Posted on 04/14/2011 7:23:31 AM PDT by UltraConservative
Liberals of the Baby Boomer generation are fond of calling conservatives hypocrites. If a conservative sets a moral line with regard to sexual behavior, then falls short, Baby Boomer liberals point and shout and laugh with glee. If a conservative stands up against government spending, then has a home loan backed by Fannie Mae, Baby Boomer liberals suggest that the nefarious conservative doesn’t mean what he says. If a conservative says that marriage should be reserved for a man and a woman, then gets divorced, Baby Boomer liberals shout that the conservative no longer has the right to argue for traditional matrimony.
When it comes to hypocrisy, however, it is Baby Boomer liberals who take the cake. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at benjaminshapiro.com ...
Post the whole thing and I will.
The Greediest Generation
Posted By Ben Shapiro On April 14, 2011 @ 12:06 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 4 Comments
Liberals of the Baby Boomer generation are fond of calling conservatives hypocrites. If a conservative sets a moral line with regard to sexual behavior, then falls short, Baby Boomer liberals point and shout and laugh with glee. If a conservative stands up against government spending, then has a home loan backed by Fannie Mae, Baby Boomer liberals suggest that the nefarious conservative doesn’t mean what he says. If a conservative says that marriage should be reserved for a man and a woman, then gets divorced, Baby Boomer liberals shout that the conservative no longer has the right to argue for traditional matrimony.
When it comes to hypocrisy, however, it is Baby Boomer liberals who take the cake.
When they were young, Baby Boomers vocally advocated rebellion against their elders. “There was a reason why there was an antiauthoritarian bent to our generation,” explained television writer and actor Rob Reiner in The Boomer Century. “We always heard that expression, ‘Never trust anyone over thirty.’ The reason for that is the people over thirty were running the show, and they were lying to us.” Dr. Ken Dychtwald, another Boomer, expressed the viewpoint more succinctly: “Raised to think for ourselves, to question everything, we began to challenge all rules and conventions.”
The Boomers blamed the Vietnam War for their rebellion against authority, but the truth is that it had nothing to do with Vietnam. The Boomers rebelled against authority because their elders allowed them to. Every generation rebels against its parents; the Greatest Generation was widely derided by its parents as the least moral, most sexually loose, most frivolous generation in history. Throughout human history, there has been a tendency for each generation to see its children as unworthy. The difference between the Boomers and the Greatest Generation is that the Greatest Generation’s parents told them to sit down and shut up, while the Greatest Generation allowed the Boomers to do whatever they wanted.
Brought up on the self-esteem mantras preached by Dr. Benjamin Spock, an avowed socialist, the Baby Boomers took full advantage of the laxity of their parents. They slept around, in the process promulgating both STDs and single motherhood; they derided capitalism and promoted redistributionism; they undermined the American military and celebrated America’s defeat in Vietnam; they pushed for abortion, homosexual marriage, and racial radicalization. And they did all of this while living off Mommy and Daddy.
As they grew older, the Baby Boomers refused to age. They got married later and had less children. They got divorced more often. They pursued riskier activities and riskier financial strategies. They bought plastic surgeries they could not afford and made Botox a household word. They refused to plan for the future.
Ironically enough, the Baby Boomers’ focus on their endless youth cut short the youths of their own children. In order for children to truly experience childhood, there must be a parent in the room to ensure safety, security, and happiness. When parents are absent, children must grow up fast – and the Baby Boomers were too busy playing “friends” with their children to be adults.
By the same token, the Baby Boomers’ ideologically liberal fixation on their own youth led them to the odd conclusion that adolescents were capable of making life-changing decisions on their own. According to the Baby Boomers, young people were the way and the truth; their opinions had to be taken seriously and their choices respected. Without the backbone to guide their children, they forced their children to become adults.
Worst of all, they continued to ditch their elders. The growth of the assisted living industry is largely due to the Baby Boomers’ desire to “do something” with Mom and Pop – after all, having an elderly person around can sure crimp the Club Med lifestyle.
The Baby Boomers still have not matured. Dychtwald recently lamented the failure of his generation to assume its proper role as the wise elders in a column for the Baby Boomer-dominated Huffington Post:
Those of us who came of age believing that you shouldn’t trust anyone over 30 need to seriously–and swiftly–reevaluate our stance toward the positive dimensions of the aging process and rethink our place in society. That “won’t grow up” attitude is getting old now, too. Our kids, and their kids, need us to step into our roles as society’s adults, and assume our gravitas to help the world get through this fix.
Of course, the chances of that happening are slim and none. The Baby Boomers are cradle-to-grave hypocrites: they expected their parents to cut them checks even as they mocked their elders, and now they expect their children to cut them checks, even though they are the elders. The same people who suggested that anybody over 30 was not to be trusted believe not only that those under 50 should trust them, but that they have the obligation to care for them. While religious people have been perfectly consistent for millennia about respect for their elders – see Leviticus 19:32, which suggests rising for the gray-haired – the secular Baby Boomers kicked the canes of the gray-haired, but now expect us to buy them their Hair Club for Men products.
It is the Baby Boomers who have bankrupted the country. Voting consistently for higher spending, they now complain when the country goes bankrupt and we must discuss the inevitability of cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. If the Baby Boomers’ parents lied to them about Vietnam, the Baby Boomers lied to us about Big Government – and just like their parents, they expect us to foot the bill.
Some commentators have stated that Boomers suffer from the “Peter Pan phenomenon” – refusal to grow up. That is certainly true. But we should remember the warning of the original Peter Pan: when perennial children encounter those who choose to become adults, they gnash their teeth in rage. Hence the Boomers’ anger at the Tea Party; hence their rage at deficit-cutters. Unfortunately, there comes a time when we have to grow up as a country, regardless of whether one generation hopes to continue living in Neverland.
Ben Shapiro is a writer and attorney and a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center.
would we ever expect any different from the Flower Children of the 60’s??
Some flower children grew up; some did not.
Ping for generation bashing fireworks.
That's a pretty broad brush little Benji paints with in this article. He starts out by defining his target as LIBERAL baby boomers, but quickly shifts the focus to baby boomers in general. The kid needs to grow up and realize all baby boomers are not by definition all liberals.
If I were to state that I was going to try to get in shape by running a mile every day; merely failing to run that mile on one single day would be considered "hypocrisy" by a Leftist.
Worse, from the Leftist point of view, would be if I suggested that they (or everyone) should also run a mile every day. If I then failed to run that mile on any given day, I would become the epitome of "hypocrisy" to a leftist.
How can one explain reason, logic, or morality to someone who neither speaks nor understands the language you use?
Maybe I should go downtown and sell myself as a male prostitute to improve my image - or become a politician (are those separate career paths?).
Here we go again, as tiresome as ever bump.....
“He starts out by defining his target as LIBERAL baby boomers, but quickly shifts the focus to baby boomers in general. “
I can understand losing focus. In general, boomers are a pox on America. I am at the tail end of the boomers, thus, by definition, a boomer.
Generally speaking, I hate boomers. They tend to be liberal, and self interested to the point of being destructive.
Not all boomers. I don’t hate me. :) And I realize there are lots of fine boomers, but in general, the boomers are a lost generation who have given birth to, and raised a kids who are everything their parents are, and lazy on top of it.
That if anyone ever makes a negative comment about Baby Boomers, you can count on Boomers to fall all over themselves taking it personally. "That's not true!" "I'm not like that!"
I find it tiresome.
The media created a stereotype of the people born between 1946 and 1964. We all recognize the stereo type. It's a bad sort of person, which any Conservative would want to criticize. When people say "Baby Boomers are bad", they are addressing the stereotype. Sensible people know that.
Or, you could get all defensive and try to shoot the messenger because, gosh darn it, you didn't go to Woodstock!
I was born in 1960. I would like to think of myself as Generation X, but I can't really claim that. I'm a Boomer. I'm stuck with it. I think I'm a pretty decent sort -- but I think my generation was a disaster for this country.
This is really weak, brownsfan. This is just your opinion I take it? For starters, most of the members of this forum are boomers and I highly doubt that most are liberal. All this generalizing about boomers is a waste of time. Most have worked all their lives, paid their taxes, made sure their parents were cared for, etc. Your comments are nonsense.
We let them get control and now we are all paying the price.
“Some flower children grew up; some did not.”
AND most of us didn’t act like that either!
I get sick of being lumped in with those hippie idiots!
“All this generalizing about boomers is a waste of time. Most have ...”
Pretty funny. You scold me for generalizing, then you generalize. Well played.
First off, as with most generalizations, yes, it’s my opinion. It’s based purely on my own experiences. Second, if every single member of FR was a boomer, it would be a very small sample of the number of boomers... the name “baby boomer” is a clue. There are LOTS of them.
Generalizations can be wrong in specific cases. Most boomers I know, especially those older than I am, tend to be liberal. It’s just my observation, and your generalization doesn’t trump mine.
I understand what Ben is saying about some of the baby boomers, but most of us have worked all our lives, and the chunk of money the govt takes is quite large. Our parents never paid what we have been forced to pay, so I don't consider social security an entitlement. Its more like an insurance policy.
Welfare, SSI that people haven't paid into, food stamps, etc are entitlement programs.
And they bitch about us? Upon whom is the bill coming due? If Obama screams that Federal budget cuts will hurt the elderly, are you telling me they're not going to fall for it?
The only kids of boomers that actually had some raising are those who practiced some form of religion. I have seen this over and over - even with more liberal-leaning boomers, those who go to church, or who at least believe in God, have some decent kids.
but for the most part I agree with you
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