Today, in Posting on Dreamwidth to Avoid the Tumblr Headache...

[soc_puppet]

Can we count me firmly on Team The Age Division Is A Distraction To Divide Us, please?

My dad is sixty. He's definitely a boomer. He is also a lifelong Democrat and staunchly pro-union; he makes sure I vote every election. He was a Bernie supporter in early 2016, and got behind Hillary when she won the nomination. He's run for political office in the city where I live and grew up, and one of our oldest family friends is a politically active socialist. He does lots of volunteering, especially with food rescue and the Center for Worker Justice, the latter of which grew out of the Black Lives Matter movement. Once a month he pickets for veterans. And that's not even touching the rest of his friends circle!

Meanwhile, several of my direct coworkers, the majority of whom are within ten years of my age, have no interest in voting what-so-ever. As far as I'm aware, my boss, who is younger than I am, isn't even registered.

I just... That's what I think about, every time I read the words "Okay, Boomer". There's gotta be an comeback that'll work almost as well that isn't fucking ageist.

Comments

[redsixwing]

Yes THAT.

And add a heaping spoonful of "the thing y'all don't like when it's done to you? You're fucking rolling in it."

I do not like "okay boomer." I get the frustration, I really do, but maybe let's find a way to express it that focuses on actions not age brackets.

[soc_puppet]

Exactly! There has got to be a better way to point out that someone is completely out of touch with the realities of the world than implying it's because of their age.

[feast_of_regrets]

I have to agree. I saw Wil Wheaton try to say "Gen X has had to deal with them longer!" and get dog piled by Millenials and Gen Z. Angry as I am with my parents' generation, the anger is because the policies and narratives that won with them and keep winning. It's the politics, not the age. The generational wars are just another means to divide us from our allies. (In addition to being thoroughly ageist.)

[soc_puppet]

Thiiiiiis. Also, exactly why I'm talking about it here and not Tumblr.

[caprices]

Plus a lot of the foundational groundwork for ecologic awareness and social change was done by boomers. I mean, the whole thing was that it was a population boom which had lots of variation and diverging viewpoints leading to massive social changes. That variation didn't go away.

I think being skeptical of any deeply divisive take is warranted.

[soc_puppet]

♥