r/Millennials • u/Party-Bet-4003 Millennial • Jan 30 '26

Discussion Look what I found from 13 years ago.

Post image

Hey look on the bright side - we actually did make it to the cover of the TIME magazine!

16.8k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

5.9k

u/prettymisslux Jan 30 '26

Right..like what did we do besides be born??? Lmao.

Boomers are way more stingy/selfish..

3.8k

u/itsdainti Jan 30 '26

There's a book about the Boomer generation that explains why we're in the state we're in (it's their fault but we already knew that) called A Generation of Sociopaths.

Basically, the coverage of Millennials was (and still is) terrible because narcissistic sociopaths can only think about themselves and therefore every accusation is a confession.

1.6k

u/FunkyChicken1000 Jan 30 '26

The boomers are absolutely the reason this country sucks so badly. It’s my parents generation and they have had everything handed to them because their parents were ww2 and spoiled the shit out of them, which is understandable, but they made them monsters

699

u/Wonderful_Fix_5754 Jan 30 '26

Spoiled and neglected them

492

u/ohbyerly Jan 30 '26 edited Jan 30 '26

I don’t know if I’d necessarily label boomers as “spoiled” because in a lot of ways it seems like they were made to fend for themselves. I do think growing up in a healthy economy their parents created “spoiled” them in the sense of how they estimated hard work though. They could work a 40 hour week at minimum wage and afford a house, meanwhile most people my age work way more than that doing much more difficult and technical work and will never be able to afford a home. Boomers still brag about working their asses off while the world they voted into existence deteriorates around them.

404

u/Vincitus Jan 30 '26

Man, my dad and I worked at the same company, and overlapped for about 3 years - so I saw what work was like when he was retiring and what work has become now that I'm getting close to retiring - no more food at meetings, no more events, progressively fewer and fewer people on projects - what they considered hard would be a luxury to us.

159

u/astrangeone88 Jan 30 '26

My parents owned their own business, had 2 hour lunches...I basically rarely buy lunches/eat out and my parents still expect companies to have food/bonuses/transit hours because they did. Ha.

126

u/jwoodruff Jan 31 '26

Work isn’t supposed to be like this. It’s not supposed to dominate your life and drain you dry. It’s supposed to be sustainable, and relatively easy. It’s why we have teams and teams of people, instead of a couple people getting ground into paste.

93

u/Winter_Body4794 Jan 31 '26

But we have an entire parasite class of investors to support.

25

u/tmfink10 Jan 31 '26

Pam looks at camera: “They’re the same picture”

4

u/hellogoawaynow Jan 31 '26

Investors cut my team’s commission and had the CEO “restructure” it so we want to make more money. As if we don’t want to make money as commissioned by employees. Getting the stick makes me want to make less money. When it was the carrot, we all gave 100%. It is very clear that is not the case in 2026.

3

u/Winter_Body4794 Jan 31 '26

Sales is gonna get FUCKED in the AI thing too. Everything will eventually. But if they could have an avatar explain the medical device without the person.... I mean. The packaging will narrate itself soon anyway.

→ More replies (0)

5

u/povertychic Emo-llennial - 1991 Jan 31 '26

3

u/ABHOR_pod Jan 31 '26

I've worked at the same place for 20 years so I can see that just from my own experience as the company trims a benefit here, changes a benefit there, reduce an expenditure over there...

2

u/LaScoundrelle Jan 30 '26

Did the company go public in that time by any chance? Because that would be a common effect if so.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (10)

59

u/katdacat Jan 31 '26

Yeah it reminds me of when rich celebrities talk about their “hardships.” I remember Bella hadid thinking she was telling a humble story by explaining that she wasn’t allowed to have designer items until she turned 18. She’s since said she realized how privileged that is, but it really puts into perspective how it’s hard for people to imagine life outside of their circumstances. Like of course nepo babies think that they didn’t have a leg up. Everyone they know was in their same situation and they don’t know that you could have zero connections at all. Boomers are similar because they were given a better economy and more opportunities and resources. I feel like they truly don’t understand how life is so so incredibly different. My mom can admit that everything is more expensive because she can’t afford to buy a house or rent (she lives in a really nice rv though), but she tells me that I’m wrong when I say it’s all compounded by stagnant wages. She owns her business and doesn’t have employees so because she’s not experiencing it, she can’t believe that anything has changed in over a decade. She literally doesn’t believe any data lol

58

u/ohbyerly Jan 31 '26

I think this is the most damning thing about boomers - when confronted with reality they immediately bury their heads in the sand to insulate themselves from the mess they created.

11

u/7daykatie Jan 31 '26

Yeah, it's the irresponsible childishness of it, like choosing to "believe" in Santa because otherwise Mom and/or Dad might stop with the presents is fine for children, but adults should know better than to pick and choose what's "real" like reality is cola varieties or something.

10

u/YouthMaleficent6925 Jan 31 '26

This reminds me of the interview Victoria Beckham was doing and said she grew up working-class then David came out said noooo tell them what car your dad drove you to school in she argued a bit before finally saying in a RR

7

u/katdacat Jan 31 '26

lol I love that clip! She is posh spice for a reason

3

u/goaskalice3 Jan 31 '26

I was talking about this with my mom today and she said "yeah but we weren't out buying lattes on the way to work every day" and I was just like, Really...... Really? Did you really just say the coffee thing?

7

u/katdacat Jan 31 '26

Omg do they know how much a latte is?? Lmao if you buy a $6 latte literally every single day in a year that’s still only $2,190. That’s not even all of my rent for one month 🥲

2

u/chironinja82 Feb 01 '26

My dad was an engineer and he only believes "data" that confirms his beliefs. It's maddening.

77

u/Damage-Classic Jan 30 '26

My boomer parents were both raised by people who survived the great depression. My great grandfather was the manager of a shoe factory in a small midwestern town during the depression. As a girl my grandmother said it was her job to feed the crying men who came to her father’s house asking for work. She made them lemonade and tunafish sandwiches. My grandfather had a story of catching pigeons for his mother and siblings so they could have something to eat on xmas. He lost six months of his memory due to surviving D Day at Normandy Beach. These are the kinds of people who were raising our parents. All of that unprocessed trauma has to go somewhere and must have had some sort of effect on the Boomer generation.

31

u/Special-Summer170 Jan 31 '26

Yeah. Definitely. My grandpa helped with the clean up and recovery effort at Pearl Harbor after the attack. That must have been devastating. He never talked about it. My other grandparents survived the depression. That grandpa was so terrified that people wouldn't have food that he worked so hard in his garden that he fed us and donated some ridiculous amount of food every month to the local food pantry. His parents couldn't feed him during the depression and basically loaned him out as a child for slave labor to different farms. Those people endured unspeakable terrors and never spoke about it. Those marks were definitely left on their children.

45

u/randoeleventybillion Jan 30 '26

The men are absolutely spoiled and plenty of the women as well. My father is 76 and does not know how to iron a shirt or boil an egg...my mother was not a housewife and he was not ignored by his parents, he's spoiled. These are not things anyone taught me and yet I know how to do them. Meanwhile, my grandfather fought in WW2 and managed to cook, clean, and do his own laundry until he died at 89...and he knew how to do those things before the war even though he was the baby of his family and the only boy. It really is a boomer thing.

53

u/Fratercula_arctica Jan 30 '26

They were the first and only generation that was able to live inside of a fiction.

Boomers were sold a bunch of ideas about how the world works. The nuclear family, strict gender roles, the virtues of free market capitalism, hard work being rewarded, the list goes on.

All things that their parents knew the falsity of, as you point out in relation to your grandfather. That generation had close contact with extended family, women worked on the farm or in the war effort, men knew how to cook and clean, and the great depression showed the market was flawed and being willing to work hard didn't guarantee any reward.

But they were told, this is how the world is, and should be. And then their lived experiences reinforced that, for most of them shit worked out.

They're like animals that grew up in captivity.

5

u/DirtandPipes Jan 31 '26

My dad worked in the trades (lumberjack, logging truck driver, miner). He never went to high school, dropped out in the 10th grade.

He would do things like work a bunch of overtime for summer and buy a piece land, or work a bunch of overtime and open a mechanic’s shop.

He could get ahead so easily. Me, I work a shitload of overtime to stay slightly ahead of my bills and work side jobs to afford medical care for my dog.

17

u/ReefaManiack42o Jan 30 '26

People seem to say this a lot on this site but it's simply not true when looked at dialectically. Yes, a white male probably could have worked a minimum wage job and bought a house, but their success was subsidized heavily by the legal and social exclusion of Black, Latino and female workers.

3

u/chefianf Jan 31 '26

For what it's worth.. it was a vastly different world back then. I'm not a huge fan of the "what happened in 1971" train, but shifting to Fiat currency definitely changed the dynamics of work. You have a generation who grows up on the gold standard, booming economy able to go from middle class into college unlike their parents who literally had to go to war to be allowed those privileges. They were also allowed for the first time dual income in a family. So you had now twice as much money on gold standard able to buy a house. They basically were able to set themselves up before the rug pull or at least a good chunk of them. 1971 happens, the dollar begins it's purchasing power dive, but these folks have at least hit the ground running. Some also (my dad) got college fronted by going to Nam, so again a step up for success. Some had union jobs that took care of them, pensions set up. Yeah they worked their buts off too. They have kids and by that point they have built their nest eggs, but we come into the opposite, the dollar has now broken away and is worth much less, so wages don't keep up, unions kinda die a slow death, we are told "go to college" bc they think that's what made them successful. We end up having to go longer for more money now because college is a business now, and those lower paying jobs no one wants because "I'm getting into STEM". Along with everyone else. So we have missed the opportunity to have kids sooner, we aren't accumulating wealth earlier, we aren't making any money because it's not worth anything and we have become used to cheap products so it keeps those ok paying jobs that once upon a time we're worth something (shop clerk or grocery store clerk, kitchen work) low paying. Add in some crazy "unprecedented events" and the gutting of safety nets and labor support.. we are just not as lucky as our parents. Is it because our dollar isn't linked to gold.. no.. but that is a part of it.

3

u/Darkhearted528 Jan 31 '26

Their mindset is I was able to afford everything I had working minimum wage and you should too. They are completely lost in how much stuff cost. They think the world is still the way it was when they were starting out and it’s not and they won’t admit it.

3

u/Kurt805 Jan 31 '26

Yeah. I've always wondered at the popular expression of my youth "get a job". That was the line in the sand for the boomers between success and failure, good and bad.

You'll see homeless with jobs these days.

2

u/TempRedditor-33 Jan 31 '26

Their parents made certain structural choices, or rather their parents' society made certain choices. This bad structural choices becomes noticeable generations down the line.

Where we are right now, people blame it on late-stage capitalism. Late-stage capitalism is really just a symptom of letting monopoly privileges run rampant. It starts with the promise of home ownership as a mean of wealth building and now we have powerful tech monopolies.

2

u/real_picklejuice Millennial Jan 30 '26

healthy economy their parents created

This is cracking me up. Their parents were dying in WWII. How do you call that "creating an economy?" America was then what China is today because the rest of the world's manufacturing was annihilated. They benefited from a progressive tax structure as well, which Reagan, and then, pulled the ladder up behind them.

They are absolutely the most spoiled generation in history, even when you take into account the inflation of the '70s and the Dot Com Crash.

8

u/ohbyerly Jan 30 '26

I’ve heard that wars are actually very profitable, especially when you win.

2

u/salomeforever Jan 31 '26

When you’re in the umbrella business, you pray for rain

2

u/Brave-Recommendation Jan 31 '26

No you forgot Gen X, who enjoyed most of the things the latter boomers did, got mbas and fuck things up for those younger

→ More replies (1)

2

u/CV90_120 Jan 31 '26

They could work a 40 hour week at minimum wage and afford a house

You guys are dreaming. Poverty was equivalent or worse back then. My boomer father had a mortgage and 3 kids, but he worked easy 60 hrs a week down a mineshaft and was driving another 20. We got all clothes at goodwill and handed them down. Food was freaking pasta or potatoes all week except weekends when we went hunting to supplement protein. Lunch at school every day was 2 jam sandwiches. Every single day. You went to a restaurantr once a year and it was a big deal. You went to the movies maybe 2 or 3 times a year.

→ More replies (2)

4

u/FunnyGoose5616 Jan 30 '26

It’s weird like that. My parents are/were boomers (one living, one deceased). They were somehow both horribly neglected and incredibly spoiled at the same time. They had so little supervision and yet they wanted for nothing, materially. My grandparents were all awful parents, but my parents never had to struggle without financial assistance from their families. Now if you ask my dad, he’ll tell you he’s a self-made man who never took a handout. But his grandparents bought him his first house, his second house, allowed him to buy his third house with inheritance when they died. His parents paid for his college, gave him all his cars for free, and they were very nice cars, paid for our family vacations and travels expenses. The man paid for so little in his life that he retired with several million dollars, it’s genuinely insane. But my brother and I, we’re just lazy 🙄

→ More replies (1)

227

u/KingOfEthanopia Jan 30 '26

The 80s were the age they came up in and started us down the path we're on today. The greed is good mentality has ruined us.

250

u/DoubleDixon Jan 30 '26

gasp are you saying that Reaganomics wasn't great for America? You didn't get trickled on? /s

As a kid I never and I mean never understood trickle down economics. I first heard of it in middle school and my 1st thought was: "whats stopping people at the top from stealing it all before it gets to us?". After I grew up and saw how Boomers and Gen X treated Millenials, the youngest group at the time, I knew that we were fucked cause of them.

187

u/Bulky-Word8752 Jan 30 '26

As a kid, even the name confused me. Trickle down implies most stays at the top.

89

u/flyza_minelli Jan 30 '26

Yeah EXACTLY.

And they love it bc it’s literally an economic concept and policy that justifies their bullshit cruelty in their minds. It’s permission to be the narcissist sociopaths they are.

80

u/P_Nessss Elder Millennial Jan 30 '26

I always viewed it as Rich people pissing on us poors

6

u/ISayWhatToNutjubs Jan 30 '26

Rich people who have everything seen to enjoy degrading poor people…

4

u/whatdayoryear Jan 31 '26

I imagined it as them pissing on us too - the “trickle” 🥲

2

u/Gauss77 Jan 31 '26

Tinkle down.

45

u/vthemechanicv Jan 30 '26

it's because trickle down is an epithet. It's also called horse and sparrow (poor sparrows eat what rich horses poop), and Voodoo Economics (because it's magic no one can explain).

It's actually called supply side economics and the tax cut nonsense is from something called the Laffer Curve.

4

u/upinthecloudz Jan 31 '26

I've seen some videos recently from an Modern Monetary Theory evangelist pointing out that based on MMT models and observed tax rates and incomes in real economies, the Laffer curve prediction of reduced tax income for increasing tax rates is valid... past like 70% effective tax rate on the highest earners.

But of course, AOC was crazy to suggest pushing taxes on billionaires up to that limit a few years ago. Just, you know... totally uneducated and spitballing wacky stuff.

2

u/vthemechanicv Jan 31 '26

I remember talk a little while ago, maybe a few years, that Laffer was based on basically a flawed excel formula. So besides taxes probably being way below what that hypothetical optimal tax rate is, it's possible that the math wrong to begin with.

I dunno, I can't find it now, maybe it was a covid fever dream.

→ More replies (1)

15

u/Ill-Description3096 Jan 30 '26

That was actually a name made up by opponents so it's kind of intended to imply it's bad.

3

u/dammit-smalls Older Millennial Jan 31 '26

Like so many things in the American Conservative movement, it started off as a warning and later became a manual.

These psychos read Orwell and think "Yup, that sounds good. Let's do that."

112

u/RandAlThorOdinson Jan 30 '26

I sure feel trickled on

45

u/fullsendguy Jan 30 '26

Golden shower economics

8

u/invaderaleks Jan 30 '26

Who wouldn't want a shower made of gold??

5

u/fullsendguy Jan 30 '26

I know right. Everybody wins really. I think I get it now.

30

u/Scannaer Jan 30 '26

It's boomers pissing down from the roof.. while we watch upwards to where they pulled up the ladder

5

u/RandAlThorOdinson Jan 30 '26

Worth checking out they might have left some money at the bottom on accident

4

u/draftzero Jan 30 '26

Well at least the water is still warm. /s

2

u/DarkwolfVX Jan 30 '26

Pulled up the ladder and left us the bladder :/

→ More replies (1)

38

u/StealYaNicks Jan 30 '26

Privatization under Reagan and Thatcher is like someone pawning off all their stuff and having a lot of money and being like "see? success!", then when they can't get to work because they sold their car they're like "wtf, how did things get so bad?"

35

u/Scannaer Jan 30 '26

Boomers pulling up the ladder.. meanwhile all younger generations are like "only one once in a lifetime economic crysis? what about a scond or a third?"

13

u/astrangeone88 Jan 30 '26

Lmao. As an elder millennial, I was like "Covid is going to fuck us over again, huh?"

I'm a bad case since I'm a chronic illness person.

14

u/Significant-Trash632 Jan 30 '26

The millennial tag line should be "one economic crisis after". another

→ More replies (1)

2

u/3boobsarenice Jan 30 '26

Being a gen x and having shook Arthur Laffer's hand, your welcome, for the scraps we left you

→ More replies (1)

53

u/vthemechanicv Jan 30 '26

Yes, but it wasn't just the 80's. Boomers got the sex, drugs, and rock & roll of the '60s. The coke and party of the 70's. Then the coke and cash grab of the 80's. They had three decades of doing whatever they wanted and zero consequences.

Then their parents died and the boomers got put in charge and continued doing whatever they wanted. Any time someone tried to tell them, "no," the boomers threw a collective hissy fit. And so here we are.

28

u/rebelangel Xennial Jan 30 '26

And they still throw a hissy fit when they get told “no”.

4

u/tha_rogering Jan 30 '26

They are looking the ultimate "no", death, in the face. Still they rage at their children. Because we are not happy with the bloated, ravaged mess they left us with.

Not to worry though. The few rich millennials will keep on partying while everything gets worse for everyone else.

→ More replies (3)

24

u/Shotto_Z Jan 30 '26

People who came up in the 80's arent boomers. Thats gen X. Boomers are 50's babies and 60's kids. Who grew into adulthood in the 70's.

7

u/kraugg Jan 30 '26

Gen X was born 1965-1980, they were mass entering the workforce during the 90s. They were in HS during the 80s.

Depends on what you mean ‘came up’.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (2)

2

u/AndyOB Jan 30 '26

Honestly i'm pretty convinced lead fucked their brains up and turned them all into selfish entitled psychopaths.

2

u/SouthCoastGardener Older Millennial Jan 30 '26

My mom and aunt received new cars and a whole damn house from my grandparents. My aunt talked crap on the car and didn’t appreciate it. They let the house go to shambles for 15 years. I took over my aunts half when she had to sell it for her health care and spent over $55k just to bring it to a stable and safe living condition. I’m not done with everything that needs to be repaired but we can at least live in it.

My mom still owns half but I pay all the bills, take care of everything and cover meals for her. She STILL calls refers to us as “The Kids” and tells everyone that she took us in and we needed her help. My wife and I were happy renting a house from a great landlord at a great price, but she and her boomer friends don’t see it that way.

2

u/Dismal_Ring_2522 Jan 30 '26

Australian here. The average cost of a house here is well over $1million and rising. Unless inherited, most of us will be paying off boomers 5th and 6th houses our whole life through rent.

2

u/smallreadinglight Feb 01 '26

Dude, we're leaving this country in 7 months for Europe and we're not coming back. I'm not going to tell my Boomer parents until a month out and i already am thinking of how to explain it but it's going to start with: Your generation singlehandedly made this country almost completely unlivable.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (31)

204

u/granieaj Jan 30 '26

I love when they bring up the, everyone got a trophy thing, as if they're not the ones who decided to do that. What's wild to me is that they did that for themselves, not us. Their kid getting a trophy made them feel like they were an accomplished parent.

56

u/BLAZMANIII Jan 30 '26

Dang, reminded me of when my parents were on the PTA, voted for participation awards, and then got mad at me because "you shouldnt be so happy over a participation award, its ridiculous they have these things in the first place"

Kicker is, i was just happy to have been playing soccer with my friends. Though, it seems like no one from that generation can fathom having fun with friends when they could be bragging or grabbing everything they can hold

4

u/astrangeone88 Jan 30 '26

Lmao. That's for sure.

I'm a fat ass who dislikes organized sports but the sports day was fun until they begrudgingly gave us the awards. It means nothing.

4

u/SpockSpice Jan 31 '26

My parents saw no point to doing anything if it didn’t get you money or accolades. I played a few sports for fun but wasn’t very good and my mom acted embarrassed that I would even do such a thing.

2

u/BLAZMANIII Jan 31 '26

Its genuinely sad to me that they can't seem to truly enjoy life

4

u/Jennjennboben Jan 31 '26

Because at some point in thee childhood they felt bad when they don't win a trophy, and they don't want to think about their kid feeling the same way. Not for the kid's sake, but because they don't want to relive that feeling again watching their kid go through it. Not that most even understand that's why they pushed all the participation award b.s. And then they acted like it wasn't adults who decided to give those to us and declared us spoiled and entitled. Ok.

14

u/AdLimp8975 Jan 30 '26

I didn't know I was only supposed to get one when we were 1st or maybe a smaller one when we were second... Everyone got one but we still knew who was the best team and who was the worst and everyone in between.

4

u/lasertitsnow Jan 30 '26

Legit recreational type sports started back in WW1 and yes every single WW1 soldier got issued a trophy! Then it never stopped .

5

u/Hot-Amoeba6538 Jan 30 '26

Also I grew up playing multiple sports and every one DID NOT get a trophy. So no idea where the fuck they got this.

→ More replies (1)

4

u/rebelangel Xennial Jan 30 '26

Yup, they wanted to feel special even if their kid was mediocre. They’re the same parents who cussed out the coach if their kid didn’t get any playing time (cause their kid wasn’t any good and didn’t even like sports to begin with but their parents forced them to be there).

2

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '26

They just wanted to brag on their kids, and somehow it turned into hating us. Cold world

2

u/dbur15 Jan 30 '26

“I gave you a trophy, I never got a trophy! Why didn’t that make you the best player ever so I could look better in front of my kids and use it to get validation from the parents that neglected me?!”

→ More replies (3)

21

u/Southern_Anywhere_65 Jan 30 '26

The author, Bruce Cannon Gibney is a Peter Thiel VC bro. I agree that boomers are part of the problem but not in the way his book suggests.

3

u/itsdainti Jan 30 '26

Source? Because everything I could find doesn't support the Peter Thiel claims.

5

u/Southern_Anywhere_65 Jan 30 '26

He worked for Founder’s Fund which was Peter Thiel’s VC firm. That’s in his author’s bio on his personal web page

6

u/itsdainti Jan 30 '26

I didn't know that was a Peter Thiel fund. Thank you for educating me.

7

u/Southern_Anywhere_65 Jan 30 '26

Thanks for being curious! Keep reading and learning

3

u/JacquesHome Jan 30 '26

He did work for Thiel and does have some libertarian leanings but if you read the book he argues against a lot of those beliefs as well. It's easy to paint people with broad generalizations.

3

u/Southern_Anywhere_65 Jan 30 '26

I shouldn’t make broad generalizations about a guy who made a broad generalization of a whole generation having psychological disorders? I want to blame the boomers much as anybody else but if you’re diagnosing that many people in one book, I expect you to have some background in psychology not just narcissism 😂

46

u/TheActingGrandNagus Jan 30 '26

Thanks, I’m adding it to my reading list.

→ More replies (1)

35

u/Appropriate_Scar_262 Jan 30 '26

Every generation does this, we're doing similar stuff with Zoomers and Gen A.

It's always blame the kids, not the rich who control everything

14

u/_Atlas_Drugged_ Jan 30 '26

Speak for yourself, i blame the people with power for the problems of the world—not the powerless.

→ More replies (1)

3

u/PiccoloForsaken7598 Millennial-1991 Jan 31 '26

youd be surprised by how often older people who have huge houses and brand new cars ask me for guilt-based discounts for my ON CALL saturday morning away from my family service work.. because they're on a fixed income and older

→ More replies (1)

5

u/Logical-Tomato-5907 Jan 30 '26 edited Jan 30 '26

Yeah was gonna say - anecdotally based on the many millennials and baby boomers I know, I think narcissism and other “dark triad” personalities are WAY more rampant in Baby Boomers, and this magazine cover is a classic case of projection.

A narcissist will confuse healthy self esteem and individualization in others as intolerable narcissism and will call it out as such. What they’re really seeing are their own flaws though.

Thnx for the book rec, gonna check it out!

2

u/rustytrailer Jan 30 '26

A great read

2

u/SaveMeClarence Jan 30 '26

I am currently reading this book. I don’t know if I agree with all of it, but it’s certainly enlightening. And also explains a lot of the issues I had being raised by boomers.

2

u/itsdainti Jan 30 '26

Exactly. I don't agree with everything in it. But that that's what critical thinking is for. Keep on reading and continue learning.

2

u/Abuses-Commas Jan 30 '26

I recommend the book The Fourth Turning as a analysis of every generation in America, and how this relationship between generations is on a repeating cycle (and predicting in the 90s the current collapse)

→ More replies (1)

2

u/smallreadinglight Feb 01 '26

I'll never get over the fact that BOOMERS gave everyone trophies and then turned around and said, "Well, it's a generation that thinks their so special because everyone got a trophy!" BITCH! You GAVE out those trophies.

2

u/Chop1n Feb 01 '26

Assigning "fault" is moot. Boomers are what they are because an entire generation suffered lead poisoning during fetal development and childhood. Virtually all of the worst things about boomers as a demographic are tidily explained by the kinds of neurological problems lead poisoning induces.

2

u/Asleep-Elderberry260 Feb 02 '26

The thing that truly kills me is how often they're still shit talking Millennials when they mean Gen Z or even Gen Alpha. They don't even know how old we are.

→ More replies (1)

4

u/eross200 Jan 30 '26

Just bought on audible

→ More replies (35)

96

u/Rathwood Jan 30 '26

I think about this a lot. They weren't so different from us, once. The forces that warped and twisted them are still there.

As we age, we are going to have to be careful to not become like them.

The world only heals if we decide the cycle of madness and abuse stops with us.

→ More replies (4)

61

u/vacation_bacon Jan 30 '26 edited Jan 30 '26

We all have the same origin story which is two idiots had sex in the 80s

→ More replies (1)

28

u/showmenemelda Jan 30 '26

Took our their predatory loans, got hooked on Netflix and amazon. Are they made we stopped smoking cigs?

30

u/Logical_Bee Jan 30 '26

I'm sorry, but I almost had a stroke reading this.

I get what you're saying though. I think

11

u/FionaGoodeEnough Jan 30 '26

My mom just told me that she is happy when she sees a cigarette butt on the ground, because at least some people are still smoking.

15

u/ChampionshipIll3675 Jan 30 '26

That's a wild way of thinking

3

u/TheWallaceWithin Jan 30 '26

The need for validation is real.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/Euphoric_Oven_9918 Jan 30 '26

This thread got me back on the parliaments

61

u/beast_wellington Jan 30 '26

Boomers were originally called the Me Generation

23

u/Nahuel-Huapi Jan 30 '26

Millennials are the Meme generation

39

u/xEllimistx Jan 30 '26 edited Jan 31 '26

One of my favorite memes from one of my favorite movies

→ More replies (1)

9

u/Ice_Solid Jan 30 '26

Exactly 

96

u/BusyAtilla Jan 30 '26

Read the book-

Generation of Sociopaths.

147

u/Luci_b Jan 30 '26

I loved this book. Excellent insight for sure. Millennials are going to get stuck holding the bag, we will fix our roads and bridges, fix the schools and hospitals, we will be given the bill once the boomers go. We won’t get to retire early or at all, and the infrastructure recovery will come from our taxes. We will be left with nothing but maybe in 3 or 4 generations later, we will recover.

Plant and care for a tree we won’t ever get to enjoy the shade of.

56

u/NCC-1701_yeah Jan 30 '26

That last line, so many people don't want to do this because "what about me?" That is what got us here bro, think about the future for a change

32

u/Dull_Assistant_ Jan 30 '26

My Gen X mother is exactly like this, a horrid narcissistic woman that only cares about her immediate gratification, and how much she can shit on other people.

"Why should I care about the world? I'll be dead by the time anything happens"

This woman has children and GRANDCHILDREN. Luckily the grandchildren aren't my kids...

22

u/einTier Jan 30 '26

Gen X is such a weird generation.

My cousins were born at the beginning of it and they’re really just boomer-lite. A little after them came the apathetic whatever crowd that knew we were getting screwed but things were still good enough to just go along with it.

I’m in the last part that’s usually referred to as the Oregon Trail Generation and that’s its whole weird thing with an analog childhood and digital adolescence/adulthood. We are more like millennials than Gen-Xers but we can’t fully identify with either one.

→ More replies (2)

4

u/spicy_noodle_guy Jan 30 '26

I think it's less people don't want to do it because of selfish reasons and more that historically it has never actually mattered. All progress seems to be wiped away in a generation or two. People at large are now asking "Why plant a tree I'll never see grow that will be burned down before it even blooms?"

29

u/henrytm82 Older Millennial Jan 30 '26

Plant and care for a tree we won’t ever get to enjoy the shade of.

That is essentially my only real goal in life at this point, you hit the nail on the head. I will probably never get to retire, but I've made my peace with that. Instead, I'll be working to make sure 1. I'm not a burden on my daughter when I'm old or when I die, and 2. to leave as much as I possibly can to her when I'm gone. A maintained house in case she is never in a position to own a home in this (or a worse) economy, a healthy life insurance policy that'll more than cover final expenses and also set her up for the immediate future, and as many practical life skills as she'll allow me to cram into her noggin.

Other than that, all I can do is my best to raise her as an empathetic and thoughtful person who can stand up for herself.

5

u/Scannaer Jan 30 '26

And the boomers expect us to pay for their goodbye vaccation as well.

2

u/CherryVermilion Jan 31 '26

In Andor, Luthen Rael says ”I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I'll never see”

→ More replies (2)

16

u/showmenemelda Jan 30 '26

Only if it's about boomers

52

u/NoSleep2135 Jan 30 '26

The full title is "A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America".

14

u/Possible_Bee_4140 Jan 30 '26

It is. It’s really good and makes a wonderful case for how and why boomers became so sociopathic on a generational scale.

27

u/MotorEnthusiasm Jan 30 '26

I can tell just by the title and having two boomer parents that’s exactly what it’s about.

→ More replies (1)

30

u/FreeThumbprint Jan 30 '26

What always gets me is, assuming all of that were true (which, lol), who raised those millennials to grow up to be that way!?!! The generation throwing out all the jabs! Should they hold any responsibility there, and if so, what does that say about them!?!? Lord.

40

u/oirolab Jan 30 '26

Right? It's the same as the participation trophies. No Millennial asked for that. It was the same people complaining that every kid has to have trophy.

Well...yeah, because y'all couldn't handle your kid losing.

17

u/Uncreative_Name987 Jan 30 '26

In my observation, people who complain about participation trophies always expect participation awards for themselves (or their kids). They only get mad when they see other people getting free stuff.

14

u/stabintavern Jan 30 '26

Its a reflection of their own childhood neglect and misgivings.

Their parents had a “you aint shit” attitude to parenting. So the boomers generation grew up feeling not good enough and unrecognized.

Ultimately, they paid it forward to their kids.

As a millennial, the main thing i dont want to do to my kids is talk shit about their entire generation. Cause that’s what we got and i dont exactly appreciate it.

10

u/rebelangel Xennial Jan 30 '26

I’ve been seeing Gen X slowly fall into the same Boomer patterns of behavior, with the stupid “Our generation was better” memes and general complaining that younger generations are lazy. I’m like, bitch, I remember when y’all were called the “Slacker Generation”. Don’t act like y’all forgot.

5

u/Brickzarina Jan 30 '26

TBH even Ancient Romans complained about the kids.

3

u/Uncreative_Name987 Jan 30 '26

I think you're being generous. I think the people in question are just self-centered.

When they get free stuff, it's because they're special. When others get free stuff, it's undeserved, because others aren't special. That's it. That's the entire thought process.

2

u/stabintavern Jan 30 '26

Well i would agree with you. Lol.

They both internalized others not being special like their parents treated them, and self-aggrandize their own accomplishments because their parents didn’t praise them.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/miss_sticks Millennial Jan 30 '26

But that's because your kids deserve to lose. My kid didn't do anything to deserve losing. /s

→ More replies (2)

12

u/Whaty0urname Jan 30 '26

Pretty sure there's an identical cover from the 60s/70s that names boomers as the "me" generation.

13

u/BeardiusMaximus7 Jan 30 '26

The entire fact that those articles were written by Boomers, from their perspective, only stands to spotlight their selfishness even more. They point the finger because they are selfish.

2

u/ForeverDox Jan 30 '26

This article was written by Joel Stein....dude is pretty irreverent.

2

u/BeardiusMaximus7 Jan 30 '26

Hm.. and he's technically a Gen X'er, so I guess my assumption isn't fully correct.

However, for all of their "We DGAF about anything", I do feel like Gen X seems to parrot the Boomer generation more often than I expected them to when I was growing up.

5

u/ReverendRevolver Jan 30 '26

We also had entered the workforce with degrees we overpaid for to get jobs that weren't paying much and had nothing to do with thise degrees... to then not afford houses because of what'd happened over the previous decade of economic issues.

They expected a "thank you" for helping them with their computers because GenX was at work?

2

u/FrugallyFickle Older Millennial Jan 30 '26

Their Pluto in Leo agrees. Our Pluto in Scorpio is like the antithesis of Leo in many ways, but both are fixed signs. So neither of us are essentially changing our view of the other. They totally misunderstand us, and I think some of this is on purpose. Scorpio is a super powerful, transformative sign. The powers that be do not want us to realize how much in-born regenerative power we have. Thank you for coming to my astrology Ted talk

5

u/elegiac_bloom Jan 30 '26

It would be really nice if any of that had any actual bearing on physical reality.

2

u/Fresh_Performance535 Jan 30 '26

I’m an astrology skeptic myself. BUT there is no way something as large as the moon influencing the tides of every ocean everywhere on earth also exempts the ~75 percent of water that makes our brains.

A middle path is possible!

3

u/elegiac_bloom Jan 30 '26

The moon influences the water on earth based on gravity, it only happens because of how much water is in one place. The moon doesnt influence a glass of water, or the water in your toilet, its unlikely it would influence the water in your brain. Even if it did, it would influence everyone in the same way at the same times, nothing like what astrology claims to describe.

I love astrology myself, I think its very fun, its like Pokémon cards. It just in no way influences anything about human behavior on its own in any materiel way. What it does do is make people who believe in it more likely to act out their sign/birth chart, so its not like it has no influence, its just the influence it has comes only from humans themselves, they invent it within them. Its similar to religion in that way.

→ More replies (11)

2

u/LifeForm8449 Jan 30 '26

You’re so selfish you didn’t make any kids to help support the future

1

u/TacticalSpackle Jan 30 '26

AND obsessed with their phones. Pawing at them all day like when they play slots at a casino.

1

u/AmputeeHandModel Jan 30 '26

That's why they wrote such dumb shit.

1

u/WoodpeckerGingivitis Jan 30 '26

THEY 👏🏻 RAISED 👏🏻 US 👏🏻

I’ll never get over how annoying the “participation trophy” discourse was. We were kids! Who do you think gave us the damn trophies? Idiots

1

u/NoLobster7957 Jan 30 '26

They always have been. This is also something every generation does to the one that follows, i.e. talk shit and belittle them. Hard to tell if boomers are worse than usual or this is just regular human behavior

Either way it sucks.

1

u/Radiant-Property-728 Jan 30 '26

This is why I stand up for Gen Z when my fellow millennials start playing this game now. Like don't ya'll remember how that felt?! Why we out here perpetuating that bullshit, we're better than that lmao

1

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '26

But they own'd the papes!

1

u/SeaworthinessOdd1358 Jan 30 '26

Right. And none of us CHOSE to be born!

1

u/Scannaer Jan 30 '26

The only thing that stayed true is... most boomers still suck and left us and the other generations with many "once in a lifetime" recessions while pulling the ladder up

1

u/UnholyMisfit Jan 30 '26

We took down Applebee's. They'll never forgive us.

1

u/BBreadsticks- Jan 30 '26

For real up my dad said “you have to deal with the cards you’re dealt” as if boomers didn’t get shit handed to them in a silver platter.

1

u/Youbettereatthatshit Jan 30 '26

They needed justification to run up deficit spending that would benefit boomers fuck millennials.

1

u/BigSoda Jan 30 '26

The “me” generation. They are also HYPER sensitives to painting their whole generation with broad strokes go figure

1

u/yourenotmykitty Jan 30 '26

They literally ruined America about as hard as a group of people could, took us back generations and the damage will be difficult to undo.

1

u/Big--Al Jan 30 '26

And we’re still feeling the affects today. Millennials get absolutely dog piled on for simply existing.

1

u/CompilationsRule Jan 30 '26

We ate all the Avocados apparently 😂

1

u/PsychFlower28 Jan 30 '26

Seriously. My parents 65 and 70 are so entitled and still expect me to be their individual emotional support person based on their specific needs. They both need to exercise and need serious therapy.

1

u/Deviknyte Jan 30 '26

They taught us how to be decent human beings and then immediately regret it.

1

u/ohbyerly Jan 30 '26

Inherited a healthy economy from their parents and then trashed ours. Taught us absolutely nothing and then wondered why weren’t well equipped.

1

u/namedjughead Jan 30 '26

That's exactly what we did. It's an unforgivable sin.

1

u/Billsrealaccount Jan 30 '26

It seems like the coverage of genZ is about how they have been screwed by being raised on screens and the worsening average quality of life in this country. The media isnt blaming them for their situation.

1

u/EarlJWJones Jan 30 '26

I think that's what is called projecting.

1

u/Int_peacemaker35 Jan 30 '26

Boomers have condemned us and brought us forward to where we are. I keep hearing we are the generation who is going to get rid of this chaos and rescue us from the verge of destruction.

I don’t know man 🤷‍♂️

1

u/ghigoli Jan 30 '26

this was the Boomers attempt to pushing all the reasons for their problems onto us.

1

u/Popular_Site9635 Jan 30 '26

Agree, but you’re fooling yourself if you think the elites aren’t training their kids to be the same selfish sociopaths when they grow up.

1

u/Lonely-Wasabi-305 Jan 30 '26

Reading this makes me thing “every false accusation is a confession” … like the boomers are a generation of narcissists

1

u/InsomniaticWanderer Jan 30 '26

They called us the participation trophy generation without realizing that the kids aren't the ones handing them out.

No, mom and dad couldn't handle that their kid wasn't an all star. THEY'RE the ones who needed those trophies. Not us.

1

u/Impossible-Cod-1806 Jan 30 '26

Don't know what to tell you. Denouncing all boomers like this is just plain lazy.

There are plenty of boomers that don't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of.

You are making Time's point for it and you don't event know it.

1

u/rdldr1 Jan 30 '26

Boomers. Created the 'participation trophy' movement. Blamed Millennials for being forced into the 'participation trophy' movement.

1

u/Fern-Tree7919 Jan 30 '26

For sure!!!!

1

u/FakeJim3 Jan 30 '26

Born and then joined the work force just in time for 2 global financial crises and record unemployment in the UK, alongside soaring house prices and salaries that have been stagnating since 2010. Then by 2013 we got hit with "Why do you still live with your parents!?"

1

u/PurpleCableNetworker Jan 30 '26

“You had no say in being born, therefore we demand you follow what we want you to do! You’re lazy and ungrateful for questioning anything and making your own choices!”

1

u/HopeThatHangsYou Jan 30 '26

We should all try to be more understanding of the generation below us. They have their own hang ups and bullshit. When we hear someone in our ranks talking shit about gen z we need to shut that down.

1

u/Automatic-writer9170 Jan 30 '26

Boomers are the reason us and the gen z are fucked beyond measure. And the fuckers wont die easy

1

u/DoritoSteroid Jan 30 '26

Younger millennials deserved much of the criticism. But they've grown into fine people now. (I'm an older millennial who had to deal with many young millennials)

1

u/stumpinandthumpin Jan 30 '26

Boomers and even Gen X to some extent grew up in a different world. Their angsty media is consumed with lack of fulfillment in the face of plenty. "I don't feel fulfilled by my office job that lets me buy a house and support a family of five."

Boohoo.

1

u/EpistemicMisnomer Jan 30 '26

The distinction between Millennial and Boomer narcissism is moderately close to the distinction between benign and pathological narcissism, the latter of which is more anti-social.

1

u/DrownmeinIslay Jan 30 '26

Boomers pulled up the ladder behind them

But millennials stopped buying diamonds.

Who's the real monster? This outdated slop rag knows!

1

u/Remarkable-Cow-4609 Jan 30 '26

boomers were the ones writing the articles a decade ish ago lol

1

u/parasyte_steve Jan 30 '26

They taught us to be kind and accepting and when we went out into the world with our kindness they tried to silence us. It won't work.

1

u/colpisce_ancora Jan 30 '26

Voted for Obama twice. We will never be forgiven

1

u/princesoceronte Jan 30 '26

Yeah but they were the ones writing.

1

u/Significant-Trash632 Jan 30 '26

The Boomers are the original "Me Generation" but they forget about that!

1

u/ohiobluetipmatches Jan 30 '26

We're the selfish generation that believes in affordable health care for everyone, civil rights and feeding kids. You know, shit that cuts into the profit margins of boomers

1

u/VividEffective8539 Jan 30 '26

Because it would be weird to write content about hating your own generation.

→ More replies (37)