If you know a smidge about the Civil War and a smidge about generational archetypes, you can see the generational archetypes (found in Strauss and Howe’s work) and their interplay in the Civil War-era opioid-addiction situation and dynamics that emerged post-war. You can see, so clearly, that the GenX-like CW soldiers were seen as throw-aways by society in general (though not by their own kind — they had sympathy and understanding for sufferings like they had known themselves).
The pattern is so clear: The older generation one above them and holding most of the power positions–the doctors, the legislators, the administrators in charge of veterans benefits–are the same archetype as today’s Boomer-like generation that when they were in midlife (they’re in elderhood now) very much looked down at young adult GenXers with judgement, condemnation and a desire to punish them for their moral failings. Oh, how the cycles continue.
It’s all so fascinating!
Civil War
Soldiers = GenX-like, throw-aways, gladiators, fierce, self-reliant, considered uncouth and unmannered
Top military leaders – Boomer-like, principled, ruthless, values- and morals-fixated, despise young Xers for their market-focus
Finding the Source: Opiate Usage in the Civil War Era with Dr. Jonathan Jones
Then and Now: How Civil War-Era Doctors Responded to Their Own Opiate Epidemic
https://www.straightdope.com/21342478/did-the-u-s-civil-war-create-500-000-morphine-addicts
