General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Excellent rant from a Millenial to GenX and Boomers [View all]daaron
(763 posts)Presumably many of the virulent reactions above came from Boomers?
Something lost in all the puffed-up mutual outrage is that Baby Boomers have a demographic advantage over other generations (hence, the name) in America. In any poll that doesn't factor by ages will be skewed toward Boomer opinion. In a democratic society such as ours, Boomers have a numbers advantage that has nothing to do with the specialness of the generation, and everything to do with the previous generation having lots of unprotected sex in a time of relative prosperity. If 20 people apply for the same job, then holding all other factors constant more of them will be Boomers than not.
Hey, I'm Gen X. I get the impulse to blame Boomers for hogging the spotlight. I've joked that it wasn't cool to be 30 until the Boomers were 30-something. Then 40-something became the new 30-something. Then 50 was the new 40. Then Boomers hit 60 and 40-something became "middle young", whatever that means. Boomers became the measuring point, by force of sheer numbers. Everything Boomers do receives attention - even the Tea Party - simply because more people are doing it when Boomers are doing it, too.
From the POV of other generations, who maybe are more pissed than me, it might seem like liberal Boomers are enabling this to happen by not taking this demographic fact seriously enough. Social Security is about to take a monster hit. Never mind that Health Care reform didn't become a pressing concern until the Boomers got older. Getting defensive and patronizing doesn't help the Boomer's case. There's more Boomers than any other generation, and so they have an outsized effect in a democratic society and consumer economy. What they want, they can usually get, and their priorities tend to come first because there are more of them.
It's essential to keep Boomers on the progressive side, because there's more of them. That means political parties have had to appeal to Boomers, and shape their messaging for Boomers. When parties campaign to "younger" voters, it means anyone younger than a Boomer. That's how it seems to the younger generations of adults. (Implicitly, you understand by "younger" I mean THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^6^^.)
Pick your battles Boomers. We might be serving you latte's today, but tomorrow you'll need us for more than that.