OT A personal view....

I have come to the conclusion that the 'Boomer' vs 'Snowflake' arguments of conflict is simply a continuation of the 'generation gap' that has existed since time immemorial, but due to social media has been 'amplified'.

Going back to the time of Plato similar antagonism between young and old has always been evident.
Each generations attitudes tend to change as they age, from idealism and optimism (we can change the World) to a dawning awareness that things are not 'black and white' and the optimism and idealism changes to a 'World weary' cynicism of how things are. Both arttitudes are right and wrong in equal measure.

The 50s had the beatniks, 60s had hippy movement particularly the American anti Vietnam war movement, 60s also had Mods and rockers (anti establishment) then we had the punk movement, Goths , etc all a rejection of the status quo.

The attitude change is not a Eureka moment. It is just over the years you find yourself echoing many of the words and views of your parents, which at the time, as young person you totally rejected.

The difference, now is that social media means that rather than individuals rebelling against their parents or relatively small groups or movements rejecting the status quo, communicating dissatisfaction with huge numbers of 'like minded' protesters is far easier.

The current generation, otherwise, is no different. The over simplistic accusation from 'snowflakes' is that most 'boomers' are uneducated, racist, mysogenist, only interested in preserving the status quo. Yet you only have to go back to the situation in '60s America during the Vietnam War to realise that the equivalent generation was no different, University students and many others in America lost their lives in anti war protesting.

Boomers argue that the new generation are vacuous, narcissist and hedonistic and yet it is the 'so-called' snowflake generation, and in spite of over optimistic idealism, that ultimately drives, little by little, improvement in society. Whilst each generation never achieve everything they set out to achieve, little by little they are a force for good. Boomers also forget what it was like to be young and are often intolerant. A simple example is musical taste. Many older people do not regard many of the current trends in music as 'proper music' !!! That has ALWAYS been the case. I remember the arguments between my older sister who was a Stones fan in the 60s and my father which got quite... err....heated.
Every younger generation is confronted by problems, albeit different ones but equally challenging. Every generation is critical of the one that came before and, although some of those criticism are justified, sweeping generalisations and misunderstanding on both sides often overlook the improvements that previous generation brought about and current younger generation are inspiring.
Evrything changes but nothing changes. It was ever thus.

 

They fvck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fvcked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another’s throats.

Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don’t have any kids yourself.

 

Strange that this should come up today as I was thinking of this at a funeral the other day and I said a few words on the subject. I’m a boomer and I belong to the most privileged generation there has ever been. We were the first generation to experience free health care, free education up to and including university, full employment and a proper pension entitlement.
We had that because we came from a generation of heroes and I don’t use the word lightly. We were kids so we didn’t know they were heroes, they were just uncles and aunts and parents.
Uncle Herbert a POW taken while fighting rearguard at Dunkirk.
Uncle Sam an artillery man who volunteered as a gunner on an armed merchantman escorting convoys.
Uncle Harry stationed in Iceland so that the enemy could’ve establish an airfield, or a U-boat base.
Grandad El Alamein twice, Tobruk, Benghazi, Palermo, Montecasino.
Uncle Harold ground crew getting the Spitfires and Hurricanes in the air to win the Battle of Britain.
My friend Tom a pilot throughout the war, now passed on.
My dad who at 18 years old finished a shift down the pit and got loaded into a lorry to get taken to Sheffield to dig out survivors and bodies after the Sheffield blitz.
The women shipped to Halifax to work in the mills making material for uniforms, or in the land army to feed the nation. WAACs and WAAFs and anything else they could put a W in front of. And all that in austerity rations that we’d eat in one sitting. We didn’t know they were heroes because they didn’t talk about it.
When they won the war they voted to win the peace the NHS, educational grants, apprenticeships with day release.
We came together this week to say goodbye to the last person I know from that generation and I had to express my thanks to her and her generation.
I wonder if we will be remembered as well?

 

No offence intended by this, but the boomer generation was born into a world of privilege, as you mention, but when your generation got into power, they did everything possible to remove that privilege for future generations. This is the reason for the vitriol from millennials to boomers, along with the generalising comments of “millennials are killing x,y,z” and a failure to understand the millennial point of view. I think a lot of millennials feel attacked, which is what’s led to the ‘ok boomer’ $hit that’s started coming through.

 

As a youth I never resented the old. As an oldie I've never resented the young.
I think it's all about getting on with life and making the best of the hand you've been dealt.

 

'Larkin' about eh? Seriously it sort of proves my point given it was written (in the 70's? ) in that it highlights the perennial nature of the generation gap.
BarnsleyReds post, makes the point that 'Boomers' (why do we have to have labels for everything nowadays?) 'never had it so good' and don't understand the current generation ' but at the same time argues that the boomers were born into a world of privilege and did everything possible to remove that for future generations as if it was done intentionally and maliciously. There seems to be no acknowledgment that whilst older generations HAVE made and continue to make mistakes, the current generation is far from perfect and it is all the fault of boomers. That was the point of my OP.

I guarantee that in another 20 years this generation of millenials will be equally criticised by the next generation for failing to do X & Y and the next generation after that, and the next generation after that........etc. etc.

 

As it should be but rarely is. You should be a philosopher. Every young generation has a proportion of people who initially start out looking for someone else to blame for the ills of the world. Many change and become more self reliant as they get older. Some don't. As you say you make the best of what hand you are dealt.
All most of us can do is to try to get through life without hurting anyone, look after your family, first and foremost and try to bring up your kids to respect other people and their property regardless of their background. Where you can help other do so and try not to be a burden on others or society in general.

 

I don't recognise these terms and I wouldn't use them. The fact is that any of the social or economic changes that give rise to the insinuations which these terms carry are unlikely to have been initiated by anybody on here.

 

I agree. I had it out with my father regarding music when I was a teenager. He told me that Oasis and Blur etc like were cheap imitations of what they had in the sixties and there were far better groups back then and Britpop had already been done.

 

Who's told you that?

 

I don't like 'labels', particularly those that generalise, but youi cannot fail to recognise that "Snowflake generation", "Millennials", "Boomer" (particularly "OK boomer" -a 'go to' response from those of the younger generation who feel they are being criticised unfairly by us oldies) and are all in common useage. The latter was used by someone on here only recently in response to one of my posts. My OP simply highlighted my opinion that it is too simplistic to blame the current OR previous generation for all the problems in the World.

 

I had the same argument. As an ex pro musician (piano and keyboards) who went through a number of changes... Classical, folk , folk rock, Prog Rock, pop, Blues concluded music is a matter of taste. If some people enjoy it whatever 'it' is and it moves or inspires them or just makes them feel good, it is good. If no-one like it it is bad.
My counter to my dad slating what I likes was to refer to 'Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson' (look em up 1959 Eurovision) ... 'nuff said!

 

Exactly. It's not a debate worth having if people want to generalise in those terms.

 

What is a "snowflake"? Is it the same as calling someone "a big wuss" or "jessy".

 

I love snowflakes when they get together in big groups, they're all nice and white, pretty and above all slippy.

 

I agree