Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Boom Boom

Oh yeah. Authentic Baby Boomer, 1969
Anybody got any spare pearls to clutch?

You probably heard. A young member of the New Zealand parliament was in the middle of a speech about the coming climate catastrophe when she was heckled by an older colleague. "OK, Boomer," she snapped off, in a little bit of unrehearsed genius, and continued on. The old fart had been concisely scorned. "OK Boomer" became a viral hit. An entire generation has been dismissed.

And a whole lot of us famously self-involved Baby Boomers are in a snit about it, apparently.

I was born in the pinnacle of the baby boom, and you can see a lot from the top of a bell curve. You can see even more if you never take offense. And the complete inability to take things personally happens to be my superpower. Be forewarned.

If someone comes at me, I figure either I'm in the wrong, in which case I should promptly own it, or they're mistaken, in which case there's no reason to be offended because it has nothing to do with me. I know: it's sickening how healthy my self-regard is. And, minus a couple adolescent years, it always has been. I don't know if it was part of my out-of-box experience, or if my parents had it installed. Either way, it's damned hard to hurt my feelings.

Not so the conservative radio personality who took to his fainting couch over the dreadful bigotry of the "OK Boomer" diss. Why, it's the new N-word, says he. I Swan! Mercy Lord!

Settle down, Steve Mike Tom Dave Gary. You haven't been persecuted in all your born days. You will live to flower delicately again.

Let's face it. Most of us boomers had nothing to do with the development of weapons of mass carbon redistribution, but we all gobbled up the goodies as fast as we could. We worked for peace and justice until our own war went away and all that artificial wealth rained down on us. We've had more toys than any generation in the history of Life and we're going to the grave with them.

There are generalizations you can make about any demographic, but I contend people are all the same. The millennials would've squandered our last resources too if we'd left them any. The Greatest Generation would've done the same thing if they hadn't been born into a depression instead. It's just the luck of the draw that we boomers got to eat all the candy.

And that's what "OK Boomer" means. You bet it's dismissive. Because it's referring to the fact that now that we know we're destroying everything and we know what must be done, we still won't do it. Instead we're all upset that someone's calling us names. Damn house is on fire and the teenagers next door are handing us a hose and we're all arms-folded and No! Not until you say you're sorry for being mean. And get out of the petunias.

We're perpetual toddlers.

You're not one of those Boomers, you say? Stereotypes are unfair? Go ahead and fly your #NotAllBoomers flag. Whine that you were always on the side of goodness and can't be blamed. See where it gets you. Nowhere. Now quit pouting and get over your damn self. We've all got work to do.

28 comments:

  1. Yes, I totally agree and wonder what the heck everyone was in such a snit about.

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  2. Not only are we Boomers, we're white. Holy crap, we've got a lot to make up for.

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    1. Additionally, some of us have male privilege, too.

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  3. I do have a problem with it, and I'm not even a Boomer. I'm fed up with the divisiveness that everyone seems to thrill in these days. Red or blue, Boomer or Millenial, Perfection and Putrification--everyone should just get the freak over themselves and their lines in the sand.
    Some of us are purple, some are Gen-x, and nobody is perfect. We HAVE GOT to stop drawing lines and start linking arms and resources and finding commonalities.

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    1. I do wonder how it got quite this bad. I can think of a number of things. The internet hasn't been a help. And, of course, there has been big money invested in precisely this: division. It works to the advantage of some and to the detriment of all.

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    2. I'm all in with you on this & I'm having a blast with OK Boomer. What's making it so amusing to me is that it's not even the millennials in my little circle who're slinging mud, It's the X factors who are angrily hurling that particular hammer every which way.

      I'm also 100% with Kat too. How in hell do we roll our sleeves up and get shit done when the focus is on how we're different instead of how we're all in this together and no single age, race, gender, etc. is going to get us out of this all by themselves?

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  4. I'd watched the video of "OK Boomer" and it felt to me like that young woman said it in quite a kindly way, which is more than I can say for boomers who dismiss Millenials! I think Kat has an excellent point above. And you're right, too, Murr - no generation is inherently bad. We are a product of our time in history.

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    1. Yes, I am curious what the heck the gentleman she was addressing had to say. What could he say? What could he have been objecting to?

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  5. I love the irony of it! The Boomers... who famously "didn't trust anyone over 30"... are now at the receiving end of this mistrust. Doesn't feel so great now that the worm has turned, huh? (And, for the record, I am a Boomer. However, I don't take this dismissal of us to heart. In fact, I think as an aggregate, we've earned it.)

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    1. Well, and of course the Millennials are getting more than their share of derision from the Boomers. Much of it is specifically designed to blunt the message of engaged Millennials re: climate change. Hell with that.

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  6. Oh, this deserves so much more than just book-marking. This un's gonna be framed and put on the wall!

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  7. Right On! As we boomers used to say.

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  8. Too old to be a Boomer (I'm of the Silent Generation only wishing we had all been the Greatest), I think that people are people. As others have written, we are shaped by what came before and what is happening currently. The Millennials within my acquaintance are good people. Not perfect any more than am I, but good people.

    Like You, Murr, my skin is quite thick. If one wishes to insult me, one must work for it!
    Cop Car

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    1. Good to hear. I don't think it's normal, but I feel blessed to have been--to borrow a phrase--born this way.

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    2. I think my skin got thicker very slowly, over the 39 years that I have been in sales.

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    3. Even if you did have thin skin, you didn't show it.

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  9. Nope, not me! I was born during the war!

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    1. Free pass for the dancin' fool! Now, may I inquire as to your successful beauty regimen?

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  10. The "Boomer" generation began Jan 1st 1936. I was born two days later. I think Ralph Waldo Emerson had some good advice which fits many situations. "“Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.”

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    1. I think I've seen that attributed to many. It's an excellent saying nonetheless. And Boomers are, officially, I believe, 1944 through 1963, or so. You're my sister and brother's age!

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    2. I thought it was '46, but like many times before, I could be wrong. Not sure it matters anyway. Good piece o' writin', Murr.

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  11. "If someone comes at me, I figure either I'm in the wrong, in which case I should promptly own it, or they're mistaken, in which case there's no reason to be offended because it has nothing to do with me."
    I'm the same and so is my brother and all my kids. My brother's daughter on the other hand gets offended at Every Little Thing! talking to her is like walking through a minefield. I'm assuming, since I've never actually walked through a minefield.

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    1. Ooo, that minefield reference, I thought you were reflecting something I'd said in a post, only I just realized I haven't published that post yet...needless to say, I don't need any reminders I'm old.

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  12. Boy, do I remember that living room, just like it was yesterday! And the fabulous hair too, of course. Now, whose sitar is that you're playing??

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    1. Umm...I think maybe Susan Martin's Iranian boyfriend Qaisar?

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  13. "The complete inability to take things personally happens to be my superpower." Thanks for that. I was beginning to think I was the only one left.

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