Baby Boomers children were the first to make less money their their parents. Boomers also produced the highest divorce rate and as a result the most broken homes…and the most latch key kids. It was also largely Baby Boomers who were at the wheels of the companies and institutions that created the Great Recession in 2008.
But generally speaking, your statement rings true for nearly every generation…certainly “the Greatest Generation” did a great deal to ensure that Baby Boomers had a better life than they did.
Many generational analysis actually point to that as creating the failings in the Boomers…they were much more materialistic than previous generations and were very much a “Me” generation because of all the doting and attention they received from their parents…who grew up in the Depression and never wanted their children to suffer that.
Likewise the latch key kid syndrome and high divorce rate created a much more independent, self sufficient generation…but also one that is less concerned with “greater societal issues” and more concerned about their personal lives…and “going viral” for 15 minutes of attention.
The rise of the “generational analysis” is almost exclusively a Boomer creation. ( Hint: Boomers are in the media, too, dummy). Demographically, the Boomers were a real construct…there was a huge increase in the birthrate after WWII which has significantly impacted the country as they grew up. But Boomers took to that news as confirmation of their superiority to all other generations, and proceeded to name and characterize every following generation as less than them…ie, GenXers are feckless, millennials are lazy. These superficial analysis are almost entirely driven by individual Boomers themselves.
The ONE.SINGLE.THING it all comes down to is…generational analysis does very little to nothing at all with helping you assess any new person you meet. In any regard. Because we are talking about generalization based on overarching trends and there are always millions in each generation who don’t believe, act or go with that trend.
Trump supporters: “Briefings? Who wants facts that only support rational actions. Don’t you know we are in a post fact era where the facts are what you want them to be? If I wanted fact-based decision making I would have voted for Clinton.”
Some of us Boomers who were born later in the boom (late 50s, early 60s) have kids in their 30s and 20s. My kids (32 and 26) are very politically aware, active in community activities and solid, voting liberals. Yes, I’m proud of them, especially since they are, in many ways, much better people than I am.
“If I wanted fact-based decision making I would have voted for Clinton.”
True, but Clinton’s ‘facts’ were only ‘facts’ based on what she knew ‘at the time’. I mean, if things change in Clinton’s fluid facts world view, she can’t be held responsible for the changes that might have effected the facts that she first stated, at the time, as facts.
