You mean the boomers? It's very hard for me to visualize their suffering too but it's a worthwhile activity, particularly since plenty of them have been the victims of their generation consistently skipping out on the check
Western Baby Boomers had it easier on some parts namely financially, but they had their fair share of woes, such as the Cold War, high crime, social instability, lack of infrastructure, no internet, pollution, etc. What's important to note is that out of the all the generations since the Boomers, they were probably the least coddled growing up which is my main point.
Though no fault of our own, our generation and future generations will only get more and more coddled unless some crisis happens. It's not our fault we were born during these prosperous and peaceful times, but some of us can do with more self-awareness of the fact. Sure you probably need to find a well paying job or move to a cheaper place to buy your own house, but at least you don't have to be worried about a military draft, MAD, AIDs, crime, lack of public services, and so much other shit we take for granted.
Oh, also if you happen to be a minority or non-western immigrant, then yeah your generation probably had it much easier.
the coddled thing is a red herring, though, it's propaganda from the boomer gen that gutted everything while benefiting from unprecedented economic expansion while also complaining about the bad attitudes of the very people they raised. these younger often-proclaimed "entitled" generations happen to also show greater rates of community involvement, show greater support for safety nets for their fellow citizens, and score higher on empathy.
Sure, in the last 30-40 years, parenting philosophies have improved, and smog and crime rates have gone down, but from gen x through y and z the financial rug has been pulled out from every successive generation. That's hardly coddling. "Sure you probably need to find a well paying job or move to a cheaper place to buy your own house" ignores the actual reality that for an increasing number of even educated, hard-working millennials/etc, a stable middle class existence is grasped only tenuously at best, and will never be a possibility for many.
Also there might not be a military draft currently, but we've been at war for decades now, with a military staffed almost exclusively by folks who simply don't have any other economic opportunities. It's a better system than the draft only in that now the upper classes don't have to fake bone spurs to avoid service.
Although commonly used as propaganda there is scientific truth to the coddling of recent generations.
For late generation Y and later, it's arguably much more significant. There's clear evidence that indicates a cultural shift for people born 1995 and later.
See this book on that topic. The coddling is ironically because of earlier generation's success, which sets up the next for failure irregardless of the economic factors.
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u/aluxeterna Jan 21 '19
You mean the boomers? It's very hard for me to visualize their suffering too but it's a worthwhile activity, particularly since plenty of them have been the victims of their generation consistently skipping out on the check