mojofrododojo,

It’s a start.

I kid, I kid, my parents are already dead, not everyone who was/is a boomer is horrid. But this generation has hung around power for too long, it’s time to move on.

gmtom,

wow i would have thought it would be more than that.

mariusafa,

What kind of psycopath counts generation death as a good thing. All interesting humans dead and you take it as an achievement.

Stop crying on the past. Stop blaming past on generations. Start learning from past generation mistakes, and thank them for having you.

Because as a new generation we’re going to make a lot of mistakes, who knows if more or less than the past generations. And we shouldn’t be blamed in the future.

Blaming the past generations and not learning from them is a childish response. Start doing something productive and useful to society, blaming is not helping.

Stop having tantrums and grow up. And thank you have past generations otherwise you would have to create all we have now from scratch.

It’s like saying “Newton dumb” because his work is old and it doesn’t work correctly for all physical frames, not like Einstein his work is much better. Both are as good because they lived at different times with different technology, knowledge, society, etc.

This feels like explaining basic life knowledge to a 3 year old tbh.

MedicPigBabySaver,

Ok, Boomer.

AtmaJnana,

OK, person I just blocked.

havokdj,

You should click on the link so that you realize that you are in fact a retard, as there is a clock for every generation with currently living members

mariusafa,

It’s more about the comments around this post. Idk what were the intentions when OP posted this. But the comments are pretty clear. Stuff like “Death to all boomers”, " when boomers dead all good", etc.

But yeah you definitely seem a cool guy to hang with, calling retard to everybody that thinks different or doesn’t agree with some ways of dealing with life.

havokdj,

Firstly, I genuinely don’t care what you or anyone else thinks of me because you are not someone I have ever met and we will very likely never speak again outside of this board. That being said, I do care about the feelings of others when it comes to how they feel emotionally, and my post was not meant to be deep cutting but rather a light jab. I realize that words online are much more difficult to convey the exact meaning of because you cannot tie emotion to them in a way that other people will pick up on.

Second, your point was made invalid when you stated that this was specifically something made for boomers, which if you would have went and clicked on the link, would have realized is not the case.

Three, you literally did the exact same thing! You compared their intelligence to that of a three year old! You didn’t make your comment about the othsr comments, you made it about the content of the post, that is incredibly clear.

Now do I think you are a human who is actually mentally handicapped? Of course not, but in that particular moment you were definitely favoring it, and that’s totally fine, the intention of my comment was not to try and hurt your feelings, but rather to point out your mistake so that you and others can learn that this is not just some calendar made to shit on boomers and celebrate the death of them (which becomes a harder ask as healthcare becomes even better).

smeg,

Kiddies who can’t think beyond the “us vs them” mentality but also think that all old people are bad, like that’s not as insane a generalisation as saying “all people of X race/sexuality/whatever are bad”. Human brains love trying to put everything in categories and labels, especially other humans.

Smoogs,

Speaking of how we categorize …Rememberer how a bunch of idiots tried to categorize Covid as if it was china to blame and relating it to diet of eating bats meanwhile there’s white dudes in North America chowing down on venison infested with prions pretending mad cow isn’t a thing. No one should be pointing fingers.

TheWoozy,

Relevance? I don’t think that activity was limited to any particular “generation”.

Smoogs,

It isn’t meant to. It is tangentially related to how we blame groups.

tigeruppercut,

also think that all old people are bad

Not many people actually believe this. It’s more that statistically it’s better for the country as more old people die. My boomer parents are progressive, but the generation by and large is holding us back. Of course the electoral college is part of the problem as well.

smeg,

We’re not all from the USA here, remember!

Smoogs, (edited )

Ok so when that generation is dead, how does that fix the musk, Bezos, chesky, Zuckerberg problem exactly? We’re still stuck with them. They are still doing far more damage.

tigeruppercut,

With more progressive voting comes more chances at holding billionaires accountable. Boomers vote GOP who gives tax breaks to the rich.

CosmicCleric,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

Boomers vote GOP who gives tax breaks to the rich.

Generalizations 4TW! /s

bluewing,

And yet somehow the younger generations are powerless to stop the evil boomers when they have the political numerical superiority to make the changes they want now…

Get out and vote. Run for office - local politics is where you start - get involved. Be that change.

******And always remember that one day YOU will become the hated generation that is standing in the way of progress.

CosmicCleric,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

Get out and vote. Run for office - local politics is where you start - get involved. Be that change.

It really just comes down to this.

But it takes more effort to do so, than comment on an Internet forum.

bluewing,

I have served in local politics and public safety but my time is long past. It’s well past time the next generations start to run things and I’m tired of waiting.

CosmicCleric,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

I have served in local politics and public safety

Thank you for your service, citizen.

but my time is long past.

There are always advisory positions available.

It’s well past time the next generations start to run things and I’m tired of waiting.

Well, you know what they say about Power and Vacuums, they get filled, and the current stock of power lords will die off eventually.

So at some point they’ll run for office (if they can put their phones down long enough to do so ( I kid! I kid! :p )).

To be fair though, we’re not making their (future) elected jobs any easier by fucking things up today and doing our elected jobs poorly; its a team effort.

GoodbyeBlueMonday,

This isn’t far from the logic put forth in Kill The Poor by the Dead Kennedys. genius.com/Dead-kennedys-kill-the-poor-lyrics

CosmicCleric,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

Every generation can see right from wrong. The problem is we’re not all agreeing on what is right and what is wrong.

Draedron,

Yeah, not like boomers blame millenials or gen Z for everything. Oh wait.

Smoogs,

So you think Doubling down somehow erases the problem. It totally doesn’t put you at their level, right? Or did you think everyone is just so dumb they can’t see your stupid thrown into the ring too?

TheWoozy,

Who’s level?

TheWoozy, (edited )

No, they don’t. They blamed the silent gen for ecological destruction, social inequality, and war. They also, like every generation back to australopithecus blamed their elders and thought the younger generation was spoiled & had shorter attention spans.

Don’t foolishly attribute a universal human flaw to a single group of people.

CosmicCleric,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah, not like boomers blame millenials or gen Z for everything. Oh wait.

Maybe we should stop dividing up into age tribes and attacking each other?

The problems we face affect every age in the same way.

Oderus,

Surprised your comment has positive upvotes because this thread has turned into /FuckBoomers.

Boomers aren’t the problem.

the_of_and_a_to,

There is a lot of projection in that comment. Maybe there were a few anti-boomer memes before this post in your feed which led you to it.

The website shows death statistics of every generation with people alive, famous people and animals. The title of this post just points out that exactly a third of the boomer generation has now died, which is a mildly interesting threshold, hence the community this is posted in.

This is a neutral post and it isn’t anti-boomer per se.

Maalus,

Just the fact that this site exists is a testament to people without empathy.

the_of_and_a_to,

Death belongs to life and statistics about it are useful and interesting.

Maalus,

Yeah, people aren’t just numbers. Statistics are fine. A “death clock” and a website basically celebrating people dying is not

the_of_and_a_to,

I don’t see celebration on the website

mariusafa,

When I saw the post I thought this was some statistics sub, but then I read the comments. The comments made me write this.

CosmicCleric,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

This is a neutral post and it isn’t anti-boomer per se.

It’s a little disingenuous to say that though .

How is presented to us, in this Lemmy post, isn’t really neutral though, it leans towards one point of view.

loudWaterEnjoyer,
@loudWaterEnjoyer@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

OK boomer

(Please block me shitheads)

AtmaJnana,

OK, blocked person.

Smoogs,

Because as a new generation we’re going to make a lot of mistakes, who knows if more or less than the past generations.

musk, Zuckerberg, Chesky, bezos are but a few who aren’t even boomers and have done probably far more destruction to society with their attainment of wealth.

We’re gonna see this current generation posting this usVSthem bullshit explain all that away to the future generation when their kids look into their online memes like this one about how ‘they knew better than boomers enough to criticize’

“Tell me about how you stood by Greta thunberg and didn’t just sit on your ass posting drivel on your iPhone while you rented Airbnb and got half your things off of Amazon. Did you vote in trump? Tell me how did he become president again?”

Part of me thinks this generation posting this generation meme drek is a poor attempt to quickly burry this giant steaming pile of poo.

aleq,
@aleq@lemmy.world avatar

well that’s fucking dark (and as others have pointed out, misguided - won’t solve a thing)

Ookami38,

And as others have also pointed out, the website isn’t anything anti-boomer. It tracks each generation, and it’s just mildly interesting that boomers just hit 1/3.

TheWoozy, (edited )

No, it’s not anti-boomer. And, Trump isn’t anti immigrant. After all his own wife is an immigrant.

Give me a break!

bluewing,

And one day, every generation’s population will hit zero. Always happens…

CosmicCleric,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

And as others have also pointed out, the website isn’t anything anti-boomer. It tracks each generation, and it’s just mildly interesting that boomers just hit 1/3.

How it’s presented to us though in this Lemmy article does suggest that though.

On a tangent, I really hate how people who create Lemmy posts really bias the article they’re posting about in the title of the Lemmy post, sometimes to the point where the title doesn’t match the article they’re posting, or speaks about the title in just one/two sentences of a long article.

Smoogs,

Just How stupid does one have to be to think all their woes exist with only one generation? There are far bigger monsters alive today in current younger generations (many in millennial) that are far more destructive to our lives and the earth. They’ve seen more $$$ than any boomer and will laugh at you while you live out of a garbage can.

And you’d still probably be posting stupid memes like this acting completely oblivious to the burning hell around you.

havokdj,

Click on the site so that your dumbass can see there is a clock for literally every generarion up until the Greatest

Otkaz,

They don’t vote. Boomers always vote.

TheWoozy,

So stop whining and vote! Remember: You will ALWAYS be voting for the lesser of two evils.

CosmicCleric,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

You will ALWAYS be voting for the lesser of two evils.

Unless you run for office yourself.

Zoboomafoo, (edited )

Then you’ll be the one getting called the lesser of two evils

CosmicCleric, (edited )
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

Then you’ll be the one getting called the leader of two evils

It’s the violence inherited in the system. (And yes, that’s a Gen-X timeframe related quote (in a deep meta ironic sort of way)).

AKA, what goes around, comes around.

But still, it’s worth doing. Better to solve your own problems, versus waiting for somebody else to solve them for you.

Rivalarrival,

Why settle for a lesser evil?

CthulhuForAmerica.com

PlainSimpleGarak,

Or write in someone you believe would actually be good at the job. Then you don’t have to vote for someone you believe to be unqualified.

Zink,

…as long as choice #3 isn’t apocalyptically bad, right?

Right?

PlainSimpleGarak,

Well if you write in someone who is “apocalyptically bad” that one is definitely on you.

Zink,

Choice 1: third party you prefer Choice 2: mainstream party you prefer Choice 3: mainstream party you don’t prefer that gives off apocalyptic vibes

This is what I was trying to describe. It’s the same old US third party voting trap as always.

CosmicCleric, (edited )
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

…as long as choice #3 isn’t apocalyptically bad, right?

Right?

That’s only true if everyone believes that, a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Would really be fantastic to see just once, one time, everyone interconnects on social media and agrees to vote on a third party, as an experiment if nothing else, to finally prove/disprove that theory.

Funny enough these newer generations have this communicative interconnectivity of the Internet available to them, that previous generations didn’t have, but they don’t seem to use it, instead they just share mene pics/vids, etc.

Could you imagine the political earthquake though if a third party actually won? Would be glorious to see.

Zink,

The problem there isn’t that we (assuming the US) don’t want third parties, it’s that our voting system encourages party consolidation rather than cooperation. That only gets more true the higher in the government you go.

CosmicCleric, (edited )
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

The problem there isn’t that we (assuming the US) don’t want third parties,

That’s not true. People don’t vote for third party because of the self-fulfilling prophecy, but it doesn’t mean they don’t want it. They also want ranked-choice voting.

I would advocate to put that self-fulfilling prophecy to the test, even if just as an experiment one time.

Zink,

I think you’re agreeing with me there. People want other choices, but they get ignored because they have no chance of winning.

It would be great if we couple coordinate and just try it one year, but change needs to be able to happen gradually too. Our system in practice actively punishes third party voting by your vote benefiting the major party you DON’T want.

I bet people would want ranked choice or similar if given the option. I think the establishment really doesn’t like that idea and actively works against it, though.

CosmicCleric, (edited )
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

I think you’re agreeing with me there

Fair enough, yep, sorry for the confusion.

I just wanted to be explicit and generally push back against the notion that Americans don’t want other choices to vote for, especially in this election cycle.

Misconduct,

Ok boomer

Smoogs,

K incel.

Misconduct,

Incel? Oh no! My husband is going to be devastated by this news

Smoogs,

K.

AtmaJnana, (edited )

OK, person I just blocked.

Etterra,

We need a cross-garriso comparison of voting Republicans and use that countdown too.

Ookami38,

I love how many people are going on about how one generation isn’t the cause of all our problems. I agree. Neither the post nor the website say anything good nor bad about any generation, just that it’s -mildly interesting- that boomers just hit 1/3 dead.

CosmicCleric,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

mildly interesting- that boomers just hit 1/3 dead.

I do wonder about the accuracy of that though. It’s not like the website owner went through every death certificate ASAIK.

stoly, (edited )

That’s how statistics work. You take a sample and abstract it to the population. If you required every one to be checked, then no numbers of any sort would be made up because that’s too much work.

CosmicCleric,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

That’s how statistics work. You take a sample and abstract it to the population. If you required every one to be checked, then no numbers of any sort would be made up because that’s too much work.

Yeah sure, I’m aware of how statistics work. I’m just not confident that they are interpreting the statistics correctly.

TheWoozy,

No other arbitrary age cohort has been so unjustly hated in American history

Rivalarrival,

Ok, boomer.

AtmaJnana,

OK, person I just blocked.

Rivalarrival,

Salty boomer.

Zink,

It is a very boomer thing to proudly announce when you block somebody, isn’t it?

mnemonicmonkeys,

Ok boomer. I hope being petty makes you feel better.

AtmaJnana, (edited )

Not a boomer, but thanks for letting me know you are also a hateful bigot. Went ahead and blocked you too.

dumpsterlid, (edited )

No other age cohort has been responsible for caring for the earth for the time they were adults and done such a horrific job. In the US, the cherry on top is also that this generation kicked everything their parents generation fought for into the dirt, including most of the social safety net, because of a bunch of dumb conservative rhetoric.

I think it is pretty fair as far as generalizations go, though of course it is a generalization. Boomers get all defensive with the “but you shouldn’t just blame a whole generation!” even though blaming millennials seems to be a major policy point for a lot of boomers… but they just don’t get it. The boomer generation will be remembered for literally thousands of years for being the generation that was adults in power when climate change was pushed into an unstoppable momentum, biodiversity catastrophically crashed, and the priceless gift of earth that has been handed down to every generation was dealt a massive amount of damage that will reverberate for again, literally thousands of years at the minimum.

Boomers think I am attacking them in an us vs. them mentality, it is unfortunately so much bigger than a petty fight between generations though. Boomers aren’t just another generation that will be largely forgotten a century or two from now, and it is a massive understatement to say the time they were stewards of the earth will not be remembered kindly by future generations.

CosmicCleric, (edited )
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

It must be weird judging a whole generation based only on what you know from learning about via social media.

dumpsterlid, (edited )

Wait, why do you consider learning about things initially through social media a bad thing?

Sure there is a ton of nonsense and outright lies out there, but social media is also unarguably a massive source of education for people on a dizzying array of topics. Look at how silly but genuine ADHD tiktok or instagram accounts have massively raised awareness about ADHD for the better as only one example. Look at /r/ADHD as a huge source of good information and discussion for people with ADHD as another. The existence of social media has irrevocably raised the voices of the oppressed in a way TV and newspapers aren’t really interested in doing except for the odd anomaly that gets through the filter of the rich.

sigh whatever…

CosmicCleric, (edited )
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

Wait, why do you consider learning about things initially through social media a bad thing?

Sure there is a ton of nonsense and outright lies out there

You answered your own question.

For the record, I’m distinguishing between “Social Media” and “the Internet”. The former is for entertainment, and the latter is for learning/knowledge.

stoly,

This is precisely the thing I’ve noticed recently. You make a statement like yours and suddenly people start crying about not generalizing or how there’s really no such thing as generations and whatever other nonsense. Frankly, I don’t think that too many people over the age of 50 are on Lemmy yet so I think that there are some people who just want to be contrary taking the chance to.

CosmicCleric,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

No other arbitrary age cohort has been so unjustly hated in American history

You talking about Boomers, or Gen-Xers?

stoly,

Millenials would chime in on some hate I think.

just_change_it,

The young hate the old for having more than them.

The old hate the young for having more time left.

Gabu,

No, Boomers are hated for putting our civilization on the path to collapse.

Yoz,

Who the fuck put keeanu in there?

phorq,

He didn’t leave the matrix yet?

RampantParanoia2365,

Someone who can’t count. Meaning this list is completely useless.

Ensign_Crab,

Keanu is eternal.

Kiosade,

Just checked, wow he’s technically a Boomer! Born in 1964, so just made it.

CosmicCleric,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

Just checked, wow he’s technically a Boomer! Born in 1964, so just made it.

The identifier should be started at the age you entered society, and not the age you came out of your mother’s womb.

SparrowRanjitScaur,

You can infer the age you entered society from the age you left the womb.

CosmicCleric,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

You can infer the age you entered society from the age you left the womb.

That doesn’t work. Technically I’m a Boomer, but I act and think completely like a Gen-Xer.

In fact growing up I used to give Boomers crap myself, until I got more wise. They acted completely different from me, based on the times they grew up in.

Kiosade,

I didn’t come up with the age range, but it’s been well established for a while now. Someone else told me about “Generation Jones”, which is basically just the younger half of the Boomer generation I guess. I feel like that’s splitting hairs, but who knows, maybe it makes some sort of sense to you?

Plopp,

No, as long as he stays below 50 he’ll be fine.

Cicraft,

Yeah, but he’s not dead yet like the picture implies

sxan,
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

Neither is Madonna. Those aren’t pictures of dead boomers, just famous ones.

RampantParanoia2365,

That’s…not even close to a Boomer. WW2 ended 20 years earlier lol.

Kiosade,

I don’t understand, are you confused at the age range for Boomers? It literally says it in the image…

RampantParanoia2365,

Yes. Didn’t notice those dates. Still makes no sense if you take the name literally though…

CosmicCleric,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

Yes. Didn’t notice those dates. Still makes no sense if you take the name literally though…

You’re wrong chronologically, but you’re right based on how those labels are used to judge people’s social values.

RampantParanoia2365,

So it takes 20 years for a sexed up WW2 vet to hop in the sack after returning from the war?

CosmicCleric,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

So it takes 20 years for a sexed up WW2 vet to hop in the sack after returning from the war?

Fuck if I know, that’s not what I’m speaking about.

You don’t pop out of your mother’s womb already programmed to have an understanding of the socieity that you live in. You learn as you go from external sources (parents, family, society) and you act a certain way at each milestone of your life (child, young teenager, older teenager, young adult, adult, middle aged, senior).

When we all judge someone by applying a generation label its done based on how they act/opine, and not the chronological date that they entered the World. There’s a lag/delay from when a person starts to exist on this Earth to the time they form a personality and express said personality.

CosmicCleric, (edited )
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

I don’t understand, are you confused at the age range for Boomers? It literally says it in the image…

I get where they’re coming from.

The starting point is normally defined at the time you came out of your mother’s womb, but it really shouldn’t be.

It should be started at the point where you first enter society as a child, and start learning your generation’s societal values.

Basically, when you started kindergarten, or Elementary School.

Kiosade,

They did that for Gen Z, where it’s essentially the dividing line between people who were more or less cognizant when 9/11 happened, and those who weren’t.

Chev,

Is this like a timer for when we can start fighting climate change?

TheWoozy,

Boomers started fighting climate change decades ago. (see Al Gore)

MataVatnik,
@MataVatnik@lemmy.world avatar

We got plenty of idiots in our generation too. We’re not off the hook

pinkdrunkenelephants,

Why the fuck are you waiting on your opponents to die when it’ll be too late? Just do what you want and then fight or kill them if they try to stop you.

Blackmist,

No, because it was never about the boomers.

GiddyGap,

Many boomers aren’t helping, though. Especially the ones in the US.

FeelzGoodMan420,

Nah. Gen X are basically boomers so gotta wait that one out too.

TheWoozy,

Boomers were hated by their elders for being too liberal and hated by their youngers for being to conservative.

stoly,

It turns out that the media jumped all over things like Hippies and anti-war protests. In reality, the average person was just as conservative then as they were 10 - 20 years ago.

randon31415,

You have 4 people, 3 liberals and 1 conservative, graduating from high school at 18, 75% are liberal. When they are in their late 30s, one of the liberals dies, so 66% are liberals. Then at age 50 another liberal dies, so the group is 50% liberal. One year after retirement (65) the last liberal dies and now the entire cohort is conservative. Without looking at the size of the population, one would think that the group of 4 slowly became more conservative over time.

Death, not persuasion, causes the political leaning of the population to shift as they get older. It is the very concerns of those that are liberal which also lead to their earlier deaths. If you are less likely to die from something that can be fixed with politics, you are more likely to be conservative and not want to rock the boat.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

They got more conservative as they got older. All those hippie kids who protested Vietnam and experimented with drugs and sex ended up voting for Reagan.

stoly,

Most didn’t actually do these things, most just graduated high school, pooped out some children, and got a job.

Sirico,

Are you saying they took what they wanted, then pulled the ladder up after them?

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

It sure seems like they feel that way about social security.

CosmicCleric,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

It sure seems like they feel that way about social security.

We paid into it, we should be able to get the benefits from it, just like any other American in any other generation.

CosmicCleric,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

All those hippie kids who protested Vietnam and experimented with drugs and sex ended up voting for Reagan.

No, we didn’t. Also, inflation and Iranian hostage situation.

GiantRobotTRex,

People seem to have this view that everyone in the '60s was a hippie but that’s just not true. Time Magazine put the number around 300,000. In a country of 200 million, that’s only 0.15% of the population. They were a counterculture not mainstream culture. The vast majority of kids did not become hippies, and many actively hated the hippies.

CosmicCleric,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

People seem to have this view that everyone in the '60s was a hippie but that’s just not true.

'60s, maybe not, but 70s? There was a lot more of them then.

But yeah, not everyone was.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

A hell of a lot more than 300,000 people experimented with drugs and protested Vietnam.

CosmicCleric,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

A hell of a lot more than 300,000 people experimented with drugs and protested Vietnam.

True, but not all of them were hippies.

A lot of regular people, especially the younger generation, were doing drugs and protesting Vietnam.

Those two things are not what makes a hippie a hippie. It’s their life view that does.

Subverb,

I’m a Boomer. Born in 1964. I’ve gotten a lot more liberal as I’ve gotten older. Went from Libertarian to Bernie supporter.

Don’t write us all off.

Hossenfeffer,
@Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk avatar

Boomers were hated by their elders for being too liberal and hated by their youngers for being to conservative.

Boomers People were hated by their elders for being too liberal and hated by their youngers for being to conservative. Since, like, forever.

Fixed this for you.

Sorgan71,

not true, this only started being the case in the early 2000s

Hossenfeffer, (edited )
@Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk avatar

Uh huh. Here’s some historical views of the ‘yoot’.

“[Young people] are high-minded because they have not yet been humbled by life, nor have they experienced the force of circumstances… They think they know everything, and are always quite sure about it.” Rhetoric, Aristotle - 4th Century BC

“The beardless youth… does not foresee what is useful, squandering his money.” Horace - 1st Century BC

Our sires’ age was worse than our grandsires’. We, their sons, are more worthless than they; so in our turn we shall give the world a progeny yet more corrupt. Book III of Odes, Horace - circa 20 BC

In all things I yearn for the past. Modern fashions seem to keep on growing more and more debased. I find that even among the splendid pieces of furniture built by our master cabinetmakers, those in the old forms are the most pleasing. And as for writing letters, surviving scraps from the past reveal how superb the phrasing used to be. The ordinary spoken language has also steadily coarsened. People used to say “raise the carriage shafts” or “trim the lamp wick,” but people today say “raise it” or “trim it.” When they should say, “Let the men of the palace staff stand forth!” they say, “Torches! Let’s have some light!” Instead of calling the place where the lectures on the Sutra of the Golden Light are delivered before the emperor “the Hall of the Imperial Lecture,” they shorten it to “the Lecture Hall,” a deplorable corruption, an old gentleman complained. Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness), Yoshida Kenkō - 1330 - 1332

Youth were never more sawcie, yea never more savagely saucie . . . the ancient are scorned, the honourable are contemned, the magistrate is not dreaded. The Wise-Man’s Forecast against the Evill Time, Thomas Barnes - 1624

… I find by sad Experience how the Towns and Streets are filled with lewd wicked Children, and many Children as they have played about the Streets have been heard to curse and swear and call one another Nick-names, and it would grieve ones Heart to hear what bawdy and filthy Communications proceeds from the Mouths of such… A Little Book for Children and Youth, Robert Russel - 1695

“Whither are the manly vigour and athletic appearance of our forefathers flown? Can these be their legitimate heirs? Surely, no; a race of effeminate, self-admiring, emaciated fribbles can never have descended in a direct line from the heroes of Potiers and Agincourt…” Letter in Town and Country magazine republished in Paris Fashion: A Cultural History - 1771

The total neglect of this art [speaking] has been productive of the worst consequences…in the conduct of all affairs ecclesiastical and civil, in church, in parliament, courts of justice…the wretched state of elocution is apparent to persons of any discernment and taste… if something is not done to stop this growing evil …English is likely to become a mere jargon, which every one may pronounce as he pleases. A General Dictionary of the English Language, Thomas Sheridan - 1780

The free access which many young people have to romances, novels, and plays has poisoned the mind and corrupted the morals of many a promising youth; and prevented others from improving their minds in useful knowledge. Parents take care to feed their children with wholesome diet; and yet how unconcerned about the provision for the mind, whether they are furnished with salutary food, or with trash, chaff, or poison? Memoirs of the Bloomsgrove Family, Reverend Enos Hitchcock - 1790

We remarked with pain that the indecent foreign dance called the Waltz was introduced (we believe for the first time) at the English court on Friday last … it is quite sufficient to cast one’s eyes on the voluptuous intertwining of the limbs and close compressor on the bodies in their dance, to see that it is indeed far removed from the modest reserve which has hitherto been considered distinctive of English females. So long as this obscene display was confined to prostitutes and adulteresses, we did not think it deserving of notice; but now that it is attempted to be forced on the respectable classes of society by the civil examples of their superiors, we feel it a duty to warn every parent against exposing his daughter to so fatal a contagion. The Times of London - Summer, 1816

…a fearful multitude of untutored savages… [boys] with dogs at their heels and other evidence of dissolute habits…[girls who] drive coal-carts, ride astride upon horses, drink, swear, fight, smoke, whistle, and care for nobody…the morals of children are tenfold worse than formerly. Anthony Ashley Cooper, the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, Speech to the House of Commons - February 28, 1843

… see the simpering little beau of ten gallanting home the little coquette of eight, each so full of self-conceit and admiration of their own dear self, as to have but little to spare for any one else… and confess that the sight is both ridiculous and distressing… the sweet simplicity and artlessness of childhood, which renders a true child so interesting, are gone (like the bloom of the peach rudely nipped off) never to return. “Children And Children’s Parties”, published in The Mothers’ Journal and Family Visitant, S.B.S. - 1853

Household luxuries, school-room steam-press systems, and, above all, the mad spirit of the times, have not come to us without a loss more than proportionate…[a young man] rushes headlong, with an impetuosity which strikes fire from the sharp flints under his tread…Occasionally, one of this class…amasses an estate, but at the expense of his peace, and often of his health. The lunatic asylum or the premature grave too frequently winds up his career…We expect each succeeding generation will grow “beautifully less.” “Degeneracy of Stature”, The National Era, Thrace Talmon - December 18, 1856

A pernicious excitement to learn and play chess has spread all over the country, and numerous clubs for practicing this game have been formed in cities and villages…chess is a mere amusement of a very inferior character, which robs the mind of valuable time that might be devoted to nobler acquirements, while it affords no benefit whatever to the body. Chess has acquired a high reputation as being a means to discipline the mind, but persons engaged in sedentary occupations should never practice this cheerless game; they require out-door exercises–not this sort of mental gladiatorship. Scientific American - July, 1858

Fedizen,

Old rich people complaining about young people is a tale as old as time.

A detailed rebuttle made entirely of quotes is my favorite to read. Thank ye.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

My mother is pre-Boomer (born soon after the U.S. entered the war) and has been incredibly progressive her entire life. She has never voted for a Republican. She marched for civil rights. She wanted me to know that women and men are equal and that color and religion and ethnicity should not make you dislike someone. She taught me about sex (appropriately) when I asked about it at 3 or 4 years old rather than shielding me from it. My brother and I both have (had in my case, but that’s another story) gay best friends who were also best man at both of our weddings. She always welcomed them even though my brother and his friend became friends in the mid-1980s. I remember asking my mother what she would do if I was gay and she said she would love me no matter what I was. I don’t specifically know her politics, but my dad, born even earlier (1931) was mostly the same way. He definitely had his prejudices- although he would deny it- and he was a lot more sexist than he thought he was, but he was also an outspoken socialist until the dementia got too bad for him to be outspoken about it. One of the last things I was able to tell him before he was too far gone to understand was that Bernie was running for president.

I have certainly had a lot of issues with Boomers and people older than them, but it is far from universal, but I am really proud of my parents for always being progressive.

CosmicCleric,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

I am really proud of my parents for always being progressive.

I hate the burst your bubble, but they weren’t being progressive, they were being 80’s liberals. Today’s progressives are a different thing.

(BTW, your comment was a good read.)

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Again, my father was a socialist. He wrote a his dissertation on Shaw and the socialist aspects of one of his plays. He was British and said he was never more proud of his homeland then when he helped it usher in the National Health Service with his vote. When I moved here to Terre Haute, Indiana, he made sure to get me to take him to the Eugene V. Debs museum because of how much he admired debs. How does that make him an 80s liberal? Do please explain.

CosmicCleric, (edited )
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

Again, my father was a socialist. He wrote a his dissertation on Shaw and the socialist aspects of one of his plays. He was British and said he was never more proud of his homeland then when he helped it usher in the National Health Service with his vote. When I moved here to Terre Haute, Indiana, he made sure to get me to take him to the Eugene V. Debs museum because of how much he admired debs. How does that make him an 80s liberal? Do please explain.

I was speaking of the word used as an identifier/label, ‘progressive’, vs ‘liberal’, and not the content of what was being said, at all. No disrespect was meant towards the comment, just a tongue-and-cheeck attempt at discussing the labels. As I mentioned before, concerning the content of your comment …

(BTW, your comment was a good read.)

When it comes to my comment discussing labels, today’s ‘liberal’ is considered a ‘centrist’ by today’s younger generations (which pisses me off to no end, but that’s another discussion for another time), and what they think of as liberal they call progressive, hence my comment.

And for the record (not trying to measure dicks here, but only because you quoted your dads history) I’m a Gen-Xer who was born/raised in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles in the 70’s/80’s, a perverbial “Valley Dude”, and lived ‘in the capital of Liberalism’ the vast majority of my life. Liberalism of that day is not what Progressivism is today. I feel that I could be considered a ‘subject expert’ in a court case when it came to Liberals and Liberalism of that time.

Wogi,

I’m what world is this kind of pedantry useful?

CosmicCleric,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

I’m what world is this kind of pedantry useful?

In what world is this kind of verbal policing useful?

No need to be hostile.

Concerning your question, at the very least, my world. But I suspect most people can recognize a conversation comment about how different generations see things and identify them, for its own sake. You know, Lemmy is about conversations about subjects.

havokdj,

Keanu reeves is so close to and so engrained in gen x culture that I think it’s unfair to label him a boomer

SuddenDownpour,

Honorary Xner

soggy_kitty, (edited )

Popular comments like this remind me how mature the user base is here. Such a contrast to other social media

dipshit,

Gentle reminder that the whole generations thing is made up.

But true that many of these folks and older hold high positions of power, which is probably the cause for the clock.

rwhitisissle,

Crazy that you’re the only person I’ve found in the thread that realizes this. Generational theory largely accepts that the concept of monolithic generations is reductive. Yes, people born in and around the same time can have shared cultural experiences, but the idea that those are what purely shape you ideologically or that you behave as a component of a monolith are ludicrous. And then there’s subgenerations, microgenerations, etc. Just look at the sociological research of Karl Mannheim for a very complex discussion on the topic.

StereoTrespasser,

Them’s a whole bunch of fancy words for saying “don’t generalize.”

rwhitisissle, (edited )

Generalizing is fine and a useful tool in certain situations. In others, it’s not, and can in fact be very harmful. It’s also sometimes good to explain why you support one versus the other in a particular scenario. Y’know…because that’s how conversations work.

INHALE_VEGETABLES,

I found two more! Get em, boys.

BoastfulDaedra,

Thanks Lemmy. I just had to wiki to double-verify that Keanu Reeves is not dead.

Thank God.

daltotron,

So, basically the whole reason everyone hates boomers is just because of ronald reagan, right? Like, that’s pretty much it? That seems like it would be the common denominator. Which is weird, because, while the older portion of that generation seems to have a maybe majority which voted for reagan, the last 2 years of that generation wasn’t even allowed to vote in the first reagen election. The younger voters voted for carter, the middle of the generation was split, and then the older portion of the generation, which seems to make up a larger portion of the voters in said generation, voted for reagan, pretty standard stuff. The real weird thing is in the next election, where basically every age range voted for his re-election, which is strange and something I don’t really understand. It even had a higher percentage of young voters, compared to the previous election. Did everyone just hate mondale or what’s up with that?

Which is all to say, I dunno. As a zoomer, I’m kind of just waiting until all the millenials die, because they’re now getting up into their 30’s, and I want to stop hearing about radiohead and all these dumbass musical artists. and hearing all these napoleon dynamite references, and I think superbad references, wouldn’t know haven’t seen it. I dunno, me? I hate the millennials for uhhhh. microplastics. and mark zuckerberg. and also Ipad parenting. and uhhhhhhh. ooh, I have a good one. I hate millennials for blaming everyone in an age cohort for the faults of a system which we know to be very centralized in it’s power, when in reality they should just be blaming that system and the environments that cultivated those attitudes, and they should realistically just be blaming all of the things they mean to actually blame instead of just blaming a bunch of random old people. That’s what I hate specifically millennials as an age cohort for. That seems like an incredibly specific thing, and not something that you could maybe blow up to be a general human tendency, yup, that seems fair.

Hating on old people is some boomer shit bro, what do you think is gonna happen in 20 years when you’re all 50 year old freaks, and I’m probably dead?

stoly, (edited )

Ronald Reagan campaigned, like Trump, on hate and discrimination. Reagan SWEPT the electoral college on his first election and was voted in by every Boomer and every surviving member of the Golden and Silent generations. Reagan destroyed this country and we’ve never recovered from it.

In the end, Reagan was just the sign of bigger problems going on, and is a very good exemplar for that time period.

Also, the whole “I’m Gen Z and hate Millenial stuff” sounds as fake as you can possibly get.

daltotron,

Also, the whole “I’m Gen Z and hate Millennial stuff” sounds as fake as you can possibly get.

that’s cause it was. I am a zoomer, but I just think millennials hating all the boomers just sounds like a bunch of people who hate their parents or grandparents or whatever. I don’t actually give a shit about millennials. I do hate the constant pop culture references to a cultural collective which I was doomed to not be a part of, as I had been born after it had almost finished dissolving, but that’s mostly just an annoying thing, and I don’t really attribute that specifically to millennials but kind of a broader cultural fuckery.

I’m bitter because I’m a child of the 2010’s and that decade was fucking rough for like, shit that was good. I was in my first year of middle school when fnaf came out. The transformers movies and twilight franchise were formative media for me, and not like, things that I was invested in as a youth culture. Which is maybe what I think was happening for millennials, I don’t really know, that might be kind of an inbetween era of media, too young for millenials, too old for zoomers. The millennials had pokemon and digimon, I had like, sillybandz and those weird bracelets that everyone was like, this shit is a holographic bracelet that makes you stronger and even at the age of 10 or whatever I was like that shit is fake as fuck man.

I was just trying to make a point about how, eventually, we will all be old. Well, most of us, and by most of us I mean some of us, I dunno if like half of gen alpha is gonna make it to old age, at the rate we’re headed.

Also side note but like, millennials were right at the very tail age range of reagan, right? so it’s just sort of like, he was the president when all the millennials were just like toddlers and babies, basically. So I doubly kind of don’t understand the hate, right, in terms of like. I get it historically, he was a bad president, dissolved all the mental asylums which everyone knows they sucked but then he didn’t replace it with anything, dissolved all the social programs and whatever, and then you look at the police recruitment before and after him and it sucks omega hard yadda yadda. But that’s all like, stuff that happened for millennials as very young kids. did the 90’s and early 2000’s suck that much, for all the millennials?

Because I’m assuming that this is kind of like firsthand motivation for everyone, and not just purely historical bitterness, since I see historical bitterness as kind of more disconnected, and dispassionate, capable of like, step back analysis, which maybe pins the blame on reagan as more of like, he was the slammer in pogs. like in pogs how you have the slammer that slams the pogs and then they flip. that’s a millennial thing, right? I dunno, I just don’t understand it. It’s sort of like. I dunno, hating ronald mcdonald reagan and then kind of by extension the boomers is sort of like hating the wind, or something. I understand being bitter about it since all the job prospects are gone and everyone’s just working minimum wage garbage labor and nobody has any long term future plans and rent prices are horrible and where I live at least all my friends can deal with that by legal weed, but it’s sort of like, I dunno, blaming that on some old freaks is just sort of the same to me as blaming it on like. the old freaks that preceded them. blaming it on grug for inventing fire, which certainly, a lot of people will do.

stoly, (edited )

I think you misinterpret. Everyone has always hated the boomers. The Silent and Golden generations called them the “Me Generation” because they were thought to be horrifically selfish people. Gen Xers (I’m transitional between Gen X and Millenial) had to suffer their intolerance and lack of awareness that the world had changed since they were in high school. My own parents worked part time at Sears making minimum wage and were able to afford an apartment with roommates and all of their college tuition and expenses. The very week I graduated high school, my parents demandeed that I pay rent, even though they had literally done nothing to help me prepare for anything more than just a minimum wage job in the suburbs–that’s the sort of people they were–they really believed that nothing had changed since 1975. Then Baby Boomers began to constantly insult and demean Millenials–for not having cars and houses, fewer children, and obviously avocado toast somehow without understanding that Boomers are the cause of all of this.

So yes, you’re a Zoomer and are lucky that Boomers for you will always be grandparent types. The rest of us suffered their generational narcissism.

In regards to your comment on aging, I fully agree. You can age without getting old. Being old is a mindset more than anything.

daltotron,

I always thought that like every generation since we invented generations was labelled the “Me Generation”, except for Gen Xers, because nobody really even bothered to ever even name them, which is something I kind of find more interesting than the whole boomer-millennial hate boner, but nobody’s ever willing to talk about. but also

So yes, you’re a Zoomer and are lucky that Boomers for you will always be grandparent types. The rest of us suffered their generational narcissism.

I mean I have grandparents that were extremely shitty to my parents, you know, you can see how that has damaged a person, as their kid, but I also have another set of grandparents that are kind of chill and are. you know, I mean, they’re old still, grandpa’s maybe a little too proud that he’s not racist, but then I kind of get that, when like everyone his age is also pretty extremely racist. Actually I just talked myself kind of into hating old people again because a shit ton of them are super omega racist, even relative to like the normal liberal baseline, which is a really low bar to have somehow passed underneath. it’s like if you beat a game of limbo by flying to austrailia.

stoly,

When I graduated high school, one of the promises I made to myself is that I wouldn’t let myself get out of touch with reality. Working at a large university leading teams of undergrads has really helped me to hold on to that goal.

As I mentioned before, you can age without getting old. That, for me, is the goal. I have brothers who are literally millenials (like right on the edge of 1980) and can’t stop complaining about millenials and becomes offended if you point out that he is one. This same brother wouldn’t watch cartoons as a 10 year old because, according to him, cartoons are for children. He was born old and lacks the ability to see that he’s making the same complaints that people made about him.

INHALE_VEGETABLES,

tips hat

As a millennial I’m waiting for a lot of millenials to die as well.

boomzilla,

Hey maybe a bit close minded view there? I’m a millenial and I cheer for gen z (extinction rebellion, FFF) all the time. You have all the right to hate those who don’t see the multitude of extreme problems they left for you. I’m antinatalist, vegan and try to reduce, reuse, recycle. Degrowth all the way. Use my bike where I can. My car is barely moving now and I need to get rid of it. I listen to a lot of music from gen z artists. Since I’ve gone vegan my whole body is energized to the max and I’ll fight the cleptocracy on social networks where I can. I detest Zucks recent endeavours as a bull fharmer. Hang in there. We got your backs.

daltotron,

I wasn’t really directing anything at you, I was just sort of like, hating the world and shit, and specifically hating that subset of people that hate the boomers for boomering, because I see it as kind of just like. whining and bitching, kind of. like an unproductive thing. and then on social media, it tends to turn from potentially being like a therapeutic thing, right, where everyone is able to vent about how much things suck, and maybe come to a conclusion collectively about how to change it. and it changes from that into a kind of combination of a toxic echo chamber, where things get ramped up and everyone’s attention gets captured and directed towards some absolute nonsense, and also simultaneously you get some blowhard boomer who comes in and is like “what you say fuck me for fuck you guys” and then it turns into a pissing match where everyone tries to roast each other. I dunno I should probably not be posting when I’m hypercaffinated because it just ends up being me venting paragraphs at nobody in particular and doing the same shit I’m bitching at other people for doing.

I’m also like, shit man, I’m not sure you should have my generation’s backs. they’re just a bunch of dudes, I dunno. I’ve seen less victims of lead poisoning and horrible corporate propaganda for sure, compared to old people, they are more willing to be like. real and not horrible irony poisoned goblins, ironically. but I’ve also just seen a lot of chumps who are into like, basically white supremacist memes. I dunno the actual split on that though, it’s kind of hard to tell, I have some paragraph about that I could chunk up again for you.

It’s also fucking weird how I’m legally capable of drinking alcohol, right, but then some of my generation is apparently in like elementary school watching skibidi toilet and getting fucked up because the internet sucks now but the internet is also basically their parents since their parents are probably both at work full time and teachers are not on top of it. I’m like, those are just the kids bro, that’s gen alpha, “the culture” that doesn’t exist anymore is also just moving too fast for anyone to keep up with, the changes are too rapid, and you can’t really keep track of them with generational cohorts anymore, shit doesn’t work.

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