Comments on: Tom Brokaw Looks at Baby Boomers

By: Mike Anders

Mike Anders — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 18:47:59 +0000

Not enough can be made of the affect of “Youth Culture” on the Baby Boomer generation that resulted, among other things in an extended adolescence, the anti-war movement, sex, drugs and rock&roll. Of all the things that came out of “The Sixties” other than the Civil Rights movement, only the Rock&Roll of the day was all that good!
Parents always want more for their children than they were able to have. The “Greatest Generation” was hit with a double dose of reality in the forms of the “Great Depression” and “World War II.” They had to grow up fast and it showed in popular culture of the times, in the music, books and movies of the War Years. Cigarette smoking and consumption of alcohol skyrocketed during the 1940’s and carried over into the 1950’s. Before the war getting a High School education was sufficient to guarantee a good job, but not for Baby Boomers; a University degree was required, and even now, Post-graduate education is almost a minimum requirement in many of the best paid professions. The attention paid to the “Youth Movement” by main stream media, particularly television, starting in the 1950’s, only helped to perpetuate a state of teenage self-absorption that extend well into domestic and international politics that manifest itself in anti-draft rallies and opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.
Interestingly, hard-core Marxists who rallied behind the George McGovern branch of the Democratic Party now have re-branded themselves as “Progressives” or just choose to remain under the radar altogether. Their influence can still be felt, however, when “Boomers” like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi stumble and talk about getting “the Big Corporations” and “The Rich” pay more in taxes. The same youthful political naiveté the possessed in “The Sixties” can still be seen twinkling in their eyes. The same look can still be seen in the eyes of the likes of Bill Clinton, a.k.a., “ The Boomer in Chief.”

By: Joel Kiekbusch

Joel Kiekbusch — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 01:17:40 +0000

I am a boomer. We suck as a generation…absolutely the worst generation of Americans in the nation’s history. We have done NOTHING to enhance the status of this nation or the world. We sit around on our asses complaining about having to work too much; we want our kids to be our ‘friends’ instead of actually attempt to be parents, so we drink and smoke pot with them and want them to be just like “us” when we were kids; rather than hold them accountabe when they screw up, we protect them and try to circumvent societal rules to save their ass when they should be receiving consequences for their actions.

Basically, we SUCK!

By: Steve Corrigan

Steve Corrigan — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 04:46:07 +0000

Really off the mark. The Bommers would have NOTHING to do with the nonsense in Birmingham, etc. No Way. Completely out of line.

The Boomers were the hippies — period. Ecology, environment, polution, etc was everything. Brokaw is so out of it he has no idea what was really going on.

Cheers,
Steve

By: LP

LP — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 18:33:27 +0000

Stella,
My husband and I are both Boomers — not wealthy older man/younger woman as you suggest–this is not our 2nd family and certainly no surrogates were involved. Boomer women in their 40s are still quite capable of having babies, thank you very much.

You must not have read this Boomer article and the dozens of comments following the article from Boomers with small children still at home.

Check out Boomer Generation Defies Labels at:

http://www.boomercafe.com/2010/01/22/boomer-generation-defies-labels/

As with everything else, our generation truly does defy labels.

By: Stella

Stella — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:47:24 +0000

meant to say “rendering”

By: Stella

Stella — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:46:35 +0000

I don’t know many baby boomers just starting to have a family unless by surrogate or a wealthy older male with a younger woman (nothing new) but it’s usually a 2nd family that’s being started.

I watched some of Mr. Brokaw’s special (taped it) and it does cover boomers retirements that were affected by current economic conditions rending them at the same place as those who for whatever reason did not or could not save.

Interesting topic for sure.

By: Why Baby Boomers Don’t Make Good Parents | Healthy, Wealthy & Wise

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 21:08:48 +0000

[...] Tom Brokaw Looks at Baby Boomers (boomercafe.com) [...]

By: Tamra

Tamra — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 23:49:39 +0000

What is the song that by the Beatles mentioned by Bill Clinton?

By: ACW

ACW — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:25:53 +0000

I was born in 1955 and felt that much of the show was about the older boomers who came of age in the 1960s. Can’t really synthesize the generation into an hour special. I came of age in the 1970s in the SF Bay area. I didn’t attend protest rallies or do a bunch of drugs. I did however read the first issues of Ms. Magazine and Mother Earth News and was very influenced with the natural foods and organic movement. That has stuck with me. Our family chose to adopt a cash – pay as we go lifestyle and live beneath our means rather than go for the big homes depicted in the special. We have come through this economic situation with no debt and home intact. Dave Ramsay should have been interviewed regarding Boomers and money. I plan to work until I’m unable to do so. I enjoy working and figure I will need to until at least age 75 or so. I do wish Brokow would have addressed the changes in religion and spiritual pursuits. Churches have changed quite alot.

By: Second Middle Age – New and Mysterious | Second Act Living

Second Middle Age – New and Mysterious | Second Act Living — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:30:18 +0000

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