The spectrum of US generations can the charaterized in reverse order as: The Greatest Generation, The Silents, The Baby Boomers, The Duds, The Thirtysomethings, Generation X, and now perhaps the Lazy Ones (See Legal Bill).

How do you characterize (motivation, inspiration, consumption, ambition, contribution, legacy, apathy, ambivilence, etc) the Baby Boomers, being that the majority of us are probably inluded in this group). Some "light" politics might be appropriate, but let's not bomb the thread. Similarly, some useful comments and observations from the before and after generations are appropriate and Vint inclusive.

An honest self-assessment could be fun and interesting.

Though I also have some strong opinions on the non-boomers, try to stay focused most of the time.

 

I don't buy the media's portrayal or the overall mindset of the generations being vastly different. While our knowledge base, technology and lifestyles change, generally speaking, human behavior remains relatively constant.

"Children nowadays are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food and tyrannise their teachers." - Socrates some twenty five hundred years ago.

 

I think boomers are profoundly affected by our parents having lived through the Depression. Our work ethic, desire for home ownership, and concern for financial security/stability stem from what our parents experienced.

We may not always exhibit these behaviors, but I think the influence is there.

 

The portrayal of the "baby boomer" generation is total bull. I fall under the LAST year of the official baby boomer generation, born in 1964. Neither I, nor my half brother born in 1959 have ANYTHING in common with even ONE thing the media would have you believe the baby boomer generation is about.

I call my generation the "forgotten" generation.

- Our parents where born well after the Depression.
- Neither of our dads (we had different dads) where ever in a war.
- There was NO draft for either of us.
- The Vientam war was never in our minds. In fact, I had to look back on my life to even realize it ended in when I was 11 y.o.
- "Free love" was changed to "no glove, no love".
- We have no clue about Robert Kennedy nor his presidency except in retrospect.
- We don't have a great memory of landing on the moon.
- We where never hippies, nor was the hippy thing popular was we teens, or in college. I grew up with punk rock.

 

I don't know. I think that every generation is "The Greatest Generation". Not every war is fought on a battlefield or against Nazis. I think every generation (including ours) has done better than the one that preceded it in all respects.

 

 

All those labels are bunk. Every new generation thinks they discovered something new that in fact every generation before them discovered. Events change people but we are people just the same, generation after generation.

 

 

 

History will judge we Baby Boomers as one of the most dynamic, vibrant, creative, capricious and ultimately liberating generation to date.

We staggered from the dust and ashes of WW2, reared by a generation of conformists and government lackeys. We were taught blind obesiance to a flawed socio-political structure, intolerance to others, and conformity at all costs.

Yet we broke free of those shackles, spat in the eye of the tyrants who would send us to pointless wars, mocked those who insisted on what we could and could not wear, and tore down the facade of political hypocrisy.

Along the way, we converted greed and avarice into an art form, progressed science and technology to undreamt of frontiers, and turned society to doctrines and social experiments that it was not mature enough to deal with.

Whilst our errors are many, our legacy will continue for many years to come. The ripples of our rebellion and the impact of our impetuousity will not soon be forgotten.

We will hand over the baton to the next generation, but they will find if rather slippery and awkward to handle, I suspect.

Much of what we've achieved, or imposed will be undone, as it must, for the greater good. The personal freedoms we demanded will be taken back, simply because, frankly, we ****ed around too much with them in our naivete and petulance.

But the values behind our oafish and reckless social dishevellment will endure. Peace, love and understanding underpinned much of what we believed, and those shibboleths invoke strong adversity.

But I see the next generation taking much of what was good about our philosophies, and moulding them into a better world.

We created chaos. They will impose calm.

We aren't going to like it, either. But we have to wear it.