How hype and stereotyping are warping people’s view of a whole generation
 

There is something poignant about being 57 years old and a “Baby Boomer.” As the nearly 77 million members of my generation are reaching retirement, the images and metaphors describing us have taken a decidedly unflattering turn.

No longer are we the golden boys and girls—the youth generation and the generation that trusted “no one over thirty.” Instead we are the butt of growing ridicule and denunciation.

Paul Begala, writing in Esquire, said:

“If they [Baby Boomers] were animals they’d be a plague of locusts, devouring everything in their path and leaving nothing but a wasteland. If they were plants, they’d be kudzu, choking off every other living thing with their sheer mass.”

He even wrote a whole article about how much he hates Baby Boomers.

Joe Queenan in Balsamic Dreams: A Short But Self-Important History of the Baby Boomer Generation made a similar claim:

“This is what makes Baby Boomers different: They’re stupefyingly self-centered, unbelievably rude, and obnoxious beyond belief, and they’re everywhere.”

Baby Boomers are facing an image problem that could have tragic repercussions as we face the treacherous transition from wage earners to retirees. As the country faces the prospect of having over 20% of its population qualifying for Social Security and Medicare, demonizing Baby Boomers seems to be the mode du jour.

Time to speak out?

How do we Boomers respond as we are being reduced in the media to metaphors such as “locusts” or “kudzu”? I believe that we must speak up and challenge these images; left unchecked, negative images have historically had a way of taking root and growing poisonous fruit.

Consider how the Baby Boomers’ image has shifted from the “most educated, idealistic, tolerant, and socially conscious” generation to what Peter Begala calls a “Garbage barge of a generation that ruined everything . . . in its wake.” Descriptions of the Baby Boomers have changed between 1946 and now as the Baby Boom generation begins shifting from an economic boom for the American economy to an economic time bomb.

The Baby Boom created a huge market for housing, consumer goods, and advertising that fueled the economic boom and social policies of the 50’s and 60’s. As we entered the marketplace, our sheer numbers swelled the GNP to staggering heights. As we paid our taxes, we have provided the funding to social security that supports the largest elderly population ever to exist in unprecedented affluence.

As we move from our peak earning years to retirement, we will be counting on the Social Security, Medicare and other services that we have paid for all these years. fears that the funds will not be there to provide for the aging have prompted many economists to predict a disastrous competition for services between the young and the old, if Boomers vote in a block against programs for younger families and education.

Facing up to reality

It is important that the need for education and supports for young families be given recognized and supported by us even as we age. We cannot afford to become the stereotypical elderly who vote down funding for education and resources, hiding from the complexities and challenges in a world where over 20% of the population will be over 60. We won’t be able to ignore the impact of this demographic shift on us all; but we can—and must—go forward with awareness and determination to remember that the challenges are caused by a unique demographic pattern and are not driven by any evil intent or personal perversion invented by the Baby Boomers.

Our generation of leaders must carry forward a sense of balance by actively seeking ways to get material and social needs met without denying the needs of young families and children. It is in our power to find ways to support and nurture the future by considering the needs of society as a whole, and not isolating ourselves in ‘active adult’ communities.

By actively advocating for fairness and investing in the future even as we compete for resources with the citizens of that future, we make a lie of labels like “selfish” and “locusts” by leading in ways that demonstrate our humanity.

A wonderful resource

Baby Boomers are, as a group, blessed with education, wealth, and enough members to seem invincible. But history teaches us that no group can withstand persistent negative stereotyping without suffering. No nation can develop successful social policy when it uses stereotype to justify its treatment of groups of its citizens.

Even as the economic crisis that the aging Baby Boomers pose for the nation is beginning, the negative shift in the public image of our demographic cannot be ignored. Just as the vilification of minority groups is used to rationalize harsh and unfair treatment of those groups, vilification can be used to isolate the Baby Boomer generation and justify unfair economic treatment of us as we age by reducing us to a garbage barge of a generation, without a human face.

“A rose will bloom, it then will fade. / So does a youth; / So does the fairest maid.”—“Romeo and Juliet”, Franco Zeffirelli, 1968

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