OK Boomer...

Geezers – "Talkin’ ‘bout ma geeeneration…”

Well, the boomers didn’t fade away … yet.  Frankly I’m tired of how many older people I know have fallen into the clichés of being elderly.  Statistically, people over 65, of which I am one, are the bedrock for the Republican Party and the right-wing and center of the Democratic Party.  This is true even among people of more color.  Evidently the anti-war, anti-racist, pro-feminist, environmental upheavals of the 1960s-1970s made far less of an impact than would be expected.  The tired weight of reactionary capitalism has damped that down for years.  Or as Marx called it: “The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living.”

Or maybe it’s the money?  Workers were made almost invisible and looked down on for many years in the U.S., so going for upscale pleasures and socio-political wonderment instead is standard. Even while collecting Social Security and Medicare a good chunk of reactionaries think 'government' is still the enemy.  Maybe they are just tired, worn-out or checked out.  I’m being generous here.

At least its electric...

I know many older people who can’t figure out computers, won’t figure out computers or are terrible at using them.  Yet personal computers have been around for more than 40 years. They have sad or inefficient ingrained habits that they can’t or won’t break.  Their thinking is archaic. Their diet is reminiscent of their childhood in the 1950s.  Their cultural taste is somewhere near nowhere.  Even what they read is from dusty volumes. They still believe in the shop-worn verities of the U.S., its sad holidays, its somewhat silly myths.  They uphold marriage, religion, automobiles, bad television, sports and all the traditional hokum of the U.S.  They read the paper press, the radio or the internet as if Chomsky’s point about the propaganda media passed them by.  It did. 

Many live in the past – stubbornly clinging to old events, or their trip 40 years ago, weird outdated methods, archaic culture - all the present equivalents of the horse-and-buggy.  This is unfortunately like the stereotypes of stubborn old people down through time.  Is it more comfortable to look backward or actually to look forward?  I think the latter.   Memory can be comforting and necessary, but not at the expense of the present.

Is it the money?  Are they too comfortable? This is certainly true for some, especially those in the middle-class.  ‘Stuff’ is high up on their ownership lists – RVs, boats – all the toys, all the crap. At best a kind of libertarian noblesse oblige intrudes, like maybe taking a puff of marijuana or tolerating the gays at the theater.  A poster child for this kind of life is “The Villages” – a massive, Disney-like geezer land of over 55s in Florida, which voted for Trump overwhelmingly and drives tricked-out golf carts.  It is the largest retirement community in the world – an embarrassment of semi-riches, some of whom indulge in wife-swapping when they are not golfing.   Did I say libertarian?  I did.

A Hedonistic 2nd childhood at the Villages, FL

I’m ashamed of ‘my generation’ – and that includes Tory multi-millionaires like Pete Townshend.  They are not the ‘greatest generation.’ Nearly all of those have almost passed from the scene, as few from the depression and WWII are left.  Boomers are the inheritors of the military victories over Germany and Japan, the “American Century” – which hasn’t lasted 100 years - the ‘shining city on the hill,’ the ‘indispensable nation,’ God’s perfect country, the international hegemon, in the aftermath of a horrific war and a deep depression. 

I certainly appreciate it when my grey hair allows some people to be kinder to me.  I especially experienced that in Europe.  In the U.S. I am not treated as an ‘elder’ even though I know way more than many younger blowhards.  Nevertheless I understand why “OK, Boomer” could be a non-class response to the sad generation of out-of-touch ‘traditionalists’ I’m now part of.

Thank goodness for youth, for change, for death, for the thinning of the ranks of the elderly, because that is also happening.  Nature has its way, clearing the dead-wood in time, even through pandemics - though it has led to labor shortages and mass retirements. 

The small cohort of ‘60s and ‘70s radicals that I belong to will also be gone.   The majority still seem transfixed by events in the past unfortunately. Most are now retired, aging, some sick, some dying too, but the living still engaged in the struggle for socialism in their various ways. Will the 40-and-50 somethings, who grew up in neo-liberal Reagan/Clinton time, be any better than the boomers?  I have my doubts, as U.S. capitalism is a terrible master. It is the much younger teens, 20-somethings and 30-somethings who will fully inherit the economic, political and environmental crises impacting their lives for decades to come. They see capital visibly losing credibility every day, so its no secret.

To the Youth!

Prior blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to investigate our 15 year review archive, using these terms:  "The Brown Plague," "Something In the Air," "How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin," "The Coming Insurrection," "A New Movement," "Subculture," "Rock and Roll," "The Conspiracy," "The French Communist Party versus the Students," "Capitalism on Campus," "Jasic Factory Struggle," "A Marxist Education," "Like Ho Chi Minh!  Like Che Guevara!" "May Made Me."

The Cultural Marxist

December 17, 2022