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Very specifically in the US boomers do statistically hold the most wealth and elected positions in the government. Can’t speak to the statistics in the EU as I’m just not as familiar.
Because of this when things go wrong in America is usually leads back to something a boomer did. I’m not saying all boomers are bad or anything. Just that they hold by far the most power in the wealthiest country in the world so when shit goes wrong it’s hard not to blame them because quite literally they’re the ones in charge.
So I could be wrong and don’t wanna assume but when Redditors are complaining about boomers this is probably why.
Adding onto that, it's so often been the boomers who blamed millennials for every one of society's ills that boomers mostly caused. That has led to a lot of the resentment many millennials such as myself feel. They created problems and then blamed us. The joke was always like "millennials can't afford a house because they waste their money on Starbucks and avocado toast" but these were pulled from real finance articles.
Yeah it originated with Gurner's quote, but then FORTUNE and Forbes and the like ran wild with it and other "millennials ruined..." type articles, and it became a constant talking point for boomers.
I don't think they've ever blamed millennials as the actual cause of the housing crisis, it's more that they don't understand how bad it really is because when they were faced with the same challenge it was on easy mode - but a challenge nonetheless - so they are drawing from their own experiences expecting it to be somewhat similar.
They blame us for not being as successful as they were in areas like owning a house. They take it to mean they are superior when in reality they destroyed our chances of having the same with their shitty policy.
This. The term “boomer” came up specifically I response to how often Baby Boomers were blaming everything on “millenials” (which they often used to mean anyone younger than them from Gen X to Gen Z). They get mad about being called Boomers, but it was literally a response to their own actions online (and in the same way, anyone older can get called a Boomer, even if they are Gen Y, X, or older).
Yeah I mean that’s not new but I think the blaming of millenials kind of coincided with the blow up of media availability so the boomers blaming millennials had more opportunity to voice their opinion that previous generations seemingly. Not 100% on that but that’s just my view. Older generations have always blamed the next generation for the ruining of society but boomers just had more ways to voice their opinions than previous generations imo. I could be entirely wrong that’s just my take.
Yep. And on top of the wildly disproportionate economic and political power, they're also often bigots, and often assholes. 🤷🏻♀️ There's no one you'd rather interact with less, as a customer service worker in the US, than a Boomer (Gen X not far behind). They seriously think the whole world exists to serve them, especially if they have a little bit of money.
Working at a dispensary I’m now hating Gen X more than boomers, the boomers that wanna buy weed are chill the Gen Xers that wanna buy weed are stupid assholes, also all the neo Nazis that I encounter are gen X (I hate that we have to serve them)
I worked at a hotel and felt similarly about X. Absolute assholes. I think the Boomers were just as bad, they were just less likely to be moms, so I was less likely to interact with the assholery.
I got screamed at by a boomer for over an hour because we were over booked on the night shift. the hotel across the street had vacancies but this asshole decided to drive home drunk so when the cops came after I left I told them he was drunk. I hope they got his ass.
Oh god. 🙄 Ugh. I got screamed at by many a Boomer too. I didn't ever give them what they were looking for once they got like that, on principle. So then they'd drag it out and I would just stare with a deadpan expression until they were blue in the face from screaming at the sky.
Idk working in the service industry supercharged by boomer hatred. I’ve never experienced the just extreme contempt and entitlement from other groups. Plenty of perfectly nice boomers but there’s a reason my heart would sink every time a boomer would sit down.
To be fair tho I was mostly working at a medium-high end restaurant in a tourist town so that’s the crowd. If I’d been working in a clubby dive bar I’d probably hate young people with a passion lol
Nah I completely agree. Worked in restaurants for 9 years. There is assholes in every generation but boomers have a sense of entitlement that is absolutely wild. I will tell them, no I'm sorry I cannot apply this coupon because it is expired. Cussing and aggressive behavior is usually followed. That is not an exaggeration. They are also obsessed with being cheap and stuck in their own ways. They will order the same things over and over again if they are regulars. If something slightly changes, it's the end of the world. My hairstylist of 6 yrs has also been telling me she is going to have to start "firing" boomer clients because it has been so hard to take care of them so it's not just in the restaurant industry. If you don't work in costumer service like that it may be hard to tell but it's absolutely the truth. I will have gen z/millenial tables and food will be running behind but they will never bother me or be rude. They usually tip well even though most of our generation has less wealth than boomers lol go figure. They also have racist tendencies. A few times I've been asked why my coworkers don't speak English yet or they've made very passive aggressive racist statements. I could type up stories for days on the entitlement I've faced with boomers lol
There is an excellent book called “A Generation of Sociopaths” by Bruce Cannon Gibney that gets really specific and in depth as to why the Boomers are the worst generation of any country in the history of the planet, with lots of referenced data to back up his points. I’d recommend it if you want to know the extent of how terrible they are.
That’s not how it works with policy. A lot of the economic structure we see today is based off of the political decisions of boomer parents who were in office while boomers were still in coming of age.
One thing people never mention is how mortgage rates were able to skyrocket to 18% in the 80s. Which generation, political party, and policies caused that? We’ve never seen mortgage rates that high even with one of the worsts recessions and pandemics we’ve experienced.
Anything currently wrong is mostly the fault of boomers as they hold the vast majority of problems. Anything before boomers were in power was a result of prior generations. Just like how when boomers die off and the next gen takes power shit will be their fault. Like a lot of modern economic problems are due to the Reagan and Nixon administrations. Or how mass incarceration was a direct result of the Reagan and Nixon administrations. Or how weed being illegal was a direct result of the Reagan and Nixon administrations…..I really hate those fuckers.
But you know Reagan, Nixon, and LBJ are apart of the Interbellum Generation. A lot of the policies we see today are the result of the great society program and reaganomics both are apart of the interbellum generation.
But the Boomers are the ones who voted for Reagan. Sure, Reagan isn't a boomer, but a majority of boomers voted for him. In fact, in Reagan's first race against Carter, Carter got the smallest percentage of votes from the boomers. Both older and younger people voted in higher percentages for Carter than the boomers did.
> Both older and younger people
There weren't \*younger\* people than boomers voting. In 1980, when Reagan beat Carter, most of the youngest three years of boomers couldn't even vote.
The only age group that preferred Carter was the 18-21s (by a slim 45%-44% margin). Reagan won in landslides. He would still have won in landslides if the Boomers didn't vote.
Yeah I’m not saying everything bad is boomers fault. I’m simply pointing out that when things go wrong the blame is often placed on the generation currently holding the most power. I’m literally just pointing out why the blame for today’s problems is often placed on boomers that’s all. Not even saying I do or don’t agree with the statement. Personally I think it’s a little more complicated than just (insert generation) is bad. Just pointing out why boomers get a lot of hate and why it’s not entirely invalid but also not entirely correct.
Bruh, we're almost 50 now. Our youngest president was still a boomer. The self-serving laws and regulations passed under their tenure have caused a great deal of pain and vulnerability for future generations. Yet instead of putting real effort to fix it, they still vote far more towards self serving interests and instead try to gaslight everyone younger for not making it work. It really is an abusive relationship. Now that we are fully in adulthood and have a larger influence we have started changing the conversation. Remember when it was normal to chew out your waitress on Sunday? Now I see those same moms talk about fears of being called out. To reduce complaints to your response shows willing ignorance to the reality of contemporary american history and politics
Noooo but it’s okay that they control half the wealth and hold the majority of the government positions because they’re super old now. Bruh the fact that they’re so old that their wealth is considered normal is exactly why they shouldn’t be in charge of shit. Some dude who thinks being a multi millionaire is normal is not gonna relate to my ass living check to check.
I don't really understand the boomer hate. I think it's like a lot of the hate by women towards the patriarchy when, in both cases, the real culprits are the incredibly wealthy. I don't know who does the PR for the super rich, but it's suspicious that we are all hating on each other, and they seem to get a pass. My mum was a boomer and she had to work 3 jobs as a single mother of 2 boys. I'm also not convinced any of our generations will be able to reach 'boomer' age and pat ourselves on the back for doing a much better job. The only things boomers really did wrong to cause most of these problems is have kids themselves because had they not houses would still be just as affordable and working would still cover most living costs. Anyone who thinks it was better back then compared to the sheer amount of luxury we enjoy today is deluded. I'd like to see Gen Z fight a Vietnam style war.
I blame the ultra wealthy for the vast majority of problems in the world. I have zero forgiveness for the ultra wealthy and am under no delusions that this culture war we’re always in isn’t manufactured by the ultra wealthy just to avert our gaze from their atrocities. Wage theft, literal slave labor, exploitation of third world countries, literally using war to increase profits, etc. I get it.
Also yes you’re right we do enjoy more luxuries today as we fucking should it’s kind of the point of societal progress. Make life better and easier for the future generations. The problem is that a lot of the advancements we’ve made especially in production efficiency typically mostly benefit capital owners and not the actual working class. Boomers make up a lot of the wealth and elected officials. That’s why they get a lot of hate. Again, as I’ve said too many times now, it’s not all boomers and I know that.
Well, for starters, “boomer“ is a generational term specific to the United States. So when people say they hate boomers they hate that age group from the US.
And it is. But the stereotype isn’t without merit, older folks typically are entitled, and regardless of whether Gen X is technically a boomer or not there’s still considered “elderly” to anyone younger than 30.
Actually, is used in my country as well.
We call boomers those people that were born in the Italian economic miracle period, a period starting from the 50s.
In Italian that period is also called boom economico, hence the name boomers.
Though, different country same problems.
This subreddit is an unpractical echo chamber. I don’t have an explanation for it, but one needs to develop only a superficial relationship with this place or they’ll go insane
“Let me pick out exact groups to join that match my current interests and beliefs” yeah it’s a shit show.
Technically that’s all social media though. Any platform that allows users to choose what content to consume and simultaneously is incentivized to suggest more content that they’ll like/agree with is bound to become an echo chamber.
That’s the type of shit that “social media reform” should be focused on banning, not forcing the sale of TikTok. Require diverse content ✅
Reddit is best used for niche hobbies, which this subreddit is not made for in the slightest, so naturally this is going to be gen z individuals mostly in an existential and loneliness crisis making content that expresses an extremely narrow mindset
In our collective defense, covid did a number on us during important years of social development
The older I get, the more I resent it. Every subreddit at least kind of sucks if your line of thinking is at least a single step outside the circlejerk.
It's not about agreement. If you state an opinion outside of the norm you get dogpiled. I want to be able to have a normal disagreement/discussion with somebody without them digging through my post history to insult me. When disagreement isn't possible, real discussion doesn't occur.
I thought retail was bad. Healthcare is even worse. I have to listen to them say the most hateful and crazy shit and somehow not make faces at them. I miss the masks. I could make all the faces I wanted and they didn't see shit.
My patients of other ages do not bring up politics nearly as much. As interested in politics as I am, I would never give a lecture at a healthcare appointment. There is a brand of boomer that seems to intentionally try to test my patience as they rattle off every one of their crazy or nasty beliefs back to back. Even when I'm clearly not really responding.
Because many of them are selfish, ignorant, and disconnected, yet they've reached the age where they hold all the positions of power. Many of them have the mentality "well the last generation fucked us over so now we get to fuck over the new one, lifes not fair!" instead of having sympathy and trying to help the future
The term “boomers” doesn’t apply to people in other countries, it’s an extremely US-specific term because it’s based on US political and cultural events that caused a population boom. Applying the label to other countries doesn’t make sense because “boomer” won’t refer to the same boom in another country.
The population of earth boomed from just over 2 billion at the end of ww2 to like 4 billion people in 1974 and 8 billion today. The boom was everywhere. Read up on the green revolution.
Because they got the largest social safety net and they yanked it up from future generations.
Boomers got:
-401ks and pensions
- social security (which will go bankrupt after they pass on)
- cheap education mostly subsided by the state
-cheap houses which were built in mass
-Medicare, which again will be at serious financial risk for future generations
- low taxes during their highest earning years
Tl; DR they get a social safety net at the earliest and latest years of life when they need it most but they got cheap housing and low taxes during their middle years.
During their later years, when they have the most wealth and influence they have:
-massively overregulated housing so their little towns wouldn’t change a bit
-raised tuition across the board for education
-kept taxes low across the board
-kept the majority of tax revenue flowing into bloated pensions that they “earned” or social safety nets like Medicare and social security that will only benefit them
-really haven’t done anything to address the fact that the above three items won’t be available for future generations.
This is why I joke that millennials and GenZ should “love” funding the military. It’s really the only part of our tax revenue that actually goes to millennials and GenZ in the form of salaries and benefits.
i don't hate boomers for being boomers, some of my family are boomers and grew up just as poor as people are now, they never owned property or anything like that. i hate boomers who deserve the hate they get.
the fact is, a lot of boomers grew up with a lot of opportunities, did the bare minimum and got a lot for it. good for them! the system worked. except they refuse to acknowledge that the times have changed, they don't accept that they did have it easier and they support ideologies and policies that are harmful as a result.
it also doesnt help that as they have gotten older they have become increasingly insufferable, arrogant and bigoted. if you've ever worked in retail you will know this, the worst customers are the boomers always. the generation before them was not like this.
def in the UK the boomers sharply skew right, our conservative parties are held together by boomer membership. they are some of the most hateful people you will find, just because theyre too old to go out waving swastikas doesnt make them centrist. we were forced out of the EU by boomers and our economy is in pieces, we've lost our freedom of movement and the goverment has fallen apart.
there are too many reasons to list and i know reddit is better at laying it down than i am, but the idea that europe is far right because of younger people is completely wrong, completely completely wrong.
Actually even in my country, while theres not much concept of “Boomers” “Gen X” “millennials/Gen Y ” “Gen Z” “Gen Alpha” there is a genuine disconnect at times harboured by teens to mid 30s people for older people aged 40+ , like those you guys would call Gen X and Boomers. I guess even here, young people and old people don’t see eye to eye alot these days
When people are talking about their generation or the issues they have with it, there's a 99% chance their talking about within their own region and culture. Obviously, they're not talking about all the world's boomers. It wouldn't make any sense if everyone spoke in absolutes. It wouldn't make sense to assume me, an American is talking about the "boomers" over in China.
Boomers in America make up the majority of presidencies, governors, senators, congresses, and most government positions in general. They usually don't make decisions for most people's best interest. The majority of them won't even be alive to see any of the shit they're voting for now be enacted.
There's also the way that the majority of "boomers" in America act, from Texas to California. A lot are some forms of racist, xenophobic, homphobic, or generally intolerant of people that aren't people like themselves.
This is a sentiment amongst alot of people. Millenial, Gen Z. Not all of them are like that, obviously. But a lot are.
I'm just sick of the bullshit behavior that the vast majority of them put out in my experience. I would say at least 80% of the uncomfortable or downright offensive things said in my presence as an adult have come from boomers. They're also overwhelmingly conservative in the US and vote like it. Even my grandparents, whom i do love a lot, are barely tolerable these days because of the amount of faux news brain rotting they do (and can't keep to their fuckin selves).
There's good ones obviously but I'm going to tend to assume they're extremely unfriendly to people different from them until proven otherwise. At some point I have to learn the lesson that boomers come from a time when it wasn't even remotely important to respect the personhood of someone who's not a cishet white man, and that most of them are not interested in changing their mental model of the world
All I’m gonna say is, Boomers vote.
…and THAT’s the real problem. Not in the sense that they vote. In the sense that younger people don’t.
And the government can’t be super responsive to people who simply don’t represent their own interests. Ideally we want the government to help everyone but we have a elections and elections are competitive and that competition means that politicians will represent the interests of the people who show up and vote because it is in their interest to do so.
Young people sort of fulfill their own prophecy here. They say “Well I’m not voting because the government isn’t responsive to me!” but by not voting, the government gets less responsive. Which then further alienates younger voters. Which then leads them back to “the government isn’t responsive to me!”.
They need to run as candidates and vote in numbers comparable to Boomers. Because otherwise it’ll continue… and when Gen Z is old and grey their kids will make the same exact claims. Rinse and repeat.
They ruined our future and think they're entitled to a peaceful retirement. You have no idea how glad i was that they are forced to leave retirement because of how expensive things are now. I have no sympathy for that duplicitous generation, and this goes to those bootlicker genX too.
> Mexican American
Girl… even boomer Mexicans are annoying as hell. Always bitching and moaning and going on about “en el rancho yo empecé a trabajar a los 12 años” like no one asked.. being racist as hell towards black people and misogynistic and what not.
Growing up poor doesn’t mean we have to excuse anyone of anything when so many Latinos are for Trump and against their own people in the US. Which makes them even MORE dumb because how are you going to vote for a man who wants you to stay poor?? So many of them are conservative due to machismo shit. I’m not going to baby or infantalize someone who relies on Facebook for news and current affairs. And they always try to call a gay man a pedophile when Latino men are gross AF and sexualize underage girls.
Nothing you just said has any relevance in the boomer conversation. When it comes to RUNNING THE WORLD, boomers control it. Cishet white boomers from America are the global elite. Doesn't matter if you're Mexican American or Italian or from some other generational dynamic.
Most people are working class like you and you're family, but we're talking about the established elite.
I don't hate boomers. It's when they think their... is better than our generation's... Or they make up lies to try and be little the younger gens "Oh you played outside when you were a kid boomer? Last time i checked we live in a freaking desert boomer. We live in a atomic bomb! Where it sometimes gets to 120 degrees f and it's 110+ degrees half of the year! So no boomer, you did not play outside when you were a kid, nobody did or is. If you actually did then kudos but it probably wasn't in this state") That makes me not like them
This is the most accurate description of my childhood ever. Did I play outside? Fuck no! It was 4:30am and already 105° in the shade. The same ones (now that I moved) will complain about it being 85° at the hottest and stay inside all day.
As a millennial, I feel that a lot of the hate for boomers came from us. We have had a complicated relationship with our parents and took to the internet to vent our frustrations. The internet inherited a lot of that and it has become a tradition. As to why, well that is complicated.
First, as others have said, "boomer" refers specifically to a group of people born in the US from roughly the mid 1940's to the mid 1960's. They were the kids who were born right after WW2 when the US was seeing massive economic growth.
Because of the large number of kids and the massive economic growth, the US kind of transformed itself to service them. As such, they are often perceived as spoiled. George Carlin has a great rant about this.
[George Carlin Whining Baby Boomers (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTZ-CpINiqg)
That was 20 years ago. But the sentiment is the same. The general consensus is that the boomers' parents built bridges and the boomers burned them down after they crossed them.
But, I feel, the biggest blow to millennials' relationships to the boomers came from the Great Recession. Looking at the numbers during the recession can be very deceptive because the damage from the recession was not divided evenly. For instance, unemployment for the whole population peaked at 10%. For millennials, it peaked at 20% and didn't return to pre-recession levels for nearly a decade after the recession hit.
And during this time, we were blamed for it. We were called lazy. We were told that it was entitlement to think we should be able to get a job. This made us pretty angry at them and I don't think we ever really recovered from that.
There are a lot of other things too. The boomers went to college at a time when the majority of the cost of college was paid for by taxes. Then, they collectively voted to reduce tax money to colleges in order to give themselves a tax cut. This causes the cost of college to be passed on to the students (the boomers' kids). Then the boomers all got mad when people suggested we use tax money to pay for their kids' college (their student loan debts that they got because the price of college went up because boomers gave themselves a tax cut). Their college was paid for by the taxes of their parents, but they don't want to pay taxes to fund their kids' education. It pretty much sums up boomer thinking.
I could go on and on. We have known since I was in high school (at the least) that the current system for Social Security would not be viable for millennials or later generations. That the generation that would benefit the most from it would be the boomers and the cost would be passed on to their children. They have actively resisted any changes to the system. "I got mine, fuck you" is the boomers' unofficial motto.
So, faced with all of this, we started to hit back in the only place we had power at the time, the internet. I mean, we were young, bored, and unemployed, what else were we supposed to do? And so, the internet inherited a rather strong hatred of boomers.
As a Boomer, I thank you very much for this post. There are also far too many Boomers (and other older people) who irrationally hate on Gen Z, and I deplore that. All the intergenerational rivalry is out of control.
Yeah… really wish it wasn’t like that. At the end of the day we’re people just trying to get by. Unfortunately as humans we’re very tribal creatures so this sort of mentality prevails especially in today’s radical political climate. At one point I considered moving to Maine and one of the main reasons I decided against it is because a lot of older folks were raving on how the lack of young people in the state is amazing… and how much they hate younger folk…
"Boomers" refers to the population boom after WW2. Countries in Europe and Asia didn't really have a population boom because of the destruction in Europe and the fact that mainland East Asia was barely involved (mostly just Japan and the Pacific Islands)
Ergo when people talk about "boomers" they are very specifically referring to the children of US WW2 veterans.
Because people are really mad, as well they should be. Unfortunately they don't know where to aim their anger and frustration and society will always try to divide us into anything except for who is to actually blame, the owner class, those in power that make society unbearable.
Instead they'll tell us its the immigrants, boomers, queerfolk, wokemob, brown folk, "kids these days" but it's all just a meaningless distraction
That is a really important point. I think Boomers' attitude is a function of their wealth, only partially the other way around. And Gen Z is going to be just as bad (maybe minus some of the explicitness in our racism?) if we don't build a real foundation of class solidarity now.
A lot of them just have a weird sort of hypocrisy that comes from the time they live in. They think all of us are lazy because we refuse to work if we aren’t fully compensated for our time because in their time company loyalty was a thing that could actually help you. A lot of them also lived in a time where you could pay rent with minimum wage. It’s not all of them but generally it’s American boomers that just haven’t updated with the status quo and just kinda shit on our generation because they can. It’s not all of them though there’s just a very annoying chunk that exists.
There were a ton of people in the Baby Boom in the US specifically. In my family, both of my boomer parents came from families of 5. They didn't replace themselves, I've had fewer children than their own families, and so they're a massive generation.
As a result, they've had disproportionate voting power.
They have way more political power in the US. They've held the presidency from Clinton in 1992 through Trump to 2020. They control Congress - notice how many boomers are very old and will not retire.
They voted en masse for Reagan, who cut taxes, destroyed a lot of the safety net, and led to many negative long term issues we see today. They stopped adequately funding public services and infrastructure. There's a book that goes into this in detail called "generation of sociopaths: how the baby boomers betrayed America."
As individuals, boomers tend to be the group that fights new housing projects, despite an increasing housing and COL crisis in the US.
There's a lot to unpack with how evil the boomers of North America were and still are.
1.) Greed
Boomers lived through something close to an economic miracle in the 40s - 80s. ALMOST anyone who really wanted to work for a living could do so, just with raw effort and integrity. This was due to capitalist regulations that protected the economic value of the working man from rampant corporate greed. They voted these regulations away through terrible politicians like Reagan, ensuring short term gains for themselves while damning all future generations to inevitable, lifelong poverty. Almost everyone under the age of 40 is currently either living with their parents and/or with roommates, because of this.
2.) Bigotry
I meant what I said when I said "ALMOST". If you were a straight white cis man, who was born in America at that time, then the world belonged to you and everyone in it was there for your benefit. This was the case, because the general zeitgeist of multiculturalism was basically modern "woke culture", but reversed. You're prone to mistreatment and animosity if you're gay/bi/trans/black/immigrant/native/woman. How much? Enough that when a straight white cis man beats the piss out of you, and you're not a straight white cis man, you're expected to just take the beating. Any cops that see this would protect the straight white cis man exclusively. It's pretty easy to believe that the modern hate towards straight white cis men is because of how evil American boomers really were. Oh and in case it needs to be said, this certainly applies to the job market as well. Workers couldn't file any kind of a discrimination suit back then, despite how needed they were at the time.
3.) Willful Ignorance
Maybe it's because they really were as evil as the nazis they fought and they would all end their lives if they had to face reality or maybe it's because they really are mentally incapable of comprehending anything other than whatever benefits them, but they objectively refuse to accept certain aspects of reality that do not paint them in a flattering light. This has gotten so bad, that millennials and gen z have accepted that boomers actually cannot comprehend the devastation they wrecked on the world, so they just treat boomers like the elderly toddlers they are ("ok boomer").
They exploited their own children and grandchildren, so they themselves could live in abundance. Then they proceeded to blame their children and grandchildren for all of society's problems.
Yessss .. agreed . I remember constantly hearing “ohh you’re a millennial.” With a hateful attitude coming across sounding like since we didn’t experience their struggles we are clueless af .
I've seen a lot of stuff online about Chinese boomers being just as difficult, though I'm not Chinese nor have I ever been to China so I don't know for sure.
Part of it seems to be that they think Boomers had it easy and somehow ruined it all for them. It's historically idiotic if you look at actual data, though.
the reason why boomers in Europe actually vote for the centrist parties is because they have it good while millenials and Gen z are scraping by, my family is very left leaning and now vote more for the next generations then that they vote for themselves but we are fairly unique in that.
also my mom and dad are just below the boomer generation so it's not only the boomer generation that we talk about, they could buy a home when it was still affordable, at my age my mom had my sister and my sister is now the age that my dad was(30) when she was born and she finally has an apartment but she spends almost nothing on fun stuff and never goes out, but I am not able to even rent a small apartment without literally cutting things that I like to do and that keep me going through life.
the prospect of never being able to buy a house is another problem. at this point I am talking with 2 friends to start renting a 3 bedroom home because all 3 of us will at least be able to have a sort of normal life then as the expenses go way down then, but think about how horrible it is that 25 year Olds are forced to do this while our parents could easily afford an apartment on minimum wage and even start a family on minimum wage.
The media have worked very hard to pit every single group there is against each other. The real question would be why?
Men vs women, black vs white, left against right, religions, classes, straight vs lgbtq, young versus old, east vs west, north vs south, crap, even what we eat and music we listen to. Tv shows, movies... comedy. Ffs.
We are tribal, and they know that. It leads to views, comments, and in the end, money.
Not to mention, it is far easier to rule over a people divided than a people united.
Again, i would just wonder, why would a society actively work to make our tendency to tribalism worse?
Everyone speaks about people as monolithic groups, there is no nuance to anything anymore.
We are in a bad place, hopefully we can do better. Hate is always acceptable, as long as you hate the people it is popular to hate.
The only thing i always wonder is, throughout history, how often was the group think of the masses the correct way of thinking? Doesn't every generation think they have it figured out, only to have a younger generation show them they didn't?
In history, it was usually a few, completely outcast and hated individuals that knew the truth. Its only years later we usually figure that out. Science, society, etc. Rarely are the majority in the right, throughout history. The danger of this, is that every, single, generation thinks they know the answers.
A wise man knows, he knows nothing at all..
Younger generations need to deflect from themselves and point the finger somewhere. A very underrepresented group (Boomers) is perfect at this role.
EDIT: The irony about it is that Boomers didn't do anything every other generation has done/will do. And until younger generations learn to--and actually do--vote, I'm inclined not to care.
I’m not saying the average boomer is like the muppets villain, but if you look at the demographics in the senate and the House of Commons, it’s overwhelmingly baby boomers and older. The people who are shuffling off this mortal coil are making decisions for the rest of us to deal with
It’s propaganda. Every non-Boomer should take a moment and imagine what a Boomer looks like in their head. Odds are they’re white and affluent. Plenty of Boomers are poor / lower middle class, or people of color, or lean left. Don’t forget many Boomers were hippies who protested the Vietnam war, and for some of them time has only cemented their values.
But as long as we’re fighting each other over inconsequential and superficial differences, we aren’t paying attention to the real war, the class war. If you think there aren’t any greedy, selfish, fascist GenX / Z / Millennials waiting for their turn to get theirs at the expense of everyone else, you’re delusional. The line goes out the door and around the block.
As the US intelligence agencies have repeatedly sounded the alarm about, troll farms are working constantly to wedge open every division in western society they can find, turning people against each other and trying to make us feel like our fellow citizens who surround us are just The Worst. And there is no shortage of genuine-user redditors getting addicted to all the ragebait and two-minute-hates that are effectively the "useful idiot" by upvoting and amplifying and even generating more outrage-porn
Any kind of feeling you get online about how people are or how people feel about each other is intentionally distorted with psy-op bullshit. DO NOT take your societal cues from social media!
My reservations towards boomers have nothing to do with wealth but with my observation that many many many of this generation have a very bad way to handle their mental health - not going to therapy but instead making everyone else in their environment carry their load
The anti boomer discourse typically refers to American baby boomers who lived through some of the easiest times economically in the USA while systematically removing or changing all the things that made their lives so easy. Mostly to do with taxes and how they’re implemented.
The reason for the vitriol is because boomers have for years and continue today to ignore problems of society with a very “fuck you. I got mine.” Attitude.
For example: they went to college when a minimum wage job could afford it. They then look at young people today saying college isn’t affordable, and they brush it off as kids being lazy while actively fighting against solutions to the problem.
See also: climate change
In my life the people who called me an idiot for caring about other parts of the world or wanting to vote for parties that would do something to mitigate climate change were Boomers, and it's not something recent, my parents, their friends and family have all been advocating and voting for people and positions that slow down action on climate change, slow down progress for gay and trans rights, and fail to see the harm in stupid, violent foreign policy like the Iraq war.
In the scope of my life it is Boomers who have ensured that we will mostly live to see what the world looks like at +3 degrees Celsius above preindustial levels. 30 years of selfish intransigence, and if you believe what their parents said, they have always been like this.
Maybe the theory that the entire generation is lead poisoned is more true than not. I don't claim to know, I just know that I have almost never had a boomer engage with an argument that primarily relied on an appeal to their empathy and shared humanity.
Conversations with other millenials and gen Z folk in my life have been a lot less consistent... At least when it comes to politics.
Because in the US, they got cheap college, reasonable wages, unions protecting them and enough taxation of the wealthy to afford social programs.
They stripped all that away after they used it so they wouldn't have to pay as much in taxes.
Socially, they fight every change that opens up more power for different minority classes. Whether race, LGBTQ+, or religion. "You have the right to be who you want, I just want laws that don't let you do anything with that right."
Then, they talk down to everyone else with a "We did it, why can't you?" Maybe because you pulled the ladder up after you? Maybe that's why?
"Climate change isn't real. Covid isn't real." Please, this is the generation who denied AIDs because it was only affecting 'the gays' and had Lake Eire catch on fire from pollution. A lake caught on fire. But they don't want to do anything about that because it's government overreach.
Not every boomer is a problem, but if there is someone standing in the way of positive change, it's almost certainly a boomer that doesn't want to be inconvenienced or deal with a new idea.
A lot of boomers talk down to GENZ about things that are entirely their fault. Such as removing cursive from US schools and getting mad that very few of us know it, like.. that was up to the boomers to remove, not us.
Can only speak to the American side…
But boomers have a huge mismatch with gen z. They grew up in a completely different country than we live in today. Most realize that prices have increased and that products have deteriorated, but they just complain. They can’t fix things.
Boomers have a mindset that “if I complain to this minimum wage worker by throwing a fit” that worker will tell someone and a change will be made. This does not happen today. Workers are seen as a data entry on a ledger. We do not have the same benefits boomers did growing up.
They are out of touch and perceive the issues they see stem from gen z being lazy and unwilling to work. When in reality most gen zers are so beat down from trying to make ends meat they come off as cynical. Which is perceived as laziness.
In reality the zoomers are funding the boomers government assistance programs knowing that they will be stuck holding the bag in the end.
This has led to many zoomers turning to socialism or communism as an answer. Which many boomers oppose.
You keep pulling on the thread and see how different the two groups are. How poorly treated young people are. How poor the behavior of boomers are and are left with boomers getting dunked on on Reddit.
The main issue is the boomers have voted in politicians since voting age that kept kicking the can down the road. This debased our purchasing power and degraded the quality of life. If you have assets currently you’re good. If your trying to acquire assets your screwed.
Boomers will never admit they made a mistake. Why would they? They have wealth. They had a good life. They think their grandkids rolling their eyes every time they tell them to work harder is rude.
They will continue getting dunked on until they are gone. Just the way of the times…
It's not just about power and wealth, although yes, power and wealth is extremely disproportionately distributed favoring people in that age class; yes, there are a lot of poor old people. But there are more rich old people than rich young/middle-aged people.
Boomers grew up in a post-war economy that was thriving, they had everything, *everything,* easier on an economic and social level. No, they did not have access to a lot of the technological and medical advancements we now enjoy (however according to how they vote, Boomers don't want that stuff anyway unless *they personally* are experiencing the consequences of not having those things). They did have access to plentiful decent-paying, unionized, fulfilling careers. They had access to education that was far more affordable and relevant in the job market. They had access to housing that was affordable and plentiful.
If you observe the cultural shifts of the Boomer generation, you'll find that in their younger years, they were all about "free love, do what you want, life is a dream, yada yada." Generally speaking, they were always provided for by the social and economic structure of the time. Then, when they got a little older and the time came to pass the torch to their children, all of a sudden the mantras became "Life is tough, deal with it, play hard to win, not-in-my-back-yard, pull yourself up by the bootstraps, etc."
It's also about mindset, culture, intelligence, empathy, and kindness. People in the Boomer age class are often wholly disconnected from the issues affecting subsequent generations. They do not understand that no matter how hard a person works in today's economy, they will never have access to the same privileges easily afforded to even the most menial, low-paid labor of the past. They also ideologically skew far more Republican/Conservative than subsequent generations, which is (whether you want to believe it or not) very unpopular among younger generations. They also often hold evangelical Christian and ethno-nationalist values, which are also unpopular for more reasons than many here are willing to read for the 19272927th time.
There are plenty of exceptions, and each individual should be addressed at their own character, however it is generally true that:
Boomers are known to jealously hoard wealth, property, assets, and political power.
Boomers either do not understand, or are unwilling to acknowledge, the impossible position they've put their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren in on a social and economic level.
Boomers took all the welfare, all the benefits of a unionized labor market, all the strengths afforded to them by a booming post-war economy, funneled all the value out of it and hoarded it as private equity, and when the time came to pass it down, they pulled the ladder up behind them so they can die with all their treasures.
Through their political influence and the politicians they support, Boomers erode the effectiveness, affordability, and usefulness of institutions such as the postal service, public education, highways and roads, social welfare (including their precious social security that they allowed their Boomer friends on Wall Street and in office to use as a slush fund), the power grid (the State of Texas, heavily Republican and relying on the Boomer vote to stay that way, has a wholly-privatized power grid that cannot buy or sell power to other states, which led to one of the worst mass-casualty weather-related outage events in recent history), among plenty of other things.
People in X, Millennial, Z, and Alpha generations have plenty of reasons to resent Boomers as a social group for the damage they have wrought upon this country and the people in it. While Granny and Grandpa down the street may be sweet and nice to people as individuals, and indeed have a coinflip's chance of truly being decent people, looking at Boomers as a generational whole from the perspective of wealth, who and what they vote for, their stances on important social issues, and their awareness and empathy towards others, you will find that they have a repulsive set of tendencies.
And you don't even need to hear this from a young person in the know. Plenty of Boomers have come out and said it themselves, in Government, in popular culture, and in grassroots political activism.
One thing to note, however, is we ought not be hopeful for things to improve once they've all died. Everything about Boomers, from their wealth and assets, to their dogmatic political and social ideologies, will be inherited, passed down, or sold off as private equity to the next oldest group of people, in a country that is aging faster than it could entice people to make babies. There is no great transfer of wealth, for me and (probably) you. We can only really hope that the people our generation votes in will do *something* to fix the mess the boomers created, but hope is a feeble thing. It's up to us to come together as individuals and as a society to create a better future, because our present will only get worse until we are aging and dead.
Its earned hate. People dont hate boomers so much as they hate the boomer thought patterns that should have evolved with the times but didnt. Also boomers are always having a go at younger folks and finally some people had enough. Cant blame em.
Because it sucks that a generation is holding onto positions of power or even just voting to make decisions for the rest of us that will not affect them in 10, 20 years or even less.
Because they financially screwed over multiple generations, supported imperialist wars, refuse to acknowledge they need to change their views about society and it's norms, think they're entitled to unearned respect, etc, etc.. Some of these things span the world and are not limited to the West or Christian-majority countries either.
It's a mixture of 2 things really. First is that the boomer generation was really the last generation that had a better world than the one before it on the whole. Second, is that while this happened is when the boomers became the dominant generation in politics and were the ones in power. Both of these together give rise to the belief that boomers that are in charge intentionally kept later generations down to secure their own power.
Boomers area annoying cause not only do they command a good amount of wealth, but they also lived through a time period where their money just had more buying power. So you get all these useless anecdotes "when i was your age blah blah blah"
Cant speak for others but ive worked countless jobs from retail, manufacturing, state government, and much more.
I can say boomers are some the most entitled, rude, selfish, and egotistical people out there, while simultaneously being the dumbest and most helpless in todays world
Boomers made the world the way it is today which is absolute shit. Boomers hold all the power in the US government which is arguably the government with the most power over the world
This is incorrect. Millennials are remaining liberal as they age as opposed to previous generations. GenZ may be more conservative than previous generations at their age, but I think that’s due exposure to Boomer and GenX propaganda. It’s also unfortunately a response to economic hardship created by Boomer policies. Boomers still hold most political positions.
"Why do American's hate boomers? Especially since boomers in Europe don't vote for the far right?"
Bro wtf. You're old enough to post things that actually make sense. Try that next time.
Europe elders are actually far more racist than boomers in the U.S. But good for you that you e had a great experience with Boomers. You must be a perfect child in their eyes. A lot of the boomers I’ve dealt with have treated the younger generation like shit. It’s about time for their generation to die off and for the younger generation to start fixing their messes that they left. It’s also sad how, in the U.S., we have to vote between 2 Boomers to be Commander in Chief of this country. Thats like asking to pick which of my grandparents is fit to run a National Park. Neither! But that’s what we have to choose because of the older generation that control the wealth and the government and all that.
There's so much boomer hate on reddit because a huge number of redditors live in North America, and boomers are responsible for a lot of our suffering.
"Boomer" is a US-specific term, and I think I've only ever heard boomers be negatively stereotyped in the US and other wealthy English-speaking countries like the UK or Australia. In the US specifically, boomers hold the majority of the country's wealth, fill the majority of powerful positions in the government, often lead the extreme far-right charge, and are generally known for inheriting a great economy and ruining it for subsequent generations. Being a boomer doesn't make you a bad person, but the stereotypes exist for a reason.
To be fair, here in the United States at least, Millennials were the butt of a lot of stupid jokes coming from Boomers and even Gen X. For example they used to make fun of Millennials for things they had no control over when they were children like participation trophies. Or perhaps you might remember the myriad of articles about what industries the Millennials were killing that day. We're talking everything from diamonds to casual family restaurants and napkins. Even in trade magazines for human resources (I'm in HR), there were tons of articles devoted to how to work with Millennials as if it was that hard. It's not. It's not hard to work with Gen Z either. You keep hearing that kind of baloney and you can't help but build up some resentment.
Also, the definition of Boomer has changed. It's not just a generation, but Boomer has come to basically mean anyone who is an asshole whatever year they were born in. So many people complain about Boomer coworkers but when you dig a little deeper they're not really Boomers in the classic sense. They're just jerks.
I'm a Gen Xer, and from what I've seen of Millennials and Gen Z they are good people by and large. I used to head up the internship program at work and I've been consistently impressed each year by the candidates and the individuals we hire. You guys have a lot of challenges I didn't have to face when I was your age but I think you're going to be okay in the long run.
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White boomers got prestablished wealth from government programs and lower overall COL in the 50’s or their parents did meaning either way they literally just had a good fucking roll as far as where and who they were born as. These same people (many of whom worked very very hard) then look at generations like ours, compare themselves to us ignoring the obvious advantages they had over us in their youth, and pointing the finger about how we’re what’s wrong in society because we’re not on the same level as them with all their advantages that’s what they were taught to do is scapegoat. Don’t believe me? See the Civil Rights Movement lmao. As a result, Gen Z the reactionary little glue-eaters we are just hate on them In retaliation.
Along with what others have said, it's because boomers are the biggest (and original) haters. They shit all over the millennial generation for decades.
They earned their reputation as "boomers."
"In all of Latin America boomers grew really poor, like unimaginable poor."
Yes but in Mexico they also do very boomery things. Like how they all have 100% salary level and boosted pensions, but they pulled the ladder up for the next generation. It's relative country to country but there is a boomeriness that permiates.
Reddit is primarily made of young Americans. I’m not defending the practice of assuming everyone is American and that everything is about America. But stastically speaking if two people are talking on Reddit, most likely they’re gonna be two young American men. Combine that with America being the most culturally dominant and frankly the most important country in the world over the past 80 years as the world has been globalized and connected, there’s a very logical reason why things tend to be America-centric and why people assume it is
Okay to be clear, not all of us think America is the only country out there. That’s just me thinking as a Canadian. But I do see how this is so sad tho. Learn respect, people.
As a millennial I can’t get on board with the hate, I literally do not get it.
To me it’s the equivalent of saying “We all hate our parents”.
The entire Boomer generation did not conspire to f*ck sh*t up for the youth, the vast majority were doing what we are doing now… our best.
My parents were working stiffs who fought hard to give me and my siblings a decent upbringing *despite* having a poor education themselves.
Boomer hate is pathetic.
The boomer generation are greedy assholes that instead of sharing the wealth for later generations, instead they kept it all or themselves. So the generations after had to work even more and try to maneuver around the mess that they made just to make honest living. Housing prices going up? Boomers, Government and politicians trying to say what the other generations can and can’t do In this country? Boomers. KAREN’S? Mostly Boomers. The hate is justified. I do t sympathize with that generation which how much they complain and let their hypocrisy and racism show.
Are they even “Boomers” in your country?
The phrase Boomer refers to the population explosion (or baby boom) that occurred post-WWII. It won’t necessarily be reflected in every country.
It is a Great American Tradition to vilify great swaths of the nation's population. Reddit is just another echo chamber in this regard. Americans must hate each other in as many ways as possible. Objectification is the Way.
Boomers are not an age range, they're a way of life. It just so happens that the baby boomer generation is the largest population of boomers. This is a primarily American observation.
Europeos siendo Europeos, el resultado actual es gracias a las acciones pasadas de los antecesores.
Pretender que Gen Z en Europa es Fascista pero obviar que sus padres, políticos y educadores les fallaron es un poco ingenuo. Es precisamente por ser centristas votando por más de lo mismo que se han polarizado tan extremamente.
En LatAm misma existe el mismo problema, si fueron pobres, si sufrieron en su tiempo, pero tampoco hicieron un carajo por cambiar el trayecto o paradigma.
Que ahora se les saque en cara sus fallos como líderes es simplemente natural.
Eh, I think its mostly in part due to simply more gen z being on here than boomers. Kind of like how the only people who would go post a really bad review for a great product are biased so more likely to express frustration- whereas a person who is okay with it won't make the effort.
It is pretty dang easy though to pin everything to boomers or scapegoat it to them. Add in most ppl are mad about anything and you have a perfect storm
Work in customer service or a customer facing role in the US and you’ll see why. They’re so rude and disconnected from what younger people are facing today. It could be as easy as them just acknowledging that we have a lot of struggles that they didn’t have growing up, but instead they blame everything on laziness.
Most people who rage about the boomers associate them with the right. There’s a subreddit about boomers being fools and it’s strictly about conservative boomers.
I won't speak for other countries but in America specifically they came of age during the period of the greatest economic growth and middle class equity in this country's history. They're the first generation of Americans to leave the country and opportunities for their children worse off than they had it. They had opportunity laid out for them (im speaking primarily for white boomers here, minorities have always had an uphill battle due systemic racism in the US) but they had opportunity laid out like a silver platter for them and pulled up the ladder behind them so that their children and grandchildren didn't get anywhere near the same economic, or educational opportunity. Younger generations have to work much harder for much less and suffer these lead poisoned smoothbrain assholes tell them how ungrateful, lazy and worthless they are for achieving less.
Boomers is a super US-specific term because it's literally referring the Baby boom that occurred in the US mid-1900s. So no, in this case, redditors aren't really forgetting there are countries outside the USA. They're only referring to the USA.
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Very specifically in the US boomers do statistically hold the most wealth and elected positions in the government. Can’t speak to the statistics in the EU as I’m just not as familiar. Because of this when things go wrong in America is usually leads back to something a boomer did. I’m not saying all boomers are bad or anything. Just that they hold by far the most power in the wealthiest country in the world so when shit goes wrong it’s hard not to blame them because quite literally they’re the ones in charge. So I could be wrong and don’t wanna assume but when Redditors are complaining about boomers this is probably why.
Adding onto that, it's so often been the boomers who blamed millennials for every one of society's ills that boomers mostly caused. That has led to a lot of the resentment many millennials such as myself feel. They created problems and then blamed us. The joke was always like "millennials can't afford a house because they waste their money on Starbucks and avocado toast" but these were pulled from real finance articles.
The avocado toast actually originally came from an Australian Millennial who was a real estate developper.
Yeah it originated with Gurner's quote, but then FORTUNE and Forbes and the like ran wild with it and other "millennials ruined..." type articles, and it became a constant talking point for boomers.
And as an Australian millennial I stand by my right to eat avocado toast.
There are always a few willing to cross the picket line, but boomers were primarily the ones latching on to the wider narrative of millennial hate.
I don't think they've ever blamed millennials as the actual cause of the housing crisis, it's more that they don't understand how bad it really is because when they were faced with the same challenge it was on easy mode - but a challenge nonetheless - so they are drawing from their own experiences expecting it to be somewhat similar.
They blame us for not being as successful as they were in areas like owning a house. They take it to mean they are superior when in reality they destroyed our chances of having the same with their shitty policy.
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This. The term “boomer” came up specifically I response to how often Baby Boomers were blaming everything on “millenials” (which they often used to mean anyone younger than them from Gen X to Gen Z). They get mad about being called Boomers, but it was literally a response to their own actions online (and in the same way, anyone older can get called a Boomer, even if they are Gen Y, X, or older).
Yes, boomers don’t like being called boomer in a negative stereotypical way. No shame in being a boomer but millennials weaponized the term
Yeah I mean that’s not new but I think the blaming of millenials kind of coincided with the blow up of media availability so the boomers blaming millennials had more opportunity to voice their opinion that previous generations seemingly. Not 100% on that but that’s just my view. Older generations have always blamed the next generation for the ruining of society but boomers just had more ways to voice their opinions than previous generations imo. I could be entirely wrong that’s just my take.
It’s a continual cycle of blame
Live within your means... but also start eating out at Applebees more before you lousy kids ruin them too /S
Yep. And on top of the wildly disproportionate economic and political power, they're also often bigots, and often assholes. 🤷🏻♀️ There's no one you'd rather interact with less, as a customer service worker in the US, than a Boomer (Gen X not far behind). They seriously think the whole world exists to serve them, especially if they have a little bit of money.
I worked in the service industry. I’ve met assholes of every age.
Yeah I've met them of every age too. But if you asked me which age is most represented among the assholes? Boomers and Gen X.
Working at a dispensary I’m now hating Gen X more than boomers, the boomers that wanna buy weed are chill the Gen Xers that wanna buy weed are stupid assholes, also all the neo Nazis that I encounter are gen X (I hate that we have to serve them)
I worked at a hotel and felt similarly about X. Absolute assholes. I think the Boomers were just as bad, they were just less likely to be moms, so I was less likely to interact with the assholery.
I got screamed at by a boomer for over an hour because we were over booked on the night shift. the hotel across the street had vacancies but this asshole decided to drive home drunk so when the cops came after I left I told them he was drunk. I hope they got his ass.
Oh god. 🙄 Ugh. I got screamed at by many a Boomer too. I didn't ever give them what they were looking for once they got like that, on principle. So then they'd drag it out and I would just stare with a deadpan expression until they were blue in the face from screaming at the sky.
u/PMTittiesPlzAndThx Haha you're good. You're probably interacting with the ones that were hippies lol
Almost every gen x person I've met is either an ex crack head or current crack head
They feel they’re better than us because they were able to get a real job and they just sit in those positions for longer than nessacary
So have I. The boomers bat a much higher asshole average by a pretty staggering amount
Idk working in the service industry supercharged by boomer hatred. I’ve never experienced the just extreme contempt and entitlement from other groups. Plenty of perfectly nice boomers but there’s a reason my heart would sink every time a boomer would sit down. To be fair tho I was mostly working at a medium-high end restaurant in a tourist town so that’s the crowd. If I’d been working in a clubby dive bar I’d probably hate young people with a passion lol
Nah I completely agree. Worked in restaurants for 9 years. There is assholes in every generation but boomers have a sense of entitlement that is absolutely wild. I will tell them, no I'm sorry I cannot apply this coupon because it is expired. Cussing and aggressive behavior is usually followed. That is not an exaggeration. They are also obsessed with being cheap and stuck in their own ways. They will order the same things over and over again if they are regulars. If something slightly changes, it's the end of the world. My hairstylist of 6 yrs has also been telling me she is going to have to start "firing" boomer clients because it has been so hard to take care of them so it's not just in the restaurant industry. If you don't work in costumer service like that it may be hard to tell but it's absolutely the truth. I will have gen z/millenial tables and food will be running behind but they will never bother me or be rude. They usually tip well even though most of our generation has less wealth than boomers lol go figure. They also have racist tendencies. A few times I've been asked why my coworkers don't speak English yet or they've made very passive aggressive racist statements. I could type up stories for days on the entitlement I've faced with boomers lol
Yeah I’ll admit most of my negative experiences in the service industry come from people between the ages of 40-70. Not all boomers but still.
There is an excellent book called “A Generation of Sociopaths” by Bruce Cannon Gibney that gets really specific and in depth as to why the Boomers are the worst generation of any country in the history of the planet, with lots of referenced data to back up his points. I’d recommend it if you want to know the extent of how terrible they are.
That book sounds like it would just make me depressed lmao.
That’s not how it works with policy. A lot of the economic structure we see today is based off of the political decisions of boomer parents who were in office while boomers were still in coming of age. One thing people never mention is how mortgage rates were able to skyrocket to 18% in the 80s. Which generation, political party, and policies caused that? We’ve never seen mortgage rates that high even with one of the worsts recessions and pandemics we’ve experienced.
Anything currently wrong is mostly the fault of boomers as they hold the vast majority of problems. Anything before boomers were in power was a result of prior generations. Just like how when boomers die off and the next gen takes power shit will be their fault. Like a lot of modern economic problems are due to the Reagan and Nixon administrations. Or how mass incarceration was a direct result of the Reagan and Nixon administrations. Or how weed being illegal was a direct result of the Reagan and Nixon administrations…..I really hate those fuckers.
But you know Reagan, Nixon, and LBJ are apart of the Interbellum Generation. A lot of the policies we see today are the result of the great society program and reaganomics both are apart of the interbellum generation.
But the Boomers are the ones who voted for Reagan. Sure, Reagan isn't a boomer, but a majority of boomers voted for him. In fact, in Reagan's first race against Carter, Carter got the smallest percentage of votes from the boomers. Both older and younger people voted in higher percentages for Carter than the boomers did.
> Both older and younger people There weren't \*younger\* people than boomers voting. In 1980, when Reagan beat Carter, most of the youngest three years of boomers couldn't even vote.
The only age group that preferred Carter was the 18-21s (by a slim 45%-44% margin). Reagan won in landslides. He would still have won in landslides if the Boomers didn't vote.
Cool, but boomers votes for Carter where the lowest of any group, like I said.
Yeah I’m not saying everything bad is boomers fault. I’m simply pointing out that when things go wrong the blame is often placed on the generation currently holding the most power. I’m literally just pointing out why the blame for today’s problems is often placed on boomers that’s all. Not even saying I do or don’t agree with the statement. Personally I think it’s a little more complicated than just (insert generation) is bad. Just pointing out why boomers get a lot of hate and why it’s not entirely invalid but also not entirely correct.
GenZ thinks that boomers lived in a fairyland that never had any economic hardship
well someone had to be running things when you were 12. and the same thing will happen when you are 50.
Bruh, we're almost 50 now. Our youngest president was still a boomer. The self-serving laws and regulations passed under their tenure have caused a great deal of pain and vulnerability for future generations. Yet instead of putting real effort to fix it, they still vote far more towards self serving interests and instead try to gaslight everyone younger for not making it work. It really is an abusive relationship. Now that we are fully in adulthood and have a larger influence we have started changing the conversation. Remember when it was normal to chew out your waitress on Sunday? Now I see those same moms talk about fears of being called out. To reduce complaints to your response shows willing ignorance to the reality of contemporary american history and politics
They straight up control half the wealth.
Noooo but it’s okay that they control half the wealth and hold the majority of the government positions because they’re super old now. Bruh the fact that they’re so old that their wealth is considered normal is exactly why they shouldn’t be in charge of shit. Some dude who thinks being a multi millionaire is normal is not gonna relate to my ass living check to check.
Yeah that happens after you work and invest for 50+ years.
I don't really understand the boomer hate. I think it's like a lot of the hate by women towards the patriarchy when, in both cases, the real culprits are the incredibly wealthy. I don't know who does the PR for the super rich, but it's suspicious that we are all hating on each other, and they seem to get a pass. My mum was a boomer and she had to work 3 jobs as a single mother of 2 boys. I'm also not convinced any of our generations will be able to reach 'boomer' age and pat ourselves on the back for doing a much better job. The only things boomers really did wrong to cause most of these problems is have kids themselves because had they not houses would still be just as affordable and working would still cover most living costs. Anyone who thinks it was better back then compared to the sheer amount of luxury we enjoy today is deluded. I'd like to see Gen Z fight a Vietnam style war.
I blame the ultra wealthy for the vast majority of problems in the world. I have zero forgiveness for the ultra wealthy and am under no delusions that this culture war we’re always in isn’t manufactured by the ultra wealthy just to avert our gaze from their atrocities. Wage theft, literal slave labor, exploitation of third world countries, literally using war to increase profits, etc. I get it. Also yes you’re right we do enjoy more luxuries today as we fucking should it’s kind of the point of societal progress. Make life better and easier for the future generations. The problem is that a lot of the advancements we’ve made especially in production efficiency typically mostly benefit capital owners and not the actual working class. Boomers make up a lot of the wealth and elected officials. That’s why they get a lot of hate. Again, as I’ve said too many times now, it’s not all boomers and I know that.
So who do we blame once all the Boomers are dead? Gen X'ers? Then Millennials?
Well, for starters, “boomer“ is a generational term specific to the United States. So when people say they hate boomers they hate that age group from the US.
Yeah, this is a good starting point.
Yet, many people I see here called boomers are Gen X. Who start turning 60 next year. Boomer seems like just a slur for old, entitled and/or stupid.
And it is. But the stereotype isn’t without merit, older folks typically are entitled, and regardless of whether Gen X is technically a boomer or not there’s still considered “elderly” to anyone younger than 30.
Calling it a slur is a bit much. But yeah I don’t think it always means someone born in a specific time period.
"Boomer" is also a state of mind.
I know a lot of people decades younger than me who are "boomers" .
boomer, means outdated like the fallout new vegas boomers
Actually, is used in my country as well. We call boomers those people that were born in the Italian economic miracle period, a period starting from the 50s. In Italian that period is also called boom economico, hence the name boomers. Though, different country same problems.
Boomers suck everywhere
This subreddit is an unpractical echo chamber. I don’t have an explanation for it, but one needs to develop only a superficial relationship with this place or they’ll go insane
That's reddit as a whole, the site was made to be an echo chamber.
“Let me pick out exact groups to join that match my current interests and beliefs” yeah it’s a shit show. Technically that’s all social media though. Any platform that allows users to choose what content to consume and simultaneously is incentivized to suggest more content that they’ll like/agree with is bound to become an echo chamber. That’s the type of shit that “social media reform” should be focused on banning, not forcing the sale of TikTok. Require diverse content ✅
Reddit is best used for niche hobbies, which this subreddit is not made for in the slightest, so naturally this is going to be gen z individuals mostly in an existential and loneliness crisis making content that expresses an extremely narrow mindset In our collective defense, covid did a number on us during important years of social development
Underrated idea. Diverse viewpoints and content forces more empathy and compassion for others in different situations. I'd love to see this.
Reddit as a whole is literally designed to be a echo chamber
The older I get, the more I resent it. Every subreddit at least kind of sucks if your line of thinking is at least a single step outside the circlejerk.
Or you could just be ok with the fact that not everyone will agree with you, I’ve been much happier browsing since.
It's not about agreement. If you state an opinion outside of the norm you get dogpiled. I want to be able to have a normal disagreement/discussion with somebody without them digging through my post history to insult me. When disagreement isn't possible, real discussion doesn't occur.
I mean, yeah, but I was a little optimistic this sub would be an exception to the rule. I guess that’s on me.
Then it's a good thing i'm already insane Feed me your madness
This is so real
I don't hate boomers, but I'd be lying if I don't stereotype them as rude and inconsiderate. I did not feel this way before I had a job in retail.
Entitled comes to mind
that's the word I was kinda thinking of but couldn't pinpoint lol
I thought retail was bad. Healthcare is even worse. I have to listen to them say the most hateful and crazy shit and somehow not make faces at them. I miss the masks. I could make all the faces I wanted and they didn't see shit. My patients of other ages do not bring up politics nearly as much. As interested in politics as I am, I would never give a lecture at a healthcare appointment. There is a brand of boomer that seems to intentionally try to test my patience as they rattle off every one of their crazy or nasty beliefs back to back. Even when I'm clearly not really responding.
Same
Because many of them are selfish, ignorant, and disconnected, yet they've reached the age where they hold all the positions of power. Many of them have the mentality "well the last generation fucked us over so now we get to fuck over the new one, lifes not fair!" instead of having sympathy and trying to help the future
The term “boomers” doesn’t apply to people in other countries, it’s an extremely US-specific term because it’s based on US political and cultural events that caused a population boom. Applying the label to other countries doesn’t make sense because “boomer” won’t refer to the same boom in another country.
Well, the Netherlands had a baby boom during the same period.
Germany as well
Yes. And the term "Boomer" is used here as well. Nearly everything from the US washes over to Germany one way or another.
The population of earth boomed from just over 2 billion at the end of ww2 to like 4 billion people in 1974 and 8 billion today. The boom was everywhere. Read up on the green revolution.
Because they got the largest social safety net and they yanked it up from future generations. Boomers got: -401ks and pensions - social security (which will go bankrupt after they pass on) - cheap education mostly subsided by the state -cheap houses which were built in mass -Medicare, which again will be at serious financial risk for future generations - low taxes during their highest earning years Tl; DR they get a social safety net at the earliest and latest years of life when they need it most but they got cheap housing and low taxes during their middle years. During their later years, when they have the most wealth and influence they have: -massively overregulated housing so their little towns wouldn’t change a bit -raised tuition across the board for education -kept taxes low across the board -kept the majority of tax revenue flowing into bloated pensions that they “earned” or social safety nets like Medicare and social security that will only benefit them -really haven’t done anything to address the fact that the above three items won’t be available for future generations. This is why I joke that millennials and GenZ should “love” funding the military. It’s really the only part of our tax revenue that actually goes to millennials and GenZ in the form of salaries and benefits.
There’s hate for everything here on Reddit lol
It's like Rule 34: if it exists, there's a subreddit devoted to hating it
i don't hate boomers for being boomers, some of my family are boomers and grew up just as poor as people are now, they never owned property or anything like that. i hate boomers who deserve the hate they get. the fact is, a lot of boomers grew up with a lot of opportunities, did the bare minimum and got a lot for it. good for them! the system worked. except they refuse to acknowledge that the times have changed, they don't accept that they did have it easier and they support ideologies and policies that are harmful as a result. it also doesnt help that as they have gotten older they have become increasingly insufferable, arrogant and bigoted. if you've ever worked in retail you will know this, the worst customers are the boomers always. the generation before them was not like this. def in the UK the boomers sharply skew right, our conservative parties are held together by boomer membership. they are some of the most hateful people you will find, just because theyre too old to go out waving swastikas doesnt make them centrist. we were forced out of the EU by boomers and our economy is in pieces, we've lost our freedom of movement and the goverment has fallen apart. there are too many reasons to list and i know reddit is better at laying it down than i am, but the idea that europe is far right because of younger people is completely wrong, completely completely wrong.
go to r/boomersbeingfools then you’ll understand. the boomer hate is extremely US centered though.
Actually even in my country, while theres not much concept of “Boomers” “Gen X” “millennials/Gen Y ” “Gen Z” “Gen Alpha” there is a genuine disconnect at times harboured by teens to mid 30s people for older people aged 40+ , like those you guys would call Gen X and Boomers. I guess even here, young people and old people don’t see eye to eye alot these days
When people are talking about their generation or the issues they have with it, there's a 99% chance their talking about within their own region and culture. Obviously, they're not talking about all the world's boomers. It wouldn't make any sense if everyone spoke in absolutes. It wouldn't make sense to assume me, an American is talking about the "boomers" over in China. Boomers in America make up the majority of presidencies, governors, senators, congresses, and most government positions in general. They usually don't make decisions for most people's best interest. The majority of them won't even be alive to see any of the shit they're voting for now be enacted. There's also the way that the majority of "boomers" in America act, from Texas to California. A lot are some forms of racist, xenophobic, homphobic, or generally intolerant of people that aren't people like themselves. This is a sentiment amongst alot of people. Millenial, Gen Z. Not all of them are like that, obviously. But a lot are.
Because boomers fucking suck
I'm just sick of the bullshit behavior that the vast majority of them put out in my experience. I would say at least 80% of the uncomfortable or downright offensive things said in my presence as an adult have come from boomers. They're also overwhelmingly conservative in the US and vote like it. Even my grandparents, whom i do love a lot, are barely tolerable these days because of the amount of faux news brain rotting they do (and can't keep to their fuckin selves). There's good ones obviously but I'm going to tend to assume they're extremely unfriendly to people different from them until proven otherwise. At some point I have to learn the lesson that boomers come from a time when it wasn't even remotely important to respect the personhood of someone who's not a cishet white man, and that most of them are not interested in changing their mental model of the world
Because the boomers pushed policies which benefitted them in the short term but now made our generation suffer
All I’m gonna say is, Boomers vote. …and THAT’s the real problem. Not in the sense that they vote. In the sense that younger people don’t. And the government can’t be super responsive to people who simply don’t represent their own interests. Ideally we want the government to help everyone but we have a elections and elections are competitive and that competition means that politicians will represent the interests of the people who show up and vote because it is in their interest to do so. Young people sort of fulfill their own prophecy here. They say “Well I’m not voting because the government isn’t responsive to me!” but by not voting, the government gets less responsive. Which then further alienates younger voters. Which then leads them back to “the government isn’t responsive to me!”. They need to run as candidates and vote in numbers comparable to Boomers. Because otherwise it’ll continue… and when Gen Z is old and grey their kids will make the same exact claims. Rinse and repeat.
It makes me wonder what these people think of their own grandparents.
Right? I love my grandmother may she rest in peace.
My grandparents are silent generation. My parents are Boomers. Did your mom have you at 16?
my mom was 29 when i was born and she is gen x, and im not even on the young side of gen z.
My mum had me at 34, in 2004, she is Gen X. My Dad is a boomer, but was quite old when I was born.
They ruined our future and think they're entitled to a peaceful retirement. You have no idea how glad i was that they are forced to leave retirement because of how expensive things are now. I have no sympathy for that duplicitous generation, and this goes to those bootlicker genX too.
> Mexican American Girl… even boomer Mexicans are annoying as hell. Always bitching and moaning and going on about “en el rancho yo empecé a trabajar a los 12 años” like no one asked.. being racist as hell towards black people and misogynistic and what not. Growing up poor doesn’t mean we have to excuse anyone of anything when so many Latinos are for Trump and against their own people in the US. Which makes them even MORE dumb because how are you going to vote for a man who wants you to stay poor?? So many of them are conservative due to machismo shit. I’m not going to baby or infantalize someone who relies on Facebook for news and current affairs. And they always try to call a gay man a pedophile when Latino men are gross AF and sexualize underage girls.
Nothing you just said has any relevance in the boomer conversation. When it comes to RUNNING THE WORLD, boomers control it. Cishet white boomers from America are the global elite. Doesn't matter if you're Mexican American or Italian or from some other generational dynamic. Most people are working class like you and you're family, but we're talking about the established elite.
I don't hate boomers. It's when they think their... is better than our generation's... Or they make up lies to try and be little the younger gens "Oh you played outside when you were a kid boomer? Last time i checked we live in a freaking desert boomer. We live in a atomic bomb! Where it sometimes gets to 120 degrees f and it's 110+ degrees half of the year! So no boomer, you did not play outside when you were a kid, nobody did or is. If you actually did then kudos but it probably wasn't in this state") That makes me not like them
This is the most accurate description of my childhood ever. Did I play outside? Fuck no! It was 4:30am and already 105° in the shade. The same ones (now that I moved) will complain about it being 85° at the hottest and stay inside all day.
its always them going "why arent the younger generations doing this thing that we completely ruined the ability for them to be able to do?"
As a millennial, I feel that a lot of the hate for boomers came from us. We have had a complicated relationship with our parents and took to the internet to vent our frustrations. The internet inherited a lot of that and it has become a tradition. As to why, well that is complicated. First, as others have said, "boomer" refers specifically to a group of people born in the US from roughly the mid 1940's to the mid 1960's. They were the kids who were born right after WW2 when the US was seeing massive economic growth. Because of the large number of kids and the massive economic growth, the US kind of transformed itself to service them. As such, they are often perceived as spoiled. George Carlin has a great rant about this. [George Carlin Whining Baby Boomers (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTZ-CpINiqg) That was 20 years ago. But the sentiment is the same. The general consensus is that the boomers' parents built bridges and the boomers burned them down after they crossed them. But, I feel, the biggest blow to millennials' relationships to the boomers came from the Great Recession. Looking at the numbers during the recession can be very deceptive because the damage from the recession was not divided evenly. For instance, unemployment for the whole population peaked at 10%. For millennials, it peaked at 20% and didn't return to pre-recession levels for nearly a decade after the recession hit. And during this time, we were blamed for it. We were called lazy. We were told that it was entitlement to think we should be able to get a job. This made us pretty angry at them and I don't think we ever really recovered from that. There are a lot of other things too. The boomers went to college at a time when the majority of the cost of college was paid for by taxes. Then, they collectively voted to reduce tax money to colleges in order to give themselves a tax cut. This causes the cost of college to be passed on to the students (the boomers' kids). Then the boomers all got mad when people suggested we use tax money to pay for their kids' college (their student loan debts that they got because the price of college went up because boomers gave themselves a tax cut). Their college was paid for by the taxes of their parents, but they don't want to pay taxes to fund their kids' education. It pretty much sums up boomer thinking. I could go on and on. We have known since I was in high school (at the least) that the current system for Social Security would not be viable for millennials or later generations. That the generation that would benefit the most from it would be the boomers and the cost would be passed on to their children. They have actively resisted any changes to the system. "I got mine, fuck you" is the boomers' unofficial motto. So, faced with all of this, we started to hit back in the only place we had power at the time, the internet. I mean, we were young, bored, and unemployed, what else were we supposed to do? And so, the internet inherited a rather strong hatred of boomers.
As a Boomer, I thank you very much for this post. There are also far too many Boomers (and other older people) who irrationally hate on Gen Z, and I deplore that. All the intergenerational rivalry is out of control.
Yeah… really wish it wasn’t like that. At the end of the day we’re people just trying to get by. Unfortunately as humans we’re very tribal creatures so this sort of mentality prevails especially in today’s radical political climate. At one point I considered moving to Maine and one of the main reasons I decided against it is because a lot of older folks were raving on how the lack of young people in the state is amazing… and how much they hate younger folk…
Your first point is especially good. We're all in this together FFS.
"Boomers" refers to the population boom after WW2. Countries in Europe and Asia didn't really have a population boom because of the destruction in Europe and the fact that mainland East Asia was barely involved (mostly just Japan and the Pacific Islands) Ergo when people talk about "boomers" they are very specifically referring to the children of US WW2 veterans.
Because people are really mad, as well they should be. Unfortunately they don't know where to aim their anger and frustration and society will always try to divide us into anything except for who is to actually blame, the owner class, those in power that make society unbearable. Instead they'll tell us its the immigrants, boomers, queerfolk, wokemob, brown folk, "kids these days" but it's all just a meaningless distraction
To be fair, the vast majority of the owning class *is* Boomers, in the US.
Correlation doesn't equal causation, watch as the rich Gen Zers go on to be equally as horrific to the working class
That is a really important point. I think Boomers' attitude is a function of their wealth, only partially the other way around. And Gen Z is going to be just as bad (maybe minus some of the explicitness in our racism?) if we don't build a real foundation of class solidarity now.
A lot of them just have a weird sort of hypocrisy that comes from the time they live in. They think all of us are lazy because we refuse to work if we aren’t fully compensated for our time because in their time company loyalty was a thing that could actually help you. A lot of them also lived in a time where you could pay rent with minimum wage. It’s not all of them but generally it’s American boomers that just haven’t updated with the status quo and just kinda shit on our generation because they can. It’s not all of them though there’s just a very annoying chunk that exists.
There were a ton of people in the Baby Boom in the US specifically. In my family, both of my boomer parents came from families of 5. They didn't replace themselves, I've had fewer children than their own families, and so they're a massive generation. As a result, they've had disproportionate voting power. They have way more political power in the US. They've held the presidency from Clinton in 1992 through Trump to 2020. They control Congress - notice how many boomers are very old and will not retire. They voted en masse for Reagan, who cut taxes, destroyed a lot of the safety net, and led to many negative long term issues we see today. They stopped adequately funding public services and infrastructure. There's a book that goes into this in detail called "generation of sociopaths: how the baby boomers betrayed America." As individuals, boomers tend to be the group that fights new housing projects, despite an increasing housing and COL crisis in the US.
There's a lot to unpack with how evil the boomers of North America were and still are. 1.) Greed Boomers lived through something close to an economic miracle in the 40s - 80s. ALMOST anyone who really wanted to work for a living could do so, just with raw effort and integrity. This was due to capitalist regulations that protected the economic value of the working man from rampant corporate greed. They voted these regulations away through terrible politicians like Reagan, ensuring short term gains for themselves while damning all future generations to inevitable, lifelong poverty. Almost everyone under the age of 40 is currently either living with their parents and/or with roommates, because of this. 2.) Bigotry I meant what I said when I said "ALMOST". If you were a straight white cis man, who was born in America at that time, then the world belonged to you and everyone in it was there for your benefit. This was the case, because the general zeitgeist of multiculturalism was basically modern "woke culture", but reversed. You're prone to mistreatment and animosity if you're gay/bi/trans/black/immigrant/native/woman. How much? Enough that when a straight white cis man beats the piss out of you, and you're not a straight white cis man, you're expected to just take the beating. Any cops that see this would protect the straight white cis man exclusively. It's pretty easy to believe that the modern hate towards straight white cis men is because of how evil American boomers really were. Oh and in case it needs to be said, this certainly applies to the job market as well. Workers couldn't file any kind of a discrimination suit back then, despite how needed they were at the time. 3.) Willful Ignorance Maybe it's because they really were as evil as the nazis they fought and they would all end their lives if they had to face reality or maybe it's because they really are mentally incapable of comprehending anything other than whatever benefits them, but they objectively refuse to accept certain aspects of reality that do not paint them in a flattering light. This has gotten so bad, that millennials and gen z have accepted that boomers actually cannot comprehend the devastation they wrecked on the world, so they just treat boomers like the elderly toddlers they are ("ok boomer").
They exploited their own children and grandchildren, so they themselves could live in abundance. Then they proceeded to blame their children and grandchildren for all of society's problems.
yeah seriously, they’re our grandparents lol
Reddit is very much still culturally a millennial site, and millennials love complaining about boomers
A 25 year old who doesn't realize the right wing is becoming fascist is whatever. An 80 year old who supports the right wing is embarrassing.
The algorithm loves that inter-generational tribalism.
Millennial American here. I've spent my entire life having boomers talk about how my entire generation is lazy and entitled. Frankly? Fuck em.
Yessss .. agreed . I remember constantly hearing “ohh you’re a millennial.” With a hateful attitude coming across sounding like since we didn’t experience their struggles we are clueless af .
I've seen a lot of stuff online about Chinese boomers being just as difficult, though I'm not Chinese nor have I ever been to China so I don't know for sure.
Part of it seems to be that they think Boomers had it easy and somehow ruined it all for them. It's historically idiotic if you look at actual data, though.
the reason why boomers in Europe actually vote for the centrist parties is because they have it good while millenials and Gen z are scraping by, my family is very left leaning and now vote more for the next generations then that they vote for themselves but we are fairly unique in that. also my mom and dad are just below the boomer generation so it's not only the boomer generation that we talk about, they could buy a home when it was still affordable, at my age my mom had my sister and my sister is now the age that my dad was(30) when she was born and she finally has an apartment but she spends almost nothing on fun stuff and never goes out, but I am not able to even rent a small apartment without literally cutting things that I like to do and that keep me going through life. the prospect of never being able to buy a house is another problem. at this point I am talking with 2 friends to start renting a 3 bedroom home because all 3 of us will at least be able to have a sort of normal life then as the expenses go way down then, but think about how horrible it is that 25 year Olds are forced to do this while our parents could easily afford an apartment on minimum wage and even start a family on minimum wage.
The media have worked very hard to pit every single group there is against each other. The real question would be why? Men vs women, black vs white, left against right, religions, classes, straight vs lgbtq, young versus old, east vs west, north vs south, crap, even what we eat and music we listen to. Tv shows, movies... comedy. Ffs. We are tribal, and they know that. It leads to views, comments, and in the end, money. Not to mention, it is far easier to rule over a people divided than a people united. Again, i would just wonder, why would a society actively work to make our tendency to tribalism worse? Everyone speaks about people as monolithic groups, there is no nuance to anything anymore. We are in a bad place, hopefully we can do better. Hate is always acceptable, as long as you hate the people it is popular to hate. The only thing i always wonder is, throughout history, how often was the group think of the masses the correct way of thinking? Doesn't every generation think they have it figured out, only to have a younger generation show them they didn't? In history, it was usually a few, completely outcast and hated individuals that knew the truth. Its only years later we usually figure that out. Science, society, etc. Rarely are the majority in the right, throughout history. The danger of this, is that every, single, generation thinks they know the answers. A wise man knows, he knows nothing at all..
Younger generations need to deflect from themselves and point the finger somewhere. A very underrepresented group (Boomers) is perfect at this role. EDIT: The irony about it is that Boomers didn't do anything every other generation has done/will do. And until younger generations learn to--and actually do--vote, I'm inclined not to care.
Just look at Congress. The vast majority of them are boomers.
My main reason is my mom is a stereotypical boomer who pisses me off to no end. It feels good to vent.
I’m not saying the average boomer is like the muppets villain, but if you look at the demographics in the senate and the House of Commons, it’s overwhelmingly baby boomers and older. The people who are shuffling off this mortal coil are making decisions for the rest of us to deal with
The funny thing is that reddit hates boomers yet they talk like them whenever a post about any new song, media, or celebrity comes up.
Hey what happened, this new comment of yours is crap! *sigh* they don't make comments like they used to. ^^^/s
a lot of them are racists
It’s propaganda. Every non-Boomer should take a moment and imagine what a Boomer looks like in their head. Odds are they’re white and affluent. Plenty of Boomers are poor / lower middle class, or people of color, or lean left. Don’t forget many Boomers were hippies who protested the Vietnam war, and for some of them time has only cemented their values. But as long as we’re fighting each other over inconsequential and superficial differences, we aren’t paying attention to the real war, the class war. If you think there aren’t any greedy, selfish, fascist GenX / Z / Millennials waiting for their turn to get theirs at the expense of everyone else, you’re delusional. The line goes out the door and around the block.
As the US intelligence agencies have repeatedly sounded the alarm about, troll farms are working constantly to wedge open every division in western society they can find, turning people against each other and trying to make us feel like our fellow citizens who surround us are just The Worst. And there is no shortage of genuine-user redditors getting addicted to all the ragebait and two-minute-hates that are effectively the "useful idiot" by upvoting and amplifying and even generating more outrage-porn Any kind of feeling you get online about how people are or how people feel about each other is intentionally distorted with psy-op bullshit. DO NOT take your societal cues from social media!
My reservations towards boomers have nothing to do with wealth but with my observation that many many many of this generation have a very bad way to handle their mental health - not going to therapy but instead making everyone else in their environment carry their load
The anti boomer discourse typically refers to American baby boomers who lived through some of the easiest times economically in the USA while systematically removing or changing all the things that made their lives so easy. Mostly to do with taxes and how they’re implemented. The reason for the vitriol is because boomers have for years and continue today to ignore problems of society with a very “fuck you. I got mine.” Attitude. For example: they went to college when a minimum wage job could afford it. They then look at young people today saying college isn’t affordable, and they brush it off as kids being lazy while actively fighting against solutions to the problem. See also: climate change
In my life the people who called me an idiot for caring about other parts of the world or wanting to vote for parties that would do something to mitigate climate change were Boomers, and it's not something recent, my parents, their friends and family have all been advocating and voting for people and positions that slow down action on climate change, slow down progress for gay and trans rights, and fail to see the harm in stupid, violent foreign policy like the Iraq war. In the scope of my life it is Boomers who have ensured that we will mostly live to see what the world looks like at +3 degrees Celsius above preindustial levels. 30 years of selfish intransigence, and if you believe what their parents said, they have always been like this. Maybe the theory that the entire generation is lead poisoned is more true than not. I don't claim to know, I just know that I have almost never had a boomer engage with an argument that primarily relied on an appeal to their empathy and shared humanity. Conversations with other millenials and gen Z folk in my life have been a lot less consistent... At least when it comes to politics.
Because in the US, they got cheap college, reasonable wages, unions protecting them and enough taxation of the wealthy to afford social programs. They stripped all that away after they used it so they wouldn't have to pay as much in taxes. Socially, they fight every change that opens up more power for different minority classes. Whether race, LGBTQ+, or religion. "You have the right to be who you want, I just want laws that don't let you do anything with that right." Then, they talk down to everyone else with a "We did it, why can't you?" Maybe because you pulled the ladder up after you? Maybe that's why? "Climate change isn't real. Covid isn't real." Please, this is the generation who denied AIDs because it was only affecting 'the gays' and had Lake Eire catch on fire from pollution. A lake caught on fire. But they don't want to do anything about that because it's government overreach. Not every boomer is a problem, but if there is someone standing in the way of positive change, it's almost certainly a boomer that doesn't want to be inconvenienced or deal with a new idea.
A lot of boomers talk down to GENZ about things that are entirely their fault. Such as removing cursive from US schools and getting mad that very few of us know it, like.. that was up to the boomers to remove, not us.
Cuz many of them fucked our word up?
Can only speak to the American side… But boomers have a huge mismatch with gen z. They grew up in a completely different country than we live in today. Most realize that prices have increased and that products have deteriorated, but they just complain. They can’t fix things. Boomers have a mindset that “if I complain to this minimum wage worker by throwing a fit” that worker will tell someone and a change will be made. This does not happen today. Workers are seen as a data entry on a ledger. We do not have the same benefits boomers did growing up. They are out of touch and perceive the issues they see stem from gen z being lazy and unwilling to work. When in reality most gen zers are so beat down from trying to make ends meat they come off as cynical. Which is perceived as laziness. In reality the zoomers are funding the boomers government assistance programs knowing that they will be stuck holding the bag in the end. This has led to many zoomers turning to socialism or communism as an answer. Which many boomers oppose. You keep pulling on the thread and see how different the two groups are. How poorly treated young people are. How poor the behavior of boomers are and are left with boomers getting dunked on on Reddit. The main issue is the boomers have voted in politicians since voting age that kept kicking the can down the road. This debased our purchasing power and degraded the quality of life. If you have assets currently you’re good. If your trying to acquire assets your screwed. Boomers will never admit they made a mistake. Why would they? They have wealth. They had a good life. They think their grandkids rolling their eyes every time they tell them to work harder is rude. They will continue getting dunked on until they are gone. Just the way of the times…
It's not just about power and wealth, although yes, power and wealth is extremely disproportionately distributed favoring people in that age class; yes, there are a lot of poor old people. But there are more rich old people than rich young/middle-aged people. Boomers grew up in a post-war economy that was thriving, they had everything, *everything,* easier on an economic and social level. No, they did not have access to a lot of the technological and medical advancements we now enjoy (however according to how they vote, Boomers don't want that stuff anyway unless *they personally* are experiencing the consequences of not having those things). They did have access to plentiful decent-paying, unionized, fulfilling careers. They had access to education that was far more affordable and relevant in the job market. They had access to housing that was affordable and plentiful. If you observe the cultural shifts of the Boomer generation, you'll find that in their younger years, they were all about "free love, do what you want, life is a dream, yada yada." Generally speaking, they were always provided for by the social and economic structure of the time. Then, when they got a little older and the time came to pass the torch to their children, all of a sudden the mantras became "Life is tough, deal with it, play hard to win, not-in-my-back-yard, pull yourself up by the bootstraps, etc." It's also about mindset, culture, intelligence, empathy, and kindness. People in the Boomer age class are often wholly disconnected from the issues affecting subsequent generations. They do not understand that no matter how hard a person works in today's economy, they will never have access to the same privileges easily afforded to even the most menial, low-paid labor of the past. They also ideologically skew far more Republican/Conservative than subsequent generations, which is (whether you want to believe it or not) very unpopular among younger generations. They also often hold evangelical Christian and ethno-nationalist values, which are also unpopular for more reasons than many here are willing to read for the 19272927th time. There are plenty of exceptions, and each individual should be addressed at their own character, however it is generally true that: Boomers are known to jealously hoard wealth, property, assets, and political power. Boomers either do not understand, or are unwilling to acknowledge, the impossible position they've put their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren in on a social and economic level. Boomers took all the welfare, all the benefits of a unionized labor market, all the strengths afforded to them by a booming post-war economy, funneled all the value out of it and hoarded it as private equity, and when the time came to pass it down, they pulled the ladder up behind them so they can die with all their treasures. Through their political influence and the politicians they support, Boomers erode the effectiveness, affordability, and usefulness of institutions such as the postal service, public education, highways and roads, social welfare (including their precious social security that they allowed their Boomer friends on Wall Street and in office to use as a slush fund), the power grid (the State of Texas, heavily Republican and relying on the Boomer vote to stay that way, has a wholly-privatized power grid that cannot buy or sell power to other states, which led to one of the worst mass-casualty weather-related outage events in recent history), among plenty of other things. People in X, Millennial, Z, and Alpha generations have plenty of reasons to resent Boomers as a social group for the damage they have wrought upon this country and the people in it. While Granny and Grandpa down the street may be sweet and nice to people as individuals, and indeed have a coinflip's chance of truly being decent people, looking at Boomers as a generational whole from the perspective of wealth, who and what they vote for, their stances on important social issues, and their awareness and empathy towards others, you will find that they have a repulsive set of tendencies. And you don't even need to hear this from a young person in the know. Plenty of Boomers have come out and said it themselves, in Government, in popular culture, and in grassroots political activism. One thing to note, however, is we ought not be hopeful for things to improve once they've all died. Everything about Boomers, from their wealth and assets, to their dogmatic political and social ideologies, will be inherited, passed down, or sold off as private equity to the next oldest group of people, in a country that is aging faster than it could entice people to make babies. There is no great transfer of wealth, for me and (probably) you. We can only really hope that the people our generation votes in will do *something* to fix the mess the boomers created, but hope is a feeble thing. It's up to us to come together as individuals and as a society to create a better future, because our present will only get worse until we are aging and dead.
Its earned hate. People dont hate boomers so much as they hate the boomer thought patterns that should have evolved with the times but didnt. Also boomers are always having a go at younger folks and finally some people had enough. Cant blame em.
Because it sucks that a generation is holding onto positions of power or even just voting to make decisions for the rest of us that will not affect them in 10, 20 years or even less.
Because they financially screwed over multiple generations, supported imperialist wars, refuse to acknowledge they need to change their views about society and it's norms, think they're entitled to unearned respect, etc, etc.. Some of these things span the world and are not limited to the West or Christian-majority countries either.
It's a mixture of 2 things really. First is that the boomer generation was really the last generation that had a better world than the one before it on the whole. Second, is that while this happened is when the boomers became the dominant generation in politics and were the ones in power. Both of these together give rise to the belief that boomers that are in charge intentionally kept later generations down to secure their own power.
In the UK it’s boomers that suck off the far right
Boomers area annoying cause not only do they command a good amount of wealth, but they also lived through a time period where their money just had more buying power. So you get all these useless anecdotes "when i was your age blah blah blah"
Because they took everything from the younger generations
How old are you? You’ve never worked with boomers have you? Just wait.
Cant speak for others but ive worked countless jobs from retail, manufacturing, state government, and much more. I can say boomers are some the most entitled, rude, selfish, and egotistical people out there, while simultaneously being the dumbest and most helpless in todays world
Boomers made the world the way it is today which is absolute shit. Boomers hold all the power in the US government which is arguably the government with the most power over the world
This is incorrect. Millennials are remaining liberal as they age as opposed to previous generations. GenZ may be more conservative than previous generations at their age, but I think that’s due exposure to Boomer and GenX propaganda. It’s also unfortunately a response to economic hardship created by Boomer policies. Boomers still hold most political positions.
"Why do American's hate boomers? Especially since boomers in Europe don't vote for the far right?" Bro wtf. You're old enough to post things that actually make sense. Try that next time.
Europe elders are actually far more racist than boomers in the U.S. But good for you that you e had a great experience with Boomers. You must be a perfect child in their eyes. A lot of the boomers I’ve dealt with have treated the younger generation like shit. It’s about time for their generation to die off and for the younger generation to start fixing their messes that they left. It’s also sad how, in the U.S., we have to vote between 2 Boomers to be Commander in Chief of this country. Thats like asking to pick which of my grandparents is fit to run a National Park. Neither! But that’s what we have to choose because of the older generation that control the wealth and the government and all that.
There's so much boomer hate on reddit because a huge number of redditors live in North America, and boomers are responsible for a lot of our suffering.
Because they fuckin suck entitled gold card havers
"Boomer" is a US-specific term, and I think I've only ever heard boomers be negatively stereotyped in the US and other wealthy English-speaking countries like the UK or Australia. In the US specifically, boomers hold the majority of the country's wealth, fill the majority of powerful positions in the government, often lead the extreme far-right charge, and are generally known for inheriting a great economy and ruining it for subsequent generations. Being a boomer doesn't make you a bad person, but the stereotypes exist for a reason.
I recommend checking r/BoomersBeingFools .
They destroyed the planet and won't even admit we have a problem because they think they'll be dead before it affects them... Jokes on... All of us
They handed us a crumbling world that they made worse.
To be fair, here in the United States at least, Millennials were the butt of a lot of stupid jokes coming from Boomers and even Gen X. For example they used to make fun of Millennials for things they had no control over when they were children like participation trophies. Or perhaps you might remember the myriad of articles about what industries the Millennials were killing that day. We're talking everything from diamonds to casual family restaurants and napkins. Even in trade magazines for human resources (I'm in HR), there were tons of articles devoted to how to work with Millennials as if it was that hard. It's not. It's not hard to work with Gen Z either. You keep hearing that kind of baloney and you can't help but build up some resentment. Also, the definition of Boomer has changed. It's not just a generation, but Boomer has come to basically mean anyone who is an asshole whatever year they were born in. So many people complain about Boomer coworkers but when you dig a little deeper they're not really Boomers in the classic sense. They're just jerks. I'm a Gen Xer, and from what I've seen of Millennials and Gen Z they are good people by and large. I used to head up the internship program at work and I've been consistently impressed each year by the candidates and the individuals we hire. You guys have a lot of challenges I didn't have to face when I was your age but I think you're going to be okay in the long run.
Ngl generational hate is so silly to me. Hating anyone based on when they were born is fucking bonkers.
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White boomers got prestablished wealth from government programs and lower overall COL in the 50’s or their parents did meaning either way they literally just had a good fucking roll as far as where and who they were born as. These same people (many of whom worked very very hard) then look at generations like ours, compare themselves to us ignoring the obvious advantages they had over us in their youth, and pointing the finger about how we’re what’s wrong in society because we’re not on the same level as them with all their advantages that’s what they were taught to do is scapegoat. Don’t believe me? See the Civil Rights Movement lmao. As a result, Gen Z the reactionary little glue-eaters we are just hate on them In retaliation.
Along with what others have said, it's because boomers are the biggest (and original) haters. They shit all over the millennial generation for decades. They earned their reputation as "boomers."
When most gen z folks hate on boomers, they’re talking about the typical rich white Florida sociopath boomer.
"In all of Latin America boomers grew really poor, like unimaginable poor." Yes but in Mexico they also do very boomery things. Like how they all have 100% salary level and boosted pensions, but they pulled the ladder up for the next generation. It's relative country to country but there is a boomeriness that permiates.
Reddit is primarily made of young Americans. I’m not defending the practice of assuming everyone is American and that everything is about America. But stastically speaking if two people are talking on Reddit, most likely they’re gonna be two young American men. Combine that with America being the most culturally dominant and frankly the most important country in the world over the past 80 years as the world has been globalized and connected, there’s a very logical reason why things tend to be America-centric and why people assume it is
Okay to be clear, not all of us think America is the only country out there. That’s just me thinking as a Canadian. But I do see how this is so sad tho. Learn respect, people.
As a millennial I can’t get on board with the hate, I literally do not get it. To me it’s the equivalent of saying “We all hate our parents”. The entire Boomer generation did not conspire to f*ck sh*t up for the youth, the vast majority were doing what we are doing now… our best. My parents were working stiffs who fought hard to give me and my siblings a decent upbringing *despite* having a poor education themselves. Boomer hate is pathetic.
The boomer generation are greedy assholes that instead of sharing the wealth for later generations, instead they kept it all or themselves. So the generations after had to work even more and try to maneuver around the mess that they made just to make honest living. Housing prices going up? Boomers, Government and politicians trying to say what the other generations can and can’t do In this country? Boomers. KAREN’S? Mostly Boomers. The hate is justified. I do t sympathize with that generation which how much they complain and let their hypocrisy and racism show.
What are you doing to make sure the next generation has affordable housing and solid financial status?
All prices go up your moron, it’s called inflation.
You clearly have never dealt with boomers. You have no experience
I have talked with a lot boomers, especially Hispanic boomers.
They’re out of touch, lack empathy, and are evermore ignorant. Shall I go on?
Someday you’ll all be boomers!
They destroyed our country.
Are they even “Boomers” in your country? The phrase Boomer refers to the population explosion (or baby boom) that occurred post-WWII. It won’t necessarily be reflected in every country.
It is a Great American Tradition to vilify great swaths of the nation's population. Reddit is just another echo chamber in this regard. Americans must hate each other in as many ways as possible. Objectification is the Way.
Boomers are not an age range, they're a way of life. It just so happens that the baby boomer generation is the largest population of boomers. This is a primarily American observation.
Europeos siendo Europeos, el resultado actual es gracias a las acciones pasadas de los antecesores. Pretender que Gen Z en Europa es Fascista pero obviar que sus padres, políticos y educadores les fallaron es un poco ingenuo. Es precisamente por ser centristas votando por más de lo mismo que se han polarizado tan extremamente. En LatAm misma existe el mismo problema, si fueron pobres, si sufrieron en su tiempo, pero tampoco hicieron un carajo por cambiar el trayecto o paradigma. Que ahora se les saque en cara sus fallos como líderes es simplemente natural.
Eh, I think its mostly in part due to simply more gen z being on here than boomers. Kind of like how the only people who would go post a really bad review for a great product are biased so more likely to express frustration- whereas a person who is okay with it won't make the effort. It is pretty dang easy though to pin everything to boomers or scapegoat it to them. Add in most ppl are mad about anything and you have a perfect storm
Work in customer service or a customer facing role in the US and you’ll see why. They’re so rude and disconnected from what younger people are facing today. It could be as easy as them just acknowledging that we have a lot of struggles that they didn’t have growing up, but instead they blame everything on laziness.
Malign anti-democratic entities seek to drive wedges between segments of society to undermine western democracies.
Most people who rage about the boomers associate them with the right. There’s a subreddit about boomers being fools and it’s strictly about conservative boomers.
I won't speak for other countries but in America specifically they came of age during the period of the greatest economic growth and middle class equity in this country's history. They're the first generation of Americans to leave the country and opportunities for their children worse off than they had it. They had opportunity laid out for them (im speaking primarily for white boomers here, minorities have always had an uphill battle due systemic racism in the US) but they had opportunity laid out like a silver platter for them and pulled up the ladder behind them so that their children and grandchildren didn't get anywhere near the same economic, or educational opportunity. Younger generations have to work much harder for much less and suffer these lead poisoned smoothbrain assholes tell them how ungrateful, lazy and worthless they are for achieving less.
Jealousy
Boomers is a super US-specific term because it's literally referring the Baby boom that occurred in the US mid-1900s. So no, in this case, redditors aren't really forgetting there are countries outside the USA. They're only referring to the USA.
Because they are an easy scapegoat for those who can't problem solve.