Think about it this way: They were literally the most spoiled highest quality-of-life group of humans to ever exist on Earth in any timeline.
Ubiquitous access to healthcare and vaccinations for longer life.
Access to pensions and retirement options no longer available where the employer did all the legwork to ensure they had a future post-work so they didn’t have to learn a thing about investing or retirement savings.
Infrastructure that was borne from the Great Depression, so they had roads, bridges, dams all built up to last their lifetime with no care about maintenance, as they figure, “oh it was always there, it will always be there,” so no money was committed to maintenance we are now having to do, freeing that money up to live like kings and queens in the short-term.
Easy to access jobs, homes, boats, cars with little to no education or financial acumen. Just that “walk in and hand them a resume” trope they love to perpetuate.
The most modern travel technology and geopolitical climate to go on vacation pretty much anywhere on the planet, and access to time to have vacation.
Relatively calm planetary climate so they didn’t have to worry about things like today’s weather weirding with tornadoes where they shouldn’t be, hurricanes going inland, hail everywhere, and on and on, all the while driving their 5 MPG giant SUVs all over the country while tossing their food wrappers on the side of the road.
Cheap (during the majority of their lives) to relocate anywhere in the US or abroad if they wanted to work or live somewhere else, or be “snowbirds” when they’re too wimpy to tolerate the winter in their home states.
The same geopolitical climate prevented them having to grow up in war-torn anywhere.
Access to any kind of entertainment imaginable any time anywhere.
Artificially post-world-war inflated US economy that took some decades to spin down (that “Great Again” they fap to) - which only happened because the US joined so late and had few losses ourselves. The war never happened at home, so we got out for minimal effort/casualties/infrastructure loss.
And they got to adult in an age of computer technology that enables them as olds to not have to drive their car, pick up food, or do any errands they don’t want to do themselves, all without having to learn any technical skills because the tech was designed for idiots.
No human generation before or after them got to, or likely will ever, experience such a prosperous story-arc. They should consider themselves damn lucky and act like it, while supporting future generations to have a sliver of what their spoiled asses were able to enjoy.
Modern technology like cell phones, computers, medicines and treatments have upended how things work. Imagine how hard it would be to go to a college or university and not have access to google or reddit. Or how hard it would be to have to type up multiple copies of everything instead of just sending an email with multiple recipients.
MMR vaccines starting with measles in 63, mumps in 67 and rubella in 69, Polio in 55-61ish, Haemophilus influenzae type b '85. Anyone who is a boomer lived in a period where these things were still a problem in day to day lives.
Their car crashes resulted in fatalities. Ours are generally minor injuries in comparison. The way cars are designed have changed.
They had one or two power outlets per room, if any at all. They didn’t have much insulation, let alone sound proofing.
They had to pay a commission to a travel agent to go on vacation, they couldn’t just look things up for themselves and had to rely on friends or the agent as to how it is.
If you wanted to look something up you had to go to a library.
Few actually owned multiple cars. Growing up in a middle class household in the 80s we had a single car and our family vacation was camping.
There was a constant threat of nuclear war.
Air travel for a long, long time was exclusively reserved for the wealthy and those in business.
Labor laws, as few as we have today, were even worse.
By the time computers came around they were too old to actually partake by and large. My boomer grandparents (because that’s the actual boomer age now in their 80s) are dying or are dead and they’ve never had a cell phone.
Easy to access jobs, homes, boats, cars with little to no education or financial acumen. Just that “walk in and hand them a resume” trope they love to perpetuate.
It’s never been that easy! It’s always been easy to find a job that pays for a room, but much more is a luxury for so many. There’s obviously exceptions but I see loads of people making >200k today without advanced degrees. Anybody who got into programming ~4+ years ago is living like a king today by comparison to most of the ‘middle class’ in the 50s, 60s, 70s or 80s.
But do they? No? Why? Because the are spoiled rotten. When Boomers were young, the weren’t called Boomers. The were called the „Me-Generation“. And rightfully so, cause most of them only think about personal short term gains.
Think about it this way: They were literally the most spoiled highest quality-of-life group of humans to ever exist on Earth in any timeline.
No human generation before or after them got to, or likely will ever, experience such a prosperous story-arc. They should consider themselves damn lucky and act like it, while supporting future generations to have a sliver of what their spoiled asses were able to enjoy.
I just disagree that they had it so good.
Modern technology like cell phones, computers, medicines and treatments have upended how things work. Imagine how hard it would be to go to a college or university and not have access to google or reddit. Or how hard it would be to have to type up multiple copies of everything instead of just sending an email with multiple recipients.
MMR vaccines starting with measles in 63, mumps in 67 and rubella in 69, Polio in 55-61ish, Haemophilus influenzae type b '85. Anyone who is a boomer lived in a period where these things were still a problem in day to day lives.
Their car crashes resulted in fatalities. Ours are generally minor injuries in comparison. The way cars are designed have changed.
They had one or two power outlets per room, if any at all. They didn’t have much insulation, let alone sound proofing.
They had to pay a commission to a travel agent to go on vacation, they couldn’t just look things up for themselves and had to rely on friends or the agent as to how it is.
If you wanted to look something up you had to go to a library.
Few actually owned multiple cars. Growing up in a middle class household in the 80s we had a single car and our family vacation was camping.
There was a constant threat of nuclear war.
Air travel for a long, long time was exclusively reserved for the wealthy and those in business.
Labor laws, as few as we have today, were even worse.
By the time computers came around they were too old to actually partake by and large. My boomer grandparents (because that’s the actual boomer age now in their 80s) are dying or are dead and they’ve never had a cell phone.
It’s never been that easy! It’s always been easy to find a job that pays for a room, but much more is a luxury for so many. There’s obviously exceptions but I see loads of people making >200k today without advanced degrees. Anybody who got into programming ~4+ years ago is living like a king today by comparison to most of the ‘middle class’ in the 50s, 60s, 70s or 80s.
But do they? No? Why? Because the are spoiled rotten. When Boomers were young, the weren’t called Boomers. The were called the „Me-Generation“. And rightfully so, cause most of them only think about personal short term gains.
Giant caveat that is only for white dudes.