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In reply to the discussion: It seems like there's a lot of dislike and contempt for "boomers" from "millennials" [View all]jeff47
(26,549 posts)232. You weren't rolling around in debt.
but I would wager that I was quite as broke as you when I first got out on my own and, in fact, have had to struggle to make ends meet most of my life - despite my cheap but rather worthless college degree.
Well, my rather worthless college degree cost about $80k. So yes, I was more "broke" when I first got out on my own, since I had (presumably) similar crappy starter jobs while being in $80k more debt.
Who did that? Mostly former "Nixon Youth" that pushed for massive cuts in education spending. While they're technically part of the Boomer generation, they aren't all Boomers - I've been trying to be careful to point out that an entire generation can not be labeled by a component of that generation. Those right-wingers got it through because they happened to outnumber the left wing by about 10%.
But that's just the economic side of things. On the political side, "the kids" were greatly outnumbered so we had very little clout. It doesn't take long to realize you're not going to get anywhere politically - We couldn't even get "the powers that be" to bother to come out against us. That's resulted in GenX's record low voting rate - and also why we weren't "out in the streets".
On the plus side, our lack of economic clout has resulted in GenX being a bit less materialistic - marketing ignoring us was probably a good thing overall. It's amusing to think about the history of ads on sporting events - When I was a kid, it was all "beer-party"-style commercials. As boomers aged, it changed to "beer-with-your-friends" commercials. And now "treat-your-disease" commercials.
And, again, on the draft - registering at 18 is NOT the same as being drafted, and you know that.
To be utterly pedantic, Selective Service is "the draft", they're just not conscripting. For now.
but it was still their free choice, not something they could be arrested for if they didn't choose to participate.
If you believed the marketing and signed up for ROTC to pay for school in 1998, you signed up not expecting the gross incompetence of the Bush administration to send you to Iraq and then massively fuck that up. The only wars you would have seen were the air campaigns during the Clinton administration and the first Iraq war, which was pretty bloodless for the US - we had supposedly "learned the lessons of Vietnam".
But the Bush administration did fuck it up. To claim such people made that choice with full information is to ignore that they did not have such information, and ignores the lack of other good options thanks to the efforts of the former "Nixon Youth" to de-fund education. And ignores the conscription when "Stop-Loss" came into effect.
"It was worse back in my day!" is as crappy when a Boomer uses it on GenX as when a WWII generation used it on a Boomer. It ignores today's problems in order to celebrate yesterday's problems. And I'm sure the millennials will be annoyed when GenX does the same thing.
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It seems like there's a lot of dislike and contempt for "boomers" from "millennials" [View all]
cali
Dec 2013
OP
We Boomers - As Parents - Were Supposed To Make Things Better For Our Children.....
global1
Dec 2013
#1
Don't thank us--wages flat-lined starting in the early to mid-seventies,
truebluegreen
Dec 2013
#106
I'm a 2nd wave boomer and I can assure that my sisters and I all are worse off
magical thyme
Dec 2013
#227
Boomers became large proponents of republicanism, very few remained true to the vision
bluestate10
Dec 2013
#241
A 50-50 split between evil versus good is still a fucking failure. Why should Boomers
bluestate10
Dec 2013
#242
We were a hell of a lot sharper than the Greatest Generation who voted 55-39 for Reagan
Fumesucker
Dec 2013
#247
**cough** **cough** **cough** **cough** **cough** nope not true no matter how much you may want
azurnoir
Dec 2013
#177
So, effective anti-war protests, the fight for women's rights and racial eqality and GLBT
cali
Dec 2013
#8
War on Drugs, Prison Rates, Corporate Corruption, Political Corruption, Deadly GMO's
joeglow3
Dec 2013
#21
And you seem to think the boomer generation is wholly responsible for all the good shit
joeglow3
Dec 2013
#37
uh, no, my darling young friend. YOU seem to have a considerable reading comprehension
cali
Dec 2013
#43
lol. you attack- and nastily, an entire generation. the strength of your position is non-existent
cali
Dec 2013
#77
so, no answers either. not one of the bright lights of your generation, I guess?
bettyellen
Dec 2013
#175
suck that your generation is not smart enough to come out for mid term elections....
bettyellen
Dec 2013
#194
That it took boomers 20 years to lose what workers spent 100 years fighting for
joeglow3
Dec 2013
#167
A few days/weeks of homelessness and/or hunger will change that libertarian lean in a g-damn hurry.
TroglodyteScholar
Dec 2013
#25
The split toward progressive libertarianism is pretty significant. Millennials are far more
bluestate10
Dec 2013
#243
Every generation is smarter than its predecessor and wiser than its successor. nt
geek tragedy
Dec 2013
#10
No, it's speaking to their point of view. Gen Xers groused about how out of touch
geek tragedy
Dec 2013
#17
REALLY? You saw a "boomer" thread and you had to start your own to get 137 posts?
snooper2
Dec 2013
#14
Nothing bother me...well, except stupid people. And these fucking bugs we had in Texas
snooper2
Dec 2013
#22
I fear the dominance of a generation that cannot remember a world before Ronald Reagan
Douglas Carpenter
Dec 2013
#15
I'm not sure about my DU warfare cycle, but I think up next is the regional war.
hughee99
Dec 2013
#29
i put it down to grumpy old person syndrome, not so much get off my lawn as you owe me
loli phabay
Dec 2013
#33
Bleh. That generation has already shown a willingingness to butt fuck my generation.
joeglow3
Dec 2013
#264
They had the benefits given them because of things their parents did, they took these
Egalitarian Thug
Dec 2013
#74
I think part of it is a lack of understanding of the difficulties millenials face.
wickerwoman
Dec 2013
#49
I seriously doubt that 20-23% of Boomers were Hippies. Hippies stood for something.
bluestate10
Dec 2013
#244
Once again the boomers are self interested. Focusing on their own children the millenials.
Jesus Malverde
Dec 2013
#64
Strauss and Howe use 1982 as the Millennials' starting birth year and 2004 as the last birth year.[
Jesus Malverde
Dec 2013
#121
When one considered what the boomer generation inherited versus what they did with it....
Demo_Chris
Dec 2013
#66
The generational theft thing seems to be rubbing some Millenials the wrong way
AngryAmish
Dec 2013
#93
The Boomers are such a ridiculously large generation; therefore, it's impossible to generalize...
YoungDemCA
Dec 2013
#97
It's difficult to attend a rally when you're working 2-3 minimum wage part time jobs. (nt)
jeff47
Dec 2013
#161
Surely you don't think everyone on a discussion board should cheer together...
polichick
Dec 2013
#170
Gawd, this is stupid. Good thing there aren't any actual burning issues to deal with.
Comrade Grumpy
Dec 2013
#141
everyone's bitching about "Boomer-caused" economic problems--but let's see who
MisterP
Dec 2013
#153
The boomers tried to turn back civil rights and brought us the fucking drug war.
joshcryer
Dec 2013
#182
Let me turn this around: It seems like there's a lot of contempt for Millennials from Boomers
Hippo_Tron
Dec 2013
#183
Perfectly said, but you left out one very interesting thing about the greed generation
Demo_Chris
Dec 2013
#210
"Let me tell you why you resent me" is not generally the best way to start a conversation.
LeftyMom
Dec 2013
#213
Economically, the rich and wealthy run the US and our current situation is by their design.
killbotfactory
Dec 2013
#218
The two groups have been in conflict for years. Millennials feel that Boomers are self
bluestate10
Dec 2013
#240
Well, MY contempt is for generalizations made from a personal small sample of "N."
WinkyDink
Dec 2013
#265