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Author
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Topic: The Fourth Turning
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katatonic
Knowflake Posts: 6816
From:
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted July 28, 2011 05:08 PM
  
The Fourth Turning offers this bold prophecy: Just after the millennium, America will enter a new era that will culminate with a crisis comparable to the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Great Depression, and World War II. The survival of the nation will almost certainly be at stake. Strauss and Howe base this vision on a provocative theory of American history as a series of recurring 80- to 100-year cycles. Each cycle has four "turnings"-a High, an Awakening, an Unraveling, and a Crisis. The authors locate today's America as midway through an Unraveling, roughly a decade away from the next Crisis (or Fourth Turning). And they recommend ways Americans can prepare for what's ahead, as a nation and as individuals. http://www.fourthturning.com/html/fourth_turning.html anyone read this book? which came out years ago and estimated that RIGHT NOW we would be going through something just like what we ARE going through (they even suggested a debt debate/crisis might be the final "straw" triggering the collapse of the world economy)... IP: Logged |
juniperb
Moderator Posts: 2254
From: Blue Star Kachina
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted July 28, 2011 05:59 PM
I haven`t but sure would like to read it. Is is readable online yet?
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Christian, Jew, Muslim, Shaman, Zoroastrian, stone, ground, mountain, river, each has a secret way of being with the Mystery, unique and not to be judged. Rumi IP: Logged |
Node
Knowflake Posts: 1455
From: 1,981 mi East of Truth or Consequences NM
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted July 28, 2011 06:17 PM
Kat what are the authors basing the timeline /cycle on? Astrologers have one. Numerologists another.....
~looks very interesting. IP: Logged |
katatonic
Knowflake Posts: 6816
From:
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted July 29, 2011 10:28 AM
well the astrologer in me ties it to the uranus cycle (84 years or a longish human life) but basically it is a cycle of 4 generations...starting with the "High" period, coming out of destruction and chaos to rebuild a new and stronger world (the 1900-25 births) then an Artist period, where the overprotected children of the previous generation are thoughtful and mostly "silent" in terms of politics and idealogies; followed by the "Prophet" generation (Baby Boomers in our cycle) who overturn the cart looking for transcendence (they are born into affluence and therefore not that concerned with material/survival issues but point toward new spirituality) and the Unravelling and Crisis that follow this overturn of established values...those born in the 60s-1982(?) would be born into the Unravelling...a downward economic spiral and fragmenting of cultural values that leads to ...Crisis, the falling apart of the economic structure which results in war, usually, and calls on the NEXT Hero generation(born 83-2003ish) to Save and Rebuild during the next High...and if you look back, the last Great Depression was about 80 years ago, and 80 years before that(1850s, ppre civil war) and 80ish years before that (1760s/70s, pre revolution) and 80ish years before that (1680s, pre English revolution and reorganization of the colonies here) etc. so my daughter and oldest grandson are part of the next Hero generation. much will be asked of them and they will respond as best they can...but THIS time we have NUKES on the table, so it is even more critical than in the past. i am reading it again now, someone lent it to me back in 2003... IP: Logged |
katatonic
Knowflake Posts: 6816
From:
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted July 29, 2011 10:28 AM
@juni, if you use the link it goes to the website for the book. don't know if it's available whole online but it is in libraries!IP: Logged |
katatonic
Knowflake Posts: 6816
From:
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted July 29, 2011 10:31 AM
last time around, germany had hitler as a "solution maker" and we had FDR. while obama may not be FDR i much prefer his inclusive approach to one that would splinter and scapegoat even more in a time of chaos and deconstruction...(ie a teabagger who is prone to point at Immigrants, Socialists, Unions and the poor as the Problem)..scapegoating was the Nazi way of making people feel "safe" and "protected"...and we all saw where that led.but whether obama can lead in a REAL critical time remains to be seen. so far he has let the scapegoaters get away with it way too much. IP: Logged |
katatonic
Knowflake Posts: 6816
From:
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted July 31, 2011 12:57 PM
what the book emphasizes is that the kind of thinking that expects things to go on in a linear fashion as they have been will always be stymied by the fact that each generation reacts and adapts to their parenting and the environment they grow through in a different way..and therefore the mood and intentions will go through fairly predictable changes.as in the 50s nobody saw the 60s coming(but expected progress to follow a straight trajectory), now in the 10s very few are looking beyond to the change in flavour of the TIMES. in my personal life i have seen at least one of the differences they talk about. as a Boomer, i was part of a generation that actively threw over the traces of its parents' achievements and rules. and this same generation has seen the opposite...though our kids may not have the same goals and intentions as we do, they are far more respectful of their parents and the family bond. this is a pattern that has repeated over the centuries of american history with generational predictability. i also see my daughter raising her kids in a much more protective way than i was..we had so much freedom! though we had rules and were considered to have fewer rights, we were also expected to amuse ourselves and figure things out for ourselves. i suspect a new generation of boy and girl scouts (or even "brownshirts") is coming up who will have the obligation of sorting out the mess this disintegration period is leading to. IP: Logged |
Node
Knowflake Posts: 1455
From: 1,981 mi East of Truth or Consequences NM
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted July 31, 2011 07:20 PM
One thing I have been hearing from different factions is that we are in the anti-60'sthat being that the revolution was against the constraints and confines of bigotry, racism, and inequality. It was against war much more radically than we are now because there was a draft. The sexual revolution was lead by the feminists, and others suffering from disenfranchisement. It worked. Now the radicals are coming from the so called conservative movement. The conservatives__ not__ the liberals are seeking radical change. I find it fascinating, going from the conjunction to the square. I just don't think it is in anyones best interest. *edit:
when I say that I am myopically speaking of american politics.  there is positive revolution going on elsewhere. IP: Logged | |
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