[Steve_American]

The song "Those Were The Days" sung by Mary Hopkin sums up my feelings now that I'm in my 70s.

The Baby Boomers took it for granted that democracy and the good times would continue in America and we took our eyes off politics and economics.

But, those who blame Baby Boomers for the current mess that America and Europe are in are not being fair. I think we are still alive and around so we get the blame. However, in 1980 when Reagan was elected I was in my mid 30s. The 2 older generations were in their mid 30s to mid 50s and their mid 50s to mid 70s. The way I see it they were 2 out of 3 voters and in positions of leadership in 1980. So, it isn't fair to blame those who were only in their mid teen to mid 30s for letting it get started.

Besides that only some Baby Boomers sold out for the money the rich would give them. About half never sold out. Attacking every member of a generation for the errors of half of them is "Generationist", to coin a term. This is the same as attacking all the members of a race or a religion because some big chunk of them are seen as bad people. It is insulting to a Progressive Baby Boomer to be blamed for things that were out of our control.

OTOH, Pres. Bill Clinton did sell out America for the PAC money. I'll not go into detail but NAFTA, ending welfare as we know it, and the crime bill are just some of the ways he smashed the workers of America. Pres. Obama was not any better. Most Dem pols have not been any better.

There are studies I've seen that say that only the top 20% of earners have any say in what the US Gov. does. That the opinions of the bottom 80% are ignored by everyone in Washington, well almost everyone. That Washington doesn't give a sh*t about what is good for the bottom 80%, and for sure the bottom 50% of earners.

Progressives need to follow the recent example of the people of Puerto Rico and get out into the streets of America to convince the Dem Party that if they don't change now that they are going to suffer. I'm convinced that time has about run out. That the 2 min. warning has been given, that if we don't take control from Trump, the Repuds, and the sell out Dems in 2020 that civilization will come to an end by 2040. That the snowball is about to start rolling down the snow covered hill. That if it gets started there will be no stopping it later. It is now or never.!

I have been saying that 'the sh*t would hit the fan for civilization in 2030 plus or minus 20 years for 50 years now, since 1972. I have convinced almost nobody. The message is too scary and the required changes are to big or most people to believe. It has been easier to assume that I was wrong. Well, the 1st of the sh*t has hit the fan now.!! More and more will hit that fan as time goes on.

MMTers say that we can borrow the cash to fund a Green New Deal. To refuse to believe this while you do believe the ACC is going to be very, very bad in just a few years IS STUPID. Who gives a sh*t if we can't pay it back someday if that someday is after we *ALL* have died from ACC?

"Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end, we'd sing and dance forever and a day." . . . Well, they have ended and soon it will get even worse.

[Political Interest]

Mate, by the 2070s we'll be dreaming of the baby boomer times like some golden age. Everyone will be listening to Petula Clark and the Beatles non stop.

It's easy to put all the problems on boomers but it's far more complex than that. You're just one of many generations that have been misled.

Soundtrack:

[Steve_American]

If civilization survives ACC, then people will look back at the years of the Baby Boomer's childhood, youth and early adulthood as THE Golden Age. Remember, we sent men to walk on the Moon. Those years were the best the humans {pretty much everywhere} have ever had, at least since civilization was invented. My Dad told me this in about 1970.

If there is still electricity being used, then yes they'll be listening to the music of that time.

The problem is, I give us only a 50-50 chance that any humans will live to 2100. After all, basically nothing has been done about the problem since 1972-73 when the Club of Rome report, "The Limits to Growth" was published, and worst, nothing is being done now. At least in the sense that we have NOT cut CO2 emissions at all. They are shooting up again as I write this.

[QatzelOk]

The Boomers were the first generation entirely brainwashed by mass media - partcularly TV and car radio.

A lost generation of people who couldn't think for themselves and just blindly followed whatever trend mass media implanted into their heads.

From VW vans to Barbie, lawnmowers to earth shoes, pet rocks to hoola hoops... the lack of independent minds of this first emtpy-headed generation sealed the fate of the next few hundred generations - if they even exist, that is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N67rrSas1Kk
(This song was burned into our heads in many languages)

[Steve_American]

The Boomers were the first generation entirely brainwashed by mass media - partcularly TV and car radio.

A lost generation of people who couldn't think for themselves and just blindly followed whatever trend mass media implanted into their heads.

From VW vans to Barbie, lawnmowers to earth shoes, pet rocks to hoola hoops... the lack of independent minds of this first emtpy-headed generation sealed the fate of the next few hundred generations - if they even exist, that is.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N67rrSas1K k[/youtube]
(This song was burned into our heads in many languages)

With all due respect, you are guilty of generationism.
You accuse us Baby Boomers of being brainwashed by TV and the media, but you give a "Get out of jail free" card to all members of the next 2 generations. It seems to me {IStM} that they would also have been brainwashed.
I wasn't brainwashed. I was unable to stop the slide.
Pres. Clinton needs to bare much of the scorn. He was a leader who led the Democratic Party away from caring about the workers of America into taking the PAC money from the rich and corps. He fooled me and then Pres. Obama fooled me again. But, I wasn't brainwashed.

Also, you ignored my claim that in 1980, when Reagan was elected, us Baby boomers were too young to do more than vote. And only about half of us were old enough to vote in any case. So, why dump ALL the blame on us? Why not take some of the blame onto your shoulders?

[QatzelOk]

You accuse us Baby Boomers of being brainwashed by TV and the media, but you give a "Get out of jail free" card to all members of the next 2 generations. It seems to me {IStM} that they would also have been brainwashed.

My boomer parents used TV as a babysitter, and set a great example for me and my brothers and sisters: just sit there and watch...

Subsequent generations found being brainwashed perfectly normal. And they also found that being boring, poor at conversation, and socially inept, were the way that 'humans are.' Because that's all their boomer parents showed them. A shitty example.

I wasn't brainwashed.

No one ever thinks they were.

why dump ALL the blame on us? Why not take some of the blame onto your shoulders?

I didn't 'blame' boomers for anything. I said that they were the first generation that were totally brainwashed and thus, useless to their offspring or to one another.

Whose fault this is hasn't been adressed yet.

[Deutschmania]

[QatzelOk]

We stand on the shoulders of Boomers.

Because they drove VW vans, we drive massive pick-up trucks and SUVs.

Because they did so many drugs, we consume copious amounts of fentanyl and oxycontin.

Because they were so selfish and me-oriented, we have decided to totally ignore other people's needs even if this means going extinct.

Because they spent so much time watching propaganda, we stare at our phones all day, like sheep watching a feed bag.

Because they learned so much about their individuality from commercial sources, we upload our entire private lives onto the Internet so that Big Brother doesn't even have to watch us. We provide the data ourselves.

Because they never really grew up, thousands and thousands of future generations... will never be born.

[Political Interest]

It's hypocrisy to blame boomers for all problems.

Can we really say that the millenials are any different?

[Code Rood]

It's hypocrisy to blame boomers for all problems.

Can we really say that the millenials are any different?

Millennials are the product of baby boomers, so no. There's not much difference.

And I don't think people are trying to blame boomers for all the problems. It's just that observations are being made. As a millennial I don't start to cry like a baby when someone thinks millennials are smartphone-obsessed snowflakes either, because often it's simply true.

[QatzelOk]

Millennials are the product of baby boomers, so no. There's not much difference.

There's a huge difference.

Boomers grew up in families that played outside on the street, had lots of visitors in their houses, and where social capital was very developed - so strong that it lead to communism, socialism, trade unions, and many other kinds of working class strength.

Then, they watched TV and Hollywood and radio... and decided to throw all that away to buy shiny, new things they saw in very sophisticated ads.

Boomers destroyed the lives of all future generations, both by destroying the physical properties of the earth (through pollution), and by destroying the social development of their kids, and their kids' kids... because so much social knowledge ended with their stupid, brainwashed generation.

Of course, the Elite knew what it was doing after WW2, and destroying the communities and social skills of working people was probably what they were trying to accomplish with their media.

[Code Rood]

There's a huge difference.

Boomers grew up in families that played outside on the street, had lots of visitors in their houses, and where social capital was very developed - so strong that it lead to communism, socialism, trade unions, and many other kinds of working class strength.

Then, they watched TV and Hollywood and radio... and decided to throw all that away to buy shiny, new things they saw in very sophisticated ads.

Boomers destroyed the lives of all future generations, both by destroying the physical properties of the earth (through pollution), and by destroying the social development of their kids, and their kids' kids... because so much social knowledge ended with their stupid, brainwashed generation.

Of course, the Elite knew what it was doing after WW2, and destroying the communities and social skills of working people was probably what they were trying to accomplish with their media.

Most people are hopeless, so I guess in that sense there's not much difference. But fair enough. Gen X'ers and millennials never really stood a chance, as they were born into a confused and messy world. Boomers on the other hand knew what the old world was like. Millennials never got a taste of it.