The "B-word"

[Athetotheist]

This is my vent about the one type of bigotry and prejudice in which Gen-Z seems to indulge, not just with pleasure, but actually with pride. It is ageism, and specifically, the use of the B-word:

"Boomer".

Once a simple handle indicating the generation on whose tail end I was born, the B-word is now a contemptuous epithet which comes fast to the lips of a generation which doesn't seem to accept even the possibility of anyone noble, wise or valuable existing before it came along.

The word "angry" is customarily paired with the B-word in the same way----and for the same reason----that feminism is presumed "radical" and masculinity is presumed "toxic"----to summarily malign and devalue individuals by broad-brushing them with distasteful generalities.

To hear some tell it, everything.....EVERYTHING......is our fault. All the ills of the world, ills which so many of us have struggled for so long to remedy, are the only lens through which they look at us.


"Those Boomers keeping us out of the job market...."

A lot of us can't afford to retire.


"Those Boomers and their racism....."

We were in on the ground floor of the civil rights movement. The ideal of racial justice, of which you so proudly boast, came to you through us.


"Those Boomers wouldn't re-train for the jobs of the future......"

Training a twenty-year-old brain with a new skill set is probably a good deal easier than re-training a fifty-year-old brain to replace an old skill set with a new one. A generation raised to expect instant results may not understand the difficulty involved with an older generation trying to meet that expectation.

Contrary to all the cheerleading, the future is not here----not yet. This is a time of transition between an older world and a new one. As much as it may frustrate post-millenials, they'll have to put up with us for a little longer----and it would be nice if they would at least try to gain something of value from our experience before we're gone.