A GENERATION, or three, THAT HAS NOT REALLY LIVED
Recently our resident senior and historic scribe, Anticant, has claimed that the lousy state of today can be traced back many years. If not to the failed elitism of Reith then at least to the pessimism of a W.B.Yeats which is the failure of a "Second Coming" in the 20th century. Indeed the sperm count is rather low today anyway so who cares, in fact. But Anticant has a good point. Excitement, for example, today is a "Happy Consciousness" at best ( devoid of real excitement that always includes disaster areas and failures) or, at worst, a consumer consuming well insured and standardised fun. If it was the 1970s that really showed this move to a generation that had not even begun to live it was the damned Americanised 1950s of Harold Mcmillan and his "never had it so good" copy of the USA standard of excellence that gave birth to this McDonaldised world of yuk.

Forget the political economy or even the BBC priests of rightousness. Such evidence is banal. Forget the insipid inspirations from public schools and Oxbridge in their rally against Fordism and scientific management. As any social historian worth her salt knows it is the "things that really matter and the things that mean" which are evidence. With this reality check in mind let me "inkspot" the situation by using real evidence of the coming of a generation that has never really lived.

We look to crisps. In fact "SMITHS CRISPS". There was a time when those crisps in the packets were an adventure. The packet was often sealed so the crisps remained crisp and dry. But there were many times when that packet was not quite sealed well enough and the crisps were rather damp and soggy even. To select a packet of Smiths Crisps was an adventure. But there was more. Inside every packet was a small blue bag filled with salt. Those that wanted to salt their crisps would take this small blue bag and open it and then sprinkle the salt to taste. Those not wanting salt would throw the bag away or pour it down a male or female shirt or blouse. This was real life and excitement.
Sometimes this small blue bag of salt would, however, also be damp. To open a bag of crisps in those years was to live on the threshold of risky times. Liminality OK !
Of course there is and was a moral to this atmospheric condition. Those understanding the sensuous adventure will no doubt embrace heartily this "bildung" but those of the generations that have not really lived will misconstrue real life as an appropriate act of sickly SATS and PRATS - "all made out of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same".