A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America

[dogknob]

https://www.vox.com/2017/12/20/16772670/baby-boomers-millennials-congress-debt

The baby boomers are conventionally defined as people born between 1946 and 1964. But I focus on the first two-thirds of boomers because their experiences are pretty homogeneous: They were raised after the war and so have no real experience of trauma or the Great Depression or even any deprivation at all. More importantly, they never experienced the social solidarity that unfolded during war time and that helped produce the New Deal.

...

I think there were a number of unusual influences, some of which won't be repeated, and some of which may have mutated over the years. I think the major factor is that the boomers grew up in a time of uninterrupted prosperity. And so they simply took it for granted. They assumed the economy would just grow three percent a year forever and that wages would go up every year and that there would always be a good job for everyone who wanted it.

This guy would have liked my boomer mom. She used to say that post-war actors were inferior because they had never actually experienced suffering; they had to make it up and it showed.
...

This is a generation that is dominated by feelings, not by facts. The irony is that boomers criticize millennials for being snowflakes, for being too driven by feelings. But the boomers are the first big feelings generation. They’re highly motivated by feelings and not persuaded by facts. And you can see this in their policies.

Oh yeah. Big Time.
...

More than voting, though, millennials have to run for office because people have to be excited about the person they’re voting for. We need people in office with a different outlook, who see the world differently. Boomers don’t care about how the country will look in 30 or 40 years, but millennials do, and so those are the people we need in power.

"I don't care 'cuz I'll be dead by then." Yep. Heard this A LOT -- from GenX'ers too.

https://www.vox.com/2017/12/20/16772670/baby-boomers-millennials-congress-debt

Some good points here. I have been consistently found myself on the millennial side of the fence. This interview has a few holes in it, but maybe the book is better.

BTW I'm GenX, born the night of Altamont.

[Soxfan58]

1. Being a boomer!

Last edited Thu Mar 15, 2018, 06:22 AM - Edit history (1)

I have to completely agree. The generation of love and peace, turned into greed and war.

[Freedomofspeech]

51. I have been saying that for years.

[MontanaMama]

2. Interesting post.

I was born in 1964 and I don't have much in common with Boomers in terms of ideology and don't identify with them at all. Probably because I'm at the tail end of that generation. That aside, my son is 12 years old and I'm watching him and his classmates today at their planned walk out and I decided that this generation should be called The Accountants. They will hold this country accountable for the world we have handed them. Mark my words!

[yurbud]

24. funny thing is, "boomer" has sometimes been defined to include me AND my mom...

I think of myself as a tail-boomer or a nose-Xer.

Probably more of the latter because I have done things that I thought were quirky and highly idiosyncratic, and a few years later, everybody was doing it.

[MontanaMama]

43. You trendsetter you!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

55. In reality, you are not a Boomer.

Unfortunately, the Boomer generation is usually defined by the peak years of births. Please read Generations by William Strauss and Neil Howe. They make a strong case for a generation being defined by common experiences, and in their view the Boomer generation is from 1943-1960. Too young to recall WWII, old enough to have at least faint memories of the JFK assassination.

It is one of the best books I've ever read. It's all I can do not to force copies into people's hands. In all the years I've been promoting this book here I have once and only once had someone respond they've read it.

It's not a quick read. The subtitle is: The history of America's future, 1584 to 2069.

It came out in 1992 and is as spot-on accurate, in my opinion, as it was a quarter of a century ago. Please read it.

[MontanaMama]

66. Thanks PO, for the recommendation.

I’ll look for the book, it sounds fascinating. Just the subtitle has me intrigued.

[TuxedoKat]

96. I read it

I also read The Fourth Turning. Agree with most of what they say, except for the years for Boomers that they say define common experience. I think 1944 to 1963 are about right for the Boomer Generaton. Most Boomers recall JFK, RFK and MLK assassinations, the space race and 1969 moon walk, Kent State, war protests and Woodstock. If you remember these you are a Boomer in my book. The later ones born in the '60s no doubt have some Gen X tendencies though. Boomers are even divided into two groups, early Boomers and later Boomers, called Generation Jones by some.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

97. Yes, I have also read The Fourth Turning.

It's likewise wonderful.

I will make the case for the end year of Boomer birth to be 1960, as someone born that year has at least a half-way decent chance of remembering the JFK assassination, which Strauss and Howe consider the defining event for that generation.

I have occasionally gotten into rather strong discussions with people born in 1964 who think they are Boomers. Unfortunately, most designations of the Boomer generation go through 1964, because all they are looking at is the large number of births in the postwar period 1946-1964. But Strauss and Howe make a very strong case for generational experiences. I believe they go into that aspect more thoroughly in Generations.

Those born in the second half of the 60's are not Boomers. They are GenXers, although that term seems to have disappeared in recent years, which I find disturbing. I'm not sure if everyone is trying to pretend GenXers aren't still with us, or if they've simply been subsumed into the Millennial generation, which is very, very wrong for lots of reasons.

If you decide to read Generations, be aware that in that book they are calling GenXers Thirteeners, because that was the 13th generation since the beginning of their generational descriptions. A few other minor changes happened as they refined their theory in The Fourth Turning, but the earlier book is wonderful for giving a strong foundation to their whole theory, encompassing 500 years.

[TuxedoKat]

98. OK

I think you missed where I said I had read Generations, as you said, "if you decide to read Generations". I said I read that one and The Fourth Turning too, and I also read some of Millenials Rising. It has been so long since I read them though, I should reread them as I've forgotten a lot. Generations was so relevatory to me when I read it, I recommended it to quite a few people too and still do when the chance comes up.

I agree, people born in the mid '60s are definitely not Boomers.

I wish I could remember the name of the author or book but a few years back I had a conversation with a staunch conservative Evangelical Christian who told me about a book he'd recently read that sounded to me like a watered down version of Generations. Everything he told me about it sounded like it came straight from Generations, but it was a different author. I'll have to track down the name of that book.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

106. Apologies for not reading your post carefully.

I am not aware of that other book. Let me know if you do track it down.

[TuxedoKat]

109. No problem

I will ask my sister-in-law as her father was the one who I discussed it with and get back to you.

[gopiscrap]

105. thanks

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Nice way to find another argument for dividing people rather than bringing them together.

Not all of us baby boomers are selfish, entitled jerks. We are also the ones who were getting killed and injured by the thousands in Vietnam and who came out by the thousands to protest that war. We are the people who stood up for the civil rights movement and the women's movements of the '60s and '70s. This article is a bunch of divisive bullcrap. All generations need to work together to clean up the mess.

[dhill926]

6. Thank you...

jesus christ...

[Bradshaw3]

8. Spot on!

And no suffering? We lost 50,000 baby boomers in a stupid war, with millions of others suffering from PTSD, Agent Orange, etc.
POC in most places were discriminated against for much of their lives. We saw people like JFK, RFK, MLK and the kids at Kent State and Jackson State gunned down; the first generation to grow up knowing they and everyone they know could die in a nuclear war (came close to happening over Cuba) and that feeling was always present, along with many other negatives of growing up in the 60s I could name.

Generalizations are stupid for any individual or generation.

[raccoon]

21. Well said! I'm tired of this idiot dissing the boomers. Nt

[dawg day]

73. He's a minion of Peter Thiel...

who destroyed Gawker.

I don't have a lot of respect for the quality of thought involved here, but the provenance definitely goes to someone who wants to make young people feel victimized and powerless and hating, so that they won't bother to vote... because they'll likely vote Democrat. Don't fall for the fomenting of generational warfare.

[Wwcd]

28. Thank you. Vietnam, women's rights that apparently are being taken quite for granted

VIETNAM.
ffs
"We are also the ones who were getting killed and injured by the thousands in Vietnam and who came out by the thousands to protest that war.

We are the people who stood up for the civil rights movement and the women's movements of the '60s and '70s."

Not to mention the greatest rock n roll music of all time.
And we did it all without smartphones & social media at the touch.

"This article is a bunch of divisive bullcrap."

The ignorance & insult of this article is astonishing.

[MBS]

111. Plus environmental activism, too.

Sure, some of us went bad, as in every generation; and others (see: Cadet Bone Spurs) were always clueless. But these were and are the minority.

All of my friends and most of my classmates have lived their lives with strong ideals, and maintain those ideals to this day. Many of us have made considerable personal and financial sacrifices in our commitment to those ideals.

As Wwcd listed, and including also my addendum , there is a long list of boomer achievements that succeeding generations should be grateful for. To repeat and expand on Wwcd's list, and including also my earlier post and other remarks on this thread: Thank us for our commitment to civil rights progress; anti-war activism; great music; progress in women's rights and other gender issues; holistic, integrative approaches to childbirth; committed, attentive parenting; growth of organic food and organic and native plant gardening as almost-mainstream parts of our culture; and (until the monstrous regime of Scott Pruitt,Cadet Bone Spurs, et al.) real progress in cleaning up chemical pollution in our air, water,soil, and commercial products.

I'm proud to be a boomer:and I'm very very tired of the BS. Every time this thread shows up in my feed, I get infuriated all over again.

[Wwcd]

113. It does nothing but show the blatant & absolutle ignorance of a certain segment of our populace

Last edited Sun Mar 18, 2018, 05:19 PM - Edit history (1)

The group that is out here emphasizing this insulting ignorant lie sounds exactly like ghe 2015/16 trolls & bots who resorted to derogatory name calling, shouted their purity over reasonable voices & all the while hiding their own history of faults.

This divisive broad brushed sh*t should never have a place on this site.

Party division is their only goal.
That is why we have trump.
And that is exactly what the writers of this type of article intended it to be.

To divide off a future voting block.
Adolph Hitler did the exact same thing. He indoctrinated youth, from young school age to young adult.
His intent was to erase any thinking but his own fascism, so when his Reich was complete he was guarenteed to have a future of citizens educated in the propaganda that fascism was the true govt.

The division of the millenniel & youth voters in 2015/16 & still now, with messages like this one, is indeed intended to do the same.

It is designed & implemented precisely by Putin's fascist playbook.

This has no place in DU.

The enemy of Fascism is a free society.
Indoctrination thru propaganda is how they divide.

Of course they will find it easier to influence the youth rather than try to change the minds of those who remember, have fought hard for & know how fragile that free society is.

The young would do well to study just how fascism took hold & how it indoctrinated young generations.

I sincerely hope they someday will not come to realize they were naively duped by false prophets, and gave it all away.

They will never ever get it back again.

"You don't know what you've got till its gone", comes to mind...

Who is it that's pushing this divisive propaganda, anyway.?
Where does this article posted here, originate?

It does have a point of origin & we owe it to this country to know who is driving this message.

Thanks for your post & your awareness MBS.

[greatauntoftriplets]

32. Well stated.

I'll let you speak for me because I couldn't possibly be as nice as you.

[Wwcd]

33. This author should be banned from DU.

Total bullshit.

[greatauntoftriplets]

40. The most arrogant, self-entitled person I ever met was born in 1968.

Of course there are idiots in the boomer generation, exactly like there are in every generation since the dawn of humanity.

[Wwcd]

50. Exactly. Thanks for making that point clear.

This is intended to divide off a generation. From all that came before them.

Key giveaway is blaming an entire group & smearing them & leaving the readers with the belief that these people of this great generation did nothing.

Name, blame & denigrate.
That is what Putin did to the 2016 election to seat Trump.

Its a big fat lie.

[dawg day]

74. Trump comes to mind... LOL.

But you know, not to generalize (As I generalize)-- the wealthy -- it doesn't matter when they were born. Most of them are awful people.

[dameatball]

38. yep

[elleng]

39. THANKS, Ocelot!

[MBS]

42. Thank you. Also, organic food and environmental movement, natural childbirth. .

So tired of this s___

[fleabiscuit]

53. Yup. Nice bit of work on that book from a f'king hedge fund manager. nt

[radical noodle]

68. Thank you!

I totally agree.

[dawg day]

72. I remember in 2002 going to an antiwar demonstration...

There were TWO young people.
Everyone else was over 50... that is, boomers. Many of us don't want young people to suffer.

The young people today were chanting, "Hey, Hey, NRA, how many kids did you kill today?"

When I was protesting Vietnam, we chanted, "Hey, hey, LBj, how many kids did you kill today?

Activism today has learned from the activism of baby boomers. I led a walkout of my high school in 1971 to protest that war. I don't think I'm a sociopath, or ever was. I think people like me are the wise elders who can teach great chants.

[apcalc]

78. Agree, divisive idiotic bull

We fought the Civil rights movement, began the latest Women’s movement, started almost ALL environmentalism, protection of clean air, water, have made tremendous advances in science as well, protested an unjust war.

I could argue that this youngest generation has brought back terrible things I thought I’d never see again- the rise of the young nazis, angry white males who shoot up schools with guns to name two.

This Book serves no useful purpose. If you think you are somehow better a generation, you need to live it. Come back to me in 50 years. Indeed, I see terrible trends in today’s youth. But also some wonderful things starting , brought out to combat these sicknesses.

Your strengths and frailties WILL show over time.

So, what’s the ultimate goal of this author ( seriously, have you seen his bio? Your taking advice from this guy? That’s scary.)

To make it easy to divide and conquer? Pit one generation against another so it will be easy to throw people under the bus?
There are devious bastards out there.

[elehhhhna]

81. It's the wealthy and not the boomers. What bullshit. Stop.

If I posted Why the young are collectively a bunch of fuckups peope l would go ape here. Just stop.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

83. Did you intend to respond to the OP?

[elehhhhna]

92. Yes 👍 oops

[ms liberty]

107. Well said. When I see this divisive bullshit here now

My first thought is always, The Hill, Politico or Vox? It is usually one of them, unless it's some blogger I've never heard of.

[Locrian]

4. generally some good points

But the book was (rambling) terrible.

My main issue I have with it though is that he isolates a group as if the previous generation etc had no influence on the upbringing, etc.

So the "greatest" generation coming home from ww2 with PTSD (never talked about), the desire to give their kids a "better" life etc - never gets mentioned.

It was the same time as increases in predatory marketing, tv, etc - and he seems to feedback that as a *result* of the boomers, not an influence.

[dogknob]

15. Good eye.

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. His mini bio clues us in.

Bruce Cannon Gibney is an American writer and venture capitalist. He was one of the first investors at PayPal, and went on to work for PayPal founder Peter Thiel's hedge fund Clarium and his venture capital company Founders Fund.

His first book, A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America, was published by Hachette in 2015.

a hatchet job indeed.

Our generation called selfish by a venture capitalistic , is like the shark calling a tuna selfish for not jumping into its mouth.

[ollie10]

5. So it is an entire generation of sociopaths?

Does anyone think that over-generalizations this huge might be just a wee bit contrived?

[GeorgeGist]

7. Just what we need ...

more broadbrush bullshit to divide us even more.

[Binkie The Clown]

9. No generation since the great depression knows what real economic suffering is.

Yes, there are many individuals who suffer economically, but as an aggregate, neither the boomers (or pre-boomers like myself) nor the children and grandchildren of the boomers, has experienced any kind of mass deprivation.

Born and raised in a technological wonderland and surrounded by the energy equivalent of a couple hundred slaves working around the clock for each and every one of us, we have never tilled the land like our lives depend on it, or hewn logs to build shelter. Not one of us has to walk three miles for a jug of clean water, or empty our chamber pots into the gutter.

Throughout all of human history we of the late 20th and early 21st century are the most privileged, pampered, and coddled people that have ever existed. And for one group of privileged, pampered, coddled, spoiled rotten people to throw blame at a very slightly older group of privileged, pampered, coddled, spoiled rotten people is to expose a woefully lacking understanding of history, and a shameful lack of perspective on the global human condition in general.

[DURHAM D]

10. Tripe on DU. What a shock. nt

[Mountain Mule]

11. Sociopath here, weighing in

I'm fed up with this intergenerational warfare that is being instigated by clueless people of all ages. Not every last Millenial is a socially inept slacker who lives in their parents' basement. Nor is every boomer a selfish sociopath. We do happen to care very deeply about what will happen to our children and grandchildren and want to leave them a planet still fit for habitation and a country that still can lay a valid claim to being a democracy.

The words, "I don't care 'cuz I'll be dead by then" enrage me almost as much as being accused of having such an attitude since I'm 66 and therefore, a sociopath by definition.

I have been doing everything I can to get people to understand the horrific future that will descend if we continue to do nothing about climate change. Dr. James Hansen (climate scientist and among the first to give out the warning of global warming) has spent at least 40 years of his life and gave up his position at NASA in order to lead the charge to save our planet. Dr. Hansen is desperately concerned for his children and grandchildren. I go up into the Colorado mountains and cry when I see the forests dying. Neither Dr. Hansen nor I will be around when it all really falls apart, but we still care and care desperately that action will be taken in time to avoid even more suffering than what is going on already globally.

I go out and plant trees that I will never see when they are fully grown on a property that I only rent - not own. I do this because it's my way of leaving a gift for the generations which will follow us "sociopaths." I vote democratic and walk around canvassing my neighbors in red rural Colorado because I want to feel that the country which has given my generation so much will continue to exist for the generations to come.

[dogknob]

16. Good on you :)

[Sophia4]

12. I'm 1943. There is a huge difference between those of us born of parents

who lived through the Depression but did not fight in WWII and those born of the veterans who came home from WWII.

Those veterans were in many cases injured in their psyches and souls, and they sometimes made very bad parents. A lot of the children of those war veterans suffered from the fact that their parents had not lived peaceful, normal lives.

That's how I explain Reagan and maybe even Nixon to some extent.

We did not know what PTSD really was until after WWII. Then we found out. Horrors!

[dixiegrrrrl]

35. Also an advantage by being raised in the family of Great Depression survivors.

Much common sense, thrifty behavior to be passed down, for which I am grateful to my Grandmother and mother.

Not all of us who lived in the admittedly Golden generation got to enjoy much of it any more than these people did
in a earlier generation.

[flotsam]

41. Neither Nixon nor Reagan ever saw combat...N/T

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

56. So true.

There is a huge difference between those of us born of parents who lived through the Depression but did not fight in WWII and those born of the veterans who came home from WWII.

Something else. I used to read old Life Magazines, starting with the first issue which (I'm sure you already know) was in November, 1936. I read them sequentially. I made it up through March of 1945, and I'm still wondering how the War ended. (A bit of sarcasm there.)

One of the many things I learned in reading them was that the WWII generation, the so-called "Greatest Generation" (a misnomer of a large order) was not filled with patriotic, self-sacrificing heroes. There were good and bad as in any generation. But here's what I really got. Even before the War ended, they were gearing up to spend in a way that had never been seen before. They'd been through the Depression when pretty much no one had any money. Then, just as things started to get better we got into the War, and almost all consumer spending was put on hold. All the way through the War, Life magazine was full of advertisements from every single company out there either telling housewives things like how to make their sheets last the War, or promising that when the War was over they'd be able to watch their favorite entertainers on television. And buy cars. And homes. And nylon stockings. And silverware they'd registered for when getting married but had been unobtainable.

It was blindingly obvious that as soon as the War ended, as soon as the servicemen came home, as soon as women left the jobs they'd held during the war, as soon as they started having babies, they'd be buying homes and cars and every single thing that they'd done without for so long.

It was that generation, not the Baby Boomers, who started the cycle of spending, that Boomers are blamed for.

However, Reagan never saw combat. Nor did Nixon. So their flaws cannot be blamed on PTSD, but rather their own inherent character.

[Sophia4]

70. The PTSD was not uncommon in those who voted for Reagan and Nixon, not in

Reagan and Nixon themselves.

I babysat for a children whose fathers had fought in WWII. Lots of alcoholism. Lots of problems. Lots of anger. (in the parents of the children I babysat and many of those parents were WWII veterans)

[dawg day]

75. good points--

My parents were too young to serve in WW2, but I had friends who had fathers who served, and some of the fathers were really abusive, though we didn't think of it that way then. I remember one girl who was so excited and happy when she was given a puppy-- and woke up the next morning (I'm not making this up) to find that her WWII vet father had strangled the puppy because it had been crying all night.
19 year olds in war -- some grow up to be 35 year olds with really bad mental problems, and that's something we boomers were quiet about-- many parents of that time were frankly abusive. I'll never forget a boy in my class, whose father objected to his long hair, and belted him to a chair and forcibly shaved his head. The boy came to school with all these cuts on his bare skull, and his father felt like this was all justifiable.

Child abuse, to tell the truth, was legal and even encouraged in the 60s.

[Sophia4]

87. My father was great. He did not serve for several reasons including health, but when I took

my oldest daughter back to the "old neighborhood" in which I had grown up and told her the stories about the people, mostly the fathers, in my neighborhood, she was horrified. I had never thought that much about it. I just thought my parents were great people. But as I grew older and learned more about PTSD especially after the Viet Nam War, I realized how severely some of my neighbors in my childhood suffered from that terrible condition. One of them had murdered his wife, the mother of my childhood friends, and he was only one. There was a lot of pent-up anger in these men who raised some of the baby boomers. Lots of alcoholism. Lots of problems. There were many heroes, but also many very difficult men.

[DonCoquixote]

13. I can slam the villains whoo happpen to be boomers, but

Demonzing a generation just smacks of the same infighting that kept the old, pale men in power. Yes, I do get tired of Gen X beign called slackers, and the umpteen "millennial are ruining everything" speeches, done by a some in a generation who love polishing their tin halos, who often are typically the same folks that slam any of the boomers that DID keep their ideals. However, this gen X kid does not want us to sail into the rocks, we will need everyone, from boomer to millennial to gen Z, to fight, especially as the ones that love to split us up are the same slime that bubble up in every generation, to maintain the pain.

[brush]

14. What an uninformed, no-knowledge-of-history post. There is and always has been a dichotomy in...

Last edited Wed Mar 14, 2018, 11:06 PM - Edit history (5)

the Boomer generation. Why do you think the '60s were so turbulent? There were and are activists (us) who later became Democrats/progressives opposing the young republicans on the other side who became the conservative, right wing repugs, alt-right, neo-nazis who voted in Nixon, Reagan, Daddy Bush, W and now trump.

Do not, do not equate my half of the boomer generation with those KKK, alt-wrong, nazi deplorables.

Know this about the woke, socially conscious half of the boomer generation:

Kent State, Jackson State, Selma, Detroit, dying in Vietnam, Watts riot, Newark riots, police riots at political conventions, assassinations of King, JFK, Malcolm, RKF, the draft, dying in 'Nam, coming back from 'Nam and being spit on and called baby killers, Hoover and Cointelpro spying on King and infiltrating the original Black Panthers, racist cops brutalizing the black community (the reason for the founding of the original Panthers. Yeah, that's still going and why aren't you protesting?), Reagan and his "ketchup is a vegetable stinginess, Students for a Democratic Society, Brown Berets, Womens' Liberation, Cesar Chavez and the grape boycott, recessions over and over—that is what we went through, not to mention Bush and Cheney and now trump.

If the premise of the links/article is that the entire Baby Boomer generation is responsible for those poor repug presidents who destroyed unions, started historic wall street collapses, two wars and the Great Recession and the debacle that is the trump admin, the writers needs to fire their researchers and start over with a sounder, more knowledgeable and less amateurish premise.

Who do you think the opposing sides were in all the above mentioned conflicts—civil rights marchers and freedom riders both black and white, demonstrators of all colors were protesting against the war vs the other half of the generation who sided with Nixon and Reagan and HW Bush and W Bush.

We were/still are a split generation ideologically and still fighting, our side for justice and social safety nets and the other side for selfishness and greed, just as the current millennial and Gen X generation likes to portray themselves as fighting against.

The thing is though, the millennials and Gen Xers don't seem to go out in the street and fight (except for their kid brothers and sisters still in high school who know how to fight)—keyboard warriors are you, except for Antifa and you're afraid of them because why? Please tell me. Maybe you don't know Antifa stands for anti-fascists and they're on your side against the alt-right, nazi, KKK, fascist goons.

And don't tell me no millennials and Gen Xers voted for trump or Stein either and helped the orange bozo get in. Get from behind your keyboards and get in the streets. Show some guts like your kid brothers and sisters in high school who are in the streets this very day protesting against trump, the repugs and their NRA paymasters. And in the case of Gen Xers, your kids.

This boomer did his part, along with many other boomers on campuses and in the streets in the '60s against the war, when King and Malcolm were shot, started Black Student Unions and community organizations; in the 70s at the Jonathan Jackson/Angela Davis rallies for George Jackson (get yourself some history here. https://blackamericaweb.com/2014/08/07/little-known-black-history-fact-jonathan-jackson-and-angela-davis/); in demonstrations in New York in the 80s, 90s and 2000s against the Iraq war (New York and DC), in Las Vegas in protests against trump at his building here.

And I've always wondered where were the activists and protestors from the Gen Xers and millennials who followed us? Campuses and the streets have been quiet for 20-30 years. Where the hell are you?

It's ok though. Relax. Stay behind your keyboards. The high schoolers have got this. Let 'em show you how.

[dogknob]

19. Of course many people did (and do) their part

...and of course there are plenty of GenX'ers and millenials who voted for Herr Püßengröper. A good number of us are cynical enough to "supplement our incomes in the new Gig Economy" by becoming paid trolls while we get our MBAs.

Speaking on behalf of those of us who survived an education that tried to teach us that the only things worth noting about the 60s are drugs; The Grateful Dead; and Manson (it reeeeeeaaaally irritates me that so many millenials seem to idolize that fucker), we are well aware of what you did. We are well aware of the treason, assassinations, selective law-enforcement, and (later) historical revisionism used to stop you. Many of your peers gave up and became part of the problem. Obviously you did not.

It surprises me how many people half (or less than half) my age approach me with questions about what really went on during a period of time that took place largely before I was even born.

Thanks for your post.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

31. THANK YOU.

[trotsky]

17. Not to say there aren't plenty of good Boomers, but yeah, it rings true to this Gen-Xer too.

Another thing a lot of Boomers don't seem to appreciate is that the folks before them just didn't live that long, so they vacated jobs earlier, leaving SO MANY opportunities for the Boomers. Now, they're living longer AND clinging to those jobs as long as they can, forcing us Xers to stagnate.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

18. Why do you think so many Boomers are hanging onto their jobs

instead of retiring or dying like they're supposed to? Could it be because they lost their savings, their homes, their pensions and their IRAs during the great recession and can't afford to retire? Many also lost their jobs, and good luck to anyone over over 50 getting hired to be anything but a Wal-Mart greeter. So there are all these Boomers who stubbornly refuse to quit whatever job they might still be able to hold onto instead of dying so some younger people can have their jobs? Shame on us.

[dawg day]

60. Also, very few of us have pensions anymore.

I'd love to retire, but I don't see a time when I can, as my retirement savings and SS will probably be $1500 a month. My father (a "Depression baby&quot retired at 63 with a pension payment of $2200 a month (and almost as much in SS), and he's almost 90 and still collecting that.

I would have quit early too, if I had the assurance of that income for the rest of my life.

[trotsky]

84. Not from what I've seen.

Again, I don't tar the whole generation with the same brush. There are certainly plenty of boomers who haven't been able to extract as much from the system. But in the jobs I've had, the places I've worked, that's what I've seen. Not every hippie remained true to their roots, sadly.

[greatauntoftriplets]

36. I was fired from my job of more than 16 years at age 62 while recovering from surgery.

No pension other than Social Security and I did not get any of the 32 weeks severance pay that I had earned. So I had to take a lesser amount of Social Security early to be able to pay my bills.

[brush]

49. See posts 14 and 18. And with a screen name like that...

Last edited Wed Mar 14, 2018, 10:45 PM - Edit history (1)

[trotsky]

85. Your posts 14 and 18 are answered quite simply by the first phrase of my post.

"Not to say there aren't plenty of good Boomers"

And my screen name has nothing to do with Leon Trotsky. Sorry it's misleading.

[Skittles]

20. enough of this garbage

STOP STEREOTYPING

[world wide wally]

22. I'm a boomer (although a very immature one...still)

I am wondering WTF happened myself. We were the generation that was going to save the world. We stopped a fucking war and had some of the best music ever dreamed of. We worked to pass civil rights and even the Equal Rights Amendment. We forced Nixon to resign. We were really quite good.
Then, as best as I can remember, Reagan came along and way too many of us changed into bigoted old white guys practically overnight.

Did I miss something?

Anyway, my money is on the kids finishing our job this time.
I hope!

[brush]

45. Wrong. See post #14.

[world wide wally]

63. I saw post 14 and it is pretty much what I said with a lot more words

[brush]

64. You missed the part where the boomers have always been a split generation.

A great many of us kept out progressive worldview and still battle with the bigoted old white men from the other half of the generation who only win elections by treason and cheating.

[world wide wally]

67. I agree with you.

I just thought we had a brighter future than it turned out. I always thought we had them outnumbered.

[malthaussen]

25. Two words: Paul Ryan. n/t

[spooky3]

26. Every word is true

And women are too emotional to lead
And blacks are lazy
And Jews are greedy

Etc.



It is the same thing.

This hateful and ignorant author merely wants to sell books and get speaking gigs.

[Anon-C]

27. Yep. And Im not a hater of any category of course plenty...

...of good Boomers here. Yes we want to bring people together.


Howsomeverly...THIS is a truth important to share and a big part of getting things right. Im Gen X and the indignation I feel towards Boomers as a generation is righteous.

If they aren't willing to listen who would be surprised? Right?

[brush]

44. You're way wrong. See post #14.

[Anon-C]

48. I appreciate your post and I agree with your point about that dichotomy.

I don't know if I'm way wrong but I accept I was overly broad in my critique.

[pamdb]

29. Boomer here

I was born in 1951 so I am a boomer. I am also a liberal democrat with a slight tilt towards socialism. The only 2 republicans I ever voted for in my life were Paul Henry, back in the 1970's who was a representative from my area and Gerald Ford because I hadn't really paid too much attention that year and Ford was from my hometown so I figured what the hell. I always vote democrat. I would love to see the 2nd amendment repealed, I think we have shown as a people we neither intelligent nor developed enough to handle guns. As far as guns go I think it should be a privilege and not a right. I donate to charities, albeit only animal charities and we only have rescue dogs. I hate trump and his cadre of misfits, Zinke is going to destroy the environment and how the hell you can seriously deny climate change is beyond me.

The only time I use the phrase "I'll be dead by then" is when I'm dealing with health problems. Like, how long does a hip replacement have to last. I'll be dead in 20 years. That sort of thing. I hate it when they talk about old white
people supporting republicans, NONE of my friends (and we're all in our mid 60's) vote republican. We all despise trump.

[klook]

30. This Peter Thiel associate is

trying to amplify generational divisions. Why, I wonder?

A key cornerstone of the Libertarian project is to eliminate Social Security and Medicare, both age-related social insurance programs and shining examples of Democratic Party achievement.

If younger Americans can be convinced that everyone of age to receive those benefits is a selfish freeloader, then they'll gladly take part in dismantling them.

And if older Americans can be convinced that they don't need to worry, because their benefits will be protected while they're snatched from younger generations, the Koch Brothers and their kindred vultures are happy.

That's why I'm fighting against this narrative. It's complete bullshit. Please delete this OP.

I'm fighting to save Social Security and Medicare, for my children, my nieces and nephews, and their children -- and all Americans in their generations.

Need I point out how ridiculous it is for this rich-guy venture capitalist to call me a sociopath, because of my birth year? Give me a fucking break.

Trashing thread. Not recommending.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

37. All you need to know about Bruce Gibney:

He worked for Peter Thiel's hedge fund Clarium and his venture capital company Founders Fund. Why should we take seriously the babblings of a vulture capitalist?

[apcalc]

79. I think you have made an excellent point.

The purpose? To divide and conquer.

[appalachiablue]

91. Post rec, right on the money.

[ms liberty]

108. I agree. Well said. n/t

[Mme. Defarge]

34. The unholy Viet Nam War,

the f'ing draft. The blatant and corrosive sexism that defined the lot of working women of my generation. Need I say more in rebuttal?

[patty_bateman]

46. A word from a reformed Gen-Xer

This is my first post, so I apologize in advance if I'm replying in the wrong way...I'm trainable, so let me know if I've stepped on something or someone.

As a Gen-X'er I've accepted and hurled a few insults from/at Boomers. I was born to Boomers and raised by my Greatest Generation grandparents. In many cases, my vitriol for Boomers stem from feeling overwhelmed, outnumbered and prejudged (also, from interacting with my parents). But now I'm an old lady (48) with years of experience dealing with war babies, boomers, gen-x, millennials, and whatever the latest model is. I've become more compassionate to each generations struggles, so I rarely hurl generational insults.

Often, I think Gen-X'ers are overlooked because of our numbers, but I think this article and the resentment it drives should actually be a call to purpose for Gen X'ers - we are the bridge, the glue between these 2 massive populations. Helping the generation before us and the one after us work together may be best chance for my generation to make a lasting mark on society, grunge not withstanding.

My read on this article: I read the above article when it first came out last year and it made me feel good, so I knew immediately that it was McJournalism. It fed my own ego too well and my mind not at all. Because the article fed into my prejudices, I saw it as a "divide and conquer" piece, even if some points contained in the article were true.

Instead of dividing folks into generations, which seems to pronounce our tribalism, could we divide folks into those that work to advance people and those who work to advance things? Then all the people-people can work together regardless of age and the thing-people can do whatever they do (I'm assuming they destroy or take the people-people's things).

[Skittles]

47. Welcome to DU, Patty

excellent first post!

[Anon-C]

52. Wow!

A great reply!!!!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

58. First off, 48 isn't old. If you are thinking that way, then,

OH, DEAR.

Secondly, I'm a Boomer. From about 1994 to 2005 I took classes at my local community college, and nearly all of my classmates were GenXers. It didn't take very long to get an enormous respect for them individually and as a group. It was blindingly obvious that they worked hard for not much money or benefits and were essentially being crapped on by everyone. I was horrified.

If you get a chance, read the book Generations by William Strauss and Neil Howe. As a GenXer, you will probably find their description of your generation's future to be more than depressing, but it should still be enlightening.

And while generational descriptions can be useful, it's beyond stupid to use them to divide us.

[MustLoveBeagles]

59. This is one hell of a first post

Welcome to DU

[dawg day]

61. Very good thought-

>It fed my own ego too well and my mind not at all. Because the article fed into my prejudices, I saw it as a "divide and conquer" piece, even if some points contained in the article were true.

-

The GOP wants young people to feel like the game is rigged against them because that will discourage voting. And I'd also suspect that the wealthy think there's benefit in keeping the un-rich of every generation feeling alienated and angry at other un-rich.

[argyl]

77. Welcome aboard. Outstanding first post, to say the least.

[Blue_Adept]

89. Largely agree as a Gen-X'er myself

I'm a year younger and have had similar experiences. The size of "our" generation after being labeled as the slacker generation meant we kind of disappeared into the woodwork, just trying to get stuff done. We've the ones that cross the digital divide in many ways and can touch on both larger generations.

What I've seen here in my Democratic state is just how many parents of those of my age range ended up going from standard new england liberal to plain batshit crazy. it's frightening. It's like you could look at the Brainwashing of My Dad thing about Fox and I could list a dozen friends whose parents, like my father as well, ended up going down that path.

It colors our view of the boomers, which is made worse by so many that are serving in government and positions of power that are just terrible with what they're doing.

[dawg day]

101. My father spent the last few years of his life in anxiety and anger...

Mostly because of Fox News, which was on all the time at his nursing home. I kept asking that it be turned to soap operas or cricket games, but they kept changing it back to Fox News. He was angry about "sharia law", though he'd never met a Muslim in his life, and he was angry about "racial people," though almost every person who took good care of him at the home were African-Americans. He was just angry, and couldn't love anymore. It was awful.

But he was an older generation (born in 1933) and was not as savvy as we boomers are (or half of us are) about media.

As a boomer, I have to point out, as someone said upthread, we have been a divided generation from nursery school age. Don't blame all of us, because many of us protested the Vietnam war and were still protesting the Iraq war. I went to a protest in 2002, and every single antiwar person there was boomer age, and boy, did we love singing the Fish cheer:

And it's 1-2-3 What are we fighting for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn.
Next stop is Vietnam.
And it's 5-6-7, open up the pearly gates,
Ain't no time to wonder why, Whoopee!
We're all gonna die.


Well, it sounded more rousing when we sang it.

Anyway, when I heard those high school kids chanting, it brought back memories-- we used those chants too.
No doubt there are neanderthal Trump-loving Fox watching boomers-- many. But there are many who have spent our lives caring for other people.
Now if somehow we could just throttle Fox News, well, that would be a great legacy.

[gopiscrap]

90. welcome to du

[Lifelong Protester]

54. I call BS.

[dawg day]

57. Uninterrupted prosperity? Maybe a bit of research would help?

>They were raised after the war and so have no real experience of trauma or the Great Depression or even any deprivation at all. More importantly, they never experienced the social solidarity that unfolded during war time and that helped produce the New Deal.>

Also strange. Does the author think that everyone was rich after 1950? That there was no poverty? That no one's parents died, that no one got sick? That everyone-- men, women, minorities-- had great jobs? No.
My family was poor. Not quite 'where's the next meal coming from poor," but "only dry milk this week until the paycheck comes in, and bread for breakfast" poor-- with no foodstamps or free lunch in schools. And I was better off than probably half my classmates. When do you think this "uninterrupted prosperity" was? Poverty was widespread in the 60s, both urban and rural, with almost no public assistance at all. Women and people of color were barred from many jobs, and thus most of them were lower-income.

The 70s (yeah, many of us were still growing up then) were pretty much one long recession, complete with oil embargos and entire industries disintegrating (steel!). There was 15% unemployment in my town when I had to drop out of college. Interest rates were 14%-- try to get a car or house with that sort of rate.

There was no golden era where most people were well off.
Some people are trying to gin up generational conflict, and we might ask why. Who benefits from making millennials feel deprived and despise their parents and grandparents? Not the millennials, not the boomers. Let's see... Republicans who want to make young people feel apathetic and alienated, and liberal boomers feel like there's no common cause?
I'm smelling some Koch here.

[Hassler]

62. White millennials voted Trump, so

It's not a generational problem it's a white problem

[JI7]

76. right, and the reason younger generations are more liberal overall is because

they are more diverse with more minorities compared to older generations which are mostly white .

[Thekaspervote]

65. What an awful post!!

Boomers were and still are very accomplished. Every generation has their lackies, free loaders, those that take and give nothing. I hate to tell you dogknob, but your generation is no different.

If this is all you have to offer.... well then we are in deep deep shit here. Why don’t you go volunteer or make your self useful rather than just criticize. Or you is that beyond you???

[dawg day]

71. Sally Ride. Tom Waits, Neil deGrasse Tyson...

Not everyone born between 1945 and 1964 is Donald Trump.

[Thekaspervote]

80. Thank you!

[SHRED]

69. Oh look...

...another broad-brush and assumption-based article to divide is.

Please stop already.

[leftofcool]

82. Another BS post to blame Boomers for the world's woes

We worked our asses off! Nothing came to us for free nor did we expect it.

[thucythucy]

86. Most baby boomers I know are working,

some past retirement, to help out their kids AND to support their aging parents.

Doesn't sound like a bunch of sociopaths to me.

On the other hand, a vulture capitalist writing a book to pit generations against each other, pushing forward an agenda to gut Social Security and Medicare? I'd call THAT person a sociopath, if I was in the mood to bandy psychobabble at people whose politics I find detestable.

[YOHABLO]

88. My friend, you're all over the place with this. You're not proving the point of your thesis.

[alarimer]

93. Fuck this shit. n/t

[DavidDvorkin]

94. This blog post dismantles the book

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2017/03/another-clueless-dimwit-bruce-cannon.html

[progree]

95. I'm an early boomer - sure as hell wasn't like described. What we faced: Vietnam War

Last edited Sat Mar 17, 2018, 01:50 AM - Edit history (3)

and the draft, or disrupting our futures to avoid the draft. I committed myself to the Navy for 4 years (though I was ill-suited to it) so I wouldn't be drafted to go to Vietnam, thus delaying my entry by 4 years into the career that I had spent years getting an education for.

As for the paradise economy the early boomers enjoyed -- that's literally a bunch of crap, and baloney. In college economy courses we spent a lot of time trying to figure out the stagflation that the economy was stuck in. Then the Arab oil embargos and two massive oil price hikes and roaring inflation and high unemployment. I managed to finally land my first professional job somehow when the unemployment rate was 7.5% (down quite a bit from the height of the 1974-75 crash).

Then the big Reagan double recession soon followed. Unemployment peaked at 10.8% (corrected from 10.0% - thanks StevieM) -- higher than at the peak of the so-called "Great" Recession; and even in the recovery that followed, wage increases still lagged well behind inflation.

I managed to assume a mortgage at 9% and that was considered a super good deal at the time (I had to put 25% down and finance another 20% with a 12% contract-for-deed to get that). And on and on. Then outsourcing picked up steam in the 1980's (read Barlett & Steele - "America, What Went Wrong", 1991).

Yeah, tell me again about the "They ... have no real experience of trauma or the Great Depression or even any deprivation at all."

Juh HEE zus Christ

[StevieM]

100. Actually, unemployment hit 10.8 percent at the height of the Reagan recession. (eom)

[progree]

103. Yup, you're right, Nov - Dec 1982: 10.8%. Thanks. Graph:

Very interesting graph of unemployment rate:



Data and graph from: http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000

[dawg day]

102. I graduated in 1980--

in the middle of a recession (which in the Rust Belt, lasted for 6 year), and had one temp job before I was unemployed. The line at the unemployment office was literally around the building. We'd wait for hours every week to get an $84 check.

Yeah, tell me about the great prosperity. LOL. And when you come out of college during a recession, usually your career never catches up, and mine never did. Oh, well. This "venture capitallist" who probably owns a yacht tells me that I grew up in unparallelled prosperity that I didn't earn. Hmm. Taught kids for 30 years, won't be able to retire till I'm 69, somehow I think that Peter Thiel-wannabe would rather have his fortune than mine.

[agincourt]

99. I thought the book was all over the place, some good, some bad

one thing we can't deny is that boomers do vote Republican more than Xers and Millenials. There is about a 8-9% gap.

[Wwcd]

114. Recalling this past election, it was the younger voters that failed to show up at the polls.

After all their rah rahing, & social media rallying, they fking dropped the ball on election day.
Where were they.

Your % remark left out a big & loud chunk of the voting age population.

They failed to go vote on the most important day of the whole campaign.

Why?

[Snackshack]

104. Interesting.

Realistically though...IMO it does not matter when you were born. Whether it was during times of conflict & hardship or peace & prosperity. The choices people make in their beliefs, actions, views define who a person is because of their choice. Experience does not supersede choice.

Just because a person grew up never having to fight in a war / always having food to eat / electricity at the flick of a switch does not mean one cannot understand and appreciate that they live in a time where a life like this is possible.

I have also heard many times the “I don’t care cuz I will be dead by then” remark and have always pointed out the selfishness of that choice. It’s not that the person did not know any better, they did but they chose to ignore it.

[treestar]

110. Weren't they the ones being drafted to go to Vietnam?

So how could they not know war and "suffering."

[MBS]

112. Thank you.

I have several high-school classmates who were killed in Vietnam. One stands out in particular: a good guy, a handsome guy, a talented guy, star of our senior musical, fantastic voice. Killed one year later. I keep thinking of that lost talent and the utter waste of a great human being who could have contributed so much.

And I know many more whose lives remain mentally or physically scarred by their searing and disillusioning experiences there, some 50 years later.

Just multiply these small stories by tens of thousands.

[LanternWaste]

115. For about 200,000 years, each human generation blames the prior one

For about 200,000 years, each human generation blames the prior one. and criticizes the one following it.

No doubt, some hipster Denisovan was all about throwing shade on a nearby Neandertal for using old-fashioned stone-flakes, and eating all the bananas.