# Fuck the Baby Boomers **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 16, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212 "2011-07-16T03:00:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212/81 "2011-07-16T19:29:02Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > We gave you rock 'n roll Which only got good when it began to steal from jazz, which got good beginning when you lot were just barely in diapers. > [@](#): > > the Summer of Love Oh, you mean that corporate knock-off of what happened in Paris after the Great War? > [@](#): > > weed Alice B. Toklas would like to have words with you. Now, run along and study the Lost Generation. I don’t expect you’ve heard of it, graduating from one of those riot-prone pot houses as you did. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212/82 "2011-07-16T19:29:43Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Probably it didn’t. You know who did, though? The Viet Cong? ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212/83 "2011-07-16T19:29:49Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > Uh, no. The Boomer definition came from the [baby boom](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boomer) that happened after the second war was over. > > Kids were better educated back then too… Isn’t that what he said? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212/84 "2011-07-16T19:35:26Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Probably it didn’t. You know who did, though? The Viet Nam vets against the war. > > I remember when I first really noticed, we were just doing the thing, marching. Spotted a guy by the side, up ahead of me, fat, bald, belligerent, screaming at us that we were all a bunch of cowards. And then he saw the guy marching in front of me, wearing his campaign hat and the Purple Heart pinning his empty right sleeve to his shirt. Screaming guy opened his mouth to scream again, and then spotted the vet. And it was like he had been punched, his mouth stayed open and he just stared. > > I didn’t talk to the vet, didn’t know what to say, was still very uncomfortable as a military brat with my “disloyalty”. But he showed me the way. My participation was a mere firecracker, puny, insignificant. His was a bomb. > > Wherever you are, thank you for your service. I’ll never forget you. I know this is a stupid nitpick, but it’s Vietnam, not Viet Nam. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212/85 "2011-07-16T19:36:39Z")
If anyone sees a need to fix the birth-year range here, the most serious (as these things go) effort to date I’ve encountered is that of [Strauss and Howe:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss-Howe_generational_theory) GI Generation (Hero): 1901-1924 Silent Generation (Artist): 1925-1942 Boom Generation (Prophet): 1943-1960 13th Generation (Nomad): 1961-1981 Millennial Generation (Hero): 1982-2004 Homeland Generation (Artist): 2005-? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212/86 "2011-07-16T19:39:10Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Which only got good when it began to steal from jazz . . . . . . Somehow I’m not spotting the influences here. ---
**Author:** ![jlzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@jlzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlzania)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212/87 "2011-07-16T19:40:23Z")
> [@](#): > > **Justin Bailey** I’d love to work together, but I believe the boomers have poisoned the well. I’m awfully sorry you feel this way because I believe that divided, we will never be effective.. I did a lot of work at the Crawford Peace House from 2005-2006. Sad to say, I saw far more of us creaky old people giving up their time and money to actively protest the Iraq war than I did people in their twenties. Just saying. > [@](#): > > \*\* Captain Amazing \*\* I don’t want to condemn an entire generation, because you can’t do that, but I have noticed a kind of smugness in my parent’s generation; a kind of self-righteousness, almost; a “we marched in the streets for our rights and what are you doing?” sort of thing, along with what seems to be a definite level of moral certainty and an increased, I don’t know, self-centeredness? You’re right- we boomers can be smug self-absorbed assholes. As can members of any other generation including yours. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Conqueror\_Worm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@The\_Conqueror\_Worm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Conqueror_Worm)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212/88 "2011-07-16T19:43:37Z")
The more things change, the more they stay the same. _smirks and moves on_ ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212/89 "2011-07-16T19:44:48Z")
> [@jlzania](#): > > I did a lot of work at the Crawford Peace House from 2005-2006. Sad to say, I saw far more of us creaky old people giving up their time and money to actively protest the Iraq war than I did people in their twenties. Appropriate, since you’re the ones who started it. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212/90 "2011-07-16T20:17:51Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > Uh, no. The Boomer definition came from the [baby boom](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boomer) that happened after the second war was over. > > Kids were better educated back then too… Oh WHEW! I don’t have to take the death pill just yet, I can continue paying into the gov’t coffers. Apparently I’m not really a boomer, but a “Generation Jones” member. That’s a relief. After all, I’m not smug about Woodstock, or the summer of love, or protesting since I was only about 7 or 8 when they all occurred. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212/91 "2011-07-16T20:26:43Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > The Viet Cong? > [@Miller](#): > > Appropriate, since you’re the ones who started it. Do you have an “ignore” list? May I be on it? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212/92 "2011-07-16T20:29:55Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Do you have an “ignore” list? May I be on it? And miss out on the fun of you regularly embarrassing yourself? Not hardly. ---
**Author:** ![jlzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@jlzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlzania)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212/93 "2011-07-16T20:34:56Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Appropriate, since you’re the ones who started it. I started _nothing_. I actively campaigned against G.W. Bush during the elections-both of them. I protested when SCOTUS put him in the president’s seat. I wrote letters. I signed petitions. I marched and held up signs when many of my fellow citizens considered civil disobedience aiding and abetting the enemy. Being told to fuck off was one of the milder insults I heard. I went to D.C., to Dallas, to Austin and to Crawford to try and make my voice heard. Short of self-immolation on the White House lawn, I did everything I could think of. Right now I don’t have a clue as to how to effect change. If you have any suggestions, I’d like to hear them because I’m stymied and it’s frustrating me. You make it sound as if we boomers inherited a utopia and screwed it 6 ways to Sunday. Trust me, we didn’t. Or don’t trust me but brush up on your history a little. ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212/94 "2011-07-16T20:35:11Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > You ungrateful lazy little snots better hope we don’t die. You’ve got nothing. You have no causes, no commitment, and no vision of a better future. You’re so used to being given everything you have no idea how to do anything. And by the way, we built everything out of shitty materials, it’s all going to fall apart. I hope you can eat that iPad, because your future is pretty bleak. > > Know what, I’m getting out my AARP card. I hope they increase Medicare and Social Security benefits and you get stuck with an even bigger bill. I planned to get out before I got too decrepit to take care of myself, but now I’m changing my living will and I’m authorizing all possible means of extending my life, regardless of the cost. Preach it! No DNR for me. I too want a tube in every orifice keeping my worthless carcass alive courtesy of Medicare until the RAPTURE. Take that OP. You forget something, OP. You’re gonna get old too, (the Devil willing), and I hope the following generation is equally heartless to you. Sometimes I can’t believe the stuff I read here. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheField](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@LilyoftheField](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheField)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212/95 "2011-07-16T20:36:18Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Appropriate, since you’re the ones who started it. Seriously? What, are you 12? But then again, it seems like this whole thread is about the blame game, isn’t it? It’s a proud tradition for humanity. Every generation blames the previous one for the ills of the world. And its been working so well for us because now we have no problems at all! Well…maybe a few. On behalf of the boomer generation, let me apologize to the current generation for not making the world ‘right’ for you. To be fair, it wasn’t exactly ‘right’ when we got it and the wars we fought were visited upon us by the generation that preceded us. My brother served in Vietnam as a kid not yet old enough to vote, so I’m pretty sure he didn’t have anything to do with what ‘started it’. Not that it mattered. Guess what? There’s not a single generation that has ever been born that has not suffered because of events that they didn’t ‘start’. But sure, let’s just waste our time finding someone or some group of someones to blame for everything that’s wrong. Boomers did it too - does ‘don’t trust anyone over thirty’ sound familiar? We tried to ‘fix’ it through sit-ins and protests and demonstrations. Nowadays, you don’t even have to leave your home to make your sentiments known - we have the internet for that! Let’s hope that works better. In the meantime, I’m pretty sure the ‘You started it!’, ‘No, you!’ isn’t going to be an effective way of handling the problems. If your baby is on the floor getting his toes chewed off by rats, you don’t deal with it by saying ‘I didn’t throw the garbage on the floor, why should I have to pick it up?!!’ ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212/96 "2011-07-16T20:36:53Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Now, run along and study the Lost Generation. A tiny fringe group. I got nothing against them, but they were a blip on the radar. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212/97 "2011-07-16T20:42:21Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > Uh, no. The Boomer definition came from the [baby boom](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boomer) that happened after the second war was over. > > Kids were better educated back then too… Um…read the words I wrote. That’s exactly what I said. "Baby Boomers were kids born after the war. Hence the “boom” part of it.’ It was a population boom… or did you think that “boom” meant, like bombs going off and such? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212/98 "2011-07-16T20:44:16Z")
> [@jlzania](#): > > I started _nothing_. I actively campaigned against G.W. Bush elections-both of them. That’s all really super, I’m sure, but if you want your generation, as a fungible unit, to take credit for opposing the Vietnam war, then by that same measure, you have to take the blame for starting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, if you’d rather distance yourself from all this generational bullshit and be judged purely on your own merits, that’s fantastic. I entirely support you in that endeavor. But the impression I’ve been getting from your posts is that you want to defend the concept of the Boomer generation as a legitimate group identifier. And as a group, the achievements of the Baby Boom generation are distinctly underwhelming, to say the least. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212/99 "2011-07-16T20:45:35Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Um…read the words I wrote. That’s exactly what I said. "Baby Boomers were kids born after the war. Hence the “boom” part of it.’ It was a population boom… > > or did you think that “boom” meant, like bombs going off and such? 😛 That’s the way it read to me. There’s is nothing in the phrase “kids born after the war” that indicates it should be considered a “boom”, so it’s natural to think you were referencing the war. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212/100 "2011-07-16T20:49:52Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > That’s all really super, I’m sure, but if you want your generation, as a fungible unit, to take credit for opposing the Vietnam war, then by that same measure, you have to take the blame for starting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. > > Now, if you’d rather distance yourself from all this generational bullshit and be judged purely on your own merits, that’s fantastic. I entirely support you in that endeavor. But the impression I’ve been getting from your posts is that you want to defend the concept of the Boomer generation as a legitimate group identifier. And as a group, the achievements of the Baby Boom generation are distinctly underwhelming, to say the least. Not really. The Iraq war was started by a small cadre of politicians, some of whom were boomers and some of whom were older. The war in Afghanistan was started by pretty much everyone in the country, boomer and non-boomer. Opposition to the Vietnam War was an ethos of the boomer generation\* that I don’t think you can appreciate if you weren’t there. There is no analogy today. \*not all of us, but most. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-baby-boomers/589212.md?page=6)