You’re Messing With the Wrong Generation (Quintuple Barf Alert!)

Op Ed News ^ | 3/11/04 | Becky Burgwin

[qam1]

We were born at the end of World War II to a generation that had just won a war against pure evil. We were their hope for a brighter future. The forbearers of a new era. An era of peace and prosperity. An era of fun. We had hula-hoops, silly putty, slinkies and slip 'n slides. We ate Spaghetti-o's, Alphabits, TV dinners and Spam. We watched Ed Sullivan, I Love Lucy, The Flintstones and American Bandstand. We witnessed the first manned space flight and prayed for Apollo 13. We saw a man step onto the moon and suffered through the tragedy of the space shuttle Challenger. We danced the jitterbug, the mashed potato and the twist and listened to Murray the K, Porky Chedwick, and Wolfman Jack. We brought you the Beatles, Motown, Bob Dylan, Sonny & Cher, Rock and Roll, R&B and Woodstock. We inspired movies like Grease, The Graduate, Animal House, and American Graffiti and TV shows like Happy Days, Laugh-In, The Wonder Years and Saturday Night Live. We were there when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and we saw the first black students walk into their federally desegregated college. We heard Martin Luther King say "I have a dream" and then we watched as he was gunned down. We witnessed the murders of JFK, Lee Harvey Oswald, Bobby Kennedy and John Lennon and the premature deaths of Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Elvis.

But, through all of this, what stood out most of all, what came into our living rooms night after night right along with Bonanza and The Wonderful World of Disney, was war. A war that was happening half way across the world complete with visions of napalmed children, self-immolating monks and huge helicopters flying over palm trees. We asked our parents what was going on but they didn't have very good answers. We asked our teachers the same question but never got very satisfactory replies. Then as we got older and started demanding to know what you were doing over there, you said, "None of your business. Shut up and register for the draft." It didn't take long before it was us you were sending over there and we were forced to take to the streets shouting, "Hell no, we won't go," and singing, "All we are saying is give peace a chance." We dropped out, grew our hair, dressed, danced, sang, played music, made love, got high and changed all the rules with only one thing in mind… to get your attention and show you that it's possible to end war and live in peace. And when we were done, it was over. We had won. Do you know who we are? We're Greasers, Hoods, Beatniks, Long Hairs, Freaks, Hippies and Yuppies.

Now there's a new war. Well, it's not really new. It's the same old song and dance, really. The same old lies and fabrications. Just history repeating itself thanks to those who, if they ever did learn it, seem to have forgotten. So once again, millions of us all over the world tried to tell you, "Hell no, we won't go," and "Please, please give peace a chance." But you didn't listen. You invaded a country. You destroyed homes, cities, schools, power plants, palaces, museums and hospitals. You killed thousands and thousands of innocent people and hundreds of good kids who were willing to give their lives for their country. And this time, when we asked you why, you told us it was to give them something you call "freedom". But, you see, we don't think the kind of freedom you're talking about is actually real freedom at all. In fact, we don't think the people in that country are feeling anything that even remotely resembles freedom right now. We think they're feeling devastated. We think they're feeling fear and horror. We think they're wondering where their children are and where they're going to sleep tonight and how they're going to get food and water and shelter from the sweltering desert sun. And we're almost positive that if they did this to us, you wouldn't call it freedom. You'd call it terrorism. Oh, and one other thing. A long time ago there were these smart men who, unlike you, cared about our country and its future. And they predicted that people like you would come along and try to use something called a "military-industrial complex" to acquire even more money than you already had. We don't know exactly what that is but it sounds a lot like what you're doing when you give huge, expensive contracts to your friends to re-build things that you actually destroyed.

So here's the thing. We're tired of being lied to over and over, day after day, while the rest of the world looks on in pity and disgust and we'd just like you to know a few things. We think your war stinks. It stinks of lies and greed and murder and stupidity. There's no honor, no truth, no accountability, no remorse. In college we learned that people like you are called sociopaths but we think you're just plain evil. So we just wanted to give you a heads up and let you know…we're baaaaack. That's right. Remember us? The Hippies and the Freaks? Well, we're the Baby Boomers now. And, guess what? We're all grown up and we have money…and not only that, one of us is going to be the next president. So fasten your seat belts kids. It's gonna be a bumpy ride. And any day now you're going to figure out that things aren't as hunky-dory as you thought they were because, as much as you tried to pull the wool over everybody's eyes and get rich quick off your dirty little war, it just ain't gonna happen. Why? Because, plain and simple, you're messing with the wrong generation.

Ms. Burgwin’s writing has appeared in Newsweek, Time, New York Magazine, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Tribune Review as well as several online Op Ed sites. She is also involved in gay rights, women’s issues and the environment. She lives in Pittsburgh with her family

[Monty22]

Jeez, why the defensive nasty reply?

[Glenn]

Jeez, why the defensive nasty reply?

It wasn't to you, was it?

I'll respond anyway -- qam1 has a history of this age-class warfare crap. That's why there is a ping list for it. Capice?

[bigeasy_70118]

Generation X will go down as the greatest generation in American history. We have won three wars without breaking a sweat. We are the most entreprenurial generation ever and apparently each one of us will be supporting three overindulgent boomers in their diaper years.

This article speaks to that generation's self absorbed narcissm.

[Dallas59]

"We're all grown up and we have money"

How did you get that "money"?....Isn't money evil?

[headsonpikes]

This "person" actually writes material that she gets paid for?

My exact thought.

[Paulus Invictus]

Losers, cowards, appeasers, traitors, drug addicts and criminals are words that come to mind when I think of Boomers. This female apologist for Boomer failures is typical of that generation and the Clinton admin is the worst example of how Boomers went wrong and are still wrong.

Who were the progenitors of these idiots? I hate to admit it but it was the WW II generation. How could we have been so blind? I have to keep in perspective that Korea and Viet Nam were RAT wars so the Boomers were protesting the mistakes of their own leftist leaders who failed to win two winnable wars. We cannot allow them to occupy any positions of responsibility in the Republic. They would ruin it forever.

[Moose4]

No, Ms. Burgwin. You see, YOUR generation, the liberal baby boomers, the generation that gave us Hanoi Jane and Hanoi John and spitting on our brave troops and shouts of "baby killers," the generation that is now giving us abortion on demand and gay "marriage" and the downward spiral of moral society, YOUR generation has made a bloody effing mess of this country.

It's OUR generation, Ms. Burgwin, that is coming to clean up YOUR generation's mess. It's Generations X, and Y, and Z, the sub-40s, those of us born after 1964 (1966 for me), your sons and daughters that have to bear the crushing financial and emotional and spiritual burden that your experiments have left behind.

We are the standardbearers for the forty million children that you've had aborted.

We are the ones who rebel against your stupid, misguided liberalism.

We are the ones that, instead of running to Canada, have gone and died on foreign shores to free people from the oppression of Islamism and Communism. Died to give them freedom and to protect your worthless, sorry hides. Died so that there will be

No, lady, YOU are the one messing with the wrong generation. It is the young of this country that are going to have to rise up and save it from the likes of you and your '60s-reject ilk. We will have to be the ones to turn this left-listing ship around, stabilize it, and get it sailing on a conservative, capitalistic, moral course.

We're coming. And you aren't going to like it when we arrive.

}:-)4

[section9]

Jesus, but what a steaming pile.

She spends two paragraphs recounting really bad history. Then she goes on to accuse other boomers of lying to her about a war that is being fought to keep her pathetic, appeasing ass out from under a burkha.

Natch, as Truman Capote once said upon reading a truly awful script, "That's not writing. that's typing!"

The money quote? Right here:

Ms. Burgwin’s writing has appeared in Newsweek, Time, New York Magazine, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Tribune Review as well as several online Op Ed sites. She is also involved in gay rights, women’s issues and the environment. She lives in Pittsburgh with her family

In other words, she is a freelancer who has a hard time keeping a steady paycheck coming in.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[Glenn]

those of us born after 1964 (1966 for me), your sons and daughters that have to bear the crushing financial and emotional and spiritual burden that your experiments have left behind.

Climb down off your cross, buster. If your "generation" had all the answers, we'd have no problems, right? Utopia is at hand.

What a load of dung!

[dave k]

The baby-boom generation; the first generation that did not have to endure ANY economic hardships that their parents went thru during the Great Depression and WWII; they were afforded luxuries that were unheard of in previous generations.

I need to be careful before generalizing the whole 'baby-boom' generation as "spoiled"...my folks are of this generation, and they certainly NEVER bought into the 60's protest/drug/hippy/radical phase that this author epitomizes. They were both raised with a strong work ethic, strong moral judgment, and a belief that 'you reap what you sow' in life.

So, while I owe my existence (and many thanks) to my parents, I do not owe ANY respect to other members of their generation because of their elitist attitude personified by this article.

[Glenn]

I do not owe ANY respect to other members of their generation because of their elitist attitude personified by this article.

I'm sure the many boomers on FR are crushed that the likes of you won't validate them.

[goodnesswins]

EVERY generation has its "losers"....YOURS included.

[goodnesswins]

See post 52.

[Fletcher J]

Dear qaml,

Stop complaining, and suck it up and help pay for the huge increases in social spending the over-50 set are voting in for themselves. We only need a few hundred Billion more to pay for socal_parrot's new prescription drug benefits, etc.

Shut up and pay, mister, 'cause the "ME Generation" doesn't want to hear any more complaints from you. It might make them feel guilty that they want someone else to pay expenses for them so that they can enjoy an upgraded retirement. Guilt has never been a lingering problem for them, but if that flicker of guilt were to come during their golf swing at the club, they might hook or slice...

Yes, it's true that our age bracket will most likely be taxed into poverty in order to pay for these new expenses, only to have Social Security collapse before our own retirements. However, voicing your displeasure with this plan just makes you a whiner.

So, please stop whining about you and your children's future, and think instead about taking care of the only people that matter - the "ME generation".

Now get back to work, you have a lot of bills to pay.

Fletcher J

[Amelia]

You people are generalizing and stereotyping just as much as the "author" here is.

Yes, some Boomers ended up being druggies, hippies, and liberals. The press loved them and they got lots of attention.

Others quietly went about the business of growing up and becoming responsible. They went off to Vietnam when their country asked them to, because they thought it was the right thing to do. When they came back, they were reviled as druggies, baby killers, and war criminals by Kerry and Clinton type Boomers and some of the WWII generation.

Undaunted, they went back to college or got jobs, started businesses, and raised families.

President Bush is one of the responsible Boomers. Kerry & Clinton were and are the kind you revile.

Perhaps your parents are also the hippie-type boomer?

[Moose4]

Read my first line again. I said "you LIBERAL baby boomers." If the shoe doesn't fit, don't wear it.

Still, the fact remains, who's going to be crushed under the burdens of a metastasizing government and a Ponzi scheme named Social Security? People who are entering the workforce now.

Demographics are a bitch, and liberal government policies have just made it worse.

}:-)4

[Moose4]

That's why I threw in the "liberal baby boomer" specification. I know not all boomers are liberals. My brother's one, he's 53 and a hard-working small business owner. My parents are actually from the WWII generation (I'm 37, my dad was 47 and mother was 41 when I was born).

Sorry about that. Her self-righteousness pushed a few buttons. :)

}:-)4

[spodefly]

Sounds like she is just as emotionally immature now as she was in the 60's.

[Glenn]

it's true that our age bracket will most likely be taxed into poverty in order to pay for these new expenses

Another X'er heard from.

Did it ever occur to you to place blame where it freaking belongs? Do you know where that place is? Have you done one damn thing about it in your generation?

Do you know how to "fix" it?

X'ers are such suckers. They let the government convince them that those who proceeded them are to blame. What a great joke.

[GrandMoM]

....???????BUMP