Why exactly are we still living in a Baby Boomer world?

Their days are numbered.

They can't die off soon enough OP. Look at all the damage they are inflicting on our planet, politics, society and future.

And basically they don't care. We've all seen the posts from them here. They'd proud of themselves. They've got theirs and fuck all the rest of us cause they won't be around.

We should turf them out of positions of power so we can try to save something.

Thankfully, they'll all be gone soon.

R2 and fuck those Gen Xers who followed along with them. Once the Baby Boomers are gone, they are going to get theirs.

Likely the first generation who wanted their descendants to be worse off and have a worse life than they did

^ Yep, we'll all be gone soon and then you can be the generation that all the younger people blame for everything wrong with the world from nukes to that pimple on your ass

Oh, and we're taking all the money with us... Ha, ha! 😏

R5 Have fun wiping your own ass in hell

R5 We'll make sure that your golden years are really really golden

Because famously you *can* take it with you 🙄

They were locusts.

You're living in a baby boomer world because not enough of you will get off your lazy asses and vote. It's just that simple.

[quote]Why do we cater to them?

Because you still expect to inherit from us.

Their children, the millennials, are going to be the ones who supplant them, and isn't that some poetic justice?

@r10, Shhh! Don't tell them, they would rather whine about everything instead of doing anything

R3, older Gen Xer here. Please know that many of us despise Boomer culture as much as you do. I'm happily childless but worry a lot about young people's future. I admire the way under-40s have embraced environmentalism, plant-based eating, and not slaving for the corporate master. I watch from the sidelines as you try to make a better world.

🙏

Baby Boomers and Gen X bullied themselves into a majority for a few comfortable decades.

And now neither of them are in the majority. And now they are in an uncomfortable position.

How do generations bully themselves into a majority.? Not having children? And what uncomfortable position are older people in? Are younger people going to evict Boomers from their homes?

As a boomer I’m with R10. (But essentially the OP is a troll).

I don't know, R16? Maybe Google all of the smug DL threads where boomers AND gen x trash Millennials and younger?

It's really not that hard to find because there are so many of them.

R17 As a Boomer you should feel free to go and fuck yourself. Or a Gen X can lick your asshole. They're used to it.

OP has authority to talk because he's living in her baby-boomer grandmother's basement while she cooks his meals and does his laundry.

OP exactly what wars have you fought for them? Them or anyone else. Piffy comments on DL do not count.

Weak ass pussy crap , the younger loons are too busy being drama queens and calling each other queers or hating each other for calling each other queers , and not voting , not serving, then complaining because someone else is in charge.

They are such a disappointment,

These weak children need to grow up fast

R21 you mean like you weak-ass pussy Boomers who had to have the draft deferred for your generation in '73?

You're no Greatest Generation. No Korean War Generation. But keep talking yourselves up. It's amusing.

The worst part is mentally they are still in the 1980s so they think $19.00/hr. is a staggering amount of money for a cashier or dishwasher. It's not. It's not even enough money to rent an apartment.

It's no one's fault that you never developed interests or hobbies to spend your golden retirement years doing. But working til you're 85 is not the answer.

Choosing to make enemies out of Millennials is going to be the worst decision they've ever made.

Do other countries divide their populations into teams based on age? Or is that just something retarded Americans do?

It seems to be something retarded Americans do.

American Millennials are tired of this shit. This current drama is all Baby Boomer bullshit.

All of this Palestine and Israel crap is based off what the precious boomers want.

This is a new form of irrational hatred to brighten my day.

r29. No. This is our world now.

You Baby Boomers have had your turn. You've had your world.

Get the fuck out of the way. NOW.

No.

People are living longer. I’m no sure what you expect Baby Boomers to do, die? Why should they just go away? You’ll be their age before you know it. People have a right to live their lives how they see fit. No one, not even Millennials, want Gen Z in any type of power. They can’t even wipe their own asses. I’ll take Boomers over Gen Z any day.

It’s all just troll garbage

OP, man up. Life owes you nothing. If we had it good, it was luck. Man up, quit whining, get on with making the best life you can with what you've got. You'll be a lot less stressed, you whiny little cuck.

Also, R10.

American Millennials need to run for congress, the senate and president. By the time they were their age the boomers were well on their way to being in charge. Maybe our over coddling of them has given them a late start.

Was it over coddling or did we just see their limitations early on?

Because we're the ones with most of the wealth. You young'uns would be in deep trouble if we didn't spend our money.

And don't think that's going to change once we're all dead. By then many of you will be our age and if you're lucky you'll have the kind of money we have and you'll be funding all the programs for the unappreciative kids who will be knocking you for being old.

Two of the greatest Millennials are Mayor Pete and AOC. Maybe once the boomers are all dead they can go further in politics since boomers hate gays and loudmouth women.

Why r39 there is one thing we boomers love about AOC.

Thanks, R39. You're my kind of person.

Keep working on that lack of humanity and distortion of facts and you'll get there!

Boomer here. We deserve your hate. We were cool liberals until we got our 1st decent paychecks and then we all voted for Regan. We were against the Vietnam war but were all for Iraq etc. when we were too old to serve. We overwhelmingly voted for Trump. Not all of us were like this but enough to make a difference.

R22

You must have me confused with a remf or draft dodger.

[quote] then we all voted for Regan

The hell we did.

r42 We Boomers voted for Regan because if she could defeat Satan she would make a great President.

r44 Not all of us were like this but enough to make a difference.

"we all voted for Regan."

No we didn't, but most of us, R41, know how to spell his name.

Sorry r45. I hate him so much I always confuse the two of them.

Rather, R42

In years to come heterosexuals who will be the age of today's boomers will not be any different. A high percentage of them will still vote for right wing politicians, so don't lump that lot in with us gay boomers. And frankly, any gay (young, middle aged, or elderly) who would vote for a right wing politician should be drawn and quartered).

R38

The generations coming behind us are truly fucked. The worsening climate, the worsening economy, the dysfunctional and unstable political circus that they will live with for the rest of their lives. And when it comes time for retirement many will realize just how sorry their situation is. It’s going to be desperation for so any.

And once the wheels start to come off , and they will, the youngsters will be powerless to fix it. Being bitter and snippy is not the way they are going to fix anything, They are going to learn how to suffer and do without..

R51, you were raised right.

Generation Z will help fix this r50.

I have to say as a Gen-Xer we have been waiting for those Boomers our whole lives. First they sucked up all the free college and made it cost a lot more when we came along, then they sucked up all the great jobs, and now they wont fucking retire already. They are not letting go until it's taken from their cold dead hands. All of them are basically little Rupert Murdocks going to hang on until their 80's and 90's.

The inability to distinguish between the actions of groups vs those of individuals seems to be sadly lacking here.

R54 We Boomers have been waiting for Gen-Xers for years.

To learn how to spell.

I don't necessarily believe that things are going to continue to get worse and worse for generations to come. I see signs of hope. Many former right leaning people (straight and gay) are beginning to wise up to the decades long fraud that has been perpetuated upon them by the republican party. If future generations are lucky, and democrats don't fuck it up, that number will grow exponentially.

The key to success for the future IMO is for democrats in Washington to tone down their actions. We've seen it time and time again. When the democrats get into majority in Washington they go hog wild with their changes and piss off so many who voted for them that the next time an election happens too many people go back to voting republican. These people need to learn moderation. Democrats need to learn not to bite the hands that feed them. And the republican party needs to be destroyed and started over from scratch, or a new, more intelligent right wing party started.

[quote] All of them are basically little Rupert Murdocks going to hang on until their 80's and 90's.

What utter balderdash. No company is going to keep people employed who are in their 80s and 90s. You might find a tiny percentage who are still working but that number would be microscopic. Trust me, no 80 or 90 year old is keeping you or anyone else from gaining good employment.

"Democrats need to learn not to bite the hands that feed them" Wrong, R57.

People need to learn not to bite the Democratic hand that feeds them. The Republicans want them to starve.

Girls! Girls! Can’t we all just agree that kids these days are morons??

R58 Do any 20-somethings think they're going to replace 70-year-olds?

There's a reason they call them entry-level jobs. If you can't get hired as a bag boy at the supermarket because retirees have all the jobs, that's one thing.

If you can't get hired as a Senior VP at 23, there's a reason and it's you, not them.

R57

It’s going to end up being 1932 bad for you.

Things get better things get worse then things get better it’s a constant change. And it’s about to change. If you are young enough and live long enough you may live to see it get better again.

But putting your hopes totally on the right wing turning around and becoming another branch of the left wing is the kind of level headed plan that us old folks would not have thought of.

Seriously you are going to be fucked. This right now are the good old days. Enjoy them while you can.

R62, I am a 70 year old man, retired for 17 years, with a high net worth, and a far better understanding of the value of a dollar than most. Trust me, if I ever eat cabbage soup during whatever time I have left on this earth it will be because I have a yen for it, not because it's all I can afford.

The youngsters of today simply aren't willing to do what we boomers did. They don't want to do the work. In 33 years of working I don't remember many days I did not put in at least 10 hours minimum and most days it was more like 12 hours. And I loved every minute of it. The kids today want everything handed to them, for minimal effort on their parts. I have an old friend who is an HR VP. She has told me horror stories of how unprepared the kids just out of college today are for the workplace and how outlandish their expectations are for a job. They start off job interviews with "first of all, how many vacation days will I receive in this position", and then they're shocked when the interview ends rather quickly and they never hear back from the company.

R63

At your age you will be dead before cabbage soup is a common dinner entree.

But how many of these complaining youngsters will have been able to fully retire at 55 or 56 with full medical like many in our generation did. Those were truly the good old days.

The 30 year olds of today will still be working at 75 because they will have no other choice.

R65 you were raised right also.

This is for you, bitches!

It goes over their heads, R67. They hate black sable (any fur, in fact) and have no idea who Beebe - let alone his bathysphere - were, which Hoover did what or what "danced in my scanties" even means.

R57

And don’t be shocked if the world you end up living in within a few years is a very right wing much more conservative world. And don’t be surprised if this is not a much more right wing country.

When the economy and the political situation goes south , and they will, people turn to the right.

Biden may be the last traditional normal potus you will live to see.

I weep for you poor unfortunates. You have it so hard.

I have a hypothesis which I may have posted here before: I call it "The Post Birth Control Generations."

Once upon a time, if a woman had penetrative sex with a man, there was a 5% chance she would get pregnant (I just looked it up). Multiply that by however many times the (married) couple had sex (notwithstanding the "rhythm method"), and you get a helluva lot of (generally unwanted) kids. But after "the Pill" was invented, and it became readily available, that didn't happen as often (also opening the door for the so-called "Sexual Revolution").

The birth control pill tricks the woman's body into thinking it's pregnant already. So after being on the pill for 10-20 years, it's difficult for many women to conceive. Thus women (and men, too) who've been praying for progeny think their one or two children are the center of the known universe. And those children are reared very differently than the pre-effective-birth-control families with 10 children (and some died!) raised theirs. And I don't have to tell you how that's turning out.

I taught as an adjunct/instructor (always hoping for a tenure-track job!) from 2004-2012; one small, expensive, private college, a couple of large public 4-year universities, and three rather large community colleges. And I have watched the quality of the incoming students' educations plummet. In addition, I had a number of side gigs over those years (this is how you end up being a well-educated but poor senior citizen) scoring essays for standardized exams, including the GRE, SAT, and "No Child Left Behind." And it was appalling to see the quality of the students' writing drop from simply bad to terrible.

Additionally, when I was teaching, I was not allowed to fail [bold]anyone[/bold]. I was told that students today think that because they pay to take a class, they should get the three credits that they paid for no matter how little they learned. I was forced to change the grades of students who never came to class, never showed up for the final exam despite given repeated chances to take it, etc. They expected "study guides" with the answers to the exam questions listed so they could learn only those things. I told them, "You are supposed to learn everything, and then I take a random sample of that information and test you on that to make sure you learned it all." What a radical concept, I guess.

And damn! Some of the bullshit I heard from these idiots as to why they couldn't come to class, do the work, or take the final! I guess they thought I was born yesterday. That carries over to the workplace, I'm sure. I read about it here on DL all the time. And the arrogance! I suppose they get away with their pompous attitudes at home, but I know how little they really know about anything at all no matter how many sheepskins they've "earned."

I bet this is ringing a bell for some of you folks. And yes, I know I've gone on for too long (TL;DR!). But I've said here before that it's the Boomers and the Xers who are still working that are holding this country together (and that just by a hair). MGT is 49; Matt Gaetz is 41. George Santos is 35, and Lauren Boebert is 36. They aren't Boomers, and they clearly demonstrate the arrogance and ignorance of which I speak.

So fasten your seatbelts, kids -- it's going to be a bumpy night.

People forget that Boomers (1946-1964) were the Zoomers of their day and were looked down by the Greatest (1901-1927) and Silent Generations (1928-1945) because Boomers were non-traditional and were all about making radical changes in the '60s and '70s.

But then they grew up. Many young liberals become conservative as they age. Y'all living in a fantasy world if you think that once the last Boomer or Gen Xer dies that there will no more conservatives.

They think centrists are conservatives. Get a mortgage, your politics change.

OP, or any of les miserables, specifically how do you think the boomers are catered to? Examples?

Office work "back in the day" was slow. Once you left the office, there was no way for anyone to reach you, save for harassing you at home on your landline. You had no work email on your phone, you weren't "always on". I think that was a good thing, don't get me wrong, but you can't compare today's insane pressure with your old office job.

My boss is a boomer. I can’t wait til he fucking retires in June.

Neither can he.

R76, other than breathing and having more than you, what's wrong with your boss?

[quote]Why exactly are we still living in a Baby Boomer world?

Because we are still here and are powerful. Live with it. Learn something.

They that have the money, make the rules. Now sit down, Sonny.

This is what happens when you let people have the illusion they should be heard.

R75

You can certainly speak for yourself and whatever non pressure non difficult office job you had. You certainly can’t speak for me or my co workers. The hours I put in were at times staggering.

You must have had a pretty easy gig or you are just making up a story you think to be true.

I was talking about boomer work-lives, R82, certainly not my own! (I wish!)

The biggest difference is the fact that the workplace was a physical space with a door in it, and once it shut behind you, you were done. No texts, no emails, no Slack, no Teams, no Skype, no Zoom.

[quote]Their children, the millennials, are going to be the ones who supplant them, and isn't that some poetic justice?

Their children, the millennials, are going to become them, and isn't that some poetic justice?

Not to give much weight to your theory, but younger generations refuse to vote in meaningful numbers and are fine just bitching and remaining ignorant about how things change via lawmaking, for starters.

R83

So no real first hand experience you were posting what you assumed to be true about a generation you were not a part of ?

On DL that qualifies as an expert I guess

If I had had your modern work tools I would not have had to work the 50 and 60 hour weeks I often worked. Technology has made your work week so much easier than ours not nearly as hard.

Skype, Zoom, work from home, cell phones, JHC this is the sign of a softer easier life not a harder one.

Are you working today? Many here commenting are. Instead of working they hang out on Internet forums.

Then complain about how hard they work

R86 if you had today's technology, you'd be making 80-hour weeks, if your appetite for work is to be believed.

R22 has never fought for anything except the last pork chop on the steamer table.

She's just a pork turd manufacturing system.

It's amusing. Unless you're near it.

Poor OP...so triggered.

You ungrateful little shits. It’s because of us boomers owning properties that you are able to rent a room in a nice area instead of living in Hicksville.

Stop moaning and start grafting is my advice. Aim to retire no later than 55 and make sure that you have a summer beach house as well as a good apartment in a nice neighbourhood of a city. That way you can have the best of both worlds and have a dual social life. I retired at 51 and have never regretted it for a minute. Those of you who are bitter and angry, try to work on that or it will see you to an early grave. Also buy good food and eat in nice restaurants, that will add a few years to your life. Same with wines, get into the habit of buying the top shelf selections.

You are the next generation in power, don’t let us down. Oh yes and one more thing, don’t forget to moisturise and floss. I’ve just had to have two dental implants, my first, and that alone will cost you thousands.

Who shit in OP’s Trick-or-Treat bag?

[quote] have a summer beach house as well as a good apartment in a nice neighbourhood of a city.

[quote] buy good food and eat in nice restaurants

[quote] get into the habit of buying the top shelf selections

Bitch, with WHAT MONEY?

Millennials are the LARGEST generation by a VERY VERY large yard. why they complain like this when the world revolves around them is beyond me

Just you wait, R79.

Just you wait.

You have to love the Baby Boomers who act like they lived through the Depression and World War II. They're fooling some people certainly. But mostly deluding themselves.

Love being a Boomer. And love all of you. How anyone could not feel blessed when you look at what is going on in the Middle East is beyond me.

Own your strength, organize and use it.

^ We lived through draft being forced to die in a pointless, endless war. Then we ended the draft so you could whine and moan about us... Jerk 😠

Because Zillenials don’t want to work and they’re living off their Boomer parents. They’re all acting like they’re famous trustfund babies.

I think it was John Waters who said something like, "Every generation tries to piss off their parents. It's just that this one succeeded."

R92 get off the internet and get a better paid job, or even a second job, and stop waiting for your parents to die before coming into money.

R10 - the younger generations would be more inclined to get off their asses to vote if the Democratic Party didn't keep putting up ancient almost-corpses as candidates who hold onto atrophied ideas while spouting weak platitudes. Also, the ancient, almost corpse candidates make all sorts of promises to get the young votes, and then back-peddle or serve up tepid compromises that only continue to benefit their wealthy overlords.

So you can fuck off with the "vote or else" bullshit. The younger generations are not falling for it in large numbers any longer.

Ageism is as bad as any other ism, r101.

Non-voters always have an unending array of reasons to be unreliable voters, don't kid yourself.

Zillenials are lazy whining entitled cunts, and more people should call them out for it. They need to wake up and understand that not everyone can get rich by being an influencer on Tiktok or whatever the fuck it is they spend all day watching.

R101

Great. Let these young morons stay home and not vote. It won’t be a Biden they see as far to old and boring and it won’t be a trump that will became their living nightmares. It will be the Mike Johnson’s and those who will make Johnson look moderate. It’s just a matter of time.

Morons like these stay at home and proudly don’t vote are the reason trump was elected in the first place. Fuck them they will in time pay the price.

It can and in time will get a lot worse. And you will have the govt you deserve, I hope you enjoy it.

The great part, R104, is that we'll be dead and they'll have to live with the idiocy of their actions as well as ours. The perfect is the enemy of the good.

When presented with two bad choices, you pick the less objectionable one. This happens all the time in life: why would anyone think it's not the case when voting?

"Compromises" are at the heart of democracy. The lack of them is why ours is failing.

OMG!!! You expect me to work a 9-5 job AND vote?

R101... always somebody else's fault. What's easier to win than a primary? But always poor me, not my fault, I can't... I pity the world the day you do get any influence. Useless, petulant, soft.

They're the generation that got things done. The generations that followed are lackluster, lazy, entitled, and not as open minded and kind as they think they are. Truly the boomers will be known as the greatest generation.

You do realize, OP, that this is the same question the boomers asked their elders during the Vietnam War? And that it was those same crazy kids who secured the right to vote for 18-21 year-olds in 1971.

No she does not realize that. Her mom said she is special and smarter than all the other boys and girls and always would be.

R111 is right.

OP, tell us where we need to send your participation medal for starting this thread.

Basically IF a generation has to ask a question like OP did then your generation is already fucked. You shouldn't need to ask why, you should just be doing it. If it's not apparent to you, it's not happening for you.

Pretty much like everything else in life, Millennials and younger believe that if they complain enough, things will just be handed to them.

Hey Millennials, you only have to be 35 years old to President of the United States and some of you are turned 42 this year. Get to it!

Mom, can I be president?

And this is why we are still living in a Baby Boomer world, OP.

BECAUSE WE HAND YOU YOUR LAZY ASS!

[quote] Why exactly are we still living in a Baby Boomer world?

Because it's the last one that will sustain human life.

The generations before it ruined the earth and Boomers were the last chance to turn it around. They didn't.

A baby born today probably won't make it past 40 or 50.

^^^In the 1950’s Americans lived in terror that the Russians would kill us all.

Didn’t happen.

And do you really think that if every boomer in the US - or for that matter everyone in the US - lived a carbon free life the Chinese, Indians, Indonesians and Africans would do the same, continuing to willingly live in relative to absolute poverty?

There are 7.8 billion people on earth. There are 76 million boomers in the US. Do the math or better yet, do something about it instead of doom-bitching on DL.

[quote] the younger generations would be more inclined to get off their asses to vote if the Democratic Party didn't keep putting up ancient almost-corpses as candidates who hold onto atrophied ideas while spouting weak platitudes.

Actually it's the old timers who know the ins and outs of dealing with crooked Republicans. Replace them with a bunch of young democrats who have little experience in national politics and they'd be eaten alive.

There are too many people on earth. That’s the unfortunate truth. People are losing direction and resources are running out. We’re living in a time after the golden age. The 90s in the US were peak civilization, mostly peaceful, prosperous, full of convenience but people still had purpose. We can’t put the genie back in the bottle.

Life is going to be much more challenging for OP than it has been for Boomers. I wish him luck.

OP, we know we're going to die. Everyone will. You do go through Kubler-Ross's five stages but once you accept it, it's a fascinating journey. You realize what a gift your life has been, regardless of whatever pain or misfortune you've had to endure. It's a heightened state of awareness on the good days.

That's why anything you say has no capacity to hurt us and why we wish you well. Because at this point of your life, there's no room for regrets or hate.

I can't wait for you arrogant motherfucker boomers to start filling nursing homes.

You're not there yet. But you will be soon. You better prepare yourselves.

“Just get a second job, stop eating avocado toast and buy that beach property, you slacker!!”

- Boomer, 1951, bought his first home for 30k

R123

$3000 not $30,000 for that first home in 1951

R122

Bitter little boy full of hate. At least we will be able to afford that nursing home, Good luck with that when it’s your turn,

Your days are going to end bleak and sad and desperate. The good old days will not be in your future.

R124 I fear you think your end of days is going to be better than they actually will be. Just wait.

R125

The end is rarely pleasant. But having full health care and SS and support etc helps. The younger generation will be telling stories about usnwho went before——the golden generations. The lucky ones, The blessed.

Yours is going to be more Escape from NY kind of stories. Bleak dark and cold. And full of Mike Johnson’s.

Enjoy

Everybody dies, OP. We get it. There's a spectrum of care spanning retirement communities, assisted living and nursing homes. People in my mother's community talked about wanting a "good death,"--quick, painless, while they were in full possession of their faculties. Not everyone is so lucky. Horrible illnesses happen to young people, too. There are statistical probabilities but no guarantees.

I wish you the very best, OP.

I really don't think people actually know what a Boomer is. I know it's a term used generally now to refer to old people. But if you're gonna use it in this context, to actually define a generation, it seems like you should know what you're talking about.

Boomers were not buying houses in 1951 considering they would have been at the most 5 years old. Reagan and the "Greatest Generation" before the Boomers you can pretty much blame for the state of affairs now in the US. They pretty much changed the course the country. Clinton was the FIRST Boomer President, Bush, Obama, then Trump. Joe Biden wouldn't be considered a Boomer because he was born in 1942. Baby Boomers are 1946 to 1964, referring to the huge Baby Boom after the end of WW2 - and I think the first generation to be given a name - then every generation before and after where defined by that one.

^ "Boomer" is a catch all word for everything we don't like that came before us. I've been blamed for WWII and the atomic bomb. I know our country is in trouble because the ones coming up behind us are a bunch of retarded thumb-sucking dolts

God, I'm glad I'm old

Endless streaming and pizza 🍕 deliveries does not a functioning society make!

[quote]the ones coming up behind us are a bunch of retarded thumb-sucking dolts

My husband is a professor and what he says about his students is shocking. Of corse there are some good ones, but most aren’t. They don’t know how to write or organize their thoughts or know the basics of critical thinking. This is at the university level.

Students even have “accommodations” for things like spelling and extra time to take tests. We are not talking about kids with dyslexia. We are talking about kids showing up with accommodations because they can’t spell, so you can’t grade them on it.

R122 Nursing home? Fuck off you penniless idiot. I am 64, if I do eventually need care I will sell one of my homes or other assets and hire in private care. What will you do if you manage to reach old age? Imagine the shit hole that you will be put in, but then again, that’s all you will probably have been used to.

To be honest, younger people who blame boomers for all of their problems are really no different than black people who blame white people for all of their problems. These are the same kind of people who don’t do a damn thing to help themselves.

My parents are both boomers and they never did anything to hurt anyone in their lives.

^ They're not the same at all. Young people are not subject to systematic racism because they're young. Being young isn't a permanent condition, being black is. Bad take

Not really R134. The “systemic racism” bullshit is getting harder and harder to buy into continuously. Does racism exist? Of course it does, but 99% of the time people cause their own problems. They stay in poverty because they never make any effort to get out of it. A lot of these bad situations with the police start off with them mouthing off. Believe me, I’ve been pulled over for speeding many times in my life, and I’ve at least been smart enough not to mouth off.

^ What a load of crap 🙄

Dear God there are some brainless young people on this thread. We may have been dumb about some things ourselves when we were their age, but Jesus fucking Christ these nitwits today are dumb, clueless, arrogant, & pathetic. Life is going to be such a shock to them.

R135

Did you also grow up in some shit hole drug and crime ridden inner city neighbor hood being raised by an older sibling while you attended some of the worst schools in the nation?

Or is your claim to street cred come down to staying out of trouble by not mouthing off to cops?

R138 In case you don’t know, the victimhood narrative is getting old and people are sick of it. There are tons of people who survive chaotic situations and they don’t whine about their victimhood endlessly. My father grew up in poverty in rural Pennsylvania. Half the time there was no food and his father would come home and beat him and his mother. And he went on to get a PhD. He’s dead now but had a great second half of his life. A true success story. But then again, he wasn’t black so he wouldn’t have had an audience to listen to him bitch and whine endlessly about his victimhood.

^ It's the old right-wing cry of your circumstances are all your fault and has nothing to do with 400 years of oppression, slavery and degradation, but what would a white nepo-baby understand of that? After all didn't they lynch white folks back in the olden days too?

@r139. You are the worst kind of bigot, the kind who thinks he's right

See R140 There you go again with this bullshit. Were YOU ever a slave? I’m guessing the answer to that question is NO!

[quote] Piffy comments on DL do not count.

Pithy?

@r141, There you go again thinking you just made a snappy comeback with the most mundane, low intellect comment that reflects your trailer-trash upbringing

I cannot wait until the day when the United States gets a huge influx of black immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean, to the point that their numbers eclipse that of African Americans. This “victimhood-excuse” culture will disappear quickly.

^ You'd barricade yourself in your trailer with guns a blazin' if that ever happened

R143 Trailer trash upbringing? Please dude. My parents were well educated and I had a good childhood. And I have a masters degree and a six figure salary now. So I need to get back to work because my taxes pay for your welfare check.

R140, I agree with you, but the nepo baby nonsense undercuts your credibility. Just make your case and skip the hysterics.

I believe in systemic racism. I think I understand it just enough to appreciate what it has caused.

So while I don't think the circumstances are anybody's fault I do think you are responsible for the choices you make in making your way in the world. There are lots of examples of people who've transcended their start in life. There are lots of unknowns who started in terrible circumstances but didn't become bad people, they lived and acted in ways that retained their dignity and self-respect and contribution as regular real world people just getting by.

@r146, You're a liar. Your attitude and beliefs say blue collar, barely got through high school, unemployed

The "boomer" in R123 was born in 1951, he wasn't buying property in that year.

Give it a rest R149. I mean, what is the endgame here? What do you think you are going to get from whining about ancestral victimhood? Do you think it’s going to get you something? I’m just trying to understand the goal. Is the end goal reparations? Or is it some kind of special treatment? What is it you want? Hell, you probably don’t even know.

@r150, The last time the average price for a house was $30K was the early 60s, So if our "Boomer" was buying houses at 10 years old he's way ahead of the game

@r151, You are the one trying to promote the racist belief that everyone has the same opportunities. They don't, you're wrong AND you're ignorant

R153 okay. So what is it that you want?

Boomers ushered in in the age of Neo Feudalism that we live in now. They were played like a fiddle. This is hard for them to accept and they won’t take responsibility for it. And why would they.

R154 What they really “want” is to be white, but this of course is a physical impossibility, which is why they play this game of always being the victim but never actually saying what they want that would make them happy. Because they can’t have what they really want.

R139

LOL your father grew up in rural Pa. That is kind of funny street cred via parent.

Not only did my dad but I as well grew up in dirt poor rural pa. Only a complete moron would compare growing up in rural pa with west Baltimore or parts ofDetroit

. Please tell me you are not that moron.

@r154, "okay. So what is it that you want? "

I want you to reflect on what you've said here today and ask yourself why do you have such a narrow view of the world? And then I want you to walk over to your TV and kick Fox News in the nuts

The problem r133 and subsequent posters is when you start speaking about other people that you have no experience with from a place of knowledge. It comes of lazy and disingenuous.

Black guy here. My dad grew up like your dad, poor and beaten by his father. My father went to a gifted school program at a public school (actually where he met my mom in the 7th grade). A school where they had to be ushered in by the national guard every year amidst chants of “ni** er go home” from fellow students AND parents. Both my parents went on to get their law degrees and my dad went on to become the General Counsel of a Fortune 500 company and now sits on various boards, one of which he is the chairman of, in his retirement.

So yes, SOME people can pull themselves up out of any situation, no matter the color. The difference is my dad having achieved success sent his two kids, my brother and I, to private schools where we were called “ni**ers”, not as often, but it happened. Even as a black man from a very privileged background, I too know not to “mouth off” to police. But I do notice I get pulled over, watched, separated out for no good reason more than my white friends.

Being safe as a black person in America is more than being a law abiding citizen. It’s sometimes about giving up your rights as a citizen JUST to be safe. No warrant? No problem - I have nothing to hide. No probable cause? It’s all good. I’ll show you whatever you want to see. Being black is being watched, questioned and very rarely if ever given the benefit of the doubt. Being black means always having proof as to why you are somewhere to make someone else comfortable with you presence.

And like I said, I am very privileged. And if this is happening to me, I can only imagine what’s happening to black people many rungs lower than me on the socio-economic ladder. So no, it’s not the same.

I’m not complaining. I never bring it up except when faced with ignorance from people like you.

A vote for R159, from a white guy. When people refer to systemic racism, his examples are what they are talking about. "Being black is being watched, questioned and very rarely if ever given the benefit of the doubt." It's real and it's a problem and until we create the living conditions in the early years where people have the capacity to move upward and achieve better, we're fucked as a society in every aspect that makes a society, from fairness to safety. (To me it starts with effective schools, strong community options to support working parents and community based policing - back to beat cops, who ideally look a lot like the majority in the communities they police.) One of the foulest parts of the American dream is the notion anybody can grow up to be anything they want. Not if they can't imagine it or believe it if they do.

^ Thanks for your very valuable point of view

R160 I’m just going to throw this out here, and I’m saying this as a frustrated center left democrat. You are correct, but is it possible that a major component of this is the media and society at large constantly pointing out racial differences and all the other ways that we are different? The insanity of the far left, with everything from cultural appropriation to some universities wanting to have separate graduation ceremonies? The far right blaming everything on racial minorities and the far left blaming everything on white people?

I can’t imagine that any of this would have a good effect on society. Maybe if the media would stop with the “the first black person to accomplish this” and “this black student accomplished that…….” Maybe if instead they would just say “this student accomplished something great” instead of having to highlight their race, the public at large would just see people as people.

I'm thinkin' the race discussion is a bit off-topic -- but what do I know?

^ Bigotry is where you find it 🤷‍♂️

R159 here. R160 I agree with what you’re saying. But my point is that I am black but when I was born I didn’t have to pull myself up from anywhere. My parents were pretty well off. We were kinda like the Cosbys except both my parents were lawyers.

I am not talking about inner city black people needing a helping hand. I’m talking about someone like me given every advantage still having to deal with being singled out because of my color. Me growing up learning as American yes I have “rights” but staying alive, out of harms way, is sometimes more important than those rights. So coming from my background and experiencing this, I can only imagine what black people who don’t know how to navigate in a mostly white environment go through in America.

This is the parallel I came up with to try and explain how being black feels in America. And it can really apply to any minority I guess:

But it’s like being an adult with no kids sitting at a playground. Yes you have every right to sit there. But people will look at you and question why you’re there. And they really won’t feel comfortable until you go out of your way to show them you mean no harm, you’re “one of the good ones.” Then they’re ok. You always have to be ready to explain why you are where you are.

^ Thanks, again. No one can understand bigotry and racism better than someone who comes from a place of privledge, but still has to justify their existence

R162 we all have personal responsibility if we want to see change. You can’t just blame the media and call it a day. They make their money off of division. It will always be that way.

And in America, it’s really up to white people to make the change. And I know that sounds like I’m blaming - I’m not. Hear me out…

It’s up to you to expose yourself to minorities. And I’m not talking about some liberal leftist whitey apology tour, or forsaking your own culture to take on the mantle of another.

And I’m not talking about moving between socio-economic levels - like volunteering in the inner city. I don’t even want to go there. There are a lot of middle class black people. Go to a different giant eagle in another part of town. Go to another church. Go to a barber shop, black nail salon. Actually try to find friends - same educational level, background, economic level of different races. Expose yourself.

I know I am rare, but as a blank person I love being asked uncomfortable questions as long as it’s coming from an honest place. I know black people have put the fear of god in white people when it comes to questions. But you need to find that person who you can ask.

Then we’ll see that as Americans we are all pretty much the fucking same.

R167

[quote]It’s up to you to expose yourself to minorities.

You mean like at the supermarket in a trenchcoat?

I’m kidding. But in all seriousness, this is not just a black and white issue (literally speaking). I’m white, and my partner from the Philippines. (And he’s actually two years older than me, so no age jokes here.) Some of his friends and some of his sister’s Filipino friends say incredibly racist things about Black people, Chinese people, Indian people, etc. So it’s really kind of disingenuous to say that racism is a white people problem. In fact, on one specific occasion, one of my partner's sister’s friends was complaining about being on the receiving end of racism at work for a white person. Then five minutes later, she was trash talking Black people. The irony was mind blowing.

I'd respond in some pithy and conclusive way.... but I can't remember what I was going to say.

How is it that racists take over every thread?

Jeez R166. If you had your nose any further up his ass, you’d be able to smell the collard greens.

I live in a big east coast city and it is totally a MILLENNIAL world I live in

@r171, Yeah, we know who's the racist ass in this thread is, Masser Whitey 😏

[quote]The 90s in the US were peak civilization, mostly peaceful, prosperous, full of convenience but people still had purpose. We can’t put the genie back in the bottle.

The sad thing is will I have to live my whole life wishing I could go back to the 90s? My siblings and I always say the world was better then when when we grew up, after Y2k & 9/11 the world went to shit.

R162 of course ANY human being can be racist, it doesn’t matter the color. I am specifically referring to rhe historical systemic racism between black and white people that’s imbedded in our National identity where black people were constitutionally defined as 3/5ths of an American. I am taking about racism in power structures that were specifically designed to oppress black people.

What your Filipino friends think of me, as terrible as it may be, will have very little affect on my day to day life compared to what a white ruling class thinks of me.

And everyone is affected by racism. I am sure white people wish they weren’t plagued by it’s lasting affect as much as I do. My comment was at this point in history if we all want it to go away, it’s up to white people to build these bridges and make connections to achieve some understanding. Black people (actually any minority) can only to do much.

But that probably won’t happen because most human beings are focused on their lives, personal problems, family issues - that takes enough energy. And it’s not likely that anyone will take up anything they see as not affecting them directly. That’s just human nature.

An so as far as America is concerned black/white racism issues will continue to rear its ugly head in explosive ways for generations to come. When you have some kid born after the year 2000 picking up an assault rifle to specifically go and kill black people, you KNOW nothing is ever gonna change in the country.

That’s one of the reason’s I left.

^ Where did you go? Where in this world is there a truly diverse culture who lives harmoniously without racial tension. I really want to visit this Shangri la

Sorry toots, this is all simply intergenerational squabbling to take our eyes off the Billionaire prize.

It's not a Boomer World, it is a Billionaire's World.

Quit your bitching and vote.

[quote] of course ANY human being can be racist

All human beings are racist to one degree or another. Whether they voice it or not, every human being has negative thoughts (from minor to major) about one group of people of another race or another. And those who claim they don't are liars. It's the ones who act negatively against people because of their racist thoughts that you have to worry about.

Thread closed after r177. He said everything that needed to be said.

Boomers and Gen X'ers are the reason we have rights and are no longer dying en masse from AIDS. Respect your Eldergays.

R176 there is no Shangri la. I just got tired of hearing the same song for 48 years - the Sisyphean effort of combatting racism in the US. I wanted to go somewhere where I didn't constantly feel the need to defend my position. I went to somewhere where feeling like a guest in a land was OK, because I was, instead of feeling like a guest in my own country.

[quote]All human beings are racist to one degree or another. Whether they voice it or not, every human being has negative thoughts (from minor to major) about one group of people of another race or another. And those who claim they don't are liars. It's the ones who act negatively against people because of their racist thoughts that you have to worry about.

One of the truest quotes I've ever heard is "The surest way to start a war is to draw a line." Human beings are social animals, pack animals. Draw a line and one person will chose one side, someone else will chose the other and then commence to fighting each other over what side is better. That is why the idea of there ever being Peace is naive, because by our nature, we are not Peaceful. Whether it's race, sex, money, borders, Young vs. Old (like this thread), humans need to be a part of something and defend it against all those who aren't a part of it. Even when we don't have anything serious to argue over, we invent things that simulate war - i.e. sports teams. We can't all exist as one, because we need to feel distinct and the master of our own choices, lives. Race has been the battleground for the United States since before its inception, and pretty much will always be. It's one of those issues that we would lose our internal compass as a nation if it ever went away. It just get's fucking exhausting.

I am a black man who has respect for police officers and the job that they do. I understand that most of them are decent people who deal with the worst of society and put themselves in harms way everyday for our protection. If I ever needed them, I was happy they were there to do their job. And it's a good feeling to feel safe because of their presence in certain situations.

I am also a law abiding, tax paying black man who lives in fear of being pulled over by the police because I never know which type of officer I will encounter. I know that from the jump as a black man, I am seen as a potential threat, risk to a police officer and I will not be given the benefit of the doubt. I live in fear that any movement I make will be misinterpreted and could end up in my humiliation, injury or even death - given the current climate of the country. And the cop doesn't even have to be a racist cop, just one scared by black men and the stereotype of our "super human" strength.

As gay men, we all know that feeling going certain places. Whereas I can conceal my gayness, my race I cannot. And as we all know, it can be exhausting, scary being the target of someone's hate based solely on who you are as a person - for absolutely not other reason, they want to hurt or humiliate you. And America is just off the chain with this kind of rage boiling, not underneath, but very clearly at the surface right now.

I'm a gay man wondering how this thread went towards Black vs Whites?

[quote]All human beings are racist to one degree or another.

I argue all human beings are prejudiced to one degree or another. But with a familiarity and open mindedness gaps can be bridged. There are racists, absolutely. One of the problems in reconciling is calling [italic]everybody[/italic] racist. It's not true and it's sure not progress, if you will. However, everything has to be a 10/10 these days. Good luck.