ok, boomer
WxNut2.0 said:
Every day I grapple with the idea that maybe it's not fair to bring a child into this world knowing they'll have to deal with crippling food shortages, mass migrations, droughts, fires, etc. How many of the previous generations had to deal with this question?
In her later years, my grandmother would occasionally wonder aloud how anybody could bring a child into this messed-up world. We’d remind her that she gave birth to my dad and his brother during the depths of the Great Depression while Hitler was getting ready to start a world war.
And also learn how to convert a word document to a PDF so we don't have to do it for you every time.
That line got me to laugh; it’s a good kicker. I’ll add only that I have a boss in her 60s who still has trouble making printouts from her computer. It doesn’t bother me because she has many other skills. Among them is the ability to look where she’s walking.
Ok, Anti-Boomers, make my day, say Ok Boomer to me at work to help my age discrimination lawsuit 
https://www.law.com/njlawjournal/2019/11/22/ok-boomer-is-not-ok-in-the-workplace/
DaveSchmidt said:
That line got me to laugh; it’s a good kicker. I’ll add only that I have a boss in her 60s who still has trouble making printouts from her computer. It doesn’t bother me because she has many other skills. Among them is the ability to look where she’s walking.
Along those same lines: A couple of weeks ago I took my mom to her primary care physician, who is Chair of Internal Medicine at a major university medical center and Board Chair of the American Geriatrics Society. Her doctor wanted to give her a prescription to bring to a pharmacy, for something the pharmacy would have to order (so she wanted to print it out, instead of sending it electronically, in case the pharmacy wasn't able to complete that order). She fussed with her computer for a few minutes, then called in a young physician's assistant to help her print out the prescription. But, similarly, she has many other skills.
DaveSchmidt said:
WxNut2.0 said:
Every day I grapple with the idea that maybe it's not fair to bring a child into this world knowing they'll have to deal with crippling food shortages, mass migrations, droughts, fires, etc. How many of the previous generations had to deal with this question?
In her later years, my grandmother would occasionally wonder aloud how anybody could bring a child into this messed-up world. We’d remind her that she gave birth to my dad and his brother during the depths of the Great Depression while Hitler was getting ready to start a world war.
This is a fair point, although I'd argue the impacts of climate change will eclipse that of any war, and will likely lead to wars in and of themselves as natural resources and inhabitable land are exhausted.
"OK, Boomer" didn't just come out of thin air. I turned 21 just before Woodstock, and we Boomers do (and should) have our share of guilt about everything we didn't "fix" while we "had the chance".
Oddly though, my kids' generational peers often seem to be utterly clueless about many seemingly basic survival skills, so maybe I and my "kind" should just shut up and let the youngsters discover what THEY can do to "fix" things. Boiling water can't be that difficult...
And: Short of them declaring war on oldsters, I wish 'em luck. Don't mind if I sit idly by, occasionally making snide comments, do ya???
-s.
WxNut2.0 said:
This is a fair point, although I'd argue the impacts of climate change will eclipse that of any war, and will likely lead to wars in and of themselves as natural resources and inhabitable land are exhausted.
Part of the point, which I hope is also fair, is that each generation’s challenges stand on their own, without a need for comparisons.
DaveSchmidt said:
WxNut2.0 said:
This is a fair point, although I'd argue the impacts of climate change will eclipse that of any war, and will likely lead to wars in and of themselves as natural resources and inhabitable land are exhausted.
Part of the point, which I hope is also fair, is that each generation’s challenges stand on their own, without a need for comparisons.
I totally agree with that, and my intention here isn't to minimize or marginalize the challenges of previous generations. However, there truly hasn't ever been a threat to humanity like the one we're facing going forward. And that will fall squarely on us.
WxNut2.0 said:
DaveSchmidt said:
WxNut2.0 said:
This is a fair point, although I'd argue the impacts of climate change will eclipse that of any war, and will likely lead to wars in and of themselves as natural resources and inhabitable land are exhausted.
Part of the point, which I hope is also fair, is that each generation’s challenges stand on their own, without a need for comparisons.
I totally agree with that, and my intention here isn't to minimize or marginalize the challenges of previous generations. However, there truly hasn't ever been a threat to humanity like the one we're facing going forward. And that will fall squarely on us.
What I think is fair to look at is how each generation dealt with those challenges. The generation that fought WW2, along with the silent generation, put a lot of effort into building schools and education so that their kids could avoid the childhoods that they had. My main criticism of the Boomer generation is that they used all of these schools but have steadfastly fought the tax increases needed to maintain them. Now that we are faced with a large bond to make all of these repairs, I see lots of seniors groups trying to get special tax treatment or other breaks to let them stay in the area. My generation, gen x, hasn't done as well as we could of either but we still have time to turn over a system that is better than the one we were given.
I completely agree with Wxnut about the climate, and I believe that clean water will be a cause of major wars this century. Even in a wealthy suburb we are dealing with chemical pollutants that are very difficult to remove, and round up runoff is everywhere. But people want the convenience of throwaway plastic bags.
soda, the original 'grumpy old man' model is a tad grumpy you didn't check with him re removing his head But hey, it's not quite 8am yet so that's a good start to the day 
(Has someone noted WxNut2.0's birthday???)
Well I guess we didn't have enough division on the political threads so we had to find a new way to sow division. I hate to admit that it worked on me. It made me very disappointed and reluctant to come to this forum as much.
(oldest boomer here)
I can't take all this as seriously as i probably should, remembering all the "trust no one over 30" stuff some people believed in back when. Thirty??? Really??
The younger people do have huge worries and tasks confronting them (climate, world instability, transformed economy), but that said, our day was not that trouble-free, either, growing up with "the bomb," and then the draft, and the disdain/hatred/?? of some of our elders.
I taunt millennials by saying things that would provoke an, "Okay, Boomer," response.
"Cool story, bro. That's a MEME. I MEMED'd you." Double finger pistols.
If they don't say, "OK, Boomer," they lose.
It is connecting the generations.
For the Gen Z, AKA "Zoomers," I just chill and send them links to websites with a sardonic subtext.
It's very META, but don't say, "META."
Morganna said:
Well I guess we didn't have enough division on the political threads so we had to find a new way to sow division. I hate to admit that it worked on me. It made me very disappointed and reluctant to come to this forum as much.
No need to skip coming to the forum - just skip over the threads that bug you!!!
Scully said:
No need to skip coming to the forum - just skip over the threads that bug you!!!
It didn't last. I missed the drama.
posted this elsewhere too but it really belongs here. The useless and odious David Brooks seems to have hit a new low with today's column, in which he tells Millennials and Gen Zs that the coddling is now over for them. Yes, the generation that lived through a recession, then two depressions, 9/11, two endless wars, crushing student loan debt and almost unfathomable wealth inequality have just had it too damn easy all this time. I think he deserves a contemptuous "ok, boomer" for this one.
ml1 said:
posted this elsewhere too but it really belongs here. The useless and odious David Brooks seems to have hit a new low with today's column, in which he tells Millennials and Gen Zs that the coddling is now over for them. Yes, the generation that lived through a recession, then two depressions, 9/11, two endless wars, crushing student loan debt and almost unfathomable wealth inequality have just had it too damn easy all this time. I think he deserves a contemptuous "ok, boomer" for this one.
First, David Brooks is a jack@ss.
I had a question about your list of events. A recession and two depressions? I think the last official depression was 1929-1933. We had a recession in 90-91 (Millenials would have been little kids), one in 2001, the Great Recession in 08-09 and our current mess.
David Brooks seems to frequently swing wildly between interestingly insightful or clueless dick.
David Brooks seems to think that the parents of the Boomers and maybe the parents of Gen X were not as overprotective of their kids as today's parents.
Isn't he Jewish?
yahooyahoo said:
First, David Brooks is a jack@ss.
I had a question about your list of events. A recession and two depressions? I think the last official depression was 1929-1933. We had a recession in 90-91 (Millenials would have been little kids), one in 2001, the Great Recession in 08-09 and our current mess.
"Depression" is sort of a term of art, so I think ml1 is referring to today's mess and the 2008 crash as depressions, which is not unreasonable.
drummerboy said:
"Depression" is sort of a term of art, so I think ml1 is referring to today's mess and the 2008 crash as depressions, which is not unreasonable.
^this.
we didn't call 2008 a depression basically because we didn't want to, not because it wasn't one. And the one we're now in, with 22 million people losing their jobs in three weeks certainly seems like a depression already.
ml1 said:
^this.
we didn't call 2008 a depression basically because we didn't want to, not because it wasn't one. And the one we're now in, with 22 million people losing their jobs in three weeks certainly seems like a depression already.
It wasn't a depression. A recession is a decline in gross national product that lasts between 6 to 35 months. A depression is a decline of GNP lasting 36 months or longer.
the problem is that depressions, defined that way, are unlikely to occur again because we know better how to counteract them.
ml1 said:
Yes, the generation that lived through a recession, then two depressions, 9/11, two endless wars, crushing student loan debt and almost unfathomable wealth inequality have just had it too damn easy all this time. I think he deserves a contemptuous "ok, boomer" for this one.
As I read the column, Brooks is talking about a generation that hasn’t really “lived through” anything yet. Like the publications he cites, he’s talking about Americans who are only now starting to come of age, and implicitly referring to families that had the luxury of deciding whether or not to “coddle” them. That’s overlooking the many families, and their kids, who couldn’t avoid the hardships you mention, but that’s what I took to be his intended subject (and audience).
drummerboy said:
the problem is that depressions, defined that way, are unlikely to occur again because we know better how to counteract them.
Sorry, its the definition out of classic economic text books. --- and we may have one in 35 months, anyway.
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Oh and btw, certainly wasn’t us who voted for Trump: https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/how-groups-voted-2016