Just read The Washington Post review of Jill Filipovic’s new book, OK Boomer, Let’s Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind (325 pp., $17). I am biased because I am a member of Generation X, which hardly seems to be mentioned at all in the discourse Filipovic wants to have. The idea of being neglected–or at least having fewer opportunities than a previous generation–was earlier the calling card of Gen X. Millennials seem to have appropriated the theme and are just being more obnoxious about it.
As far as having less security–whether through social safety net programs or “jobs for life”–than earlier generations seemed to have had, well, Gen Xers were hearing that in the 1980s and 1990s. It’s a reason the 401(k) and mutual fund industries took off in the late 20th century: people were worried Social Security wouldn’t be there for them when they retired. And it remains a question how the federal government will fulfill its promises to retirees in an era of exploding debt.
As for climate change and health care as issues, I am again somewhat biased. Climate change is undeniable. What is debatable is how much time, effort, and money the government should expend trying to control it. “Everyone talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it.” Haha. To me it’s another case where the cures can be worse than the disease, if government regulations aimed at cleaner air and water end up choking business operations and curtailing employment. Clean air and water won’t do us much good if achieving them leads to mass unemployment, despair, drug addiction, and domestic abuse. Human existence is always going to have some impact on the environment. Yes, we should regulate businesses, but it is unrealistic to think we will leave absolutely no “footprint.” Sometimes radical environmentalists seem to be almost anti-human, as if they want other life forms or rocks to take over.
Health care is an area where there could be more reform, but I am something of a libertarian on this issue: I think a lot of health comes down to individuals making smart choices about their lifestyles.
I think diminishment of social safety nets was something Gen Xers accepted more sanguinely, taking into account that most of these programs had only really been around since FDR’s New Deal and LBJ’s Great Society. The Reagan revolution seemed partly about paring back possibly unrealistic expectations that FDR and LBJ had raised. Millennials seem to think it an enormous betrayal that all the goals these two 20th century leaders set have not been achieved. Some older people see it more as a return to normalcy.
As for the breakdown of nuclear families, the issue is complex. I think women’s liberation has led more women to put off marriage and pursue careers or personal fulfillment. Secularization probably also has some role, as conventional religious expectations for starting families become less influential. These things aren’t really the fault of Baby Boomers, per se. I don’t mean to get off onto a diatribe about abortion, but it seems to me any analysis of looser familial structures since the mid-20th century has to take into account Roe v. Wade in 1973 and the increase in contraception.
A professor once warned me about mentioning books I haven’t read, and I haven’t read Filipovic’s book yet. May do so. Even though I haven’t read her whole book, I can opine on the topics she raises.
For only about $3 more, you can read another book promoted by this site (and it has lots of photographs). Haha.
Two-sentence movie review: Just watched the psycho-horror movie 1BR and am looking for a new one-bedroom apartment myself, so it was timely. If you have a strong stomach and don’t mind another “be careful what you wish for” moral, it’s pretty good.