As you may recall from prior posts, my boomer generation, especially those a few years older than me, are a pet peeve of mine. For a nice rant on the boomers–and it is a rant–check out How The Left Lost Younger Voters by Captain Ed. (Check out the comments too.) Here is a sample:
the preceding generation — the Boomers — have to be the most self-involved, self-referential generation this country has ever produced. For the boomers, the Me Generation has never changed; they hold onto the Vietnam War as a touchstone from which they draw their power, seemingly oblivious to the fact that it’s been over for thirty years and the resultant massacres proved them terribly wrong. This presidential campaign gives us great examples of this dynamic at work. Howard Dean, for instance, once described the 1960s as a period of unprecedented national unity that he wanted to recreate as President. Boomer-fed groups such as International ANSWER create protests with tired, retreaded slogans from the 1960s complete with the music of the day.
This relentless focus on their own youth as a mythical Golden Age, combined with their greedy, ever-increasing grasp on public resources in the form of expanding retirement entitlements must strike the younger generation as ridiculous and tiresome. Even younger boomers such as myself wonder when my ge-ge-ge-generation will finally realize that they are not the center of the universe. In this environment, the Beatles and Tipper Gore are irrelevant, except as reminders of how narcissistic boomers remain. It may not be enough, on its own, to mold their political philosophy, but it’s certainly enough for them to open their minds to other possibilities.
Gen X and Y should be informed that the 60s were an amazingly awful time. Carnage on TV. Body bags. Spitting on American soldiers and calling them murderers. Assassinations and riots on a regular basis. The real threat of nuclear annihilation. The nation deeply divided. (But the “sound track” was excellent!)
That boomers like Howard Dean would be nostalgic for that era says a lot about the world view of young liberal and left-wing boomers in those days. They were insufferably arrogant then towards the “silent majority” who disagreed with them, and largely remain so to this day. BTW, the “silent majority” as it was called were silent because mainstream liberals (or whatever label you prefer) who had sympathy for the “idealistic” youth in the streets had a monopoly grip on the media. One reason for the anger we witness today is the loss of this control that leads Dean to wax nostalgic about the “unity” of the 60s. No, but there was only one voice heard in those days. Today, thanks to talk radio, the internet, and now FoxNews, there is a genuine contest.
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