They can’t die off fast enough (sorry Mom).
My comment wasn’t meant as snarky critique, just as a tossed-off quip. I enjoy reading about boomer-bashing (because neither I nor my parents are boomers) even as I am extremely hesitant to blame whole generations of people for anything.
Nesrie
6440
I just asked because it’s kind of long, a conversational piece really, and you didn’t point out anything specific about what they’re talking about.
It is true though, it’s basically a generational blame with no… stats or anything. I guess they expect you to ready the other piece/book they mention.
I’ve been reading it over the last hour, and I don’t know that Gibney’s argument isn’t valid, but I also must admit comments like
So what’s your explanation for the awfulness of the boomers?
put me in a humorous frame of mind.
While the article is technically sound in many of it’s assertions, I also have an issue with labeling an entire generation as “the problem”. The article claims Boomers put us into this mess because they have no social conscience, and yet which generation was it that protested Vietnam, marched for Civil Rights, fought for women’s rights in the workplace and numerous other social changes from the 1960’s through the 1990’s? Claiming Boomers are a selfish generation is ridiculous.
Besides, I feel like, at this juncture, looking for scapegoats is a waste of time and resources. We understand the problems pretty well by now, it’s time to get to work on solving them. Solving them means chucking out the representation that has led us to this point, both Republican and Democrat, and electing people from all generations who can work together to make the very difficult decisions that will need to be made to reverse the effects of decades of kicking the can down the road.
Disclaimer : I am GenX. My slack is all that’s holding this country together right now. Respect. ;-)
Nesrie
6443
I am what some call an Xennial, kind of in between. Depending on the article I may be Gen X or Millennial.
The problem with this whole approach is who taught the Millennials? if the Boomers are all soulless selfish and “awful”, who taught the Millenials not to be that… well it would be primarily the Boomers and some Gen X. Like… Millennials didn’t wake up one day and just reject everything.
I just think a number of Boomers are in panic mode. A lot of them screwed themselves… that doesn’t make them soulless or awful so much as short sighted.
I am also GenX. I believe the sheer centrifugal force exerted by my eyerolling is keeping the Earth in its proper orbit.
ShivaX
6445
While true, it was also a small minority of the generation that did those things.
Timex
6446
Us GenX’ers are going to save the world, and look like we don’t even give a shit while we save it.
magnet
6447
They were raised after the war and so have no real experience of trauma or the Great Depression or even any deprivation at all.
Unless you count the Vietnam War, 70s stagflation, or unemployment.
boomers seem to have no appreciation for social solidarity.
Unless you count the civil rights and gender equality movements.
gross debt-to-GDP ratio
Nobody cares about federal debt anymore. Maybe for good reason.
They became a majority of the electorate in the early ’80s,
That period was marked by the end of the Cold War, without even firing a shot. We glorify the previous generation for WW2, but would winning an actual war with the USSR really have been preferable?
We used to have the finest infrastructure in the world
And the baby boomers built the Internet on top of it.
Then of course there’s the issue of climate change, which they’ve done almost nothing to solve.
This is a very important problem, but every single generation has contributed to it including the “Greatest”. And it won’t be solved by the baby boomers, but by their descendants.
I can see the headline now – “Study - Gen X Most Hated Generation for Not Letting Us Plunge Into the Sun”.
Zylon
6449
“Generation X” is a contrived ex post facto label. I identify as Generation Atari.
Timex
6450
Eh, but not really so much, right?
I mean, none of those things really match up against stuff that their parents had dealt with.
The Vietnam war, while certainly a thing, was also pretty far removed from everyday life in the US. It definitely didn’t have the impact on life in the US that wars like WWII did. A small percentage of Americans fought in it, and were generally treated like shit by the rest of the country afterwards. US combat troops were deployed for 8 years, which was pretty long, although not really anything compared to modern times where the US has effectively been at war for 17 years straight now… There are kids who will be voting soon, who were never alive when the US wasn’t at war.
The 70’s stagflation, while bad, was pretty much a skip on the economic record compared to the great depression, or the great recession of 2008.
But as pointed out, the majority of folks didn’t support these things. That’s a big reason why they are STILL things, despite the Boomers running the show for decades.
Eh, not really. A select few geniuses from that generation built it, but MOST boomers really have no idea how any of that shit works… Not even from the perspective of the technical details of making it work, but really just from a basic “how do I use this stuff” level. Boomers are a big reason why Russia was able to push so much fake bullshit through things like Facebook… because Boomers literally do not understand how to consume information in the modern age.
The difference here is that the Boomers were the first generation where the science proved it was a thing. And they did nothing about it. At this point, they crusade AGAINST doing anything about it.
And while it won’t be solved by the boomers… it absolutely will be solved by their descendants… or else we’re gonna die.
KevinC
6451
Are you like me, part of the Oregon Trail generation?
Timex
6452
That’s me… and that’s a pretty cool distinction.
We have all died of dysentery.
Timex
6454
For folks with kids, I suggest this:
https://www.amazon.com/Oregon-Trail-Card-Pressman-Toy/dp/B01JF4CHWK
I got this for my girlfriend’s nephews, and they freaking LOVE it. It’s pretty awesome. They are actually younger than 12.
magnet
6455
He wrote that boomers had no experience of trauma, which is clearly false. The Vietnam war traumatized a lot of people, not just those who served but also their family and friends.
If you want to make a contest of it, the Greatest Generation didn’t really suffer much compared to the generation that lived during the Civil War.
Again, I was addressing the complaint that boomers uniquely lack a social conscience. By your standard, every generation is likewise self-interested. There was plenty of opposition to the New Deal by the Greatest Generation for example.
The complaint was about infrastructure. Most people don’t know how to repair a bridge, either.
If you are going to fault an entire generation for not repairing bridges, then it’s fair to credit the same people for building fiber optics instead.
Timex
6457
Again, it was a pretty small percentage of the population, and they were generally treated like shit afterwards. More US servicemen were killed and wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan than were in Vietnam… more wounded than dead, by far, but that’s largely because our medical care is infinitely better now.
No, it’s really not the same, because the breakdown of opinions across the generation are differently proportioned.
Eh, no… you’re making a false equivalence here.
The infrastructure that was built up after WWII was not built by a minority. That was a national effort. The general population actually participated in that, not merely by driving on those roads and bridges… they literally built them.
