Baby boomers ruined America, according to this Generation X author

 

New book argues their ‘sociopathic’ tendencies are to blame for climate change, and that’s just for starters

Courtesy of Bruce Gibney
Author Bruce Gibney.

 

Millennials have a reputation for being entitled, self-absorbed and lazy, but a new book argues that their parents are actually a bigger danger to society.

In “A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Boomers Betrayed America,” Bruce Cannon Gibney traces many of our nation’s most pressing issues, including climate change and the rising cost of education, back to baby boomers’ idiosyncrasies and enormous political power. Raised in an era of seemingly unending economic prosperity with relatively permissive parents, and the first generation to grow up with a television, baby boomers developed an appetite for consumption and a lack of empathy for future generations that has resulted in unfortunate policy decisions, argues Gibney, who is in his early 40s. (That makes him Generation X.)

“These things conditioned the boomers into some pretty unhelpful behaviors and the behaviors as a whole seem sociopathic,” he said.

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The book comes as Americans of all ages are sorting through a new political reality, which Gibney argues that boomers delivered to us through years of grooming candidates to focus on their political priorities such as, preferential tax treatment and entitlement programs, and then voting for them in overwhelming numbers. Though these circumstances are new, making the argument that a generation — particularly boomers — are to blame for society’s ills is part of a storied tradition, said Jennifer Deal, the senior research scientist at the Center for Creative Leadership, a leadership development organization with campuses in San Diego, Colorado, North Carolina and Latin America.

“There are a lot of people who like to blame the baby boomers for stuff and this has been going on for as far as I can tell since the late 60s,” Deal said.

Indeed, a 1969 article in Fortune magazine warned that the group of then-20-somethings taking over the workplace were prone to job-hopping and having their egos bruised. If that sounds familiar, it’s probably because it is. There’s no shortage of articles describing millennials similarly. Both are indicative of a natural human tendency to want to explain the world and other people through the lens of group mentalities, said Deal.

“Everybody can think of someone older or someone younger who has done something annoying,” she said. “Everybody likes a good scapegoat.”

Still, Gibney, a venture capitalist, argues there is something inherently different about the boomers from the generations that preceded them and those that followed: a sense of entitlement that comes from growing up in a time of economic prosperity.

Before the baby boomers came around, the so-called Greatest Generation came of age in a time of war and depression and learned firsthand the benefits of social solidarity and so they continued to invest in society throughout their lives, Gibney said. Younger Generation X and the millennials have suffered through the dot-com crash, great recession and other economic woes. “I don’t think that people much under 40 believe that prosperity is automatic anymore,” Gibney said.

It makes sense that these experiences might produce some generational conflict, said Heidi Hartmann, an economist and president of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. Millennials, now the largest generation, came of age in a weak labor market with high levels of student debt and have waited for the boomers to give up their tight grip on their jobs to make room.

“When a big generation graduates from high school and college into a soft labor market, they’re obviously going to start looking at how the other generations are doing,” Hartmann said.

Millennials’ concerns about a lack of good jobs and high levels of student debt are real, Hartmann said, but she doesn’t blame the boomers and their focus on keeping their entitlement programs secure. Instead, it’s an outsize focus on other priorities, like defense, she said. “If you cut the benefits for the boomers, you’re not helping their children at all because then those children are going to have to support those boomers,” she said.

Gibney sees it differently. He points to a general election where both candidates were hesitant to discuss entitlement reform or tax increases as one of the reasons why climate change, high levels of student debt and a last minute, backstop approach to infrastructure may continue indefinitely.

“My assertion isn’t that all boomers are sociopaths, but that a sufficiently large percentage of them behave in ways that appear to be sociopathic and because they’re such a large generation … any personality defects could easily translate into political dysfunction. I think that is what happened.”

 

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Iska Waran
Iska Waran

Sounds like he just learned the word “sociopath” and he’s trying to break it in. The greatest generation wasn’t so great when they demanded way more in social security payments than they’d ever paid in. Wanting more from government than you’re willing to pay for seems virtually universal among Americans.

Dan
Dan

Indeed. That’s always been a peeve of mine… calling the WW2 generation “the Greatest Generation” is ridiculous. Yes, they did some great things… that generation rose up and defeated the Nazi’s & Imperial Japan, but let’s be honest about the fascistic, long-term disasters they allowed to ferment right under their noses. They completely lost the culture war back at home by allowing their narcissistic children to grow up and become the greatest scourge this planet has ever seen (and yes, I know not all Boomers were bad). They also allowed the Entitlement Trap to get us by the neck … as a voting block, they could have dismantled FDR’s unconstitutional schemes, but they wanted to get “their” SS benefits. So while I have great respect for the bravery the men of that era showed going into war, their generation doesnt deserve the accolades they usually get.

EL Coyote
EL Coyote

Iska, are you saying Americans are leftists?

TampaRed
TampaRed

not leftists,just want other people to pay for itists–

Ouirphuqd
Ouirphuqd

Greatest generation, boomers, millennials, gen x-ers, does not matter. The progressive government since FDR got us all hooked on the government drugs of entitlements. Now that the money is starting to run out do the subjects of the state notice that they are screwed. Gibney got his participation trophy, proudly displayed it on his mantle, then realized it means nothing, now his feelings are hurt!

Ed
Ed

Well, I’m a Boomer and he’d better worry about my sociopathic tendencies, because I’m liable to beat the fuck out of him if he ever comes in a beer joint when I’m in there fucking off.

He has one of them faces that says “beat the fuck out of me, please”.

Doug
Doug

Boomers are the most taxed generation in American history.

Perseus Against Liberals
Perseus Against Liberals

Probably not taxed enough. They spent their cash on tons of LSD and other drugs, sex and other vices. Some are the Hi tech pillars of the establishment now!

Deplorably stanley
Deplorably stanley

” They spent their cash on tons of LSD and other drugs, sex and other vices”

You -paid- for that stuff??

Tommy
Tommy

Oh really? At least they have and will receive ss,medi care/aid, and the bulk of their pensions…..I could continue, but why.

EL Coyote
EL Coyote

Pensions are collapsing. SS will be paid in worthless dollars. I could continue, but why.

Bob
Bob

News flash boomers had lots of help from the Silent Generation. People like Pelosi & McCain aren’t boomers so only a simpleminded moron would dump all the blame on boomers considering most boomers had nothing to do with making the mess and the boomers that did had tons of help from some people now in their 70’s & 80’s.

America has an epidemic of morons talking stupid.

Suzanna
Suzanna

Let us hope we don’t have a cultural revolution.
(60’s China)

Captain Willard
Captain Willard

The Progressive Fascism we see on campus and in most quarters of the media is, I would argue, the incipient cultural revolution you fear. Perhaps Trump has just delayed its full flowering for a little while.

Anon
Anon

This BS is because of “the free lunch generation”. This group has spanned many generations, and can be categorized as a group of people who believe they are entitled to someone else’s lunch, at gunpoint, and will vote fellow ones in that promise such.
This generation grew rapidly since 1913, and has been allowed to fester and grow thanks to the fiction that you can print prosperity. It went institutional during FDR, and then went parabolic in 1971.
The difference between our free lunch generation and previous ones, is 1. size, and 2. our version will most likely see the mathematical, and societal consequences of their actions. Unfortunately, the rest of us are along for the ride…..

Zarathustra

100% bullshit. Who bought into the lie that Japan and Germany were mortal threats to the US? Who bought into the lie that the New Deal saved us from the depression? Who paid almost nothing into Social Security during their working years and then almost bankrupted it in retirement? Who bought into the lie that was the Cold War? Who bought into the lie that Medicare and Medicaid were wonderful and that Keynesian economics was the route to prosperity?

That’s right, bitches. The “greatest” generation.

Who told them to fuck off? That’s right, bitches. The Boomers.

PS, Admin is a fucking boomer who uses a non-mainstream definition to evade the truth.

“Baby boomers are the demographic group born during the post–World War II baby boom, approximately between the years 1946 and 1964. This includes people who are between 53 and 71 years old in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Wikipedia”

Gen Xers eat shit. They have always been jealous of the Boomers. They are jealous that we had more fun, better music, more sex and fewer diseases…oh and better cars too.

EL Coyote
EL Coyote

Plus we flushed our own toilets and opened our own doors. We had it rough. Not like the limp wrist-ed Xers who can’t even throw a wad of paper towel into a big ass 40 gallon plastic trashcan. They can’t take a shit without using a paper ass-gasket. They dab their pecker dry instead of banging it on the urinal three or four times like a boomer male.

The little bitches expect women to call them, fuck that. If I wanted to talk to a bitch I’d call her up. That’s why they came up with the term booty call, I didn’t call to dish about her girlfriends. Boomers are independent, they don’t do group dates. They don’t swap girlfriends every other month. Boomers do not discuss their sexual needs with other dudes, that’s what women are for; if she’s a good listener you might get a blow job.

Yeah, we fucked up your world, Xers. What are you going to do about it? Looking at Detroit I’d say, nothing.

James
James

“They dab their pecker dry instead of banging it on the urinal three or four times like a boomer male.” So true! LOL! (Snort!)

If you shake it more than once, then you’re playing with it!

Rise Up

It’s easy to lay blame and bitch about entitlements that can never be paid.

Whatcha gonna do about it?

Until the “system” burns down, the song remains the same.

EL Coyote
EL Coyote
Captain Willard
Captain Willard

I’m suspicious of Gibney’s facile explanation of complex phenomena. But even if one accepts his thesis, one is left with the sad truth that despite our many screw-ups, we’ve only truly broken ourselves since 9/11.

With $10 Trillion now of debt instead of $20 T, we might have had a fighting chance to fix many of the problems he cites. The 15-year delay plus the compounding effect might have put a solution out of reach, even if entire generations suddenly were to become more virtuous.

EL Coyote
EL Coyote

Captain Mike I’ve heard of but, Captain Willard, do you command a horde of rats?

kokoda - the most deplorable
kokoda - the most deplorable

Don’t blame generational groups.
Blame politicians, especially those that pass Bills affecting 17% of our economy without knowing what is in those Bills.

Want proof of why our country has gone downhill – look no further than Hank Johnson, Maxine Waters, and hundreds upon hundreds of corrupt bastards in CONgress and state legislatures and Governors and Mayors for decades.

Marion Berry is another excellent example. How about that queer from Mass. and his buddy Chris Fucking Dodd.

Ed
Ed

Gibney looks retarded in the photo. I haven’t read his book, so for all I know he may be as stupid as he looks. I probably won’t read his book, so I’m as retarded as he looks for even commenting on it.

There, I beat y’all to it.

Horace Turlock
Horace Turlock

The second half of the twentieth century saw most of the institutions of a successful culture deconstructed. Marriage, the Church, education, even the language itself, all have been degraded. I sent money to support Senator Hiakawa(spell?) back in the seventies when he tried to have english designated the official language of America. The effort failed. We have expunged many of the time honored structures that produce stability and sustainability. Fair dealing and civility are mostly gone. I read recently that there are now 63 separate genders. Really? Looks like to me we have happily exchanged social programming for a discarded Christian worldview. I don’t like it and fought it as I became more and more culturally isolated. I am a 68 year old boomer. You cannot pin this shit on me.

Ouirphuqd
Ouirphuqd

“We have met the enemy and he is us.”
Pogo

Wip
Wip

#1 – Income/wealth inequality is the biggest problem we will face in my lifetime (imo). It simply, like it or not (right or wrong), causes unlimited problems.
#2 – The cost structure of America is “Too Damn High”
#3 – We (America and possible the world) need debt destruction. Or a debt Jubilee

Yes, BBES!

David
David

And if the younger generations were not even more likely to vote left and for more government etc. he might have some kind of point.

Didius Julianus
Didius Julianus

He’s projecting, doesn’t he look like a sociopath? !! 🙂

Dennis Roe
Dennis Roe

Mother Earth forgot to light up the No Vacancy sign 40 years ago. Now it’s clusterfxck circus. Too many want too much, but there’s too little left.

RiNS

Horseshit

Boomers didn’t ruin America. Neither did X’ers like me. It was the Marxist party line pushed by Social Justice Warriors that brought about this ctrl-left road to ruin. I have 3 sons and they turned out great.

There are loads of young people out there doing great things. The problem right now is the ones that make the six o’clock news look like these folks. The reason for that is they don’t have real fucken’ jobs and loads of time to get out and protest.

Things will improve when these folks are told to get a real job.

Can’t wait for that day. I already have my coffee cup picked out.

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Thunderbird
Thunderbird

Every dog has its day and then it dies. The boomers created all the companies that are now brands of the global corporations that gobbled them up with investor funds. The CEO’s of these corporations are next generation drop ins that function as politicians representing the stakeholders who’s main desire is to use the brands for their own enrichment. Customer service is secondary to the investors.

U.S. Senators thanks to the 17th amendment to the constitution no longer represent the States but now represent the corporations. As a result of this small business and free enterprise has been compromised by monopolies. As these monopolies grow bigger choices become less and less. It is like a snake eating it’s tail.

Boomers are creators. Boomers created their own American dream. When the boomers die their American dream will probably die with them.

Each generation is responsible for it’s own creations. What are the following generations creating? They are creating their own dream. Many seem to want communism and sensuous gratification. Well they will get their wish. There are also many who want individuality and to create their own dream. They will also get their wish.

This world is a dreamscape. Our intellect is the executive director of our dreams. A pure intellect will produce dynamic dreams.

Unfortunately for many, a pure intellect is not possible because they let their sensuous predilections cloud it and distort it’s reasoning and common sense. Like those who want communism and sensuous gratification by living on the back of those who are productive.

The boomers lived productive lives and built the social security system. They built the infrastructure that supports our society. What are the following generations doing to continue that infrastructure? Nothing. They seem to be only concerned about their own gratification eating out of the system created by the boomers and contributing nothing to sustain the system. Now the wolves are eating everything while the next generation does nothing to stop it.

Yes the boomers are retiring by the millions and using up the social security they paid into for 40 plus years. They have nothing to be guilty about.

So the question is to the following generation. What is your aim in life? We the boomers paid for your primary education. We built the vast infrastructure that supports our and your civil society that is now crumbling because of your lack of participation to keep it up. We built the companies that now make up the brands of the major corporations.

We did our part in the American dream. We have nothing to apologize for.

It is your turn to carry the ball.

Zarathustra

Rarely do I read something and think “I wish I had written that.” Beautifully rendered, sir.

EL Coyote
EL Coyote
Ed
Ed

Tbird, I think you mean ‘sensual gratification’.

rhs jr
rhs jr

The author seems to be spouting Marxist Class Social Astrology which is less scientific than Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth. Look at an election map: there is more difference between liberal Urban and Conservative Rural folks than between generations. Boomers counter that a lot of essential traditional values that made America great have been discarded by post-Boomers who suffer from lower work ethics, morals, intellectual diligence and higher liberal ideology…Aw Hell. We Boomers have been such an awesome global force that we have caused numerous depressions, oppression and Wars over the last five decades and our influence will overwhelm the next several Centuries too. Must keep the little Snowflakes happy.

Tator2
Tator2

I am a boomer. What many who point at boomers are the problem fail to realize is until the early 90s there was ONLY the MSM that lied to the everyone to promote Progressive/Socialist propaganda. When you only have one ideology drummed into your head your entire life the majority will believe it as did most boomers.

I don’t blame the boomers I blame the MSM and the corrupt government.

mangledman
mangledman

Blame it on the boomers. Rofl. We are the ones that grew up in two parent families regardless of how bad one or both might have been. We had to work to get stuff. Allowance for chores. Baling,hay weeding beans. Eight hours a day once we were big enough. No age limits. If we kept up we got to come back. No participation trophy, just 8hrs pay. We weren’t allowed to cost our parents money. Lunch money and a master lock till summer. If we wanted anything all summer we better earn it. We entertained ourselves, we were outside most of the time. We had shooting sports in some schools. We learned to shoot hunt kill and get food ready for the table. Fish too. We understood the value of life and death. We enterprised. Mowed yards, shoveled snow, raked leaves. There are still kids coming up that understand these things. They are the ones starting service oriented businesses. Boomers were responsible for millions of small businesses that have been fizzling out in the last 20 years. We thought we were free. Hey, we lived through the 60s and 70s. We will be the ones leading cellphone googling Nancyboys,and girls to safety. There may be a few sociopaths in our bunch, but the author above probably thinks anybody that can kill food qualifies. Myself, I prefer psychopath, we don’t make mistakes.

EL Coyote
EL Coyote

Sociopath, psychopath, it’s the same thing. The terms are interchangeable like illegal alien and Mexican. It just sounds nicer.

Or as the saying goes: A fag is a homosexual gentleman who just left the room.

mangledman
mangledman

I spent a whole day on the computer trying to find out the difference one day. Most reading said oh they are different, but none drew a conclusion on a verifiable difference. Then one said Ramirez was socio, and Bundy would be psycho. The difference was Ramirez was impulsive and sloppy whereas Bundy was controlled and meticulous, or BTK for instance.

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