Much digital ink could be spilled about the boomer generation, indeed you could write books on it (or any other generation.) So here I want to focus on a very particular feature of their generation: their reaction to criticism.
Before we get further, some foundational terms. I don't hold with the standard Pew Research Institute definitions for generations, and I will probably write about why in the future. Main problem is that they group together people that aren't at all similar. Going by decades of birth, i.e. born in the 00's, 90's, 80's, etc., works much better for the younger generations, but it breaks down in the 70's with obvious generational shifts due to real world events getting closer and closer to the middel of the decade. For whatever reason, 11 years seems to be the optium length of a generation. Since everyone will agree that Baby Boomers begin at the end of WWII, that puts my definition of "Baby Boomer" as someone born from the beginning of 1945 to the end of 1955. (You can call the ones born after that in the 50's "Generation Jones".) That being said in this essay in particular I will use the "standard" definitions of Gen X, Millennials and Zoomers since the topic is how boomers react and they use those definitions.
Now no one enjoys having his generation crticized. Indeed you almost never see Gen X or Millennials (i.e. those born in the 90's) brought up except to criticise them. And you will see patterns within those generations. For example a Gen X-er is likely to blow it off in a "I don't care what you think anyway" while a Millennial is more likely to freak out in some way or other. But a good chunk of the time you'll see people in most generations say that at least some of the criticism is valid, and even when they do react negatively the precise weay that they react will vary. For example, a Gen X-er might ignore you entirely, say something like "I've been criticized so often that I don't give a shit anymore," pivot to attacking boomers, laugh and say that the criticism is correct but that it describes strengths of Gen X, etc. There will be patterns: the reaction is likely to be dismissive, cynical and brash. But you see a lot of variability within that.
But with Baby Boomers the reactions are often so similar that it is like they are all reading from the same exact script. Now obviously this does not apply to every single Baby Boomer; there are exceptions everywhere. But you see something like what I am going to describe in the vast majority of cases (more than 90%.)
The first step is for the boomer to attack the very notion of generational analysis. He will say that everyone is an individual, and that merely being born around the same time will have no effect on a person's personality whatsoever. This is often paired with an insistence that only boomers must endure the indignity of being analyzed; supposedly no one ever attributes common behaviors to Generation X, Millennials or Zoomers (despite that being the entire point of naming those generations in the first place.)
The boomer almost always proceeds by, without a hint of self-awareness, attacking other generations. Gen X is a bunch of cry baby punks. Millennials are entitled brats who want everything handed to them. Zoomers are idiots who will never learn, and the country is doomed when they take over. The only reason that boomers get attacked is that these other generations are jealous of the boomers greatness.
If the conversation is just about generations in general, you'll mainly see the boomer alternate between those two points: Generations don't exist and it's immoral to classify people that way, but my generation is the best and all you idiots from worse generations just don't get it.
But it will get more ridiculous if the boomer is being criticized for some specific action. For example, they will be criticized by those born in the 80's and 90's for selling the lie that a college degree would "pay for itself" regarldess of the degree, so everyone must go to college. In this situation a boomer will go into the following loop: First, deny culpability. Then, double down, and repeat. For exmaple, in response to a complaint about someone from the aforementioned decades having a college loan that he can't pay off after a decade, the boomer will say "No one told you to take out debt for college!" This is of course a lie, in those years boomers were the bulk of the teachers, guidance counselors, parents and administrators, and all of them assured high schoolers that taking out a college loan is risk free because the increased earnings offered by a college degree would offset the loan almost immediately. If the boomer merely stopped by saying "no one told you to go to college on a loan" he'd just be lying or being forgetful. But the boomer will always double down, saying something like "if you had selected a worthwhile degree, like a STEM degree, you would have paid back the loan, but you picked some dumb degree like underwater basketweaving." Thus the boomer admits that he agrees with the advice that he claimed was not given. But it can get more ridiculous. Otentimes the person making the complaint did get a STEM degree, and still hasn't paid off his loans. This could be due to the massive increase in tuition and student fees during his college years and the crappy nature of the loans. But it also can come from the other end: many tech jobs were outsourced overseas, or replaced by low paid imported immigrants. As a result the vast majority of those with STEM degrees do not work in a STEM field and the ones that do have incomes far below what was promised in that presentations that boomers made when selling the loans. When presented with this situation do boomers admit fault, or at least say that the student loan should have been avoided? No, they will double down again, saying something like "A STEM degree is only worthwhile if you know how to negotiate a contract. If you were too weak to do basic business procedures, then you deserve to be in debt."
The same applies to any complaint leveled at the boomer, whether that be the difficulty of buying a house, how social trust has been obliterated, the high level of crime, the horrific nature of modern public education, boomers general disdain towards their children and grandchildren, etc. The boomer will first deny that the complaint is discussing something real, and then continue on to a remark that both admits it is real but blames someone else. In short "you're lying, that isn't happening, and it's only happening because you messed up." Again, you don't see this reliable sort of reaction in other generations. A Millennial from the 90's will probably skree and rant at you, but the specific content of his rant is difficult to predict (other than that it will emphasize his victim status and your oppressor status.) But with boomers its like you can write the whole script before you even start talking with them.
Now it should be noted that every generation has its faults: those born in the 70's are often cynical and uncaring, those born in the 80's are often adverse to taking control and easily trapped by nostalgia, those born in the 90's are often socially fragile and too eager to attack tradition, etc. Unfortunately one of the main vices of the boomer generation is that they are prideful, and that they lack self-awareness. As such they are usually incapable of seeing the errors in their ways, hence the familiar pattern of deny, then double down. Of course no observation about a generation is absolute and there are boomers who are self aware and humble. And those who possess these vices can learn to overcome them. But it is harder for a boomer when compared to similar problems from other generations, since the pride and lack of self-awareness prevent boomers from admitting that there is a problem in the first place. That is, a Gen X-er can admit that he's a cynic, a Millennial can admit he's high strung, and a Zoomer can admit that he's woefully unaware of what came before him. All of them might decide to do nothing to fix those problems, or they might decide to work on the issue, but at least they make that decision. It's far too easy for a boomer to simply say "no, it's the children who are the problem."
The problem is partially due to the fact that boomers were catered to by mass media for their entire lives. As much as they talk about kids being raised by TV (even when the boomers themselves were the parents) the truth is that the boomers were the first generation to grow up with TV. What's more, they didn't really have any other media beyond radio and books (though boomers turned away from books at an early stage.) Someone born in the 80's might play video games, read comic books, play role playing games, play with action figures, etc. Even when it comes to visual media, someone from that era might watch a variety of things on VHS, or at least would have more cable channels to explore. The boomers all grew up watching the same things, and since (via abortion and other means) the generations that came after them were dramatically smaller, advertisers kept them as the prime demographic even after they grew up from childhood. So they grew up being told that kids were the future, then as they entered middle age the big networks shifted to focusing on working life, and now they are inundated with ads for medical services, cruises, etc. The TV has been their main window into the world for their whole lives, and the TV has always told them that the world was made to cater to the boomer. So it's understandable how they got like this, even if it is annoying to deal with.
Though for some closing words, if you are not a boomer do not get too complacent. It's ceratin that you have flaws of your own, and it's less excusable for you to overlook them since you probably actually have an iota of self awareness.
March 18, 2023