Why Boomers suck, or, commodify your self-loathing

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Tue Aug 7 01:03:23 PDT 2001



>[NYT]
>AUG 06, 2001
>A Caustic Look in the Mirror From Boomers
>By ALEX KUCZYNSKI
>
>Joe Queenan is 50 years old and sorely ashamed of it.
>
>"I loathe my generation," he said last week. "We became culturally
>frozen in time at a very early age and continue to think of ourselves
>as trailblazers. It's completely pathetic."
>
>A writer who contributes frequently to GQ and Forbes, Mr. Queenan's
>latest book, "Balsamic Dreams: A Short but Self-Important History of
>the Baby Boomer Generation" (Henry Holt), chronicles the cultural
>irrelevance of his generation, which is - at least to Mr. Queenan - a
>whiny, narcissistic bunch of paunchy, corporatized losers.

***** <http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/01/queenan060501.htm>

Balsamic Dreams: A Short But Self-important History of the Baby Boomer Generation With author Joe Queenan Tuesday, June 5, 2001; 2 p.m. EDT

Is the baby boom generation the "worst ever" as some have proclaimed? Are they the most selfish, self-absorbed and hypocritical generation in recent memory?

In his new book "Balsamic Dreams: A Short But Self-important History of the Baby Boomer Generation" humorist and author Joe Queenan takes a long hard look at his fellow aging boomers to see if the generalizations hold true. What he found is not pretty....

... The transcript follows.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions....

... a member of Gen X from Va.: Generation X is going to be paying the Baby Boomers' Social Security, and once they're dead and buried there will be nothing left for us! Pretty darn selfish, in my opinion.

Joe Queenan: That is exactly right. You hit the nail on the head. Deal with it..... *****

So, the rhetoric of boomer-bashing helps sell the myth of the imminent collapse of Social Security.

At 1:48 PM -0400 8/6/01, Doug Henwood wrote:
>>while the
>>Feds spend $7 on seniors for every $1 they spend on kids and youth
>
>Is this drawn from the Mike Males generational warfare playbook?
>What is the point of a comparison like this, if not to imply that we
>"overspend" on seniors? Social Security is one of the few aspects of
>the U.S. welfare state that isn't a total disgrace, and Medicare's
>pretty good too. Should we bring that $7 down to $5 just for
>generational equity?
>
>As I recall, Frank Luntz's famous survey, in which he found more Gen
>Xers believing in UFOs than in their ever getting a SS check, also
>found they *wanted* SS to remain intact, though Luntz never bothered
>to report that.

***** The absence of a substantive argument has not thwarted multi-millionaires like former Nixon Commerce Secretary Peter Peterson and multi-billionaires like failed Presidential candidate Ross Perot from donating large sums of money towards the creation of supposedly "20-something" groups that act as paid apologists for Wall Street and the health insurance industry.

Beginning with an organization called Americans for Generational Equity (AGE) and continuing through "Lead or Leave," the "Concord Coalition," and "Third Millennium," there has been a concerted effort by Wall Street to create a 'Generation X' entity to use as a stalking horse against the senior citizen movement and publicly financed social insurance programs such as Medicare and Social Security.

The problem is that these organizations have failed to attract a following from the young and remain like Hollywood Western towns-one board thick with nothing but the desert behind them. Every poll ever taken shows that the vast majority of 18-35 year olds oppose cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

The warmongers on Wall Street have called for an intergenerational war, but no one from Generation X has bothered to enlist. AGE went broke, and so did 'Lead or Leave' after they were exposed for lying about their membership and financial support. As for the Concord Coalition, it's hard to argue they represent anyone other than their corporate fat-cat sponsors.

<http://www.ncscinc.org/press/spintergen.htm> *****

Yoshie



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