The latest smug boomer meme on my feed:
“Some of you came from the ‘If you stop crying, I’ll buy you something’ generation. We came from the ‘If you don’t stop crying, I’ll give you something to cry about’ generation. We are not the same.”
Um … Like this is a flex??? <nausea emoticon> Are we actually trying to shame the younger generations for being soft/indulged just because they weren’t raised to be afraid of their parents???
These generational shaming/bragging memes never end!! We Boomers are really putting the hashtag in #OKBoomer ! — and I say that as a Boomer!! Geez Louise!
We need to stop taking the credit for the way our parents (and grandparents) raised us, and we need to stop blaming younger generations for the way we raised them.
If we were so strong and tough and self-sacrificing … What the heck happened to us now? At some point we morphed into entitled consumers leading robber-baron lifestyles. And this seems to have picked up even more steam after the pandemic.
Seems like we’ve turned into the “I’m old now — I’m entitled to consume whatever and however I want, even though it’s trashing the planet!” generation. Well, we always were the “Me Generation” after all.
And no, I’m not talking about boomers of the MAGA/ Drill Baby Drill variety (they are after all behaving in accordance with their beliefs); I’m talking about those of us who identify with Earth Day and Woodstock. Those of us who say that the environment and climate need to be top priorities — and yet we keep on keeping on the consumerist bandwagon. WWWTP!? (What’s Wrong With This Picture)
Our grandkids need models of sensible thrift and simple living. They need us to show them that life can be full of joy and creativity without constantly acquiring a bunch of stuff and junk, and running around burning up resources without a thought to the repercussions.
So many liberal boomers on social media — posting about their sixth cruise and their second vacation house and their umpteenth international flight this year, blah blah blah.
And then right on the heels of that, posting self-righteous memes about the big bad corporations and the evil government that are driving climate change. Do we even hear ourselves, I wonder.