Take That, Baby Boomers!
Despite being a blog, The Huffington Post seems old fashioned and baby-boomer-ish to me. So I am surprised they printed this awesome article by Chez Pazienza criticizing the baby boomer generation. Like me, he finds all their self-congratulation rather obnoxious. Yeah yeah, there were some good advancements in women and civil rights that came out of the 1960s, but those accomplishments don’t outweigh all the greed, consumerism, and hyperbolic self-importance that this generation has thrust upon us for the last 40 years. Let’s get this straight: Woodstock was just another music festival where everyone got high and listened to equally high musicians–no need for us to celebrate its anniversary every few years. And you know all that protesting against the establishment? Doesn’t mean much since the same generation became far worse than their parents when they took over in the 70s and 80s. Or as Pazienza puts it:
Such is the real legacy of the 60s, as filtered through the haze of bong smoke still looked back on with fondness by many of those who were there: It introduced the most narcissistic, self-congratulatory, self-indulgent generation this country has ever seen. A group of people political satirist Christopher Buckley jokingly calls “The Un-greatest Generation.”
I don’t look forward to the boomers’ approaching retirement and inevitable deaths. It means that, like every other aspect of their lives, we’re going to have to listen to them talk about it for the next 20 years. Maybe after that, we can get some peace.
ETA: My parents aren’t baby boomers, btw. They are war babies, apparently part of the “Silent Generation,” whatever that is.