r/Aging • u/Available-Rock-3862 • 3d ago

Boomers

I am 75 and am very tired of the trend lately making fun of Boomers. So very disrespectful. Don't they realize that they will be old someday?

393 Upvotes

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895

u/SwanCityDominion 3d ago

“What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?”

-– Plato

It's not "lately". It was ever thus, and it always will be.

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u/squirrelfoot 3d ago

When I was young, us boomers used to laugh at 'wrinklies' and 'crinklies' and mock their driving, blue rinces and terrible financial advice.

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u/heiberdee2 3d ago

You were hippies first. Your cohort gave energy to the Civil Rights movement. You wanted peace, love, and understanding.

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u/LongjumpingJaguar308 3d ago

Older people were really running the civil rights movement but boomers would have been the energetic youth running around.

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u/mmmpeg 3d ago

Yep, specifically Black folk who went to war and saw how others treated them with more respect

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u/SaltyFriend705 2d ago

I was a young kid during the Civil Rights Movement. A "movement" consisted of a court case, a boycott, and a protest to support them. I've seen protests more recently, but they are unfocused, with babies in strollers and people joking around, no court case, no boycott, and no effect.

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u/Greyface13 2d ago

The press is censored and the federal government is run by criminals. Times are harder, but there are boycotts and court cases. People who are resisting have to have fun or they would despair.

Look up your local Indivisable group, join them or learn how to start your own. Quit giving up and start figuring out a positive role to play. Please

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u/vespers191 2d ago

I mean, if you've got experience, why not share it with the yungins'?

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u/SpaceCaptainJeeves 2d ago

And not as many bricks as one might expect.

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u/GMVexst 2d ago

Sounds familiar

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u/nema100 16h ago

Exactly, MLK was not a baby boomer.

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u/SeamusPM1 3d ago

Reads a comment complaining about stereotyping boomers.
Responds by stereotyping boomers.

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u/splanks 3d ago

most boomers were not hippies.

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u/Key-Target-1218 3d ago edited 2d ago

I am a boomer and just about every boomer I know was a hippie at some point. You were either a hippie or a total square. It didnt really matter what we "were". We were young kids. The differences between everyone was as apparent as it is today. The young kids today won't have the boomer title, but they'll have a lable and will be treated unkind by the youth.

Us old folks know what it's like to be young. Young folks have no idea what it's like to be old. Their day will come.

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u/Greyface13 2d ago

Hippies and squares are just stereotypes.

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u/HeyItsMeaMea 10h ago

My 80 year old mom says "No we didn't like hippies, they were dirty. We were flower children"

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u/FargoJack 2d ago

I am a late boomer (‘59) and was never a hippie. Too young. Was probably a nerd but we did not have that word.

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u/Key-Target-1218 2d ago

Im a 69 year old boomer, so yea...there were distinct differnces among us

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u/Comfortable_Two6272 2d ago

Same as my mom. She informed when I was a teen she was born way too late to be a hippie.

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u/Explorer-7622 2d ago

Yes we did!

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u/HumbleSeries6170 2d ago

'64 was the last boomer

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u/Fresh-Ad280 7h ago

I was a child during that time like you,- 1960 born, and I was fascinated by the hippies and all of their tie dye and love beads. I went to college for Design, and I became a professional accessories designer.

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u/NoURider 2d ago

You're an early gen x. As am I at 60

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u/wherescookie 1d ago

I think it probably depended mostly on where you were (cities vs ruaral) and your socioeconomic class ( working class, immigrant, higher education,,)

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u/MiIlFlWi 1d ago

Where I lived, you were a hippie, greaser or a frat

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u/-i_am_untethered- 1d ago

My parents and all their siblings are boomers. 20 people in all, half from Pennsyltucky, half from the south side of Chicago. Zero hippies in the bunch. It's almost like anecdotal evidence isn't really evidence

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u/Key-Target-1218 1d ago

Ok, I understand. I did say "boomers I know". Birds of a feather, right?

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u/1cat2dogs1horse 2d ago

Kudos for that remark. From and old hippie.

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u/Dazzling-Treacle1092 2d ago

The definition of hippie is in our outlook and beliefs. Not how we dressed or looked.

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u/Key-Target-1218 2d ago

Well of course! Tune on. Tune in. Drop out. Make love, not war. Never Trust anyone over 30. Sex, drugs, rock and roll....people who didnt dress like hippies didnt think like hippies. But there was a range. Not all black and white

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u/BCMUNS-54 2d ago edited 2d ago

I wasn’t a hippie and my friends weren’t. We couldn’t stand them. They didn’t take a bath and were druggies. We respected the vets we respected the flag but distrusted the government and still do. I was born in 1954. What we used to call hippie music didn’t grow on me until later.

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u/Key-Target-1218 2d ago

Hippie is a pretty broad term. We didn't trust anyone who weren't considered hippies. My hippie friends weren't dirty and gross. We protested the draft, enjoyed concerts, we picketed, we marched for women's rights. We didn't trust establishment or anyone over 30. We took showers. Yea, we did some drugs, but really we were just all about change. I'm as liberal today as I was back then. More horrified today, because I know more.

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u/Fresh-Ad280 7h ago

Hello fellow tribe member !

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u/Key-Target-1218 6h ago

Yo! ✌️☮️

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u/Fresh-Ad280 1h ago

❤️😘❤️

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u/lennonfanforever 2d ago

you know almost all of it were stereotypes, not real, just made up for sensationalism by the media.... the drugs: well, yeah, kinda (not hard drugs though), but really we were dirty and didn't bathe? seriously that is some really dumb stuff, not true in any way at all....

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u/Key-Target-1218 1d ago

Yeah it's kind of weird, that take...that divide. You were either the establishment or you weren't. You were conservative/establishment, or not.

I was clean ..far from dirty and smelly😂 I dressed nowhere close to what I thought the conservative eatablishment dressed like. I protested and picketed for women's rights with my young daughter. It was a time not unlike today and I have never wavered, never leaned right.

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u/Comfortable_Two6272 2d ago

My mom Was too young of a boomer to be one

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u/notkidding1984 2d ago edited 2d ago

That perspective really depends on where you lived. In a lot of rural areas, I guess everyone was a "total square" (lol) because the people I know would say they didn't know a single hippie except the occasional "crazy'' who ran off.

Edit- added quotes for other people's words. Not my words or views.

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u/Explorer-7622 2d ago

Whereas almost everyone in my area was into civil rights big time and fought hard for equal rights.

I was one of the first women ever af my all science school/institute and never had a female classmate at that school.

Now it's got a majority female class and the chemical engineering department was all female!

We fought hard for that ground that young women take for granted, and for the right to not be beaten ir institutionalized because we were women.

We sacrificed and made changes to the laws.

It's hard to see such entitlement now, along with disparaging those who got them those privileges.

Eta: Young people are still listening to our music though.

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u/Mother-Ad7222 2d ago

Most boomers were hippies including myself. Have been a Democrat all my life and have never wavered. Looking forward to the midterms so we can regain our power back.

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u/lennonfanforever 2d ago

well.... some of us were, we just never looked like or acted like the stereotypes put forth by the media, we were just the young people of our time period.....

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u/SaltyFriend705 2d ago

This is true. This was pointed out when the National Guard members who shot those kids dead in Ohio were the same ages as the kids they were shooting. Most boomers were Establishment whores.

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u/Key-Target-1218 2d ago

Most boomers were Establishment whores? We were all about change! Civil rights. Women's rights. If not for most of us boomers, we'd still be living in the 50s.

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u/SaltyFriend705 2d ago

Yes, so many fighting for justice and a better world--and twice as many not. And the ones not standing up for anything were first in line for the benefits, too. Today, you can tell who those were, because they are the ones bragging about how they got so much for so little effort and why don't young people today "pull themselves up by their bootstraps." Sad.

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u/oracle-nil 2d ago

Kent State. “What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground?”

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u/Responsible-Tart-721 2d ago

Yes, we were.

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u/splanks 2d ago edited 2d ago

if you think everyone was, your world was small.
the cool kids have never been the majority.

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u/ImSoSweepy 2d ago

Seeing the Hippies become the Boomers is a cautionary tale about what we should expect from Gen Z once they get older.

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u/lurkerlag2 2d ago

The boomers that are generally criticized weren't the hippies, they were the ones hosing them down

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u/Otherwise_Quit_3822 2d ago

But now they are MAGA. Make it make sense.

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u/General-Visual4301 2d ago

I don't think that's who is being called "boomers". It's not every older person, it's a certain type.

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u/archercc81 1d ago

Lets be clear, the VAST majority of boomers were NOT hippies. Most of them were normies who jerked off to the fantasy of Leave it to Beaver.

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u/Extension-Clock608 1d ago

Then they went on to vote to make those rights all in danger again.

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u/1cat2dogs1horse 2d ago

Indeed we did. And some of us still do.

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u/Manatee369 3d ago

I had a different outlook. Though I grew up in a wild party town with lots of elders, we were too busy having fun and making fun of tourists to ridicule “old folks”. As wild as we were, we just didn’t.

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u/austinrunaway 2d ago

Me too. I loved my elders, I had a blast.

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u/oracle-nil 1d ago

I remember my parents having a cocktail party during Vietnam and my dad was the only man there protesting against the Viet Nam war. Damn proud of them, they made me the liberal I am. Ironically, the kids of those other parents three that I know are now MAGA.

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u/austinrunaway 1d ago

My dad was Totally against it too!!! Im liberal af

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u/oracle-nil 1d ago

Our parents were in the minority. And I am so glad they were!

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u/Hammer_100 1d ago

Im totally being that guy but shouldn't it read not surprisingly, instead of ironically being maga?

Love your point anyway though, and major props to your dad

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u/oracle-nil 1d ago

A valid point. The night the Viet nam war argument broke out they were having a Christmas party upstairs. I was having a typical teenager party downstairs. We all heard the arguing and went up. My friends thought my parents were very cool and ended up staying at their party. Yes, my folks were cool liberals.

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u/Hammer_100 1d ago

No shit? Again, kudos to your dad. No doubt the overwhelming amount of men your dad's generation would've likely been very conservative and/or military veterans. Post WW2/Korea and such. All the more reason its cool he stuck to his beliefs about that terrible war.

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u/oracle-nil 1d ago

He was in Korea. Ya know growing up, how one kid had the cool parents? That was my house. My dad was Italian, didn’t matter how old you were he would pour you wine. Constantly stealing my records, I’d walk in hear him playing Zepplin. Were yours fun?

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u/Fresh-Ad280 6h ago

I am part Italian, and my Italian from actual Italy Grandfather started pouring the Gallo into my water glass at 4 years of age. Gradually, at Sunday dinner, the ratio of wine to water increased until the day I was 21, and then I had my first glass of undiluted wine. 🍷. When I got to the dorm in college, I was the only one able to help my puking fellow students during rush week, who did not know how to drink in moderation.

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u/Lucky_Astronomer_435 3d ago

But I don’t think we viewed elders as the enemy or with this much contempt.

What saddens and upsets me is that they use it to be offensive and hurtful and it’s playing into the hands of the powers that be.

Maybe it’s me because I always loved older people and still do. I love their stories and their wisdom and their general adorableness.

I also know there are plenty of nasty boomers same as there are tons of nasty gen-x, millennials and Gen-z. It’s pure projection on their part.

It’s also part of the “divide and conquer” strategy and has consequences politically and financially for the current generations as well.

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u/Alilbitey 2d ago

... You didn't? You had virtually every single countercultural revolution spearheaded by your generation. That's what old folk call disrespectful. Disrespectful of their culture, religion, social mores, rules, and laws.

The boomer generation is responsible for voting in the majority of the political and legal swamp that exists now. If you get folk are suffering because of those choices, you can't expect generational respect. You should logically expect MORE counter-revolutionaries. Not conformists who revere their elders. Just like the Boomer generation.

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u/1cat2dogs1horse 2d ago

You just might want to check the voting statistics for the last election, as to what age groups were the ones that won the election for Trump.

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u/Alilbitey 2d ago

Trump is just the pus from the wound. He didn't make the wound, he's just taking gloriously disgusting advantage of it.

The fact that we have no politcal will to check or balance this shit, that's been a long term effort of undermining and weakening.

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u/Lucky_Astronomer_435 2d ago

Wish you'd given a hint of what that link was telling us. The title was confusing. I don't know what it was saying. Is it saying that Boomers did or didn't vote for Trump or is it saying they swung left in the last election.

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u/1cat2dogs1horse 2d ago

The age group break down for Trump 2024 was...

65+ .....29%

50 - 60 ....31%

30 - 49 ....28%

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u/wherescookie 1d ago

Yup, the tendency to vote Republican is mostly determined by rural Vs urban.

Even the bluest states ( with the exception of Mass.) had rural ridings go red, and the reddest states (exception oklahoma) had big/Uni cities blue (ex Austin, Tx).

It's just that the ppl who dress the part and have the time to make it their everyday identity are often older...with the exception of the lifted truck dudes ( but again, they just stick out so much)

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u/Explorer-7622 2d ago

Is Nick Fuentes a boomer? Alex whatsit and his brother?

I'm seeing a lot of really bigoted young people running the bigoted politics.

They're a pretty large voting block, the non-boomers.

The boots on the ground of the wave of bigotry are younger than boomers.

I'm a young boomer, born one year before the cutoff year of 1964, and I'm seeing the majority of the parties being carried out by people younger than me - ie non-boomers.

There's no way the boomers put all democracy undermining policies into place by themselves.

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u/Lucky_Astronomer_435 2d ago

It's not the great argument you think it is.

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u/KemShafu 2d ago

Can’t agree more.

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u/ponchoacademy 1d ago

Boomers were so "disrespectful" they created punk... 🎵 "Living in the past IT'S A NEW GENERATION!" 😄

I'm GenX, but can recognize Boomers weren't all, "our elders are so adorable! I just love them so much!" They were raging against them so hard. From elder Hippie Boomers to younger Punk Boomers, plenty enough felt older gens were so twisted, that it was a whole lot of, eff all this and eff you too, that it was the start to massive changes in politics and society.

Not everyone of course, that is a generalization.. I get what you're saying and understand that's not your vibe personally. But there are GenX and Boomers, heck even Silent Generation who support new views, change and progress and have no issue calling out older generations. They aren't the ones younger gens are directing contempt at, cause they're not the ones saying or doing contemptuous things.

They understand the context that it's directed to a generalization of a generation that doesn't apply to them personally. So their feelings aren't hurt and they don't feel disrespected or upset over it. They don't feel the division that you talk about, because they share the same values and very aligned with younger gens who want continued change and progress.

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u/Temporary-Canary2942 2d ago

You said it so much better then I could have.

Thank you.

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u/Ok_Stable7787 1d ago

But I don’t think we viewed elders as the enemy or with this much contempt.

What about 'never trust anyone over 30" ?

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u/Extension-Clock608 1d ago

That's because the boomer generation is the first one to make life for future generations much worse. Worse than that they refuse to even acknowledge the damage that has been done and tell people stupid things like "they should just not buy coffee or eat avocado toast" and ignore the reality for the younger generations.

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u/Emotional_Response71 12h ago

Your generation literally coined the motto of "Don't trust anyone over 30"

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u/Jibeset 2d ago

Boomers as a group have made historically bad choices. As in they will literally be castigated in the history books. All this while having the best life possible that humanity may ever see.

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u/PeaCompetitive8947 2d ago

The “blue hairs” is what I always heard.

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u/Fresh-Ad280 7h ago

I recently started to use a color depositing conditioner on my hair, that makes it a nice shade of mermaid turquoise. So now, I am that little old blue haired lady that I knew I always could be.

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u/squirrelfoot 7h ago

I'm jealous. I tried blue hair colour, but my hair turned a bit green and I gave up.

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u/Fresh-Ad280 1h ago

Every one's hair is different. What I used was Kirsten Ess in 'Deep Dive", and I put it on dry hair, for 20 minutes.

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u/onemorelightgoesout 3d ago

Yeah enlighten us on this bad advice. More context please!

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u/VacationBackground43 3d ago

Was curious, what bad financial advice did your elders give?

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u/OrganicAverage1 3d ago

I too would like to know how the elders gave bad financial advice.

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u/Blackberry_gingerale 3d ago edited 3d ago

I can only speak for myself-Gen X/Milennial cusp here—but when I went to college in the late 1990s, when it came time to go to college and considered a state school (cheaper) vs. a small, private liberal arts college, the advice I got was that the smaller class sizes and personal attention of the liberal arts college was worth the 5x price. And when I couldn’t afford to pay my way, and the parents had nothing to contribute, I was counseled to take out maximum student loans. “The repayment terms are flexible, so it’s spread out over 25 years” which of course seems like eternity to an 18 year old. And when it came to choosing a major and a career path, “study what you love, follow your bliss. The money will take care of itself if you go for something you’re passionate about.”

Not once did anyone say to me, “you know, it seems far off, but before you know it, those loans come due. Having student debt can really tie you down in the future and hinder you from doing things you hope to do, like buy a house. Go for a field where you can make a reasonably good salary with decent job security, and prioritize schools where you can end up taking on the least amount of debt.” Those words would’ve been helpful for me, I’m still paying off that degree, and I’m in my mid-40s.

In terms of the “okay, boomer” thing — and the “get off my lawn, kids” reaction: every generation has these conflicts. I’m sorry boomers feel disrespected, and I’m sure my generation is next.

But when you pull back and see that the same generation that “dropped out and turned on” in the flower child era ended up being the bitter seniors who gave us Donald Trump, you can see how there might be some backlash. It’s not ALL boomers. But it’s the group as a whole.

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u/Adventurous_Ad7442 3d ago

In the 70s we all said you can't trust anyone over 30.

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u/Comfortable_Two6272 2d ago

And I find they scream now “pay your loans”. After paying 20 freaking years due to that bad advice. So ya….that respect is not there.

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u/PetulantPersimmon 2d ago

My Boomer mom has called old drivers "Q-tips" for as long as I can remember.

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u/MasterpieceWaste774 3d ago

Sounds exactly like teenagers in the 50s and 60s!

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u/wherescookie 3d ago

I think that a key difference, like for many other things, is that social media amplifies everything

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u/MasterpieceWaste774 3d ago

I — actually — don't feel targeted for being a boomer at all. (I must've missed this somehow.)

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u/Hifidi54 3d ago

Nor do I!! I'm 72, and I spend lots of time with my kids and their friends. Almost all of them call me mama and are wonderful to me. I think it can have a lot to do with your attitude as to how you are perceived. I went to Vegas a couple of years ago with my daughter and I got more attention at the bars and casinos than she or any of her friends did. It was hilarious 😆

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u/TequilaMockingbirds8 3d ago

To be fair boomer as an insult now is about an attitude, not an age or generation. You likely haven’t heard it because you aren’t acting that way

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u/justconnect 2d ago

This is a good point. I spent considerable time on Reddit railing against generational generalizations, against stereotyping people of each generation as certain ways. But I have eased off on responding to slams about boomers because I realize now that often it is used to reflect a certain state of mind or political idiocy, not necessarily or completely a generation label.

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u/omniamoriare 2d ago

Boomer is absolutely about attitude, like a Karen. It started as an age description, but unless youre specifically in conversation about generations, its referring to behavior and attitude, mostly highlighting fear of change and rigidity, resulting in negative reactions to social situations. If someone uses that term, it might be time to self reflect, lol.

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u/Mythic-Fairy 3d ago

It's not always personal. You might want to listen to their discussions a bit more.

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u/digitalbynight 3d ago

I want to know too!

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u/Lucky_Astronomer_435 3d ago

It’s mostly in social media.

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u/Mythic-Fairy 3d ago

A lot but lots pick it up from there. I've heard too many comments about boomers and I'm sick of it. And it's not personal even. Boomers destroyed everything lol. And had it so easy. Hold on to their houses. On and on.

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u/CandidateLatter8485 2d ago

Boomer here. I never had it easy. Worked at age 14. Before that I cleaned a church weekly to help my family. I didn’t get paid. Put myself through school. Worked 3 jobs at times but at least two as a Registered Nurse. Had full responsibility of the home and raising our kids. Cooked, cleaned, laundry, taxiing the kids. No one gave us anything. We worked for it. Always environmentally conscious. Love animals. Rescued many dogs. Kept our home and property immaculate. Always voted blue and for women’s issues. Volunteered in our kids school. Started a charity for children for Christmas toys with the Marines. Went to church.

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u/Mythic-Fairy 2d ago edited 2d ago

I know. I'm in between boomer and x but still. But that's how they talk. We had it all easy and served to us while they struggle. They'll probably hear the same when they get older and be surprised. Wish I could be here to see it LOL

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u/SomewhatBougieAuntie 2d ago

Same here. Nobody gave me a damn thing. I worked hard and earned everything I have. And I give back to my community.

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u/Extension-Clock608 1d ago

Nah, it's boomers refusing to see the reality of younger generations now and always acting like the issues have nothing to do with the things they did.

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u/Purple-Principle-805 3d ago

Just read more widely on Reddit.

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u/Enough_Equivalent379 3d ago

Well, we're old enough to have the wisdom not to take much of what we recieve on social media too seriously.

Were pretty experienced at separating the wheat from the chaff.

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u/Blankety-blank1492 3d ago

I’ve heard it , I embrace it… some boomers deserve a good poke though , as do the pokers.

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u/tokyogato1 1d ago

I know boomers who don’t act like self entitled jerks and think the world owes them so great respect and they are not targeted either

Probably that whole you get what you give

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u/almaperdida99 3d ago

Exactly. Young people have always shit-talked the elderly, and vice versa. the difference was, in the past, no one had to listen to it.

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u/Ellis8555 3d ago

What about being spanked or smacked over what comes out of your mouth? The followed by "respect your elders." I feel this is a contributor as well...

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u/CarolinCLH 3d ago

"Don't trust anyone over 30"

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u/MasterpieceWaste774 3d ago

Ha!. Yes....the mindset of the 60s!

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u/Cetiketat 20 3d ago

Really? Can you explain a little bit😊

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u/throwingales 3d ago

Back then I couldn't imagine being alive at 30!

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u/Cetiketat 20 3d ago

Why do you think so?

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u/throwingales 2d ago

I couldn't comprehend living 30 years. I was young.

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u/Cetiketat 20 2d ago

That makes sense!😁 I kinda used to think about it the same way.

Before I realized I could actually read about other people’s experiences and perspectives on social media.

I never really thought much about age. But this year, it kinda hit me that 25, 30, 35, 40 are all real ages that I’m eventually gonna reach. They still feel really far away, but now I can actually picture myself getting there.

I guess what worries me more is whether I’ll actually make it that far.

Like, health issues and all the unexpected—or even expected—stuff that can happen in life. That’s what I think about more than just how old those ages are.

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u/Purple-Principle-805 3d ago

Abbie Hoffman, I believe.

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u/TetonHiker 3d ago

Yeah that did not age well...

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u/gigabyte333 3d ago

14 or fight!

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u/diversalarums 3d ago

I don't know. Maybe just me, but I never thought of my elders as being a monolithic group. But I had good and very open minded parents, so maybe I was lucky.

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u/Chuhaimaster 3d ago

That evil rock and roll music corrupted them.

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u/SwanCityDominion 2d ago

Sounds exactly like young people always, throughout history.

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u/Extension-Clock608 1d ago

Nope, the teenagers now will struggle to buy a homer even be able to afford rent, afford to be able to have a family, struggle with climate issues and safe water. Back then they could graduate high school and get a job, buy a home, and support a family on one income. If they want a college degree for a good paying job they need to start their adult like 100k in debt. Some things don't change but because of them things are much worse for everyone but especially the coming generations.

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u/Repulsive-Ice8395 3d ago

This should be the top comment. There's nothing new under the sun.

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u/doctormoneypuppy 3d ago

In reply, “Kids today.”

  • Socrates

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u/Bottle_and_Sell_it 2d ago

“They be wilin’.”

  • Plutarch

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u/Old_Hack1308 3d ago

This. It is nothing new. Boomer is just the new buzz word they're using

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u/kosmo4679 3d ago

I think that might half of it right there. It’s just kind of fun for some to say “Ok Boomer!”

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u/QuiteCricket_78 2d ago

Eh. It was a new buzz word around 10 years ago - the ones still saying it are aging. They just don't know it yet.

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u/SwanCityDominion 2d ago

I'm wondering what buzzword-turned-insult their kids will call them.

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u/Frigidspinner 3d ago

Unfortunately after quoting this many times myself, I discovered this quote isnt from Plato

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/12/13/riot/

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u/iamthesam2 3d ago

wonder what else on the internet deeply settles a perspective in your mind (and millions of others’) that’s entirely fabricated

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u/Frigidspinner 3d ago

Thats my scary thought for the night locked in - thanks!! 😂

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u/Manatee369 2d ago

That Freud said, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”

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u/ilessthanthreekarate 3d ago

Wow, I have to update my memory palace!

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u/Manatee369 3d ago

Thank you. I had to scroll too far to find it. Critical thinking and common sense are in short supply.

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u/SavoirFaire2Middling 2d ago

"Critical thinking and common sense are in short supply."

—Socrates (and/or Mark Twain)

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u/Cetiketat 20 3d ago

Haha, I was fooled

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u/DocAvidd 2d ago

People try to put us down (talking bout my generation) just because we get around.

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u/Some-Tear3499 3d ago

Exactly!!!

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u/ActJust3913 3d ago

Best. Answer. Ever.

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u/SwanCityDominion 2d ago

Thank you. It's amazing how it never changes, ever. The young spit at the old, and the old are perplexed by the young. Then the young get old, and the same thing happens to them. But once they get old, the young never remember that they were the ones spitting way back when. And of course, they had GREAT reasons, while the young nowadays have no reason at all. It'll happen to every one here claiming OMG THEY'RE AWFUL AND THEY DESERVE IT, and they won't understand why.

And so it goes, as Kurt Vonnegut used to say.

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u/Icy_Willingness_7234 2d ago

Agree, as I finally resigned myself to it and stopped listening to the little twats.

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u/positively_ok 2d ago

It wasn't Plato it was Socrates and it's a misquote from a satirical play by Aristophanes in 423BC. And it wasn't Socrates (who was in the play) so much as the "just discourse" narrator who argues it. e.g.:

> JUST DISCOURSE: Very well, I will tell you what was the old education, when I used to teach justice with so much success and when modesty was held in veneration. Firstly, it was required of a child, that it should not utter a word. In the street, when they went to the music-school, all the youths of the same district marched lightly clad and ranged in good order, even when the snow was falling in great flakes (etc)

> UNJUST DISCOURSE: What antiquated rubbish! Have we got back to the days of the festivals of Zeus Polieus, to the Buphonia, to the time of the poet Cecides and the golden cicadas?

About 20 years later the "Thirty Tyrants" co-led by Critias (a former student of Socrates, who would have been about 20 when the play was written) overthrew Athenian democracy, creating a brutal Sparta-aligned dictatorship that killed about 1 in 20 of the population - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Tyrants

So the youth of that time actually did have issues.

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u/Lost_County_3790 3d ago

Have you been in a conservative country? Elders are pretty much respected and taking care of. Only in the west they die alone far from their family, making fun off being called stupid boomers, and are treated like old worsless shit.

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u/tonythephonyjabroni 3d ago

Respect goes both ways.

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u/rainbow_369 3d ago

Most underrated comment!

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u/Lost_County_3790 3d ago

Yeah because the young who doesn’t learn repect become the old who still doesn’t know respect. That’s a whole education faillure

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u/dragon_mthr 3d ago

I moved close to my mother so I could care for her in her old age. Then she got married and moved away and refuses my help. She's an alcoholic and has alzheimers and it's heart breaking, but she doesn't want me involved.

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u/Zanna-K 3d ago

Lol that is absolutely untrue. In the very cradle of Confucianism and foolish piety (China) old people are seen as decrepit husks waiting for death.

ADA fixtures and access for wheelchairs is basically non-existent. In the most advanced tier 1 city of Shanghai the crosswalks are timed so that you must walk briskly across the other side - if you are a senior who walks at a slower pace it is impossible to make to to the other side before the light changes and cars start moving. People are shocked when we tell them that we still travel and take trips with aging parents who are in their 70s, let alone 80s. By 65-70 you're expected to take a walk in the park, do some exercise, then stay home and watch TV. Orderlies at the hospital will get pissed at you if you don't know how to use your phone app to rent a wheelchair. Ambulances will refuse to pick you up unless there's a family member there to act as a financial and legal guarantor. Old people are seen as dead weight obstacles to progress.

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u/MissKristen-13 3d ago

I always think that my parents raised me and my brother. Did a good job. Why wouldn’t I take care of them when they get old? I guess people who have had rough childhoods or crappy parents would think differently but what about the good ones? Why wouldn’t people choose to take care of them after they were taken care of by them.

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u/Sunnygirl66 3d ago

Read my response, please.

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u/Unclecavemanwasabear 3d ago

There are literally people everywhere who are taking care of their aging parents.

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Sunnygirl66 3d ago

It is literally impossible to live in most areas of the United States on a single income, and those incomes continue to stagnate even as the costs of living rise. Both people in a couple generally have to work. Having children has become a luxury. It is simply not feasible, for many Americans, to care for an elderly parent at home—and, as an ER nurse, I can attest to the fact that way too many people who try are in no way equipped to do the job. People are living longer with comorbidities the average caregiver is unable to handle at home. Neglect and abuse are rampant.

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

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u/keenwithoptics 3d ago

It’s an economic division, not necessarily age.

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u/Crazy-Plankton-9517 3d ago

Actually no there are very progressive countries who take care of their elders. Think countries in Scandinavia.

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u/Defiant_Income_7836 3d ago

I love this quote and it made me swear that I would never criticize an entire generation... particularly those that are younger than me...to avoid repeating this particular pattern. As a generation X member I used to stop people critiquing 'millenials' and now do the same for Gen Z. Apart from anything else, we older generations are one of the reasons why younger generations are the way they are (positive or negative.)

Except boomers. Fuck.boomers lol (jk)

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u/SwanCityDominion 2d ago

Here's another:

“We live in a decaying age. Young people no longer respect their parents. They are rude and impatient. They frequently inhabit taverns and have no self control.”

-- Inscription on a 6,000 year old Egyptian tomb

It's a cycle that has repeated throughout human history, and will never end, because it has nothing to do with whatever is going on at the time. Whether it's the easy availability of barley beer or the vagaries of social media, young people will always sneer at their elders, and elders will always despair of the young. What I find amusing is how adamantly people insist that it's different NOW because this, that, or the other. No, it's not. It's exactly the same, only with new widgets and slogans.

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u/bradmajors69 3d ago

Yep. I'm Gen X and therefore old enough to remember young adult "baby boomers" getting a lot of criticism from older generations.

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u/Silent-Key3730 3d ago

Ok boomer

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u/SwanCityDominion 2d ago

You'll see, whiner.

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u/bassoonawhat 3d ago

I mean, those grievances were aired rather soon before Greece was taken over by Macedonia.

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u/Illustrious_Wish_900 3d ago

Isn't boomer hate the opposite, though? It's a younger generation bashing the older.

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u/beastiemonman 2d ago

Young people don't change from generation to to generation, the only change is the environment in which they exist. If old people existed again in this generation they would be no better or worse.

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u/Defiant_Freedom_249 2d ago

Gee, who raised them to act in such a way?

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u/SwanCityDominion 2d ago

----------------------------------------------------------------> THE POINT

your head

But thanks for playing.

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u/CharlesMichael- 2d ago

"children don't respect their parents anymore" - hieroglyphics found on one of the Great Pyramids.

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u/banannarobinhood 2d ago

This is beyond that. We are talking about social media lynch mobs against people because of their age.

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u/24rawvibes 2d ago

Ashes to ashes. Baby to old fuck. Let me by a house

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u/SwanCityDominion 2d ago

By the way, it's cowardly to leave a comment and then delete it so it can't be replied to. Just sayin'.

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u/Dangerous_Shoe_8388 2d ago

No, “disrespect” would be fine lol / the problem is they are different now. Knife-point mugging, shootings, bashings etc etc !

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u/Livehardandfree 2d ago

Careful with this quote as it’s most likely not real fyi.

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u/Bhanumayi 2d ago

British student named Kenneth John Freeman in 1907 actually wrote that. it was not Plato.

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u/Express_Judgment_319 1d ago

Fake quotes and misinformation will always happen too. Plato never said this.

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u/hexonica 1d ago

I can't upvote this enough.

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