Thread "The myth of the Boomer - future Quackcast idea" in forum "Comic Talk and General Discussion *"

Posted at 7:05AM, May. 1, 2023

One thing that really gets on my tits is ageism. It always has since I was a teeny sprite back in the distant past.

One myth that we're all familiar with already is the idea that the young are lazy and going to ruin society through their foolish ways. We know the truth is that older generations have been saying that about the younger ones since recorded history began.

A much more persistent myth now though is that it's the older generation who're responsible for all the ills of the world, they're all reactionary, they're all plutocrats with ALL the money, everything was easy for them, they're ruined the world and we all have to deal with the fallout, they're all conservative and puritan etc.
-It's just exactly as much bullshit as the young person myth but these days everyone seems to believe it.

Both myths have grains of plausibility and THAT is what people base and extrapolate the justification of their beliefs from:
-Some young people really ARE lazy and silly because that's the privilege of youth, they're breaking away from parental responsibility and want to go their own way, many do stupid things. However that doesn't last and sooner or later they have to take up responsibilities like everyone did before them.
-Some older people REALLY DO have all the money, some of them are in positions of power and make the rules for the rest of us, and many older people are in senior employment positions and many own their own homes, as you might home for someone who's been around a long time. But NOT all, and the ones in power and with a lot of money are in the TINY minority. Most older people don't have a lot of money or any power to speak of.

We forget that these so called "boomers" produced hippies and counterculture, they're the ones who we have to thank for gay liberation. They gave us anti-nuclear protests that led to a deescalation of the nuclear threat. They suffered the Vietnam war- you think Iraq and Afghanistan were bad… that was far worse. They weren't volunteers in a hostile occupation, it was hot war and most had no choice.

People say they had it easy with a job for life, no student debit, cheap homes… But we forget that most of them never went to university. That job for life WAS their whole life- most of them had almost no interests outside of it, none of the amazing creative skills, hobbies and outlets that are available to all of us now. Those poor bastards were drones in the system. Of course they could get their own homes, they had nothing else in their lives but to work and get a house and raise a family. The society created by their parents forced them onto rails.

The so-called "greatest generation" who lived through the war were often extreme hard-arse conservative parents and forced them to conform, many had drinking problems. The experience they had rarely made them wonderful parents…

Anyway, using "boomer" as an ad-hominim makes you a dick. An ignorant dick.
-I'm Generation X and we have just as many horrible traits and good traits as any other generation. Always remember that NO ONE as a group had it harder than anyone else. Everyone had something crap they had to deal with.

Posted at 7:05AM, May. 1, 2023

LOL, maybe better as a newspost XD

My musings…

Posted at 8:05AM, May. 1, 2023

The younger generation always feel that they are more open-minded then the older generation, and the older generation always feel that they are wiser then the younger generation. This is a thing that has been repeated throughout human history over, and over, and over again since–God knows how long:P

Posted at 9:05AM, May. 1, 2023

And to some of us a "boomer" will always be a nuclear submarine even if others consider us to be part of that generation.

It should be remembered that "the greatest generation " grew up in the Great Depression when real poverty stalked many first world countries the way it does in third world countries today. There was no plenty in 1932. Homelessness wasn't some lifestyle. There were vagrantcy laws and you'd be locked up for sleeping on the street.

It's always been the youth are lazy and the elders are wise as long as there has been elders and youth. It's even cross cultural extending all over the world. It's a very human condition. Who knows maybe when we can finally talk to dolphins and great apes they'll be complaining about how lazy the younger generation is and how lacking in respect they are for their parents.

Posted at 9:05AM, May. 1, 2023

From what I've heard as far as ancient Egypt you had elderly scholars complaining in their writings about how they thought the younger generation of their time was lacking in wisdom and decensy. Probably they were just tired of them doing the Egyptian Shake every night:D

Posted at 2:05PM, May. 1, 2023

I think one thing is the imagine of THEE BOOMER outside of Bubblegum Crisis are these 1980's Power Yuppies that had grown old, the Batesman turning in his VHS tapes, suits and kitchen knives for a Bowling shirt, some shorts and phone to stream the most vanilla porn and imagining the words "step" in there somewhere while the Karen is demanding to see the manager from a long defunct Rax that was turned into dust during the burger wars.

Basically Spoiled rotten adults that have no idea how the actual real world works but won't stop them from imparting their "wisdom" upon the world.

Now they are just raisins.

A lot of other people during that generation, non-Americans, Asian, Blacks, Latinos, so on and so on, got the shaft too.

Just had to add that one in.

Posted at 5:05PM, May. 1, 2023

Living in Japan for the better part of 2 decades, I have a slightly different protective on the boomers. From what I see, Japan has it's own "greatest generation" those who were kids during the war and in the years following it. Those people were hard as nails and the ones I've known were cool. This is all anecdotal based on just a few people. But the boomers… Japanese boomers are something else. They grew up during one of the greatest economic booms in history and they act like it. Maybe it's not true but it really does seem like they all have houses and cars and savings. Like, they got their shit together. They get a government pension while us genXers wonder why we have to pay high taxes into a system that is doomed to collapse. Gen X is kinda chill-doomer. Knowing the system is fucked and setting expectations appropriately. It's surreal living in a society in extreme demographic collapse. While the heart of the city still has energy, if you step outside that you can see the wave of decay. Abandoned houses, farms, schools. Parks and other public Commons built during the boom lay in a state of semi ruin. It's oddly beautiful in a way. Anyway, I don't blame the boomer generation. They rode the wave as it crested. They they reached the apex on the swing set of society and got to peek over the trees to the snow topped mountains of a distant, impossible future. The world of Doraemon was the promise they were given. It still echos in dandelion filled parks now devoid of children playing, even though the rocket booster that would get us there is running out of fuel.

Posted at 4:05AM, May. 2, 2023

Andreas_Helixfinger wrote:
From what I've heard as far as ancient Egypt you had elderly scholars complaining in their writings about how they thought the younger generation of their time was lacking in wisdom and decensy. Probably they were just tired of them doing the Egyptian Shake every night:D

It was "do the Egyptian" to reference a song that was popular back the 1980s. Though the Bangles did do a reunion tour and Susanna Hoffs just celebrated her 64th birthday still touring.

Anyway, yes there are documents from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome all with one generation complaining about another. There are some parodies from Ancient Rome and China with characters suspiciously like the stereotypical Karen. And of course the oldest letter to survive from the ancient world is a customer complaint. 🤣