Boom(er), roasted

But seriously, the brain is just another part of the body that experiences organ failure over time

  • Pezevenk [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    The data repeatedly shows a person’s ideology sifts very little from the first election they voted in,

    This is definitely very, very wrong.

    that’s when they develop their politics, and it changes very little.

    Seriously? Have you met a European? Do you know what happened to the May 68 communists? Or hell, even here, the people who were fucking stepped over by a tank protesting a military dictatorship in a university are now overwhelmingly in favor of putting police into universities and pretty much everywhere else. People's politics change massively. If they didn't the world would be a better place. It's not as easy to gauge in the US because any attempt to gauge them by most polls would just be a binary choice between republican and democrat, which isn't a good indicator either. And if you off handedly ask boomers they will just retcon their ideology either way to make themselves look more consistent.

    This generational nonsense is fun as a meme but it's a really silly mode of analysis. I swear sometimes people just try to find almost metaphysical reasons why boomers are somehow uniquely and inherently evil because they don't want to think they might turn that way too. But that's how it is. Politics aren't just something that happens to you when you're 18. They're something that develops and changes according to your position in society.

    • Akz1918 [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Off the top, again every single demo in the U.S. Has become more liberal on social issues as they have aged, from criminal justice to sexual liberation, the lone exceptions are abortion which has remained flat for the past few decades, and if you consider gun control a left wing policy (I don't) support has declined. In your previous comment you stated boomers are responsible for progressive policies in the 60s, the oldest boomers in 1970 were 22. They promptly became Atari dems at best and reactionary at worst. When they finally started getting elected to Congress they immediately used their power to remove populist dems from banking and finance committees, and got to work gutting new deal regulations on banking and Wall Street. Here in the U.S., boomers were very progressive on race issues relative to the rest of the population, this is true, however they have never had anything but disdain for unions, and thought things like anti-trust were stupid. The boomer mindset at least here in the U.S. Has never been concerned with concentration of capital, at any point in their lives.

      • Pezevenk [he/him]
        ·
        edit-2
        4 years ago

        the oldest boomers in 1970 were 22.

        Boomers were people born post-WWII. So they basically started at 1945. The oldest boomers in 1970 were 25 and that was the main mass of these movements. And despite societal pressures, a lot of boomers have moved the OTHER way on social issues. Like, again, you brought up Reagan, but it wasn't boomers who voted for Reagan, it was silent gen and greatest gen, which, again, was a vast regression for them. Again, not anything unique to boomers.

        • Akz1918 [he/him]
          ·
          4 years ago

          [OTHER way on social issues] not even remotely close. From same sex marriage, to marijuana legalization, to criminal justice reform etc EVERY generation has become more liberal, countless polls have demonstrated that. And politicians have responded in kind. Biden wrote the most draconian crime bill decades, it was signed in to law by Clinton. The most comprehensive criminal justice reform bill in decades (First Step Act) was introduced by Rep. Doug Collins a Republican, not from the liberal North East, not from the liberal great lakes region, not from the West coast, but from the dirty South state of Georgia, and signed in to law by Trump.

          • Pezevenk [he/him]
            ·
            4 years ago

            EVERY generation has become more liberal

            Every generation, yes. Not necessarily the same generations through time. As an average, again yes, but it's not close to being universal.

            • Akz1918 [he/him]
              ·
              4 years ago

              Every generation, in the past 30 years, in the U.S. has become more liberal on social issues. It's a snap shot, of a corner of the globe that debunks your claim that people become more conservative as they age, it does not debunk your claim that people's politics change depending on their station in life, something I don't disagree with. Boomers grew up enjoying a comfortable life in no small part due to the work unions put in before they were born, and the new deal regulations that prevented monopolies, cartels, banks gambling with their deposits, and policies that encouraged long term viability instead of short term profits. They did not experience life before those changes were made, younger generations are now experiencing the results of Boomers actions to bust unions, and gut regulations, and they are more economically liberal as a result.

              • Pezevenk [he/him]
                ·
                edit-2
                4 years ago

                it does not debunk your claim that people’s politics change depending on their station in life, something I don’t disagree wit

                You disagreed with it like 2 posts ago. People do get much more conservative as they age, being conservative isn't set in stone and the same thing across all societies, it is a relative position compared to the current circumstances in society.

                They did not experience life before those changes were made, younger generations are now experiencing the results of Boomers actions to bust unions, and gut regulations, and they are more economically liberal as a result.

                I'm gonna ignore the use of "economically liberal" here lol but I can assure you that most of the younger people you are talking about who will earn a decent sum of money and then retire will change their tune. It's sadly what happens. Not all of them of course. But a lot of them.

                • Akz1918 [he/him]
                  ·
                  4 years ago

                  [change their tune] could be, but because the the Atari, New, Blue dog, and DLC, Third Way dems have been so successful at gutting new deal regulations, lowering the social floor, union busting and privatizing the number of people who "who will earn a decent sum of money" will be negligible, furthermore, I may have not have been as clear as I thought I was. Yes a persons economic conditions often shape a person's ideology, the greatest gen grew up during the depression, boomers grew up during the most prosperous time in U.S. history. The greatest gen voted for Obama (who ran a a Economic populist in 08) in 08 (the silent gen and boomers did not who did not live through the depression did not) the GG was well aware of who the villains were that caused the great depression, and what it would take to fix it. Boomers went though a few minor recessions, and a bit of stagnation, that was blamed on unions/regulations/high taxes but nothing like the great depression. again Boomers do not now nor have they ever had a distrust of finance and big business. They believe their station in life is a result of their own hard work, and not the result of labor battles one before they were born. This mind set is not something that developed as their station improved, it's a mind set they always has because their station was never in dire straits.