 to 88. Lemme tell ya, the older ones are MUCH more adaptable. And if you throw some Bee Gees and basically ANYTHING you could have found on “Solid Gold” they leave the kiddies in the dust 🙂 Chicken flaps or not.
The Soul Train dancers were cutting edge heroes as far as I am concerned. They broke down a lot of barriers and in such a classy way. 🙂
anybody that can dance with abandon in regard to what others think gets the thumbs up from me 🙂
And oh yea, Soul Train was rocking! For sure!
I remember being a kid and dancing in front of the T.V. during Soul Train aka The Sooooooooooooooouuuuuuuul Train!
If you want to see dancing with abandon, this if one of my favorite videos ever from that era — it’s Janis Joplin (amazing) with Tom Jones. The dancers are out of this world!! My ex, a recovering addict, said they were definitely high when they made this lol But it’s fabulous. And I want to wrap myself in Joplin’s voice. She is a force: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ib2b4BOZIQ
I’m 31, and I’m in the Pluto in Libra generation. I would say that we are very open minded in general. “It could go either way/be either one/end up however you want it to” kind of thing. I think there is definitely a positive to this mindset, but it also makes us terribly noncommittal, and I really hate that about my peers. I like how loyal many friendships are, and how free people are to choose partners now. But I also dislike how we are breaking each other’s hearts because we are selfish and need novelty every 3 weeks…
I think my generation is wildly creative and innovative, quick, adaptive and curious. I am excited to have been born when I was (1980) because I do remember a world with a little more manners (nothing like the 50s, maybe, but it really was different — I can already see that). A world where kids were too afraid to mouth off at their parents or were not afraid to jump off of tree branches and live a little more like courageous, feckless children instead of chronic weenies. I recall a little more chivalry, but most of my life, men and women have had increasingly flexible roles, so that is always hit or miss. My Saturn is in Virgo, so yes, I think respecting people is important, that we ought to conduct ourselves respectably. But I am not afraid to speak to or against corrupt authority, and I think that’s a great gift of my and my parents’ generation. It’s what keeps tyranny at bay, in my opinion…
Josi, love your comment, “anybody that can dance with abandon in regard to what others think gets the thumbs up from me” . . . I close my eyes when I dance so “they” can’t see me. 😀
I am a pluto in virgo myself. I think that we had it great. when we were young, there was a lot of optimism. I don’t see my children’s generation having the same type of optimism. When I was a teen and young adult, we were trying to discover what worked for us. We didn’t blindly accept the prior generations’ habits and customs. On the issue of women, my 18 year old son was appalled how his female classmates accepted abusive treatment from their boyfriends. When he told them that they shouldn’t accept such behavior, they told him that they were in love.
My mother is a Virgo in Pluto generation and she taught me to be respectful and have pride. I am from the libra in Pluto generation. I don’t know if it is a good generation. I just think we got a raw end of the deal.
Jupiter-Uranus in Sag. Faith in the future. Dogmatic technology. Embrace of multiculturalism. Philosophizing over trends.
I have Pluto Virgo as do my two exes. I think Saturn on my Aquarius ASC grounds me, plus I have Taurus ruling the 4th.
All I have ever wanted my entire life is a happy home filled with love and family. The second husband acted like he wanted that, pushed for marriage, kids, the house – and then walked away from it because he’s “weak” and it was too hard!
Unfortunately, I see no positive male role models going back to my great-grandmother. I only see a bunch of guys who think they are the cat’s pajamas, but treat “their” women like garbage – and the women are supposed to shut up and take it! I’ve got news for them – their penises are not magic wands! I won’t stay with you just because you have one.
I’m trying to attract a good, decent, honorable man this time around. I’ve got it in my head to look for him so I attract him to me.
There are a lot of misogynists out there, and I see no indication of this being corrected in younger generations.
I was born in the Pluto in Scorpio generation and I think we are the ones feeling the decline. There is no spirit in my peers–older people know when they’ve gotten sucked into the computer or a video game and video games were more of a novelty to them. To kids my age, video games, texting… all that is more important than reality itself–they seek out any and all excuse to not think. Vast generalizations, of course. I watch old films and 80s movies and see how light they were compared to the dark and shocking films today. There is a lot of apathy and almost helplessness in my generation (“oh, that will cause cancer? that’s all right… everything causes cancer. I may as well live and not worry about it.”)
As a member of the Pluto in Libra generation, I too remember a time when kids actually respected their parents. Anyone heard of a kid whose parent used a belt on their butt for acting up recently?…Anyone? Didn’t think so. I also remember being taught about not talking to strangers. Another trend come and gone.
My parents are from the Pluto in Leo and Virgo generations, and they don’t even watch current TV. Usually they prefer the Mary Tyler Moore Show, the Andy Griffith Show, Hazel. They grew up with those shows, I grew up with MTV and David Letterman. In fact, I’m pretty sure my generation was considered the “MTV Generation”.
The partnering issues…yes, I’ve seen that too. For me, and probably for my peers too, relationships are a huge source of confusion. Mind games, dating and social rules, etc. I was taught by my parents to let the man take the lead in a relationship. HE is to do the chasing: HE asks you out, HE drives, HE pays for the date, HE calls you on the phone. Now people seem to think that a woman should pay for the date every now and then, she should ask the guy out sometimes, she should call HIM once in awhile and not wait by the phone always, etc. Confusing. Is this a Pluto Virgo vs. Pluto Libra dilemma?
Pluto in Virgo here as well – I caught it on the retch but man, so much of that fits.
I feel like I’m from a different planet than people even a couple years younger than me – like I sit on the cusp of the best of things from my parents’ generation. I think that sounds weird but that’s how I feel.
I’m a modern woman and all, but manners are manners.
I’m a Pluto in Leo woman living on an island where there are many of us over 60, and more older than that. The younger people we see and interact with are many of the organic farmers either taking over their family’s farms, starting their own sustainable lifestyles or apprenticing at community gardens throughout the island.
It’s this balance of agesters that gives my husband and me the verv and the vibe to respect nature as we’d like to respect each other. There’s old school manners built in for us, and when I get to spend time with my son I see the influence of ancient root/manners as well as the critical thinker with hospitality protocol.
I think the Internet breds ill-nature because it can hide behind facelessness, while at the same time, technology offers examples like a Kindle with readability. I love bringing values of respect into my world, and love being shown examples from the younger generations. A Saturnian like me, enjoys the many generations like priming a pump is good for making water rise.
VH1 did a Soul Train documentary a while back. it was awesome!
my mom had that hair at one point and that necklace, except it was an owl not a fish. 😀
@shannon I feel that way too.
I looked up Freda’s chart because of that necklace. She is a Virgo with Venus in Leo and an exact Jupiter Neptune conjunction in Libra.
She has an Aquarius Moon if born before 5 PM or so, otherwise Pisces..
I think my generation has great distrust and cynicism or they have very tiny shorts.
I have pluto in scorpio, I agree with S.
I grew up with people with mostly pluto in virgo, like my parents and all of their siblings, and my grandparents who are from the leo pluto era. I look at the way people my age are now, and things are definitely not the way they used to be.
Once my younger cousins were born and the pluto in scorpio kids became more of a group, I had to shift over like, “Ok, this is the group I’m going to finish growing up with”
Love the old music and videos. Not so taken with the state of our society these days. In some ways things have improved, but the status of men/women relationships greatly disturbs me.
The lack of respect is one thing. The denial of such is even more deeply concerning. What is accepted as normal is unbelievably puzzling to this Pluto in Virgo.
@treehugginmama OMG thank you for the Janis and Tom video! Thought it was going to be a train wreck but I smiled through the whole thing and now can end my day on a happy note. Always loved Janis…amazing! And we used to watch Tom dance with the sound off;)
I’m of the Pluto in Leo generation and I find we are far more tolerant and open in our attitudes to others than the Pluto in Virgo generation.
I often find the latter’s judgmental way of approaching the world very difficult to stomach – there is a drive to control for Pluto in Virgo which I can’t relate to. Not that it doesn’t have some very positive manifestations too, as set out by Elsa above; but for a free-thinking Pluto in Leo, it’s foreign territory!
On the other hand I have a lot of the Pluto in Libra generation on my FB page (mainly racing people but a few kids of old friends) and I get along very well with them – their openness to others, including others of a different generation or culture, is very attractive to me. Maybe because they are almost all involved with racing or horses I don’t find them lacking in discipline or manners, at all.
At the same time, through a lot of the ‘Group’ pages to which I belong, I do see a whole lot of disgusting aggression and verbal insult from younger people of all ages, allied to near-incoherence in language and of thought, which is extremely depressing
PS Just found this piece online, a glaring example of how and where new ‘norms’ due the technological revolution are destroying good manners and long-accepted boundaries
Love that song and the way she performs it. Thanks for the memories and the fun! I am also a Virgo with Venus in Leo.
Pluto in Libra here, and I could’ve written treehugginmama’s comment myself. I feel it is absolutely accurate of Pluto in Libra generation.
women like my mom worked real hard to get women taken seriously in professions like mine and i am reaping the benefits of their sacrifices.
i’ll take that over a world where people were afraid to ruffle the waters, rock the boat, or color outside the lines. the way much of pluto in leo and cancer seemed to be (there really weren’t that many “hippies”, and they had effects in huge disproportion to their representation)
interesting enough, nowadays the term “hipster” describes people notable for their shallowness, rather than ideals.
it does mean that our culture has grown afraid of applying a smackdown on rudeness. or some kinds of rudeness. different kinds of speech are censured now. and many for dumb reasons. while verbal attacks are often not. but that’s not new. only who can be smeared without reprisal is.
eg, there was a woman before rosa parks who did the exact same thing, but they waited until rosa parks to do the boycott because she was whiter and not an unwed teenage mom. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudette_Colvin)
Interesting, eris. I’d never heard of Claudette Colvin. A brave woman.