I agree with about 90% of this. Where I disagree is the bit about Iraq and Afghanistan and thus by implication Manning and possibly Snowden. I think that GW Bush correctly realized that ignoring the Islamic fundamnetalists was not a sustainable strategy and neither was allowing Iraq to fester under sanctions.
Now he and his generals and diplomats completely fucked up the follow ups to the initial war and I have many thoughts about how and why that happened, but the original actions were necessary.
I think that Manning should have been caught sooner (and in fact probably not been put in the position she was in), and that she wasn't is a big tell on her chain of command, but what she did was grossly irresponsible and something that should have earned her a death penalty.
As a pre - boomer of 82 with a gen X son I don't always understand - this essay gives me new perspective on how it unfolded in for gen Xers. It is different for me because I saw the establishment this essay is so disgusted with before it went wrong when it was forming under Truman when he made the decision to oppose Communism and Eisenhower warned us about the danger of becoming dominated by the military industrial complex. Thanks.
This essay highlights the significant public events of my life. It reminds me to be thankful for the technological advancements but to be angry for how said advancements have been put to use. I am accustomed to being lumped in with the greedy bastards who corrupted these things. People generalize too much.
Throughout my life, I've tried to fight injustice wherever it appears and to plant that idea into my boys' heads. I hope to be part of the change rather than part of the problem.
Can you please point me to a challenging, complete assessment? I am very interested in reading something written to whatever standard you have in your head that makes this guest post so inadequate by comparison. It must be quite a piece of work. I'm sure I will learn a lot from reading it. Thank you!
The generation of "Question Authority" quickly outlawed questioning authority as soon as they became the authority. Because they abandoned all values not themselves, they became utterly corrupt. Kamala is a fitting end to that generation's power. May the next generation seek wisdom.
Yes, many of these long haired hippies shouting unimaginable obscenities while screaming “freedom of speech” quickly removed their sandals, cut their hair, put on a shirt and tie to look “presentable” while hiding out in academia, e.g. terrorist pseudo academic bill ayers, etc., and then hid behind “protected speech” which they became the self appointed gatekeepers.
Great piece! Has almost a rhythmic anger throughout and brings up so many things I had almost forgotten about. A timeline of corruption. Thank you for sharing this.
I share that expression of anger and disgust at the corruption and hypocrisy over the past decades. But to turn that into intergenerational hate is a mistake. To turn anything into any kind of hate and imply some kind of collective punishment is always a mistake. We inhabit a world of individuals, not demographic groups.
I’m confused by your reference to inter generational hate and collective punishment. What this brought into focus for me were the layers of hypocrisy and corruption over the years which have impacted multiple generations in ways which may not be recognized when looked at individually. I don’t know what collective punishment you are referring to since I haven’t seen anything resembling punishment for the corruption either collective or otherwise.
I worry that we will forever be relegated to “us” and “them”. I feel like my words are frequently misinterpreted and misunderstood as though I’m speaking some new language. Thanks for hearing what I was actually saying.
I was referring to the collective blaming of an entire generation for the corruption and hypocrisy. I thought that was obvious when L.T. Zero said "Dear Boomers . . . Fuck you all!"
Huh?!?
When I started reading this post, I was in complete agreement. But when I got to the end, L.T. lost me.
"Dear Boomers,
For all our brothers and friends that you murdered. For all the wealth and opportunity you stole. For all our children you abused and shattered. This is our thank you note.
Fuck you all. I hope you choke on it.
We’re gonna keep fighting until every one of you self-satisfied hypocrites is farting dust from six feet under. Until our younger brothers and sisters, and our children, have a country that again belongs to them.
Consider November 5 the first payment for our upcoming blow-out sock hop dance.
On your graves."
What is this supposed to mean? That an entire generation of people is to blame for the crap that went down? It sounds like L.T. wants to kill everyone of a certain age group: "We’re gonna keep fighting until every one of you self-satisfied hypocrites is farting dust from six feet under." What does "fighting" mean in this context? It sounds very violent to me.
This is what I call intergenerational conflict. It's ridiculous! What about the 49% of boomers (from L.T.'s table) who voted for Trump? What about the 45% of GenX who voted for Kamala? All generations are incredibly diverse groups. It's ridiculous to attribute anything to everyone in any particular generation.
This kind of collective judgment, blame, shame, and not so veiled threats of violence is a tactic of communists and Nazis. It is not helpful; it is not even in accordance with reality.
If this is your idea of a threat of violence, then I am profoundly jealous of you. I cannot imagine having led a life where reading this feels like a threat of violence. We do not live in the same universe — which is fine! I’m happy for you. I don’t want everyone to know what violence is or means. The world needs sweet summer children who are so inured to real violence that you can feel personally threatened by a generational analysis written by a stranger. I wish I were one of you.
Funny, my kids call me a boomer, but I'm not, born in '68. I was a true believer, parents were of the Silent Generation. A true believer, that is, until my eyes were opened by Ruby Ridge and Waco. Funny thing is I was a big city cop at the time, a law-and-order guy through and through. Ruby Ridge and Waco showed me the cracks, but I was still a believer, even through the days after 9-11. The WoT was necessary. I know the history of that part of the world better than most. Ignoring SW Asia was not a good option and hasn't been since the fall of Jerusalem in AD 637 (or 638, nobody's really sure). But the way we played it was just a disaster. Huge cracks in the edifice now. By 2021, whatever vestiges of belief I had were completely destroyed.
Conflation alert! This reads like an angry scrapbook of un-metabolised ideas. More generally (of which this is symptomatic) the obsession with arbitrary generational categories is bizarre and over-simplistic. Of course, there's such a thing as generational context but it is only a part of the overall context and no one demographic measurement explains it all. The notion that this amounts to some kind of revenge on boomers is unhinged. There is a difference between context and blame, but perhaps more pertinent to this piece, between information and understanding.
What? Something that includes a description of grave dancing is angry? You’re kidding! Next you’ll tell me the sky is blue. Hint: nobody gives a rat's ass that you can identify an obvious emotion. Explain what's factually wrong or unreasonable. Otherwise this is just pearl-clutching. Oh my, the uncouthness of an expression of anger! *slides the fainting couch over to catch you*
IDK the Amish population, but have you seen Pressler? He's worked himself into the hospital several times, then apologized for needing to take a day off. Moved to PA awhile ago and has worked 14-16 hours a day, every day, for YEARS. Personally conducting voter registration drives that register 500 people only 300 times would do it. I'm surprised his number isn't higher.
It is not a Gish gallop. I gave you facts about someone you've never heard of. If you don't care to learn about new things, you're on the wrong Substack. You get to fuck off now.
I’m not being sarcastic. I’m dying to read a justification for why driving Aaron Schwartz to suicide was reasonable. I lack self-confidence in general, which is why I regular listen to lunatic podcasts. It helps me affirm myself that I’m not insane.
Solid Xer here (69) with good Boomer (47) parents - this has some resonance for me. Nicely done. I didn’t know our gen voted 53% for Trump, but I find this a pretty cogent tale.
He said that 2 presidents mandated coronavirus vaccines, when they've only been available for the term of a single president. I didn't bother to read past that.
Ah, now you're moving the goalpost because you're shown to be a liar. If you'd actually stopped reading when you said you did, you wouldn't be in the comments section. Go fuck yourself.
There's a lot to this narrative of generational subversion and rebellion. Every new status quo invites its own destruction (and, hopefully, redemption and improvement). I do believe that the elite is splitting-with the boldest and smartest and most iconoclastic separating from the managerial elite blob creature (whose grey bulk stands for safety and exclusive inclusion and managed decline).
I think there's also a class element to the election. Just like the 1960's and 1970's (when the country fractured along educational lines on the issue of Vietnam) and the 1980's (when the great mass of ordinary Americans adopted Reagan as their avatar of sense and patriotism and optimism) we have seen a complete political shift. The Democrats are-broadly speaking-now the party of college graduates and symbolic professionals and single women. The GOP (in this election) was the party of families and workers and builders.
Given a choice between the two I'm clear on who I will stand with.
Nice read. Thanks for sharing that one Holly.
I agree with about 90% of this. Where I disagree is the bit about Iraq and Afghanistan and thus by implication Manning and possibly Snowden. I think that GW Bush correctly realized that ignoring the Islamic fundamnetalists was not a sustainable strategy and neither was allowing Iraq to fester under sanctions.
Now he and his generals and diplomats completely fucked up the follow ups to the initial war and I have many thoughts about how and why that happened, but the original actions were necessary.
I think that Manning should have been caught sooner (and in fact probably not been put in the position she was in), and that she wasn't is a big tell on her chain of command, but what she did was grossly irresponsible and something that should have earned her a death penalty.
As a pre - boomer of 82 with a gen X son I don't always understand - this essay gives me new perspective on how it unfolded in for gen Xers. It is different for me because I saw the establishment this essay is so disgusted with before it went wrong when it was forming under Truman when he made the decision to oppose Communism and Eisenhower warned us about the danger of becoming dominated by the military industrial complex. Thanks.
This essay highlights the significant public events of my life. It reminds me to be thankful for the technological advancements but to be angry for how said advancements have been put to use. I am accustomed to being lumped in with the greedy bastards who corrupted these things. People generalize too much.
Throughout my life, I've tried to fight injustice wherever it appears and to plant that idea into my boys' heads. I hope to be part of the change rather than part of the problem.
Enjoyed your essay!
Thank you and agree about the generalization, an easy, incomplete assessment.
Can you please point me to a challenging, complete assessment? I am very interested in reading something written to whatever standard you have in your head that makes this guest post so inadequate by comparison. It must be quite a piece of work. I'm sure I will learn a lot from reading it. Thank you!
The generation of "Question Authority" quickly outlawed questioning authority as soon as they became the authority. Because they abandoned all values not themselves, they became utterly corrupt. Kamala is a fitting end to that generation's power. May the next generation seek wisdom.
Yes, many of these long haired hippies shouting unimaginable obscenities while screaming “freedom of speech” quickly removed their sandals, cut their hair, put on a shirt and tie to look “presentable” while hiding out in academia, e.g. terrorist pseudo academic bill ayers, etc., and then hid behind “protected speech” which they became the self appointed gatekeepers.
Great piece! Has almost a rhythmic anger throughout and brings up so many things I had almost forgotten about. A timeline of corruption. Thank you for sharing this.
I share that expression of anger and disgust at the corruption and hypocrisy over the past decades. But to turn that into intergenerational hate is a mistake. To turn anything into any kind of hate and imply some kind of collective punishment is always a mistake. We inhabit a world of individuals, not demographic groups.
How is losing an election a collective punishment? That seems a bit melodramatic. Unless that's not what you meant?
I’m confused by your reference to inter generational hate and collective punishment. What this brought into focus for me were the layers of hypocrisy and corruption over the years which have impacted multiple generations in ways which may not be recognized when looked at individually. I don’t know what collective punishment you are referring to since I haven’t seen anything resembling punishment for the corruption either collective or otherwise.
I am not sure, but I think we're so polarized that people honestly feel like losing an election is some quasi-genocide "collective punishment" now.
I worry that we will forever be relegated to “us” and “them”. I feel like my words are frequently misinterpreted and misunderstood as though I’m speaking some new language. Thanks for hearing what I was actually saying.
I think we all need to pay attention to what people actually say, rather than color those statements with our own interpretations.
Yes. Some people even feel personally threatened with violence because other people, who don't know they exist, feel anger. Imagine!
I was referring to the collective blaming of an entire generation for the corruption and hypocrisy. I thought that was obvious when L.T. Zero said "Dear Boomers . . . Fuck you all!"
Huh?!?
When I started reading this post, I was in complete agreement. But when I got to the end, L.T. lost me.
"Dear Boomers,
For all our brothers and friends that you murdered. For all the wealth and opportunity you stole. For all our children you abused and shattered. This is our thank you note.
Fuck you all. I hope you choke on it.
We’re gonna keep fighting until every one of you self-satisfied hypocrites is farting dust from six feet under. Until our younger brothers and sisters, and our children, have a country that again belongs to them.
Consider November 5 the first payment for our upcoming blow-out sock hop dance.
On your graves."
What is this supposed to mean? That an entire generation of people is to blame for the crap that went down? It sounds like L.T. wants to kill everyone of a certain age group: "We’re gonna keep fighting until every one of you self-satisfied hypocrites is farting dust from six feet under." What does "fighting" mean in this context? It sounds very violent to me.
This is what I call intergenerational conflict. It's ridiculous! What about the 49% of boomers (from L.T.'s table) who voted for Trump? What about the 45% of GenX who voted for Kamala? All generations are incredibly diverse groups. It's ridiculous to attribute anything to everyone in any particular generation.
This kind of collective judgment, blame, shame, and not so veiled threats of violence is a tactic of communists and Nazis. It is not helpful; it is not even in accordance with reality.
If this is your idea of a threat of violence, then I am profoundly jealous of you. I cannot imagine having led a life where reading this feels like a threat of violence. We do not live in the same universe — which is fine! I’m happy for you. I don’t want everyone to know what violence is or means. The world needs sweet summer children who are so inured to real violence that you can feel personally threatened by a generational analysis written by a stranger. I wish I were one of you.
Yeah, I loved that rhythmic energetic drive too! I wish I could write a tenth so well.
The piece as a whole is kind of riffing on Trump's style of speaking. Beautiful piece of work.
Boom!
Funny, my kids call me a boomer, but I'm not, born in '68. I was a true believer, parents were of the Silent Generation. A true believer, that is, until my eyes were opened by Ruby Ridge and Waco. Funny thing is I was a big city cop at the time, a law-and-order guy through and through. Ruby Ridge and Waco showed me the cracks, but I was still a believer, even through the days after 9-11. The WoT was necessary. I know the history of that part of the world better than most. Ignoring SW Asia was not a good option and hasn't been since the fall of Jerusalem in AD 637 (or 638, nobody's really sure). But the way we played it was just a disaster. Huge cracks in the edifice now. By 2021, whatever vestiges of belief I had were completely destroyed.
Ruby Ridge is 20ish miles from me. People here remember.
I’m guessing they especially remember RR happened in 1992, prior to the “sexy outlaw President” even being elected (thanks to Ross Perot).
God bless X. We’ll never have our “own” President, will we? Skip right to Vance, God willing, and then it will be too late.
Proud to be a Gen Xer. Feeling so optimistic right now!
As an older Gen X'er, that resonates.
Conflation alert! This reads like an angry scrapbook of un-metabolised ideas. More generally (of which this is symptomatic) the obsession with arbitrary generational categories is bizarre and over-simplistic. Of course, there's such a thing as generational context but it is only a part of the overall context and no one demographic measurement explains it all. The notion that this amounts to some kind of revenge on boomers is unhinged. There is a difference between context and blame, but perhaps more pertinent to this piece, between information and understanding.
What? Something that includes a description of grave dancing is angry? You’re kidding! Next you’ll tell me the sky is blue. Hint: nobody gives a rat's ass that you can identify an obvious emotion. Explain what's factually wrong or unreasonable. Otherwise this is just pearl-clutching. Oh my, the uncouthness of an expression of anger! *slides the fainting couch over to catch you*
IDK the Amish population, but have you seen Pressler? He's worked himself into the hospital several times, then apologized for needing to take a day off. Moved to PA awhile ago and has worked 14-16 hours a day, every day, for YEARS. Personally conducting voter registration drives that register 500 people only 300 times would do it. I'm surprised his number isn't higher.
It is not a Gish gallop. I gave you facts about someone you've never heard of. If you don't care to learn about new things, you're on the wrong Substack. You get to fuck off now.
I'll bite Holly. It is not going to be a priority but I will get around to breaking it down.
Great. I look forward to reading it. I'm sure LT will too.
I know that is sarcasm but I like it anyway.
I’m not being sarcastic. I’m dying to read a justification for why driving Aaron Schwartz to suicide was reasonable. I lack self-confidence in general, which is why I regular listen to lunatic podcasts. It helps me affirm myself that I’m not insane.
I thought you were coding...
Lunch breaks are in fact permitted in the United States of America. Trump made sure of it!
We are the X men and women. “Fuck you, I wont do what you tell me”
Masterful. Thank you.
Solid Xer here (69) with good Boomer (47) parents - this has some resonance for me. Nicely done. I didn’t know our gen voted 53% for Trump, but I find this a pretty cogent tale.
High on drama, low on facts. We all have our worldviews 🤷🏼♀️ Sorry the author is so angry and aggrieved, what an awful way to go through life.
What facts are wrong?
He said that 2 presidents mandated coronavirus vaccines, when they've only been available for the term of a single president. I didn't bother to read past that.
My, my your sanctimony makes you look stupid. Who was president on December 14, 2020, when vaccinations began?
Ah, now you're moving the goalpost because you're shown to be a liar. If you'd actually stopped reading when you said you did, you wouldn't be in the comments section. Go fuck yourself.
I don’t get it.
Only Biden mandated vaccines, announcing the mandate in September 2021, more than six months into his presidency.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_vaccination_mandates_in_the_United_States
Thank you!
There's a lot to this narrative of generational subversion and rebellion. Every new status quo invites its own destruction (and, hopefully, redemption and improvement). I do believe that the elite is splitting-with the boldest and smartest and most iconoclastic separating from the managerial elite blob creature (whose grey bulk stands for safety and exclusive inclusion and managed decline).
I think there's also a class element to the election. Just like the 1960's and 1970's (when the country fractured along educational lines on the issue of Vietnam) and the 1980's (when the great mass of ordinary Americans adopted Reagan as their avatar of sense and patriotism and optimism) we have seen a complete political shift. The Democrats are-broadly speaking-now the party of college graduates and symbolic professionals and single women. The GOP (in this election) was the party of families and workers and builders.
Given a choice between the two I'm clear on who I will stand with.
https://jmpolemic.substack.com/p/post-election-reflections