I won’t be posting a Quinn-like masterpiece with lots of graphs and statistics. First, I don’t have that ability. Second, I am not a statistic. I am a person … so this will be a personal story with anecdotes about my achy-breaky Boomer life. Mostly, I just want to address the following question;
“ARE BOOMERS RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING WRONG IN AMERICA TODAY?”
First, let me whine a little. A number of folks here (you know who you are, lol) answer that question with an emphatic “YES!!”. I find it incredulous that otherwise very smart folks can say such things. I don’t know if it’s said just for effect to “piss off” Boomers such as myself, or if you can really attribute this country’s Great Malaise to such a simple theory. It is also rather dismaying that whenever ANYTHING positive is said about the Boomer generation, then that person is accused of being in “denial” or an “apologist”. It’s almost as if the quest for knowledge ceases when it comes to Boomers … a really surprising turn of events considering the large number of INTJs here.
Others will say we Boomers shouldn’t take it “personally” — which, really, is like calling a black person “nigger”, and then exclaiming, “Oh! Please don’t take that personally”. Tough to do! Accuse me of whatever you wish. I simply cannot wrap my tiny mind around the Broad Brush Approach — lumping an entire generation of 76 million people as the cause of Everything Evil is not wise, helpful, applicable, or even possible, imho. You might as well say, “Humans caused all our evils” … which would also be equally correct, and equally useless since the classification is too enormous. But if one is looking for an Easy Unified Theory of Everything Wrong With America … “Boomers Did It” … well, have at it.
I cannot identify with the rich Boomers, because I am not rich. I cannot identify with the rich Greatest Generation , because I am not rich. I cannot identify with the rich of any generation, because I am not rich. Without advocating a class-warfare approach, I must maintain that a far greater divide in America is along Class — not, age. The mega-rich, the mega-powerful, the ultra-elite — yeah, the 1% — as George Carlin says, THEY are your owners! Redirect your anger accordingly.
I am NOT against the younger generation. I love ‘em. I feel I have more in common with my emotionally troubled son than with most Boomers in my life. Unlike what happens to many old farts, he at least he still questions everything, still wonders what this crazy life is all about, still wonders how he “fits in”. Just like I did when I was his age, and actually, still do to some extent. \\end:whining//
STUCKY CONSIDERS HIS PAST WHILE AT A CHRISTMAS CONCERT
A couple Sundays ago I went to my Dad’s Christmas concert. He sings for The Plainfield Gesang & Turn Verein, a German-American heritage club that was founded in 1886. There were about 200 people in attendance. I would say that 90% of demographics were Boomers such as myself and our parents, The Greatest Generation.
I not only listened to the music, but as I watched my dad singing so proudly, and as I glanced at my mom who always gets weepy at this event, my mind also grew nostalgic, as it is prone to do at such holiday occasions.
It is only in the past few years that I have seen my parents as “whole” persons. What I mean by that is that their whole existence on this planet, as far as I was concerned for most of my life, only started around when I was 5 years old … my earliest memories of them. That means about 30 years of their lives — while they did start to tell me bits and pieces once I turned 17 and thereafter — well, for all intents and purposes it simply didn’t exist. What a damn shame, to my own detriment, that I didn’t even care about the great fountain of experience and knowledge I so easily dismissed. The major event that shaped my parent’s lives was WWII. With apologies to all those here who know this story, I shall very briefly summarize it for those who don’t, for context.
My dad was a German living in Romania. One day, when dad was a teenager, the German Army came sweeping into his village, yanked him from his home, told him he was in the German Army, sent him to the Russian front, where he was captured, spent time in a Russian prison camp, and upon release was not allowed to return to Romania and never saw his family again, but was instead sent to England to work in the coal mines for several years – a form of ‘reparation’, before he made his way to a refugee camp in Austria.
My mother was a German living in Yugoslavia. One day, when she was a teenager, the Russian Army came sweeping into her village. They shot a lot of older German men – the young ones were all off to war — on the spot. Virtually all the women in the village were promptly sent to a Russian gulag, where she was raped, saw her mom raped and then murdered in front of her eyes. After the war ended only she and her brother remained alive, they were not allowed to return to their village, and they walked to a refugee camp in Austria.
I don’t relay these events for pity. Screw that. They are just one of millions of German families who suffered in WWII … just as millions of Americans have suffered in WWII, with only the details changing. I just have a story to tell, and my parent’s story is a huge part of my story. Of course I can’t speak for 76 million of us except in a general sense. For example, I graduated from a high school of about 2,000 and I feel comfortable in saying we all share the Same Boomer Story, generally speaking.
THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING BOOMERISM
The point is these are the people who raised my fat Boomer ass … which they did not do in a vacuum, independent of things that shaped their lives. The picture in your mind’s eye of a “Boomer” is quite incomplete if you forget, or misunderstand, our Greatest Generation parents.
So, I’m watching my mother as she watches the concert, I put my hand around her shoulder as I see her eyes well up with tears. What is she thinking? What pains are still so real to her today .. that I can’t help her with? I start thinking about my own 59 years of living … how crystal clear certain events of my own teenage years still are … as if they happened yesterday. And then a feel a certain shame that it took me so long to see my parents as whole persons. I suddenly feel despondent that I so despised several aspects of my upbringing that I couldn’t wait to join the military, even in the midst of the Vietnam war, just to get the fuck out from under my parent’s thumb. Before taking a look at how the Greatest Generation raised us, let’s quickly take a look at another key to understanding Boomers; the world in which we lived
HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY ??
The Gay 20’s really weren’t all that gay, just as the world Boomers inherited wasn’t only the fun, Hippie, pot-smokin’, LSD trippin’, rock’n-roll groovin’, free love image that is remembered today. Two big events and a ton of smaller ones helped turn our once pure souls to the Dark Side.
First Big Event: Da Bomb. Russia. Nukes. Commie bastards. Ka-BAM! All gone. Nuclear winter. Dead. Why??? Nuke drills!! Little Boomer children hiding under desks for protection. Little Boomer children watching gub’mint movies showing homes blasted to smithereens. Little desk hiding Boomers not stupid, “We gonna die under this desk!!” Was I forever traumatized – some prepubescent PTSD – by these drills? No. Did it affect my perception of what the world was about and that just maybe it made no sense at all and that the grownups were idiots and that since tomorrow may never come so I might as well live just for today … even though I was just a kid at the time? You better believe it.
Second Big Event. Vietnam. Dirty, nasty, disgusting, vile war that killed 60,000 of us and maimed hundreds of thousands more. What was it good for? Absolutely nothing. Did it affect my perception of what the world was about and that just maybe it made no sense at all and that the grownups were idiots and that since tomorrow may never come so I might as well live just for today? You better believe it.
Not to mention in no particular order; civil rights ….. riots …. . corrupt government openly lying ….. a disgraced president ….. dead soldiers faces broadcast on TV every night ….. Kent State ….. double-digit unemployment ……. Midnight Cowboy ….. 25% interest rate for a home loan ….. gas lines ….. shitty cars that exploded ….. S&L crisis ….. Bay of Pigs ….. nukes in Cuba!! …. Abortion …. JFK ….. and, MLK …. Jimmie Hendrix and Janis Joplin …. Gloria Steinem and woman’s rights ….. no more prayer in school ….. the Ayatollah ….. Supreme Court turns activist all over the place …… Korea ….. school integration ……………….
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Did we shape the times, or did the times shape us? I think it’s the latter. Simple math.
The first Boomers were born in 1946. How old are the people-in-charge, the leaders, the CEOs, the 535 politicians that rule our lives … i.e., the people who actually make things happen? Let’s be conservative and say that it’s 30 years old. So, the first Boomers with power to affect the status quo arrive on the scene only in 1975. I would say Boomers took the helms of power around daddy Bush’s presidency in 1989 – when the first Boomers were 43 years old.
The “ME Generation” —- A MISNOMER
We are … and you may add the adjective “most” to many of these descriptions; selfish, self-indulgent, unwilling to sacrifice, politically correct, drug addicted, material minded, entitled, liberal or commie shits, bad parents, lazy, humans to ever walk the earth. And to top it all off we invented Afro’s and disco (actually, two legitimate reasons to hate us). Amazingly, we accomplished all this because of the year in which we were born. And because of our sin of ‘The Year Of Our Birth’, you can go to literally hundreds of blogs other than here and find the admonishment that Boomers should “just die already”. The implication being, that once this happens, pretty much everything will return to bliss, prosperity, and overall happiness. I read that we Boomers only cared about only three things; 1) Me, 2) Me, and 3) Me. Just like the “love of money” is the root of evil, our preoccupation with “Me” is the root cause underlying our evilness.
BUT — the ME-Generation was raised by the Greatest Generation.
How would YOU like to be born following that moniker? Imagine you have just one older sibling, and your parents referred to him/her as “The Greatest Kid”. It just might fuck you up! Lol Boomer babies didn’t drop out the shoot and at the moment of birth become The Most Selfish Bastards ever. We did not raise ourselves. Somewhere along the line, some person(s) and some event(s) helped us along into becoming selfish pricks. Cause leads to effect, nature abhors a vacuum.
What do you THINK you know about The Greatest Generation?
Unless you’re a Boomer, what you think you know about the Greatest Generation is likely inaccurate. The people you know as grandparents are NOT the same people who raised us. Some kind of Weird Assed Transformation took place from the time we were born to the people you know. Maybe it has to do with the aging process – whereby one becomes more introspective, soft hearted, and most importantly – accepting of Things As They Are … not, What They Should Be, a mantra us Boomer kids heard a million times if we heard it once. Maybe it was the realization that their own Materialism was a big mistake … and trust me on this, in many ways they were much more materialistic than their boomer children. Maybe they didn’t ‘change’, maybe they just ‘adapted’ – but, the Metamorphosis into A New Life Form –one that is NOW loved and revered — is and was spectacular.
Let’s take a look at what Boomer kids heard growing up
“ I’m not buying you a new pair of Converse sneakers. You think money grows on trees?”
“You’re not going out dressed like that, are you? What will the neighbors think?”
“I slave all day to put food on the table, so you damn well better eat all of it!”
“You don’t know what hardship is all about. WE had it rough.”
“Kids in China are starving. Learn some gratitude, dammit.”
“You see all the stuff we have?. We did all this for you.”
“Turn off the damn lights. You think electricity is free?”
“You don’t know the meaning of sacrifice.”
“Cut your hair! At least look respectable.”
“You don’t know how lucky you are.”
“At least you could show some respect.”
“You don’t know the value of things.”
“Why don’t you appreciate anything?”
“Quit acting like a bum!” KaPow!! (We boomer kids got wacked …. A LOT)
If you don’t see a significant amount of materialism in those statements then, I’m sorry, you’re just not being perceptive enough. Materialism is largely a state of mind. Bertrand Russel said, ——- “It is the preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else that prevents us from living freely and nobly.”
HANGING ONTO WHAT YOU GOT LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDED ON IT
It’s not about how much stuff you own. It’s about the stuff you own that eventually owns you. A middle aged man attempts to reclaim his youth and buys a vintage Harley, just like the one in Easy Rider. He owns the bike. Before you know it he’s spending all weekend polishing every nut and bolt. Then he decides it needs some restoration, and he spends a few grand doing that. Then he spends more and more time away from his family and with his fellow enthusiasts, riding around town, showing off like a peacock. Then one day his teenage son accidently puts a small scratch on the fender. He hurls a string of expletives at his son for committing this unforgiveable sin. The bike now owns HIM.
Although I lacked nothing growing up, my pre-boomer angst was fueled by the ever present possibility that all the blessings bestowed on me could be lost at any time. From scarcity we came, and to scarcity we could return. This pretty much fulfills Bertrand Russels’s materialism “preoccupation” criteria. Our stuff, meager as it might be, owned us. The resultant activity of the scarcity meme, in terms of materialism, is that my Greatest Generation dad worked his ass off to make sure scarcity would never rear its ugly head. This is admirable and not to be condemned. Don’t you, and I, do the very same thing for our children?
But, it did have unintended consequences. Growing up I couldn’t help but feeling that material gain was more important than anything else. Our parents did work their fingers to the bone. But by the time they dragged their tired asses through the door, they were too tired to hug us. They were too tired to have any really meaningful conversations, especially about sex. “Children should be seen, and not heard.” , I swear was God’s eternal truth scripted somewhere in the Gospels. So, we spent a great deal of our time out of our parents’ sight. That was great for both of us … far less arguments.
We even had our own special place to play in the house. The basement. We sure as hell never romped around the main level, especially the living room; “Don’t sit there! That’s GOOD furniture!!”. Our little boomer minds duly noted; ‘furniture more important than us’. Watch reruns of ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ and Marie’s living room to see the hilarious abortions our parents resorted in order to “save” the good furniture; they covered everything in plastic! Lol All of us immediately identified with the advice Dustin Hoffman received in The Graduate; “Plastics, my boy. Plastics.” Eventually we got the last laugh when all that plastic shit turned a putrid shade of yellow, and the cushions smelled like skunk ass when the plastic was removed. Meanwhile, we were banished to the basement where we could destroy nothing of real value.
FROM DEPRIVATION TO EXCESS TO REBELLION
One of the most common reactions to deprivation is excess. For example, people who have faced starvation will often, once circumstances have changed, become gluttons. This was our parents’ response.
Then, as time passes, a typical reaction to excess is rebellion. This was our response. For example, on a grand scale a Colonist eventually rebels against the excesses of his British masters, and dumps tea in the bay. On an individual scale, children (of any era) eventually rebel against their parents’ excessive rules by doing the exact opposite. The goal of the Rebel, whether a nation or a child, is always to starve the master of their power.
This dynamic plays out predictably well in the Greatest Generation / Boomer relationship. The Greatest Generation faced deprivations in spades; from the Great Depression to Dust Bowls to World War II. The end of the Big War ushers in the greatest economic boom in American history, or something like that. Remembering their deprivations the Greatest Generation becomes as materialistic as any in recent memory. Some of you folks err when you compare that materialism back then with what we have today. You look at countless graphs, data, GDPs, debt, one financial ratio after another … compare the two eras … and somehow conclude that the Greatest Generation were ‘savers’. The “numbers” don’t look so bad back then only because the whole shebang was just getting started. Some shit just takes time to get stinky.
What was this great economic post-war boom about? Was it not the beginning of Consumerism? What do you think this is all about; … getting that little starter house, then upgrading to the bigger house with the nice white picket fence, movin’ on up to a good neighborhood, getting that fifty cent promotion, replacing a literal ice-BOX with a real refrigerator, getting a nice big Dee-troit car or two, the explosion of corporate TV shows like the Colgate Comedy Hour … if not consumer fueled materialism? Excess folks, excess.
“Oh Yeah? Well …. fuck you!!”
The Boomer children, mostly neglected as daddy –and soon, mommy – pursued the Good Life (FOR us, naturally) reacted in a way that shouldn’t be a surprise …. we rebelled against our oppressor for their real or imagined sins. Only we did with much greater aplomb than ever before ; we didn’t fuck around, we were all in.
They had short-haired geeky musicians, we had long-haired hip rockers. They had booze, we had drugs. They had rules – lots of them —, we had none. Free Love, baby! If it feels good, do it. Love the one you’re with. They worked hard, we went to Woodstock. They had a lifeless church, we had the Jesus Movement. They followed the call of Madison Avenue, our hearts hung out at Haight and Ashbury. They liked Ike, we preferred Dylan. They wore penny loafers, we had sandals and a bandana (and other ridicules articles of clothing). And so it went at every turn; right or wrong, a repudiation of ALL that came before. So people look back on this crazy-assed behavior and label us the “ME” generation. I’ll grant you that there is some truth to that. But, it falls far short of what was really going on. It wasn’t “me, me, me” as much as it was; “fuck you, fuck you, and fuck you”.
BTW, isn’t that EXACTLY what the younger generations are saying about us Boomers; “Fuck You!”? History rhyming yet again. Solomon correctly wrote; “Vanity of vanities, there is nothing new under the sun.” I don’t know what dumbass mistakes this younger generation will make — I sometimes feel they think they’ll make none, the first Perfect Generation — but trust me on this one thing oh Young Ones, you too will blow it … and your offspring will mock you as well.
BOOMERS NEVER EARNED ANYTHING — EVERYTHING WAS HANDED TO THEM
Nothing quite baffles me like this accusation. I shake my head wondering exactly what was given to me. I started out getting a fifty-cent allowance, back when fifty cents could still get me into the movies (double feature plus cartoons, a soda, and a popcorn and get a nickel back). It wasn’t “free” either … it came attached to doing chores. Mow the lawn, take out the garbage, do the dishes when asked, and keep my room clean. This our parents called “learning responsibility”. All for 2 bits … good thing we weren’t Unionized.
But for real money to get real stuff — like those Converse sneakers — we had to work. So, I got my first job at around 13 selling subscriptions of the town newspaper door to door on Saturdays. I got a dollar per new subscription. Some Saturdays I’d rack up 20 plus bucks and back then that was living large. My first real job was in high school. I worked in a lasagna factory, stirring lasagna in a huge vat of boiling water … for $1.35 an hour. And I never stopped working since. We worked hard all our lives. My friends all did likewise. So. Pardon me if I am offended at being called “selfish, greedy, and entitled” as I refuse to accept that label.
Speaking of “entitled”, perhaps this is what people mean; all those juicy gub’mint entitlement programs, especially SS and Medicare. First of all, social security was NOT created by the Boomer generation. So, solly. Try the generation before us. Medicare was NOT created by Boomers either. Sure it was enacted in 1965. The oldest of the Boomer generation would have been born in 1943 … making that Boomer just 22 years old in 1965. The voting age was still 21. Please don’t tell me Medicare was voted into being because of then 22 year old Boomers!
I know people just hate it when us old farts “expect” to collect on SS. Can you walk in my shoes for a moment? Let’s say you paid $50,000 into some account set up by the gub’ment. It is money you earned by the sweat of your brow. You didn’t ask the gob’ment to do this for you. They took it by force and promised to give it back to you later. Much later. That “much later” is now here, and some people want to tell us, “Hey, you can’t have the money. The gub’ment spent it and you can’t have it.” We used to have a word for this: Theft. Look, I can understand that I may not be able to collect SS forever until I die. But, can I at least get MY $50,000 dollars back?? You don’t even have to pay any interest, if that makes it better.
I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SINS OF MY BRETHREN
I won’t cover any of the other Entitlements / Social Programs. All I can tell you I voted Republican most of my life, and I cannot ever recall voting based on getting free shit. Foreign policy, wars, and character where my usual hot buttons. I don’t know how other Boomers voted. I don’t care.
I don’t care because I don’t believe in the idea of Collective Guilt. Google that term and the first page will show articles on “German collective guilt over Nazis”, so this is a topic I personally know something about. It is a heinous principle first found in the Old Testament that — “The sin of the fathers He punishes on the children to the third and fourth generation.” A monstrous mockery of justice!! Collective guilt refuses to acknowledge the INDIVIDUAL. Evil regimes and their dictators (Stalin, Mao, Marx, etc.) love collective guilt as they collectivize individuals as “the populace” or “the masses” or “the workers” and then enslave or execute them as it suits their purposes. That’s why I have often said here that the demonization of Boomers may one day logically lead to Death Chambers for us old farts.
You, dear reader, don’t believe in collective guilt either. Do you find yourself guilty of the crime of slavery? No. Do you find yourself guilty for the genocide of Native Americans ? No. Do you find yourself guilty for Mai Lai? No. Do you find me guilty for Buchenwald? No. So why do you throw all Boomers in the Collective guilty pot? It is said ‘people get the government they deserve’. If that’s true then I should find YOU guilty for the current mess we’re in. But, don’t worry, I won’t because that entire argument is specious. Here’s one way we should follow in the footsteps of the Greatest Generation; they didn’t blame their own parents for their youthful excesses of the ’20’s which then led to the financial ruin of the Great Depression . They just pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and made the best of a bad situation. So should we.
“YOU MADE PROMISES TO US ………. AND YOU LIED!!”
Another common theme amongst disgruntled Utes are the broken promises we Boomers made. When I went to the Occupy Wall Street demonstration in NYC I saw more than a few Utes displaying posters about Education … “$60,000 in Student Loans and No Job”, and several variations thereof, including demands to forgive the debt. For change of pace I will number my responses.
1)— Guess what kids? Your generation isn’t the only one that was lied too. We were lied too, also. So, welcome to the real world.
2)— Guess who told us that education was the path to a better life? That’s right, our Greatest Generation parents. We just passed what we learned in OUR youth, onto you. By and large that’s how parenting works. Again, welcome to the real world.
3)— Our parents valued education because they were mostly blue-collar workers toiling away in factories (remember those?). They saw first-hand that the “higher-ups”, the folks in the office, the guys in white-collars made significantly more loot than they did. So, putting two and two together they came up with the brilliant conclusion that education pays. And that’s why I got my ass kicked whenever I brought home a bad Report Card. The first question at the dinner table was, “Did you wash your hands?”. The second and usually last question was “Did you do your homework?” Study, study, study was drilled into our mush brains until the cows came home. It is really no more complicated than that.
4)— What’s wrong with furthering your education anyway? Did we commit some Mortal Sin in telling you to study? Don’t you know that we “pushed” this Horrible Thought on you for a reason? Don’t you know that with knowledge you’ll learn how to think and analyze. Don’t you know the value of using logic and rational thought, and how that will benefit you throughout your life? Don’t you know we wanted to give you a foundation that would allow you to filter through all the bullshit the world tries to feed you? Apparently, not.
5)— Regarding not paying back your loan. Where did you learn that from? Certainly not from us Boomers when you were young! Again, we taught you what was taught to us. And here’s one thing I can guaran-damn-tee you our parents showed us; paying one’s bills was a Badge of Honor. It wasn’t God, country, and apple pie. It was Pay Your Bills, God, country, and apple pie. My parents would sacrifice a meal in order to pay a bill. We taught you to do the same when you were little.
Here’s what Boomers and the Greatest Generation did wrong.
6) We monetized “value” when talking about “the value of an education”. Did the Greek philosophers value education to make more money? No. Did the great men of the Renaissance era value education to make more money? No. Did our Founding Fathers value education to make more money? No. The “value” of an education is more than exploiting it for financial gain (see #4 above). But, clearly, modern America is all about the Almighty Dollar. So, I went to college pretty much in order to make better money. And I told my kids to go to college to make better money. Guilty as charged. Money, it’s a gas. I suppose what pisses off Utes is that Boomers were actually able to get jobs when they graduated, while they can’t. Which leads me to my final point.
7) Tough shit!! And please don’t tell me us Boomers “guaranteed” you a good job upon getting an education. First of all if you actually believed such a statement you need to recalibrate your Bullshit Detector. They never has been and never will be any guarantees in life, except death, taxes, and obese fat women pictures from our own beloved AWD. Secondly, it’s a lie from hell. Our Greatest Generation parents were keenly aware of the possibility of losing it all … again.
They even coined a unique phrase to drill home the concept of no guarantees; –“you never know”. For example, “Put down that stick! You could poke your sister’s eye out, YOU NEVER KNOW!” (In my childhood there were apparently about 845 ways to poke out my sister’s eye.) Or, “Put on clean underwear before we drive to church. We might have an accident, YOU NEVER KNOW!”. Or, “No, we’re not joining the community swimming pool. We need to save every penny, YOU NEVER KNOW when we’ll need it.”.
Lastly, Utes also blame Boomers that they can’t get married, they have to live with their parents, will never be able to start a family, buy a house, etc. etc. It all boils down to “life isn’t fair”. Well! 1) we Boomers used that phrase on our own parents a million times. Please come up with something new. 2) In what fairy-tale are you living where ‘fairness’ is the rule of the land? 3) Stop emulating Gordon Gecko. Try, Tim the Toolman. 4) My parents taught me this and I pass it along to you. Perhaps the Ten Best Words Of Advice you will ever hear; “Life isn’t fair. Get over it. DO something about it.”
FINAL THOUGHTS
In closing, let me say that I’m not trying to change the real Boomer Haters. It was downright depressing doing some research for this article. I don’t know exactly how widespread this hatred is, but what is out there is savage, vicious, and said with such ferocity that I wonder when, not if, the loathing for my generation turns into violence against us. Every revolution has at least one scapegoat. The “Boomers Suck” meme is paving the way towards acceptance of our destruction, should it go that far. How does one change such a person’s opinion?? But, there are folks out there who have yet to decide if they shout hate/blame Boomers for everything. I hope this article reaches those.
I also hope this does not come across as either making excuses or rationalization. It’s just my story, and I assume it’s similar to millions of others in my age group unfortunate enough to be labeled a Boomer. All I tried to do is tell it as it is … yes, as I see it with my Boomer-tainted goggles … and in the telling I know I barely scratched the surface.
One thing I know is they we are ALL in this together. When I see a homeless man in NYC, he may be a Boomer … or, very well be a more recent generation. I often drop a few dollar bills, but I don’t first verify his age, because I don’t see a GenX or Boomer … I see only a homeless person, a human being who is worthy of compassion because I realize “there but for the grace of God go I”.
I think it’s a fact that most of us Boomers have seen our savings, our assets, our net worth dwindle before our eyes and most of us are not well off. I think it’s a fact that most Boomers still work, and probably will need to work —- either until we die or the ravages of age incapacitate us. And if we are incapacitated … and if the timing is such that all the Free Shit is no longer available … then don’t worry about killing us, as I believe many will commit suicide.
Lastly, I am fully aware I have my own biases, and as we discussed in another thread from last week, “total honesty” in the trillion plus connections organized by our highly fallible brains may not even be possible . Not only might I “not know” the truth, it is conceivable “I don’t even know that I don’t know”. In other words, yeah, I could be full of shit. (If so, I’m sure you will inform me thereof. Lol ) But, I doubt it.
Peace
Herr StuchenBoomer
My parents were also Silent Generation. I grew up in a series of Wonder Years housing developments, each house better than the last. We never stayed anywhere more than five years as my dad kept trading up to better neighborhoods and better jobs.
Dad moved us 1,000 miles from our family roots to make more money. He abandoned my mother and I in vast suburbia, he took our only car to work every day. We had no friends or community or family because Dad was always moving us into better farflung freeway exit neighborhoods. My mother began to drink heavily. They divorced. I left ‘home’. No one cared.
My father paid into Social security in the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. He’s been collecting SS payments since the early 90’s now for more than twenty years, at a rate many times surpassing what he ever paid in during his working life. Medicare has bought him THREE triple heart bypasses.
Dad has always been a huge fan of uber American materialism. Every two years a new car, the latest most expensive technology gadgets, advocate of more freeways and shopping malls and a hater of public transit, he has a minority gardener and housekeeper paid in cash–no benefits.
Helluva Silent Generation hero you are, Dad.
Stucky-
Thanks for the noble discourse on my generation. Just last evening my own son earnestly explained to me how the Boomers are responsible for just about all the troubles in the world. Like you, I anticipate the Nirvana that will descend upon the planet when his generation gets to be in charge.
I will defend my generation for one thing you didn’t mention: we had enough rage and energy to make an uncomfortable ruckus about a stupid war.
Bravo, Stucky. Thank you for this.
Gayle says:
“I will defend my generation for one thing you didn’t mention: we had enough rage and energy to make an uncomfortable ruckus about a stupid war.”
Gayle, I hope that was not you who made the “uncomfortable ruckus” on we returning soldiers.
It’s 10:25 and I’m retiring for the night.
I have a headache after writing a 5,500 word post! Actually, Ms. Freud is home and sick in bed. I need to be with her.
Hopefully in the morning there will be a nice mix of a few pro and anti boomer comments or, as Marissa did above, some of your personal experiences.
g’night
Chronic Agitator
I was never angry at the soldiers, only at the deranged old men who sent them.
Stuck – thanks for the effort. Boomers are guilty because they fell into the trap of believing in milk and honey and the divine right of Americans to rule the world.it was a lie. Future generations will pay the price for boomer gullibility.
Some of us boomers knew better – but the masses did not. Credit cards and free shit were manna from heaven for most boomers. And they did not teach their children well.
There comes a reckoning.
” … the divine right of Americans to rule the world” ——— llpoh
That idea started well before Boomerism.
Manifest Destiny: — “Manifest destiny was the belief widely held by Americans in the 19th century that the United States was destined to expand across the continent.”
First conquer all America …. make a logical leap and add a few years …….. next, the world.
Stucky,
I rarely comment on the many good articles I read here and elsewhere. This, however, was a great summary of the lives of many of us “boomers”. Except for the detailed background of your parents, I could plagiarize much of it; and hand to my own kids.
I worked from the day it was legal at 14 (NY). Later, went to college (my debt not my parents). Worked for another 40 years and was “displaced” when the last company I worked for was bought out. I think that I would have worked until I was 70; but being 62 and unemployed in 2009 wasn’t easy. My own 401K choices were disastrous (my fault along with a thoroughly corrupted stock market).
Having saved over 15% for 25 years and watch 60% evaporate was tough. Nothing is fair. I spent far too much time making the company I worked for successful than I did educating myself on protecting my future; but the buy-out made a number of people very wealthy (unfortunately- not me).
The only thing that you may have missed in your article is the blame boomers get for Medicare. Until 2011, boomers only “contributed”. We weren’t old enough to benefit. Now that it is heading toward complete bancruptcy, we get to sign up; and watch our current crop of government leaders (corrupt psychopaths) find ways to lower these unsustainable “entitlements”.
Though there are many dispicable boomers in business(especially finance) and government whom are so morally bancrupt as to destroy many to get unnecessarily wealthy, I believe that many boomers led lives more closely to that outlined in your article; in order to get to some level of middle class stability.
To watch as a 47% get something from our government and expect more is terrible. What background generated this?
I for one will never be ashamed to be a boomer.
Mike
Wow, there was so much lack of compassion for modern young people in your story. Which is unfortunate and is what is spreading this boomer hate in the first place. It is very arrogant to tell young people to stop whining when their struggles are real. I am a millennial and we do have a reason to be upset about the current state of the country. The biggest difference in the struggles young people face, today versus your youth, is the lack of opportunity. This goes beyond expecting to get a good job out of college, but any job.
The boomer generation is deemed selfish because they are not adjusting their expectations at all. Young people going to college are told to pay off their over inflated college loans. We are then expected to buy your houses in the suburbs, that most of us don’t want, so you can collect big on your inflated house prices. If we can’t afford it, we are choosing not to grow up and want to be teenagers forever. We are expected to pay for a large generations’ debt to the country, their self righteous wars in the middle east, their health care, their free prescription drug plans, their social security that will make it impossible for our own retirement, pay taxes, see the value of the dollar eroded, and still we are the entitle ones. My generation never promised the boomers their goodies, why should the burden to honor them be places on our shoulders?
We aren’t getting married because as another recently story on BP pointed out that men aren’t being taught to be men anymore. The feminist movement of the 60’s destroyed real men and turned them too soft. Also pop culture supported the idea of men being inferior to women. Look at how many sitcoms ( ex. Everybody loves Raymond) have portrayed men as bumbling morons who can’t be trusted to raise their kids, make decisions, and take care of their families? Our society has reinforced the idea that men can’t take care of themselves without a woman telling them what to do, and then we wonder why a lot of young men live with their mothers.
The boomers savings rate is an embarrassment. They had 40 years in the best economic times in modern history and they squandered it. Now younger generations are expect to pay for their golden years. Keep wishing. The boomer generations motto in the 60’s of “Don’t trust anyone over 30” may be updated to “Don’t trust anyone under 30”. I’ll be damned if I am going to pay for the boomer retirement, state pensions promises, and UAW union pensions.
Am I the only one who has no idea which artificial bucket of people they fall into?
I guess I could google it, but I have a feeling that the first ten hits would give me 10 differing opinions on where to draw the lines between the ‘generations’ and what to even call them.
Thou hast not sinned as you are no Boomer.
I made a life of studying “market segments”. I’m an MBA with a quant emphasis in marketing and finance strategy. Worked for some of the most prestigious firms and clients imaginable, doing it in the C-suite.
I tell you this because most people, laymen to statistics and especially marketing statistics, get only the dumb-down, half-understood “media” version of the definition of the Baby Boom Generation. They look at a chart of births and conclude “Well, the hump goes from 1945 to 1960-something, so those are the ‘Boomers’.”
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Boomer is a marketing term, it names a segment of the consumer market that was segmentated to enable predictive analytics of consumer behavior. That is, “What kind of people will buy our stuff if we target them specifically?”
As such, “Boomers” encompass more than birthdays.
First of all, when thinking of generations, the parents’ generation is more telling than the birthday. Think of it. Maybe you are a Boomer by date but you have a much younger sibling born in the late 60s as an “Oooops!” baby.
While his upbringing will certainly reflect the customs of his cohort, the parents you share will have an inordinate influence on both your upbringings. Your sibling will not be an “Xer”. He will be something else, something not easily pigeonholed.
In your case, while your parents were certainly part of the WWII effort, they diverge from the Boomers because they were not U.S. Government Issue, so to speak.
The Boomers’ parents, the so-called/self-called “Greatest Generation” congratulated themselves for their WWII service as it was a form of validation of their largely unearned U.S. citizenship as immigrants of Ellis Island. In other words, fighting their cousins in the Old Country proved their loyalty to the Blood Americans who rejected their status quo ante.
You see, the concept of the Boomer is that their self-satisfied parents indulged them incessantly, “You’ll never want as I wanted my little babushka! You will have everything I could not!”
Throw in the sad fact of being born, steeped and infused with Soviet inspired, anti-Nazi propaganda and you have the makings for a totally screwed up generation. And they lived up to their potential.
So no, you are no Boomer and you wear none of their immense guilt.
Stucky
I’ve been coming to this shithole to see what it has to offer for awhile now. Never wanted to comment before because I really don’t give a fuck what you shit throwing monkeys think one way or the other. But this, this fuckin pisses me off. I can’t even read it all. You want to know why…?
Because I’ve been thinking I needed to write something similar. That’s right. Someone with some fuckin brains and some balls has got to tell the rest of these fuckin morons who we are, why we are the way we are and that we didn’t go out and create this cluster fuck.
The Greatest Generation went thru a whole lot of shit and when we came along they were “Freaking Out Man”. Like my mom, during the war, she said you never knew when someone you grew up with and watched go to war was going to be dead. She was fucked up. Always thought me or my brothers were going to die. Flat fuckin freaked out when my older brother was drafted during the Vietnam War.
The old man, he joined up after his older brother came home from Guadalcanal w/malaria. Lucky him, he was stationed in Japan after the war ended. He got to see firsthand what it looks like when someone drops an atom bomb on your doorstep. He ended up drinking himself to death.
I’ve been thinking for awhile now what effects WW2 had on my parents, how that affected us, now I’m starting to realize that it fucked all of us up.
We are going to make things worse today if we don’t pull our heads out of our ass. Look around the country today, you think all these young men and women we’re sending off to the Middle East ain’t coming home fucked up. I sent my son to the Marine Corp right out of high school, figured it was either that or he’d end up in prison. Little shit is too smart for his own good. Now don’t get me wrong, the Corp straightened the boy out. In his first letter home to mommy he asked her, “Please apologize to Dad for me, for all the times I thought he was an asshole”. Later found out that he had 3 Drill Sergeants who were awarded the title of the biggest assholes in the world. Anyway, after invading Iraq and kicking Saddam’s ass he came home. And guess what, he was all fucked up. Now, 10 years later he’s settling down, raising a family, doing what’s right. His wife is a registered nurse working for the VA. She knows he needs to get some help, but once a Marine always a Marine. “That shit is for those that really need it”, is all he’ll say. We are a very close knit family and I know that’s one reason we ain’t all fucked up like the rest of the morons. Happy to admit that little tidbit in this dysfunctional paradise we live in today.
The point I’m trying to make is this. If anyone thinks sending our family members off to fight these bullshit wars is a good idea, they are fucked up.
Now for the rest of my rant, Please and Thank You.
If anyone thinks the Boomers are the only ones responsible for this clusterfuck, suck my nuts.
As my Dad said, “I brought you into this world and I’m going to be the one to take you out”. Fuck you, you grouchy bastard. You said I’d never make a pimple on my brother’s ass. Who the fuck thinks that’s a good fuckin idea anyway. You’re both dead, so eat shit. Always wanted to say that, doesn’t have a god dam thing to do with this conversation thou.
I never asked anyone for anything, if someone offered help and I needed it, I took it, and then tried to give it back when they needed help.
We have what we have because my wife and I worked our asses off for the last 30 some fuckin years. It ain’t much, but it’s all ours. Fuck you, to the fuckin morons who think everything was handed to us.
A big FUCK YOU to all you winey fucks who think because you graduated college you now deserve all the things my wife and I have worked for our entire lives.
Fuck You, Fuck You, Fuck You, to infinity and beyond.
I figured out the college thing was a scam 20+ years ago. Guess what, I was fuckin right. Hope you dumb asses choke on your fuckin student loans, you dumb pricks.
Get your heads out of your asses and realize that the problem starts with each and every one of us. The dickheads in charge don’t give a rat’s ass about you, me, or anybody else, just themselves. It’s not about which generation, it’s about all generations. It’s about individuals, get it…?
You think voting for the “right” candidate is going to bring change. It ain’t, not today, not tomorrow, and not ever. Only we can bring the change needed to straighten this clusterfuck out.
To all you fucked up Boomers, if you’re in deep shit because you spent your whole life “living the dream”, well welcome to your worst fuckin nightmare. To those who thought that Wall Street was going to bring you riches. How’s it looking now, dumb asses. To those who thought buying and selling bigger and bigger homes was going to make you rich. Hope you’re staying warm this winter trying to heat that fucking mansion your living in, dumb asses. To all the dumb fucks I’ve met over the years who always came up with some bullshit reason to quit a perfectly good job. Get this, I’ve got ~28 years working for the same company. Oh, the name of the company has changed several times, but I never gave up. I wouldn’t give the pricks the satisfaction. Survived 2 illnesses, one doctor said I wouldn’t live past 50. I’ll be celebrating my 58th birthday in a couple of weeks. I make almost double what I made in 2000, I have 11 paid holidays, 8 weeks of vacation per year and every other Friday off. And I worked my fuckin ass off to get it, so you can all go fuck yourself.
On a side note: My wife lost her mother from cancer when she was 7. Was adopted by a fucked up bunch of morons because her father was to busy shacking up with every whore who’d have him. Her oldest brother killed her father when she was 16 by shooting him with a 12 guage shot gun in the chest as he was trying to break down the screen door with a hammer in his hand threating to kill him. Was told we’d never have kids of our own. Now have a 30 year old son, 28 year old daughter, a great daughter in-law and 2 spoiled brats for grandson’s. Can’t win em all I guess.
Sure looks to me like we’ve been trying to figure out how to create a clusterfuck. You fuckin pricks, I was to fucking busy trying to make sure my wife and children didn’t end up on the street, that’s what the fuck I was doing.
Stucky, I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m just so damm tired of this bullshit. I really didn’t read all of your article, but I know what your intentions are. Good job for what it’s worth.
Not one of my best attempts at expressing myself I’ll admit. I’m suffering from a chest cold and it’s getting late.
Quotes from Grandpa:
“Life is pretty simple if you just let it be” and “Let the buyer beware”
As Charles Hugh Smith has said: Always ask yourself this question “To who’s benefit”
And now for the best night of sleep I’ve had in awhile.
@Spaceman – You need to smoke a blunt you fucking angry asshole boomer. <3
FWIW, I blame America as a whole. Since Boomers make up the larger part of the voting block that means they get a larger part of my ire. Its simple statistics.
I also hate our predecessors.
you feared your dad more than you feared the cops. your mom said wait til your dad gets home, it was agony to wait until 10 pm. teachers could punish you physically with wooden paddles. you loved your teachers, respected the coach like he was your dad. the school principal rapped on your head if you didn’t stand at attention for the school song. you were collectively ashamed of the kid who got arrested in your school. you finished all your food. you didn’t throw away food in the school cafeteria. you walked to school. you had a job after school or weekends. you shared your money with your family. you gawked at the teenage girl who had gotten pregnant and was now working instead of going to school. you settled matters in an afterschool fist fight. you went to the library for entertainment. you had a worn out library card. you took care of books. you played outdoors, you did not have a bedroom of your own. you felt sorry for that one kid who had no siblings.
you read this website long enough, you’ll be a bitter person soon enough. there is no them and us, we are all moving from one age group into another. adopting ideas and discarding ideas. all i can say is, i can only thank the generation before us for the things i enjoy now. we had a good run, we didn’t squander anything, that is not the way we were taught, it just happens that we were snookered, swindled by cheats who abused the trust we placed on them. we aren’t believing too much anymore – to paraphrase another poster – when they say north, i head south
BBES
Bravo, Stucky. I’m sure this article took you many hours and as a fellow boomer (crop of ’47) I appreciate it after reading some of the vitriol that has been posted here on several occasions.
Just a couple of weeks ago I stumbled across a VHS tape of Dr. Morris Massey titled “What You Are is What You Were When” which was used by many corporations as a management training tool. If you’ve ever seen it, just the memory will probably put a smile on your face. Massey had a great sense of humor, talked a mile a minute, and made tons of sense. The purpose of the program was to teach the various generations how to relate to each other. It should be required viewing by all (on TBP) but, alas, it’s not on Youtube and the DVD sells for $895 (yikes!) Massey explains how our individual value systems are programmed into us in our formative years (up to age 20 but mostly by age 10) based upon where and when you are born. To Massey the most defining feature of the boomer generation’s value programming was the universal presence of TV. Prior to the boomers, successive generations were not all that different from each other. But TV changed all that forever and the Fuck You attitude you described above was the result. We didn’t invent the damn thing but we sure watched it as much as our parents would allow.
Ironically, we rebelled as we were coming of age, growing our hair, taking drugs, listening to music that made our parents cringe, but where do we place the blame? I always thought that it just sort of happened, but a recent book by S.K. Bain, The Most Dangerous Book in the World – 911 as Mass Ritual, infers that we were programmed by an occult following elite. The free love 60’s or the ‘do your own thing’ movement was pumped into our psyches, according to Bain, echoing the words of Aleister Crowley’s Thelema. The central philosophical concepts of Thelema are encapsulated in two phrases from Aleister Crowley’s Liber AL: “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law” and “Love is the law, love under will.” Crowley was perhaps the most influential astrologer/occultist of the 19th and 20th centuries and was a strong proponent of a “New World Order”.
As a Christian that fully believes in the supernatural, Bain’s treatise has given me great pause. But, I digress…
No boomers are to blame ( and I’m one of them) because we swallowed and then regurgitated back out so much of crap we were taught by the ‘New Left”. We accepted Affirmative Action rather than insist our laws be truly color blind. We allowed Ted Kennedy and the ‘diversity is strengthy’ crowd to open out borders to a flood of unassmilable third world immigrants forever changing the character and quality of this nations population. And last but not least we ran up the nations debt to pay for all this feel good altruism.
Attributing BLAME to any single generation here is positively ridiculous, one of the more ridiculous conceits that plays over and over again on the pages of TBP. Even if you just go by the Strauss & Howe theories, the 4 Act Play recurs over and over again, so Boomers are no different really then the Generation that lived during the Roaring Twenties, whatever that one was Named. I’ll call them the Gatsby Geneeration.
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However, during the Roaring Twenties, it really was just a fraction of the population living the Great Gatsby lifestyle, and the truth for Boomers is only a fraction of them also lived High on the Hog over these years. Plenty of Boomers will be taking their Christmas Dinner at the Salvation Army this year, and I can about guarantee next year there will be more of them there.
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If you wanna drop BLAME anywhere, as Stucky says, its got to be placed on the folks who have been running the Monetary System for the last 500 years minimum. The Banking System with its Booms and Busts based on the average 80 year lifespan of debt overhang is what runs every Cycle of these 4 Turnings, the only thing marginally different here is the numbers are bigger, which mainly comes from accessing the thermdynamic energy of fossil fuels and much larger population numbers. Otherwise though, the etiology of creating Irredeemable Debt is entirely the same over and over again, you should be able to see the connection in the subtext of Strauss & Howe even if you haven’t read Holling & Gunderson.
Anyhow, the fundamental difference for this collapse is that we are about FRESH OUT globally of resources upon which to build another 1st Turning after this sucker collapses. If you really wanna look at the main generation that collected the most Bennies from exploiting the Earth for its resource base, that would be the Silents, not the Boomers. However, it’s not really their “fault” they got all those years Playing Golf in Florida and Driving the Diesel Pusher RVs around visiting the Grandkids either. They didn’t run the show any more than Boomers did, they just lucked out in being born at the right time in the cycle to get most of the Bennies and then head to the Great beyond just when it is all collapsing.
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RE
http://doomsteaddiner.org
Stucky, you are bit too mercurial for my taste but if I were really a middle aged persian woman, I would definately fuck you.
Nicolaus,
Beautiful writting!! And Thanks for sharing this. And now here it comes,
The Mandatory ….
BBES.
Peace
Stucky, a most excellent essay.
I happened to get caught by “a repudiation of ALL that came before”, BTDT before and here. Even back to the BBS days before the internet, seeing the “useless eaters” meme. And here, some time back, a Gen Xer with a “you olds left us a fucked-up world.” Well, I responded (not in STM mode) with a chronology of milestones in my life. Born 1936. Great Depression. World War Two. Korea. Cold War. MAD. Peacetime draft. Cuban missile crisis. JFK. RFK. MLK. And other shit … bridging the gap.
The Xer never responded but llpoh did. I was “whining”. Funny, must be in the eye of the beholder, a sequence without personal interpretation ….
I guess the point is, there has never been a generation that did not have problems to face, part of a chain that came from the past. LOL, I remember an ancient Egyptian tomb inscription: “The young are going to the dogs.” Nothing new under the sun; generational warfare is forever.
Good Rant, Herr Stucky
Thanks,Stucky! (I’m a ’48’er) I’m sick to death of the media portraying every Boomer as a participant in Woodstock. I’ve worked since I was 16 to earn money for school and was working in a hospital lab as Woodstock was hopping. No one I knew did anything but work since no one’s parents had money enough to blow on nonessentials.
Daddy’s money paid for Woodstock and all those Spring Break vacations the media touts as the Boomer’s past. The same rich kids are now the same financial criminals and political hacks grooming their rich children and their rich grandchildren for more country-wide screwups, wars, and greed.
Royalty and entitlement didn’t stop with the Revolution. It just changed hands.
I appreciate your essay – thanks for sharing.
I was born in 1960 and the “boomer” handle has never felt appropriate but I have always had trouble reconciling the criticisms of the boomers with my own observations about their (our) parents’ motivations and desires.
I read “The Greatest Generation” a long time ago and thought then it was simplistic and self-serving – as if the only thing necessary for greatness was rolling up sleeves and biting bullets when backed into a corner – no mention of any big picture thinking or long term planning regarding the morality of materialism and its corollary, resource allocation.
The business of America WAS business and that preordained materialism to the highest alter and people who applied themselves deserved all the material benefits money could buy.
I kept coming back to the concept that so much of the foundation of our nation’s problems were already firmly in place by the time the boomers came along – the pig in the python played by the existing rules and only by virtue of scale did they make things worse. You articulated those concepts brilliantly.
And now the boomer leaders are as corrupt as leaders get – perhaps self-selection, perhaps idealism gone south, or perhaps the corrupt leaders of one generation selecting/mentoring/guiding/bribing the most corruptible future leaders of the up-coming generation – but never-the-less – the continuation of resource wealth-harvesting to a small group of elites will continue unabated.
People of any generation have tendency to indulge themselves is two very unproductive behaviors.
They want to JUSTIFY their own beliefs and actions, regardless of whether they are right or wrong….and they want to LAY BLAME on something or somebody else for whatever they perceive is wrong in the world.
“Excuses are like assholes. Everybody has one, and they all stink.”
—— U.S. Marine Corps proverb
Really a good post Stuck. Of course, nobody’s mind will be changed.
This Be The Verse by Phillip Larkin
They fuck you up, your mum and dad
They may not mean to but they do.
They pass on all the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another’s throats.
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don’t have any kids yourself.
Quick general thoughts.
1– What a pleasant morning surprise! So many great comments. I was afraid, due to the very wordiness of the rant, that few would read it.
2- One is so fuckin’ pissed they can’t read the article, one thinks I don’t understand young people, others think I hit the nail on the head. A VERY good day for an OP!!
3– Zara, right back atchya. For old times’ sake, could you please post the pic of your former lovely self? I sooooo miss “her”.
4– Where are the hardcore anti-Boomers? Colma can only muster a weak “BBES”. Admin is strangely silent. SAH must be on vacation. Oh, foe, where art thou?
Spaceman
I’m glad my thread was able to pull you out of your shell. You seem to be shy and unable to express your feelings. lol And you cuss better than me!
Nothing in your post offended me. Don’t be a stranger.
“Wow, there was so much lack of compassion for modern young people in your story. “ —Calamity
The post is mostly about Boomers and The Greatest Generation, not young people. Maybe you missed my comment, — “I am NOT against the younger generation. I love ‘em. I feel I have more in common with my emotionally troubled son than with most Boomers in my life.” I have two 20-year-olds, and I fear greatly for their future. Pardon me, but you don’t know dick about my compassion.
———————
“Which is unfortunate and is what is spreading this boomer hate in the first place. “ —Calamity
This supposed lack of compassion is the root cause of “boomer hate”? We don’t feel sorry enough?? Wow. It’s much deeper than that.
———————
“It is very arrogant to tell young people to stop whining when their struggles are real” —Calamity
It has nothing to do with “young people”. I would tell anyone, regardless of age, to stop whining. Please list for me just three benefits to whining. Remember: Life isn’t fair. Get over it. Do something about it.
stucky, my life flashes before my eyes just reading this. i have a thousand comments to make but there isn’t time enough. i’d just like to note that a lot of boomers may well have been first generation americans. it is generally second generation americans who wrap themselves with the flag, like the cowardly lion, and proclaim immigrants to be scum. third generation citizens would not have the insecurity to claim an unearned superiority.
“ … the most defining feature of the boomer generation’s value programming was the universal presence of TV. Prior to the boomers, successive generations were not all that different from each other. But TV changed all that forever and the Fuck You attitude you described above was the result. We didn’t invent the damn thing but we sure watched it as much as our parents would allow.” —————— Ditchner
I was hoping someone would bring up Television. Nice job!
Many agree with you …. “boomers are the first generation to be raised on television, called by some a “surrogate parent” …… and, “the first generation to be targeted aggressively and consistently by the advertising world” …….. and, “television is the institution that solidified their sense of generational identity more than any other”.
But I didn’t include because it wasn’t part of my own story. We didn’t have a TV until I was 10 years old. And then I was only allowed to watch a few hours per week. Controlling the boob tube was one of the greatest things my parents ever did for me (although at the time I did not agree with their decision. Lol).
“I will defend my generation for one thing you didn’t mention: we had enough rage and energy to make an uncomfortable ruckus about a stupid war.” —- Gayle
Good point! I do often wonder there are no anti-war protests in this generation.
The only thing I can come up with that makes sense is that during Vietnam there was a draft. They dead were forced to die. There is no draft today so, I guess those lives don’t matter?
The other possible reason might be Apathy. Who cares … as long as they keep making new iPods!
You’re so different from the typical “boomer” stereotype you say – with over 5,000 words of whining. Hmm, seems pretty boomerish to me. As for your $50k – it’s gone for good and the government is bankrupt. If you receive one dollar of it (and I’m sure you’ll get quite more than that,) it will be borrowed in the names of the unborn, or taken from my generation at the point of a gun.
@Stucky – The reason people do not protest the wars is pretty genius.
First, this is a “war on terror”, and our schools are so good at indoctrinating that pretty much all young people believe this nonsense.
Secondly, and most importantly: Anyone who says ANYTHING negative about the wars is quickly labeled as someone who doesn’t “support the troops.” You aren’t a patriot if you say ANYTHING negative about the wars, and if you aren’t a patriot then you aren’t worth listening to.
This article: Whining. Boomer comments: Whining.
Make no mistake: What you howdy-doody-loving blubbering brats percieve as whining is your asses being called out.
I’ll bookmark this specious nostalgic rationalization of an article for a further breakdown later, as I am extremely busy. I may have time at lunch to start.
BBES
Simple, elegant and a solid thesis.
ThePessimisticChemist says:
@Spaceman You need to smoke a blunt you fucking angry asshole boomer. <3
I am not angry you little dick, I think of myself as being extremely passionate.
Colma Rising
Can’t wait to read your “breakdown”. Always nice to get the perspective from someone whose mind is full of rage and hate.
CRES
typical left-handed fast food loving clunker driving e-moronic size 11W running shoe wearing dog poop in the neighbor’s yard tossing classical music listening snow loving east coast reactioanary white midlle class intellectual intuitive/reflexive yadda yadda boomer, yep, we’re all the same
I agree with Calamity in principle with regards to the burden placed upon our generations’ back. Why wouldn’t the current generation blame the fiscal situation on the previous 2-3 generations with the Boomers getting the most ire, as TPC stated?
How are the Millennials expected to carry on? The generation as a whole is expected to pay off college loans, pay for the increase in social safety net spending, continue consumer spending at ever increasing rates, fund endless wars, fund endless entitlements, while hoping to have their own family and having to save for their own retirement. And all this on wages that are shrinking along with increased rates of inflation. Add to this the increased amount of competition for jobs via legal and illegal immigration. Even the STEM fields are being robbed by H-1B visas and what not. It seems our previous generations were so concerned about the earnings for each successive quarterly report that they forgot they were selling out entire generations. It just doesn’t add up. The economy isn’t growing, it’s shrinking.
It wasn’t like the Millennials chose their fate, we just woke up one day with the reality that others had enslaved us, argue about the perpetrators and reasons all you’d like.
I feel sorry for anyone that lost a lot of their retirement money via the stock market crash but in this case there is probably plenty of Schadenfreude from the Millennials towards the Boomers et al.
May peace find us all.
that story about the missing social security funds reminds me of the scene in ‘dumb and dumber’ where the two louts explain that they haven’t squandered the money, they wrote IOU’s for everything they spent. i recall an article that i can’t find, the maestro expalining to bush, we can make it for as much as you want, as long as you want but we can’t make it worth anything, referring to the social security funds they had borrowed.
I wonder how it is that my ex-wife, and X’er and my daughter, a M’ll, dont whine like Colma does. Colma called me a non-conformist the other night.
Well no shit. I wont ever conform to teary eyed nasaly tirades from the sociopathic, empathy devoid Lanza-esque era. And make no mistake you spineless puddle of fecal gruel you are one of him.
And you are a whiny little bitch because that IS how I perceive you. Cry me a river and then, you snot nosed techno punk, SMBBD
They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied.
Warning, the following may shake the foundations of your fantasy world! The money is not yours once you hand it over to the IRS. You can make a claim for benefits from the social security admin but you are not collecting on any money you’ve paid. If you qualify, you may collect a monthly benefit. The system relies on taxes collected from workers, that is true. The claim some might make that: i pay your social security is as specious as a person yelling at a cop, i pay your salary! No, you don’t, you pay taxes. Caesar pays the cops, and he pays our social security benefits.
It wasn’t like the Millennials chose their fate, we just woke up one day with the reality that others had enslaved us, -MB
Others enslaved you?
Get off your fucking spineless ass you simpering slave. It is YOU that allowed yourself to think of yourself as a slave and Its is YOU that is going to have to stick a cob up your pasted ass, to imitate a spine, and DO SOMETHING.
SMBBD
Yep, others enslaved me, that is right. If I want to participate in the system I have to pay a hefty fee at gun point to participate because of the burden amassed before I was a tax paying adult. The fee is the high price of trying to work for a living. If you don’t participate in the system well, good luck to you! It is true that one can go underground and earn a living that way but of course that comes with risks. Spare me the self-aggrandizing heroic “you’re a bum” tirade, you sound like a broken record. The point is people are actually trying to do something but there is so much inefficiency legislated in the system and so much money taken from the private sector that doing something is a large task for those just starting out. Not to mention the competition between those that already have work experience and those that do not.
Peace to you, Bill.
Oh boooo hoooo hoooo Bill, cry me a river and stfu… and you can keep your shrivelled bbd to yourself there Charlie Manson. Your incessant and nearly rabid ignorance is getting tiresome.
Almost as laughable as Stucky calling me “Rage and hate filled”.
Much like the typical Boomer, Stuchy projects his own issues.
Quit whining and get used to it. Blubbering, thumb-sucking babies.
there was a song school children sang, freedom isn’t free. there was a time before the volunteer military when americans were required to sacrifice not only a portion of their earnings but their lives or the lives of their loved ones. if you are alive and residing in the united states and you have a legal status, whether by birth or by naturalization, you have and obligation to the nation to pay taxes on your earnings. your citizenship buys you a ticket to live here. it doesn’t buy you a ticket to live off the people here. you belong to the land, the land does not belong to you. if you don’t believe me, try emmigrating someday.
Gubmint Liar speaking to you; “You MUST pay FICA or suffer penalties. We’re gonna let you THINK it’s an entitlement. But, it’s not. What we give, we can take away anytime. We can also change the rules whenever we want. We don’t need permission. And we can make it retroactive. But thanks for playing. Now, fuck off, serf!” ……. Details below.
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“There has been a temptation throughout the program’s history for some people to suppose that their FICA payroll taxes entitle them to a benefit in a legal, contractual sense.… Congress clearly had no such limitation in mind when crafting the law. … Benefits which are granted at one time can be withdrawn.…”
………………………………. http://www.justfacts.com/socialsecurity.basics.asp
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“The right to alter, amend, or repeal any provision of this Act is hereby reserved to the Congress.”
………………………………. section 1104 of the 1935 Social Security Act
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Supreme Court Case, 1960, Fleming v. Nestor. The Supremes upheld the decision to deny benefits to Nestor ….. even though he had paid into the program for 19 years and was already receiving benefits. Supremes therefore established the principle that entitlement to Social Security benefits “is not a contractual right.”
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And you young ‘uns don’t think we were lied to?? Ha! As I said, we’re all in this together. From the very inception of SS, it has been an abuse of all Americans of ALL generations, a textbook case why we can never, never trust the government.
@Spaceman – “I think of myself as being extremely passionate.”
Thats what angry people always say.
@KB – “Get off your fucking spineless ass you simpering slave. It is YOU that allowed yourself to think of yourself as a slave and Its is YOU that is going to have to stick a cob up your pasted ass, to imitate a spine, and DO SOMETHING.”
With everything my wife and I have accomplished we are STILL just barely making it. Our IQs are well above average, and are both hard workers, putting in an average of 50 hours a week at our primary job, and another 10 or so at our second job (yes, we both work two jobs).
In short, I’ve “done something.”
I got lucky. Despite everything I have going for me, the last recession(2009) almost broke me. I stared that $20 in the face and thought, “bills, or food?” Bills won out.
I ended up stealing extra helping from the hospital cafeteria to make up the difference. I’m not proud of it, but thats about the only way me and my wife ate that winter.
Who knows what this recession will bring. I starved and saved all through the last one, and wouldn’t you believe it but I think I’ll be OK in this one, thanks to deliberately placing myself in a company that will not fail (barring natural disasters).
We can’t all get recession proof jobs. We can’t all get STEM degrees. The economy has completely failed my generation, and its pretty damned hard to absorb all the blame ourselves for being lazy when the jobs aren’t there to begin with.