More Boomer Abuse

Neither J nor I are big fans of the baby boomers. Anybody who has to live in the detritus the boomers managed to make of the country should share our animus to some extent. One of the most annoying aspects of the boomers is the tendency to make more of their own generational experiences than the experiences of everyone else. On that topic, Jane Galt hits them squarely:

Baby boomers, many of whom seem to have trouble accepting the fact that time has passed, often seem incredulous that the major formulating events of their lives simply aren't that interesting to everyone else.

My only change to that sentence? The phrase “seem to have trouble” needs to read “are incapable of”. The world has moved on, and yet the boomers refuse to move with it. This is part of why the entire press corps seemed to orgasm last week over the revelation that some senile old man broke the law 30 years ago. (The other part, of course, being the validation of the journalist as noble culture-hero myth, which has taken quite a beating lately.) The boomers are still fixated on Watergate as the seminal event in journalism and politics.

I would just ignore the boomers, but with their impending retirement and imminent cash grab, I can’t afford the luxury of ignorance.