The Case for Boom v X

I was made aware of a blog called Ouch! The Painful Divide Between Generation X and the Boomers about a documentary on the US Network PBS called The Boomer Century, which reviewed the Baby Boomer years. Apparently, the screening of this documentary caused quite a stir amongst those who watch PBS. The argument seems to have fallen into two camps: those who view the Baby Boomer generation as representing prosperity, newfound freedoms and disappointing self-realisation (mainly the baby boomers themselves); and those who view Baby Boomers with disdain, seeing instead selfishness, lost opportunity and a world left to inheritors with almost none of the problems raised by the Boomers actually solved.

Obviously, I am (as an Xer) falling into the latter camp. What can one say about the boomers? "Nice start, but pity about the end"?

Generation X is meant to be the "me" generation - self interested, no loyalty, having a wonderful time on the fruits of the labour of the previous generation. But that final point really defines Generation X, I think - we are what our parents made us. The reason Xers are so self interested and not loyal to jobs or countries is because of the world the Baby Boomers have made. The Boomers who sit on their couches and rant about All Blacks not sticking around to entertain them on the telly are the ones who have encouraged and made companies and governments more interested in markets and commodities than in the people themselves. To meet the market model determined by Boomers through the mission statements of companies, where profitability is all, through the World Bank and World Trade Organisation, and through the priorities of the governments of the day, many companies have no loyalty to their staff - so why should employees in return?

The current political situation, with the oil crisis and the various wars fought over it, are all products of the relentless drive of Boomers to have bigger and better cars (amongst other things) - desires that have been passed on to their children, though now we realise that kind of mentality can't carry on. Actually, should rose glasses shows like the Wonder Years and other baby boomer nostalgia be accurate, the boomers realised this too - and just seem to have done nothing about it.

In the end, my interest was piqued more in the reaction to the show. Not having seen it at all, I have gleaned that there was a backlash to the way the Baby Boomer generation was depicted. Shots of the assassination of Kennedy, the landing on the moon, all those monumental and incredible moments that defined that generation were pointed out by the Xers as just that - moments. The lasting legacy, the day to day world that the Boomers created, may include space age technology and may be dominated by the lives and deaths of the rich and famous, but it is also made up of a raft of other things, less easy to fit into a soundbite or an amusing phrase. It's made up of other less tangible things like a loss of community, and awareness of an environment brought to the brink of collapse by the policies and people of the past century, and of a global village with neighbours we don't understand well but with whom we love to meddle.

Every person tends to want to think the best of him or herself. Of having fun, and of leaving the world a better place for having been in it. But what of the legacy of a generation? Its not up to Baby Boomers, currently sitting on the boards of the TV networks who approve programming, to decide. It should up to those who they leave behind, the true inheritors to that legacy.

So, what is your verdict? Here's mine:

Verdict: The jury is still out on this one