It all depends on what’s around you. I’m either a late Boomer or a generation-Jones person. I’m a strong Obama supporter and generally a liberal on most issues. My parents are in their late 70s or early 80s. They are also strong Obama supporters. Not all old people are conservatives.
I hope nobody took my posts as broad brush, per se. I suppose what I was curious about was the prevalence of former “hippies” acting paranoid.
My grandmother always thought Jesus was coming back any day, but I don’t recall her ever wanting to move out of the country or demonizing politicians the way my parents do. It seems to mostly be people in their mid-fifties to early sixties.
It’s also the timing. They became like this because of Obama.
I do blame Fox News, which I know my mother watches. As I said, my step-dad loves YouTube documentaries and anything by D’Souza. He was so pissed when I called the guy a nutjob. He’s not used to people not instantly believing all he shares.
I do think some people took your posts as broad brush–namely those who chimed in.
A thread that begins with a couple of atrocity stories, then is followed by a generalization about “those people,” by an ommiscent mind reader, and then everyone piles on-there are only a few classes of “those people” for which that’s acceptable, and one is old people.
This would be a good time to take back and apologize for my comments about the Afghan War and Gitmo. I’m actually filled with hope and gratitude about the political activism of kids these days, and I’m sorry my temper got the better of me. It’s not their fault that “liberal” to them means Barack Obama and to me means Martin Luther King.
Although my parents remained and grew more liberal as they aged, the family’s accumulated baggage weighed heavily at their end, so I do understand and sympathize with your situation. I don’t know how I would have coped with such distress. Probably not well.
I will be 70 in July.
The first time that I can remember hearing the word Boomer, it was in relation to my elementary school class – “baby boomers.” We were born in the middle of WWII, not just after.
I am a liberal, definitely leaning way to the left. My first husband belonged to the American Socialist Party. I’m still politically active, but now it’s mostly through donations, petitions, and letters. I find value in both the scientific and religious communities.
My high school friends are a political mixture. The conservatives are either “Compassionate Conservatives” and not likely to be too far deceived by the Fox, Rush, Rove, Beck, and Co. They don’t respond the hysterical claims about death panels, Muslims, conspiracy theories. Only one of them is a hostile conservative, but he is otherwise intelligent.
The other liberals are kind and peaceful. They speak up when they see a wrong being done to someone. Some were part of the counter-culture movement. I was as close to being a hippie as anyone in the crowd, but even that was limited.
These two groups – and others in the middle – have remained friends for over sixty years.
One thing that most of us laugh at is our fading short-terms memories. That can happen to anyone as they age.
We aren’t all alike. We don’t live in cans with only negative labels. We are deverse.
If we oldsters get on your nerves with our politics at family gatherings that you are hosting, let us know ahead of time that discussions of religion and politics are not going to be part of the conversation because these topics can lead to arguments. But be wise enough to know that some of us forget and most of the forgetfulness is probably not intentional.
They all are very aware of my aversion to these topics. I usually politely ask each gathering if we can avoid the politics and religion.
His mother did it last Christmas. Before the meal started, she clapped her hands once and then announced, “Okay, people, let’s keep it light.”
It’s my step-father, really. He always starts in, no matter how many times I’ve told him. I seriously doubt he forgets each time. Like I said. I was pre-op and he still had to have his sermon. It’s probably just him, in this case.
I’m never said all Boomers are like this. I just wondered if it was happening to other people’s Boomer relatives. Sorry if I offended.
Has it occurred to you that they were idiots before all this started, and possibly racists to boot? And yes, you were painting with a broad brush, as were others who decided to dogpile on those goddamn baby boomers who are responsible for all our ills. My politics haven’t changed at all; I despise the loony fringes of both parties and refuse to watch or read anything that Murdoch owns or produces. I just turned 66 yesterday.
Zoe, you’re not an “official” baby boomer. That designation starts with 1946, when the offspring soldiers (and sailors) returning home from WWII began to be born. Birth rates understandably dropped during the war and returning vets began to make up for lost time!
Nobody is dogpiling. Except for one person, and all the people who found it necessary to respond to that one person, all the posts have been limited to discussions of personal experience.
And no, in my case, my father was never a racist and raised us to respect everyone equally in word and action. If anything he was an anti-stupidist, a position he has sadly recanted to become a virulent anti intellectual. Odd considering he has a Phd. In sociology. Of communal societies.
He used to support many feminist causes, including the ERA back in the day. More recently he has outright said that he would vote for Sarah Palin because he wants to fuck her. W.T.F.
He has been asked many times to avoid politics. Not only does he not avoid politics, he makes sure to open any “discussion” by saying the most annoying and untrue things he can think ( such as calling Obama “your messiah” when none of the liberal contingent has ever been more than lukewarm on Obama)