It Ain't Easy Getting Over Yourself

I'm old enough to remember racism (segregated schools, etc.), sexism ("Mad Men" was not a work of fiction, entirely), economic inequality as the norm, and all manner of other problems, including militarism and rampant xenophobia and the near erasure of Native Americans from American history (anybody still old enough to remember Russell Means and AIM?).

So boo-hoo, Millenials and Gen X'ers are the first generations (!) in human history to have been handed a raw deal:

Millennials, who were born between 1980 and 2000, came of age in an era of so-called “trickle-down economics” and the aftermath of such policy. They first began voting in wake of the World Trade buildings crashing to the Manhattan streets below. In a world where an advanced degree is mandatory for anyone seeking a future, the generation graduated into a one of the worst job markets since the Great Depression.

All the while, Wall Street was scamming youth and jacking up student loan interest rates. All the while, boomers have destroyed the Earth and the environment and the GOP is threatening Social Security and Medicare, which would likely force millennial parents to live with their children in their old age. This was prior to the gun debate younger millennials have taken up. It has primed the generation toward progressive policies.

I remember being told my "generation" was too young to appreciate what my parent's generation had sacrificed for them, had done for them, had handed them on a silver platter.  How dare we protest for civil rights, protest the war, object to free enterprise and capitalism (hippies!) and generally not declare our gratitude for all we'd been given, especially as it was based on the exploitation of racial minorities, economically disempowered people, women, the natives who were here first, and "third-world" countries we were ruthlessly exploiting for raw materials but that was okay because we weren't European colonizers, we were "good" Americans letting the market be our god.

Yes, the Boomers soon enough sold out to the Yuppies, as if all the Boomers were hippies in the first place, or even socialists, or even cared about anyone but themselves and their friends, but the die was cast at the end of World War II, and the noose only started tightening at the end of the 60's.  If Boomers were supposed to save us from Reaganism, why have Millenials given us Trump?  Because they couldn't vote for the "lesser of two evils"?  Because they were too depressed over the fact they could afford an iPhone but not an apartment?  Because of 9/11 (really?  9/11 is the Millenials' Pearl Harbor?  I hadn't heard that even floated as a concept until this article, which only proves any damned fool thing will be thought by somebody somewhere and wind up on the internet.  If Millenials anywhere who've never been to war or even been threatened with a military draft think the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq was anything like WWII, then God help us all.)

Boomers have "destroyed the Earth and the environment"?  Really?  Then why are we all still alive?  Exaggerate much?  Are Millenials so worried about the toxic waste of modern technology that they've forsworn computers and smart phones and even UBER?

Bafflegab and nonsense.  You don't like the world you were handed, do something about it.  Bad job markets started in the '70's; I can remember several job market collapses in the past 40 years, including a few when I was graduating with one degree or another (my story IS another story, entirely).  The post-war employment boom that carried all white men (!) to prosperity started coming apart in the '70's, and was a complete shambles by the time Reagan was elected.   Not all Boomer became rich and callous, anymore than all Millenials are whiny privileged latte sippers complaining about the rising cost of a cuppa at Starbucks.  And as for a world where "anyone seeking a future" needs an advanced degree, there actually are plenty of jobs as carpenters and plumbers and in other trades (even farming!) that don't.

These things that pass for knowledge I don't understand.