Anyone here NOT a baby boomer?

[Amy-Strange]

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I'm a baby boomer, and I was just wondering what you all thought of the "Ok, Boomer" meme.

You know, the one where all the world's problems are blamed on us.

Personally, I kind of agree with all of that, but remember one thing.

The generations after you will do the same thing to you.
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[Skittles]

1. I know some OK Boomers

you know, they try to equate the experiences young folk have today to the ones we had "back in the day" - it makes them sound foolish and out of touch

[Amy-Strange]

6. I've read many articles on that very thing, and...

-

you're right.
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[d_r]

10. I knew some OK Sooners

Sorry

[Skittles]

40. heh

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. IIRC the largest share of active posters at DU are boomers and older.

I am not a boomer.

[vercetti2021]

3. I'm a millennial

I'm 29 and I know eventually we will be called something by gen z and whichever gen is next in line. But I've only used boomer against old Republicans

[ret5hd]

5. OK Millie.

(I kid I kid.)

[vercetti2021]

22. Oh hell

I can see that

[RandySF]

4. I'm a Gen-Xer

And I hate this “Ok Boomer” shit.

[soothsayer]

7. Same

[chowder66]

9. Ditto

[d_r]

12. Me 4

[lapucelle]

13. I don't like it either. It's deliberately dismissive ageism. N/T

[hlthe2b]

16. +++ (and stupid)

[Amy-Strange]

27. Those who cannot remember their past post, are doomed to repeat them...

-

sorry, I couldn't help myself, but I do like your sig.
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[Amy-Strange]

15. Thank you Gen-Xers...

-

It's refreshing to hear that.
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[SoonerPride]

20. Gen-X too and I don't care for it bc it seems ageist

[misanthrope]

48. Same here

We hoped we could change the world in ways but were never so arrogant as to believe it would bow down before us.

[Mike 03]

70. Same

[Croney]

8. I'm 75, so pre-Boomer. The phrase has jumped the shark.

Even the teenagers have stopped saying OK Boomer to each other without understanding it but cackling with laughter anyway.

[Amy-Strange]

14. Don't trust anyone over thirty...

-

was our chant against you guys in the 60s.

Seems like only yesterday (I wish)!
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[Bob Munck]

19. Also 75

Just last month. My high-school class (West Chester (PA) High, Class of 63) had 320 people in it. The next year's class, from exactly the same geographic area, had 650. Boom!

I think we're called The Silent Generation. Or Beatniks (I did try to play bongos at one point, but because Feynman did.)

[Cha]

29. We're called

"war babies" as far as I've read.

[smirkymonkey]

11. I am at the very tail end of the boomers.

The last year, 1963. I will be 57 in exactly one month. Personally, it doesn't bother me that much because I don't take it to heart. Generations are always blaming each other for their problems. I pretty much ignore it. People do the best they can given their circumstances. I see no point in pitting each other against one another.

[Amy-Strange]

18. True, but...

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what bothers me the most about this generational thing is that a lot of people from other generations dismiss the music from past generations, and I think that is just plain wrong.

I remember when everyone started to say Disco sucked, but it's interesting to note that while they're saying that during a disco song, a lot of them were also tapping their feet to the beat.

I'm 63, and still love the music from my youth, but I also love today's music.

My favorite artist right now is Rhiannon. She's awesome!
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[smirkymonkey]

39. I like music from all generations, but I think my favorite is from the

silent generation.

Much more, but that is the general type of music I love to listen to.

[Amy-Strange]

51. All great stuff, but...

-

my favorite are the Jazz and Swing Bands from that time, and of course, my all time favorite is "In the Mood" by Benny Goodman!

Also, the big-time one that everyone has heard at least once, but not everyone knows the name, "Auld Land Syne" by Guy Lombardo.

Probably the Silent Generation's biggest hit.

Thank you!
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[smirkymonkey]

57. I love those too!

I thought "In the Mood" was Glenn Miller, though? Maybe Benny did it too. Also love Artie Shaw, Count Basie, Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, etc. I absolutely love that music!

Here's one of my faves by Benny...

And his clarinetist rival, Artie Shaw, with "Begin the Beguine"...

[Amy-Strange]

60. Crap, you're right...

-

Where did I get Benny Goodman from?

I have the song on my iPhone, copied it from there, but when I looked again, I was wrong.
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[llmart]

75. +1000

I dare anyone to not tap their foot to Swing, Swing, Swing. It just can't be done.

[CottonBear]

34. You're part of Generation Jones, like me & the Obamas!

https://www.chronicle.com/article/Generation-Jones/145569

By Jeffrey J. Williams MARCH 31, 2014
One of my colleagues went to Woodstock and another lived in Haight-Ashbury in 1969. While they’ve cut their hair since, they’re obviously baby boomers, and they sometimes tell me stories about protesting the Vietnam War, smuggling dope, and seeing Bob Dylan in concert. The strange thing is that I’m supposedly a baby boomer, since I was born in December 1958, but their stories recount a distant world. I only vaguely remember Vietnam on the news, have no memory of JFK, and find Bob Dylan grating. The events that made an impression on me were the Watergate hearings, stagflation, and the Carter and Reagan presidencies. Our music was different, too—OK, let’s forget Journey, but in our early 20s, we raised our lighters to some remarkable bands, like U2, the Cure, and, born in my year, Prince and Madonna.

According to standard accounts, the boomer generation encompasses those born in the long span between the mid-1940s and mid-1960s. But those born in the later 1950s through the early 1960s, like Barack Obama (b. 1961), have a different sensibility than those like Bill Clinton and George W. Bush (both b. 1946). They came of age after the 60s. The cultural commentator and marketing consultant Jonathan Pontell has named them Generation Jones.

Pontell defines Jonesers as those born from 1954 to 1965, distinguishing them from boomers proper, born from 1942 to 1953, as well as from Generation X, born from 1966 to the late 1970s. Vietnam is a key coordinate: 1954 was the first birth year of those who came of age as the war was ending and who didn’t have to serve.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/timeline.com/amp/p/923270cb2010

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/06/booming/i-may-be-50-but-dont-call-me-a-boomer.html?_r=1

[stopwastingmymoney]

54. Interesting

My hubs is 1961 and I think he’ll enjoy this

Marking to read to him in the morning, thanks!

[CottonBear]

59. You are welcome!

It’s very interesting!

[smirkymonkey]

55. Oh, that's good to know.

I never really did relate to the boomers, so I guess that explains things a bit better.

Thanks for that!

[CottonBear]

58. You're welcome!

I graduated from high school and college in the 1980s. I’m definitely not a boomer.

[smirkymonkey]

62. Same here. Class of '81 and '85.

I certainly feel better about being of Generation Jones!

[ProfessorGAC]

72. Makes Sense

1956 here, so a little older than those named, but I came of age DURING Vietnam and Nixon.
I'm sure that shaped my world view.
People who were in their 20s when Nixon was elected might have had their general view of things already settled to some degree by then.
I think most of have their worldview foundation laid ages 14 to 24. After that the smart ones make modest adjustments as more learning allows more specificity on issues.

[CottonBear]

78. I saw the moon landing when I was 6. I watched Nixon resign a few years later.

I came of age during the 70s & early 80s.

[RandySF]

17. Boomers

Broke barriers for women, people of color and the LGBT community.

[GulfCoast66]

21. Early Gen-Xer here. Wife's a boomer.

Neither give a shit about the ‘OK Boomer’ saying. Could not care less if aimed at Gen Xers.

We don’t Facebook and have real lives to live. Never really cared what strangers say. Find it confusing that so many do.

Generally just laugh a shit like this.

Got to get the boat ready for fishing next week. And some grass seed to sow.

[sakabatou]

23. Millenial, but both my parents are Boomers.

[Happy Hoosier]

24. Gen-X here. NT

[NCDem47]

25. Gen X here.

Too old for Snapchat. Too young for Medicare.

[Glorfindel]

26. I'm four months too old to be a Boomer

having been born three days before the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender. I think the "OK, Boomer" thing is silly, but no sillier than my generation's saying, "Don't trust anyone over 30." (Turning 30 almost broke my heart...everything after that has been quite easy.)

[Amy-Strange]

30. And those discounts at Pot Shops almost make it worthwhile, and...

-

it's probably the only good thing about getting old.

Of course getting old is easy, because all you really have to do is wait!
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[Trailrider1951]

68. You get a discount?

Who knew? Tell me more....

[Amy-Strange]

71. Washington state...

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the shop I go to, if you spend at least 30$, gives a 10% discount to military, and anyone over 55, and some other people too, but I don't think that includes LE.

I always ask for the discount, and then almost always put it in the tip jar.

Customer service is a tough job.
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[Trailrider1951]

80. Well, that's cool. I'm living in Washington State also

but I don't think my local shop offers a discount. And they don't have tip jars. I always get smiles and friendly service, so it's all good!

[TalenaGor]

28. gen x here

[Srkdqltr]

31. I wea born 3 weeks before Pearl Harbor. Is there a name for that?

I was baptized on Pearl Harbor day. My grandfather always said that was the day the world exploded.

[NoMoreRepugs]

32. Boomer (70) and of the opinion it's going to be difficult

for any of the generations behind us to have it as good as we did (collectively) for their entire lifetimes like so many of us have.

[cayugafalls]

33. I'm a boomer. I never let that bother me.

Started protesting at 9 years old. I was part of the desegregation movement in the late 60's and early 70's and was bused across town as part of that effort in St Petersburg, Florida. It was a unique experience and helped me understand a lot.

I continued to protest until the war ended and then got lazy when my family moved to Texas and I started getting beat up by the rednecks here (I was a long haired hippy kid...).

So I am OK with someone blaming boomers for the problems of today. We did kind of drop the ball and stop protesting once the war was over and we graduated college and started families. We did not complete the job.

I think this time is different, the level of knowledge and understanding by this generation far exceeds our own. They seem ready for the long haul. They are not going to become the generation that let it slip away.

I am putting a lot of faith in my son and his peers. They tell me they got this and I believe him.

[cabot]

35. Part of the forgotten generation - Gen X

Sandwiched between baby boomers and millennials...we are the forgotten ones.

[soothsayer]

41. But the best at diversity and inclusion

Probably because we don’t fit anywhere.

[cabot]

49. True enough

And I've noticed that a lot of people who are wearing masks during the pandemic are GenX. Must be because we came of age during the HIV/AIDs era when being "safe" was hammered into our heads.

[Bettie]

36. Gen X

that's all.

[meadowlander]

37. I'm Gen X

and recommend watching this excellent lecture all the way through:

"The generations after you will do the same thing to you."

This assumes:

a. that there are generations that will still be around when I'm retirement age;

b. that I'm ever able to retire;

c. that my generation also sucks up all the housing wealth, retirement benefits, health care funding, non-renewable energy sources, etc. while cutting education funding, turning a blind eye to mounting student debt and wealth inequality, etc. and passing all of the environmental costs on to future generations to deal with.

I don't think "OK Boomer" is a particularly helpful meme but it functions as a kind of short-hand for "maybe a generation with such an abysmal record on intergenerational equity shouldn't be lecturing young people about what they choose to spend their money on".

Talking about the generation in aggregate, obviously. #Notallboomers.

[GreenEyedLefty]

50. Great post! (I'm also Gen X)

[Music Man]

38. Millennial here.

I think "OK, Boomer" is a stupid phrase. There are better and worse boomers. I know many who have retained the hippie traits of their youth. I'm also not sure Baby Boomers give young folks any more hell than the Greatest Generation or Gen X do.

In fact, Gen X voted for Trump in 2016 and has often exhibited conservative traits. Maybe it was growing up listening to Reagan's shit that did it.

I find "OK, Boomer" to be unnecessarily divisive. I'm over it.

[hamsterjill]

42. I'm a Boomer but I've never fit the mold

I think lumping an entire generation of people into one category, set of values, whatever... is a form of discrimination. I’m not responsible for what others my age do or have done. I’m responsible for what I do individually.

Just my opinion...

[EllieBC]

43. I'm a Gen Xer

Honestly I find it funny how the boomers and millennials tear into each other considering many millennials are the children of boomers.

And I’m happy to be part of the largely forgotten generation.

[MustLoveBeagles]

46. Same here

And I’m happy to be part of the largely forgotten generation.

[MustLoveBeagles]

44. I think it's childish not to mention ageist

There are good and bad people in every generation mine included. (Gen X)

[Wolf Frankula]

45. I'm a Joneser.

I don't fit any of the Boomer stereotypes.

Wolf

[tinrobot]

52. Me too. Just learned about Generation Jones a while back.

I knew I wasn't a boomer and wasn't quite Gen X.

Happy to finally figure out that I'm the weird middle child of the generation gap.

[ironflange]

81. Thanks, I just looked it up.

The wife and I could be poster children for Generation Jones.

[Codeine]

47. I'm not.

DU trends very old, but we have plenty of GenX and some Millennials here.

I like “OK Boomer”. It’s funny when used properly.

[JonAndKatePlusABird]

53. I'm not!

Only 32 years old here.

Personally, no issue whatsoever with “ok boomer”. My parents are boomers, and I’ve talked about this with them and their friends. They’re not bothered by it.

Among my friends, we laugh about how growing up, we were lectured constantly by teachers and parents about the evils of the internet, how nothing you read online is true and not to be trusted. God forbid you were to cite a (gasp!) website when writing a paper. Nope, only the 1995 edition of encyclopedia Britannica had the real facts!

And now? It’s become a freaking trope, all our parents and their friends sharing bullshit fake news on Facebook, all concerned about their kids living in a city, all freaking out over complete BS.

Maybe it’s a generational human thing, the younger generation feels that the older generation is full of shit, and the feeling is mutual. But me personally, I can think of several specific examples where looking back, the “adult in charge” was clearly faking it and lying their asses off. And when those same people were sanctimoniously telling us that we’d all end up like them, “when we got older and understood,”...... all I can do is smile when people don’t pay them the attention they never deserved.

And now time to return to my millennial Antifa avacado toast party where nobody works and all just mooch off our parents whilst living in their basements.

[mvd]

56. I'm kind of between X and Y

I don’t think the Boomers are only to blame. Millennials are more progressive overall, but too often don’t participate in the process enough.

[RANDYWILDMAN]

61. Gen X here

and yeah my fox loving mom is an Ok, Boomer and she doesn't even know it.

My grandparents are the Greatest and they were some of the most racist people you will ever know.

Mom has trans friend and is for Gay marriage, so, she evolved in some ways.

Let's just hope each generation evoles from the last.

[Jamaal510]

63. I turned 30 two weeks ago. nt

[whttevrr]

64. Ok, Boomer.

If anyone is insulted by this, maybe they should check the privilege they squandered.

[budkin]

65. Very late GenXer here

Born in 1976.

[canetoad]

66. Divisive

Why attempt to pit generation against generation?

[Amy-Strange]

67. Sorry, that was not my intent, but...

-

thank you for bringing it to my attention.

I'll try and remember that in the future, but interestingly enough, the response was mostly positive.
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[ansible]

77. It gets frustrating to try and talk about certain issues with older people

On one hand you've got people still using paper checks, on the other you've got people who love Tiktok. There's almost nothing in common between both anymore.

[a la izquierda]

69. Born in 1977.

I’m a cusp kid.

[ellie]

73. Gen-X here

I wouldn't take OK, Boomer personally if I were you.

[Buns_of_Fire]

74. I'm a boomer, now realigned with Generation H (Hermit).

The "OK, Boomer" stuff never bothered me. I figure that each generation will have its high spots, and each generation will also discover new and exciting ways to screw things up.

[Amy-Strange]

79. We've got a chapter at my house too...

-

Meetings are every Wednesday at 2 am.

It used to be in the afternoon, but I think my cat's been plotting against me, and I had to move it.
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[LanternWaste]

76. Why invest anything at all into the useless labeling placed on you by others?

You're investing enough emotion and offense into this to hope they are victims of the same petulant name calling. Seems to reflect as poorly on you as it does them.

Try letting shit go... or get offended by it. Your choice of course.

But one of those choices is a complete and abject waste of time.

[Amy-Strange]

85. Not to be mean or critical, but isn't your post, by your own definition...

-

also a waste of time?
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[cwydro]

82. I'm a boomer, and I couldn't care less about any silly internet meme.

I've worked hard my entire life, and I have a comfortable home and life.

I've stood up for those who are sometimes trampled upon, and I've been one trampled upon.

Good luck to them all, and I hope they all know or learn the value of hard work. I wish them all the joy of growing old enough to be called names by young people.

I also wish them the wisdom to know that being called names reflects only on those who call the names.

[Amy-Strange]

84. RE: " I wish them all the joy of growing old enough to be called names by young people."

-

I like that.

It's blunt, not too mean, and also a kind of gentleman's way of telling someone where to get off.
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[BigDemVoter]

83. EXACTLY what I told my niece & nephews.

They and their generation all were old enough to vote in 2016 and Pussy-Grabbere won. . . Future generations will lump them in with everyone else to blame for allowing Pussy-Grabber into the White House.

[Amy-Strange]

86. Of course, that'll change when Trump looses this time, and...

-

I also think that this time, we can give due credit to all the other gens (and Boomers too) for making this happen.

Believe me, this time is gonna be different.

I can feel it, and even more important, I know it.

Someday, I'll tell you all about my Super Bowl prediction that blew everyone's mind away.

I felt, and knew for a freakin' fact, that a specific team, a team that had never won the Super Bowl before, was gonna win it that year... before the season started.

I didn't feel it, or hoped it would happen, but knew for a FACT THAT IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN.

This election is a sure things, folks, and thanks to all the gens (in advance) for helping to get it done.
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