Gen-X vs. Boomers, Real Generation Warfare
For the last couple of years accusations of class warfare have been bandied about, largely as a result of the disparity of wealth disbursement and the devastating deep recession. However, as tempting as it is to dive into this, I am more interested in the much larger trend of Gen-X verses Boomers.
This is a particularly important trend, in as much as its genesis is to be found in the differences in perception and values orientation between the two generational cohorts. It’s even more interesting since political and economic power is passing from the hands of the Boomers over to the Gen-Xers.
I think the place to start is by defining the generational cohorts beginning with the Baby Boomers.
Depending on who you follow, Boomers are defined as those born from approximately 1943 to 1964, with the high point in 1957. Over time the generation has been separated into two sub cohorts, 1943 to 1955 and 1956 to 1964. From my own research and observation, I would place the Boomer generation from 1945 to 1962 and the two sub cohorts 1945 to 1955 and 1956 to 1962, respectively. Much of my decision to separate the cohort comes from the differences between the leading edge verses the trailing edge and the significant differences within the same generation.
Needless to say, the nation was unprepared for the emergence of the Baby Boomers. Every social institution was geared to accommodate a much smaller cohort and the Boomers were challenging everything from maternity wards to school capacity and teachers. During this period the United States was reaching its industrial economic dominance and was clearly in an “economic golden age”. The threat to dominance and nation’s wellbeing was the Soviet Union and the Cold War. The Boomers grew up in a time when the chief domestic threat was the devastating disease of polio. During this same period, suburbia was born and quickly expanded, the Boomers are the first television generation and the middle class grew unabated including the accumulation of wealth by their Depression Era parents. Those parents were creating a world that truly was better for their children than what they had experienced and no one could see an end in sight.
Everything the Boomers did was chronicled by the media and the nation was slowly being transformed into a culture dominated by youth and the idea of staying young and vibrant. Whatever the Boomers did was news and social scientists were studying this group like no other before or since. By the time the boom closed in 1962/64; the Boomers totaled around 78 million.
The Boomer group has been characterized as a generation who pursued “experience”, self focus, internal searches, and rule breaking. Dominating their experiences and perception formation was the assassination of JFK, Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy; the Civil Rights Movement, the unpopular war in Vietnam, the support of social causes and of course drugs. The Woodstock Generation arrogantly proclaimed they were right and the rest of the world was terribly wrong and they were going to fix it. The Boomer’s older sibling like attitudes would lay the seeds for generational conflict with the following generational cohorts, primarily the Gen-Xers.
The Gen-X cohort is the group that was born between 1963 through 1982 and is 35% smaller than the Boomer cohort, numbering approximately some 48 to 50 million. In comparison to the Boomer’s every move being chronicled by the media, the Gen-Xers have been largely ignored. It is not uncommon to see them referred to as the “forgotten generation”.
The Gen-Xers were born into a world radically different than that of the preceding generations. Their world was dominated initially by the change and chaos brought about by the Boomers’ and the end of the Vietnam War. During the decade of the 1970s; driven by Nixon’s Wage and Price Freeze, Watergate, the oil shock of OPEC’s reaction to the 1973 Israeli war, runaway inflation and finally stagnation; the Gen-Xers were constantly exposed to the doomsday rhetoric of a bleak and frightening future. Whereas the previous generations had been dominated by optimism and hope, the Gen-Xers were dominated by doom, gloom and a declining America.
This generation was the first to become “latch key kids”; the norm had been by then for two income families. Divorce rates had reached the norm of 50% and more and more children were being raised in single parent households. As this generation began to reach adolescence and their majority, the conservative tide was beginning to gain momentum. Reagan won the 1980 election and a new conservative era was at hand, with the Gen-Xers caught up in the middle of it. As the Boomers were all about change and pushing the limits of convention, the Gen-Xers were about patriotism, conservative values, concrete materialism, the pursuit of financial success and most importantly, wealth. The nuclear family took on a new importance, giving us the coming of the age of the Moral Majority, the Eagle Forum, political evangelical Christianity and a myriad of other neo-rightwing groups.
The Gen-Xers are also the most educated generation in the nation’s history, but they are dominated by a prevailing habit of blaming Boomer’s for all of the nation’s woes and are convinced that they are the ones delegated, out of necessity, to right all the wrongs of the Boomer generation’s excesses caused by their misguided liberal causes and self indulgence. Gen-Xers believe themselves to be the victims of the Boomers and as such, hold a deep abiding resentment toward the previous generation. Recounting the parable of the “Prodigal Son”, the Gen-Xers represent the faithful son and the Boomers represent the wayward son who took and squandered his inheritance.
Gen-X is followed by the Millennial Generation and as such has been cast into the shadows once again by the following generation, those born after 1982. If the Boomers represent the oldest sibling in a family, the Millennials represent the baby of the family, leaving the Gen-Xers as the middle child. This is precisely how Gen-Xers act, constantly complaining about their siblings and how it isn’t fair. We’ve already briefly discussed their complaints about the Boomers; now let’s look at their complaints against the Millennials. The Gen-Xers describe the generation as being dominated by complaining, whining, and game playing, unrealistic, lay-a-bouts. For the most part they, according to Gen-Xers, could be summarized as a goalless and spoiled generation, living in their parents’ basements sucking on the teat of their aging parents.
What has to be considered with the Gen-Xers is their behavior and how their resentments are being manifested. There is a strong desire for the Gen-Xers to punish the Boomers and the Millennials. The approach for the Gen-Xers is to use the economic and social conditions as justification to enact draconian policies. They constantly talk about terms like personal responsibility and the need to correct the mess made by the Boomers restoring the United States to its greatness. They wholeheartedly support the Supply Side Economic Models and the distribution of wealth to the top 10% of the population. Those that get left behind and don’t achieve the material success, do so because of the personal choices they made, thus society has no responsibility toward them; properly interpreted, the Gen-Xers are saying they have no responsibility other than to themselves and their families. In short, it’s everyone else’s fault but theirs.
These prevailing Gen-X attitudes are deeply disturbing since it will be their generation that are and will be charged with the task of supporting the majority of citizens. If they maintain their current attitudes, it doesn’t bode well for the Boomers and Millennials.
Just as the Boomers and Millennials have been stereotyped, so too have the Gen-Xers. Thank goodness that there are large numbers of each of the generations that don’t fit the stereotypes. Through them, bridges can and should be constructed to forge alliances to overcome the very cynicism that prevails between the generations, creating a divided nation when we should be facing the challenges of the 21st century united, creating a better life for all.
oak creek resident
8:27 am on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
"runaway inflation and finally stagnation"..
You mean, JIMMY CARTER'S runaway inflation and finally stagnation.
Lyle Ruble
9:42 am on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@oak creek resident...Sorry, but Carter inherited the runaway inflation and stagnation. If you really understood and knew history you wouldn't make such inaccurate statements. You probably don't remember Ford's WIN program.
Mike in OC
9:47 am on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@rube .... lol yeah Carter was a dream.... you libs crack me up.... were you stoned from 76 to 80?
oak creek resident
8:28 am on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Of course, as a baby boomer, your generation cannot be at fault and it HAS to be that Gen X is the problem.
How laughably arrogant of you. I guess as a baby boomer you feel self important huh?
Lyle Ruble
10:00 am on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@oak creek resident.... I don['t think I inferred that the Baby Boomers didn't contribute to the problems, but were they knowingly responsible; I think not. Most of the changes that occurred were due to the size of the Boomer cohort and the changes it forced. This is a case of perception. The Gen-Xers have taken the position of being innocent victims and that it's all the Boomer's fault. To illustrate it even more; imagine the TV program the Brady Bunch. Greg and Marsha were the older siblings and Cindy was the youngest. Jan was in the middle and constantly complained about all the attention that Marsha received and she, Jan, was largely ignored. She would point out how unfair the situation was and she got the reputation for being the perennial victim. That easily describes the Gen-Xers.
Now that the Gen-Xers are gaining control, they're going to "fix" everything that the Boomers did that caused this "great nation's" decline. I would venture to say that anything that makes Boomers and Millennials' suffer for their sins of birth order is fine with the Gen-Xers and the more perceived suffering the better. You state arrogance; no just fact. Don't forget that Boomers still control 80% of the wealth, far outnumber any voting group and if pushed to far will react, both economically and at the ballot box. Because of the stupid changes to the nation's economic system, Boomers will continue to work beyond what previous generations saw as retirement age. Blame the Boomers, right?
oak creek resident
8:29 am on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Ever been in a fight Lyle?
Lyle Ruble
10:02 am on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@oak creek resident...Why would you ask such a question? What is the relevance?
James Meyer
9:55 am on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Lyle, you put a lot of thought into this article. Don't know how accurate it is but you sure thought about it.
jose
9:58 am on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Mr Rube has a lot of time on his hands, we are all working as he sits with his feather quill pen and verbally masturbates.
Lyle Ruble
10:15 am on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@Jose...There are those who think for themselves and then there is the rest. You decide which category you fall into.
jose
9:57 am on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Lyle Rube, your generation is the generation of the Moochers, the spoiled brats of the Greatest Generation. The day everyone of you wilted flower children are gone will be a happy day, I will dance on your graves.
Lyle Ruble
10:16 am on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@Jose...Thanks for illustrating my point.
jose
10:22 am on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Your point is that your generation is full of selfish, narcissistic spoiled children? Thank you sir.
oak creek resident
10:18 am on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Baby Boomers are the original Kardashians.
James R Hoffa
11:09 am on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
I can't help but to think that Lyle was directing this latest effort at Hoffa, a Gen-X'er, in particular.
There's just one problem with stereotypes and generalizations - everyone represents an exception to the rule in at least one way or another, thus the entire theory that depends upon them as the premise for its conclusion falls entirely flat.
Lyle - If the generalizations you make about Gen-X'ers is correct, then how do you account for the fact that a majority of Gen-X'ers supported Obama in '08? A rather big anomaly, wouldn't you say - especially when a current champion of personal responsibility politics, Sarah Palin, was available as a choice on the GOP ticket?
Lyle Ruble
11:34 am on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@JRH...You are correct when dealing with stereotypes. Basing anything definitive on such is a mistake. However, stereotypes do indicate trends and bigger pictures. I am precisely discussing bigger picture issues here.
There is enough difference between the two sub-cohorts of Boomers, that in many ways it is a stretch to claim they are of the same generational cohort. For example, the 1st sub cohort of Boomers were the ones who experimented with drugs especially mind altering drugs. By the time the 2nd sub cohort got into drugs, it wasn't experimentation but clearly drug use and dependency. Another example was the school system. When the 1st sub cohort hit the schools, we started out in double sessions, not enough desks or textbooks and overworked teachers. By the time the 2nd sub cohort hit, all of those problems were already solved.
As a social scientist, it pains me to use generational date to attempt to explain current conditions, but sometimes it's useful. blaming others is a tricky game and I'm not saying the Boomers or Millennials are without sin. In fact, i have been hard on the Boomers and their inconspicuous consumption habits for pushing us into many of the problems. However, it is also time the Gen-Xers stand up and accept responsibility and stop screaming poor little me at every opportunity. That action is clearly a rejection of personal responsibility and the claim to victim hood rings hollow.
Henry Ruble
12:04 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Social Scientist? How can you claim such a title? You are a washed up hydraulics sales man/green energy snake oil salesman.... use that title.
Lyle Ruble
12:15 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@Henry Ruble....Yes I manufactured and sold hydraulic components and systems for a while along with green energy solutions. However, my education is in the social sciences and philosophy. Since I am retired from active employment, then I am working in my avocation. I am curious what you do and what is in your CV. Care to share? By the way, Henry is a long and distinguished name in the Ruble family. By great grandfather was named John Henry Ruble. Any direct relation?
Keith Schmitz
12:20 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Hey Lyle, you were in hydraulics? I'll be damned. So was I.
Puzzled why this is somehow dishonorable? Is that the best he can come up with as an insult?
James R Hoffa
12:21 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@Lyle -
"However, it is also time the Gen-Xers stand up and accept responsibility and stop screaming poor little me at every opportunity."
Ummm yeah... I don't really see this as being a generational trait, as I witness members of all generations doing this daily, on a fairly proportionate basis. If you don't, then I really am shocked and surprised!
James R Hoffa
12:28 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@Schmitzy -
I'm guessing that this video represents the pinnacle of what you were able to accomplish with hydraulics:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdWDJWFoKCE
:-)
Lyle Ruble
12:38 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@JRH...I would admit that a fallacy by exception was made by my general statement about isolating the behavior only to Gen-Xers, but again looking at trends, they seem to rely on the behavior more than other generational cohorts. My only worry is all the Gen-Xers that will be sitting on my death panel deciding whether my medical treatment is warranted and I already know the decision.
James R Hoffa
5:23 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@Lyle -
I'll protect you from the death panels, just be prepared to pay your own way ;-)
Keith Schmitz
11:42 am on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Lyle, as usual you hit the hail on the head. Here's more on this -- http://ht.ly/cixQY.
Our predecessors fought and won World War II, built the middle class and put a man on the moon. Not only have we screwed ourselves over by worshipping at the altar of the so-called job creators, but unlike previous generations we are making the lives of those coming after us, it is going to be worse.
It is pathetic. We have the capability to make it so that everyone has leisure time, health care coverage, food, a roof over their heads and technologically dazzling future.
But nope. We have to lay our riches at the feet of the needlessly wealthy because some of you imagine that people don't want to work and have meaningful lives. As usual, fantasy from useful idiots.
OK neanderthals. Go nuts.
Henry Ruble
11:59 am on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Please address the $30,000 you stole from the Village of Shorewood, not to mention the hundreds of 'coop' fees that you stole from little old ladies. Keif, you are pathetic.
David Tatarowicz
1:27 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@Henry Ruble --- hide behind anonymity and sling accusations of theft !!! Obviously you have the heart of a mouse...
If Keith stole money from Shorewood, they should press charges ---
If you think Keith stole money from Shorewood, be specific as to how he did it, what he mis-represented, etc.
In other words Henry --- Man Up Boy !!
Johnny Blade
12:39 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
The Boomers put us 16 trillion in debt on thier unjust enrichment.. and who has to pay the debt back .. the future generations of debt slaves
Lyle Ruble
12:48 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@Johnny Blade....Sorry, you got it wrong. The 16 trillion wasn't for the Boomers. Look at who is directly responsible and you'll find Reagan, Bush and Obama. I don't see how the Boomers have been enriched by the debt and we have been paying against the national debt our whole lives. So quite blaming and bitching. It's not just your problem but all of our problem.
Johnny Blade
1:24 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012
Lyle .. did you vote for any of these people Reagan, Bush, Obama .. then YOU are the flippin problem .. so yeah i can bitch all i want because i would never vote these people
Johnny Blade
2:02 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012
So living beyond thier means by charging up the credit card .. and sticking the future generations with the bill .. and that isn't unjust enrichment??
J. B. Schmidt
12:40 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@Lyle
I am completely taken back the tone within this article. Every earlier generation claims the next generations 'attitudes are deeply disturbing'. Not unlike how the rock and roll of the boomers disturbed the sensibilities of the generation prior tot he boomers. As if what you are witnessing is the first time it has ever happened. I feel the same way about the some of the video games being produced today.
You present this blog as if the Boomers are the origin for the moral/social/political establishments of the country. When if fact, they did much to change what had been established by prior generations and some of things were what made the country great.
Lastly, the word draconian has simply come to mean "change what we (the Boomers) did". Which follows with the rest of your article as you boastfully place the Boomers as the generation that defines America.
Lyle Ruble
1:12 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@J.B. Schmidt....I am fully familiar with the generational game of "ain't it awful". Picture two "blue hairs" sitting on a park bench complaining about the younger generation losing it's way. But, what I am attempting to address is something else altogether. This is a generational conflict that can have a catastrophic outcome for millions upon millions of people.
To hold the Boomer's responsible for all the ills of society is illogical and down right dangerous. It's like holding a woman responsible for the damage caused by giving birth to an extra large baby. If the human female anatomy is designed to safely deliver an infant weighing some 7 lbs, but the woman gives birth to an infant weighing 14 lbs, do you blame the baby for the changes incurred on the mother?
The Boomers changed everything based simply on the size of the cohort. Does it make any sense to blame them for the changes that occurred to the nation? Just like in my example with the mother's changed permanent condition, the nation will never be as it was prior to the Boomers. No matter how much we wish it to be different, it never will be. Therefore, blaming and complaining will not change anything except to create more division and isolation.
What took over sixty years to get to, cannot be undone in any shorter period of time, except by imposing draconian methods. Are we the United States or are we the People's Republic of China? Think about it.
J. B. Schmidt
2:02 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@Lyle
If the problems were caused by poor judgement and an inability to understand the impact of your actions, then yes we can blame the Boomers.
Take your example of the pregnant women. If a 14# baby were causes by a natural condition, you are correct she is not to blame. Nor would the Boomers be the cause of our society if it evolved natural. However, let say that women was an unhealthy eater and against advice of her doctor allowed herself to become diabetic. Now her 14# child is actual a product of her own lifestyle. Not unlike how the Boomers having completely neglected to heed the words of our founding fathers, now must come to terms with the fat baby of a bloated government that is bankrupting the country.
You continue to presume that the Boomers created the correct America. That what they established is the only way America can exist. That is why you label changes as draconian, in other words, a time before the perfect America was created.
Are boomers completely responsible, no. The biggest current issues of government were created before them. However, the Boomers believed in the 'it takes a village' approach to government control and as such exponentially expanded government to the detriment of freedoms. Now the Xers want those freedoms back. I wouldn't call it draconian, I would call it corrective action.
Lyle Ruble
3:05 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@J.B. Schmidt....Good response, if in fact the Boomers had a choice of being born into the largest cohort in our nation's history. When the 1st sub cohort of Boomers started having children they significantly cut back on their family sizes just because they understood the problem with population size, based on their own experiences.
There was a great deal more going on and a generational conflict with the two preceding generations over changing the social norms, folkways and morays. The Boomers were more interested in issues of social justice and social equality. As a generation we were highly critical of our seniors' hypocrisy and blind to our own.
I have been very hard on my own generation for our obvious foibles and I am willing to take responsibility for many of the things that we did that shredded society. However, I am not going to go on having people blames us for all the sins of the past. In short, what happened was like Humpty Dumpty, once broken, no matter what you do, you can't turn back the clock. What is necessary is to take the best of the changes and accept them and change the ones that aren't good. Society learned the hard way that sexual promiscuity and drug abuse was destructive and wrong. Hence, people are much more selective in their sexual partners and drug addiction has finally reached a stasis.
James R Hoffa
5:21 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@Lyle -
So in other words, the fleas come with the dog and there isn't really anything that government can do to remedy the true causes of the social ills of our society - only time can work them out naturally on their own as we evolve towards beings of a higher state.
If that's the case, then why do you keep on proposing that government is the answer to fixing everything and that we should be increasing revenues and expanding the size and scope of government?
You seem to be at odds with yourself here.
Lyle Ruble
5:39 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@JRH.. .LMAO, Who said I didn't from cognitive dissonance. There are things about my generation I'm proud of and there are a lot of others that I'm ashamed of. But, you are correct with your flea analogy and much has to just be allowed enough time to work out.
I am all about efficiency and equity. The government is the only entity available that can get the job done. Until such time as everyone has a true equal opportunity to pursue the American Dream, then I will support government programs that promote such equality.
David Tatarowicz
1:31 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@J.B --- I think you make some very good points ..... every generation is great in the mirror they are looking in.
mau
3:32 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Who came up with these labels, the years they cover, and what they did or didn't do? The mainstream media?
According to your definition I am a Boomer but I never fit your stereotype category description "Dominating their experiences and perception formation....". I was too busy being a kid, growing up and living, to be involved in any of these activities you define us with. I never sat around thoughtfully wondering who and what defined me and my generation. I still don't.
I do have to say that my son's generation is the "me" generation. Their motto "I want and deserve as much or more than my parents without earning it or putting any effort into it. I want it now, at any cost."
Lyle Ruble
3:42 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@mau...LOL, I don't know your age, but what you mentioned in the past was that you grew up on a farm. It was a completely different experience for rural Boomers. Yes, it was the media that labeled us and we've had to live with it every since. However, you were a rule breaker too. The place you worked where you were doing a job that men used to do was breaking a norm and you succeeded big time. I don't know the age of your son, but my two youngest are Millennials. They have worked for everything they have and have been quite successful. They also don't feel that anyone owes them anything. So there are exceptions to everything.
mau
4:47 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@Lyle, I don't credit any generation for what I am and what I have accomplished. For me it is all in the genes and upbringing. I am my father's daughter. He was a risk taker and very strong willed. I also have to say I am also much like his mother. They all accomplished much in their lives and never took no for an answer. Growing up on the farm I was treated just like one of the guys when it came to work. My mom's sister was a welder in the shipyards in California during WWII.
My classmates, both farm and city, who took the college route were more like you describe. Those of us who went the work route tended not to be.
I couldn't be prouder of my son who is mid-20s. Ambition is his middle name. He doesn't let anything stand in his way to accomplishing what he wants. It isn't that he thinks that someone owes him, it's that he doesn't want to wait. But I think that will come with time.
Lyle Ruble
5:23 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@mau...My little farm girl. You describe exactly a great many Boomers. BTW, your aunt that worked as a welder in the shipyard, did she continue the profession after the war ended?
What a lot of people don't understand is that the majority of Boomers did as you did and went to work right out of high school. Only about 25% went to college and graduated. It was the Gen-Xers that flooded the college campuses in the late 1970s, 80s and 90s.
I can't remember too many Boomers that weren't raised with a healthy work ethic, but I sure know some Millennials that are are seriously lacking in work ethic.
The funny thing about the Gen-Xers is they are the first generation who didn't live to work but worked to live. Before the recession they jumped jobs more frequently than any other generation.
mau
5:39 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@Lyle, I should follow up that when I moved to the big city in 1969 I did test the waters with the hippies, war protesters, moonies and such. I just never felt comfortable and didn't fit in. I stayed neutral on politics for many years.
My aunt came back to the farm, married and raised 6 children, 4 of which were boys. She was never a feminine type housewife.
Besides the farm, I started working in my parents business when I was in elementary school. The only employer jumping I did was to make more money. Sometimes I had more than one job. At my last full time employer I jumped from job to job too. It was encouraged. The main reason I went after the "mans" job was money and I couldn't take the cattiness of working in an office. Thing is now a woman would get first selection for the job I worked in but they don't want to do that type of work.
Lyle Ruble
5:55 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@mau... You have a wonderful story. I was raised with the value that all work is honorable and you did what you needed to do to earn a living. I was also taught to get ahead you had to pay your dues. When I finally got out of the service in 1974, I was 9 years behind my peers and had to do a whole lot of catching up. However, the was blessed with good health, an adequate mind and determination which did me and my family well. My drive and the long hours cost me my first family. I paid the price and began changing my ways until I fully understood and took different directions. I have had a good life up to this point; not always easy but not always impossible.
mau
8:55 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@Lyle, I believe you said you were in Vietnam. I know what an impact that experience had on the servicemen as my two brothers were in Vietnam.
I am satisfied with my life. It took me many years to realize this and take things as they come. Do I have regrets and wish I could change things I did. Absolutely. But not if undoing anything would change the course of my life. I do know it is good to have these discussions.
Taoist Crocodile
4:05 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
I just missed being included in "Generation X," but this is what I see:
- Boomers telling me, my whole life, that "Social Security won't exist" when I need it, but sacrificing nothing of their own to address that problem
- Boomers fighting a culture war with each other while our country goes down the toilet, putting off and ignoring all of the social infrastructure that the previous generations blessed them with
- Boomers running up the biggest debt in the history of the world, and then acting shocked and appalled, and looking for some outside villain (Socialists!) to blame for it
- Boomers complaining about how their children aren't sacrificing enough of their futures to support them in their old age.
I would never say this about any individual "Boomers," but as far as the "generation" is concerned - die off already!
James R Hoffa
5:15 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
@Taosit -
Never figured you as being the Soylent Green type!
Bob McBride
6:14 am on Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Size matters. The boomers have been pandered to throughout their lives due primarily to enormous target market they represent. As go the boomers, so do segments of the economy. And, as predicted for years, now they're about to put an enormous strain on the economy as they enter their unproductive years and have to rely on other generations to fund the social programs they will depend upon in those years. Other than size, the attention they've received as a result of it and the impact that size has had over time, there really are no characteristics that can be applied across the board to boomers, or any other generation for that matter.
The whole concept of focusing on generations plucked rather arbitrarily out of the continuum and trying to analyze people based on which generation they fall into. frankly, is suspect. People of all ages are more a product of the times in which they live coupled with characteristics that we all exhibit at different stages of the lifecyle than they are of any particular historical time frame in which the were born. Suggesting that, if you were born between x year and y year, you fall into a certain group and, therefore are somehow more prone, for instance, to complain about those born outside those years due to exhibiting the characteristics of the middle child makes about as much sense as does the anthropomorphization of wild animals.
Lyle Ruble
7:09 am on Wednesday, July 18, 2012
@Bob McBride....As you say it is only the size that matters and the consumer market that a particular age group represents. Pandering is a good term to use. There are many things that help define us, including significant events outside of our control.
What has been most disturbing is the demagoguery, which has been going on for decades directed at those labeled as Boomers. It has definitely shaped attitudes and dominates the rhetoric, especially from 30 and 40 something conservatives. If this rhetoric becomes something more concrete, it will lead to some ugliness that is not good for the nation.
Bob McBride
7:33 am on Wednesday, July 18, 2012
I guess I'm less concerned about rhetoric than you are. I think most people are rational and not prone to extreme thinking. What doesn't help is continually labeling a whole group one way or the other, based on examples that border on the extreme. We've got way too much of that going on in our political environment, most of which doesn't hold up under scrutiny. It's fun to argue about, but in actuality it's the middle that generally prevails.
There will be tough times ahead, there is no doubt about it. You can't increase the rolls of those dependent on taxpayer funded social programs by a large amount at a time when the economy is waning and not expect some fairly significant problems. Finger pointing based on generational subdivisions does nothing to address those issues.
We also have to accept that, until it reaches emergency status, our government (regardless of who is in power) is unlikely to do much to address the situation in a serious fashion. Considering the kinds of half measures with deleterious unintended consequences that we historically seem to gravitate towards, perhaps it's best that way. When the stuff hits the fan, we as a nation tend to be at our best.
Lyle Ruble
7:40 am on Wednesday, July 18, 2012
@Bob McBride...Amen
Bren
1:01 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012
This is such an interesting article! Some years back I attended a seminar about 20th Century generational shifts, how the earliest Baby Boomers were acting out against the "Greatest Generation" mentality of their parents (point being, it's hard to compete with "When I was fighting in hand-to-hand combat on D-Day, I wasn't thinking about asking for a bigger allowance!"). I think the "tweeners," those bridging the span between the Baby Boomers and Gen X (late 1950s-early 1960s) experienced a great deal of emotional turmoil as children because of the Vietnam War, Civil Rights movement/riots, the Hippi/Drug Movements and later violence (e.g. Kent State). A lot of people in this age group I find have either "dug in" mentally or are among the most empathic people I've met. I share your concern with those who still haven't peeped out from hiding from the social turmoil of the 1960s and 1970s. Their cruelty (is there another word?) toward creatives and/or liberals I am certain stems from confusion and anxiety from 40 years in the past.
mau
1:52 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012
"Confusion and anxiety"? Of course I rebelled against my parents mentality and did just the opposite. It wasn't because I wanted to compete, it was because I thought they were backward and stupid. I was so smart that I walked out the door the day after I graduated from high school. I was 18 and knew everything. Then one day I woke up in my mid 20's and realized how great my parents were and what great role models they were. I know that I will never be like them but I am always learning from them, even now after they are gone.