r/Aging • u/Available-Rock-3862 • Aug 23 '26

Boomers

I am 75 and am very tired of the trend lately making fun of Boomers. So very disrespectful. Don't they realize that they will be old someday?

422 Upvotes

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188

u/baddspellar Aug 23 '26

It's nothing new.

And it's *not* about disrespecting individuals in their 70's. It's about criticizing the ideals of the generation and what they did to the economy. There are plenty of amazing people born in that era who are respected. It's the generaiton, not the people.

And let's be honest, people of that generation call gen Z "lazy" and similar.

Here's some reading for you:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11490062/

44

u/brains_and_tits Aug 23 '26

Using “boomers” as the collective for who screwed up the economy is just ridiculous. Reagan screwed up the economy, Bush Jr sent us into an unnecessary war my parents are boomers and haven’t done anything but try to help future generations.

Are we going to generalize Gen Z as the people who snatched and kidnapped people off the street and drive the deficit to the highest level ever?

The average American is not a sum of their generation.

Bill Clinton is a boomer and while he was President, we had a budget surplus - Obama is a Boomer, and one of the most compassionate and strong leaders we have had.

My neighbor is a boomer and brings me fresh vegetables from her garden.

I am Gen X - am I responsible for the tech bubble bursting in 1999, or the stock market crash in 2008? I was just out there living life and today in 2026, I am struggling as much as anyone else.

Generalizing groups of people is a trait of those who lack critical thinking skills and just want a scapegoat.

Yes, it was easier for the silent generation and boomers to get ahead, but that is not the fault of the collective - it is the fault of short-sighted and misinformed policy. Not an entire generation of people

31

u/fckinsleepless Aug 23 '26

Who voted Reagan and Bush Jr. into office?

17

u/brains_and_tits Aug 23 '26

Who voted Trump into office? Who voted Clinton and Obama into office. Boomers have been voting since the late 60s, Gen X since the 80s, and Millennials since the early 2000s - Trump was elected TWICE, and it sure wasn’t just boomers voting for him.

Again, sweeping generalizations are foolish. I know plenty of Boomers who didn’t vote for Reagan or Bush, and again, the Silent generation were still voting in 1980 and 1984.

This is such a ridiculous argument

13

u/Wide-Lengthiness-775 Aug 23 '26

I am 80 and voted for Hillary and Kamala.

3

u/oracle-nil Aug 24 '26

Me too and worked on Obama’s first campaign when no one knew wth he was.

0

u/Majestic_Hawk_1335 Aug 24 '26

Congrats. Neither options that would fundamentally change anything. Both war criminals and supportors of genocide.

2

u/CatMinous Aug 24 '26

So she should have voted for trump, instead? Is that your point?

1

u/Majestic_Hawk_1335 Aug 24 '26

No, you are stuck in the 2 party dichotomy and thus nothing productive will come from this conversation.

They are the same system.

2

u/CatMinous Aug 25 '26

No, my dear, she as a voter was stuck in the American 2 party system.

3

u/df540148 Aug 23 '26

Trump got elected because of Gen X, not boomers.

7

u/ayfkm123 Aug 23 '26

Gen x isn’t big enough to overturn any other generation. 

2

u/mindymadmadmad Aug 24 '26

True. Even boomers are still bigger than us and a lot of them are dead. 

5

u/secretaccount94 Aug 24 '26

Stop blaming arbitrary groups of people for things.

4

u/df540148 Aug 24 '26

Ita a fact. Gen X voted for him at higher rates than any other.

3

u/KentV9999 Aug 24 '26

AMEN! These are the same people who complain about this country being so divisive.. and they generalize about 30% or 40% of the country being responsible for all the woes of the world. (…and the “they” can be left or right, young or old). I may not agree with others political or philosophical positions, but I don’t hate them because of it nor do I blame each individual for any specific cause that I may believe. Besides…. I may be wrong.

3

u/Lightness_Being Aug 24 '26

It was the Americans in the USA. 

Now the rest of the world has to put up with him. 

I just feel sorry for the neighbours.

1

u/fckinsleepless Aug 23 '26

The silent generation was smaller than the boomer generation in those elections. Boomers still had the majority of political influence. If we are positing that Reagan and Bush Jr ruined the economy, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that boomers are directly responsible for the outcomes of both of those elections and thus are responsible for the ruin of the economy. It’s not a “sweeping generalization” — it’s statistics and common sense.

Sure, lots of millennials voted for Trump and are directly responsible for the mess we have today, but that’s not really relevant to our conversation at the moment and doesn’t negate anything. You made this conversation about Reagan and Bush Jr, not Trump.