Irony and hypocrisy: Old, "Blue No Matter Who" folks complain about "boomer remover"
There's a certain irony, and more than a little hypocrisy, in certain older people complaining about the "boomer remover" meme. It's a crass meme, and terrible to support or propagate (in my opinion). This is motivated by a certain diary I saw in some other venue; that's all I'll say about it. Old "blue no matter who" sellouts complaining about the anger younger folks have infuriates me.
It's a little hard for me to feel badly for people--especially older people--who take offense to an internet meme when they cravenly support a political party who has the blood of millions on its hands, including the hundreds/thousands who are impacted by corona virus. That's right: if you're "blue no matter who," you're part of the problem and you have the same blood on your hands that the politicians you help elect have (and they do have it).
I don't give a good goddamn what you did 40 or 50 years ago or 10 minutes ago: if you support the corrupt, warmongering, anti-humanist, complicit, Republican-lite Democratic Party, you're part of the reason we're in the current mess we're in. You need to own that. Live with it. Accepting a compromise to get good policy is one thing; giving up the ghost without a fight, and then haranguing others who don't support you, is just being complicit.
My hands aren't clean. I supported Obama, the first time around. Gave to his campaign. Volunteered for it to help turn out the vote.All the policies his administration had that resulted in unnecessary suffering or death--I own a little slice of that. It's a shame I'll live with the rest of my life.
That's the difference between me and the cowardly blue no matter who crowd: I've owned up to my mistakes. I understand why "boomer remover" exists: it's because the people who use it see a stubborn, cruel refusal to acknowledge failed, and in some cases dangerous and even fatal policies, and a cruel refusal to see how destructive partisan gamesmanship like "blue no matter who" is. I don't agree with "boomer remover," but I understand it, and I understand the anger.
Old folks who are die-hard "Big-D Democrats" don't have any standing to complain about it. They need to shut the hell up and, for once, listen to what younger folks have to say. "Boomer remover" wouldn't exist if there weren't real, justified, and furious anger. Stop telling younger folks they're dumb, or wrong, or working for Russia, or Trump supporters. Own it, or ignore it quietly if you need to, and then roll up your goddamn sleeves and get to work helping. Doesn't matter if you're 20 or 70--if you have the means you can do something to help. And if you're a "blue no matter who" hypocrite you sorely need to do that something: the older you are, the more you have to pay for.
I'll be heading to a food bank (volunteerism has dropped precipitously here--in an area where it's needed most due to the high cost of living) as often as I can, and doing other things as I can, as well. Here's something I won't be doing: complaining that some folks who have been wronged for years are lashing out on the interwebs at a group they perceive as standing in the way of progress.
That's all.
Comments
f--- off with this generational blame game
Generational blame games are a distraction
no doubt, and just a waste of energy.
On the other hand the exit polls don’t lie: folks in my generation and older break overwhelmingly toward conservative politics. It’s wrong to claim all of us are responsible, but it’s hardly a surprise those younger than us are angry.
Just one 40-something’s opinion.
I do resent this meme.
Promoting it is a form of racism/ageism. There are plenty of 20, 30, 40, and 50 somethings that vote blue no better who. So stop promoting this. I don’t care if you are my boomer age or not. Stop. Promoting. This. Crap.
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
I’m not promoting it
Where do you get the idea that I am? Or are you speaking to another audience?
speaking to another audience
She's speaking to another audience: those who are promoting the disgusting "boomer remover" meme. The same folks you're objecting to.
(I'm not Raggedy Ann and do not presume to speak for her; but IMHO it's pretty obvious that matters are as I stated them above.)
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
crap promotion
Preach it, sister!!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
What about older people who are *not* die-hard big-D democrats?
The boomer remover thing is stupid and hateful because it means plain and simple that the people saying it want ALL old people DEAD. That is a serious problem, to think that way.
And it means they have no god damn clue that when the hospitals and entire healthcare system are soon drowning in dying people of all ages, THEY are not going to get medical care if they need it for any reason. Or maybe it will be their child or their sibling or their spouse who will die from some other treatable condition or trauma because they cannot get into a hospital. Yeah, that will be fucking hilarious and will really teach those oldsters a lesson! How incredibly selfish, short-sighted, and dumb. Anyone passing that meme around should be ridiculed for their idiocy.
As an ancient being older than boomers by definition
and by inclination, cursing a whole generation is fruitless. Curse the fools who support Any Blue Will Do. They are the nitwits who support the hair sniffing dement now the "front runner" in the race to be demolished by Commander Cheeto. The Dems have the same aim, as a party, shared with the Repugnants: get rich quick and get out with as much loot as you can.
Look at the philanthropic duet sung by Nervous Nancy and Mitch McTurtle:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apFi8QJfDCQ]
Hot damn! You must be older than dirt...
heh, “Albert made of solid alligator—he heavy.” - Pogo
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Thank you CS in AZ
I find your perspective very reasoned and perceptive. This is not a frivolous or clever meme, it’s downright sinister and disturbing. Where's the respect, especially at a time it's most needed? How can one change hearts without it?
AOC is blue no matter who,
and so is Tulsi.
Fuck this shit.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Yes, and they’re both wrong
to endorse that. It’s shameful, and by doing so they’re contributing to the problem.
It is clearly not age or age group.
It is other damn propagandizing and conditioning.
Old conditioned people are more likely to vote than young people who simply do not give a shit either way, and once they DO get in the gang, they go blue no matter who because of the advantages to them.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
As Boomer with a voting record that runs the gamut from
Dick Gregory (Peace & Freedom, '68) to Jill Stein (Green 2016) I don't at all fit the stereotype, at least as to "Blue no matter who". I'm bothered by that meme only in that it is a radical overgeneralization. If it was only the boomers on board that boat the Democratic party would've died long ago. Not only tons of our predecessors (of whom, it is true, few now remain) but also most of generation Reagan who didn't go GOP and their successors and theirs too buy the lesser evil con and turn around and spew blue no matter what line. It is what good propaganda and narrative control can do to folks who don't stop to read and think about history. The way to stop it and deal with it isn't to indulge in silly equally ignorant memes, nor to whine about them, but to try to bring some logic and light, as well as information and education to the fray. Ranting about the horrible things this country and the Dems have done, which I do often enough myself, doesn't change things, but tying those wrongs and that evil back to the illogic of unquestioning support of one segment of the elites might.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
...
[video:https://youtu.be/G9uBE7Q1E_g]
Thanks Janice. Have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
'Pig in a Python'...
is how demographers have traditionally described the socio-economic effects of the Baby Boomer generation moving through its life cycle.
Right now the pig is giving the python a serious case of constipation, leaving some people closer to the python's mouth wondering about a COVID enema.
But to all those offended by the Boomer Remover meme I say don't take it personally. Boomers as a group have always been a demographic pain in the ass, and it was only a matter of time before the younger generations started venting their frustration at the blockage that never seems to clear.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
Every time I complain about stubborn Boomers
(Being a Boomer myself) I get the ol' "whataboutism?" or the ol' "it's the Boomers over THERE who are the problem...I myself was never one of them...I (whatever liberal program I was a part of...from marching in the Civil Rights Movement...to being a teacher in an urban area...to not calling "them" Welfare cheats), so don't put ME in that category." Every time. So I got to wondering...if EVERY Boomer is not one of THOSE Boomers...who are all these Boomers that everyone is speaking/complaining of?
Well done is better than well said-Ben Franklin
What Boomers have in common...
is that they are all part of the last living US generation expected to do economically better than their parents' generation.
Generations since have a different mindset.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
Well at least you’ve stepped up to accept *your* personal blame
for every problem facing younger people today. Why did you do it?!?
May you remain as sanguine about their blanket hatred when they cut you off from life supporting medical care so you’ll die quicker and get out of the way of their utopia, which will surely emerge the moment everyone over age 56 is dead. Many of whom were not even boomers, but they are still old, so who cares? And isn’t it all their fault anyway, for having so many babies after the war?
Question: for those of us who are old now, if we agree that everything wrong in the world is entirely our fault and we should all die, could we at least be provided with a humane option for suicide? If so, I will consider ordering my supply right away and signing off from life. I am a second-generation boomer. My mother was born in 1944 and when she had me she was an teenage unwed mother in the late 1950s. I wasn’t even supposed to be here. I never should have made the mistake of being born. What was I thinking?? So I’m willing to do my part now so that people under age 56 can have it all like they want. If they will take care of my dogs, that is. Or do the pets of boomers need to die also?
Signed,
Bitter, party of one
We have to take a moment to understand their anger
"May you remain as sanguine about their blanket hatred when they cut you off from life supporting medical care so you’ll die quicker and get out of the way of their utopia, which will surely emerge the moment everyone over age 56 is dead."
You speak of "them" cutting off our life supporting medical care", but say nothing of "us" Boomers voting against Medicare for All and complaining that since "we" had to pay for college...well dagnabit...they should have to pay for it too. We need to understand that those younger than us see us as stubborn obstacles to what you call utopia (funny word that...the older generations used to say "we" wanted utopia when they described us as hippies), which is really just common sense answers to the growing debt crisis that they see themselves never being able to pay off, and possibly being left with the only option available to them...living in "our" basements, with a bleak future ahead of them.
So spare me your drama about requesting a suicide kit...that is NOT what anyone is asking for. They are asking us to move out of the way if we refuse to help. (Or as some will say "take a seat") Same thing we asked of OUR parents.
Well done is better than well said-Ben Franklin
I did my part
The one thing I did do right was not have any children. In my youth and reproductive years, we knew of the looming environmental disasters and overpopulation problem. We were told that humans were a cancer upon the earth, with a runaway need to spread and grow, to the detriment of all living things.
So I made the conscious decision not to reproduce and add more cancer cells. Therefore, I’m off the hook for helping to create this pathologically selfish and murderous younger generation. Some of my friends wondered if I did not have kids, who would take care of me when I’m old? I told them, first, if I did have children I would not expect them to take care of me when I get old. What an unfair burden to put on them. What none of us considered was that they would grow up to actually want to kill us.
oh so sorry my snarky ‘humor’ about this death-to-old-people meme seems like ‘drama’ to you. But your denial that they are wishing us dead is obviously wrong. Seriously, what do you think “Boomer Remover” means? Getting older people ‘out of the way’ as you put it is exactly the point of it. Out of the way and into the bone yards. No I really don’t need to understand or coddle their murderous intent.
We’re already in a time where we are learning to fear other people. We’re all in this together, some say. Time to set aside grievances and pull together. Sure. Kids passing the disease around on purpose to “remove” old people is just what the situation calls for! Right.
No one is saying all boomers should just die
I don't know where that is coming from. Care to explain why you perceive all young people as being out to get you? My mom is the same way and I don't understand it. Many of us recognize that many boomers are in the same boat as us.
I think the point is that after being shit on by older people our whole lives and being robbed of our future and then being told to vote for people who only want to screw us harder you don't get to be mad about silly little memes like 'boomer remover' or 'ok boomer'.
So like, sorry for being born; I really wish I hadn't been some days. If none of us had ever been born would you be happy?
This shit is bananas.
Sigh
What? I’m not the one who said anyone should die! Don’t be insulting. I’m not the one passing around a meme celebrating the deaths of millions of people just because most victims will be older than me.
You may find a meme wishing a painful and terrifying death to old people funny or “silly”— but I don’t. It’s that simple. This pandemic is real, and I am pissed off that so many people find it fun and funny. I AM afraid of dying from it. Do you get that?
Come on.
These are your words. You are accusing an entire generation of wanting yours dead, when that is not the case. Now answer my question: Why do you perceive this? The only one being insulting here is you.
This shit is bananas.
I perceive it because that’s what the meme says
What exactly do you think Boomer Remover is referring to?
You claim ‘no one’ is saying that all old people should die, despite the obvious fact that the people passing around this meme Are saying exactly that, in plain language. Why do you try to deny it?
I find it interesting that people who defend this blanket death wish to a whole generation, then turn around and get offended when the same is done to them, only WITHOUT THE DEATH WISH.
THAT is the point of my words. So you don’t like generalized generational blame? Yeah, me neither. You do get it after all. And I never even suggested we should have a “Millennials Remover” but sure, I’m the one being insulting.
Memes aren't supposed to be taken literally, they're memes
Personally I find the 'boomer remover' meme to be pretty tasteless; I'm not defending it. All it is accomplishing is to sow further distrust and hatred, which we really don't need right now.
This shit is bananas.
Actually it’s not a meme, it’s a trending hashtag on Twitter
if we want to be precise. And it’s also being used in real life speech by kids (mostly teens to college age, far younger than millennials), who flaunt ignoring social distancing and quarantines, because they truly don’t care if they “Get the Rona” because they will get over it, whatevs... it will only kill old people (so they imagine).
These kids are taking it literally. And other people will die because of it. It’s not a joke and it’s far worse than “tasteless” and I hope you will seriously consider that.
I do agree with you that it is also spreading fear and conflict and other counter productive feelings, and that is definitely not what we need right now. On that we do fully agree.