All I hear about is “boomers” this, “Millennials” that, “Gen Z” that, etc.

Why no one talk about Gen X? What happened to them? They just vanished like in Infinity War? Or are we mistaken Gen Z by Boomers?

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
    22·
    11 hours ago

    They got a college education for about $1000 in today money, bought property and homes for $20k today money, and are clinging to power rather than letting anyone younger have a seat at the table. They were born on third base and think they hit a triple. Every other generation is too “lazy” to do what they did, so it must be correct that they hold onto power because we’d just fuck it all up.

    The world got handed to them in post-WWII USA while Europe and Asia were rebuilding and they fail to recognize that they were born into an unprecedented situation that is unlikely to repeat. That’s why they’re selfish assholes.

    • hornywarthogfart@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      1·
      2 hours ago

      I agree with everything you said but I think one thing that is often overlooked is how the boomers are virtually all lead poisoned. Gen-X and some Millennials as well but the Boomers took the brunt of it. They grew up with lead gas poisoning the air, lead pipes (well, a bigger percentage anyways) poisoning the water, lead tools poisoning the workers, lead bullets poisoning game, and so forth. Lead poisoning does some fucked up stuff to people’s cognitive abilities. The lead problem still exists but the scale of the problem back when the boomers were growing up was on a whole different level.

      Exposure to lead can result in a variety of effects upon cognitive functions including deficits in general intellectual functioning, ability to sustain attention on tasks, organization of thinking and behavior, speech articulation, language comprehension and production, learning and memory efficiency, fine motor skills, high activity level, reduced problem solving flexibility and poor behavioral self-control.

      https://www.mwph.org/health-services/lead-treatment/poisoning-effects

      Also not saying they have an excuse, just saying I think lead poisoning of > 1 sequential generation affected a lot of decisions. Most probably small but all of them adding up to set the stage for our current situation.

    • tamal3@lemmy.world
      2·
      4 hours ago

      They also have a reputation for having dropped all the 60s counterculture idealism as soon as they got a buck, and have been driving the capitalist market for shitty overseas products like it’s a drug addiction. Sorry, is that just my dad? Signed, a Middle Millennial