Sign up for a free recipe e-book →

Clarissa's Blog

Generational Protest

Published by

Clarissa

on

We have a weekly anti-Trump protest in our town. It gathers in front of the library every Friday. A former colleague posts weekly footage on Facebook, and what I notice is that all of the protesters are in the retiree age group. I love and respect the retirees but it’s strange to me that they don’t notice that nobody under the age of 70 is interested in joining them. Their unhappiness with the current state of affairs is not shared by younger people. Shouldn’t that give them pause?

They’ve had their turn and can now enjoy the fruits of their labor. Those who haven’t had their turn yet should be left alone to decide how they want things to be. The protest has been going on for weeks. Shouldn’t the utter indifference of the generations who are currently working and raising families serve as a hint?

16 responses to “Generational Protest”

  1. PaulS Avatar
    PaulS

    Older motivated people tend to vote in much higher numbers than younger indifferent people.

    Since people’s pensions are generally linked to the performance of the stock exchange, their ability to enjoy the fruits of their labor is directly linked to Trump’s trade war.

    Like

    Reply
    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      These is the generation that made sure their children and grandchildren have no pensions or stocks. And they now want to continue dispossessing the future generations out of sheer selfishness.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. PaulS Avatar
        PaulS

        At least they haven’t put the burden of paying for their pensions on the younger generation like in Europe. In SA, it is even worse because with their trade union mentality, they have locked the younger generation out of the job market entirely, which is a major reason for SA’s crazy high crime rates.

        Like

        Reply
      2. cliff arroyo Avatar
        cliff arroyo

        “the generation that …. want to continue dispossessing the future generations out of sheer selfishness”
        No way are boomers going to gracefully step aside…. it’s going to be ME! ME!! ME!!! ME!!!! until they’re 6 feet under. They are not known as ‘the greediest generation’ for nothing…
        (nb. technically by most counts I’m a late boomer though some peel off a sub-generation between the boomers and X called ‘disco generation’ with less greed and less neuroses than the boomers or the Xers… which seems a bit more accurate).

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply
        1. PaulS Avatar
          PaulS

          I’m an old Millennial. I remember the dying days of apartheid. Protests make make me feel nostalgic, but they are nothing like the real mass action we had in late ’80s and early ’90s SA.

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply
      3. methylethyl Avatar
        methylethyl

        I don’t want my parents to kick the bucket any time soon, but it’s hard not to wish that on their generation.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply
        1. PaulS Avatar
          PaulS

          Yeah, being descended from the most successful generation in history is hard work.

          Like

          Reply
          1. methylethyl Avatar
            methylethyl

            eh.

            I think the main problem is, *their* parents came up from poverty and decided to give the kids all the things they didn’t have. Once they reached adulthood, prosperity was their default setting. They don’t know how to operate in any other context.

            Successful, but only because they were riding the wave of an economic boom their parents set in motion, not really because of anything they themselves did. And then they expected it to just continue forever.

            Liked by 1 person

            Reply
          2. cliff arroyo Avatar
            cliff arroyo

            “the most successful generation in history”

            Yes, they received more help to become successful than any generation in history and pulled the ladder up after them and refused to help the next generation(s).

            There was some study on just that… help they received from their parents’ generation that they didn’t give their own kids….

            So… there’s a reason everyone hates them (collectively).

            Liked by 1 person

            Reply
            1. methylethyl Avatar
              methylethyl

              My extremely PMC boomer inlaws promised to pay for our kids to get orthodontic work. Not like, just mentioned in passing or anything, we discussed it with them, got estimates from different orthos, talked specific numbers, etc. On that promise, we got a few thousand dollars deep in the project with our own money.

              They developed amnesia about the financing bit, took a big Euro vacation instead.

              Next visit, listened to all the gushing details of this trip. Cold sweat. Swallowed hard. Had some pretty intense conversations with our bank account. God intervened. We’re getting the braces taken off. It’s OK if the kids look British.

              Mentioned this among other impecunious parents and got: oh, yeah. Boomer grandparents. It’s a thing. They promise to help you buy a minivan when the 4th kid comes along, or to chip in on the house downpayment… and then they go on a cruise instead. We are so not alone in this experience.

              Liked by 1 person

              Reply
              1. oldcowboy3 Avatar
                oldcowboy3

                methylethyl

                Well, I suspect it’s largely a matter of how one is raised. My brother-in-law is a true selfish rat bastard, but none of us are.

                Like

              2. Clarissa Avatar
                Clarissa

                You are definitely not alone. I know many such stories. And it’s always the travel. They travel, and travel, and travel. Really obsessed with travel, even when their health clearly protests. I’m a different generation, so I honestly don’t get it.

                Liked by 2 people

              3. methylethyl Avatar
                methylethyl

                @OldCowboy…

                Of course.

                But that generation has its reputation for a reason.

                Liked by 1 person

            2. oldcowboy3 Avatar
              oldcowboy3

              cliff arroyo

              “There was some study on just that…” 

              Well, I would really like to see that study ;-D

              Liked by 1 person

              Reply
  2. PaulS Avatar
    PaulS

    My grandparents grew up in the days of The Empire when Boers were considered an underclass if poor whites. One of the reasons the apartheid regime was tolerated was because it shared prosperity with the former underclass. It was assumed that the post-apartheid regime would do the same thing for poor black people. The fact that it has mostly favored black elites has provoked a rather severe backlash.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  3. ed Avatar
    ed

    This is nothing compared to what may come if Trump does end up tanking the economy with his erratic economic policies.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment

A conservative literary critic and college professor

Recent posts