Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Remember, The Boomers Created the Millennials

 And excerpt from "How Not to Become a Millennial"

But why were the Boomers so bad at raising the Millennials?  Why did they give such horrible advice?  Matter of fact, why were they so bad at life themselves?  They did more drugs than any generation alive. Raised the national debt to record peace-and-war-time levels.  Made divorce and breeding half-siblings an Olympic event.  Destroyed the nuclear family and millions of their children’s lives.  And a full 2/3rds of them can’t even afford retirement.  And keep in mind this isn’t the old trope of the younger generation always blaming the previous one.  The Boomers are empirically and objectively an absolutely abysmal generation (which is the subject of an upcoming book).  How, after having every possible advantage in life and insisting they knew better than everyone else, is it they were wrong about pretty much everything?

The answer can be found in a quote by G. Michael Hopf in his book “Those Who Remain,”

“Hard times create strong men.
Strong men create good times.
Good times create weak men.
Weak men create hard times.”

And the Baby Boomers are indeed weak men.

If there was ever a generation born into good times it was the Baby Boomers.  The 1950’s and 1960’s were the golden era of US history.  Unemployment averaged around 4%, even going into the 2%’s for a couple years.  Economic growth was twice that of what we have today. You didn’t need a college degree to apply for entry level positions.  And those entry level positions could afford you the American dream on one income replete with a house, spouse, car and kids.  But perhaps the biggest advantage the Boomers had growing up is the incredible luxury of having both a mother and a father present in the house at the same time.  This nuclear family, combined with the other socio-economic factors, made the Baby Boomers’ upbringing the most idyllic the world had ever seen.  And with their WWII generation parents starkly reminded of the horrors of the Great Depression and war, it was a guarantee their children would be the most pampered and spoiled in then-as-of-yet US history.

The problem with good times, however, is that it destroys people’s ability to value.  If everything is handed to you, paid for by your parents, or the good times are just simply rolling, nobody has to suffer, sacrifice, or pay a price to get what they want.  And it is simply not mentally possible to value anything unless you have paid a price for it.  But if you have to toil, work, suffer and slave merely to stave off poverty or simply to survive, you become acutely aware of what does and does not have value in life, including things like food, clothing, shelter, freedom, your fellow man, and yes, even your children.

In this sense the WWII generation had an incredible ability to value.  They knew what was important in life because they had to work so hard to get it.  But the Baby Boomers had none, because (though in a well-intended attempt to make sure their children never suffered) the WWII generation deprived their children of their own ability to suffer, thus value, thus making them the weak generation the Boomers turned out to be.

The problem with being weak men, in having no ability to value, is that you inevitably need something of value in your life. You need a reason to get up in the morning.  Something to cherish.  A reason to live.  But if all your basic needs are met, and you’ve never had to pay a price for anything, you are mentally incapable of valuing or appreciating anything in life.  Thus, in the mind of a weak, spoiled man the only thing of worth, the only thing you have in your life is yourself.  And thus you become solipsistic, self-centered, and incapable of selflessness, altruism or love, because only you matter in your own mind.

This doesn’t mean that the Baby Boomers weren’t capable of loving their children, caring about society, or being well-intended.  But it does mean that for many of them their own self-interests trumped everything else in life, especially if push came to shove.  And if you don’t believe it, simply look at all the different types of Boomers you’ve ran across in your life and look at the actions they took, not the words they said.  What you will find, via their own actions, is that most of the Baby Boomers were primarily motivated by four things (or a combination thereof):

A fear of real work, toil, suffering or sacrifice (laziness)
Politics
Profit, and
Self-love

And these things superseded everything and everyone in most of these Baby Boomers’ lives.  Including their Millennial children.

6 comments:

Ed Teach, Maritime Reclaimation Specialist said...

Some of the boomers are parents to some of the later Gen Xers, and many of these late Gen Xers (1978-82 births) are worthless too. I know some of these late Gen Xers, and they suck. I am an early Gen Xer born in the mid-60's who has been shat upon by many boomer bosses. So yeah, the boomers suck. We shut down the economy for the boomers because of this stupid plandemic. Why? Cause many of the boomers never really took care of themselves physically and have compromised immune systems, and are scared of dying. Guess what boomers, death is batting 1.000, ain't getting off this rock alive. 70 isn't the new 40.

What does make me scratch my head and laugh is watching many of the millennials I work with (most are STEM people) suck up to some of the few boomers still left in my workplace. These millennials don't realize that the boomer POS's are stealing their Social Security amongst other things. Plus the boomers still feel so entitled. They suck, and I've told plenty of them that they do suck. Plus these boomers are retiring at 60-63 years of age at my workplace. Many of us Gen Xers ain't retiring at all. Thanks boomers for being given everything and screwing it up for the rest of us. Millennials, get your heads out of your rear-ends, wake the eff up. The boomers sold you a pack of lies about college and working in the corporate world.

My kids are GEN Z, and I have made it my life's mission to not raise entitled POS people. Nothing has been given to them and nothing will be by us (their parents). They already have a good sense of what hard work is, because that is all we ask. Don't put in the work, you get nothing. Oh, if they want to go to college, great, but no effing crappy degrees. STEM and few other degrees I will pay for, but nothing from Liberal Arts or Education, all worthless.

Anonymous said...

I think a huge issue with the Boomer generation is that though they did have incredible wealth relative to other times in history, they also grew up with an intense fear of nuclear annihilation. This would have explained a huge part of their hedonistic nihilism. As you know saving for the future is only an intelligence strategy if there is a future. It seems reasonable to say that the Boomers or permanently warped due to those effects.

Weak Stream said...

Hey Cappy. I think I have more to say about Boomers and Millennials than anyone alive. Looking to write a book. Have outline. Would you like to read? I know where all of the philosophical bodies are buried...

Weak Stream said...

Hey Cappy. I think I have more to say about Boomers and Millennials than anyone alive. Looking to write a book. Have outline. Would you like to read? I know where all of the philosophical bodies are buried...

Weak Stream said...

Hey Cappy. I think I have more to say about Boomers and Millennials than anyone alive. Looking to write a book. Have outline. Would you like to read? I know where all of the philosophical bodies are buried...

Anonymous said...

Late stage boomers let women off the leash and what we’re seeing is the result..... feminization of everything...