I mean, technically boomers saw Korea, Vietnam, Cuban missile crisis, Yom Kippur, (sorry if it’s misspelled), and the 70s oil crisis. I think the world has really just been interesting all this time
Yes. Granted not due to being a white educated man so much as a human who doesn’t have loads of money or influence. At least in 1923 you didn’t have every corporation trying to micromanage your life and life was affordable.
Maybe not 1923 exactly, but you can look at Europe in that time… That was right around the time Mussolini got to power, and why? Because of white males (and more) facing a cost of living crisis. America at that time had the “golden 20s”, true, but then you go a few years later and the fucking great depression starts, probably the biggest cost of living crisis there was.
And then also compare the standard of living from that time with now, even though we are struggling, our standard of living in general is much better than it was at that time due to technology and other factors.
Right in the middle between two world wars you’re going to experience and probably die in.
I’m not saying you are wrong in the sense that all is good now, and that it doesn’t suck majorly for a lot of people, all I’m saying is that I think you overestimate how good the past was.
Depends on where you where born I guess? Living in Belgium, my boomer parents never got a higher education because it was not affordable for working class families with 6 or more children. My dad had to go to work in a factory at 14, which was very common at the time. Props to him though, he got a degree through evening classes when he was already married with two children and working full time.
Higher education only became common and affordable with my generation.
On the other hand, while I make more money than my parents ever did, they were able to buy a 4 bedroom house in the 1980s on a working class income, whereas I could only afford a 2 bedroom appartment in the mid 2000s, the tail-end of affordability for housing.
While it’s true that I was speaking from an American perspective on a time period that definitely saw different situations in the US vs Europe, I would also say that the experience you’ve shared shows a similar effect, just in a different environment.
Your father (to his credit) was able to work his way through night school while supporting a family and (presumably) not incurring a mountain of debt.
The notion of working one’s way through college is something that was certainly difficult, but also certainly doable in the time when the boomers were in their 20s and 30s. Many of them still think that it’s possible to work a part time job while you study to pay your way through college and graduate with little to no debt (and use that perspective to pass judgement on anyone who doesn’t do that as lazy).
These days, a part time income may not even be enough to cover books, let alone room and board… forget about tuition. Honestly, it’s so impractical that it’s probably better for a student to not work and focus on study and health rather than try to mitigate debt through a side job.
These days, a part time income may not even be enough to cover books, let alone room and board… forget about tuition
This is again a more American perspective I think, which doesn’t make it invalid of course. The situation over there where students typically get loans and suffer crippling debt for years after they’ve graduated is frankly outrageous. Over here though, higher education is government regulated and highly subsidized, and while it’s not free and can still be pretty expensive, it’s possible to fit it within the budget of most families without loans, and people from families with a really low income are eligible for a grant.
So I’m going to stand by my point that in Belgium at least, education has become more accessible compared to how it was for the boomer generation. It’s visible in the statistics too: the number of people with a higher education level is still increasing every year, and younger people are much more likely to be highly educated than older people.
People are so much more “connected” now. Everyone hears about everything that goes on in the world. Well, except the good stuff, that’s not engaging. This and modern popular culture has us focused on the state of the world, which we largely have no ability to directly impact. In the past, people have been more concerned with their community and bettering their immediate life.
Now, this allowed for us to bury our heads in the sand and ignore global issues caused by state actors and accept systemic issues. But it also often set people up for success. The problems modern people are expected to solve is shit like climate change. Which, you know, is impossible for a single person to achieve. The irony is that we’re actually more alone. People today have fewer close friends and deep relationships than ever before.
The good news is that the world’s actually in a better place than it ever has been by many metrics. The woeful feelings are created by societal shifts and pressures. Things we can control in our own life. So I think the answer is to get yourself right and into a good place. Set limits and disconnect from the internet, build close and meaningful IRL friendships. Once you’re set, then reach out into the world and do whatever good you can.
Don’t we already have like three “millennials after facing 3 major crises in their lifetime” memes? Why did we need a will smith one? They’re all the same joke with different pictures.
The right response to this meme would be that other meme: first time?
:)
What I mean to say is : this bullshit is of all times.
Just look back in recent history. A long string of wars and economic downturns. GEN Xers have everything you have and the wonderful 70s, 80s & 90s added to the mix. You know, the never ending Vietnam war, Afghanistan, iran, gulf wars, yugoslavia, kaukasus, latin america in flames and a lot of other bullshit.
Economics? Ad to present day woes the oil crisis, housing crisis of the 80s where 15% mortgage rates meant that yes, housing was cheap and no, nobody could pay the mortgage and that bullshit in the 90s which I cant remember by name. And the dot.com burst of the 00’s.
We all want it to stop. Like forever. But you know the line :
Money talks , bullshit walks.
The money is talking. We’re just sitting here bullshitting. And, to end with that other meme, apparently: this is fine.
Because we in Europe are all voting hard right and across the pond people seem hell bend on the return of the orange faced demented warrior. And can we really blame 'em? Because what choice do they really have? Grandpa1 vs grandpa2? A competition about whose dementia is the worst? What’s this? The soviet polit bureau of the 80s? ?
The problem these days is everyone is self centered and unwilling to work hard. I see lots of complaints about how the world has been unfair but in reality we are unfair to each other.
People have been saying that same dumbass shit for thousands of years, here’s idiotic headlines from the last 150 showing you that every generation has said the same damn thing, and has been wrong every time:
The problem these days is everyone is self centered and unwilling to work hard
[…]
but in reality we are unfair to each other.
The last part of your sentence is correct. So maybe the reason everyone is “unwilling” to work is actually because they are unwilling to be exploited. Considering how capitalism utterly failed to regulate the market and wages are still piss poor despite every CEO and their henchmen crying about the labour shortage, when according to capitalist theory the solution should have been to immediately raise wages as the low supply and high demand of labour necessitates higher prices. That’s the excuse they give us when they jack up the prices on food and basic supplies yet they reject the same logic when applied to workers.
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