{"id":1317062,"date":"2019-12-02T20:20:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-03T03:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/purcell-column-ok-tail-end-boomer\/"},"modified":"2019-12-02T20:20:00","modified_gmt":"2019-12-03T03:20:00","slug":"purcell-column-ok-tail-end-boomer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/purcell-column-ok-tail-end-boomer\/","title":{"rendered":"Purcell column: OK, tail-end boomer"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

I don\u2019t blame millennials and Gen Z for mocking baby boomers with the trending \u201cOK boomer\u201d meme.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had my issues with baby boomers, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cOK boomer,\u201d reports dictionary.com, \u201cis a viral internet slang phrase used, often in a humorous or ironic manner, to call out or dismiss out-of-touch or close-minded opinions associated with the baby boomer generation and older people more generally.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s sarcasm used to tell baby boomers that they\u2019re too critical, condescending and dismissive toward younger folks\u2019 anxieties and concerns.<\/p>\n

I feel those younger folks\u2019 pain.<\/p>\n

Technically, I\u2019m a boomer, born near the tail end of that generation, which began in 1946 and concluded in 1964 \u2014 but that 18-year span is far too lengthy to accommodate a single generation.<\/p>\n

Sociologist and author Jonathan Pontell argues that Americans born between 1954 and 1965 are actually part of their own Generation Jones.<\/p>\n

Boy, is he right. I have little in common with front-end boomers.<\/p>\n

When front-end boomers were indulging in drugs and free love, we tail-enders were doing our homework.<\/p>\n

While they were traveling the country in VW Beetles and partying at Woodstock, we were doing our chores.<\/p>\n

While they dreamed of changing the world, we dreamed of getting collegiate business degrees and good-paying jobs.<\/p>\n

Front-enders have criticized, dismissed and condescended to us tail-enders for years.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s human nature: Older people always complain that younger people aren\u2019t doing things right.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re young, don\u2019t be so sensitive. Who else do old fogies have to complain about?<\/p>\n

I know younger generations worry about their six-figure college loans, climate change and many other issues \u2014 I know you blame preceding generations for these woes.<\/p>\n

But this tail-ender doesn\u2019t see gloom and doom. Sure, we need to address lots of things, but the truth is there\u2019s never been a better time to be alive \u2014 there is evidence that the world is doing better than ever.<\/p>\n

Our economy, envy of the world, is expanding.<\/p>\n

Technological innovation, already massive, is increasing rapidly. I can\u2019t wait to see the solutions \u2014 for disease, poverty, climate change \u2014 it will bring in the not-so-distant future.<\/p>\n

According to Cafehayek.com, today\u2019s typical middle-class American lives better than billionaire John D. Rockefeller did 100 years ago.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t have air conditioning, sophisticated medical treatments, safe, fast travel and limitless dining and entertainment options.<\/p>\n

He certainly didn\u2019t have social media to create humorous retorts that silence whole generations.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s more to be hopeful about: Bill Gates\u2019 charity reported in 2018 that childhood deaths fell from 12 million in 1990 to 5 million in 2017. More than 90 percent of children now attend primary school. The proportion of people living in extreme poverty declined from one-third in 1990 to one-tenth.<\/p>\n

Younger generations have much to look forward to. They\u2019ll do lots of good work with powerful tools. We all should agree on that.<\/p>\n

Hey, I\u2019m a tail-end boomer who\u2019s heard plenty from my elders about shortcomings. If you\u2019re young, I hope you\u2019ll take my well-intentioned optimism about your generation in that spirit, rather than dismiss it with a trendy catch-phrase.<\/p>\n

But I can understand why you might meet my optimism with a quick \u201cOK tail-end boomer.\u201d<\/p>\n

I just hope you\u2019ll be as understanding when your generation one day goes codger and your children\u2019s generation dismisses your generation with a humorous catch-phrase of their own.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2019 Tom Purcell. Tom Purcell, author of \u201cMisadventures of a 1970\u2019s Childhood,\u201d a humorous memoir available at amazon.com, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist and is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons Inc. For info on using this column in your publication or website, contact Sales@cagle.com<\/a> or call (805) 969-2829. Send comments to Tom at Tom@TomPurcell.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don\u2019t blame millennials and Gen Z for mocking baby boomers with the trending \u201cOK boomer\u201d meme. I\u2019ve had my issues with baby boomers, too. \u201cOK boomer,\u201d reports dictionary.com, \u201cis a viral internet slang phrase used, often in a humorous or ironic manner, to call out or dismiss out-of-touch or close-minded opinions associated with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1317062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-23 15:25:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1317062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317062\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1317062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1317062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1317062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}