Shifting Blame
Nov. 23rd, 2019 04:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unspeakablehorrorPart of what bothers me about blaming Boomers for everything that's wrong in the world is that it allows younger people an artificial separation from their culpability in the problems our world faces. No matter what age a nazi is, they're a problem. No matter what age a white person is, they benefit from racism and practice it, whether consciously or unconsciously so (though that doesn't mean they can't and shouldn't try to do better). No matter what age a man is, he still lives in and benefits from a patriarchal system that privileges him over women. No matter what age a straight or cis person is, they still live in and benefit from a system that privileges them over LGBT people. I refuse to absolve the younger generation from their responsibility for these issues, and even a cursory understanding of history tells me that Boomers didn't create any of these problems.
I think this is why the whole "Okay, Boomer" thing has gained such popularity, because it allows younger white people, younger men, younger straight and cis people to feel like they're not part of the problem, when in fact a younger white person can be just as racist to an older black person, a younger man can be just as misogynist to an older woman (and let's not forget how ageism is particularly hard on women), and a younger cis or straight person can be just as transphobic or homophobic to older cis or straight people.
There's a certain irony to the whole thing too, since there was eg. much more in the way of antiwar demonstrations when Boomers were growing up than there is now and in certain ways the current prevailing culture is more conservative. The other ironic thing is that quite a few of them were also pretty ageist when they were younger with the whole "don't trust anyone over 30" thing so in some respects the "ok, Boomer" thing is just a revival of that Boomer-era slogan in different clothes. I wonder what the Gen Z equivalent will be? Every generation believes it is somehow inherently better than the one before it.
But I don't think Gen X and Millennials accomplish anything worthwhile by blaming the world's problems on Boomers. All they do is obscure their own culpability in those problems and make themselves feel better at the expense of older people of color, older women, older trans and lgbt people, and older activists, some of who literally died for what they believed in, and some of whom are still fighting for those beliefs today. All they do is lump in all those older people with their oppressors, while implicitly absolving their younger oppressors of responsibility.
I think this is why the whole "Okay, Boomer" thing has gained such popularity, because it allows younger white people, younger men, younger straight and cis people to feel like they're not part of the problem, when in fact a younger white person can be just as racist to an older black person, a younger man can be just as misogynist to an older woman (and let's not forget how ageism is particularly hard on women), and a younger cis or straight person can be just as transphobic or homophobic to older cis or straight people.
There's a certain irony to the whole thing too, since there was eg. much more in the way of antiwar demonstrations when Boomers were growing up than there is now and in certain ways the current prevailing culture is more conservative. The other ironic thing is that quite a few of them were also pretty ageist when they were younger with the whole "don't trust anyone over 30" thing so in some respects the "ok, Boomer" thing is just a revival of that Boomer-era slogan in different clothes. I wonder what the Gen Z equivalent will be? Every generation believes it is somehow inherently better than the one before it.
But I don't think Gen X and Millennials accomplish anything worthwhile by blaming the world's problems on Boomers. All they do is obscure their own culpability in those problems and make themselves feel better at the expense of older people of color, older women, older trans and lgbt people, and older activists, some of who literally died for what they believed in, and some of whom are still fighting for those beliefs today. All they do is lump in all those older people with their oppressors, while implicitly absolving their younger oppressors of responsibility.