# Boomers ruined the world?! What the frack?



## MrsAndrewJacoby (Apr 11, 2013)

How did Boomers ruin the world? I saw someone comment this in another thread, but I don't get why anyone would assert that. Boomers haven't really been in control of world affairs long enough to really draw such criticism. Trump and George W. Bush are technically Boomers. Obama is. Putin is a Boomer. So I guess you could say Boomers are _ruining_ the world if you felt that way. In 20 years I guess we will be able to reflect on the outcome of some of the current world leaders' actions and say whether they ruined the world or not. But how can anyone hold Boomers accountable for the world's current state of affairs? Boomers weren't old enough to cause a lot of the events that have led up to the problematic situations in the world today.

The partitioning of India - Boomers didn't do that
The division of Korea - Boomers didn't do that
The formation of the U.S.S.R. - Boomers didn't do that
The issues surrounding Palestine - Boomers didn't do that
Communist China - Boomers didn't do that
Slavery and Jim Crow/segregation in the U.S. - Boomers didn't do that

Deforestation has been going on since the beginning of man's history - Boomers didn't solely do that
The Industrial Revolution and thereafter reliance on fossil fuels caused the surge in greenhouse gases - Boomers didn't do solely that
Pollution of the world's oceans, rivers, and lakes (again, has been going on since the beginning of man's history, but saw a huge uptick post-Industrial Revolution and post-WWII, ie Minamata disease) - Boomers didn't solely do that

There's other things I could list, but I don't think that's necessary.

What ruining of the world can Boomers _single-handedly_ be blamed for?

BTW, I'm not a Boomer. I'm a Xennial (on the cusp of Gen X and Millennial). I just feel it is unfair to lay the blame of all the world's ills on a single generation, especially when said generation didn't really come of age to effect change in the world until the 90's. The oldest of the Boomers was only 44 in 1990. The youngest were 26. And a lot of the issues we face now were WELL underway DECADES prior to that year. Did people expect the Boomers to perform miracles and change the entire political, environmental, and social climate of the world in just a couple of decades or something?


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## Rascal01 (May 22, 2016)

I’m a pretty early Boomer and think someone else ruined the world before we came on the scene. We were born into the recently discovered and evolving atomic age, which was a frequent topic of discussion by adults when I was a child. I vividly recall a discussion about plutonium and cobalt bombs and how deadly they were. I think I was 6 at the time.

In school we did duck and cover drills. When under atomic attack we were to get under our desk for safety. Two or three short blocks from my house was a city park complete with Skysweeper anti-aircraft guns. Of course that didn’t last. They were replaced with anti-aircraft missiles.

You didn’t have be a nuclear physicist to figure out something unpleasant might be going on. While it didn’t drive kids crazy, there was an uncomfortable sense of unease by both kids and adults.

And there were the dads, uncles and friends that spoke freely about their World War ll experiences. We also heard about the atomic spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg going to the electric chair. Those were clues that the world had been an unpleasant place before we hit the crib.

Yes, the world was in pretty rough shape when the Boomers came on the scene. To add injury to insult, shortly after learning to drive a car and discovering beer, the USG sent the boys off to Vietnam. If you came back in a box it was marked “Remains Non-Viewable.” If you lived you may have gotten spit on and had PTSD. Not that I’m complaining. The trade-off was enjoying vintage rock & roll, muscle cars and free love.

Who ruined the world? I don’t know. But I do think Adam should have turned down the apple when Eve said “Here, try this.”


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## VinnieBob (Mar 24, 2014)

Humans have been ruining the world since day one
Every generation is guilty


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## pwowq (Aug 7, 2016)

Fritz Haber, Edward Jenner and Alexander Flemming ruined the world by enabling our previous generations huge families to survive, cheers to the biggest pro-humanity people in history.


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## integra (Nov 7, 2019)

VinnieBob said:


> Humans have been ruining the world since day one
> Every generation is guilty


how dare you sir, I did nothing yet.


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## Blazkovitz (Mar 16, 2014)

Stuff boomers can be blamed for:
-recreational drug use
-sexual revolution

To be exact, the culprit is not all boomers but 60s-70s radical students. But Xers and millennials are also too blame, since they followed the lead.


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## VinnieBob (Mar 24, 2014)

Blazkovitz said:


> Stuff boomers can be blamed for:
> -recreational drug use
> -sexual revolution
> 
> To be exact, the culprit is not all boomers but 60s-70s radical students. But Xers and millennials are also too blame, since they followed the lead.


Drug use is a voluntary action
Many y, z, millennials are using drugs by their own free will
The boomers didn’t invent sex:shocked:
We may be old but we ain’t that fucking old:laughing:
If your generation does not agree with the system than change it
The boomers did


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## daleks_exterminate (Jul 22, 2013)

VinnieBob said:


> We may be old but we ain’t that fucking old:laughing:


Are you suggesting that Gaia and Ouranos weren't baby-boomers? News to me.


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## VinnieBob (Mar 24, 2014)

Why yes
Yes I am


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## The red spirit (Sep 29, 2015)

VinnieBob said:


> Humans have been ruining the world since day one
> Every generation is guilty


*Looks at Vinnie*

I guess I agree.


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## Eren Jaegerbomb (Nov 13, 2015)

I think the world was ruined way before boomers arrived on the scene. Look at the Teutonic Knights, Crusades, Boer Wars, WWI, WWII, so many wars over power and money. Freemasons really had their hand on the world by the turn of the last century. So it's been going on for ages and there's always been people in power that have done the wrong thing since we've been here.


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## Eren Jaegerbomb (Nov 13, 2015)

VinnieBob said:


> Drug use is a voluntary action
> Many y, z, millennials are using drugs by their own free will
> The boomers didn’t invent sex:shocked:
> We may be old but we ain’t that fucking old:laughing:
> ...


Oh I want to change it but it's difficult to organise a group these days without cameras watching you everywhere or spying on Facebook. Etc. But I know what you're saying.


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## Eren Jaegerbomb (Nov 13, 2015)

There has always been a group of people since the dawn of time who do things for personal gain and against the rest of humanity. Eventually these people became rulers in Babylon, then eventually they became the Knights Templar, then the Illuminati, Skull and Bones and Freemasons. They're all still around today. And most of them worship occultic icons and s lot of ideas are from Babylon and beyond. A lot of these people are born into it and you can't just become one. Well you can, but you're still their pawn. It's about bloodlines. They think they're royal with an RH+ bloodline.
You can thank Eve and thank Cain and his Bloodline.


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## Glenda Gnome Starr (May 12, 2011)

daleks_exterminate said:


> Are you suggesting that Gaia and Ouranos weren't baby-boomers? News to me.


Baby boomer Greek gods!!!!:kitteh:


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## Roslyn (Aug 2, 2018)

I can't speak for them but I suspect it's voting patterns being referred to. Liberation of economic controls during height of working careers after being at the reward end of social programs of the post-war economy growing up. And then voting conservative and against programs like universal healthcare for the generation that followed. That's the stereotype. 

I don't think that's entirely fair. But I think that's what some are getting at.


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## The Dude (May 20, 2010)

Neoliberal policies ruined the world. These were thought and implemented by members of the "Greatest Generation"...the Boomers just kept them once they took the reigns of society. It is fair to say Boomers did destroy the DNC in the early 90s.


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## Turlowe (Aug 4, 2014)

The world's been ending since it began, it's not the Boomer's fault any more than the lost generation or the ancient Greeks. Sure lot's of Boomers have done lot's of shitty things, true of any generation, lot's of Boomers have done great things, also true of any generation. It's always easier easier to vilify a faceless group than an individual, just as it's easier to ignore context and just lay blame than to seek understanding of how and why things are as they are.

This is just the same old song and dance. Every generation seems to think they have it figured out, that their elders were all idiots who through selfishness and greed have ruined everything, then they get control are are so busy putting out fires they inherited that they miss out on dealing with some new problems that pop up. A new generation comes along and the cycle begins anew. Just as nearly every generation thinks that the generations following them don't measure up and will be the destruction of civilization. Neither viewpoint is ever really true though both are easy, even comforting to buy into. No one wants to think that that they'll screw up as badly as those before them, and they haven't yet, but they will. No one wants to think they've made life far more difficult for their kids or grandkids, easier to ignore their complaints and put it off on their laziness and moral failings. Ultimately all the finger pointing and blame is pointless, and fruitless and unfair, because we aren't generations, we're individuals. The way of things currently wasn't a choice that the boomers made, it's just they way things worked out, and aggregate of decisions and actions both good and bad, many of them made before the boomers were a twinkle in someone's eye.

But never fear Boomers, in a few decades the Millenials kids will be yelling at them in the same way, just like y'all did back in the sixties and seventies at your own parents and grandparents.


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## shameless (Apr 21, 2014)

Individually it’s case by case

As a group they fucked things up pretty bad

The presidents alone do not simply ruin the world
You forgot to mention all those boomers were in 20s In the 80s & 90s and said and started taking out loans they could not afford and approving loans people could not afford, extending lines of credit for material goods they could not afford, etc at max capacity. Yes many boomers did grow up and blow money and extend credit they couldn’t actually afford. Their generation was extremely materialistic as a generation (not necessarily individual). 

Fair?
Well I think saying life is not fair seems obvious 
It’s not fair that so many boomers as a culture either extended so much credit line they could not afford and filed so much bankruptcy as a generation or that the ones who made it to the top in many cases exploited their roles by approving bad deals to negotiate for themselves or took from the pots at disproportionate levels.

I think maybe you should take a class In community studies to see some numbers on all the generations. Boomers were a very entitled generation as a majority they dodged Vietnam, they partied in the prosperous 80s, in the 90s they benefited from overall tons of credit extended, decent insurance available.

I tell my kids all the time that my parents as working class persons In the 90s vs now me being working class and what could be provided and what is in reach is entirely different. Companies back then provided MUCH better benefits who ran companies mostly back then allowing that for boomers (their elders set that up and did right by them) boomers once they came into more higher power roles eliminated ALOT of that. But still kept extending credit as a generation that they could not afford.

You as Gen X would not be as likely to of been as effected. Because by the time the bubble hit and and the recession came gen X would have been by large and established generation for the most part. But Older gen Y definitely KNOW that what their parents were able to be compensated for the same work in the 80s/90s vs 2008-2012 was fucken awful. 

Life’s is not fair and that generation as a clump fucked their decendents big time. Sorry but you’re Gen X you guys as a culture aren’t exactly to blame for much but your also not responsible for much either. Meaning as a culture and group you’re known for basically saying things aren’t fair, raising kids who all get an award is what gen X is known for so the fact you’re on here at 40 something talking about fair says enough to me. Gen X is considered a generation as a whole which has coasted through and as I said raised children who all get an award :laughing: 

Yeah gen Y as a giant culture does not by majority care for boomers
I had this debate with an ex boyfriend who was a boomer, he could not even debate how much of it even applied to him as far as filed bankruptcy entitlement and security he was accustomed to.


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## Blazkovitz (Mar 16, 2014)

The Dude said:


> Neoliberal policies ruined the world. These were thought and implemented by members of the "Greatest Generation"...the Boomers just kept them once they took the reigns of society. It is fair to say Boomers did destroy the DNC in the early 90s.


Reaganomics aka neoliberalism is economic hyper-individualism. And the countercultural stuff (sexual revolution, drugs, etc.) is lifestyle hyper-individualism. Boomers as a romantic generation are no doubt prone to hyper-individualism.

Then let's scroll a few decades and start a thread how millennials and zoomers (civic generations) ruined the world with their collectivism ;P

A healthy society needs balance between individualistic and communitarian policies. Maybe this will be easier when the average lifespan is longer allowing for both generation types being fully active at the same time. E.g. a boomer president with millennial VP or vice versa.


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## Pippi (Dec 24, 2016)

Oh, those horrible boomers. If only they hadn't boomed, we'd still be living back in the Golden Age that we were living in since the beginning of time, until about 1944 or so. 

_Imagine... there's no boomers.
I wonder if you can.
Utopia, perfection,
And the wo-o-o-orld could live as one._


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