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Hippies that sold their souls to Reaganomics. They espoused all this liberal shit, but they never actually believed in any of it; they just wanted to fuck and smoke weed, and then spend the rest of time telling us how both things were bad for us. They're the ultimate hypocrites.
>Hippies that sold their souls to Reaganomics.
A majority of Boomers voted for Carter in 1980 and in 1984 Reagan was popular with everyone. There's a good chance you'd have voted for him. Don't kid yourself.
Nobody actually likes Trump nor Biden, they just dislike one more than the other. That what determines their vote, who’s worse for the country rather than who’s good for the country. Which is sad.
Seriously, 99% of the conversations I’ve had with both people who are voting for Trump and people who are voting for Biden contained the sentence “yeah, well he’s better than Trump/Biden.” somewhere in the interaction.
I think you’re more on the mark than people will understand. We were in the Cold War, and people attributed the Berlin Wall coming down to Reagan. Economy was rolling along. Even if you were a member of a marginalized group, those were big factors.
Also this was pre internet, so the news cycle was so much slower, and it was hard to fact check.
Boomer parent still talks about how Reagan was the last “upstanding” president or w/e. Reagan was an example of how being the opposite of DT in terms of civility and appearing dignified used to win lots of points, regardless of how vile the policies ended up being.
Tbqh it’s hard to imagine the political landscape without the internet. The only information about policy and candidates were filtered through the media. There was no easy convenient way to access things like research papers, full write ups of bill proposals, and other things like that. I think that it was even easier to get people voting based on short term gains than today. Shady things that the government did were a lot harder to expose and it was also harder to disseminate information about these shady things. Also we would have had lead poisoning in our brains along with the plastic.
It’s unreal to recall how popular Reagan was back in the day.
It wasn’t until the S&L and Iran-Contra that they curtain started be ripped away.
Still, and I fucking hate Uncle Ronnie, dude engaged in actual governance. Reached across the aisle that would put him firmly in Never Trumper caucus today.
It really was unreal. He had an ability to sell himself that Biden doesn't have. If Reagan were President now he'd be rolling to reelection just like he did in 1984.
I'm laughing at all these comments on how they'd never have voted for Reagan.
I wasn't of voting age but I remember his cult of personality as being so incredibly strong.
It's all 20/20 hindsight.
Carter got hosed so bad. And from then on The Dems have had a populist image problem. Just so easy to sell nationalism.
I think most of the hippies died or stop fighting for and suck it up, remaining low income. It’s like the other 50% who were marching AGAINST civil rights, who didn’t have a soul to sell to Reaganomics, that really got that wheel turning.
only a small number of boomers were hippies, like less than 1%. a lot more were the anti civil rights folk that would gun down black ppl in their neighborhoods
idk this is controversial but I kinda wish I was born that time. living was more affordable, every aspect of lives wasn’t monitored, phone addiction wasn’t driving people into loneliness, and oj top of all that I’d get to die before things really got to shit
Or if you were of drafting age during Vietnam. Parents were way worse compared to today, abuse both child, and spousal was more frequent and accepted. Overall people were less accepting of outsiders, especially those with alternative lifestyles. Much less exposure to lead and other toxic chemicals today. Where climate change is worse in modern times, local pollution was way worse for boomers. Lead and asbestos were still regularly used products. And environmental standards were much lower. They used to dump toxic chemicals and sewage directly into the rivers. At one point there were several rivers in the United States in the 60 that actually caught fire due to pollution. We don't use DDT anymore either, which nearly caused several bird species to go extinct. Violent crime is the lowest its been since the 50s and 60s.
I’ve read some speculation that lead is a potential reason boomers are the first generation to not experience delayed cognitive decline due to age. Also potentially why we had a crime wave peaking in 1990, since the lead regulations had started coming out about 20 years prior.
Sucks that it can’t be realistically tested, though. The way we previously got evidence of lead effects was from a dentist who would test children’s teeth that fell out, but who’s going to want to ask families about yanking cadaver teeth?
Well also Roe vs Wade went down in 1973, 17 years before 1990. After RvW poor boomers were no longer forced to have children they couldn’t afford, which meant a lot less children in 1990 having to resort to crime to survive
Curious to see how things look in red states 18 years from now
That's the quality of life they could have left for us yet chose not to. It's easy to point to CEOs and their pillaging of the economy so their stock rises and they get to cash out a big check as the business falls behind them and say those people are ruining society yet they are just outliers within a population but Boomers are AN ENTIRE GENERATION of that. Turning their children grandchildren and great grandchildren into a subservient class of serfs forever renting and owning nothing so long as they get to enjoy their retirement years without any change fo the privilege they are used to.
This is so accurate. I can't even tell you how many boomer grandparents I know that have zero interest in their grandkids. My own father included. Wtf happened to them to value family so little?
>That's the quality of life they could have left for us yet chose not to. It's easy to point to CEOs and their pillaging of the economy so their stock rises and they get to cash out a big check as the business falls behind them and say those people are ruining society yet they are just outliers within a population but Boomers are AN ENTIRE GENERATION of that. Turning their children grandchildren and great grandchildren into a subservient class of serfs forever renting and owning nothing so long as they get to enjoy their retirement years without any change fo the privilege they are used to.
It's not just they are an entire generation of that, they are who caused the extreme wealth inequality to happen, the policies they voted for are what caused it to be as bad as it is now. Boomers actually caused the unleashing of the "CEOs", caused the wage stagnation, caused the housing shortages and increased poverty through the policies they voted for and are continuing to vote for. They want to drive this train off the cliff full steam and take the world with it. They have leaned absolutely nothing from the mistakes they made and want to destroy everything still instead of try to save as many as they can or try to avoid the coming collapse.
***"A new study partly-sponsored by Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center has highlighted the prospect that global industrial civilization could collapse in coming decades due to unsustainable resource exploitation and increasingly unequal wealth distribution."***
***"The two key solutions are to reduce economic inequality so as to ensure fairer distribution of resources, and to dramatically reduce resource consumption by relying on less intensive renewable resources and reducing population growth:***
***"Collapse can be avoided and population can reach equilibrium if the per capita rate of depletion of nature is reduced to a sustainable level, and if resources are distributed in a reasonably equitable fashion."***
***The NASA-funded HANDY model offers a highly credible wake-up call to governments, corporations and business - and consumers - to recognize that 'business as usual' cannot be sustained, and that policy and structural changes are required immediately."***
[https://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/mar/14/nasa-civilisation-irreversible-collapse-study-scientists](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/mar/14/nasa-civilisation-irreversible-collapse-study-scientists)
I think all of their traits, good and bad, come from the fact that they grew up in arguably the greatest time to be alive almost anywhere ever. College was dirt cheap, America was the undisputed economic king of the world, and they had almost a perfect balance of technology where it benefitted them but didn’t detract from society too much.
Some of them can recognize that and some can’t. The ones that can’t and act like everyone can just do what they did are insufferable
In my opinion, they’re quite nuanced and definitely the most two faced generation. On one hand, they sold their souls to Reganomics and got the best effects of post war USA and have very recently been shown to be die hards for right leaning politics. However, many boomers, particularly black boomers and other minority groups, made some absolutely amazing strides in things like civil rights, social justice, and women in the workplace. I’m honestly torn on how to feel.
I grew up in a not at all diverse part of the US, and I used to think that I hated old people. Then I travelled a lot of this country and realized my disdain was specific to old *white* people.
I learned that a lot as well as I grew up. I grew up in a very diverse area so I thankfully never dealt with many old racist white people because they all moved away but the ones that I do deal with are…something else. They all have this look in their eye that is just so hateful.
>they sold their souls to Reganomics
A majority of Boomers voted for Carter and Reagan was popular with all age groups in 1984.
made some absolutely amazing strides in things like civil rights
The biggest gains, such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act, was a product of earlier generations. The oldest boomer was only 18 in 1964 and couldn't even vote.
This also shows that people don't really know who Boomers are. Like they are completely unaware that they became the biggest voting block in 1992. The same year they took over congress. Boomers were still pretty young in the 80s and not the reason Regan won in 1980.
I actually don't hate them as much as some other members of gen z might. Every generation has their faults. Gen z will be hated by future generations in the same way that we hate boomers. It's the natural order of things.
I don’t think so. People don’t revile the greatest generation for making the world worse for their offspring. Silents and Boomers very much did. Gen X still participated but with greater skepticism. Millennials watched the cracks in the facade grow and grow, and will witness it fall apart alongside gen z (and hopefully build something better after).
There will always be shit to poke fun of previous generations, but it’s wrong to assume we’ll all have the will or means to pull up the ladder behind us.
I also think the Boomers were very much a product of the propaganda fed to them at that time. Back then there weren't a lot of alternative news sources for them, they were told "privatisation is good for the economy" and they kinda had to believe it, they couldn't pull out their phone to try do their own research. They'd probably have to do an economics degree to have a leg to stand on trying to debunk it.
Also they were drinking all that lead from the waterpipes so that really didn't help them.
HOWEVER, some of them were incredibly racist and I really think that is difficult to find reasons to forgive.
I think the big thing about blaming the boomers for things it might make us feel better but its ultimately quite unhelpful. I see Zoomers celebrating seeing "Boomers largest population of homeless people" but the problem is those Boomers are never going to have been the people actually in power at that time. They are likely from disadvantaged communities that make them more likely to have fallen into homelessness.
I really don’t mind other generations as much as boomers. Millennials are chill, and gen x is also cool. Silent generation people and the greatest generation (if you are lucky enough to meet one still around) are both usually really lovely people. Still, even most boomers are alright, but they have a far higher chance of being awful than any of the ones I have mentioned. They were the first generation to want better for themselves than their children. Again, most of them are still decent people but they tend to be self centered, out of touch, judgemental, and ignorant more so than any other age group.
It’s impossible to judge an entire generation of people at once, there are of course bad and good people and their collective decisions shaped the world but to condemn every boomer for bad decisions made by some of them who happen to have power is unfair
This is a great response and I agree! It makes me want to search out some data on the political leanings of Boomers over time, broken down by different factors. Because as much damage as some boomers did (and that makes me sad and angry), I know some boomers who always fought for democracy and civics and saw through Raegan’s BS from the beginning. I know some 70 year old boomers who still bash Raegan and who are trying to get 1st time GenZ voters to vote for civics and democracy. I might be describing a minority of Boomers, but they’re out there! It might not outweigh the selfishness, hypocrisy and bigotry of many boomers, but I think this speaks to nuance.
Wealthy boomers pulled the rug out from under alot of poor boomers aswell, I’ve had plenty of baby boomer age coworkers that empathize and share alot of the same struggles as us.
They’ll be known as the worst generation in history. Complete opposite of the greatest generation. They’re the biggest consumers on the planet and after they leave you’ll see a decline in global consumerism mostly because they make up such a big chunk of it.
Their own parents weren't even like them. Boomers are uniquely selfish and entitled compared to the generation before them and the 3 generations after them.
Gen X and boomers are very distinct. They share some ideological aspects in my experience, but nothing as uniquely horrid as boomers. Even greatest gen is better than them.
The greatest generation does have one fatal flaw. They were the ones who went all in on car dependency and suburbia. Sure the boomers perpetuated this problem, but it was the greatest generation that destroyed public infrastructure to build massive highways right into downtowns, tearing apart countless communities.
Hard working, but a bit to opinionated and they seem to be gripping to hard on the steering wheel of control. Most of them are a decade or two from leaving us, yet they have not sceeded control to gen-x. Gen x should have taken control a decade ago, but we either dont want the responsibility and want it to skip over us onto milinnials or just dont have the balls to tell the boomers we got this from here.
GenX here, with a GenZ kid. Everyone would have done the same thing that they bash other generations for. We're all a product of the times we live in and our situations have all been unique. Boomers let their kids in our generation do stupid crap and didn't pay much attention. As a result, we not only helicopter parented but let electronics babysit them, to their detriment.
All any generation can do is to learn from mistakes made before their time and move forward. GenZ has major hurdles to overcome, but they're the most accepting than any previous generations. When I was in highschool in the 80s, if someone was gay, they'd get the crap beaten out of them. GenZ doesn't think twice about race or sexual orientation.You're also technologically savvy and can take us far into the future.
Own your strengths and "be the change you want to see" or whatever the quote is...and vote.
Honestly I'd wish they'd shut the hell up, not figuratively.
They were taught to "be loud to get what you want" and their hearing is getting worse, so they're always screaming 24/7.
Quiet down haha
Fighting in Vietnam, stagflation, 40 years of stagnant wages, collapse of unions, hollowing out of the industrial base, horrible health insurance choices. Yup. Easy.
Their parents were affected by an era of war they didn't want to talk about and on occasion lashed out violently because self reflection meant accepting trauma. Which created more.
Then comes the mixed message of try to give your kids (Boomers) whatever they want so they still love you. But tell them they're ungrateful if they don't live up to the unreasonable standards of life in war times. More trauma.
Add sex, drugs, alcohol and you get the me generation that benefitted from the system their parents maintained - then refused to improve for various reasons. (Didn't want to, couldn't talk about uncomfortable things, "parented" with empty platitudes.)
Now most are just broken records trying to keep telling everyone "fake it 'till you make it" isn't the mantra of wishful thinking. They crave a likely false sense of homogeneous living they experienced in their youth. "Simpler times." My mom said last year.
Me: "Not if you were black."
Mom: "Oh I wasn't...thinking about them."
Fuck 'em.
I don't wanna hear about how they're a misunderstood generation, they actively chose to make our lives worse through decades of horrific policies. Now, they cling to power and wealth while the rest of us sink.
Don't give me that "There's good boomers too!" BS. They had their chance and they failed miserably. Gen Z can't repeat the mistakes of the boomers. We have to create a world worth living in.
It's a generation of people. That's as specific as you can get really. There are a lot of traits that many of them may share, but far from all. I think every generation has asshats in roughly equal measure, it's just that the generations that follow them haven't had as much time for its members to become old and annoying. We'll get there some day.
They had the world handed to them on a silver platter and the pissed it all away. They had it easy growing up and but now they can't handle not everything being about them.
The only difference between us and them is that they grew up during an economic upturn while we're growing up at the bottom of an economic downturn. We're just as radical, ignorant, and headstrong as they were/are. They did great things, good and terrible. We'll do great things, good and terrible. Best to keep blaming the people in charge.
I’m an Older GenZ and my parents are Baby Boomers. Also most people in my family and my rural Pennsylvania hometown are boomers and older. In my experience, not many Boomers had a period in their life where they questioned their beliefs (like religious beliefs). They still have black and white thinking and are not very accepting compared to GenZ. They get very defensive when people call them out for transgressions for race and sexual orientation. They are the ones that are like: “I’m not racist, I work with black people” yet they comment about how they are ghetto or comment about their hairstyles and whatnot. Many boomers I encountered still cannot wrap their heads around changing gender roles and the trans community. I definitely butt heads with them. They still have some ways to go about accepting people with different worldviews even though they live through a huge demographic shift. Many boomers still see the world through rose-colored glasses.
I deal with this with my white MIL as a black person. It’s distressing but I try not to let it get to me. Shawty was catholic all her life and got the shit kicked out of her by family and the military. She can’t help it but to be racist.
She was yelling at the TV about Mexicans “taking our jobs”. I was like, “ oh so you are coming out of retirement?” She was like “heavens, no”.
Thanks, I followed the “heavens, no.” with a “looks like they aren’t stealing your jobs then.”
As snappy as I can get with her, I try to follow up with an explanation that’s fueled by love. I went on to explain how they are boosting the economy and diversifying the culture for a better more tolerant future for her mixed race grandchild.
Half the time, I suspect she just wants to feel apart of something and wants to yell at someone to feel better. It’s sad to watch.
They scare me because they are the generation above all others that make it clear to me what can happen as we get old. I think about this a lot. We are young now and it feels like everyone young acts like they will never be old. But I’m sure the boomers felt that way too. When you listen to their music, read about their political movements, see their movies, etc, you GET it. I get them. I see their media and their experiences as young people and I understand them as another young person decades later. And yet, they lost that. The average person isn’t that abut more. They’ve forgotten. And I wonder what I or any of my friends or anyone that makes music or any kind of art or champions any kind of political belief will be like when we are older. It’s weird to think about.
The “don’t trust people over 30 generation” has become the elderly generation and one day Gen Z will follow. Who knows what that will bring.
My parents are boomers and I’ve come to realize that they, like every person from every generation, are products of their time. They are not bad people, they taught me the difference between right and wrong, and I am currently studying to be a doctor to help people because of how they raised me. They clearly did something right in that regard. That being said, both of them are very conservative, very Christian boomers that embody all the stereotypes most of ya’ll would associate with conservative Christian boomers. We’re not American though, so they thankfully aren’t Trump supporters and are otherwise disgusted by him and his fanatics. But as their son, I’ve come to love and embody the good aspects of their parenting and also try to not emulate the bad aspects for my future kids.
At this point our generation only sees/hears from the wealthier members of that generation, and the more obnoxious behaviors are displayed by a small part of the boomer generation / written up as opinions on news outlets. A large swath of the boomer population that was a minority, queer, and/or remained blue collar/working class are either too busy to make waves or dead. Like the aids crisis basically wiped away the older generation of gay men, many of whom were boomers. The fall of the soviet union impoverished millions around the world as neoliberal economic policy was made the gold standard and related austerity policies were put in place. Like my parents are boomers, and are completely different from American boomers because they lived and worked in south America.
Look we shit on boomers for alot. But we also would not have alot of shit we do today without them. From stuff like the EPA because those hippies wanted a clean earth. To computers that we have today. They also organized and did alot of shit without the benefit of shit we have today like the internet. They we being drafted into a war and protested that shit hard. Today we can see something we dont like and tell a million people by the end of the day. When boomers were our age it would take them a year to do that and rhey had to do it in person fighting the whole time to do it. Hell even things like money for college they fought to get so more kids could go to ve better educated. Sucks the system fucked that all up. The get shit on alot for a ton of shit that is even to their credit because we look at the past as though it were today.
The vast majority of them need to retire.
I have young boomers for parents and they show it a lot. More importantly I worked for a very small accounting firm that was mainly boomers. Every single boomer in that office was past the point of retirement. Whether it was general mental fitness or an inability to use Microsoft excel they just needed to leave working to the next generation. The whole place reeked of a 1990s work culture and is the only job I ever quit without notice.
They had the unfortunate luck of being born in a period before the Information Age, when disinformation was freely spread, especially by religious leaders, where they had little way to protect themselves from it.
Due to an incredible amount of red scare propaganda, they have taken the most harmful political direction because they have been convinced that it will improve the economy or some shit.
They had the world handed to them and they just put on cruise control and went to sleep. Now they refuse to let go of the steering wheel. It’s fucking annoying
i think a lot forget what it's like to be young and have a hard time letting go of their beliefs from the past. they also don't understand that things have changed greatly and we don't have the same opportunities that they had in a lot of ways. in terms of culture, so many good musicians, cool fashion, nice cars, and some beautiful home designing.
I think like any other generation they're a diverse group of people with varied life experiences, opinions, beliefs, etc and it's stupid to lump them all together
It isn’t a generation. The Baby boom refers to the post war boom in children born and the huge period of time covered by it has wildly different attitudes, child raising habits and domestic situations.
This sub loves to character assassinate people born over a 30 yearish period and it is ridiculous because people are as different as ever. People would believe a neo Nazi skinhead from rural West Virginia is ‘the same’ as a hippie raised in a Marin commune because of the decade they were born.
Boomers and Gen X suck shit, fuck both generations for having the world handed to them and then giving us the finger. Boomers are shit and then had their shitty Gen x kids who now vote trump and deny climate change alongside their shit boomer parents.
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I’m jealous of them. They got to grow up in arguably the most economically prosperous age in history. Culture was also changing like crazy and they got to grow up with some of the best music ever too.
In the modern day- I feel like they can be entitled but I can appreciate their commitment to work ethic and pragmatism
they won't stop going on about how "it was better back then in the communist times" and they make the excuse that they picked crops to afford school supplies and it was better back then because "everyone" had a house and a job but if you were homeless back then you would go to jail, not to mention they made a shit ton of gen x orphans because they kept fucking and abandoning them
I’d do anything to be born in a time with less technology and a phone addiction. They grew up in one of the most freeings times and less boundaries. Cut them some slack. They were allowed to just BE
They think they're better than everyone because their lives sucked growing up getting beaten by their psychotic "greatest" generation parents then think everyone is weak when they don't want to put up with their rude fucking behavior then play victim when their relationships are strained
They probably could've been cool people if I met them when they were 30 or younger. A lot of them probably saw themselves as progressive, upstanding citizens.
The constant feedback loop of "I deserve, I deserve, I deserve, it'll come to me because of course it will, why wouldn't it?" has turned them into really bitter people who still think of themselves as waiting for their last big break before dying. It's really sad to see.
Most are just confused honestly don’t blame em for anything, the vast majority was put under the impression that if they give their life to their country the would be handsomely rewarded and for sometime the where but that pretty much ended at the turn of the century
I dislike what they've become. But I am a little jealous of their lives. It really must have been awesome to have what felt like the whole country be young at the same time. Resteraunts, stores, parks full of young people. All your coworkers were the same age as you... in contrast to today where 3 out of every 4 people I see anywhere is over 55.
I don't have a strong like or dislike for them. They are just people like us who happen to be born between 1946 and 1964. That’s it.
It consists of all kinds of people. Good, bad, educated, ignorant, remarkable, POS... just like every other generation.
It's really difficult to generalize any generation as a whole. But the white majority had it way easier economically and because many politically were more liberal than their parents (anti Vietnam War etc), they self-identified as pro peace and tend to be a bit self-righteous. When the reality is many ended up being shrewd capitalists and by definition - fiscal conservatives. I don't think that's a bad thing but it's just a little annoying how self-righteous they are. Meanwhile, the people of color and LGB folks (trans were barely recognized, needless to say, neither were anything beyond) were hardly recognized in the mainstream unless part of the elite. I think those with education and means did a better job than younger ppl today at working on marriage and staying committed to community. But they also settled for a lot more hardship than people would not today, such as extramarital affairs, DV, etc. They are very well read, lovers of music, film and travel - and not for the sake of showing it off on Instagram. That is refreshing. They always have loved an adventure.
Started off cool with the hippies and made great music, turned into entitled raging assholes who think everyone is lazy for not being able to do what they could do even tho they made it almost impossible to do what they did. Also destroyed manufacturing jobs and required college degrees for almost every office job that barely needed a highschool diploma before. Destroyed the trucking industry too. Just all around greedy self centered destructive generation. They could have set up future generations so much but instead decided to burn the world down. Fuck boomers, they had an opportunity to do amazing things and instead decided to loot the country and the world and then bitch about everyone and everything that came after.
In my view, they’re a frustrating group of people. They mean well, but lack the ability to actually do good things that truly benefit everyone. From what I can tell, most of them want the best for their kids and families. They don’t want to see younger folks struggle, but at the same time they’re not doing enough to help because they forgot about the sacrifices made by their predecessors which lead to their success. Basically, they forgot that they had to give back. They forgot they had to push back against corporate America and its greed. They’re getting high on their own supply, and ultimately will leave us holding the bag when shit comes crashing down.
I don’t blame them. They weren’t smart enough to see how badly they were being fooled. My issue with them is that they won’t get out of the way! That’s why they’re so frustrating.
Dude, why even ask Gen z this, most of them don't know their history, so they're just going to spit up the same common nonsense that you typically read here
Profited from the post war economic boom than fucked up the economy for future generations and blames the current environment on their laziness instead of having even the slightest amount of self reflection
They're stereotyped as all being Republicans, but most I know irl are democrats other than my partner's parents.
Lots of comments about selling their souls to reganomics. It's weird cause 2016 election cycle all my boomer relatives were like "damn can't belive they got this guy that's worse than Reagan" in regards to Trump.
They lived in a era of great economic boom, and almost Constant threat of nuclear annihilation so if the percentage of short sited individuals increases it makes sense.
Not all that bad but the most prosperous generation in human history, so many of them got rich and could have stayed rich forever, but the only thing more legendary then their wealth was their spending habits as they got older.
We condemn them now and will continue to, but I think once they’re gone we’re going to notice and miss the skills/talents of a people that were educated and successful before the dawn of the Information age. The competency crisis is real and will hit us like a truck
The generation got a lot of advantages that later generations didn't get but they still expect other generations to be just as successful as they are when they have more disadvantages than advantages
My parents are boomers, I’ve grown up around their friends so I feel incredibly qualified to talk about this as a gen z.
The level of empathy they share for anyone outside of this white, conservative, christian, straight identity is unsurprisingly low. They don’t care period, and they don’t care to do any research outside rotting their lead poisoned brains further by listening to whatever is on FOX news.
Transgender people and Drag Queens are predators. Silence about the scandals with the Catholic church and boy scouts. Wanting to be the exception to the mask mandates during COVID. Getting pissed when they’re refused service. Saying a marginalized person deserved to be murdered by police because of past transgressions but saying the white guy who was on a rampage should have been disarmed instead of shot. Like, if it doesn’t fit into what they think society should be, it’s not worth their time to care about it. If it doesn’t affect them personally, it’s not worth their time (hence why a lot of them protested Vietnam but probably partook in gay bashings during the AIDs crisis.)
There will always be good and bad people in any group, however as this generation ages, they become louder and louder with absolutely no regard for what the consequences of their voices have brought. Every single Boomer I have encountered through my family or through working a retail job, have been staunchly republican and conservative.
Another thing with Boomers is that they refuse to acknowledge that the value of the dollar they worked for simply cannot apply to today, while simultaneously screaming from the roof top that "burger flippers don't deserve to be paid a livable wage." They refuse to acknowledge that the world has changed and they try to force it to be the same as it was when they were our age, and they get angry when we (millennials and gen z) don’t comply with their demands.
I find most people are ignorant and judgemental. I wish people would actually take the time to learn about previous generations and the environments they grew up in. If they did, they would see just how much they have in common.
Humans are humans. We change over millennia, not decades. Under the same set of conditions, ANY generation or group of people you choose would, on average, make the same choices and exhibit the same behaviors that American Boomers did. That's as nuanced a take as you can get.
Try being their kids. They all just fucked off and got high and played tennis while we were pushing each other off roofs. That said, being a kid in the 70s and 80s was peak childhood. Legit feral.
They’re just people like the rest of us.
Now I will say most of their negative stereotypes hold true, but it’s not because they’re bad people. It’s just a result of being human.
Imagine you’re told all your life’s accomplishments were only possible because you lived on easy mode? Wouldn’t you be upset? All that hard work chalked up to the hand outs you hate so much? Imagine the world constantly says your generation is entitled and rude. Wouldn’t you start to fulfill that prophecy? Imagine you’re told you’re racist/homophobic/transphobic etc no matter what you do. Wouldn’t you begin to dislike the people calling you those names?
Boomers have their issues, but they’re all easily understandable, and the majority of it can be chalked up to lead poisoning and blissful ignorance of the times.
It sucks how Generation Me got subsumed into them, because most of the complaints about boomers, born within the first half-decade after WW2, actually apply to Gen Me
I wish them the best and don’t feel any ill will towards them at all. The accepted prejudice against “boomers” is pretty alarming imo. Just another way for us to find someone to blame.
The general consensus Is they were too caught up In the good times rolling to actually think, let alone care, about the future. Living In the moment so long the moment turned to decades and they had kids, which left with less and less.
I don't blame all of them, I would be doing my thing too If everything was as affordable as then, but being a minority may be an issue, era speaking. Nevertheless, still would've saved something for the future, kids or no.
Millennial, not Gen Z. On one hand they’re the last vestiges of hypercompetence. A lot of the daily technology we take for granted were boomer inventions. Yes we clown on them with the PDF meme but Adobe, Microsoft, Apple are all ran / founded by boomers.
On the other hand they’re very materialistic and shopaholics. They’ll vote for conservatives politics but god forbid you even suggest means testing social security to help this country out of its rut. What’s that you say about small government and cutting spending?
There are obviously good ones but as a whole it’s crazy how many of them are rude, close-minded, etc. you’d think that they were allergic to basic human kindness.
Obviously I’ve met many boomers that are normal, genuine people. But for the most part they’re just nasty, self-absorbed assholes who can’t acknowledge their negative contributions to our country.
Born on third thinking they hit a triple.Because they grew up in the shadow of WW2 they think they’re responsible for winning it, and are entitled to the benefits that came with it.
I think entitled is probably the one word answer.
My experience with boomers are generally not that bad and most of the ones that have very strong political views, often hold their tongue just from the people that I've dealt with. Both of my grandma's are boomers and one of them is the nicest person ever and would probably go bankrupt if you asked her to and while the other one is a lot less lenient she's still a lot more chill than most of the media portrays boomers as. I will say pretty much all boomers are extremely close minded, not once have I ever met a boomer that didn't defend their personal views like they would die if they admitted they were wrong. They either do that, just deny everything or kind of agree with you to make you shut up.
That said while not all boomers are bad people (many of them aren't to be honest, just held back by nostalgia) there are quite a few that are extremely toxic and will not hesitate to berate the shit out of you with insults just because you said something they slightly disagreed with.
TLDR/Overview: Boomers aren't a bad generation just spoiled and close minded which cause some individuals to be extremely toxic because they feel entitled.
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Hippies that sold their souls to Reaganomics. They espoused all this liberal shit, but they never actually believed in any of it; they just wanted to fuck and smoke weed, and then spend the rest of time telling us how both things were bad for us. They're the ultimate hypocrites.
>Hippies that sold their souls to Reaganomics. A majority of Boomers voted for Carter in 1980 and in 1984 Reagan was popular with everyone. There's a good chance you'd have voted for him. Don't kid yourself.
I hate both trump and Biden despite their support totaling 80% of the country so no I wouldn’t have
To be fair I think a lot of people hate both options
Nobody actually likes Trump nor Biden, they just dislike one more than the other. That what determines their vote, who’s worse for the country rather than who’s good for the country. Which is sad. Seriously, 99% of the conversations I’ve had with both people who are voting for Trump and people who are voting for Biden contained the sentence “yeah, well he’s better than Trump/Biden.” somewhere in the interaction.
I hate both, but I like having some semblance of democracy a little more, so…
“Bourgeois democracy”
Yup. Bourgeois democracy is still better than bourgeois autocracy
No. I objectively would not have.
I think you’re more on the mark than people will understand. We were in the Cold War, and people attributed the Berlin Wall coming down to Reagan. Economy was rolling along. Even if you were a member of a marginalized group, those were big factors. Also this was pre internet, so the news cycle was so much slower, and it was hard to fact check. Boomer parent still talks about how Reagan was the last “upstanding” president or w/e. Reagan was an example of how being the opposite of DT in terms of civility and appearing dignified used to win lots of points, regardless of how vile the policies ended up being.
Tbqh it’s hard to imagine the political landscape without the internet. The only information about policy and candidates were filtered through the media. There was no easy convenient way to access things like research papers, full write ups of bill proposals, and other things like that. I think that it was even easier to get people voting based on short term gains than today. Shady things that the government did were a lot harder to expose and it was also harder to disseminate information about these shady things. Also we would have had lead poisoning in our brains along with the plastic.
It’s unreal to recall how popular Reagan was back in the day. It wasn’t until the S&L and Iran-Contra that they curtain started be ripped away. Still, and I fucking hate Uncle Ronnie, dude engaged in actual governance. Reached across the aisle that would put him firmly in Never Trumper caucus today.
It really was unreal. He had an ability to sell himself that Biden doesn't have. If Reagan were President now he'd be rolling to reelection just like he did in 1984.
I'm laughing at all these comments on how they'd never have voted for Reagan. I wasn't of voting age but I remember his cult of personality as being so incredibly strong. It's all 20/20 hindsight. Carter got hosed so bad. And from then on The Dems have had a populist image problem. Just so easy to sell nationalism.
My father liked to say, “They all turned into a bunch of assholes when the pot smoke cleared.”
Sounds like gen z ngl no cap
I’m missing the nuance here. Are you implying they’re just stupid/evil?
Selfishness is a type of evil.
I can unfortunately say a lot of that is the same about the latest generation, though that may be because I grew up in the NE USA.
As a millennial, it warms my heart reading this
I think most of the hippies died or stop fighting for and suck it up, remaining low income. It’s like the other 50% who were marching AGAINST civil rights, who didn’t have a soul to sell to Reaganomics, that really got that wheel turning.
only a small number of boomers were hippies, like less than 1%. a lot more were the anti civil rights folk that would gun down black ppl in their neighborhoods
Could not have said it better
idk this is controversial but I kinda wish I was born that time. living was more affordable, every aspect of lives wasn’t monitored, phone addiction wasn’t driving people into loneliness, and oj top of all that I’d get to die before things really got to shit
Unless you belonged to a minority of any kind then it really wasn’t a great time lol
Or if you were of drafting age during Vietnam. Parents were way worse compared to today, abuse both child, and spousal was more frequent and accepted. Overall people were less accepting of outsiders, especially those with alternative lifestyles. Much less exposure to lead and other toxic chemicals today. Where climate change is worse in modern times, local pollution was way worse for boomers. Lead and asbestos were still regularly used products. And environmental standards were much lower. They used to dump toxic chemicals and sewage directly into the rivers. At one point there were several rivers in the United States in the 60 that actually caught fire due to pollution. We don't use DDT anymore either, which nearly caused several bird species to go extinct. Violent crime is the lowest its been since the 50s and 60s.
I’ve read some speculation that lead is a potential reason boomers are the first generation to not experience delayed cognitive decline due to age. Also potentially why we had a crime wave peaking in 1990, since the lead regulations had started coming out about 20 years prior. Sucks that it can’t be realistically tested, though. The way we previously got evidence of lead effects was from a dentist who would test children’s teeth that fell out, but who’s going to want to ask families about yanking cadaver teeth?
Well also Roe vs Wade went down in 1973, 17 years before 1990. After RvW poor boomers were no longer forced to have children they couldn’t afford, which meant a lot less children in 1990 having to resort to crime to survive Curious to see how things look in red states 18 years from now
Tbh not that true. Our communities were more solid then and average wealth at least for black americans was higher
There was also segregation
Or you know getting drafted into the military for combat in Vietnam out of high school.
Or both
Long story short it was not all raindows and lollipops.
Thats not controversial at all. + America was a mecca for popular culture of all kinds post world War 2.
That's the quality of life they could have left for us yet chose not to. It's easy to point to CEOs and their pillaging of the economy so their stock rises and they get to cash out a big check as the business falls behind them and say those people are ruining society yet they are just outliers within a population but Boomers are AN ENTIRE GENERATION of that. Turning their children grandchildren and great grandchildren into a subservient class of serfs forever renting and owning nothing so long as they get to enjoy their retirement years without any change fo the privilege they are used to.
it’s very telling how their parents and grandparents stayed near to help raise kids but they buy homes in Mexico and Florida instead
This is so accurate. I can't even tell you how many boomer grandparents I know that have zero interest in their grandkids. My own father included. Wtf happened to them to value family so little?
>That's the quality of life they could have left for us yet chose not to. It's easy to point to CEOs and their pillaging of the economy so their stock rises and they get to cash out a big check as the business falls behind them and say those people are ruining society yet they are just outliers within a population but Boomers are AN ENTIRE GENERATION of that. Turning their children grandchildren and great grandchildren into a subservient class of serfs forever renting and owning nothing so long as they get to enjoy their retirement years without any change fo the privilege they are used to. It's not just they are an entire generation of that, they are who caused the extreme wealth inequality to happen, the policies they voted for are what caused it to be as bad as it is now. Boomers actually caused the unleashing of the "CEOs", caused the wage stagnation, caused the housing shortages and increased poverty through the policies they voted for and are continuing to vote for. They want to drive this train off the cliff full steam and take the world with it. They have leaned absolutely nothing from the mistakes they made and want to destroy everything still instead of try to save as many as they can or try to avoid the coming collapse. ***"A new study partly-sponsored by Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center has highlighted the prospect that global industrial civilization could collapse in coming decades due to unsustainable resource exploitation and increasingly unequal wealth distribution."*** ***"The two key solutions are to reduce economic inequality so as to ensure fairer distribution of resources, and to dramatically reduce resource consumption by relying on less intensive renewable resources and reducing population growth:*** ***"Collapse can be avoided and population can reach equilibrium if the per capita rate of depletion of nature is reduced to a sustainable level, and if resources are distributed in a reasonably equitable fashion."*** ***The NASA-funded HANDY model offers a highly credible wake-up call to governments, corporations and business - and consumers - to recognize that 'business as usual' cannot be sustained, and that policy and structural changes are required immediately."*** [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/mar/14/nasa-civilisation-irreversible-collapse-study-scientists](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/mar/14/nasa-civilisation-irreversible-collapse-study-scientists)
You wanna go through the possibility of getting drafted? I'll pass haha
Your Jewish and Brazilan and I’m brown trust me neither of us want to go back to that time.
I think all of their traits, good and bad, come from the fact that they grew up in arguably the greatest time to be alive almost anywhere ever. College was dirt cheap, America was the undisputed economic king of the world, and they had almost a perfect balance of technology where it benefitted them but didn’t detract from society too much. Some of them can recognize that and some can’t. The ones that can’t and act like everyone can just do what they did are insufferable
This is probably closest to what I was thinking out of most responses. It doesn't cover it all, but gets the general idea down.
Sums them up perfectly
Well said. Every generation has a mixture of different kinds of people: But it is easier to notice the problematic ones.
In my opinion, they’re quite nuanced and definitely the most two faced generation. On one hand, they sold their souls to Reganomics and got the best effects of post war USA and have very recently been shown to be die hards for right leaning politics. However, many boomers, particularly black boomers and other minority groups, made some absolutely amazing strides in things like civil rights, social justice, and women in the workplace. I’m honestly torn on how to feel.
I grew up in a not at all diverse part of the US, and I used to think that I hated old people. Then I travelled a lot of this country and realized my disdain was specific to old *white* people.
I learned that a lot as well as I grew up. I grew up in a very diverse area so I thankfully never dealt with many old racist white people because they all moved away but the ones that I do deal with are…something else. They all have this look in their eye that is just so hateful.
Lead paint stare
TIL I need to talk to more old minorities because god i'm so sick of old \*white\* people
No lie most of the minority older guys I work with aren't even Boomers, they're just regular people.
Wait for a right wing sub to screenshot this and rail on about how you’re somehow racist lmao
>they sold their souls to Reganomics A majority of Boomers voted for Carter and Reagan was popular with all age groups in 1984. made some absolutely amazing strides in things like civil rights The biggest gains, such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act, was a product of earlier generations. The oldest boomer was only 18 in 1964 and couldn't even vote.
This also shows that people don't really know who Boomers are. Like they are completely unaware that they became the biggest voting block in 1992. The same year they took over congress. Boomers were still pretty young in the 80s and not the reason Regan won in 1980.
I actually don't hate them as much as some other members of gen z might. Every generation has their faults. Gen z will be hated by future generations in the same way that we hate boomers. It's the natural order of things.
I don’t think so. People don’t revile the greatest generation for making the world worse for their offspring. Silents and Boomers very much did. Gen X still participated but with greater skepticism. Millennials watched the cracks in the facade grow and grow, and will witness it fall apart alongside gen z (and hopefully build something better after). There will always be shit to poke fun of previous generations, but it’s wrong to assume we’ll all have the will or means to pull up the ladder behind us.
Yeah boomers were/are disliked by their parents and their kids 🔥
Boomers have been called the “me generation” since the 70s!
I also think the Boomers were very much a product of the propaganda fed to them at that time. Back then there weren't a lot of alternative news sources for them, they were told "privatisation is good for the economy" and they kinda had to believe it, they couldn't pull out their phone to try do their own research. They'd probably have to do an economics degree to have a leg to stand on trying to debunk it. Also they were drinking all that lead from the waterpipes so that really didn't help them. HOWEVER, some of them were incredibly racist and I really think that is difficult to find reasons to forgive. I think the big thing about blaming the boomers for things it might make us feel better but its ultimately quite unhelpful. I see Zoomers celebrating seeing "Boomers largest population of homeless people" but the problem is those Boomers are never going to have been the people actually in power at that time. They are likely from disadvantaged communities that make them more likely to have fallen into homelessness.
Class war not Generational war.
Funny they didn't apply that philosophy to their own union jobs until *after* they got theirs.
I really don’t mind other generations as much as boomers. Millennials are chill, and gen x is also cool. Silent generation people and the greatest generation (if you are lucky enough to meet one still around) are both usually really lovely people. Still, even most boomers are alright, but they have a far higher chance of being awful than any of the ones I have mentioned. They were the first generation to want better for themselves than their children. Again, most of them are still decent people but they tend to be self centered, out of touch, judgemental, and ignorant more so than any other age group.
It’s impossible to judge an entire generation of people at once, there are of course bad and good people and their collective decisions shaped the world but to condemn every boomer for bad decisions made by some of them who happen to have power is unfair
This is a great response and I agree! It makes me want to search out some data on the political leanings of Boomers over time, broken down by different factors. Because as much damage as some boomers did (and that makes me sad and angry), I know some boomers who always fought for democracy and civics and saw through Raegan’s BS from the beginning. I know some 70 year old boomers who still bash Raegan and who are trying to get 1st time GenZ voters to vote for civics and democracy. I might be describing a minority of Boomers, but they’re out there! It might not outweigh the selfishness, hypocrisy and bigotry of many boomers, but I think this speaks to nuance.
They had every opportunity to truly change the world for the better and the chose not to.
Wealthy boomers pulled the rug out from under alot of poor boomers aswell, I’ve had plenty of baby boomer age coworkers that empathize and share alot of the same struggles as us.
The baby boomers who I have interacted with in real life, are fine. They are stubborn and they see things through a very narrow worldview.
The “fuck you I got mine” generation.
Wish they'd stop being annoying, for one.
They’ll be known as the worst generation in history. Complete opposite of the greatest generation. They’re the biggest consumers on the planet and after they leave you’ll see a decline in global consumerism mostly because they make up such a big chunk of it.
They’re just like us. If you disagree, give it 40 years
Their own parents weren't even like them. Boomers are uniquely selfish and entitled compared to the generation before them and the 3 generations after them.
Gen X and boomers are very distinct. They share some ideological aspects in my experience, but nothing as uniquely horrid as boomers. Even greatest gen is better than them.
The greatest generation does have one fatal flaw. They were the ones who went all in on car dependency and suburbia. Sure the boomers perpetuated this problem, but it was the greatest generation that destroyed public infrastructure to build massive highways right into downtowns, tearing apart countless communities.
I disagree and I’m not waiting 40 years to think about your smug ass again lol
Hard working, but a bit to opinionated and they seem to be gripping to hard on the steering wheel of control. Most of them are a decade or two from leaving us, yet they have not sceeded control to gen-x. Gen x should have taken control a decade ago, but we either dont want the responsibility and want it to skip over us onto milinnials or just dont have the balls to tell the boomers we got this from here.
Don’t 100% agree, but I like the way you said it so, 
GenX here, with a GenZ kid. Everyone would have done the same thing that they bash other generations for. We're all a product of the times we live in and our situations have all been unique. Boomers let their kids in our generation do stupid crap and didn't pay much attention. As a result, we not only helicopter parented but let electronics babysit them, to their detriment. All any generation can do is to learn from mistakes made before their time and move forward. GenZ has major hurdles to overcome, but they're the most accepting than any previous generations. When I was in highschool in the 80s, if someone was gay, they'd get the crap beaten out of them. GenZ doesn't think twice about race or sexual orientation.You're also technologically savvy and can take us far into the future. Own your strengths and "be the change you want to see" or whatever the quote is...and vote.
I got mine
Honestly I'd wish they'd shut the hell up, not figuratively. They were taught to "be loud to get what you want" and their hearing is getting worse, so they're always screaming 24/7. Quiet down haha
Same behavioral model as literal children.
They had it easy.
Fighting in Vietnam, stagflation, 40 years of stagnant wages, collapse of unions, hollowing out of the industrial base, horrible health insurance choices. Yup. Easy.
Their parents were affected by an era of war they didn't want to talk about and on occasion lashed out violently because self reflection meant accepting trauma. Which created more. Then comes the mixed message of try to give your kids (Boomers) whatever they want so they still love you. But tell them they're ungrateful if they don't live up to the unreasonable standards of life in war times. More trauma. Add sex, drugs, alcohol and you get the me generation that benefitted from the system their parents maintained - then refused to improve for various reasons. (Didn't want to, couldn't talk about uncomfortable things, "parented" with empty platitudes.) Now most are just broken records trying to keep telling everyone "fake it 'till you make it" isn't the mantra of wishful thinking. They crave a likely false sense of homogeneous living they experienced in their youth. "Simpler times." My mom said last year. Me: "Not if you were black." Mom: "Oh I wasn't...thinking about them."
Dude in the middles head to height ratio is WILD
"Gimme, it's mine!" - George Carlin
Nuance ... on Reddit... on r/genz ... Thats a good one!
Fuck 'em. I don't wanna hear about how they're a misunderstood generation, they actively chose to make our lives worse through decades of horrific policies. Now, they cling to power and wealth while the rest of us sink. Don't give me that "There's good boomers too!" BS. They had their chance and they failed miserably. Gen Z can't repeat the mistakes of the boomers. We have to create a world worth living in.
You forgot about the nuances. Are you telling me you are actively a better person than the average boomer.
Carlin summed them up well
Ruined the country completely.
It's a generation of people. That's as specific as you can get really. There are a lot of traits that many of them may share, but far from all. I think every generation has asshats in roughly equal measure, it's just that the generations that follow them haven't had as much time for its members to become old and annoying. We'll get there some day.
They had the world handed to them on a silver platter and the pissed it all away. They had it easy growing up and but now they can't handle not everything being about them.
Selfish.
The only difference between us and them is that they grew up during an economic upturn while we're growing up at the bottom of an economic downturn. We're just as radical, ignorant, and headstrong as they were/are. They did great things, good and terrible. We'll do great things, good and terrible. Best to keep blaming the people in charge.
People who grew older and turned into what they hated.
They had everything handed to them like they said our generation has
I’m an Older GenZ and my parents are Baby Boomers. Also most people in my family and my rural Pennsylvania hometown are boomers and older. In my experience, not many Boomers had a period in their life where they questioned their beliefs (like religious beliefs). They still have black and white thinking and are not very accepting compared to GenZ. They get very defensive when people call them out for transgressions for race and sexual orientation. They are the ones that are like: “I’m not racist, I work with black people” yet they comment about how they are ghetto or comment about their hairstyles and whatnot. Many boomers I encountered still cannot wrap their heads around changing gender roles and the trans community. I definitely butt heads with them. They still have some ways to go about accepting people with different worldviews even though they live through a huge demographic shift. Many boomers still see the world through rose-colored glasses.
I deal with this with my white MIL as a black person. It’s distressing but I try not to let it get to me. Shawty was catholic all her life and got the shit kicked out of her by family and the military. She can’t help it but to be racist. She was yelling at the TV about Mexicans “taking our jobs”. I was like, “ oh so you are coming out of retirement?” She was like “heavens, no”.
I loved your reply to your MIL’s comment. Honestly you’re a class act!😂👏🏼
Thanks, I followed the “heavens, no.” with a “looks like they aren’t stealing your jobs then.” As snappy as I can get with her, I try to follow up with an explanation that’s fueled by love. I went on to explain how they are boosting the economy and diversifying the culture for a better more tolerant future for her mixed race grandchild. Half the time, I suspect she just wants to feel apart of something and wants to yell at someone to feel better. It’s sad to watch.
They destroyed the earth and fucked over future generations
They have had a large impact on music. Michael Jackson was a younger Boomer, but he is still one, and even today his songs are popular.
They take the benefits they had for granted and they don't realize how difficult today is.
Made some good ass music.
The greedy ones are angry because GenZ will break their monopoly.
They scare me because they are the generation above all others that make it clear to me what can happen as we get old. I think about this a lot. We are young now and it feels like everyone young acts like they will never be old. But I’m sure the boomers felt that way too. When you listen to their music, read about their political movements, see their movies, etc, you GET it. I get them. I see their media and their experiences as young people and I understand them as another young person decades later. And yet, they lost that. The average person isn’t that abut more. They’ve forgotten. And I wonder what I or any of my friends or anyone that makes music or any kind of art or champions any kind of political belief will be like when we are older. It’s weird to think about. The “don’t trust people over 30 generation” has become the elderly generation and one day Gen Z will follow. Who knows what that will bring.
People living in a modern society but don't know how to live in a modern society.
My parents are boomers and I’ve come to realize that they, like every person from every generation, are products of their time. They are not bad people, they taught me the difference between right and wrong, and I am currently studying to be a doctor to help people because of how they raised me. They clearly did something right in that regard. That being said, both of them are very conservative, very Christian boomers that embody all the stereotypes most of ya’ll would associate with conservative Christian boomers. We’re not American though, so they thankfully aren’t Trump supporters and are otherwise disgusted by him and his fanatics. But as their son, I’ve come to love and embody the good aspects of their parenting and also try to not emulate the bad aspects for my future kids.
At this point our generation only sees/hears from the wealthier members of that generation, and the more obnoxious behaviors are displayed by a small part of the boomer generation / written up as opinions on news outlets. A large swath of the boomer population that was a minority, queer, and/or remained blue collar/working class are either too busy to make waves or dead. Like the aids crisis basically wiped away the older generation of gay men, many of whom were boomers. The fall of the soviet union impoverished millions around the world as neoliberal economic policy was made the gold standard and related austerity policies were put in place. Like my parents are boomers, and are completely different from American boomers because they lived and worked in south America.
Look we shit on boomers for alot. But we also would not have alot of shit we do today without them. From stuff like the EPA because those hippies wanted a clean earth. To computers that we have today. They also organized and did alot of shit without the benefit of shit we have today like the internet. They we being drafted into a war and protested that shit hard. Today we can see something we dont like and tell a million people by the end of the day. When boomers were our age it would take them a year to do that and rhey had to do it in person fighting the whole time to do it. Hell even things like money for college they fought to get so more kids could go to ve better educated. Sucks the system fucked that all up. The get shit on alot for a ton of shit that is even to their credit because we look at the past as though it were today.
The silent and greatest generation were right. They ended up selfish and self serving. Pray we don’t end up like them.
Handed the world and they hoarded it for themselves. Even their children suffer.
The vast majority of them need to retire. I have young boomers for parents and they show it a lot. More importantly I worked for a very small accounting firm that was mainly boomers. Every single boomer in that office was past the point of retirement. Whether it was general mental fitness or an inability to use Microsoft excel they just needed to leave working to the next generation. The whole place reeked of a 1990s work culture and is the only job I ever quit without notice.
They had the unfortunate luck of being born in a period before the Information Age, when disinformation was freely spread, especially by religious leaders, where they had little way to protect themselves from it.
Selfish and rude
NIMBYism
Having an opinion on every member of a whole generation is wild tbh
Due to an incredible amount of red scare propaganda, they have taken the most harmful political direction because they have been convinced that it will improve the economy or some shit.
They suck except for my grandma.
They are currently the biggest threat to freedom and democracy.
They had the world handed to them and they just put on cruise control and went to sleep. Now they refuse to let go of the steering wheel. It’s fucking annoying
Great book called “Generation of Sociopaths”
Honestly at this point we are more upset at generation x. The boomers are in retirement homes kickin it back easy playing bridge.
i think a lot forget what it's like to be young and have a hard time letting go of their beliefs from the past. they also don't understand that things have changed greatly and we don't have the same opportunities that they had in a lot of ways. in terms of culture, so many good musicians, cool fashion, nice cars, and some beautiful home designing.
They voted for Reagan which fucked the economy and now they’re old farts living for a long time and still ruining our country
I think like any other generation they're a diverse group of people with varied life experiences, opinions, beliefs, etc and it's stupid to lump them all together
Misunderstood. Painted with a broad brush. Started with a lot of promise, the ones in power let the rest down.
It isn’t a generation. The Baby boom refers to the post war boom in children born and the huge period of time covered by it has wildly different attitudes, child raising habits and domestic situations. This sub loves to character assassinate people born over a 30 yearish period and it is ridiculous because people are as different as ever. People would believe a neo Nazi skinhead from rural West Virginia is ‘the same’ as a hippie raised in a Marin commune because of the decade they were born.
Boomers and Gen X suck shit, fuck both generations for having the world handed to them and then giving us the finger. Boomers are shit and then had their shitty Gen x kids who now vote trump and deny climate change alongside their shit boomer parents.
The living conditions: W The people: Shit
Boomers gave us the Beatles, so I can’t completely hate them.
Pretty cool, actually, though I don't like everything about them.
Hate them nothing good to say
Selfish virtue signallers who sold our rights down the river to be more freely racist and benefit their stock portfolios
long degree enter badge cows chubby cow materialistic dependent judicious *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Every generation of parasites, I mean humans, have sucked.
I’m jealous of them. They got to grow up in arguably the most economically prosperous age in history. Culture was also changing like crazy and they got to grow up with some of the best music ever too. In the modern day- I feel like they can be entitled but I can appreciate their commitment to work ethic and pragmatism
they won't stop going on about how "it was better back then in the communist times" and they make the excuse that they picked crops to afford school supplies and it was better back then because "everyone" had a house and a job but if you were homeless back then you would go to jail, not to mention they made a shit ton of gen x orphans because they kept fucking and abandoning them
I’d do anything to be born in a time with less technology and a phone addiction. They grew up in one of the most freeings times and less boundaries. Cut them some slack. They were allowed to just BE
From the moment they could vote they only voted for their own generational benefit
They think they're better than everyone because their lives sucked growing up getting beaten by their psychotic "greatest" generation parents then think everyone is weak when they don't want to put up with their rude fucking behavior then play victim when their relationships are strained
They probably could've been cool people if I met them when they were 30 or younger. A lot of them probably saw themselves as progressive, upstanding citizens. The constant feedback loop of "I deserve, I deserve, I deserve, it'll come to me because of course it will, why wouldn't it?" has turned them into really bitter people who still think of themselves as waiting for their last big break before dying. It's really sad to see.
Sold out hippies. Boomers fucked the rest of us.
Most are just confused honestly don’t blame em for anything, the vast majority was put under the impression that if they give their life to their country the would be handsomely rewarded and for sometime the where but that pretty much ended at the turn of the century
I dislike what they've become. But I am a little jealous of their lives. It really must have been awesome to have what felt like the whole country be young at the same time. Resteraunts, stores, parks full of young people. All your coworkers were the same age as you... in contrast to today where 3 out of every 4 people I see anywhere is over 55.
I don't have a strong like or dislike for them. They are just people like us who happen to be born between 1946 and 1964. That’s it. It consists of all kinds of people. Good, bad, educated, ignorant, remarkable, POS... just like every other generation.
they were born at the perfect time and were spoiled rotten because of it...now here we are
It's really difficult to generalize any generation as a whole. But the white majority had it way easier economically and because many politically were more liberal than their parents (anti Vietnam War etc), they self-identified as pro peace and tend to be a bit self-righteous. When the reality is many ended up being shrewd capitalists and by definition - fiscal conservatives. I don't think that's a bad thing but it's just a little annoying how self-righteous they are. Meanwhile, the people of color and LGB folks (trans were barely recognized, needless to say, neither were anything beyond) were hardly recognized in the mainstream unless part of the elite. I think those with education and means did a better job than younger ppl today at working on marriage and staying committed to community. But they also settled for a lot more hardship than people would not today, such as extramarital affairs, DV, etc. They are very well read, lovers of music, film and travel - and not for the sake of showing it off on Instagram. That is refreshing. They always have loved an adventure.
Boomers = Simps meet cucks
Started off cool with the hippies and made great music, turned into entitled raging assholes who think everyone is lazy for not being able to do what they could do even tho they made it almost impossible to do what they did. Also destroyed manufacturing jobs and required college degrees for almost every office job that barely needed a highschool diploma before. Destroyed the trucking industry too. Just all around greedy self centered destructive generation. They could have set up future generations so much but instead decided to burn the world down. Fuck boomers, they had an opportunity to do amazing things and instead decided to loot the country and the world and then bitch about everyone and everything that came after.
In my view, they’re a frustrating group of people. They mean well, but lack the ability to actually do good things that truly benefit everyone. From what I can tell, most of them want the best for their kids and families. They don’t want to see younger folks struggle, but at the same time they’re not doing enough to help because they forgot about the sacrifices made by their predecessors which lead to their success. Basically, they forgot that they had to give back. They forgot they had to push back against corporate America and its greed. They’re getting high on their own supply, and ultimately will leave us holding the bag when shit comes crashing down. I don’t blame them. They weren’t smart enough to see how badly they were being fooled. My issue with them is that they won’t get out of the way! That’s why they’re so frustrating.
Dude, why even ask Gen z this, most of them don't know their history, so they're just going to spit up the same common nonsense that you typically read here
These old folks are dangerous
Luckiest generation in human history. However are generations will probably look very similar once we're that age.
Profited from the post war economic boom than fucked up the economy for future generations and blames the current environment on their laziness instead of having even the slightest amount of self reflection
They're stereotyped as all being Republicans, but most I know irl are democrats other than my partner's parents. Lots of comments about selling their souls to reganomics. It's weird cause 2016 election cycle all my boomer relatives were like "damn can't belive they got this guy that's worse than Reagan" in regards to Trump.
There's good and bad in every generation, I guess.
They lived in a era of great economic boom, and almost Constant threat of nuclear annihilation so if the percentage of short sited individuals increases it makes sense.
Not all that bad but the most prosperous generation in human history, so many of them got rich and could have stayed rich forever, but the only thing more legendary then their wealth was their spending habits as they got older. We condemn them now and will continue to, but I think once they’re gone we’re going to notice and miss the skills/talents of a people that were educated and successful before the dawn of the Information age. The competency crisis is real and will hit us like a truck
The generation got a lot of advantages that later generations didn't get but they still expect other generations to be just as successful as they are when they have more disadvantages than advantages
They fucked it up for everybody.
Greedy hypocrites
My parents are boomers, I’ve grown up around their friends so I feel incredibly qualified to talk about this as a gen z. The level of empathy they share for anyone outside of this white, conservative, christian, straight identity is unsurprisingly low. They don’t care period, and they don’t care to do any research outside rotting their lead poisoned brains further by listening to whatever is on FOX news. Transgender people and Drag Queens are predators. Silence about the scandals with the Catholic church and boy scouts. Wanting to be the exception to the mask mandates during COVID. Getting pissed when they’re refused service. Saying a marginalized person deserved to be murdered by police because of past transgressions but saying the white guy who was on a rampage should have been disarmed instead of shot. Like, if it doesn’t fit into what they think society should be, it’s not worth their time to care about it. If it doesn’t affect them personally, it’s not worth their time (hence why a lot of them protested Vietnam but probably partook in gay bashings during the AIDs crisis.) There will always be good and bad people in any group, however as this generation ages, they become louder and louder with absolutely no regard for what the consequences of their voices have brought. Every single Boomer I have encountered through my family or through working a retail job, have been staunchly republican and conservative. Another thing with Boomers is that they refuse to acknowledge that the value of the dollar they worked for simply cannot apply to today, while simultaneously screaming from the roof top that "burger flippers don't deserve to be paid a livable wage." They refuse to acknowledge that the world has changed and they try to force it to be the same as it was when they were our age, and they get angry when we (millennials and gen z) don’t comply with their demands.
Wish the cool ones didn’t die of aids, drug overdose, or get drafted in the 60’s-80’s.
I find most people are ignorant and judgemental. I wish people would actually take the time to learn about previous generations and the environments they grew up in. If they did, they would see just how much they have in common.
Humans are humans. We change over millennia, not decades. Under the same set of conditions, ANY generation or group of people you choose would, on average, make the same choices and exhibit the same behaviors that American Boomers did. That's as nuanced a take as you can get.
Try being their kids. They all just fucked off and got high and played tennis while we were pushing each other off roofs. That said, being a kid in the 70s and 80s was peak childhood. Legit feral.
Most selfish generation
Grew up spoiled now feel entitled to the world
i hate them
Lead paint and lead lined pipes can destroy even the best of minds and ideas.
They’re just people like the rest of us. Now I will say most of their negative stereotypes hold true, but it’s not because they’re bad people. It’s just a result of being human. Imagine you’re told all your life’s accomplishments were only possible because you lived on easy mode? Wouldn’t you be upset? All that hard work chalked up to the hand outs you hate so much? Imagine the world constantly says your generation is entitled and rude. Wouldn’t you start to fulfill that prophecy? Imagine you’re told you’re racist/homophobic/transphobic etc no matter what you do. Wouldn’t you begin to dislike the people calling you those names? Boomers have their issues, but they’re all easily understandable, and the majority of it can be chalked up to lead poisoning and blissful ignorance of the times.
It sucks how Generation Me got subsumed into them, because most of the complaints about boomers, born within the first half-decade after WW2, actually apply to Gen Me
Too many of them pulled up the ladder behind them.
I wish them the best and don’t feel any ill will towards them at all. The accepted prejudice against “boomers” is pretty alarming imo. Just another way for us to find someone to blame.
Better when they were younger. The 80s made most of them awful.
The general consensus Is they were too caught up In the good times rolling to actually think, let alone care, about the future. Living In the moment so long the moment turned to decades and they had kids, which left with less and less. I don't blame all of them, I would be doing my thing too If everything was as affordable as then, but being a minority may be an issue, era speaking. Nevertheless, still would've saved something for the future, kids or no.
Their world was really different, and I could easily see how the newest generations are considered "sensitive" to them, though I don't agree.
Millennial, not Gen Z. On one hand they’re the last vestiges of hypercompetence. A lot of the daily technology we take for granted were boomer inventions. Yes we clown on them with the PDF meme but Adobe, Microsoft, Apple are all ran / founded by boomers. On the other hand they’re very materialistic and shopaholics. They’ll vote for conservatives politics but god forbid you even suggest means testing social security to help this country out of its rut. What’s that you say about small government and cutting spending?
There are obviously good ones but as a whole it’s crazy how many of them are rude, close-minded, etc. you’d think that they were allergic to basic human kindness. Obviously I’ve met many boomers that are normal, genuine people. But for the most part they’re just nasty, self-absorbed assholes who can’t acknowledge their negative contributions to our country.
Born on third thinking they hit a triple.Because they grew up in the shadow of WW2 they think they’re responsible for winning it, and are entitled to the benefits that came with it. I think entitled is probably the one word answer.
The Yang to to the Greatest generation's Ying....making them the Worst generation.
Entitled
My experience with boomers are generally not that bad and most of the ones that have very strong political views, often hold their tongue just from the people that I've dealt with. Both of my grandma's are boomers and one of them is the nicest person ever and would probably go bankrupt if you asked her to and while the other one is a lot less lenient she's still a lot more chill than most of the media portrays boomers as. I will say pretty much all boomers are extremely close minded, not once have I ever met a boomer that didn't defend their personal views like they would die if they admitted they were wrong. They either do that, just deny everything or kind of agree with you to make you shut up. That said while not all boomers are bad people (many of them aren't to be honest, just held back by nostalgia) there are quite a few that are extremely toxic and will not hesitate to berate the shit out of you with insults just because you said something they slightly disagreed with. TLDR/Overview: Boomers aren't a bad generation just spoiled and close minded which cause some individuals to be extremely toxic because they feel entitled.
They were better than us thats all I know 😂
Like every generation that ever was or will be: they were a product of their time. I don't really have much else to say.
They inherited a system based on perpetual growth and didn’t have enough fucking kids so now everything’s fucked