bullet-farmer:

hazel2468:

swan2swan:

socialistexan:

Yes, yes, I get it. Generational discourse and “ok boomer” are reductive and everything. There are marginalized and poor Baby Boomers, and rich and powerful Millennials. I don’t need it explained to me a thousand different times. Generally “ok Boomer” is addressed at the middle-to-upper-middle class white suberbanites that similar memes like “Karen” and “Can I Speak To The Manager Hair” also are.

We get it. Really, we do.

But have y'all considered why this struck a chord, especially as quickly as it did? Because this is one of the fastest inception-to-mainstream velocities I’ve ever seen from a meme.

Think for even a second about the literal decade of the older generation blaming Millennials for literally every single problem. We couldn’t go a week with us being accused of killing an industry or being whiny snowflakes. Of being told we can’t afford healthcare because we’re too lazy to earn it and houses because we eat too much avocado toast. That we’re entitled because we want try to prevent the world from metaphorically catching on fire. That we’re too sensitive and can’t take a joke because we don’t like when comedians shout racial slurs.

It got so bad websites were making listicles of all the industries and societal norms we supposedly killed. From Applebee’s to diamonds, dinner dates to marriage. They would’ve blamed us for tornadoes if they could.

Do you think boomers were having these long discussions and Twitter threads about “well the entitled millennials are just the rich, spoiled ones and most of them aren’t in that group something something class warfare”? I’m sure a few did, but very, very few.

We’ve withstood this shit for years, YEARS, and the one time we punch back in a large scale way, we get this? Like, let people even the slightest amount of cathartic fun.

We’ve been the go to punching bag since I wasn’t even out of highschool, and I’m in my late 20’s.

Yes, it’s reductive. Yes, it’s not a replacement for class analysis. Yes, ageism is a real thing and a large number of 55+ year olds (typically poc and/or working class) are treated poorly and are subject to the same shitty class system we are, too.

But also, yes, sometimes it’s nice to it’s have a fun joke that finally turns the tables and see how terribly they react to the ridicule we’ve put up with since we were preteens.

So maybe just save the thinkpieces for just a little bit. Or, in summary:

Like the fact that I am seeing people actually try to argue that “okay Boomer” is ageist or evil or makes us “just as bad” like…

I started getting shit for being entitled when I was in MIDDLE SCHOOL. The Millennial bit came along in high school, but as early as 7th grade I remember hearing people complain about my generation for things like phones and games and computers, how we were ruined and spoiled by the participation trophies that we got for sports. I remember my uncle ranting about how “all those kids think that they’re so special” when I mentioned that a teacher had gotten in trouble for using a slur and had been fired. 

I have been told that I am the bane of society for as long as I can remember- being that I am one of the youngest possible Millennials (the generation ended with those of us born in 1995, if the internet is to be believed, although I have heard 1996 as a cutoff as well), I have been hearing this shit basically all my life. I was ALSO promised all kinds of things when I was a kid. And then everything went to shit, the planet is LITERALLY on fire because of things that began before I was born and got worse when I was a child…

And somehow it is MY fault? The world is shit because I, personally, killed Applebees and marriage and diamonds… But not because the economy, social systems, and fucking environment were trashed by the generations before us? The reason why Millennials suck is because we have “no sense of humor”, because we think racism, sexism, and homophobia aren’t fucking funny and never were? We’re entitled because we demand basic fucking respect and want to not be treated like shit at our jobs and by our families? 

Everything sucks and it is the fault of my generation, who are somehow both lazy adults and entitled children all in one, who are still patronized to, talked down to, treated like spoiled brats despite the fact that the youngest Millennials right now are like, 23? Most of us are working and we’ve worked MORE than the previous generation? Literally all of the serious issues we bring up because they impact us get ignored and we get treated like screaming babies… But no, it’s our fault that everything sucks now…

Okay, Boomer. 

The oldest millennials are almost forty now (37-39ish) and are still being treated like we’re whiny teenagers. And have been treated that way ever since we became adults in the late 90s.

It’s by design.

So yeah. Okay, Boomer, indeed.