This probably isn’t that new of a thought to most of you all, but another post made me think to share it.
About a year ago my wife and I (both millennials) were taking a long walk and reflecting on some stuff. It occurred to us both that from our early to mid 20s forward it was hard getting good advice from our parents (both Boomers) on life matters. Sure, there’s the usual “they don’t know what the housing market is” stuff, but it seemed like more than that. That’s when we both had the glass shattering conclusion that we have experienced more life than our parents.
We didn’t mean travel. We honestly meant global changes and conflict. Sure, our parents had the Cold War and threats of nuclear annihilation, but it felt like the traumas of the last generation weren’t as frequent, global, and of personal impact. Economic meltdowns, global warming (with local weather events impacting us), 911, COVID… I don’t need to keep going.
So, we came to the conclusion that even though Boomers like to fall back to the “pick yourself up by your bootstraps” mantra, it turns out that they went through their adult lives with relatively little global/national trauma. This obviously can’t stand as a generalization for personal trauma, but on a macrochasm scale Boomers are Summer Children (matured during a time of plenty and ease).
I would also like to ask how you think future generations will view Generation X, millennials, or Generation Z. Because from where I’m sitting, we are going to be the ones holding the bag on the whole… destroying the planet thing? Future generations are going to look back and see that we possessed the information and the technology to halt the destruction of earth’s ecosystem, but due to our own narcissism and greed, we let it happen in slow motion.
The Boomers are also largely responsible, but that doesn’t absolve us; just like the fact that the Boomers were raised by a generation which, by modern moral standards, was far more egregious than the Boomers themselves, does not absolve them. They can at least argue partial ignorance regarding climate change, we have no such luck.
Sorry to make two top level comments but I had two separate reactions to this post.
I’m not sure they will. Aging Boomers are largely those still in power in the government blocking preventing meaningful climate change legislation.
You’re ignoring that the last election was the first where boomers and older weren’t the largest demographic of eligible voters…
That’s why they were called baby boomers. Because there was/is a shit ton of them.
They get blamed because of that. And that’s why future generations won’t share the same amount of blame.
Are we discussing the baby Boomers, or every generation born prior to GenX? Boomers and older isn’t a demographic. Millenials have been larger than Boomers for some time now.
Huh? I’m confused. What is that referring to in your last sentence? You think the reason they get blamed is because there were high birthrates at the time leading to a large generation? How tf is that their fault?
At least in the US, I think the jury’s still out on how history will view X/Y/Z’s handling of the climate, because… the boomers are still handling it. Once the government starts to be mostly non-boomers, I think we’ll probably see an enormous shift in that sort of policy.