Remember when boomers complained that their "shitty kids" won't come for Christmas?
And their "shitty kids" were actually 35yo millennials who were sick of their parents' toxic behavior around their grandchildren? And now the boomers get to die alone because they "fucked around and found out"?
Just replace boomer with MAGA.
I haven't seen my parents in over a decade. Born in '50 & '51 they check all the boxes of the worst stereotypes.
Republican ✓
White ✓
Racist ✓
Bigoted ✓
Ultra-Religious ✓
Limited education ✓
Entitled ✓
Narcissistic ✓
Physically and emotionally abusive ✓
Depended their parents assistance until their mid-30's, kicked their kids out at 18 (17 for me). ✓
I honestly have no clue if they are MAGA or not. I suspect they are because my older sister was pictured in the news at the orange cheetos inauguration.
It's the Republican MO: everyone needs to suffer from everything I've ever had to deal with at a bare minimum. More is fine, but anything less than every single issue I had to deal with (whether I really did, or just think I did, thanks to a healthy victim complex) is unacceptable.
In practice, it looks a lot like the socialism they claim to hate, but only for negativity. Hoard everything good, distribute everything bad.
the Republican MO: everyone needs to suffer from everything I’ve ever had to deal with
And the "suffering" is always "I worked hard for what I got" meaning they got an entry-level job working 40 hrs a week that let them buy a house and raise 2.4 kids on a single salary.
kicked their kids out at 18 (17 for me)
One thing that constantly surprised me on reddit was in the personal finance sub, there was a post about this about once a month, give or take. It's just shocking how often it happens. It was in the FAQs because it happened so often.
Can we not generalize entire generations to make it about division? Yes, it's about Maga parents, that's what this article is about. There are good people and really shitty people in every generation. No, I'm not a boomer. Don't fall for the propaganda to have every generation fight instead of going after the real issues.
This. I've seen my share of awful people in every single age bracket. How old is that Fuentes guy, anyway? Or Richard Spencer? Same with a lot of the doofs that threw an insurrection. Many of them seem Gen Y or younger. The incels that fall for the likes of Jordan Peterson or the Elon fanbois - I don't think too many of them fall into the "boomer" category.
Yep, most of the proud boys are young as well and I don't hold it against those generations either. It's the shitty people doing shitty things that we should focus on.
It's nice to see some sanity on here for once. I'm not sure why other social media sites seem to have such issues with nuance. We have a right wing fascist nightmare in this country, and it is not as simple as a singular generation/ boomers. Many many many people in Gen. Z are falling down the alt-right pipeline, there are many conservative and alt millennials
I have also met many kind boomers that are extremely left. Generalizing to specific generational groups is just foolish and doesn't really help solve the problem or identify it correctly.
I bet that part of the reason that boomers get so much flack is because their generation leans right in general plus and I think this is the most important aspect their age group holds and controls most of the wealth in this country. Regardless, though, it's not as simple as a single generation is the problem
I'm not sure how accurate this chart is and it's from 2014, but it looks like it's not that different in ideology. R's are less in every demographic except silent generation which would make their ages 78-95 currently. I wonder how large they would be considering covid and them not taking vaccines plus a natural dying off. Regardless, it's the electoral college that's saving their ass. I would like to see an up to date version of this though.
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2015/04/30/a-different-look-at-generations-and-partisanship/
As far as boomers - yeah, I've known more than a few old hippie boomers in my lifetime that are/were (sadly, some have passed) progressive.
They're dreaming of a white Christmas.
It's definitely not just their votes running kids off, it's their shitty attitudes and small ignorant minds.
It's absolutely exhausting to talk to them.
You can just be sitting there and they bring up a hot topic. You can say, "Well the data/research/stats/the internet you told me to look up" and they still call you a liar.
They're not interested in the convo. So why bother?
I've noticed many of them just want to re-enact whatever they just saw/heard/read on Faux/hate radio/Nazi-adjacent websites and want a captive audience, ideally.
My father in law was terrible about trying to crowbar politics into every discussion. Everyone could be talking about baking cookies and he'd start whining about how trump is being persecuted (this was before he was being prosecuted) and how it's illegal to be christian (his house is crawling distance from two churches) amd whatever else fox news told him to think. He finally burned his last bridge and told my wife (his daughter, of course) that he didn't want to see her again. Her "Oh thank god, bye" reaction isn't what he expected.
The victim complex is strong with these ones.
I feel like I know him without ever having met him.
Guessing he uses "the liberals" as a hand-wavey catch all for anyone and everyone that's ever done anything he's ever disagreed with or sees as wrong in the country?
Also assumes that there's a "war on" anything he likes, orchestrated by the aforementioned liberals?
Doesn't actively take part in local politics but sees himself as some sort of ideological warrior, keeping the faith and "fighting the good fight" day in and day out?
Hasn't been in a city with a six figure population in 25 years except (maybe) for concerts and sporting events, yet seems to think he knows, in detail, how horrible they are?
Thinks driving a manual transmission vehicle is a personality trait?
Regularly rails against "cancel culture"...but proudly brags about how he hasn't set foot in a Dick's sporting goods since they quit selling guns, and hasn't drank a bud light since that whole fiasco...but that's not canceling, that's different?
Thinks driving a manual transmission vehicle is a personality trait?
This one is oddly specific 😆
I’m not a woman, but I left the “bucolic utopia” I grew up in for the “crime ridden dystopia” of a major city in a left leaning state and will never go back. All I have to show for it is a walkable city, focus on education and arguably the best education in the country for my kids, TRAINS, the US’s only “high” speed train, healthcare for all, government policies based on compassion, diversity, very well paying jobs, leadership on climate action, free speech, acceptance of whatever and whoever you are, etc
I do miss the cheap land and housing, and I miss family, but there are so many things wrong with that place, and getting worse as the population ages, educated young people have left
The notion of moving to a city fills me with anxiety and dread. Thankfully there's plenty of rural areas in blue states. The neighbors are just as bad as in the red states, but you don't have to deal with a conservative government. At least above the local level.
I spent 20 years in a red region of NY. It's absolutely miserable. Yeah you have a liberal lean at the state level, but at the local level everything is a constant fight for basic rights. There's also almost no job prospects, no social mobility, no community, and no diversity. Not to mention if you're a minority you're constantly at odds with the police, even if you didn't do anything criminal.
The area I lived in cost almost as much as NYC to live in but with half the income and literally nothing to do.
It's not worth it.
Maybe not for you, but if you can WFH and don't ever leave your compound it's a lot prettier.
Plus there's always some chorin' if you're bored.
This is true and I've seen it work really well for people that want to be on the periphery of a major city - but in the exurbs if they WFH. Close enough for a trip to the city to do something worthwhile, but not doing the daily grind of driving into the city to work every weekday...as long as the state is blue and the exurbs are not tinged deep red, it can be very nice.
I think I'm the opposite here. Live in the city. Commute is short. Things I need are nearby and walkable. If I want to go hiking or something it's a 20 minute drive. Living in the suburbs means basic needs involve car rides and parking.
Wow! I live in a red, economically depressed rural area of a blue state. It was booming when there were some Democrats in local offices but the locals fell for the right wing propaganda. Most smart kids moved away when they graduated. Now there are lots of drugs and drunks with big trucks. I learned to fly, SCUBA dive, garden, graft trees, hunt, hike, forage and build things. "Nothing to do" is a state of mind no matter where you are.
It's way better because the crazies don't feel as empowered as they do when they're surrounded by their own kind.
"Over 70% of the Hallmark audience is past 50 years old. This breakdown of the most popular Hallmark Christmas movies shows they're mostly a hit with the Medicare crowd, with over half of the audience aged 65 and up. "
Mostly a hit with Medicare crowd. A quick Google search shows mental decline can start as early as 45.
I wouldn't be surprised if these people thought they were living in a Hallmark movie at any given time.
Anecdotally i can see the validity. My sister and I moved multiple states away from our parents.
My city def has a lot of young 30+ meetups. And 90% of them has a story about them moving as far as possible because family/parent drama.
Honestly I think a lot of these people raised their kids under the "my house, my rules" mantra where they tied their authority to their home out of laziness and expedience, basically choosing rather than explaining themselves to their kids, instead just quashing any opportunity for a conversation (that in many cases may have revealed how poorly thought out their beliefs were) based on, of all things, economics.
Basically: I work and earn the money in this dynamic, so because of that, I'm right and your opinions don't matter.
Shock of all shocks when kids raised with that noise grow up, enter the work force, and get a place of their own, they now remember that shit and make the short step of logic from "my house my rules" to "I'm not in your house anymore, I'm not following your rules, and you have to respect that because you have no other choice".
I've heard stories of this getting so bad that basically the parents of adult children still were trying to impose their politics and ideology on their adult children when they came to visit...then being all surprised Pikachu and playing the victim when... spoiler alert...their kids quit visiting.
I bet so much of their Karen persona is caused by how much they drive others away, thus going into a feedback loop that ends up with them adopting the full teabagger lifestyle.
Don't forget the alcohol. I don't think I've seen any Karen/Kevin video without some kind of substance abuse, usually alcohol.
Republican women only have two looks in my eyes: younger blonde women, or fat middle-aged brunette women.
The arrogance of beauty and the anger of beauty faded.
[off topic] Ross Thomas was a Washington political reporter turned mystery novelist. Most of his books are about government corruption, crooked elections, and/or insider wheeling-dealing.
In one of his books he has a hit man nicknamed 'Hallmark.'
The killer you send 'when you care enough to send your best.'
Some great skits about this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYQM1NESLsc
Less applicable but still great:
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