Upper middle class then. The hippie and activist demographics skewed strongly towards that of college attendance, and a strong predictor of college attendance was whether your father had done so. Obviously, that demographic skewed much more Anglo than the overall population. (See for example these reports from the U.S. Census Bureau.)
You know you guys are killing me, trying to inform us about a time through which we actually lived and, our advanced age notwithstanding, remember well. First it was Derleth’s thumbnail précis of rock and roll history, and now this. Sometimes I don’t believe what I’m reading here.
From what I’ve read about the S.F. scene, at least, was that they resented the hippies’ encroachment into the Fillmore district, which had traditionally been home to many black people.
Dude, c’mon - get serious. You can’t possibly be really whining about ‘snippy comments’ after your own OP! You basically told all boomers to fuck off and die and the sooner the better! And you’re defensive about some ‘snippy comments’? You can’t possibly be that disingenuous.
Who the hell are you talking to anyway? Are you actually encompassing the whole generation (oh, wait - your own parents are excepted, right?) in your condemnation?
Or do your comments only apply to specific boomers i.e. the ones in a position of power? Maybe you need to be more specific, because somehow I’m a boomer who managed to miss out on all this mad crazy power that we have as whole, and I’m starting to feel left out!
You think I’m different from you? Hell, I did the same thing you’re doing now - tried to raise my two kids the best that I could. We gave it our best shot, just like you say you’re doing - but that’s not good enough to suit you? Sorry, but we only had one chance, just like you do. You can only hope that your children will not grow up to hate your generation. And I don’t know how old you are, but I’m pretty damn sure that when I was your age, there wasn’t even a hint, a slightest shadow of a possibility of ‘qualifying for some kind of pension’. Hell, I couldn’t even afford to have enough money taken out of my check for a 401K! I needed that money to feed my kids and put a roof over their heads. So don’t sit back in your whiny, ‘wah, wah, my life sucks and dammit, its somebody else’s fault!’ smugness and try to blame my whole generation for every evil in the world, by which I mean every way in which your own life isn’t as perfect as you want it to be! That dog don’t hunt, boy!
And, by the way? Yeah, we know we’re old - we’ve had time to get used to that by now, so you’re going to have to do better when you’re digging for insults. I think that you are just afraid of exactly what every generation fears - you’re afraid that you are going to turn into your parents! Well, I guess that’s up to you, isn’t it? Welcome to the club dude - looks like you’re getting older too!
I wrote my OP in an alternate style for a reason. I learned a long time ago that debating conventionally with Baby Boomers about the flaws in their generation will get you nowhere fast. You will be drowned in condescension quickly. Two hours later you will be looking at photo montages in coffee table books with them asking you whether you think they were greatest generation ever or simply one of the best and all you can do is nod. I called Baby Boomers many things but never called them dumb or anything less than gifted at PR. The best hope I had was come in with a cluster-bomb approach meant to disorient and confuse (and you have to admit this is getting easier every year). Once the primary defenses are taken down, I had to wait for reinforcements which did show to prove this a widespread belief about the Baby Boomer generation.
What I would hope the Baby Boomer generation would do from here is to reel in the media exposure focused on them and shift it towards the newer generations. I would also like to see less romanticism and more criticism of the Baby Boomer era as whole. The one thing Baby Boomers could really do to improve is realize that all those unselfish beliefs they originally claimed to possess should now be best exemplified by taking the focus off of themselves and putting it more on their children and grandchildren who will have much more at stake for much longer.
You do realize that you can’t debate with an entire generation, right? You know that? You can only debate with individuals. I only ask, because you continue to act as though the ‘boomers’ are some vast singular entity and you can extrapolate conclusions from what any one or any group of them might say. Which is retarded. I’m going to assume that you are not actually retarded and you are hoping for…um, well, I’m not sure what you’re hoping for. Do you want the generation as a whole to ‘go gently into that good night’? Would that make you feel better? Granted it would certainly take a bit of weight off the economy, but I’m not sure the savings would balance out the expenditure.
As I’ve said, I’m a boomer. But I have not given any more weight to that identification than I would in saying ‘I’m a Gemini, or I’m a lefty, or I’m from Ohio’. Might be significant but overall, not so much. So basically your ‘reason’ for writing your OP the way you did, sucks. Even if you believe its a legitimate issue, your approach is designed to be hostile and designed to antagonize. Seems to me that your only issue is that the boomers did not have as many babies as their parents did - thus putting you in a minority position.
Relax. You’ll get your wish soon enough, the boomers will die off and then your generation can take over. Oh, wait - that was your whole problem, wasn’t it? We are just not dying off fast enough to suit you and you’re beginning to fear that we will live forever! Well, rest easy. That’s not likely to happen in our lifetime. That’s something your kids need to worry about…
Well, I dunno, Lily, true enough, he took on a whole generation, but just speaking for myself, he pretty much wiped the floor with us!
I mean, those sharp, insightful comments, cutting right to the very heart of his own opinions, that stuff is really hard to counter! And the piles of evidence he offered! Well, OK, it was pretty much all him saying this, and him saying that, and then him saying some other thing. But he said lots of it, you can’t deny that!
I don’t like it any more than you do, probably, but lets face the facts, he really creamed us. Maybe wouldn’t have, it weren’t for all the short term…short term…you know, that thing were you go looking for something in your brain but it isn’t there, or its hiding? Damn…
Clearly the problem is with you and your debating tactics and/or skills.
Let me ask you this: do you tell anyone else to fuck off and die because they didn’t choose to be born in a year that is more acceptable to you? You can’t control that any more than you can control your race.
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I called Baby Boomers many things but never called them dumb or anything less than gifted at PR. The best hope I had was come in with a cluster-bomb approach meant to disorient and confuse (and you have to admit this is getting easier every year). Once the primary defenses are taken down, I had to wait for reinforcements which did show to prove this a widespread belief about the Baby Boomer generation.
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You didn’t call us dumb. All you did was say we should quit taking up space from the younger and more attractive, both metaphorically and physically.
How is this not being done now? Who do you think writes most of the TV shows and movies you see? It isn’t us. And notwithstanding a few superannuated rock bands, the professional creation of music is equally a young person’s game. You’re not making sense.
I admit, there have been plenty of documentaries about the Summer of Love, the Beatles and its various members, hippies, and Woodstock. But you know what? A lot of that is nothing more than something made by boomers for boomers. It’s not like anyone’s trying to make you go to an Eagles concert, is it?
I think it’s about time the media stopped shoving Joe Cocker and the Incredible String Band down our throats and paid some attention to Lady Gaga for once.
Probably they realize it’s no use debating with a reactionary like you. Consequently their eyes glaze over and then they ask, “Did I ever tell you about the Human Be-In of 1967?” It testifies to the fact that not all of us have discarded our leftist ideals yet.
I notice you did get a few who despise us with the same broad brush of vituperation and prejudice, but you have only proven yourselves to be of the same ilk as one or two Boomers here who have called you a bunch of lazy pissant slackers. And when I say “ilk” I’m not talking about any “generation”.
