ok, boomer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boomers
aka the coddled, entitled generation that us scrappy Xers had to clean up after.
It’s my fault. Someone ages ago asked who my favorite Battlestar Galactica character was and I was taking too long to answer and finally I just blurted that out.
I think it's the modern version of "Don't trust anyone over the age of ___"
It troubles me because it implies you can automatically be dismissive of people of the Baby Boomer generation. Like Barack Obama, for instance. It's kind of related to the "Old White Men" discussion we had in a different thread.
It shouldn't trouble or insult anyone. It's a response when an older person pulls the old fogey move -- "these kids today!", "in our day", etc.
mrincredible said:
I think it's the modern version of "Don't trust anyone over the age of ___"
It troubles me because it implies you can automatically be dismissive of people of the Baby Boomer generation. Like Barack Obama, for instance. It's kind of related to the "Old White Men" discussion we had in a different thread.
The issue is this is exactly how millennials feel. We feel totally dismissed and marginalized. Nobody is dismissing all baby boomers, but rather responding to people of an older generation who might not respect our ideas or feelings simply because we are viewed as younger, less experienced, etc.
Is November 8th ‘National Bash Boomers Day’ or something? Suddenly it is all over social media about how awful we are. Guess what? Nobody chose their generation, and no generation has a corner on righteousness these days.
I can't say with certainty how millennials feel, despite being a late boomer mom to two of them. But I agree that dismissiveness is offensive.
WxNut2.0 said:
mrincredible said:
I think it's the modern version of "Don't trust anyone over the age of ___"
It troubles me because it implies you can automatically be dismissive of people of the Baby Boomer generation. Like Barack Obama, for instance. It's kind of related to the "Old White Men" discussion we had in a different thread.
The issue is this is exactly how millennials feel. We feel totally dismissed and marginalized. Nobody is dismissing all baby boomers, but rather responding to people of an older generation who might not respect our ideas or feelings simply because we are viewed as younger, less experienced, etc.
I wouldn't swear to this, but I'm pretty sure that dismissing younger generations has been going on since about the beginning of time. So, welcome to humanity.
As a Boomer, I'm totally OK with this. Our generation handed the next generation a bucket of ****. And then we criticize them for calling it a bucket of ****.
I'm on their side.
ml1 said:
As a Boomer, I'm totally OK with this. Our generation handed the next generation a bucket of ****. And then we criticize them for calling it a bucket of ****.
I'm on their side.
+1. I'm deeply ashamed of the mess we've left behind.
From what I've seen, it's not usually used as a critique of the "boomer generation", or as a response to a "kids today" criticism.
Someone gives an opinion online, and someone who disagrees says, "Okay, Boomer", as if that's the responding argument. If there's any dismissiveness going on, it's the "Okay, Boomer" user.
And a lot of the users are unclear about the definition of a "boomer", based on who gets those responses.
A millennial described boomers to me as a derogatory term for “old white guy politics”, or those who voted for trump, or those who want things as they were before the 60s revolution. Not defending boomers, but this “mess left behind” could have started with the industrial revolution, or with plastic being invented in 1904, or nuclear technology of the 30s and 40s. My parent’s generation used to pour toxic and nuclear chemicals directly into the air, ground, and water, talk about a bucket of ****. So I don’t believe boomers are specifically to blame. There’s a bigger history there. ETA, spoken as an ex-hippie of the boomer generation who protested against the pollution and the mis-use of nuclear waste from the previous generation.
Yes I would say there are a lot of boomers responsible for major environmental reforms, civil rights legislation and some pretty cool technology. I think the Supreme Court that ruled that marriage equality is protected by the Constitution are largely boomers.
At the same time a lot of people in the same age bracket are opposing those very things.
Saying that boomers left the younger generations a bucket of **** isn't fair. It's a mixed bag.
And not for nothing, but the first boomers didn't turn 21 until 1966; they weren't 31 until 1976 and 41 until 1986. Hard to blame them for everything "bad" that happened in those years.
But they are responsible for the music when it was good. Let's be clear about that.
nohero said:
But they are responsible for the music when it was good. Let's be clear about that.
Do you realize this is exactly the kind of statement that deserves the "OK Boomer" response? It's the whole "My generation knows best, and stuff from younger generations isn't as good" attitide.
My guess is: He realizes. Tongue, meet cheek.
But I’ll need four more pages of comments on the matter before I’m sure.
kthnry said:
ml1 said:
As a Boomer, I'm totally OK with this. Our generation handed the next generation a bucket of ****. And then we criticize them for calling it a bucket of ****.
I'm on their side.
+1. I'm deeply ashamed of the mess we've left behind.
What did the previous generation leave us? You know, "The Greatest Generation".
The threat of nuclear holocaust, racial segregation, male supremacy, hatred of gay people. While the first may still exist I do not see people building fallout shelters. And while we may not have completely "overcome" the rest we "boomers" have certainly made a great deal of progress on those.
What do the members of Gen Z think of the millenials? What do the latter say about Gen X?
Most statements about the characteristics of one generation or another seem to be stereotypes and gross over-generalizations to me, that fail to appreciate individual differences in people's identity. Younger relatives have sometimes tried to compliment me, about how great the 60s generation was, since I was presumably part of the hippies, love & peace, anti Vietnam marches and protests, and the Beatles. Meanwhile, many voters in that generation helped to vote into office the likes of Nixon, Reagan, the Bushes, and Trump. Likewise, Bernie Sanders has more in common with millions of younger generations than many Boomers, because they share common values. Can't we be a bit more subtle in our reflections about people's identities rather than perpetuating these simplistic examples of childlike polarized thinking?
STANV said:
What did the previous generation leave us? You know, "The Greatest Generation".
The threat of nuclear holocaust, racial segregation, male supremacy, hatred of gay people. While the first may still exist I do not see people building fallout shelters. And while we may not have completely "overcome" the rest we "boomers" have certainly made a great deal of progress on those.
our generation had lots of advantages that we helped ourselves to and now deny to the Millennial generation. We had affordable college and the prospect of good jobs. Health care was more affordable. Young people now have the gig economy, student debt, and out of control health care costs. And it's Boomers who are fighting most tenaciously against solutions to those problems. Millennials often feel like Boomers pulled the ladder up behind them, and that's not really untrue.
We're the first generation in the history of the country that collectively doesn't seem to want to give a leg up to the next. Whatever one can say about the generation before us, collectively they all wanted the next generation to have it better than they did. I don't think I can say that about us.
drummerboy said:
I wouldn't swear to this, but I'm pretty sure that dismissing younger generations has been going on since about the beginning of time. So, welcome to humanity.
+1
Been there, done that. Elders dismissing the younger generation as naïve, youth dismissing the older generation as out of touch, etc., etc., etc. When we boomers were teenagers and young adults, we laid into our parents’ generation pretty hard.
"When we boomers were teenagers and young adults, we laid into our parents’ generation pretty hard."
And vice versa, as you might expect.
ml1 said:
STANV said:
What did the previous generation leave us? You know, "The Greatest Generation".
The threat of nuclear holocaust, racial segregation, male supremacy, hatred of gay people. While the first may still exist I do not see people building fallout shelters. And while we may not have completely "overcome" the rest we "boomers" have certainly made a great deal of progress on those.
our generation had lots of advantages that we helped ourselves to and now deny to the Millennial generation. We had affordable college and the prospect of good jobs. Health care was more affordable. Young people now have the gig economy, student debt, and out of control health care costs. And it's Boomers who are fighting most tenaciously against solutions to those problems. Millennials often feel like Boomers pulled the ladder up behind them, and that's not really untrue.
We're the first generation in the history of the country that collectively doesn't seem to want to give a leg up to the next. Whatever one can say about the generation before us, collectively they all wanted the next generation to have it better than they did. I don't think I can say that about us.
Exactly. And don’t forget out-of-control housing costs due to NIMBYs in towns like these opposing new construction because they think it will affect their property values (after they’ve profited by hundreds of thousands of dollars) and don’t want to pay to expand schools for additional students. We’ve got ours and now we’re pulling up the drawbridge
It makes me sad when I hear people my age talk about working hard and getting ahead. Yeah, it worked for me and lots of people back then, but it’s not the same now. Look up statistics on economic mobility. We’re towards the bottom. It’s almost impossible to move up from your class in the U.S. That whole bootstraps thing is a myth. We killed it.
Pro-tip: a goof burbling out “ok boomer” to defend their “views” can’t defend them, because they’re probably mouth-breathingly indefensible. Ditto for the barking seals clapping and stomping like they’re watching Springer.
Frighteningly red guard of them. The society you’re in is the finest ever known to man. Improve it if you can. Or just keep banging your highchair and whine about it. Whatevs. Just keep out of the way, k?
What I blame that generation for the most is fostering the attitude of not having to pay for anything. A whole generation of politicians has been trained to start their campaign by promising no new taxes if they want to have any chance of winning. Meanwhile, the generation wanted everything better for themselves. This is why our schools crumbled, as we ignored repairs to keep teachers and programs. Now we have to pay for a major capital project to repair the buildings, which makes it even harder to raise a little money to add teachers or programs. We are paying for their neglect. What are they up to now? Trying to find ways to stay in town by freezing their own taxes, or getting other breaks. They want it all, and they want their kids and grandkids to pay for it. I'm willing to pay more to pass things along to the next generation a little better than I found them.
FilmCarp said:
What I blame that generation for the most is fostering the attitude of not having to pay for anything. A whole generation of politicians has been trained to start their campaign by promising no new taxes if they want to have any chance of winning. Meanwhile, the generation wanted everything better for themselves. This is why our schools crumbled, as we ignored repairs to keep teachers and programs. Now we have to pay for a major capital project to repair the buildings, which makes it even harder to raise a little money to add teachers or programs. We are paying for their neglect. What are they up to now? Trying to find ways to stay in town by freezing their own taxes, or getting other breaks. They want it all, and they want their kids and grandkids to pay for it. I'm willing to pay more to pass things along to the next generation a little better than I found them.
Preach! I'm always struck by how much public building took place during the Eisenhower administration. All across the country, you see the same boxy modern architectural style used for schools (e.g., SO middle school), hospitals, and civic buildings. Speaking as a late boomer, my parents' generation was willing to spend and build for a growing country. Now those midcentury boxes are crumbling from neglect and we're not building anything new to replace them. Instead, we rewrite zoning laws to prevent more people from moving in and overburdening our schools and infrastructure. (This is a national issue, not just M/SO or NJ.)
Well a generation of female baby boomers fought for a women's right to chose and continue to do so and plead with the youngest voters to protect it. So maybe issues are less generational and more gender specific.
Typical of these discussions, the life and death issue of abortion is rarely mentioned.
And as for my turf of animal advocacy, we work together across all ages and again we are mostly female.
Personally as a female baby boomer I'd much rather have help than credit.
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1. What does this mean?
2. Where did it come from?
3. As a boomer, should I be offended?