A Response to Our Resident “Boomer-Hater”
Well, our resident “boomer hater” has been at it again. But I must give credit where credit is due: at least this time he didn’t say he was “thankful” that the Wuhan Coronavirus will kill more of the “boomer” generation because they’re more likely than not to oppose his preferred political goals. (And yes, “buddy”: you indeed did say that in previous comments here at TAH. And then you “doubled-down on ‘teh stoopid’ and said it again here.)
Now, seeing that level of unjustified verbal abuse over and over and over again directed at an entire well-defined demographic group – in this case, at an entire generation – for some kind of perceived slights he never documents gets rather . . . tiresome. Best I can tell he seems to feel that the “boomer” generation hasn’t “paid what it owes” to America and future generations but he never gets specific examples.
So I decided to look at another way a generation “earns its keep”. Specifically, I decided to look at how many “boomers” have died during US military conflicts vs. how many of “Gen-X” have died in US military conflicts.
I’m going to limit this look to 4 conflicts: Vietnam, the Gulf War, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Why? Because they’re the four “biggies” that have occurred during the last 60 years.
Now, presenting this for the benefit of our “beloved” boomer-hating commenter isn’t worth the effort of finding and then manually going through lists of names totaling somewhat over 65,000 to determine the DOB of every US military member who died in those 4 conflicts in order to assign them to a particular generation. However, info is readily available online that allows making what I consider a reasonably accurate, though somewhat rough, estimate regarding those war deaths.
Sidebar: Even finding lists containing the necessary info online appears to be a non-trivial exercise. Nonetheless, if someone can point me at a softcopy of such lists for the 4 conflicts in question (Vietnam, Gulf War, Afghanistan, and Iraq) that can be downloaded and imported into Excel, I’ll be glad to repeat the analysis below using exact numbers.
Specifically, for three of the conflicts (Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq) information is publicly available online giving the age distribution of US military deaths and the number who died each year during these conflicts. For the fourth conflict (the Gulf War), information is available online giving the total number whose death is attributable to the war and average age of those members of the US military who died.
The sources for the raw data used are identified at the end of this article. They’re not perfect, but they’re good enough for at least a rough estimate.
We also have generally accepted generational definitions for both the “boomer” and “Gen-X” generations (“boomer”, 1946-1964”; “Gen-X”, 1965-1980 appear to be the most commonly accepted ranges). Given those generally accepted birth ranges it’s simply a somewhat tedious weighted average problem to determine a reasonable estimate of how many from a particular generation died in each of those conflicts.
I’m not going to provide all the calculations I used in this article; doing so would be far too lengthy and cumbersome. (If anyone’s truly interested I can upload and link the spreadsheet used.) However, here’s a representative example of calculations for the year 1966 illustrating the methodology:
1. Turned 17 that year implies born in 1949, implying part of those born this year (and the three previous years, 1946-1948, since we’re looking at “boomers”) could have served in Vietnam. (I’m reasonably sure those 17 y/o weren’t banned from combat-zone service in 1966 and before – and the age ranges listed for US military dead for Vietnam start at 17 years old.) This lets us determine which members of a given generation – in this case, “boomers” – served in the war.
2. Determine if only part of an age applies, and if so decide what percentage of the range to use. Step one allows this. Here, 70% of fraction of 17-21 y/o category (1/2 of those age 17 plus those aged 18, 19, and 20 – only some of those turning 17 would be born early enough to finish training in time to get to Vietnam that year) was used.
3. Fraction of Vietnam dead age 17-21: 68.469%. This percentage was determined from numbers contained in one of the sources documented at the end of this article.
4. Calculate the fraction of that year’s dead from the generation in question. Here, it’s 70% of the age 17-21 category: 0.7 x 0.685 = 47.95%. (The calculation gets more complex when two or more age categories are spanned by a generation, but the principle is the same.)
5. US Military Deaths in Vietnam, 1966: 6,143. This data was obtained from one of the sources documented at the end of this article.
6. Estimated number of dead who were “boomers”: 2,944 (truncated to remove fractional part). Direct calculation using results of steps 4 and 5.
This general methodology was used for Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Rounding was used for Afghanistan and Iraq vice truncation to produce an integer figure; any difference is almost certainly small and would not affect the final conclusions in any significant way. Final figures for Afghanistan and Iraq were also adjusted upward slightly to match DoD’s totals for US military deaths attributable to those two conflicts (when totaled, the by-year source data produced a slightly lower total for US military wartime deaths for each conflict than official DoD sources).
For the Gulf War, an online source giving the age distribution of US military personnel who died in-theater or who died of wounds/injuries after MEDEVAC was not immediately available. However, a source was located giving the total number of US military dead attributed to that war as well as the average age (26.9) for those who died. All Gulf War US military deaths occurred during a 1-year period, so as an approximation they were assumed to have occurred in 1991 and that assumption was used to assign generational membership. The oldest “Gen-X” member would have turned 26 in 1991, so I’m assuming Gulf War military deaths to be 50% “Gen-X”, 48% “boomer” (“boomers” were between 26 and 45 in 1991), and 2% older. (A few military deaths at age 46 or more would have had a larger impact on the overall average than an equivalent number at the low end of the range, 18, which led me to allocate slightly more to “Gen-X” than the numbers might otherwise support. Regardless, the difference is small.)
Again: these are rough estimates, not exact counts. But they should be somewhere close to reality.
OK, let’s cut to the chase:
Vietnam: Using the available data online, I estimate that somewhat over 39,200 of the 58,200+ US military deaths in Vietnam were members of the “boomer” generation. That works out to a bit under 67.4% – or well over two-thirds.
Gulf War: There were 219 US military deaths attributed to the Gulf War. Based on this and the average age (26.9) of those dead, as noted above I estimate that means roughly 109 of them (approx 50%) were “Gen-X”, roughly 105 were “boomers” (approx 48%), and the rest were almost certainly from the “Silent Generation” (born 1928-1945).
Afghanistan: Using the basic same methodology as for Vietnam and data available online, I estimate that between 720 and 730 of the 2,445 US military deaths to date in Afghanistan were members of “Gen-X”. That’s around 29% – or less than one-third. (I didn’t bother to estimate “boomer” deaths in Afghanistan; the number is undoubtedly nonzero, but given the age of the youngest “boomer” in 2001 (37), I’d guess that number is probably fairly low.)
Iraq: Using the same basic methodology as for Vietnam and data available online, I estimate that somewhat between 1,810 and 1,820 of the 4,491 US military deaths to date in Iraq were members of “Gen-X”. That’s very close to 40% – or about 2/5. (I didn’t bother to estimate “boomer” deaths in Iraq for the same reason as Afghanistan.)
Hmm. Looks to me like “Gen-X” isn’t exactly paying its fair share here when it comes to shedding blood for the nation. When one looks at the numbers, it appears virtually certain that more “boomers” were killed in Vietnam each year from 1966 to 1970, inclusive, than the combined total of those from “Gen-X” who died in the Gulf War, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
Yo – get with the program, “Gen-X”! Pull your weight, and pay your share!
. . .
Astute readers will have already observed that while the above analysis is factually and mathematically accurate (to the limits of the data available), the final conclusions are pure bullsh!t. That is true – and that was intentional.
I’ll spell out the “why” for the benefit of our “beloved” boomer-hating commenter. The conclusion (“Gen-X” hasn’t paid its fair share in terms of shedding blood for the nation) is bullsh!t because it blames Gen-X for something beyond their control – specifically, for being born at the wrong time. In general, members of a particular generation can only fight – and pay the ultimate price during – the wars that occur during their younger years. As many have observed elsewhere, war is predominately a “young man’s game”.
Why would I provide an argument leading to a conclusion I know to be complete bullsh!t? I did that to illustrate this fact: an argument based on an invalid assumption or premise virtually always leads to an invalid conclusion, no matter how seemingly-persuasive or well-constructed it might be.
My overall point? I’ll spell that out for your benefit too, oh “beloved” boomer-hater. It’s equally invalid to blame a generation for using (and benefiting from) Federal programs that are (1) mandated and/or authorized by Federal law, (2) many of which have origins that predate the voting eligibility of said generation, or even their birth, (3) virtually all of which originated prior to even half of said generation being eligible to vote, (4) virtually all of which predate said generation being the “ones in charge”, and (5) which said generation has paid taxes to support for decades. And that’s precisely what you’re doing when you blame “boomers” for doing so.
I’ll cover the preceding paragraph in more detail in an article I have in draft and anticipate having up shortly before or after New Year’s Day, but here’s the short version. Many if not most of the authorized and lawful Federal programs you seem to have a heartburn with “boomers” using – and which “boomers” also paid taxes to support while both they and/or others used same – either predate the birth of the first “boomer” (e.g., Social Security, food assistance) or were begun before the vast majority of boomers could vote (e.g., all of LBJ’s “Great Society” programs, Pell Grants, student loans). To my knowledge, only one such social program (Medicare Part D, 2006) was instituted after the year 2000 – and it wasn’t until well after 2000 (the year 2008, to be precise) that the majority in both Houses of Congress were “boomers”. It’s Congress that makes Federal law – remember?
And please spare me any references to infrastructure programs such as highway construction. Those benefit everyone equally. They don’t benefit any generation disproportionately.
In short: with your perverse assignment of blame, you’re showing contempt for an entire demographic group for something they (1) didn’t create, (2) had no say in, and (3) had little to no real ability to change. And you’re doing it for no other reason than the circumstances of their birth – specifically, because of when they were born.
That’s almost a carbon copy of what the KKK did with respect to nonwhites and Jews. The only real difference I see is the reason for contempt towards the group in question: the KKK based their contempt on race/ethnicity, while you’re basing your contempt on age. Since as I recall you also seem to see (and complain about) systemic discrimination against various demographic groups – e.g., racial/ethnic/gender/sexual orientation – everywhere you look, that in turn makes you a massive hypocrite. That last point comes as no surprise to longtime TAH readers.
And if you think a large majority of any group will ever pressure Congress to scale back programs that benefit them or to increase dramatically the taxes they personally pay, well, “buddy” – IMO that means you don’t know squat about the realities of human nature or US politics. (Although since you’re a Leftist, your not understanding human nature kinda goes without saying.) Only a true and immediate existential threat is going produce that outcome.
You’ve indicated in comments elsewhere that you’re a member of Gen-X. That means it’s way past time for you to grow the hell up, “amigo”.
Quit blaming the previous generation if your life today sucks. If it does, that’s almost certainly because of decisions YOU made in the past; too many others from your generation are doing well for reality to be otherwise.
Instead, figure out what you need to do to make your life better. Then go do it.
Consider the preceding short paragraph – and the advice it contains – your belated Christmas present.
—–
Data Sources:
Age Distribution of US Military War Dead in Vietnam:
https://www.americanwarlibrary.com/vietnam/vwc2.htm
Distribution of US Military War Dead in/Due to Vietnam by Year:
https://www.militaryfactory.com/vietnam/casualties.asp
Number and Mean Age of US Military War Dead, Gulf War:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8071721/
Age Distribution of US Military War Dead, Afghanistan and Iraq:
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL32492/33
US Military War Dead, Afghanistan, by Year:
“ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_casualties_in_the_War_in_Afghanistan#Casualties_by_month_and_year
US Military War Dead, Iraq, by Year:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/263798/american-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/
—–
Author’s Note: FWIW: yeah, I’m a “boomer”. I had about as much control over that fact as I did about whether the sun came up today. And in any case, as the senior North Vietnamese officer told COL Harry S. Summers when Summers visited Vietnam years after the conflict and mentioned that the US had never been defeated on the battlefield there: “That may be true, but it is also irrelevant.”
I wrote this because I despise seeing someone make a false argument that holds an entire group responsible for things they didn’t do and over which they had little or no control. Our resident “boomer-hater” does exactly that when he disparages an entire generation for “not paying it’s fair share” because it’s using authorized, legal Federal programs started far before they held any significant degree of political power.
Category: Who knows
We must be talking about the Lars
BHWHAHAHAHA !!!!!!
Our favorite “Commie-czar”?
Yup.
Freaking boomers.. can’t even internet right!
(Translation: Your first link doesn’t work, Hondo – it goes to the admin version of the post.)
Feel free to delete this afterwards; I try to avoid the drama, and just wanted to point out the link was wrong.
yeah, what gives? bad link!!!
Well, excuuuuuuuse me!! You mean you’ve never made a copy/paste error, LC? (smile)
Seriously, thanks for the catch. Thought I’d fixed that bad link earlier, but apparently I copied and pasted the wrong link when trying to fix it. It’s fixed now.
“Yo – get with the program, ‘Gen-X’! Pull your weight, and pay your share!”
Dang it, man! 28 months in a combat zone as an Infantryman, LORD above knows I tried!
I also don’t disparage other based on immutable characteristics because I’m not an asshole. (maybe)
In all honesty, the X-ers are the least accomplished, do-nothings as a cohort. FFS, the movie Slackers, the grunge scene, heroin chic… all X-ers’ a-doin’s. Even the financial accumulation data for generations bear that out.
Statistics are a bithc. (sic, unintentionally but leaving it)
Millennials suck even worse. (Hey, got through college in 3 years w/ honors as a Gen X-er and people thought I was weird for not taking five years to “find myself” like everyone else… just sayin’.
It was a half-assed attempt at humor, one of the worst things anyone could ever do is take anything I say seriously.
As a cohort we are screwed though, we’ll be the ones f’ed out of SS/Medicare unless the funding changes, maybe. The Millennials have us in numbers and if they keep up their revolution, tuition cancelation will be our ruination for the above named programs.
Personally idgaf about the stickies-and-cheweies, those d-bags can have them.
One of the not so great side effects of discussing generations is there are anecdotal examples that take away from the average. For the most part, Xers are almost like a new Silent Generation, a part deux if you will. Hardworking, thrifty now, not so much in the 90s and well educated, not necessarily well schooled (and yes, that’s a huge distinction), but lacking in representation and assertiveness. We will be ‘pushed’ by the Boomers and Millennials unless we can break the bad habits of self(collective)disinterest.
That was really my point. I hope it makes sense.
Marxism deals with imagined oppressors and oppressed. Each is assigned the role, and one is powerless to change other than by Marxist Revolution.
So gee whiz, must be an oppressive generation holding someone back!
Doesn’t expalain the successes of Gates and Bezos, does it? Nope. Not at all.
They were Capitalists before they became rich and then became Marxists. Now they want to use their wealth to control your lives.
Well, now, people do sometimes change into trogs when they have guilt feewings about being that successful, y’know.
Nicely done, Hondo. Very nice.
But lest you forget, the object of this essay of yours is unjustifiably contemptuous of everything and everybody that came before him, and nothing will change his view. He’s a gasbag, only good for one thing and that’s pissing people off. He and his generation of layabouts are not quite as useful as dried sheep manure.
“if someone can point me at a softcopy of such lists for the 4 conflicts in question (Vietnam, Gulf War, Afghanistan, and Iraq)”
I have a rather large soft copy of the names etc
for the Vietnam War. It is huge. NYC phone book huge.
“Vietnam Veterans Memorial Directory Of Names”
A gift from my sister long ago, I always look up a name when
hearing or seeing one in the news and highlight it.
Just my way of recognizing them for thier sacrifice.
Seems something of the sort would be online nowadays.
Pantyz/bunch
I’m in the silent majority by being born in 1945 but did not go to VN, but quite a number my age and older went.
Same here, Jeff. I went to the FRG.
Well done, Hondo.
Not sure what the point was. Boomers aren’t as good of fighter and died more often? Vietnam was poorly strategized resulting in 10s of thousands of unnecessary deaths? It is impossible to draw any meaningful inferences from this just like it is impossible to draw logic and truth out of commie’s posts. This isn’t apples to oranges this is apples to hand grenades.
Um, amigo . . . you need to read the entire article. The last part explains the article’s point – as well as identifies the fact that (1) the initial argument is BS, and (2) that was done intentionally, to illustrate two entirely different points.
If you did read the entire article, you might want to re-read it. And if you still don’t “get it”, perhaps some work on improving reading comprehension is in order.
I know what you said the point was but deaths in combat by comparing wildly different wars and demographic sizes doesn’t really illustrate a point. It merely emphasizes how different things are.
By hand waving away things like the draft, government policies, group sizes and a host of other things you may as well be comparing the Civil War to WWII and saying one generation sacrificed more.
As a member of Gen X, I do take exception to bloviating assclowns whose seemingly sole purpose in like is to take the question, “How fucking stupid can you be?” as some sort of challenge.
But at the same time, I take exception with the exception that Gen X is unaccomplished, a bunch of druggies, etc. Drug and alcohol abuse transcends all ages and eras. As far as accomplished goes, members of Gen X include:
–Sergey Brin and Larry Page
–Dave Grohl
–Jeff Bezos
–Keanu Reeves
–Tiger Woods
–Linus Torvalds (computer geeks know who he is)
–Elon Musk
–Marcus Lutrell
You get the idea. Each generation has their upside and downside, so to paint any one as the worst, best, etc., with whole cloth just ain’t gonna fly.
To quote one hell of a movie:
“We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War’s a spiritual war… our Great Depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.” ― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club (technically a Boomer but he was talking to the X’ers, imho)
If your exception was directed at my comments, my apologies. Having referenced the cohort specifically I was sure any animosities would have been defused. X’ers have been relatively quiet politically, like only having The Great Gay Mayor of South Bend as a candidate for President. That’s not to say we as a group aren’t individually successful, that’d be a lie by omission. As a group though our success is stifled and we will not be as well off as the proceeding generation (obviously) and its well within the Millennials’ ability to vote us out of a number of social benefit programs to enrich themselves (I don’t like any of what was said but it’s the honest truth).
I remain hopeful that the thinking generation, X, will actually step up to the plate and assist this country bridge the technological divide, we’re the only ones that truly understand pre- and post-internet age.
I’m going to end this drunk ramble now. Bourbon got me ‘gain.
I’m Gen X and think South Bend can keep Pete Buttiplug.
100
Not you specifically, just in general. And while some Gen X pols are hugely liberal (Buttigieg, Trudeau, Marcon) there are a number of pols/politcal figures who also lean right, such as Marco Rubio, Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, and Ted Cruz (who I WILL vote for again in the 2024 primaries.)
Hondo replies with a 5 page non-sequitur.
So when are you all planning to pay back the trillions in deficit spending you all benefited from your entire adult lives?
Since 1970?
All the while demanding tax, cutting investment in infrastructure, cutting education funding, reverting municipal revenue to regressive code enforcement, freezing property taxes for yourselves and thus shifting them to younger generations, blocking efforts to increase housing availability, obliterating social safety programs…
And refusing to allow any structural changes to slow or prevent the climate change that is going to decelerate the bear term future stability and prosperity of a few generations.
Like i said no generation has taken more and given back less.
That 27 trillion will be paid back by the very generations you all love to criticize and generations yet to be born,
So, honestly, go f yourself with your snowflake outrage.
THE FREE SHIT ARMY NEEDS ITS FREE SHIT!!!!
So that 27 trillion was solely spent on one portion of the populace of a specific age set. No one else. No tethnic group, no other age set, nothing other than the selfish wants of people born before 1964? You really are a fucking idiot.
He can’t help himself. He has been a crypto-commie ass-wipe his entire adulthood, if you could consider him an adult.
It sure was pleasant when he was banned.
Can’t have Boomers pay it back if they’re dead Due to COVID, can they?
Lars, take responsibility for your own situation. You blame boomers, the Bushes, Reagan, Trump, everyone and everything. Face it, you’re the result of the choices you made and the actions you’ve taken. As are we all. Grow up and face it.
Gee, and to think that, like others of MY generation, I spent my time EARNING what I wanted instead of just having it handed to me. I still have to EARN what I want, as I am very sure most of us do.
It would be vaguely interesting to find out where that squawking moron Taylor gets his info, which is completely FALSE and for which he provides no backup at all, but his only interest lies in provoking people – especially those he despises because they represent every good thing that HE IS NOT – but since he had ZERO backup, not point in any of us holding our breath, is there?
Once again you have insults and name calling. It’s all you’ve ever had so why should any of us expect anything different from you. Victim hypocrite.
Guess you’re still pissed because you never earned a CAB, Major ” I heroically tackled a Taliban dude all by myself”. LMAO
GAWD! Kommisar, if nothing else, you are SUCH a predictable irritant and boor.
So, since you are a citizen of this country, you too have benefited from this spending. And, what happened in 1970? I don’t recall 27 trillion dollar deficit then.
There are more “gen X/millennials” than “boomers”, so why doesn’t your generation vote to change it?
How do you power your house? Could it be from a fossil fuel powered generator? Or do you use solar power, built with carbon based materials. How do you get to the ATM to get your cash? Do you walk everywhere or do you use transportation that relies on fossil fuels. Instead of blaming others for all of the problems you perceive, take some ownership that you contributed to, and benefitted from, them.
Fine, Commissar, I’ll bite with a response to you. I usually just ignore your goofy rambling and generalities, but I’ll answer your comment. Each generation inevitably inherits the previous generation’s burdens to a point. However, there is also the flip side of the coin you forget. That flip side is that people who have consistently worked their entire lives have paid into benefits that are rightly theirs. The money for these programs of which you speak does not come from air. They come from people paying into them in the deductions from paychecks and taxes. You mix apples and oranges and expect everyone to accept that it is all the same when it is not. Many of the programs you suggest are welfare programs that have been the actual downfall of stable working generations. Instead of everyone contributing to keep the distribution of burden equal, the welfare system is giving away things for nothing in return. Unlike unemployment, welfare has no incentive to get off it as a program. It is a business. Make no mistake about that. People who pay FICA and all the other deductions in their paychecks are damned sick and tired of toting the water for those who don’t. Today’s younger generations have been conditioned that they DESERVE something for nothing, and that’s just not how it works. The older generations have paid for what they are receiving. They have earned it on numerous fronts. But you seem to want blame. The blame does not fall on the actual people. The blame falls on Congress dipping into things that should have have been touched. The Social Security fund was NEVER meant to be used for purposes other than what it was intended. However, our fearless leaders decided they could just “borrow” from it, which led to more borrowing and dipping. So, let’s place the blame where it belongs. I’ll give you a hint – it’s not on the people who paid into those funds in good faith. Those people are simply collecting what is due them. The point here is that the younger generations have come… Read more »
You should feel honored to get your very own thread, Commissar. Your years of mindless ranting and raving have at last paid a dividend! You are finally bring recognized for your contribution to society! Add it to your collection of participation trophies and walk with pride. We boomers who are about to die of COVID-19 salute you!
“We boomers who are about to die of COVID-19 salute you!“
I don’t care who’yar, dats funny righ dare!
Translation:
Ave, Commissar! Boomii morituri COVIDii te salutant!
(smile)
Thank you Hondo! It sings!
It needs a little musical accompaniment, Hondo:
https://youtu.be/_B0CyOAO8y0
Dear Lars,
EABOD. Who demanded what, again?
Was it the boomers who demanded their student loans be paid?
Was it boomers who were being paid SS benefits despite having contributed little, if anything, to that system?
Was it boomers who implemented tax rates that drove TRILLIONS of American dollars and millions of American jobs overseas?
And freezing property taxes? Holy fuck you are deluded. Do you own a home? Based on your comment I’m gonna take a wild fucking guess and assume that’s a big fucking NO (hint: I used to be a CA resident and homeowner, so don’t bother.)
The oldest boomers are in their early 70’s, meaning the wealth transfer you’re whining about has been affecting them for barely a decade.
Your concern that you ain’t gonna get yours is misplaced, at best. You were the one stupid enough to assume that the money taken from you by the government was going to be returned to you, and you failed to properly generate alternative plans to if not at least supplement, the outright replace the bullshit you were “promised”?
Quit your fucking whiny crybaby bullshit, pull up your big girl panties, and cowboy the fuck up. And if you can’t do that, step aside and let the people who do have a plan and the fortitude to put them into motion, mkay?
Lars…I’m a GenX kid; please do not presume to speak for all of us.
My generation has had more than its fair share of scandal AND Saints; that you are selectively walking on water and tarring another entire generation with a broad brush illustrates the degree to which you have narrowed your mind and intentionally ignored the failings of the Generation you appear to have placed upon a pedestal of moral superiority.
He has “empiric data” to prove it… just ask him!
Yes; clearly it has only been “Boomers” that have benefited from Government spending, and not a single one has paid part of the bill in sweat, blood, or lives.
Lars has empiric and selective data….
Hear!! Hear!!
I’m in the same boat. It always amazes me how the most “progressive” of the human race now days are so quick to paint large swathes of humanity with a uniform brush.
It’s almost as if they don’t understand the definition of hypocrisy or how similar their behaviors are to actual jack booted thugs/racists from history.
And liberals wonder why successful minorities are fleeing the left.
“It’s almost as if they don’t understand the definition of hypocrisy… etc.”
Well, what do you expect from a generation that is populated by a large swath of spoiled brats? They want this/that/I/me/mine, etc., and think they are more important than anyone else, when in fact, they are not. They have no manners of any kind, but demand that that people kowtow to their demands so they don’t have to work for them.
And that portion of that generation is offset by the portion that is the opposite of those slugs, so you have a 2-way street there.
And because boomers were a large generations that has incessantly clung to power well into their late 70s there has not been a generational shift in power for 30 years.
Skipping an entire generation and a half.
Because human beings holding on to power as long as possible and being poor at long term risk assessment is something unique to the boomer generation.
Didn’t they make you read any actual history books in your polisci courses?
I have a well used copy of “Das Kapital” and Mao’s “Little Red Book” – does that count?
I’m sure he has a difficult time distinguishing the difference between political propaganda/theory and actual history analysis.
So you may be right.
Oh, hush now….dont ruin his Boomer hate boner with something as trite as logic and reason. 🙂
A generation and a half skipped their opportunity to lead. And you’re the poster child.
Last time I checked, Commissar Durak, 2020-1946=74. Similarly, 2020-1964=56.
Let me spell that out for you: the OLDEST “boomer” alive today is 74; the youngest is 55. No “boomer” today is in their “late 70s”.
Math and logic aren’t exactly your strong suits, are they?
Hondo, several boomers just got elected into terms that will bring them into their late 70s.
Clinging to power well into their late 70s.
Try to keep up.
Being a Senator or Representative in one’s late 70s is not particularly uncommon. At present, 12 current US Senators are 80 years old or older. That’s 12% of the Senate.
Carl Hayden, Robert Byrd, and Strom Thurman each were members of the Senate into their 90s. In the House, the same is true of John Dingle and Ralph Hall.
None of those individuals I refer to above were/are “boomers”.
Now, did you have a point in bringing that up or are you just once again channeling your inner howler monkey – e.g., screeching while simultaneously flinging dung to see if it will stick to the wall?
The “screeching while simultaneously flinging dung to see if it will stick to the wall” is really the Major’s magnum opus and I wish you would try to antagonize him more often.
It’s like watching Rembrandt paint…
Beethoven compose,
Sasha Grey, um, cook (and yes, that’s a thing now. Just be carful if you search)
Kamala Harris can be considered on the boomer/Gen X cusp.
But the thought of giving her any power at all would make me run to the arms of a boomer.
Proof positive that you CAN sleep your way to the top. I’m sure our allies are comforted, our enemies fearful.
Really.
Hondo, obviously, Commissar Dummer Dumkopf doesn’t understand the periodicity of the term “boomer”. His ignorance just keeps piling up in public view and confirms everything about how ignorant he is.
Exactly. For my 20th high school reunion (which ’cause Army I missed) I was pretty much the only dude about where I was supposed to be in life (you know, Ferris Beuller’s parents). All my peers were still in the assistant-type jobs they’d gotten out of college because Baby Boomers hadn’t retired and they couldn’t move up. Those “lateral promotions” w/o increased responsibility for years are just so much sh*t.
Clinton, Bush and Trump were all born in 1946. Obama is also likely a boomer. Biden of course is too old. That is a good thing I suppose since the younglings despise Grandpa so much maybe Great Grandpa is better?
Last I checked none of them had a budget approved as written. Just as well, it isn’t their job to make the budget.
There they are, Boomers clinging to power in a democratic process. How did this happen in America? I didn’t vote for at least three of them.
Obama is indeed technically a late “boomer”, born in 1961. However, he also spent a chunk of his formative years overseas (Indonesia, as I recall), so he’s also hardly a typical late “boomer”. As a result, I’d guess he’s likely closer in outlook and behavior to a “Gen-Xer” than most “boomers”.
Bush(43), Clintoon (misspelling intentional), and Trump are also likely not typical “boomers”, but for a different reason. They were each born in the first year of the “boomer” generation. Societal norms and practices only very rarely change overnight, so they were likely raised virtually identically to those born in 1945 – who are members of the “Silent Generation”. That would imply the three are likely somewhat different in outlook and behavior from a more “typical boomer” born a few years later (e.g., during the 1950s).
FWIW: if I’m correct, the above means we still haven’t had a “mainstream” (e.g., 1950s) “boomer” POTUS.
If anything, the power “jump” Lars is so pissy about may, at least at the presidential level, jump from the Silent/Boomer cusp to squarely in the GenX camp, regardless of which party wins the WH in 2024 (I’m assuming Biden won’t finish the term–pick your own reason from an ever-growing list.)
Biden thinks he just got elected to Senate.
Once again, the oldest boomers are 74, dipshit. They weren’t even a majority in Congress until, as Hondo pointed out, barely a decade ago.
You sound as vapid as AOC talking about epidemiology. And THAT takes some serious fucking doing.
And you can feel triggered all you want but the history of the baby boomer generation has essentially been written.
You can’t change it now.
You don’t get to write it.
Nope.
But it has been written.
Cue video:
FWIW: anyone over 23 – and around half of those who were 23 – who was at Woodstock wasn’t a “boomer”. 1969-23=1946, and in July about half of those 23 would have been born in 1945.
Regarding the performers: Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Richie Havens, Joe Cocker, Country Joe McDonald, Alvin Lee (Ten Years After), The Band (all members), Johnny Winter, most members of Blood Sweat & Tears, CSN&Y (all 4), Joan Baez, Leslie West and Felix Pappalardi (Mountain), CCR (all 4), Sly Stone, Jefferson Airplane (all members), 3/4 of the Who (only Moon was a “boomer”), and most of the members of the Grateful Dead were all born in 1945 or earlier and were thus NOT “boomers”.
Leslie West passed a few days ago.
Then I suggest you learn how to read.
*sigh*…Lars, you are a monumentally logic challenged twat.
History is continually being written.
Oh, yeah. All the great “boomers” who ran up the national debt, saddled us all with unrealistic regulation of every imaginable facet of life, invented the welfare state, and so much more include:
Ted Kennedy
FDR
Robert C. Byrd
Nancy Pelosi
DiFi
LBJ
etc
etc
etc
Oh, and try to save me the outrage.
This forum incessantly criticizes younger generations.
But one thing I have noticed about boomers…
Is they take it personally as individuals when their generation is criticized.
The OG snowflakes.
Despite the fact that criticizes of a generation are due to aggregate choices and preferences over the course of more than a half a century.
And no individual is personally responsible.
“More than half a century”? Really?
Half a century ago was 1970. Only about 1/5 of the “boomer” generation was eligible to vote by the end of 1970; none were yet Constitutionally eligible to serve in Congress. The entire “boomer” generation wasn’t eligible to vote until the end of 1982.
Kinda hard for a generation to be responsible for Congressional actions happening during a time when the whole generation can’t yet vote, much less serve in Congress and directly participate in making the nation’s laws. And it’s Congress that establishes and modifies Federal programs and taxes – remember?
Don’t worry. Many other people also find simple arithmetic and logic beyond their ability too.
I’ll bet that when you got your first blowjob
you complained they were not doing it right.
After his first blowjob, he had to gargle with Lavoris twice to get the taste out of his mouth.
Lavoris? Haven’t seen a bottle of that in a long time… not enve in a dentist’s office.
Well, he’s a Boomer. I mean, my generation had Listerine with the commercials featuring a bottle of Listerine swinging through the jungle while “Tarzan Boy” by Baltimora played in the background.
https://youtu.be/9M9Phvor3dg
🤣
Here’s the actual commercial:
https://youtu.be/KRAsPKl52Zo
Exactly my intent. Had to make it “Boomer relatable”.
Listerine would have worked as well, SFC D. I’m pretty sure virtually all “boomers” were watching TV in 1970 when this commercial was running:
I don’t remember the commercial, but I do remember the packaging…
Didn’t have TV in Viet of the Nam but we did have Listerene in the PX.
Hondo, excellent argument.
So Dad was pre-Boomer (1941) but he did Vietnam (twice, 66 and 70) and I’m a Gen X’er (I guess 1965) and I covered the last couple (managed to dodge Afghanistan, but I made up for it with Somalia and Kosovo) and enough trips to Iraq that I should have a freaking street or something named after me.
So between the two of us, I’m pretty sure we’ve paid what we owed AND earned our keep.
I guess now, we can sit back and wait for those privilege checks to roll in?
I’m still waiting on my privilege checks too, Stacy. Dad was born in 1923, served in WW2, Korea, Vietnam, I (Boomer, 1962) managed to catch nearly every dustup between 1987-2012 except Panama. That’s gonna be a big check.
I’m wishing I could have collected
Frequent Flyer miles in the sandbox plus
multiple overnights in the stans
It made the time go by quickly
but the Navy and Ukrainian pilots
are absolutely fuking crazy
It’s a generational thing to blame the previous generation. Remember this video?
While your statement regarding blame is true (with some justification; every generation leaves behind unfinished business that subsequent generation(s) have to deal with), Joel actually doesn’t do that in the tune.
The tune’s verses are a list of significant events during his generation’s lifetime (Joel is a fairly early early “boomer”, having been born in 1949). But it’s the chorus that makes his major point. (emphasis added below)
In general, that is absolutely true for every generation. Each inherits an imperfect, chaotic, and often-violent world and has to make the best of what they inherit – then makes its own mistakes. I doubt that will ever change.
Not IMO one of Joels best works musically, but it’s IMO perhaps one of his finest efforts lyrically.
Roh-Dog was right! The usual suspect IS here, spreading his typical personal attacks, his negative waves, and his buzz kill. Can’t believe I read each of his posts. Yeah, I know, I’m a glutton for punishment. Was already down after having to leave my Baby Girl and the Grands.
Thousands of years ago a certain Chosen One told his people along DeNile River to pack up their shovel on their camel, load up their ass, he was leading them to the Promised Land.
Fifty to hundred some odd years ago a certain political party told certain demographics to put down their shovel, sit on their ass, light up a camel, “This is the Promised Land!”
I was never Promised any Land…or a Rose Garden. I was told that I had the EARNED Freedom to stub out my camel, get off my ass, pick up a shovel, and I could go to work and earn my way. Despite more stumbling blocks than most, and as many as anyone, I made a pretty good life out of it all. I’m a 1953 model…in this life cycle.
spapos? Why doncha quitcha bitchin’…BITCH!
Damn well put!
Don’tcha ever leave us again, that bit o’ writing brought a little dust in this here room.
Very damn well put.
(tips hat)
(back to movie time)
[…] source of all of America’s current problems. A recent example of that attitude can be seen in this comment to a recent article. Another can be found […]