Comments on: A Message to Baby Boomers and Generation X

By: Gen X Hero

Gen X Hero — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:40:57 +0000

Speaking as dead-smack-center Gen X who was right in the middle of every cultural touchpoint of my generation I can honestly say that I like the new generation better than anyone else. They are docile, they are lemmings and they aren’t the anti-authoritarian risk takers that you sometimes find in Gen X and BB but they are smart, nice and work hard. They’ve chosen rather than to actively resist to just simply passively tune out of society and create their own worlds and so far they seem to be doing just fine in their bubble. White earplugs anyone?
BB’s are like a plague of locusts devouring everything in their path, leaving nothing for anyone behind them and the sooner they all kick the better in my opinion. I wish I could say my generation was better but for every smart over-achiever Super-X I know 5 drug-addled 40 year old ‘rockers’ who can’t seem to get over the fact that it’s not 1989 anymore. It’s just a shame that the generation that was going to change the world succeeded in doing just that.

By: KS

KS — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 19:32:53 +0000

“You want to sell your homes for a 300% profit, but you won’t pay young families enough to afford them, and then you cry about the housing bubble.”

A little irony there, huh? Admittedly, I’m a genXer–but I sniffed out this BS back in high school. Back then, I didn’t have the benefit of a rear-view mirror to decode my growing sense of unease over rampant entitlement, hubris, and rationalized greed. I’d say the past decade or two of all-out business failures should suggest–this generation has no sense of leadership or strategy. It’s time to speak from our conscience, and actively seek change. I wasted years kissing up to these people–believing it was “in my best interest”. Whatever, time to say it like it is–and I’m rather amazing so many came to similar conclusions. There is some hope.

By: Hahahaaaa

Hahahaaaa — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 14:10:33 +0000

I came to this article by way of a google search on “disdain for boomers”. The insatiable boomer appetite for more, more, more of all of the resources are currently straining the system and will leave us gen y, gen x, millennium etc with a much reduced standard of living. A standard of living boomers would not accept.

In general, they have partied from birth with no regard for their future or ours. Now they want us to pick up the tab for their failing health when most of their ills come from lifestyle choices. I wonder if they are proposing coverage for STD treatment in this health care bill when the nursing homes and retirement communities are where it is running rampant! A good merger would be Depends and Harley, Viagra and Trogan. They have spent all of their Social Security Fund, their winnings of the inflated economy of the 1990 – 2008, their inheritance from the WWII group, and their own personal savings and NOW!! they want to take us down with them. Leaving us paying for their selfishness long long long after they are gone. Actually, I think they have already sold us to China. We will find out in the reading of the Will.

Yes, the world is going to end Baby Boomers. I for one will be glad to see you go.

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:19:06 +0000

I thought the link you included to “I Hate Young People” was compelling and amusing. Does that make me a bad old person?

By: dianna

dianna — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:13:32 +0000

I’m not finished. They lack values. Their parents gave and gave and gave. So they expect the entire world to give and give and give. THIS IS NOT REALITY! This is dream land. Good luck to them all. It’s going to be another 35 years before they reap any benefits for being “in full charge” and I pray that I’m dead by then.

By: dianna

dianna — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 04:55:54 +0000

I’v supervised many generation Y. I will have to say that they are the most protected generation of all and the most full of it! They want something for NOTHING. So did we! LOL Boy was that a rude awakening! LOL I continue to find articles on how we “managers” are “suppose to coddle them like their parents” but I CANNOT FIND….NOT ONE… SINGLE article on how they are to work for us. They are spoiled ROTTEN beyond belief. We can thank them all for our future…..no more war, no more falling without bruises or scrapes b/c our sidewalks will be cushioned with that rubber playground surface. PLEASE! WAKE UP! THE EASY GENERATION IS WHAT THEY SHOULD BE NAMED. I’m so sick of hearing about what they want. What about what is? REALITY CHECK HERE! (1966)

By: Jude

Jude — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 13:05:52 +0000

I’ve noticed with every passing generation there is less emphasis on race and sexual identity. Less bigotry. More caring and open-minded people. Our future (we) are in good hands, IMHO.
Like the article says, we need to get out of the way and let them go!
(1967)

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 17 May 2009 12:50:27 +0000

While it is true that Millenials and Gen-Yers have access to technology for the masses, I counter that the spearhead of this introduction to technology came through the Baby Boomer generation which had a spirit of “sharing” and community that sprang from the great “hippie” movement and “Summer of Love”. What has changed drastically since the “end of the Cold War” is the driving need to be the best in science and military tech. We still see individuals striving for Admissions Test best, or to get into the US News ranked best colleges, but this stems from the perceived economic reward. $40,000/year leading to a salary of $250k-$1mil/year (required to pay off that $100k+ college debt in a reasonable amount of time and get the car, house, wife, 2.5 kids & Lab in the backyard).

Nevertheless, it is Boomer consumption and self-focus that have given rise to some of the greatest moral scandals and economic disasters we’ve seen in the last decade. And, while corporate execs focus on their bonuses by shipping “costly” jobs offshore while neglecting innovation and research, why are we ’shocked’ that American firms are imploding?

By: dfkdfghkfjkfka

dfkdfghkfjkfka — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 06:33:54 +0000

i was born in 1981, which lets me choose which generation i’d prefer to associate myself with and i would associate with gen y, the generation between gen x and the millenial generation. somebody mentioned the idea of generational overlap; i find this is the way to look at the y generation, which i’d even argue doesn’t truly exist anymore. most of the people i’ve grown up with have chosen to align themselves with a millenial mindset whereas i’ve found myself relating more to the gen x mentality. gen y was squeezed out of existence when all of the cultural patterns and ideals we were on the cusp of embracing exploded before us and split us into factions in the face of the twin towers attack. gen y was protesting quite heavily in the late 90s and we were doing so by taking cues from the baby boomers. by october 2001, we had either been shocked into the apathy of gen x or whipped up into a jingoist frenzy. i’m unable to relate to the millenials precisely because they are so goddamned selfish.

the millenial generation is not a utopian generation, it’s a generation that has been reared on survivor and american idol and has been taught to think primarily in terms of social darwinism and collective tyranny. they have been raised with reaganist values of totally unregulated capitalism and seem to have no concept at all of what it even means to live in a functioning society. they are not a hero generation – they are a corporate boardroom generation who has chosen the likes of donald trump and steve jobs as their symbolic elders. they are the first generation that views corporate america as hip, trendy, cool and fashionable; while the concept of racial superiority does not exist within their minds, the concept of class superiority guides and dictates every thought that enters their mind. they will build and forcefully implement a caste system, not a utopia.

yet, temporally stuck where i am, i have nothing but disdain for the baby boomers for all of the reasons that asc pointed out. why is it my responsibility to fix the environment or stop all of these wars? i didn’t create this mess, the boomers did. it should be the boomers that clean the damn mess up, not me. and, what would i gain from cleaning up this mess? a nice tombstone?

this is what steve olsen is missing. i agree with him when he says that the boomers were a generation of incompetent imbeciles that have left gen x with nothing more than a massive mess to fix; bush is the perfect representative of the baby boomers, whereas gen x has the role of obama. but, gen x doesn’t want to be the obama, here. we’re perfectly content to just ride it all out and left the system crash and burn, leaving the millenials to start all over again from scratch.

i’m 28 years old. i have two university degrees and am working on a third one. i have $100,000 worth of student loan debt that i have no intention of ever paying off. i’ve never had a real job and don’t want to ever get one. i am generation x.

in that sense, maybe gen y will produce some heroes, but it won’t be in the way that steve olsen thinks.

By: X Gen

X Gen — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 14:27:32 +0000

Lol… Y generation are going to cop it now… bring on the recession!!!