03-26-2022, 02:53 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-26-2022, 03:05 PM by Eric the Green.)
It was not the boomers who voted for the sociopaths originally, as the article falsly claimed. In the original sociopath elections in 1980 and 1984, boomers actually voted for the less sociopathic alternative than other generations. It is only more recently that the Boomer generation cast their lot in with the Silents and Xers and voted Sociopath (translate that neoliberal or white-nationalist Republican). And the term "Boomers" includes for demographers the "Jones" Boomers, who were for a while the most conservative sub-generation. But they are a smaller part of what Strauss and Howe call "Boomers" than what demographers call them. S&H place half of these Jones Boomers in the Generation X category.
It is true Boomers concentrated more on self-development, and in the 1970s began to turn their energies away from disillusioning politics. Arguably though, this "narcissism" is also a quest for spirituality, which itself extinguishes narcissim. Critics who know nothing about spirituality have no business speaking about this "narcissism".
The consciousness revolution has no relationship to child poverty or assassinations (except perhaps on the fringes with false conspiracy theories about the latter). "neglect, provocation, child abuse"? Arguably so, indirectly at least, because of the focus on ourselves and rebellion against family tyranny and discrimination of various sorts. I think the consciousness revolution sought alternatives to oppressive and limiting family life. But it was a tough adjustment or failed experiment for many, leading to more divorces, child neglect, single-parent families and sexual diseases. But in fact, rampant child abuse is what Silents grew up with, and their attempts to free themselves from this childhood repression was what was behind such Awakening era pursuits as "I'm OK, You're OK" transactional analysis. The Boomers did not invent child abuse; far from it. It was their heritage. Nor did they invent the military-industrial complex or the extreme commercialization, inequality, racism and pollution of life in the USA. What Boomers and Silents rebelled against in the sixties and seventies, is largely what Millennials and Gen Z rebel against today, not because Boomer influenced or imposed this agenda on them, but because 40 years of neoliberal rule has left the same problems and concerns in place, and they have only gotten worse.
A lot of the sexual and drug problems in the era following the consciousness revolution were found in the black community. The sixties sought to free this community from discrimination and poverty, led by GIs, Silents and yes, young Boomers too, but the Republicans soon threw out these programs, and by the time this happened they had been only partially successful, leaving the poorest behind in red-lined ghettoes with their community destroyed.
So the Boomers are not the great generation that we Boomers once believed we were, but the exaggerated and inaccurate critique such as the one quoted in the opening post here is nonsense. It's a lot more complicated than this simplified account blaming one generation for problems that many older generations have created both before and after the Boomers, as well as leaving out many positive things all these generations have accomplished as well.
Generational theories are great when they help us understand each other, but when they sharpen the ax of blame they are not so great. The problems of our society are not generational. They are political. And the axis of the conflict between problems and solutions is red versus blue.
It is true Boomers concentrated more on self-development, and in the 1970s began to turn their energies away from disillusioning politics. Arguably though, this "narcissism" is also a quest for spirituality, which itself extinguishes narcissim. Critics who know nothing about spirituality have no business speaking about this "narcissism".
The consciousness revolution has no relationship to child poverty or assassinations (except perhaps on the fringes with false conspiracy theories about the latter). "neglect, provocation, child abuse"? Arguably so, indirectly at least, because of the focus on ourselves and rebellion against family tyranny and discrimination of various sorts. I think the consciousness revolution sought alternatives to oppressive and limiting family life. But it was a tough adjustment or failed experiment for many, leading to more divorces, child neglect, single-parent families and sexual diseases. But in fact, rampant child abuse is what Silents grew up with, and their attempts to free themselves from this childhood repression was what was behind such Awakening era pursuits as "I'm OK, You're OK" transactional analysis. The Boomers did not invent child abuse; far from it. It was their heritage. Nor did they invent the military-industrial complex or the extreme commercialization, inequality, racism and pollution of life in the USA. What Boomers and Silents rebelled against in the sixties and seventies, is largely what Millennials and Gen Z rebel against today, not because Boomer influenced or imposed this agenda on them, but because 40 years of neoliberal rule has left the same problems and concerns in place, and they have only gotten worse.
A lot of the sexual and drug problems in the era following the consciousness revolution were found in the black community. The sixties sought to free this community from discrimination and poverty, led by GIs, Silents and yes, young Boomers too, but the Republicans soon threw out these programs, and by the time this happened they had been only partially successful, leaving the poorest behind in red-lined ghettoes with their community destroyed.
So the Boomers are not the great generation that we Boomers once believed we were, but the exaggerated and inaccurate critique such as the one quoted in the opening post here is nonsense. It's a lot more complicated than this simplified account blaming one generation for problems that many older generations have created both before and after the Boomers, as well as leaving out many positive things all these generations have accomplished as well.
Generational theories are great when they help us understand each other, but when they sharpen the ax of blame they are not so great. The problems of our society are not generational. They are political. And the axis of the conflict between problems and solutions is red versus blue.
