One of the supposed charges that have been levied at the millennial cohort (the “killing” of various industries) always seemed a) obvious clickbait pseudo-journalism (i.e. not worth taking very seriously) & b) to the extent which it might have a grain of substance, to be in almost every way a point worth celebrating :
14 Likes
I love a quick wit who shuts down an idiot of any flavor. Something I really don’t love are stereotypes. At 73 I’m a boomer only by a couple of months. Before boomers I guess it was all Neanderthals. Guess what though. I don’t fit the stereo type of a boomer, never did save for the birthdate stuff. Therefore it really grinds on my piss-off button to be dismissed by anyone/any age who blissfully throws labels at folks and dismisses them. Boingsters seem to have some sort of pride in being cutting edge clever and progressive thinking. Not all obviously but many of the respondents here are clever and progressive. Please be so good as too stop cheering for our eminent death and the ensuing good that will follow when the last boomer echos away. Many of us have fought the good fight for decades and some of us might have a decade or so left. In summary I would like to say Fuck You to anyone who uses stereotypes instead of specifying why someone’s thinking bothers you.
12 Likes
Preach. No matter how much this gets brought up, mass media keeps the distraction of generational drama going. What’s worse is when anyone brings up haves vs. have-nots, some folks on the anti-Boomer train give a definition of haves that includes anyone not currently in debt or who has assets of any kind. Whoever came up with this strategy is surely patting themselves on the back as have-nots get sucked into a battle over who has it worse right now or who had to overcome more.
5 Likes
While I appreciate a good-faith spirited debate on almost any issue, I really think some are way overthinking a meme the function of which is to make light of the patronizing attitude that a non-trivial cross-section of human beings develop towards their juniors as they’re inexorably conveyed into the role of elders by the implacable arrow of time.
That said, surely we’re smart enough not to take the marketing department at face value. Or, to quote my own favorite narrator of our collective journey into the Dumbening (thank you for that word BTW, I’ve used it often)…
That said, time unmakes us all. Maybe that’s just my Gen X nihilism talking. 
8 Likes
Right on Russell!
1 Like
So, you don’t want my help? Born in 1952, getting ready to retire and I think if you look at my past postings, you’ll find me to be a progessive leaning voter.
Be careful who you are willing to write off simply because of their age.
11 Likes
Same thing happened with me and Gen X. First, it was people slightly older than me and I just squeaked
in, then it was my age bracket, and finally I was on the margin on the other side and there were now people ten years younger than me being called it.
1 Like
The “Okay Boomer” meaning is basically just saying “we don’t have time for conservative bullshit”, I can really empathize with the sentiment behind it.
The whole reason for the “Boomer” usage is just a natural response to all the “Millenials” flack. they’ve been blamed for things going downhill for a while. why not throw a little shade back on those same people who actually shaped where we are today? Fair play, well played. indeed we don’t have time to wait around, we need change yesterday.
9 Likes
Just wait until someone like Ben Shapiro uses it to discount progressive ideas, because of course they will.
5 Likes
The redefinition might have been as late as the early 70s. Either way, there’s a pretty huge experiential and attitudinal gulf between people who were eligible for the draft and people who were not, and that change was rather abrupt.
1 Like
we’ll just have to dub those types “boomer jr.'s” because they are for the exact thing that statement expresses being fed up with.
example: “whatever boomer jr, take your way of thinking back to the century it belongs in. age trator.” 
1 Like
If I’d known I was going to be drafted, I would have gone to Canada. Oh, wait… 
For a lot of things, gen works as well as zodiac signs.
2 Likes
I’ve felt that way as well, or, alternatively, Nov. 5, 1962; anyone born then or later was too young to vote in 1980. Or, for that matter, if the TV show “thirtysomething” (my take on it: “Christ, what self-absorbed assholes!”) was cancelled before you turned 30.
2 Likes
Engaging in age based stereotypes (or any other demographic generalization) is a form of prejudice - it might seem funny or be perceived as “punching-up”, but with such crude rhetorical instruments there will be unintended and innocent victims - mainly truth, goodwill and trust. It’s unfortunate that the (by design) dynamics of the transmission apparatus actively encourage low-information exchanges and promote inflammatory modes of conduct in order to drive engagement. This seems to be our fate until private enterprise motives are excised from societies nervous system.
1 Like
There’s a similar conversation going on over on Facebook (probaby a bunch of them, actually), and the writer Eleanor Arnason posted this comment, which I’m reposting here, with her permission:
“I’m not in the Boomer generation, due to being too old. Mostly the Boomers did what most Americans do: worked hard and consumed, thus maintaining the American economy. Their failing was the typical American failing: they either ignored politics or listened to the lies of politicians and pundits, and they accepted society as it was. But in among the good, hard working, consuming Americans, were people active in civil rights, the anti-war movement, Gay Liberation, Act Up, the Second Wave of Feminism, the environmental movement, the South Africa divestment movement, Witnesses for Peace… Some of these people have grown old and conservative or given up on politics in despair. Others have held on to their original opinions. Age grades do not tell you much about people, except how old they are. I am now going to read a book by Mike Davis, who is spending his retirement reading (and writing about) Marx.”
7 Likes
Cory, I wish you would stop making that claim about the earthquake being used to pass bad legislation. Yes it was monumentally bad legislation, but the claim about the earthquake being used to pass it is simply not true. It was not true then, and it’s still not true now, no matter how much it may support your preferred narrative. I tried to tell you when you first reported it that you had your facts wrong, but it seems you won’t allow facts to get in the way of a good story.
If you actually do care, the NZ parliament simply does not work the way you said it did. It could not have happened. Please check your facts before repeating this claim.
How about, “No?”
I get your complaint here but you’re also blatantly ignoring:
-
The treatment of Millennials (and their younger cohorts) by their elders has been pretty bad, frankly; it’s not a secret to anyone at all. Yes, each aging generation has similar attitudes; sorry, not an excuse. Shitty behavior is shitty, period.
-
The problems Boomers have directly caused and/or contributed to, and then feel free to lecture others about. No, you don’t get to pull your “wise elder” card, as an apologist for climate change inaction. Just no. ESPECIALLY not by talking down to a young lady, whom you thought (quite wrongly!) you were going to buffalo.
In the “offending” clip above, she responded with a mild retort that shut down a rather rude interjection by an ageist jackass. Complaining — when he got exactly what he deserved — is, in fact, more “OK Boomer”-deserving bullshit. Spare us the pearl-clutching over her ageism, real or not, if you would.
In other words, you get the respect you give.
1 Like
It’s a name used for male kangaroos but isn’t used much.
1 Like
Exactly this.
1 Like
First time in my life I wish I had a “Generation X” T-shirt.
1 Like
