Comments on: Sullivan on Baby Boomers

By: Cathy Stanton

Cathy Stanton — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 20:39:00 +0000

As a “boomer” I find it ironic that the generations that have followed us are saying they are forced to clean up our mess. This is exactly what we said and it will be said again and again. However, I get disheartend when I see that the same people who demonstrated aganist the war in Vietnam, marched for civil rights and women’s rights and stood firm for Cesar Chavez have turned against the liberals they once were. It seems almost like being a liberal is just a phase. It hasn’t been for me. I have always been a little left of liberal and still am. They got scared and they got greedy or they just got old and stupid. But I think it is a mistake to discount what my generation faught so hard for. Being pro-choice is relevant when Planned Parenthood becomes a target and Mississippi attempts to pass a facist bill.

By: dildenusa

dildenusa — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:28:00 +0000

In reply to nicole.

I’m sorry but I disagree. Instant communication and instant gratification is behind much of this generational warfare. And even though we shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, the obvious villians here are those who in the past used new forms of mass media to push a philosophy of determinism and hatred to justify their abuse and greed.

It’s been about 560 years since Gutenberg invented the moveable type printing press. With all the literature that has been printed since then it doesn’t appear that humanity has learned much about human nature and free will in those 560 years. So the target is US. We have allowed sociopaths to target us and control our fates for millenia. When each and everyone of us finally understands that our nature is a social animal and that we should use instant communications to “out” greedy, abusive, sociopaths, we won’t have to allow them to abuse anyone anymore.

By: jjasonham

jjasonham — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 06:51:00 +0000

Generational characteristics can be defined. This is an indisputable fact. To say generation has no “meaning” is absolute hogwash, no matter how you feel about it. Generations within a family are microcosms of the larger society. No, people don’t reproduce with their peers with the intention to define themselves as a generation, it just happens. The oldest children within a generation are defined objectively through their “coming of age” event, like WWII or 9/11. That does not mean every person in that generation will embody all of those characteristics. Pointing out the negatives that a generation has contributed to, is just that– pointing out the negatives. All generations have both sides. As a Millennial, I can say my generation didn’t have any kind of direct influence over much of our current troubles. I will not be able to say that from here on out.

By: JMAshby

JMAshby — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 04:14:00 +0000

In reply to nicole. Who said anyone is being "targeted?" Are we not even allowed to discuss the issue?

By: trgahan

trgahan — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 03:57:00 +0000

I do think framing American history as a series of “generations” using rather arbitrary date ranges is an arcane construct. Yeah, it works to describe the spike in birth rates after WWII, but before and after that event, it is not really applicable. I agree that the hostility between these arbitrary “generations” is very helpful to those in power. Division is always exploited by the moneyed and powerful.
That said, being of a younger generation it is hard not to feel resentment toward the Baby Boomers. American is becoming a more restrictive society, while at the same time praising the freedoms “won” by the Baby Boomers. Practically every achievement of that time is current under real threat of being reversed. Poll Tax gone, voter ID’s in; reproductive rights earned, numerous laws limiting them since; Pell Grants developed, government funding for education cut annually; Vietnam Stopped, Iraq/War on Terror started (and several small scale conflicts in between), etc. etc.
We all wanted to revolutions..then we realized it won’t get us a mansion in Malibu.

By: muselet

muselet — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 03:52:00 +0000

In reply to JMAshby.

And Tom Brokaw’s beloved “Greatest Generation” was a huge voting bloc after WWII. Does that mean they voted for Jim Crow? For discrimination against women, gays and anyone else who didn’t fit socially-acceptable pigeonholes?

Well, not all of them.

Good grief.

Generational warfare is a distraction, and a dangerous one. Righties grin ear-to-ear every time Sullivan opens his pie hole and has a moan about Boomers—and every time Bob complains about Boomers—because it means they’re winning the fucking argument. Twenty years ago, the Right was trying to foment generational war between the young and the “greedy geezers” who were getting such a sweet deal with their pensions and their Social Security and their Medicare and their VA benefits. Now, people who should know better are echoing the “greedy geezers” line of bullshit and doing the Right’s dirty work for it. Turns out, all the bastards had to do was plant the seed and wait for it to sprout.

I try hard not to swear here (this is a classy joint, act respectable), but this is beyond irritating.

–alopecia

By: MarshallLucky

MarshallLucky — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 03:47:00 +0000

Self-pity gets us nowhere.

By: MarshallLucky

MarshallLucky — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 03:36:00 +0000

In reply to nicole. Spot on.

By: MarshallLucky

MarshallLucky — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 03:35:00 +0000

I have no idea what constantly whining about the baby-boom generation is supposed to accomplish. I’m sure it must have been so amazingly frustrating to “live in the Boomers’ shadow” or whatever tear-soaked bullshit Gen-Xers are spouting now, but guess what? Tough. Every generation has to deal with the societal impact, both positive and negative, of the one before it. Yeah, it would have been nice if the ideological backlash against the 60’s hadn’t happened. It would also be nice if we lived in a country that wasn’t founded on genocide. It would be nice if we lived in a country that had figured out that slavery was wrong from the get-go. It would be nice if we lived in a country that doesn’t fetishize material wealth. But it did, it is, it didn’t and it does. We can’t change the past, we can only shape the future.

Now are we going to spend our time pissing and moaning about how our parents and grandparents and everyone back to Adam dealt us a bum hand, or are we going to shut the fuck up and start building a finer world? Maybe we can demonstrate some of the foresight and moral fiber we rip on the Boomers for lacking.

By: nicole

nicole — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 03:28:00 +0000

In reply to JMAshby. Every generation has "some responsibility", Ashby. Just as every generation has triumphs and failures. Targeting any particular generation is just asinine.