Image by Sky Thompson
by Ben Kritikos
“The world is what you make it,” they’re constantly telling us. At what point did I make a world where people listen to Michael Bolton?
Baby boomers seem to have a sense of entitlement to personal freedom. They’re like that kid standing next to his Dad who gestures the horizon with a swooping arm, saying, “One day, this will all be yours”.
In theory, there’s nothing wrong with this mentality of entitlement; but in combination with unparalleled wealth and freedom, it has produced a generation of spoiled brats.
My grandparents’ generation endured some of the most horrific events in human history, including the second World War, the Holocaust, the Great Depression, and the crushing of the American labour movement. I’d wager that millions of WWII veterans vowed to protect their kids from these kinds of horrors.
The generation known as the Baby Boom were the largest generation in the history of humankind. This massive blob of ego-positive kiddies grew up shielded from reality, being spoon-fed a narrative about reality that placed them squarely in the driver’s seat. The hitherto unknown postwar health and prosperity instilled the boomers a heightened sense of self-importance.
Just look at the 60s and the way people still talk about it as though it were the apex of human history. When did being young and self-indulgent — only to disavow principle in favour of a high income — count as a cultural achievement?
Now that the baby boomers are approaching pensionable age it is time we, so-called Generation Y, have to live in the aftermath of their unmitigated personal freedom. And they’ve left us with a disaster. World War III isn’t imminent, but ecological disaster could be. Housing and third-level education are all but unaffordable. It’s almost impossible to find a job, and when you do it will almost certainly be mind-numbing. Then, to add insult to injury, there’s Kenny G.
But apparently all of us are spoiled because we had Nintendo and iPhones. Yipee. Continue reading
