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But WE are far enough along to critique the actions of the Boomers. Compare the America they inherited in the 1950s and 1960s to the America that they're leaving behind.
The America of the 50s and 60s was the sole global economic and military superpower, and owed its prosperity during that era to that fact. That was a position that could not last forever. Regardless of what the politicians did or did not do, America was going to go into a state of economic decline relative to its position in the 1950s once Europe and Japan fully recovered and China and India began to modernize. Why do people seem so unable to recognize this fact?
The America of the 50s and 60s was the sole global economic and military superpower, and owed its prosperity during that era to that fact. That was a position that could not last forever. Regardless of what the politicians did or did not do, America was going to go into a state of economic decline relative to its position in the 1950s once Europe and Japan fully recovered and China and India began to modernize. Why do people seem so unable to recognize this fact?
Very appropriate.
None of these world events had anything to do with boomers, Gen X, Y, or Millenials.
Boomers seem to have no problems at all lumping all Millennials into a group and dismissing them as "lazy, entitled and spoiled." You can see countless examples on this thread and others. Are ALL Millennials lazy, entitled and spoiled? Of course not. Are SOME? Yes.
Personally, I don't think we're far enough along to make any broad, sweeping generalizations about Millennials.
But WE are far enough along to critique the actions of the Boomers. Compare the America they inherited in the 1950s and 1960s to the America that they're leaving behind. And then tell me why that generation was so flippin' great.
And that's the one thing they don't want to talk about. Try to steer the conversation in that direction, and they'll dig their heels in and demand that it was everyone except them who is responsible for America's tailspin over the past 40 years. They're blameless. Nothing at all to do with it. It must have been the Silent Generation. Or Gen X. Or the Millennials. Couldn't possibly be the Boomers. Oh, heavens no. They're basically the Greatest Generation, part II. Ask any of them. They'll tell you.
They're eager to take credit for lowering the voting age. (And they deserve credit for that.) And they want to take credit for civil rights. (And they deserve some credit for that, too.) But they don't want shoulder any blame for anything at all. Then it's someone else's problem. The "Me Generation" in a nutshell.
You seem to be in search of someone, or some group of people, to blame for things you don't like today.
You fall into the trap set by demographers that like to lump people together. And they just continue with arbitrary groupings, between 18-24 years wide. If everyone were born on these boundaries it might be more reasonable to assign identifiable behavior to these people. Instead these groupings allow people like you to be lazy. Instead of looking at specific events, actions, or milestones and studying what caused these things to happen - you want to associate them with a group of people. In most cases, these significant events weren't caused by boomers, who weren't in public office, in command of the military, or controlling the media. Boomers didn't elect these people.
Instead all of us are just a continuum of people. Were people born in 1961 suddenly different than those born in 1959 because the former is GenX and the latter is a boomer? No. And is a Millenial born today just like a person born in 2004? No.
It's a convenient -- and quite accurate -- way of grouping people. It's certainly more accurate than trying to pigeonhole people in terms of race, for instance.
The G.I. Generation had the shared experience of the Depression and WWII. While everyone is an individual, that group as a whole had their own philosophy. And it's the same with the Silents, the Boomers, Gen X and the Millennials. Members of each generation have their own shared experiences and cultural norms. That's why Millennials have a vastly different view about same-sex marriage than their Boomer grandparents.
Stop looking at individuals and start looking at the herd. At least if you're going to look at the actions of 20-year swaths of people. And let's face it -- Boomers are happy to take credit for the few good things that happened under their stewardship. (Voting age and civil rights -- they were less racist as a group than the Silents and the G.I.s.) But they don't want to take responsibility for anything else. And look up "The Me Generation." That's a very Boomer way for them to think, after all. Just like it's stereotypical Gen X to be cynical.
The "Boomers" need to be divided into two groups, the older, early post-war boomer babies, and the last group, of which I belong. Our life experiences and challenges are very different, in my opinion.
The "Boomers" need to be divided into two groups, the older, early post-war boomer babies, and the last group, of which I belong. Our life experiences and challenges are very different, in my opinion.
But you have more in common with those older Boomers than you do with the Silent Generation, or Gen X. Wanting to differentiate yourself from the "children of the 1950s" Boomers, is after all a very Boomer thing to want to do.
The Vietnam era was vastly different from the post-Vietnam era. And growing up in the middle of the Cold War was vastly different than growing up watching the Cold War end.
I meet very few Boomers indeed who don't want it both ways. They don't want to be viewed as a generation. But they very much like chiding younger generations. They want to take credit for the successes but dismiss the failures as "a product of the times."
The "Boomers" need to be divided into two groups, the older, early post-war boomer babies, and the last group, of which I belong. Our life experiences and challenges are very different, in my opinion.
If you can't resist pigeonholing people, you need to divide every generation into socioeconomic classes, the educated and affluent upper class, the landed middle class, and the lower class. Then you need to divide each class into those who are talented and gifted and those who are not. Do that for the silents, boomers, GenX and millennials and it gives you 24 pigeonholes to stash people in. There's also a lot to be said for dividing each generation geographically between the NE, SE, Deep South, Midwest, Southwest, Mountain, Northwest and SoCal. That gives you 192 pigeonholes and may actually start to be descriptive of their life experiences.
But you have more in common with those older Boomers than you do with the Silent Generation, or Gen X. Wanting to differentiate yourself from the "children of the 1950s" Boomers, is after all a very Boomer thing to want to do.
Oh really? I am a Boomer, born in 1963. My brother is a Gen Xer, born in 1965.
I'd hazard a guess I have more in common with my brother than I do with a Boomer born in 1946. A 1946 Boomer has more in common with my parents (Silent Generation, born in the mid-1930s) than with me. The 1946 Boomer is only 11 years younger than my mother, but is 17 years older than me.
That's the problem with lumping people into generations; ultimately it doesn't mean very much. The generations' lengths are defined too broadly, and the boundaries between the different generations are very arbitrarily drawn.
Quote:
I meet very few Boomers indeed who don't want it both ways. They don't want to be viewed as a generation. But they very much like chiding younger generations. They want to take credit for the successes but dismiss the failures as "a product of the times."
You might want to try knocking that enormous chip off your shoulder - it's very unbecoming.
The America of the 50s and 60s was the sole global economic and military superpower, and owed its prosperity during that era to that fact. That was a position that could not last forever. Regardless of what the politicians did or did not do, America was going to go into a state of economic decline relative to its position in the 1950s once Europe and Japan fully recovered and China and India began to modernize. Why do people seem so unable to recognize this fact?
Because:
1. They don't really know or understand history.
2. They are eager to place blame on anyone but themselves (wow, talk about the pot calling the kettle black!)
3. They don't understand how to put our nation's evolution into a global context.
3. They don't understand how to put our nation's evolution into a global context.
In fairness, this is hard for most to do. The changes that have occurred since the end of WW II are staggering:
1. The rise of true transnational corporations and financial institutions, which cannot be controlled by the actions of any one government acting alone. These entities can successfully play nation-states' competing interests off each other, and are perfectly positioned to take advantage of the fact that capitol is and always will be more mobile than labor.
2. The Computer Revolution and the enormous improvements in transportation, which together make a truly global economy a reality for the first time in history.
3. The Computer Revolution (again) allowing sophisticated advances in automation that render many low-skill jobs obsolete.
4. The huge increase in global population (from approximately 3 billion in 1960 to over 7 billion today).
5. The modernization of many previously primitive economies. Turns out most of those additional 4 billion people really don't want to be subsistence-level farmers; they want a better lifestyle than that, and are willing to work very hard to get it. (And I don't blame them! I too prefer a car to a bicycle, and a desk job in an air-conditioned office to sweating all day in a rice paddy.)
6. The exhaustion of many previously abundant natural resources, together with the discovery of new valuable uses for previously "useless" materials. Together these shift the balance between which areas of the planet are resource-rich and which are resource-poor.
No wonder things have changed so much since the 1950s!
Honestly, I kind of wish the Boomer Illumaniti WERE responsible for all of America's woes. At least that would mean SOMEONE was in charge of this mess! The reality (that most of this simply came about like Topsy) is a lot more frightening.
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