Are we starting to sound like grumpy old men (and women) 
No I donāt think not think we are, not yet anyway!
And anyway itās a gentler more pleasant debate than some of those that appear here!
Best
David
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True, letās hope it does split to 2 sides as other threads are tending. 
i recommend a romantic and poetic thread: why is MQA not supported by Naim. A pure delight 
Maybe with a posting limit. No single member may post more than a third of the total posts in the thread!
Best
David
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perhaps the most awful thread 
Actually itās just got back on track as S-i-S has posted a link that is really useful in explaining what MQA really is (using knowledge to cut through MQAāa marketing BS).
nothing against you of course. Itās just that itās very technical and difficult to understand for a non geek person. And specially long too.
Getting back on topic, i think there is something wrong with [most] people today, and i believe it has a lot to do with living in perpetual austerity, far too much deliberate political engineered inequality on ordinary people until they get ground down until they canāt think of anything but survival of looking after no.1.
Far too many young people forced to live in a small rented housing at ridiculous high profit rental costs, they are prevented from affording a better quality of life, or to properly provide for a pet dog, unless they get homeless and the dog becomes an advantageous accomplice in street begging.
One only has to tour around the overflowing rescue centre for dogs [and cats] to see the result of a society that is struggling to cope and care.
All the unwanted, itās so sad 
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Maybe thatās why for a strap-line I usually misquote Virgil (Virgillius Publius Maro)
āTimeo technocratus et dona ferentes.ā
Translation:
Fear the geeks and the gifts they bring!
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Iām about the same age. I donāt think people have really changed much, and if they have, it has been for the better. As a straight white man, I have enjoyed a position of privilege throughout my life, along with all the other straight white men. Over my lifetime, society has been chipping away at the inequality between my experience, and that of the many people who are not straight white males. Thereās a long way to go, but generally, weāre headed in the right direction. Admittedly, the last few years seem fairly retrograde, with the resurgence of some toxic ideologies. But that will pass, and the trend towards everybody being treated equally will continue.
My other observation is that young people (we have 2 boys, 16 and 18 - my data-set is them and their friends) are far more thoughtful, articulate, well-informed an pleasant than I was at that age. The education they have received thus far is also better than was mine.
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Be happy that there are still kids, they are supposted to pay your pension once you are retired.
Besides that, I find going to restaurants in Belgium / France / Italy with kids fascinating. My Best experience was 4 years ago when we visited restaurant āCanterburyā in Brussels, the direct descendant of the place where they invited Filet Americain (according to their story). I showed the place to my wife since I was working in Brussels the years before it - we brought our 1 year old. The restaurant personnel took care of us, but also the 1 year old. They gave the guy the right food and attention so that we could sit there relaxed for an hour and finish our wine and filet americain. Restaurant personnel taking care of a 1 year old so that he was entertained for an hour in a kids chair - imagine that!
I need to go there again.
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Debs,
I think thereās a little more too it than that.
I believe the issue is relative poverty, combined with the common visibility of wealth and the encouragement of aspiration. The rising levels of education and access to information, although absolutely beneficial, have the side effect of making the disparity in wealth a lot more visible.
In the Victorian age and through to the 30ās, there was much worse poverty than there is now, but the more wealthy middle classes were much smaller and much less visible and the general standard of education did little to enlighten the majority of people. This resulted in much less aspiration to achieve that level of middle class lifestyle, hence more of a belonging to a tribe (the tribe of workers) and less dissatisfaction with their current situation. Even the truly rich were also much less visible to most of the population as they tended to keep themselves to their own circles.
Now the middle class lifestyle is commonplace and highly visible, as are some of the rich people who actively seek to flaunt their wealth in ostentatious ways (notably some industrialists and particularly some footballers). I believe this factor has a big influence on dissatisfaction in addition to the real levels of poverty.
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That would never happen on this forum, Xanthe! 
I am grateful for your response, for as a gay man who is married to my husband, there can be no doubt that the old prejudices have largely been defeated. You mention equality, but there are problems with equality between rich and poor - now THAT does worry me.
I am encouraged by your comment about how you think the toxic ideologies will pass, for that is also my view. We look at populism as it stands at the moment, and I see signs that people are beginning to see through it. Itās beginning to happen in Turkey, for example, and Spain has elected a government that is not populist, similarly for Greece. As for Trump, Iāve always contended that his power will ebb away once the ātutting and eye-rollingā begins, for there isnāt much else left other than words.
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I used to live just outside Brussels. Roi dāEspagne in Grand Place was my favourite
you can go to mcdonaldās too, same service 
Itās all a matter of perspective. You could have Down syndrome, like my lovely daughter, and have your Government fund a programme to eradicate you before you are born, just because of your genetic difference. Some prejudices are more āprogressiveā than others it seems. She would rightly ask, is there something wrong with people today that they canāt accept me for who I am?
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