Not sure who downvoted you. You are correct. I feel like the term “boomer” has lost all meaning. Now people just use it to mean anything from “old person” to “out of touch person”. The problem with that is, by that definition, all these Gen-Z people using the term like that, will all eventually be boomers. Which by definition would NEVER actually be true.
The boomers were born boomers. Gen-X and Millenials had to endure the boomers bullshit for 60 years before Gen-Z was ever born. We FULLY understand why you’d want to bully boomers. They frankly deserve it. But Gen-Z has lost all sight of WHY the boomers deserve shit. They’re just using the term boomer for anyone, of any age, that they want to insult.
I saw a 15 year old call a 25 year old a boomer.
At that point, the word has lost all meaning. I should just go around, insulting people by calling them a fish. No context. I’m going to strip the word fish of all meaning. No longer does it have anything to do with fins, or gills, or being underwater. If you make me mad, you’re a fish!
So, to anyone unfirmiliar with the word, boomer is shorthand for baby boomer. Essentially in WWII, hitler was trying to take over the world. So we sent all the men overseas to go kill the germans. When the soldiers got back, after not seeing their high school sweetheart for 4 years, they wanted to fuuuuuuuuck. And suddenly you get this massive wave of new babys. A boom rise in the amount of babys born between 1945-1965. A real…baby boom.
So these boomers in 1946 were still boomers, but also 1 year old. Yes, I AM using the term boomer correctly, to describe an infant baby as a boomer, as long as that baby is a baby between 1945-1965. They are both an infant, and a boomer at the same time. While it has nothing to do with being disconnected from reality.
Language is stupid when we just hijack words to make them whatever we want.
Other things that have changed in the same time frame is the explosive growth of Reich wing broadcasting. Rush Limbaugh and the like coming to reach millions of people and then the birth of fox news. That has made things much worse in the last 40ish years
I’m not seeking to justify their actions, but explain why the change seems to have happened around that time. I’m not convinced it’s totally on gen X to have that sudden change, but more that the entire population was affected by the explosion of propaganda
Oldest boomers turn 80 in 2026. Some boomers aren’t even 64 years old yet as generation ends in 1964.
Voting age was 21 before the 26th amendment was adopted in 1970.
Almost no boomers have been voting for 64 years.
I just want to show society what people born after 1960 think about things… We’re sick of stupid labels, we’re sick of being marginalized in lousy jobs, and we’re tired of hearing about ourselves from others
— Coupland, Boston Globe, 1991
Boomers have been voting for a
centuryabout 64 years, the thing that changed in the 80s and 90s were Gen X coming of age.https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/how-groups-voted-1984
Unless there is a statistically-significant amount of 118+ year old people actively voting, this is not possible.
Not just that, but had to be born after 1945 to be considered “Boomer”. Clearly time travelers
Not sure who downvoted you. You are correct. I feel like the term “boomer” has lost all meaning. Now people just use it to mean anything from “old person” to “out of touch person”. The problem with that is, by that definition, all these Gen-Z people using the term like that, will all eventually be boomers. Which by definition would NEVER actually be true.
The boomers were born boomers. Gen-X and Millenials had to endure the boomers bullshit for 60 years before Gen-Z was ever born. We FULLY understand why you’d want to bully boomers. They frankly deserve it. But Gen-Z has lost all sight of WHY the boomers deserve shit. They’re just using the term boomer for anyone, of any age, that they want to insult.
I saw a 15 year old call a 25 year old a boomer.
At that point, the word has lost all meaning. I should just go around, insulting people by calling them a fish. No context. I’m going to strip the word fish of all meaning. No longer does it have anything to do with fins, or gills, or being underwater. If you make me mad, you’re a fish!
So, to anyone unfirmiliar with the word, boomer is shorthand for baby boomer. Essentially in WWII, hitler was trying to take over the world. So we sent all the men overseas to go kill the germans. When the soldiers got back, after not seeing their high school sweetheart for 4 years, they wanted to fuuuuuuuuck. And suddenly you get this massive wave of new babys. A boom rise in the amount of babys born between 1945-1965. A real…baby boom.
So these boomers in 1946 were still boomers, but also 1 year old. Yes, I AM using the term boomer correctly, to describe an infant baby as a boomer, as long as that baby is a baby between 1945-1965. They are both an infant, and a boomer at the same time. While it has nothing to do with being disconnected from reality.
Language is stupid when we just hijack words to make them whatever we want.
Since young novelists like yourself feel so strongly I’ve decided to add the edit. Happy now?
Semantics
He is technically correct, the best kind of correct!
That’s basically when the first genx kids “came of age”, most were still kids. Find another reason for the data, you’re causating the correlation.
Crazy thought, maybe some other people stopped voting?
And literal children made up the difference? 🤦♂️
No, more boomers.
That’s when it started, yes, but things haven’t gotten better as their share of the voters increased.
Other things that have changed in the same time frame is the explosive growth of Reich wing broadcasting. Rush Limbaugh and the like coming to reach millions of people and then the birth of fox news. That has made things much worse in the last 40ish years
Everybody’s the result of the environment they were raised in, but that doesn’t justify a single thing.
I’m not seeking to justify their actions, but explain why the change seems to have happened around that time. I’m not convinced it’s totally on gen X to have that sudden change, but more that the entire population was affected by the explosion of propaganda
The results are the same, so may they take that shame and carry it with them, so that perhaps they can learn from it.
Oldest boomers turn 80 in 2026. Some boomers aren’t even 64 years old yet as generation ends in 1964. Voting age was 21 before the 26th amendment was adopted in 1970. Almost no boomers have been voting for 64 years.
I think most people would agree Boomers are 1945 to 1960 and after that is Gen X
I just want to show society what people born after 1960 think about things… We’re sick of stupid labels, we’re sick of being marginalized in lousy jobs, and we’re tired of hearing about ourselves from others — Coupland, Boston Globe, 1991
Douglas Coupland agrees with you