My mother is a boomer and somehow I managed to not assume he was talking about her.
Ask me how I did it.
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The Loneliest Generation: Americans, More Than Ever, Are Aging Alone (WSJ)
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My mother is a boomer and somehow I managed to not assume he was talking about her.
Ask me how I did it.
Is it?
Do you think it's just the general idea of complaining about demographic groups people dislike or because there's a very real causative link between the mess Boomers left us in vs the world they inherited from the GI/Silent Generations? Do you remember why they're called the Boomers? Because they enjoyed an era of unprecedented economic growth (i.e. Boom), a level of excess that we, millennials, are now paying for.
Boomers depress our wage growth with their voting habits and policies, then write thinkpieces in the NYT asking why millennials are being such failures instead of getting a job at 18 and owning a house at 24 like they did. People complain about those thinkpieces not just because they feel under attack, it's because those authors lack any kind of self awareness or empathy.
In the case of westerners, yes - because their foundation for happiness is built from material possessions and social status .
I have my doubts that, say, Tibetans suffer from loneliness in a similar manner. If you're raised from birth to understand that happiness is internal, rather than external, it's unlikely your mental and physical health will decline if you're not surrounded by people.
OP
OP
They're called baby boomers because they were born during a baby boom.
Do you think baby booms just happen spontaneously without any societal changes in circumstance like, say, economic prosperity?
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...ream-the-millennials-priced-out-of-parenthood
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Is it?
Do you think it's just the general idea of complaining about demographic groups people dislike or because there's a very real causative link between the mess Boomers left us in vs the world they inherited from the GI/Silent Generations? Do you remember why they're called the Boomers? Because they enjoyed an era of unprecedented economic growth (i.e. Boom), a level of excess that we, millennials, are now paying for.
Boomers depress our wage growth with their voting habits and policies, then write thinkpieces in the NYT asking why millennials are being such failures instead of getting a job at 18 and owning a house at 24 like they did. People complain about those thinkpieces not just because they feel under attack, it's because those authors lack any kind of self awareness or empathy.
All the term boomer should denote is a time period they were born in, something people have no control over. I guarantee you that when millennials are in power there be lots of complaining about the young, lazy generation and regression of society.
They have control over their votes, and their votes tell me they hate us. Maybe not 100% of them but 50-60%. If 50-60% of a crowd of people tried to cause you material harm, would you really feel safe around them?
Also re: loneliness, this is why it's so important to marry someone who will be your best friend.
But also similarly, your spouse shouldn't be your best friend just because they're the only, close friend you have. Like, it shouldn't be out of necessity.
My husband is my best friend, but not because I've lost contact with other people and by default he has to be. He's my best friend because as a person, I respect him and enjoy being around him and trust him. So it's important to take the time to cultivate and maintain your close friends-- people you can talk to about anything, hang out with, plan.
One of my best girl friends and I have already jokingly decided that we'll retire together and then have our own farm together when we're old, and that we'll go to the same nursing home. We'll be little shriveled 90 year old grandmas playing mahjong and gossiping about our grandkids. It may not happen, but the important part of it is that we have people that we are close to and feel like we belong with.
But also similarly, your spouse shouldn't be your best friend just because they're the only, close friend you have. Like, it shouldn't be out of necessity.
My husband is my best friend, but not because I've lost contact with other people and by default he has to be. He's my best friend because as a person, I respect him and enjoy being around him and trust him. So it's important to take the time to cultivate and maintain your close friends-- people you can talk to about anything, hang out with, plan.
One of my best girl friends and I have already jokingly decided that we'll retire together and then have our own farm together when we're old, and that we'll go to the same nursing home. We'll be little shriveled 90 year old grandmas playing mahjong and gossiping about our grandkids. It may not happen, but the important part of it is that we have people that we are close to and feel like we belong with.
Here to cosign everything posted by samoyed .
My middle-class Boomer parents (sortof) fed, clothed, and sheltered me, sure -- but they also knowingly put a ton of debt on my shoulders, deliberately hamstrung my independence, and their unrelenting abuse and neglect resulted in a "Severe PTSD" diagnosis at age 17 and a suicide attempt at age 20. I can't afford to care about them or for them in their old age, either financially or psychologically, as a direct cause of their unprovoked, selfish, shitty decisions. (My Dad is passed away four years ago anyhow, and I did not attend the funeral. 10/10, no regrets, would do again.)
Y'all can miss me with this "But our elders!" pearl-clutching. Being old and lonely doesn't absolve anyone of the very real intergenerational effects of their actions. Lots of Boomers are alone for good reasons. Not all of them, obviously, but as a demographic, they're reaping what they sowed.
Nevertheless, I'll still vote for everyone to have their needs met in terms of food, shelter, health care, education, and safety -- Boomer or not. I just know that they won't, and didn't, do the same for me, and I'll never forget that.
My middle-class Boomer parents (sortof) fed, clothed, and sheltered me, sure -- but they also knowingly put a ton of debt on my shoulders, deliberately hamstrung my independence, and their unrelenting abuse and neglect resulted in a "Severe PTSD" diagnosis at age 17 and a suicide attempt at age 20. I can't afford to care about them or for them in their old age, either financially or psychologically, as a direct cause of their unprovoked, selfish, shitty decisions. (My Dad is passed away four years ago anyhow, and I did not attend the funeral. 10/10, no regrets, would do again.)
Y'all can miss me with this "But our elders!" pearl-clutching. Being old and lonely doesn't absolve anyone of the very real intergenerational effects of their actions. Lots of Boomers are alone for good reasons. Not all of them, obviously, but as a demographic, they're reaping what they sowed.
Nevertheless, I'll still vote for everyone to have their needs met in terms of food, shelter, health care, education, and safety -- Boomer or not. I just know that they won't, and didn't, do the same for me, and I'll never forget that.
It's the poor folks and the women who are getting hit hardest according to the article so not exactly the ruling class and I'm kinda angry that the people complaining about this comment arent actually citing this fact. Some miser dies alone why should I give a shit. Probably his inheritance is going to his son Track or whatever preppy kids are named these days
Bit of a derail, but I'd also like to add that as an autistic woman, I'm apparently at far greater risk than the general population for dying young due to adverse effects of social isolation and ostracization. Old age is a privilege not everyone gets to enjoy, and it seems as though the odds are stacked against me and others like me. On this front as well as many others, my sympathy is quite limited for the Boomers as a whole.
Autism and Early Mortality
"A study out of Sweden completed late last year revealed that people with autism died an average of 16 years earlier than those without the condition. (...) Between 1987 and 2009 scientists from the Karolinska Institute looked at more than 27,000 people in Sweden diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This group was compared with a group of 2.6 million people without ASD.
During that time, less than 1 percent of the general population died. The mortality rate for the group with ASD was 2.5 percent.
What the researchers also discovered was that average life expectancy for the general population was about 70 years old. In the ASD group, the average age was about 54."
My partner and I moved in with his Boomer parents two years ago because they're getting older and need help around the house. When trying to explain why I need forewarning before visitors come to the house, my partner's Mom declared, "We've never told people they have to get in touch with us before coming over and we're not starting now. You're using your autism as an excuse to control and manipulate everyone. If you can't learn how to act right around people, you deserve to be alone."
We've tried to do the right thing but they have made this a place where I can't live anymore, for an extraordinarily selfish reason. They're accustomed to privilege and in their household, equality most certainly looks like oppression to them. I can't compromise my hard-won safety and sanity just because they're old, ffs. They've brought the ensuing isolation and estrangement upon themselves.
Autism and Early Mortality
"A study out of Sweden completed late last year revealed that people with autism died an average of 16 years earlier than those without the condition. (...) Between 1987 and 2009 scientists from the Karolinska Institute looked at more than 27,000 people in Sweden diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This group was compared with a group of 2.6 million people without ASD.
During that time, less than 1 percent of the general population died. The mortality rate for the group with ASD was 2.5 percent.
What the researchers also discovered was that average life expectancy for the general population was about 70 years old. In the ASD group, the average age was about 54."
My partner and I moved in with his Boomer parents two years ago because they're getting older and need help around the house. When trying to explain why I need forewarning before visitors come to the house, my partner's Mom declared, "We've never told people they have to get in touch with us before coming over and we're not starting now. You're using your autism as an excuse to control and manipulate everyone. If you can't learn how to act right around people, you deserve to be alone."
We've tried to do the right thing but they have made this a place where I can't live anymore, for an extraordinarily selfish reason. They're accustomed to privilege and in their household, equality most certainly looks like oppression to them. I can't compromise my hard-won safety and sanity just because they're old, ffs. They've brought the ensuing isolation and estrangement upon themselves.
Old age is overrated frankly. I'm not expecting to reach 60 and I'm not sure it'd be worth it if I did
Anecdotally, the specific people I'm talking about in my posts at least are not wealthy, have no inheritance of any substance to pass on, and half of them are women. They're still more privileged than I'll be in old age, if I even make it to old age, and they still largely participated in voting against the best interests of society to make that a reality for their children.
Um what? I've spent a decade+ of my adult life already trying to course-correct from Boomer fuckery, I would like to live a long life to make up for how much of it they stole. I'm sorry you don't see the value in this, but I'm determined to make it past 60, and I'm gonna throw a hell of a party when I do.
Millennials haven't been on the earth long enough to make any sweeping changes socially the way baby boomers literally have a lifetime of fuckups to judge the results of so maybe they aren't the same thing but false equivalence is fun!
Welp. I might have sixteen years left! Better use them wisely.
This is depressing. I'm pretty sure I'm on the spectrum and at any rate I've mostly been alone for the past 18 years since I graduated high school. Hello darkness my old friend...
Like you said, millennials haven't been on Earth long enough but once one in power it will be pretty much the same and millennials will be going on about the good old days and complaining about the youth.
In fairness to the youth, if there is not a course correction from the path that baby boomers put the world on, it could really be the case that the past was better.
I called this years ago. Growing up in the 80's I was well aware of the increased emphasis in American society placed on consumerism, the spiking divorce rate. Perfect recipe to end up alone.
When people want to dunk on boomers, make sure you throw a white and Republican tag on them first, because old black people certainly didn't do all the things they are getting blamed for in this thread
Yeah, you keep telling yourself that. I'm sure it'll bring you great comfort when you're 75 and have no friends or family in your life.
They are excused, yes. Broadly blameless and themselves the victims of their boomer cohorts.
I hope Gen Z and whoever else comes next holds us accountable for our failures. This has really nothing to do with generational griping but accountability.
It's disgusting how many people justify ageism. Hating a generation is indeed so fucking ridiculous.
Having family and friends is great - but it's a sad person who doesn't know how to make himself or herself happy. :)
Umm these would be our "good ol days" and let me tell you they don't feel good.
I've lived on my own coming up for 20 years and been single through choice for almost all of it. I don't suffer from loneliness but I am and have had moments of 'oh shit when I start failing in health I will have no one to help me if I cannot help myself'. Being there has been and continues to be Cancer, Heart Attacks, Multiple Sclerosis, Dementia and Depression in my family I'll have a sticky end I imagine. Which is fine - you make your choices. Also, I'm in the UK and as underfunded and stressed out our NHS is I would rather have it than not.
Both parents deceased, two brothers that don't talk to me unless they want money, and my wife of 7 years left me. Job doesn't give me much time to socialize to make new friends. My friends moving away. Shits bad all around.