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Originally Posted by Mazer
Selective definition is a poor defense of your position. Here's the entire entry from the link you gave: - All of the offspring that are at the same stage of descent from a common ancestor: Mother and daughters represent two generations.
- Biology. A form or stage in the life cycle of an organism: asexual generation of a fern.
- The average interval of time between the birth of parents and the birth of their offspring.
- a. A group of individuals born and living about the same time.
b. A group of generally contemporaneous individuals regarded as having common cultural or social characteristics and attitudes: “They're the television generation” (Roger Enrico). - a. A stage or period of sequential technological development and innovation.
b. A class of objects derived from a preceding class: a new generation of computers. - The formation of a line or geometric figure by the movement of a point or line.
- The act or process of generating; origination, production, or procreation.
I guess we're both right, nither defintion of the word is exclusive. But selecting a time frame to define a generation is a little more difficult. While people can bear children when they're as young as 13, the oldest woman to give birth was 66, and men can be fertile up into their 80's or 90's. I'll accept your average of 25 years, it seem to be the average period of that pendulum I mentioned. Anyway, we can parse semantics all you like, but you can't possibly know what Secetary Rice meant when she used that term, and I'm not sure I know either.
If you're so worried about the plight of this generation then you should run a "Don't Drink and Drive/Buckle Up for Safety" campaign, you'll save more lives that way. If I joined the military and went to Iraq I'd be more likely to be sued by the RIAA for filesharing than to be killed.
Wait, I thought you said they had been planning this since 9/11. Is Hagel right or are the conspiracy theorists right? |
actually, i know exactly what Secretary Rice means: "generational commitment"' means committed for a generation - a euphemism for a "one way or the other, we'll be there for a couple of decades, give or take a few years". it's phrased as such to blunt the impact of the assessment.
and, like so many others, your enthusiasm for the mission in Iraq exists only to the extent that people other than yourself actually carry it out. we can only hope, for their sake, that Secretary Rice is wrong.