We get it. Gen Z is about to inherit the earth, if it lasts long enough (even though millennials haven’t exactly had their place in the sun with it–something that at least the non-ironic in its disaffection Gen X could lay claim to, even if it was a black hole sun). They have very different ideas about how to live from those who reigned in the late mid-twentieth century. Gender is an illusion, sexuality is fluid, drugs are bad and climate change is real. All things that the current old guard seem to continue to be stymying for “poor” Gen Z as cartoonishly manifested by the big bad orange wolf that is Donald Trump. Though Gen Z isn’t exactly practicing what it preaches in terms of empathy and tolerance. And, more to the point, paving the way for a world that doesn’t continue to promote ageism (this, once again, is left solely on the shoulders of Madonna, who will make sixty the new forty when the time comes for Ariana Grande).
There is no better example of the Gen Z hypocrisy than the latest design turned merchandisable product to hit the web pages: a plastic bag themed phrase that balks, “OK Boomer” to shut down any “antiquated” opinions with what amounts to a rolling of the eyes. To uphold the illusion of Gen Z “wokeness,” they would like to assure that the “epithet” isn’t a full-stop condemnation of an entire generation, insisting, “A boomer is really more of a type of personality, someone who is intolerant to new ideas and who is ignorant to new ideas.” But who could be more ignorant to “new” ideas than someone “old” and set in their ways? It’s name-calling 101. Using the very thing someone can’t change about themselves to make them feel like shit for being who and what they are. Which, again, goes against the entire Gen Z “total acceptance of all creatures” manifesto. With asterisked caveat being: “so long as you agree with everything we say and do. With our way of thinking.” Which, let’s be honest, is more than a little bit skewed thanks to being raised entirely by screens and the internet.
As for the blame placed on baby boomers for fucking up the environment and consistently getting out of the way of legislation that further cocks it up, well, can they really help it that they were bequeathed with the benefit of living at the height of American excess? Would Gen Z not have done the exact same thing were they not instead born in this shitty epoch? Of course they would have, spraying the atmosphere with chlorofluorocarbons like there was no tomorrow, which there soon won’t be. Alas, they got the fuzzy end of the lollipop called the twenty-first century. Sheltered from the world in every way yet somehow more incensed by it than anyone (just look at Greta Thunberg, who not only is a prime example of the continued trend in Gen Z of being “someone” only when you’re born into the right family–her grandfather was famed Swedish director and actor Olof Thunberg–but who no one can say shit about because she “was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, OCD and selective mutism.” To that point, she added, “That basically means I only speak when I think it’s necessary. Now is one of those moments.”).
And where is the hostility toward Gen X for spawning them? For the greatest gift of all, of course, is to never have been born. And was it not Gen X that enjoyed their fair share of frivolous, politically incorrect fun in the glory days of 90s MTV? Baby boomers aren’t the sole villains. In fact, no one at all is really the villain. Which is part of what makes Gen Z’s ageist rants so laughable. For one, it is usually the generation before the “latest” that is scandalized by the other, and thinks things have only gotten worse. That all sense of propriety has gone to the dogs. Like Roger Sterling said, “Maybe every generation thinks the next one is the end of it all.” Something that a Gen Zer would just say, “OK Boomer” to. A glaringly reductive statement as to where we’re at in terms of intelligent and well-thought out ripostes (one, in fact, envisions this very article getting simply an “OK Boomer” in the comments section). Because no one knows how to actually express themselves in an argument or debate anymore. Everything is simply: I’m right and you’re wrong. With no bleed room in between for all the gray. The Veruca Salt nature of a generation that has been so accustomed to getting things and information quickly and easily is in direct opposition to the major challenge facing us all: the deterioration of the environment and, accordingly, the demise of the planet as hospitable (even to those with a fallout shelter). There is no easy solution to the issue, which is perhaps what has been most discombobulating of all to Gen Zers habituated to the gratification of the most Jetsons era the Earth has known.
Maybe it was better when they were more frequently addressed as the Snowflake Generation. For not only does it have a sort of global warming double entendre, but it speaks to how, even more than millennials, they’ve been coddled in damaging ways, treated as “unique and special” beings with the power to do whatever they want. What with Gen X feeling guilty about their latest divorce and all that gives way to such undeserved affirmation as compensation. Paired with flagrant absenteeism that persists in making the screen a non-gender identifying being’s best friend. No one is saying that Gen Z isn’t fucked, and they probably should be upset when they’re not busy droning out on some technological device or dodging a literal bullet at school. But they seem to be forgetting that we’re all in the shit together. Regardless of age. Regardless of someone disagreeing with their right to a unisex bathroom. And if they’re so concerned with the environment, maybe fixating on what gender icon is on a door for them to flush more of their shit into the ocean shouldn’t be the top priority.
What’s more, the “blow” of mocking someone’s “old person” mentality by calling them a boomer doesn’t exactly ring true when coming from a generation that doesn’t even fuck or do drugs. Prompting those with much thicker skin than Gen Z to simply smirk, “Like yeah, I’m gonna take offense about being irrelevant and out of touch from your vanilla ass.” Strangely, Gen X was much more hardcore in their youth, yet wants Gen Z both to have it better than they did while not being overly pampered as millennials were by the “Me” generation (those baby boomers that everyone still thinks are the progenitors of modern narcissism). It’s slightly too late for that, but Gen Z would like to believe they can have the edge without actually having lived through much of anything other than a general sense of portentousness thanks to the twenty-four hour news cycles they grew up with.
While Gen Z claims the use of the phrase is merely a defense in a war brought on by “boomers” themselves, it doesn’t hold water (no ecological pun intended) that, “They’ll call anyone younger than them ‘millennials,’ and doing the same thing to older people by calling them ‘boomers’ is kind of a push back to that.” That the Gen Zers think, essentially, “It’s only okay when I say it” (as Janis Ian did when she called Damian “too gay to function”) is yet another indication of immaturity. Their logic for using a patently discriminatory phrase–for fighting discrimination with discrimination–is made obvious in the statement, “It isn’t intended in the malicious way that ‘snowflake’ is aimed at younger generations. It’s a funny way the younger people can laugh off the entitlement of some baby boomers. It is a humorous way to say ‘OK, whatever’ and move on with our lives.” Which, yes, so clearly they have as they pose for yearbook photos spelling out the phrase and sport t-shirts and sweatshirts of the insult.
But ultimately, if you want to blame someone for your problems, look to yourself. Judge yourself. And bide your fucking time. Slinging names at a generation that still has more money and power than you only makes you look like a goddamn puerile fool. Then again, what is to be expected when Billie Eilish is the sexless “bad guy” representation for a generation (or is she singing “Bad Guy” from the diabolical perspective of a baby boomer)? A long way from the herteronormative sex-oozing pelvic thrusts of Elvis in the 50s. Which is a bit comical, don’t you think? That things were actually more salacious and sexual back then than they are now. Maybe Gen Z can take that to mean, for as much as they despise boomers (the great scapegoats of the moment), there is an effectiveness to subtlety and suppression. Of not instantly fulfilling a “need” just because you can. To that end, if needs are so easily fulfilled, then why does life still feel so terrible to them?
