Give the Boomers a Break
In the past few days, the now-famous “OK, Boomer” meme, originally from TikTok, has gone viral. Naturally, the only way I could ever find out about TikTok memes is through New Zealand politics, so I was somewhat surprised to find out that New Zealand MP Chlöe Swarbrick had used the phrase against an older member of Parliament in a debate about climate change. When any meme becomes so viral that mainstream politicians have taken to using it, the meme warrants examination.
I’d say that’s particularly true of “OK, Boomer”—the meme underscores a larger cultural and political divide between millennials (and increasingly, GenZers) and baby boomers. Younger people increasingly see “boomers” as roadblocks to progress on climate, income inequality and other issues. The MP in question, in an interview about her comment, summarised this attitude: “My ‘Ok, Boomer’ comment in Parliament was off-the-cuff, albeit symbolic of the collective exhaustion of multiple generations set to inherit ever-amplifying problems in an ever-diminishing window of time”. The Greta Thunberg phenomenon also comes to mind, and really underscores that point; many point to the movement she has sparked as an example of the “generational change” this country needs. There are even presidential campaigns that have harnessed general reactions against “boomerism” into momentum; Pete Buttigieg comes to mind.
But what is the “boomerism” young Americans are increasingly rebelling against? Well, on that point, no one is quite clear. Some argue that it is the refusal of older generations to act on long term issues. Others point to their amorphous “conservatism.” Still, others complain about their supposed devotion to capitalism. But too often, we forget that baby boomers are no special exemption—these conflicts play out across virtually every generation. It is worth remembering that boomers led the Vietnam protests so reviled by conservatives of the time. It is worth remembering that they were the ones who carried forth the sexual revolution and built the gay rights movement. By no means are “Boomers” some conservative anachronism; our youth just continue to move forward. The same trends that defined the childhood of the baby boomers are playing out again, in a trend even foreseen by Aristotle over two thousand years ago: “[Young people] are high-minded because they have not yet been humbled by life, nor have they experienced the force of circumstance … They think they know everything, and are always quite sure about it.” The passionate idealism of GenZ is not unique to GenZ—it is a part of growing up in general.
Lastly, I should note that all these claims about how baby boomers have “failed us” ring hollow. Today, we live in the most peaceful time in human history, shocking as it may seem. Today, extreme poverty is at an all-time low worldwide and the work of boomers has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty. Boomers pioneered the green energies that can save us, even if they could not deliver the policy framework to implement them. They tore down the Berlin Wall and built the post-Cold War Western world. They built the internet, and have also built movements that have expanded civil rights to more and more people. And, it is worth remembering, they led the charge for species conservation and built the modern environmental movement as we know it. Simply put, to call “boomerism” a failure is a vast oversimplification.
Sure, we still have problems to solve. Any generation does. And they are rather large problems—the climate crisis, the student debt crisis, rising income inequality, the list goes on. And I will concede that many of those problems have been caused, in whole or part, by boomers. But they are not the sole legacy of Baby Boomers, and anyone arguing otherwise is taking a needlessly narrow view of an entire generation while evincing an unfortunate tendency to romanticize the past. The America that boomers have left us is without question the best, safest and freest America we’ve ever seen. So, boomers just might be “OK” after all.
There are lessons to be learned and generational change will come. That doesn’t mean we need to shove voices to the side for being “too old.” Every generation has a place in fixing the problems of the past, and that work is ongoing. Baby Boomers and millennials alike have a place in making that change happen, and if “change can’t wait,” don’t push aside boomers. Work with them. They have certainly solved problems before and can certainly work with us to do so again.
I’m frankly growing a little tired of all of this hoopla about how the older people need to catch up and about how they’ve ruined the entire world you live in. All I can do is turn their motto on its head—OK, Zoomer.