See, when I was a kid, which was the 80s/90s, I was told adults/old people were always angry at the youth for being disrespectful. And when THEY were young, old people in their youth hated THEM for being disrespectful. And I was told when I got old, I'd understand, and I'd hate the youth for being disrespectful to me.
Except, now I'm 42, and I don't look down on todays youth. I don't think the majority are disrespectful. But now I see boomers who have gone from being adults, to being elderly, and they STILL look down on todays youth.
So here's what I think actually happened. You had the greatest generation, who goes off to war, fights hitler, wins, and restores peace. They come home, horny as hell, and they FUUUUUCK!
Remember THIS picture??? Yeah, thats not his girlfriend. She's not enjoying that kiss. Thats just some soldier who came back, grabbed the first girl he saw, forcibly kissed her without consent, and someone photographed it. Newspapers ran with it, because everyone thought it was a lovely moment. Everyone thought these two were reconnecting after years apart.
A bit of a tangent there, but it shows how horny these guys were. They just grab a bitch and have their way as crowds cheer. So inevitably this leads to the baby boom.
Now, these kids who fought in the war are having kids of their own, and as the 1950s take root, the greatest generation is trying to raise kids, while dealing with PTSD symptoms at a time when there was no help for that. Men didn't go to therapy. Men toughed it out, and got into fist fights to let out aggression.
But now, as they're having war flashbacks, their little 8 year old daughter is being a disrespectful little shit, because the world was traditionally based in an upbringing system where entire communities helped raised kids, with women being the main support system. Wives would come together, and help teach each others kids different lessions for a more balanced upbringing.
But now, post war, the men are back to work, but the women are ALSO still working. Thus creating a short 20 year period where most households had 2 incomes, but the ecconomy was based on 1 income per household. So these boomer kids got spoiled. Anything they wanted, they got, because why not? Car when they turn 18. All the clothes they could want. But if grandpa, who suffered through the great depression of the 1930s tried telling these boomer teenagers how lucky they are, the boomers would scoff, and say how thats not how the world works. Essentially the boomers in their youth got called disrespectful little shits.
Then the boomers grow up, and have their own kids in the 70s and 80s. These boomers who have had everything handed to them, see the technology sector start thriving and exploding in the 70s and especially 80s. They get mad that their kids play video games all day, while they had to play with a ball. So they call their kids disrespectful. And mind you, the concept of community driven parenting was never implemented when they were kids, so they as parents make no attempt to revive it. So now these Gen-X and Millenial kids don't get parenting from their friends parents. They're welcome in their home, but your friends boomer mother wouldn't teach you math. That was YOUR moms job! Not hers!
So Gen-X and Millenials grow up being called disrespectful, mostly just for using technologies that didn't exist when boomers were kids.
This was also about the time that boomers started getting highly irrational and paranoid about dangers of other people. So even though THEY grew up exploring the neighborhood without parental suppervision, they thought it was 1000x more dangerous these days. In reality, it wasn't. Every study has shown that since 1900, it gets consistantly less dangerous every year. 2025 and 2026 may skew that curve, but that doesn't affect the time period we're talking about.
So now in an era without cell phones or tracking technology, or communal parenting, boomers decided that it was too dangerous to not see their kids at all times. Because only THEY knew what was best. This is where the 1980s trend of "helicopter parenting" originated.
Now flash forward to modern day, and boomers are elderly, and calling the youth disrespectful for playing music and using slang.
So, here's what I think happened.
The boomers got called disrespectful little shits, because they were being disrespectful little shits to the generation that killed hitler before they were even born.
So they got used to older people calling younger people disrespectful. They've been acting on that ever since. Every younger person is disrespectful, because now it's THEIR chance to say it.
Never once considering the fact that they were the ones being disrespectful as youth, they were the ones being disrespectful as adults, and now, they're being disrespectful in their elderly years.
It's why literally 3 different generations say "Ok Boomer" as a way to say "shut the fuck up, you self entitled little twat who knows nothing of the world around them".
Oh, and I also forgot the part where boomers fucked up the planet for the past 40-50 years, depending on where you want to place the starting mark.
So now the world was fucked before I even had a chance to live. 9/11 happens 2 weeks before I'm an adult. Which wasn't the boomers fault, but it shows where the world was at just as I became an adult. And now that they're FINALLY losing grasp over this world, it's too little too late. The world is now headed for full on fascism.
Yeah, I don't think todays youth are the problem.
