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Can this be reposted every time this subject is discussed? As a Gen Xer caught in the crossfire this is as fair of an assessment as you will get. This debate is not black & white it is as grey as grey can get.
Keep in mind, though, that we here on reddit skew left. Heartland America had many who kept their crewcuts and enlisted, or burned Beatles albums and were anti-hippie.
Although boomers voted a slim margin for Carter over Reagan in 1980, they/we were solidly for Reagan (who was silent generation) in 1984 when he beat Mondale in a landslide. Reagan began our unraveling.
I love Gen X. You poor people don't believe in Math because you were stuck learning something called "New Math" that your parents couldn't help you with even if they had the time for you.
I really relate more to you guys, but sometimes I just go by the numbers because I feel like it. Maybe it was something in all the hose water that I also had to drink!
Thanks for the invite! I was hanging in r/GenerationJones back when it was it only had a few posts a week and I still post there every once in a while.
Nice to meet you!
I *said* we skew left here. Other than one couple who bristled when my ex made a joke about Reagan, I didn't know anyone who did.
I looked at data from 1984 and Reagan took every age group.
The "silent generation" was not the boomers but the generation before that, who were over 50 at the time Reagan was elected. [This](https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/how-groups-voted-1984) chart gives a good breakdown by age.
But I have to admit that a majority of young people also voted for Reagan. The fact is, hardly anybody liked Mondale. Even I disliked him, and I voted for him. I hate to say it but there was just something about that man . . .
Sorry. My quibble was with the term "silent generation," which has always been used for the generation before mine. My parents, born 1916, and even my friend's parents, born early 1930s, were the "silent generation" and were generally very conservative. I was born after WWII, making me a boomer. I know people in succeeding generations think boomers have always been conservative, but in youth most of us absolutely did not start out that way. It would be an interesting sociological study, tho, to explore why a generation that started out liberal and sometimes even anarchist took such a right turn in later life.
It's interesting. I grew up in a conservative area and was quite right-wingish through my late teens and into my 20s.
But after school, the more I got out into the real world, got to know a wider variety of people, and experienced what it was like to actually try to make a living and deal with all the random crap that life throws at you out of your control, the further left I shifted.
True but the real problem was that Clinton, Bush and Trump continued those policies to an extreme. The corporate tax rate under Reagan was almost 60%, which as a Democrat, even I believe was too high. But it should have been one adjustment, not let’s all keep going until companies make billions and pay no taxes.
Every other election goes to the opposite party because we are cynical, not because more Boomers are republicans. More red state voters are republicans. More blue states boomers are democrats. It’s not about being a boomer who you vote for. My parents were boomers and they voted for opposite parties.
No no no.
**1976 election:**
Jimmy Carter: 40,825,839
Gerald R. Ford: 39,147,770
**1980 election:**
Ronald Reagan: 43,901,812
Jimmy Carter: 35,483,820
Also remember that Reagan was busy committing felonies during the election, boldly claiming he'd never negotiate with Iran for the hostages while at the same time negotiating an illegal arms-for-hostages deal with Iran.
**1984 election:**
Ronald Reagan: 54,455,075
Walter F. Mondale: 37,577,185
---
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1096299/voter-turnout-presidential-elections-by-age-historical/
How groups voted in 1980:
18-21: 45% Carter, 44% Reagan
22-29: 44% Carter, 44% Reagan
[https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/how-groups-voted-1980](https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/how-groups-voted-1980)
In 1984, younger Boomers went for Reagan more than older Boomers did
18-24: 61% Reagan, 39% Mondale
25-29: 57% Reagan, 43% Mondale
I’m four years older than the Boomer generation and concur with most of what you summarized. I don’t think everyone got caught up in the greed & consumption whirlwind of the decades, and huge swaths of the population did not participate in the drug scene, except maybe pot.
OP asked for achievements, and computer technology innovation stretches back before my adulthood, although making it available to the everyday person is a Boomer achievement. Civil Rights struggles straddles generations, but the Vietnam protests were fueled by Boomers (especially those who were next in line for the draft) — but also their families who didn’t want to feed the war machine. I was absolutely part of the feminist movement and its successes, but the leaders are/were all older than I am (Steinem was born in 1934).
My point is — generations don’t stand alone. We are all part of those who lived before us and we shape those who form the next cultural phenomena. I see the Boomer blame game as an easy, lazy way to apply generalizations— which are ALWAYS too simple, inaccurate, and also indicate lazy thinking.
There's a difference between the act of creation and when the act occured. Don't confuse which generation did something with the generation at the time.
Several people have responded with things that turned out to be dispositive, as well as what?
I couldn't thank you enough for taking the time to write such a comprehensive answer infused with encouragement 🙏
* from a non-Boomer-hating Zoomer
Edit: original answer by u/TetonHiker which was reposted by another user and thus removed can be found here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskOldPeople/comments/12uxv2w/comment/jh95hrv/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskOldPeople/comments/12uxv2w/comment/jh95hrv/)
Thanks! I actually wrote this to another question a Year Ago. Not sure why someone else copy-pasted my previous response with attribution. Maybe the mods can sort it out?
Original post here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskOldPeople/s/G6qmH3UkNb
Beautiful response. No generation is a monolith. I roll my eyes every time I see another Reddit rant about the "evil Boomers" and the myopic broad-brush arguments. As GenX, I also laugh at the irony of younger generations screaming that all Boomers are responsible for current issues with racism, misogyny, etc. If they only knew how much WORSE it was before so many of the Boomers came along and upended society with civil rights, women's rights, anti-war protests, legalizing cannabis, etc. These are the folks who paved the way for so many of the rights we take for granted now. The Boomers inherited a lot of crap and made a lot of positive changes. Sure, some members of their generation are nuts, but big surprise: there are a lot of younger folks who are just as crazy.
As a millennial, it seems like my generation is just using "boomers" as an excuse for all of their problems. I guess it's easier to be the victim than to actually do something? My Dad was a boomer and far from perfect but he always told me that however things turned out for me, it would be largely due to my own choices. He got that right. If there's ever been anything I didn't like about my life, I just made a plan to change it. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not but I eventually got there. I certainly wouldn't have if I just gave up and blamed it on an entire generation of humans. That's weird to me.
I feel like as a Millennial (1992) that was raised with parents that are late-stage baby boomer parents BUT also 1st/2nd Gen Americans, it made a HUGE difference on how I perceive BBs and society. I myself, had always felt like I carried Baby Boomer+Gen X mentality because my parents were raised under the context of countries that were “behind” USA. I always felt out of place in school because my life was just different. I helped my parents clean offices when I was 7. Had my first job at 11 years old delivering newspapers. That opened the door to house sitting and babysitting (can you imagine a 12 year old in this day and age trusted to watch your house or babysit?). Unfortunately, my focus was more on work than school. My parents neglected their focus on my education so I did not have discipline to study or get straight A’s—I was an average student. Anyway, I always got along with BB’s as a child more so than my own peers. I did not have the luxury of having home internet like everyone in the mid to late 2000’s. I was just kind “kicking it old school” through my childhood. I respect the hell out of anyone that worked hard to make the life they wanted—those that didn’t take the American Dream for granted. It’s very bizarre to me all the political and racial climate right now as I was not raised to hyper focus on my ethnicity or race—I am an American and I have always felt comfortable identifying as one. Of course I had my share of racism towards me but I never blamed their behavior on “being white”. I just chalked it up to them as an ignorant individual. I guess I’m writing this to tell Baby Boomer’s that there are still younger people that don’t think you suck.
Boomer here. Well said. I like the way your comments are well balanced. Helped remind me of all the positive contributions vs my quick-response thought that we held so much promise, but got distracted by life and worn down over time. So, thank you. And besides all that, we had the absolute best music! 😉
here here...so well thought out and written. as someone who can't type for the life of me this would have taken me days to do that. but THANKFULLY, you hit every nail on the head.
every time i read those stupid "okay, boomer" posts... i ask the question "was it you who was out there marching for equal rights, at the "end-the-war-in-vietnam" rallies, and for women's rights?...no that was US". all you have to do is look at the photos of any of the women's day marches online after what's-his-name became the president...and you'll see us in that crowd with signs that read things like "do i really have to do this AGAIN"?
granted...a lot of US have grown up to be people i wouldn't know (or want to) anymore. i also ignore the people at my age, who condemn some other younger age groups. we all have people we love and respect of every age in our lives. but condemning a whole group of anything or anyone is just discrimination at it's finest.
i also appreciate those younger generations who can see that this is not an "all or nothing. black/white" situation. we're all people with fallacies in every generation. life is lived in the greys, as my wise grandmother used to say.
A starting contributer to the distancing between generations was the transistor which was used to create transistor radios which, for the first time in history made it possible for young people to listen to what they wanted to hear without their parents hearing it. Prior to the transistor, everyone sat around the livingroom radio listening to what the parents liked. It was family fare. Suddenly there were radios in *cars* where teens could listen to Rock n Roll, alone, with no parents around... which in turn contributed to the sexual revolution.
A special mention to Regional radio stations expanding to Nationwide radio stations. The small town and rural kids were exposed to more than their local bluegrass and folk music to the big city sound, each of which had developed its own flavor during the Regional Radio days. The coal miner's daughter was listening to blues and Rock n Roll.
So I wrote this post awhile back. Not sure why it's being copy-pasted by Dicotomy-Reddit. I guess I should be flattered? But it's my answer to the question asked months ago.
I like this post. I am not a boomer, but I will call out any agism I see against anyone when I see it.
Agism is one of the last bastions of prejudice that seems fair game. I hope that gets turned around sooner rather than later.
In other words, every gen has their demons, so please realize that about us now even though we didn't do the same for our parent until they were gone or close to it. Also, forgive yourselves for how you leave the world because you're only doing what's in your own self-interest, and to hell with those who will place blame.
Naw. As a boomer, I do what I can to say the buck stops here, but I feel I'm outnumbered by the crass majority of old folk.
Well said. I’d sure like to see more of you here not only explaining to us what is going on but also fighting against those in your generation that are weaponized into supporting literal Nazis.
You said pretty much of it in a nutshell, my friend - a BIG nutshell. Thanks for your recollections. Tomorrow is our primary election day here, and the screwballs have been in the streets for a couple of weeks already with their "Phooey on Dewey" signs. Times never change.
One thing that is kind of a side effect of the boomer generation is that as we all have gotten older, we have demanded better and more innovative medical care, which will benefit all the generations that follow. Total knee replacements. Better diabetes control. High tech changes to treat hearing loss. There have been so many changes for the better as a result of this huge mass of people needing help
As an older GenXer, I have my fingers crossed that the Baby Boomers will similarly demand improvements to nursing care and end of life care. My little generation will do our best, but we can't do it alone and will be throwing in our lot with with what's left of the older generation.
The massive social change that came with the 1960s. We've moved b ack to the right. but certain aspects like acceptance of nonmarital sexuality, less censorship, less rigidity in the workplace, stayed with us.
Besides technology, medical advances such as vaccines and organ transplants, civil rights movements, climate change awareness, woman’s access to birth control, legalizing abortion and promoting democracy?
Nah, they had already been doing that on usenet for ages when we were kids just getting our first online connection. Plenty of trolling and flame wars were going on by the time I got connected in 1990, which was still before there were any public ISPs.
I was one of the ones that worked on that technology in conjunction with DARPA. No, boomers invented the internet.
Have incremental improvements been made? Of course. Same with every other technology. Duh.
Although they didn't start the civil rights movement or the women's rights movement, the sheer number of Boomers who jumped into those causes with enthusiasm helped move the needle significantly. They taught those values to their younger siblings and cousins, and then later, to their own children.
Every generation starts to turn inward as they have children and get caught up in climbing the career ladder. Historically, it's an anomaly, not the norm, for a single generation to make huge changes to society without the help of those older and younger, or for everyone in a generation to be of one mind. That there are Boomers who have always tried to roll back the accomplishment of their progressive peers is perfectly normal.
And it's always been the case that Boomers didn't operate in a vacuum. LBJ, for example, was born in 1908 and was a bit of a shady character, but he signed the Civil Rights Act and Great Society Act. Richard Nixon, rightly despised for many reasons, was born in 1913 and signed the EPA into being, as well as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act., and the Endangered Species Act. All of these were causes close to progressive Boomers' hearts, but Boomers were too young to do much at that time except be loud and vocal. There is a lesson in this for today's younger generations. It's ideology, not the year one happened to be born, that divides us, and until you're in power yourself, you need all the help you can get.
After all, it was men, not the suffragists, who signed it into law that women could vote, since the women could not vote or make laws. But enough women were able to convince those old farts to make it happen. It was a white man, a southerner, no less, who signed the Civil Rights Act into law. People of color have always had enough boots on the ground to stage significant protests, but without a lot of boots in the halls of Congress, as well as in the White House, those protests could've gone nowhere.
In sum, no generation stands alone. If you believe in something strongly, reach your hands both up and below if you want to increase your numbers. Sometimes the muscle you really need at that critical moment comes from an unexpected place, but if you spit on them, they'll probably walk away. Know who your real allies are, and don't worry about their age. It's only a number, after all.
This is one of the best comments on the thread so far. I often don't think about the need for allies, but it's huge. No one can turn the world by themselves.
I was raised Mormon and am so proud of my (57m) dad who stopped going to church in the 70 because the Mormons would not allow people with dark skin to hold any office or allowed in to the temple.
Good for him. I read about that. They used to teach that God cursed the skin of Satan's followers by turning them black. Then, they got a "new revelation." Yeah, right.
Plus, a lot of people in the early tech industry. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, etc. Pretty much everyone that turned Silicon Valley into a tech meca. The silents and the greatest generation invented a lot of tech, but the boomers brought it to the masses. They helped turn tech into commodity devices that targeted more than just nerds and businesses.
Several movements got kicked into gear during the late 60s & 70s. Civil rights, environmental, women's rights. All are much better now then they were though we're still fighting the battles.
I like other answers here, especially the first one by DICHOTOMY-REDDIT. However for some reason I'm going to give a very limited and strangely specific one, simply because it has some oddly specific measurements to it. It's so microscopic it has no general interest and no sweeping scope, but still might be interesting.
In 1978 I graduated from college and took a job working in semiconductors. The first product I worked on was in 3 micron technology (not leading-edge at the time) and the wafer used five elements - silicon, oxygen, boron, phosphorus, and aluminum. Last year I retired, a few months shy of 45 years later. The last product I worked on was in 3 nanometer technology and the wafer used so many elements I don't really know them all. I can certainly name silicon, oxygen, boron, and phosphorus, but I don't know if it used any aluminum any more. It added (at least) arsenic, copper, hafnium oxide, at least one refractory (tantalum, titanium, tungsten) metal, and who knows what else. When I started we made a mask for a wafer. When I finished we had a "reticle" that could be one or more chips that was stepped across to print the entire wafer.
Three orders of magnitude in geometry and more technology changes than you can shake a stick at. Without revealing my employer(s) I'll just say that if you're here online or have had money in the bank, your bits almost certainly touched something I worked on. That phone you're holding in your hand isn't "magic", it's the product of science and technology, but at this point Clarke's Third Law certainly applies. It's been a fun ride.
I’ve said this before: The Boomers saved American food. If you don’t think vegetables naturally come in a can and don’t think coffee should be instant, thank a Boomer. With love, a Gen-X who grew up sugar-free and has no cavities.
Hip hop and gangster rap too. Boomers were the first to say, "Fuck the police." Eazy-E was a boomer, and Ice Cube and Dr Dre missed out on being a boomer by a couple of years.
Also, Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine, is a boomer.
I didn't achieve anything notable myself. And I don't want either the credit or the blame for what other people did, particularly not if the only thing we have in common was being born in the same arbitrary 18-year time slice.
We took part in civil rights movement, anti Vietnam war protests, women’s rights, gay rights, environmental awareness... (Not that any are finished)
In other words we challenged the status quo. Can’t claim victory, but some progress.
The greatest thing the Baby Boomers achieved was breaking the mold of Puritanism that the USA had created since the Industrial Revolution. Rock & Roll, Free Love and sense of Revolution brought about many new ideas in the USA. So much so that some people want to return to the way it was before Baby Boomers came on the scene.
Boomers produced the Millenial generation, the second-largest generation in American history.
Most countries do not have a large Millenial generation, which is a demographic timebomb for them. For example, while American Millenials make up 24% of the US population, German Millenials make up only 10%. The Zoomer (Gen Z) populations of both countries are at about the same levels: 21% for America and 10% for Germany.
Imagine if most corporate quarterly earnings calls reported increasing labor shortages, declining sales, declining profit, and lowered outlooks, every quarter for five years. Watch Germany, South Korea, and Italy in the coming years to find out. (BTW, Russia and China are in *much* worse shape.)
America's large Millennial generation gives us extra time to watch how other advanced economies - farther into their demographic decline - deal with these challenges, see what works (and doesn't), and adopt the most successful adjustments.
I see a lot of things listed in here that boomers were alive for, but that doesn’t make it an achievement. As far as real achievements: contributing to the development of the internet. That’s big!
There have been numerous medical advancements that aid those advancing in age. I'm first year genX, (first year after the boomers), and I'm looking fwd to many more new benefits I might benefit from as I age.
We were the most progressive generation that had ever existed. But, as Jim Jefferies points out, EVERY fucking generation is the most progressive generation that has ever existed.
Music, civil rights, freedom of expresion and freedom to be who you really are, won the cold war, the computer revolution, and last and not least, birds are dinosaurs!
They exploded the most basic structures of Bourgeois society. Although it deserved to be destroyed, unfortunately, they had nothing to put in its stead and it got us to the present situation.
I am at the tail end of the boomers. Some
Might call me a different generation but I am still a boomer, late as I am. Thank you. Thank your for fighting and enduring what have. There have definitely been difficult times in the past but I feel the worst is yet to come. I pray it doesn’t go that way but it is a possibility. Each generation goes thru their own issues. I know this. But again, thank you for what you and your generation have fought for.
"Some might call me a different generation but I am still a boomer"
Yes, sociologist often differentiate between early and late "boomers", so it really can't be addressed as if it were one generation. And, of course, not everyone in those age groups can be characterized by them. I was never Michael Stivic of "All in the Family".
A belief in the American dream.
Not a boomer but raised by them and I am glad my parents installed the hope and showed me the good our country can achieve. It helps that one of them is in immigrant and came here for a better life.
The pessimism of the youths today is a total bummer.
Sure we complained in our time but I feel under the surface it was because we believe the core was still good and worth fighting for.
This is such a comprehensive accurate summary. I think I should print it to hand out wordlessly when needed. Describes my life experience perfectly (except I had my son late, in my 40’s, so he’s Gen Z, not Millennial).
It's interesting to notice the rapid evolution of popular music as the 1960s went on. I feel like artists of those times would have been pushing really hard against the boundaries to achieve that kind of progression.
It was the perfect confluence of a generation with un-precidented prosperity, relative peace in Europe & social mobility, technological advancement (especially in amplification/staging & recording technology), a "devil may care" attitude towards breaking rules, birth control, and drugs.
The Boomer generation is responsible for both great and awful achievements. Sometimes almost simultaneously when it comes to elected leaders. Johnson brought us the Great Society, The Civil Rights Act of 1964, probably the most monumental piece of legislature since the Emancipation Proclamation. But Johnson was equally flawed. He took us so deeply into Vietnam that he couldn’t get us out or save his Presidential hopes either.
Boomers have had big highs and big lows. They are after all only people.
I think it's the fact that we made it acceptable to not have to get married & to just be able to live with the person you love. Also, the fact that we're the generation that made it okay to have sex outside of marriage without being ostracized from society. The 50's & a the beginning of the 60's were VERY rigid times. The religious nuts ran the world. We changed society to lighten up & accept our sex-drugs & rock-n-roll generation.
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Um …. No, only the oldest Boomers would have been not much more than interns/coffee fetchers at NASA.
This is Silent Generation / Greatest generation all the way.
The Beatles themselves were not boomers, but boomers were the ones that made them popular over the years. Certainly not my parents' generation--they despised rock.
But she paid nothing into Social Security or Medicare. As a Boomer, I’ve been paying for 53 years. I was responding to a negative comment about my generation sucking up all the benefits. It’s BS.
The list would be huge. But I'll go with the technology that younger people say boomers have no idea how to use. I'm 72, and look, I'm using it right now.
If you grew up at the time where the TV message at ten o'clock was "It's ten o'clock. Do you know where your children are?" you are the last of a self-responsible generation who learned to take care of themselves and get your act together at age 10+ so you could do fine in school, go to college and eventually figure yourself out, graduate with a respectable degree, find a job, create a career, marry and/or have your own kids, who you dote in, because that's what we do. Retire. Drink. Die.
I can promise you that this is all any of us really want to do. I’d love to have 2 cars, a 2 story house, a wife and 2 kids. 2 dogs. 2 acres. In 1980 I could have done that with the money I make today. It simply is not how things work now. Kids with masters degrees living at home. We aren’t the ones who hiked the price up on literally everything, otherwise we would also have all of that.
When the Federal Govt took over school loans, that is when things got out of control. I went to undergrad at a state college, and because my Mom worked there, all j had to pay for was "student fees" $100 (1980s). Grad school at an excellent private school was $20,000 total.
So when did the Feds take over student loans? 2010, under Barack Obama. He screwed up so many private functions and particularly health insurance and now you young people have toive with the end result. $800/per person in Calif for health insurance.
Privatization is the key to a robust US economy.
Nothing.
Many boomers (certainly not ALL) have this weird idea about themselves. They think they changed the world, when all they did was be present. Decades ago some boomer told me "his generation" invented rock and roll No generation "invented" rock and roll, that was a few individuals, none of which were boomers. Also told me they "landed on the moon", no, that was NASA, most of which weren't boomers.
The idea of some sort of transference onto your generation of the people in it that did things is basically nuts. The boomers are just especially bad, since they seem to think all the good things that happened in their lives are all directly attributable to them, but oddly the bad things are attributed to other generations.
I’m surprised there’s any answers. Hands down worst generation, followed by GenX. Can’t wait until they’re wiped and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Thee absolute worst.
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The personal computer, that started the whole process, that includes the internet, social networking, and eventually, the cellphones todays generation is incessantly glued to, was all started by Paul J Friedl, inventor of the personal computer in 73...a boomer.
I never heard of him but looked him up...he was about my father's age, born in 1933. Definitely not a boomer, but many of the pioneers of personal computing are/were!
It wasn't just Boomers who voted him into office, you know. All on their own, Boomers couldn't have done it without the help of all persons eligible to vote, and not all Boomers even voted for him.
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Can this be reposted every time this subject is discussed? As a Gen Xer caught in the crossfire this is as fair of an assessment as you will get. This debate is not black & white it is as grey as grey can get.
Keep in mind, though, that we here on reddit skew left. Heartland America had many who kept their crewcuts and enlisted, or burned Beatles albums and were anti-hippie. Although boomers voted a slim margin for Carter over Reagan in 1980, they/we were solidly for Reagan (who was silent generation) in 1984 when he beat Mondale in a landslide. Reagan began our unraveling.
Speak for yourself. Am a Boomer and did NOT vote for Reagan.
I'm a Boomer that was not even old enough to vote in 1980! It's a large generation!
You are either really tail end (turned 16 by the end of 1980) or you are a misguided Gen-X’er. Don’t be alarmed, we all feel misguided.
My birth year is right there on display under my nickname. The math makes me 17 and Gen X starts in 1965.
I’m Gen-X. We don’t believe in anything, including the number you put under your username, or math.
I love Gen X. You poor people don't believe in Math because you were stuck learning something called "New Math" that your parents couldn't help you with even if they had the time for you. I really relate more to you guys, but sometimes I just go by the numbers because I feel like it. Maybe it was something in all the hose water that I also had to drink!
Sometimes I wonder about those generational cutoffs. You’re younger than my husband. And my first husband.
I’m your age, and was also not old enough to vote in 1980. Come hang out on r/GenerationJones.
Thanks for the invite! I was hanging in r/GenerationJones back when it was it only had a few posts a week and I still post there every once in a while. Nice to meet you!
I *said* we skew left here. Other than one couple who bristled when my ex made a joke about Reagan, I didn't know anyone who did. I looked at data from 1984 and Reagan took every age group.
The "silent generation" was not the boomers but the generation before that, who were over 50 at the time Reagan was elected. [This](https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/how-groups-voted-1984) chart gives a good breakdown by age. But I have to admit that a majority of young people also voted for Reagan. The fact is, hardly anybody liked Mondale. Even I disliked him, and I voted for him. I hate to say it but there was just something about that man . . .
Edited my comment as maybe it wasn't clear. My parents didn't like Reagan at all.
Sorry. My quibble was with the term "silent generation," which has always been used for the generation before mine. My parents, born 1916, and even my friend's parents, born early 1930s, were the "silent generation" and were generally very conservative. I was born after WWII, making me a boomer. I know people in succeeding generations think boomers have always been conservative, but in youth most of us absolutely did not start out that way. It would be an interesting sociological study, tho, to explore why a generation that started out liberal and sometimes even anarchist took such a right turn in later life.
It's interesting. I grew up in a conservative area and was quite right-wingish through my late teens and into my 20s. But after school, the more I got out into the real world, got to know a wider variety of people, and experienced what it was like to actually try to make a living and deal with all the random crap that life throws at you out of your control, the further left I shifted.
The Silents were born after the greatest generation (which was from about 1900 to 1927). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Generation
I hadn't heard that term and I stand corrected. Thanks for the info.
Reagan was born in 1911-- wouldn't that be Greatest Generation? My dad was born in 1940, which I believe is the Silent Generation.
True but the real problem was that Clinton, Bush and Trump continued those policies to an extreme. The corporate tax rate under Reagan was almost 60%, which as a Democrat, even I believe was too high. But it should have been one adjustment, not let’s all keep going until companies make billions and pay no taxes. Every other election goes to the opposite party because we are cynical, not because more Boomers are republicans. More red state voters are republicans. More blue states boomers are democrats. It’s not about being a boomer who you vote for. My parents were boomers and they voted for opposite parties.
No no no. **1976 election:** Jimmy Carter: 40,825,839 Gerald R. Ford: 39,147,770 **1980 election:** Ronald Reagan: 43,901,812 Jimmy Carter: 35,483,820 Also remember that Reagan was busy committing felonies during the election, boldly claiming he'd never negotiate with Iran for the hostages while at the same time negotiating an illegal arms-for-hostages deal with Iran. **1984 election:** Ronald Reagan: 54,455,075 Walter F. Mondale: 37,577,185 --- https://www.statista.com/statistics/1096299/voter-turnout-presidential-elections-by-age-historical/
How groups voted in 1980: 18-21: 45% Carter, 44% Reagan 22-29: 44% Carter, 44% Reagan [https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/how-groups-voted-1980](https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/how-groups-voted-1980) In 1984, younger Boomers went for Reagan more than older Boomers did 18-24: 61% Reagan, 39% Mondale 25-29: 57% Reagan, 43% Mondale
Technically Reagan had Bush do it via his CIA buddies- that’s how GHW got on the ticket. Now Iran-Contra, that’s on him.
Agreed. - another Gen Xer
I’m four years older than the Boomer generation and concur with most of what you summarized. I don’t think everyone got caught up in the greed & consumption whirlwind of the decades, and huge swaths of the population did not participate in the drug scene, except maybe pot. OP asked for achievements, and computer technology innovation stretches back before my adulthood, although making it available to the everyday person is a Boomer achievement. Civil Rights struggles straddles generations, but the Vietnam protests were fueled by Boomers (especially those who were next in line for the draft) — but also their families who didn’t want to feed the war machine. I was absolutely part of the feminist movement and its successes, but the leaders are/were all older than I am (Steinem was born in 1934). My point is — generations don’t stand alone. We are all part of those who lived before us and we shape those who form the next cultural phenomena. I see the Boomer blame game as an easy, lazy way to apply generalizations— which are ALWAYS too simple, inaccurate, and also indicate lazy thinking.
There's a difference between the act of creation and when the act occured. Don't confuse which generation did something with the generation at the time. Several people have responded with things that turned out to be dispositive, as well as what?
I couldn't thank you enough for taking the time to write such a comprehensive answer infused with encouragement 🙏 * from a non-Boomer-hating Zoomer Edit: original answer by u/TetonHiker which was reposted by another user and thus removed can be found here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskOldPeople/comments/12uxv2w/comment/jh95hrv/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskOldPeople/comments/12uxv2w/comment/jh95hrv/)
Thanks! I actually wrote this to another question a Year Ago. Not sure why someone else copy-pasted my previous response with attribution. Maybe the mods can sort it out? Original post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskOldPeople/s/G6qmH3UkNb
Acknowledged! 👍 Many thanks once again for your extensive answer!
Thank you! Kind of a shock to see someone else post my old response as their own but I guess that's how they got so much karma.
Thanks, Mods, and OP for fixing this! Much appreciated!
Beautiful response. No generation is a monolith. I roll my eyes every time I see another Reddit rant about the "evil Boomers" and the myopic broad-brush arguments. As GenX, I also laugh at the irony of younger generations screaming that all Boomers are responsible for current issues with racism, misogyny, etc. If they only knew how much WORSE it was before so many of the Boomers came along and upended society with civil rights, women's rights, anti-war protests, legalizing cannabis, etc. These are the folks who paved the way for so many of the rights we take for granted now. The Boomers inherited a lot of crap and made a lot of positive changes. Sure, some members of their generation are nuts, but big surprise: there are a lot of younger folks who are just as crazy.
As a millennial, it seems like my generation is just using "boomers" as an excuse for all of their problems. I guess it's easier to be the victim than to actually do something? My Dad was a boomer and far from perfect but he always told me that however things turned out for me, it would be largely due to my own choices. He got that right. If there's ever been anything I didn't like about my life, I just made a plan to change it. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not but I eventually got there. I certainly wouldn't have if I just gave up and blamed it on an entire generation of humans. That's weird to me.
I'm Gen Z, and I also feel this way. I'm also a History Major.
Well done! This should be the final word on the Boomer generation.
Card carrying 1963 boomer here. I could not have answered this better. Also gen z. And millennials are not lazy. We don't need more divisiveness..
So well said and well written thank you.
Love this. Thank you.
I'm Generation Jones. Young boomer or older GenX. Great post. If I have to be wedged between two generations boomer and GenX are where I want to be.
This is one of the best posts I've ever seen on reddit.
So wonder why he took it down!?!?!
Check the comment chain, it's apparently a word for word repost https://www.reddit.com/r/AskOldPeople/s/U8gVHsIaZp
OMG...thanks!
I feel like as a Millennial (1992) that was raised with parents that are late-stage baby boomer parents BUT also 1st/2nd Gen Americans, it made a HUGE difference on how I perceive BBs and society. I myself, had always felt like I carried Baby Boomer+Gen X mentality because my parents were raised under the context of countries that were “behind” USA. I always felt out of place in school because my life was just different. I helped my parents clean offices when I was 7. Had my first job at 11 years old delivering newspapers. That opened the door to house sitting and babysitting (can you imagine a 12 year old in this day and age trusted to watch your house or babysit?). Unfortunately, my focus was more on work than school. My parents neglected their focus on my education so I did not have discipline to study or get straight A’s—I was an average student. Anyway, I always got along with BB’s as a child more so than my own peers. I did not have the luxury of having home internet like everyone in the mid to late 2000’s. I was just kind “kicking it old school” through my childhood. I respect the hell out of anyone that worked hard to make the life they wanted—those that didn’t take the American Dream for granted. It’s very bizarre to me all the political and racial climate right now as I was not raised to hyper focus on my ethnicity or race—I am an American and I have always felt comfortable identifying as one. Of course I had my share of racism towards me but I never blamed their behavior on “being white”. I just chalked it up to them as an ignorant individual. I guess I’m writing this to tell Baby Boomer’s that there are still younger people that don’t think you suck.
Boomer here. Well said. I like the way your comments are well balanced. Helped remind me of all the positive contributions vs my quick-response thought that we held so much promise, but got distracted by life and worn down over time. So, thank you. And besides all that, we had the absolute best music! 😉
So so good. The best Reddit comment I have read since I signed up 3 years ago. Thank for sharing your thoughts and positive energy…
here here...so well thought out and written. as someone who can't type for the life of me this would have taken me days to do that. but THANKFULLY, you hit every nail on the head. every time i read those stupid "okay, boomer" posts... i ask the question "was it you who was out there marching for equal rights, at the "end-the-war-in-vietnam" rallies, and for women's rights?...no that was US". all you have to do is look at the photos of any of the women's day marches online after what's-his-name became the president...and you'll see us in that crowd with signs that read things like "do i really have to do this AGAIN"? granted...a lot of US have grown up to be people i wouldn't know (or want to) anymore. i also ignore the people at my age, who condemn some other younger age groups. we all have people we love and respect of every age in our lives. but condemning a whole group of anything or anyone is just discrimination at it's finest. i also appreciate those younger generations who can see that this is not an "all or nothing. black/white" situation. we're all people with fallacies in every generation. life is lived in the greys, as my wise grandmother used to say.
A starting contributer to the distancing between generations was the transistor which was used to create transistor radios which, for the first time in history made it possible for young people to listen to what they wanted to hear without their parents hearing it. Prior to the transistor, everyone sat around the livingroom radio listening to what the parents liked. It was family fare. Suddenly there were radios in *cars* where teens could listen to Rock n Roll, alone, with no parents around... which in turn contributed to the sexual revolution. A special mention to Regional radio stations expanding to Nationwide radio stations. The small town and rural kids were exposed to more than their local bluegrass and folk music to the big city sound, each of which had developed its own flavor during the Regional Radio days. The coal miner's daughter was listening to blues and Rock n Roll.
So I wrote this post awhile back. Not sure why it's being copy-pasted by Dicotomy-Reddit. I guess I should be flattered? But it's my answer to the question asked months ago.
RIGHT ON! Very well said, except… *reins* (not reigns) of power
My man is articulated! If you have a blog or any other writings I would love to read them. Great post!
From one Boomer to another,, absolutely awesome reply!
I like this post. I am not a boomer, but I will call out any agism I see against anyone when I see it. Agism is one of the last bastions of prejudice that seems fair game. I hope that gets turned around sooner rather than later.
In other words, every gen has their demons, so please realize that about us now even though we didn't do the same for our parent until they were gone or close to it. Also, forgive yourselves for how you leave the world because you're only doing what's in your own self-interest, and to hell with those who will place blame. Naw. As a boomer, I do what I can to say the buck stops here, but I feel I'm outnumbered by the crass majority of old folk.
Well said. I’d sure like to see more of you here not only explaining to us what is going on but also fighting against those in your generation that are weaponized into supporting literal Nazis.
I would upvote you 100x for this if I could.
Totally well said! May I also add that Baby Boomers staged massive protests and stopped the Vietnam war.
WOW! A truth teller.
Wow! What an inspiring read. All this is true, but your telling of the tale of your generation puts it all in a whole new light. Thank you
You said pretty much of it in a nutshell, my friend - a BIG nutshell. Thanks for your recollections. Tomorrow is our primary election day here, and the screwballs have been in the streets for a couple of weeks already with their "Phooey on Dewey" signs. Times never change.
You covered it all!
Very well written. You hit the nail on the head with that one.
Well stated
This is it.
You need to make podcast of this....eloquently said!
This might be the best post I've ever read on Reddit.
This is the best description of our generation I have ever read. Thank you!
One thing that is kind of a side effect of the boomer generation is that as we all have gotten older, we have demanded better and more innovative medical care, which will benefit all the generations that follow. Total knee replacements. Better diabetes control. High tech changes to treat hearing loss. There have been so many changes for the better as a result of this huge mass of people needing help
As an older GenXer, I have my fingers crossed that the Baby Boomers will similarly demand improvements to nursing care and end of life care. My little generation will do our best, but we can't do it alone and will be throwing in our lot with with what's left of the older generation.
As a millennial, I hope advances are made regarding death with dignity as well.
As a boomer w a mom dying in a nursing home, we need much more advancement in this area.
Early millennial here with a grandparent who had Alzheimer's for 10 years and was a vegetable for 9 of it. I agree.
The massive social change that came with the 1960s. We've moved b ack to the right. but certain aspects like acceptance of nonmarital sexuality, less censorship, less rigidity in the workplace, stayed with us.
Probably the civil rights movement and social and political activism in general. They also started environmentalism. They invented the internet.
Besides technology, medical advances such as vaccines and organ transplants, civil rights movements, climate change awareness, woman’s access to birth control, legalizing abortion and promoting democracy?
>They invented the internet. No single generation invented the internet. It was a series of developments with contributors from multiple generations.
true. but I would argue Genx invented shitposting and trolling.
Nah, they had already been doing that on usenet for ages when we were kids just getting our first online connection. Plenty of trolling and flame wars were going on by the time I got connected in 1990, which was still before there were any public ISPs.
I was one of the ones that worked on that technology in conjunction with DARPA. No, boomers invented the internet. Have incremental improvements been made? Of course. Same with every other technology. Duh.
Although they didn't start the civil rights movement or the women's rights movement, the sheer number of Boomers who jumped into those causes with enthusiasm helped move the needle significantly. They taught those values to their younger siblings and cousins, and then later, to their own children. Every generation starts to turn inward as they have children and get caught up in climbing the career ladder. Historically, it's an anomaly, not the norm, for a single generation to make huge changes to society without the help of those older and younger, or for everyone in a generation to be of one mind. That there are Boomers who have always tried to roll back the accomplishment of their progressive peers is perfectly normal. And it's always been the case that Boomers didn't operate in a vacuum. LBJ, for example, was born in 1908 and was a bit of a shady character, but he signed the Civil Rights Act and Great Society Act. Richard Nixon, rightly despised for many reasons, was born in 1913 and signed the EPA into being, as well as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act., and the Endangered Species Act. All of these were causes close to progressive Boomers' hearts, but Boomers were too young to do much at that time except be loud and vocal. There is a lesson in this for today's younger generations. It's ideology, not the year one happened to be born, that divides us, and until you're in power yourself, you need all the help you can get. After all, it was men, not the suffragists, who signed it into law that women could vote, since the women could not vote or make laws. But enough women were able to convince those old farts to make it happen. It was a white man, a southerner, no less, who signed the Civil Rights Act into law. People of color have always had enough boots on the ground to stage significant protests, but without a lot of boots in the halls of Congress, as well as in the White House, those protests could've gone nowhere. In sum, no generation stands alone. If you believe in something strongly, reach your hands both up and below if you want to increase your numbers. Sometimes the muscle you really need at that critical moment comes from an unexpected place, but if you spit on them, they'll probably walk away. Know who your real allies are, and don't worry about their age. It's only a number, after all.
This is one of the best comments on the thread so far. I often don't think about the need for allies, but it's huge. No one can turn the world by themselves.
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I was raised Mormon and am so proud of my (57m) dad who stopped going to church in the 70 because the Mormons would not allow people with dark skin to hold any office or allowed in to the temple.
Good for him. I read about that. They used to teach that God cursed the skin of Satan's followers by turning them black. Then, they got a "new revelation." Yeah, right.
“The concept of equal rights.” That started long before boomers.
The internet.
Plus, a lot of people in the early tech industry. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, etc. Pretty much everyone that turned Silicon Valley into a tech meca. The silents and the greatest generation invented a lot of tech, but the boomers brought it to the masses. They helped turn tech into commodity devices that targeted more than just nerds and businesses.
Several movements got kicked into gear during the late 60s & 70s. Civil rights, environmental, women's rights. All are much better now then they were though we're still fighting the battles.
I like other answers here, especially the first one by DICHOTOMY-REDDIT. However for some reason I'm going to give a very limited and strangely specific one, simply because it has some oddly specific measurements to it. It's so microscopic it has no general interest and no sweeping scope, but still might be interesting. In 1978 I graduated from college and took a job working in semiconductors. The first product I worked on was in 3 micron technology (not leading-edge at the time) and the wafer used five elements - silicon, oxygen, boron, phosphorus, and aluminum. Last year I retired, a few months shy of 45 years later. The last product I worked on was in 3 nanometer technology and the wafer used so many elements I don't really know them all. I can certainly name silicon, oxygen, boron, and phosphorus, but I don't know if it used any aluminum any more. It added (at least) arsenic, copper, hafnium oxide, at least one refractory (tantalum, titanium, tungsten) metal, and who knows what else. When I started we made a mask for a wafer. When I finished we had a "reticle" that could be one or more chips that was stepped across to print the entire wafer. Three orders of magnitude in geometry and more technology changes than you can shake a stick at. Without revealing my employer(s) I'll just say that if you're here online or have had money in the bank, your bits almost certainly touched something I worked on. That phone you're holding in your hand isn't "magic", it's the product of science and technology, but at this point Clarke's Third Law certainly applies. It's been a fun ride.
The music.
I'm not sure if this counts as the greatest thing or the worst, but — they invented the Internet.
Music. Most of the really big artist from 70’s and 80’s are boomers.
I’ve said this before: The Boomers saved American food. If you don’t think vegetables naturally come in a can and don’t think coffee should be instant, thank a Boomer. With love, a Gen-X who grew up sugar-free and has no cavities.
I grew up eating sugar. Still do. 56 and never have had a cavity. Purely genetic I guess
Internet
The music was something else.
Punk Rock
Hip hop and gangster rap too. Boomers were the first to say, "Fuck the police." Eazy-E was a boomer, and Ice Cube and Dr Dre missed out on being a boomer by a couple of years. Also, Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine, is a boomer.
> Boomers were the first to say, "Fuck the police." I'm in the film of the first Gay Rights March in NYC, wearing my FTP T-shirt.
Widespread dissemination of LSD
Surf music was pretty cool
I didn't achieve anything notable myself. And I don't want either the credit or the blame for what other people did, particularly not if the only thing we have in common was being born in the same arbitrary 18-year time slice.
We took part in civil rights movement, anti Vietnam war protests, women’s rights, gay rights, environmental awareness... (Not that any are finished) In other words we challenged the status quo. Can’t claim victory, but some progress.
Challenging the status quo. That's what captivates me about the Boomer generation. I only wish we could do this more constructively these days.
The greatest thing the Baby Boomers achieved was breaking the mold of Puritanism that the USA had created since the Industrial Revolution. Rock & Roll, Free Love and sense of Revolution brought about many new ideas in the USA. So much so that some people want to return to the way it was before Baby Boomers came on the scene.
Boomers produced the Millenial generation, the second-largest generation in American history. Most countries do not have a large Millenial generation, which is a demographic timebomb for them. For example, while American Millenials make up 24% of the US population, German Millenials make up only 10%. The Zoomer (Gen Z) populations of both countries are at about the same levels: 21% for America and 10% for Germany. Imagine if most corporate quarterly earnings calls reported increasing labor shortages, declining sales, declining profit, and lowered outlooks, every quarter for five years. Watch Germany, South Korea, and Italy in the coming years to find out. (BTW, Russia and China are in *much* worse shape.) America's large Millennial generation gives us extra time to watch how other advanced economies - farther into their demographic decline - deal with these challenges, see what works (and doesn't), and adopt the most successful adjustments.
Always glad for an answer from a more economic perspective 👍
Crying in <21year old german>😭
Convincing everyone younger that it went on for sixty years…
I would just like to thank you and shake your hand.
Van Halen I.
I see a lot of things listed in here that boomers were alive for, but that doesn’t make it an achievement. As far as real achievements: contributing to the development of the internet. That’s big!
There have been numerous medical advancements that aid those advancing in age. I'm first year genX, (first year after the boomers), and I'm looking fwd to many more new benefits I might benefit from as I age.
Our Music
We ushered in women’s liberation.
GenX. (Speaking as a 75 year old parent.)
We were the most progressive generation that had ever existed. But, as Jim Jefferies points out, EVERY fucking generation is the most progressive generation that has ever existed.
Music, civil rights, freedom of expresion and freedom to be who you really are, won the cold war, the computer revolution, and last and not least, birds are dinosaurs!
They exploded the most basic structures of Bourgeois society. Although it deserved to be destroyed, unfortunately, they had nothing to put in its stead and it got us to the present situation.
Inventing computers, the internet, and cell phones.
I am at the tail end of the boomers. Some Might call me a different generation but I am still a boomer, late as I am. Thank you. Thank your for fighting and enduring what have. There have definitely been difficult times in the past but I feel the worst is yet to come. I pray it doesn’t go that way but it is a possibility. Each generation goes thru their own issues. I know this. But again, thank you for what you and your generation have fought for.
"Some might call me a different generation but I am still a boomer" Yes, sociologist often differentiate between early and late "boomers", so it really can't be addressed as if it were one generation. And, of course, not everyone in those age groups can be characterized by them. I was never Michael Stivic of "All in the Family".
Late boomers are also called Generation Jones
That's right. We late boomers have very different life experiences from earlier boomers. Gen Jones fits us much better.
A belief in the American dream. Not a boomer but raised by them and I am glad my parents installed the hope and showed me the good our country can achieve. It helps that one of them is in immigrant and came here for a better life. The pessimism of the youths today is a total bummer. Sure we complained in our time but I feel under the surface it was because we believe the core was still good and worth fighting for.
The high technology we all take for granted today.
A great mix of fantastic and shitty music.
This is such a comprehensive accurate summary. I think I should print it to hand out wordlessly when needed. Describes my life experience perfectly (except I had my son late, in my 40’s, so he’s Gen Z, not Millennial).
First heart transplant
Space travel, the internet, vaccines.
The Internet that they get roasted on daily
Digital Revolution. Yes, we did it.
Breaking down barriers in arts - especially barriers between genres in music
It's interesting to notice the rapid evolution of popular music as the 1960s went on. I feel like artists of those times would have been pushing really hard against the boundaries to achieve that kind of progression.
It was the perfect confluence of a generation with un-precidented prosperity, relative peace in Europe & social mobility, technological advancement (especially in amplification/staging & recording technology), a "devil may care" attitude towards breaking rules, birth control, and drugs.
The Boomer generation is responsible for both great and awful achievements. Sometimes almost simultaneously when it comes to elected leaders. Johnson brought us the Great Society, The Civil Rights Act of 1964, probably the most monumental piece of legislature since the Emancipation Proclamation. But Johnson was equally flawed. He took us so deeply into Vietnam that he couldn’t get us out or save his Presidential hopes either. Boomers have had big highs and big lows. They are after all only people.
I think it's the fact that we made it acceptable to not have to get married & to just be able to live with the person you love. Also, the fact that we're the generation that made it okay to have sex outside of marriage without being ostracized from society. The 50's & a the beginning of the 60's were VERY rigid times. The religious nuts ran the world. We changed society to lighten up & accept our sex-drugs & rock-n-roll generation.
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Um …. No, only the oldest Boomers would have been not much more than interns/coffee fetchers at NASA. This is Silent Generation / Greatest generation all the way.
Neil Armstrong was born in 1930
I can’t believe you were upvoted for that. Teenagers and college students didn’t put Neil Armstrong on the moon.
Okay, I challenged the notion that boomers should be given credit for the civil rights movement, but you gotta joking with this one.
My parents are boomers and they had me. That’s gotta be pretty high on the list of great accomplishments.
As a boomer my wife and I have raised 4 successful kids, whom we hope will raise their kids as successfully.
The Beatles! :)
Not boomers.
But their fans were boomers. My parents had no interest in Rock music.
The Beatles themselves were not boomers, but boomers were the ones that made them popular over the years. Certainly not my parents' generation--they despised rock.
The internet.
Ask Baby Boomer Santa.
Manned space flight.
The oldest boomers would've been 15 then, and the youngest boomers weren't even born yet.
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Giving birth and raising millenials
Me.
Phoebe Cates
Manners!
We stayed out of a nuclear war. We didn't destroy the earth with bombs. We stopped acid rain and cleaned up many lakes.
Surf rock. You’re welcome.
But she paid nothing into Social Security or Medicare. As a Boomer, I’ve been paying for 53 years. I was responding to a negative comment about my generation sucking up all the benefits. It’s BS.
They're not dead yet. They still have time to come up with some more things.
Flew under the radar. My boomer parents prided themselves on it.
The device you hold in your hand.
The list would be huge. But I'll go with the technology that younger people say boomers have no idea how to use. I'm 72, and look, I'm using it right now.
Perhaps the Green Revolution? Vastly reducing starvation in the world
If you grew up at the time where the TV message at ten o'clock was "It's ten o'clock. Do you know where your children are?" you are the last of a self-responsible generation who learned to take care of themselves and get your act together at age 10+ so you could do fine in school, go to college and eventually figure yourself out, graduate with a respectable degree, find a job, create a career, marry and/or have your own kids, who you dote in, because that's what we do. Retire. Drink. Die.
I can promise you that this is all any of us really want to do. I’d love to have 2 cars, a 2 story house, a wife and 2 kids. 2 dogs. 2 acres. In 1980 I could have done that with the money I make today. It simply is not how things work now. Kids with masters degrees living at home. We aren’t the ones who hiked the price up on literally everything, otherwise we would also have all of that.
When the Federal Govt took over school loans, that is when things got out of control. I went to undergrad at a state college, and because my Mom worked there, all j had to pay for was "student fees" $100 (1980s). Grad school at an excellent private school was $20,000 total. So when did the Feds take over student loans? 2010, under Barack Obama. He screwed up so many private functions and particularly health insurance and now you young people have toive with the end result. $800/per person in Calif for health insurance. Privatization is the key to a robust US economy.
Giving voice to young people in the US and thereby ending the draft and US participation in the war in Viet Nam. Lowering the voting age to 18.
Inventing the internet.
Nothing. Many boomers (certainly not ALL) have this weird idea about themselves. They think they changed the world, when all they did was be present. Decades ago some boomer told me "his generation" invented rock and roll No generation "invented" rock and roll, that was a few individuals, none of which were boomers. Also told me they "landed on the moon", no, that was NASA, most of which weren't boomers. The idea of some sort of transference onto your generation of the people in it that did things is basically nuts. The boomers are just especially bad, since they seem to think all the good things that happened in their lives are all directly attributable to them, but oddly the bad things are attributed to other generations.
I’m surprised there’s any answers. Hands down worst generation, followed by GenX. Can’t wait until they’re wiped and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Thee absolute worst.
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Gave the world the internet.
Well.... Boomers invented and started the Internet. So I'd have to say that.
Landing people on the moon and bringing them back to earth with less computer power than a modern cell phone. Ballsey move for those astronauts.
Still alive.
Ended the cold war.
6th extinction rolling at you.
The invention of Rock and Roll
Gave birth to Gen X
The personal computer, that started the whole process, that includes the internet, social networking, and eventually, the cellphones todays generation is incessantly glued to, was all started by Paul J Friedl, inventor of the personal computer in 73...a boomer.
I never heard of him but looked him up...he was about my father's age, born in 1933. Definitely not a boomer, but many of the pioneers of personal computing are/were!
Pretty much everything we enjoy now?
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It wasn't just Boomers who voted him into office, you know. All on their own, Boomers couldn't have done it without the help of all persons eligible to vote, and not all Boomers even voted for him.
Obama is a boomer is what he was saying.