Boomers have been consistently voting conservative since the Nixon era. Sure, not all of them, but the majority. And they’ve been the largest voting bloc since. Millennials are due to overtake them soon though.
Republican and conservative are not identical terms. Boomers are not a majority Republican, but they are a majority conservative. (Actually it’s a plurality, not a majority, so I did misspeak. It’s a very hefty plurality, though.) Conservative Democrats are a minority in the Democrat party, but they exist, and they help pass conservative legislation, and they block progressive legislation.
Also, as of the 2016 election, boomers still outnumbered millennials, but maybe that’s changed. I haven’t heard the news if it has. The trend line for boomers is going to accelerate down as boomers become older. You also have to factor that around 70% of boomers vote whereas only about 50% of millennials vote.
Also, where was I scapegoating boomers? I said they’re consistently conservative. That doesn’t mean they deserve to be homeless or each one is personally responsible for the housing crisis. I think you might be assuming that everyone younger than the boomers is a monolith.
Right, but relying on the voting habits of a majority to justify mocking a poor old person becoming homeless is pretty reductive and just ever so slightly cruel. It really doesn’t make for a compelling discussion.
Edit: thanks for the downvotes, but in case you didn’t read lolcatnip’s first comment, I’m agreeing with them as a rebuttal to hperrin, not saying hperrin is doing the things I said. hperrin was going to bat for the commenters.
I’m not a fan of mocking homeless people. Calling it a consequence of the voting habits of their generation is a perfectly valid argument though. It’s a good jumping off point to a larger discussion about the consequences of a generational rejection of progressive policies. We’ve consistently allowed wealth, property, and power to accumulate in the hands of a tiny group of powerful people/companies, and this is the result of those policies. We already knew that this would be the result, because it always is, every time.
Seriously. Everyone here talks about taking down corporations and everyone getting their needs met, but is pretty quick to generalize and discard a now at risk population who has a lowered ability to self serve.
The vitriol towards baby boomers is disturbing. Blaming a single, entire, generation for all of the current problems in the US is insane. It’s like if we blamed millennials for the Trump craziness.
Hang on, because I don’t think anyone is(I should say) most people are actually doing that. When we speak of “Boomers” we mean the generation, and the individuals who espouse those prototypical generational thought processes. If I meet someone in that age group, I don’t go “Aw, fuck you for trickle down economics” because I don’t blame all Boomers on a personal level. But recognizing where they fucked up, and why their ideologies have created an existential crisis for future generations, that’s fair game.
I don’t blame all Boomers on a personal level. But recognizing where they fucked up, and why their ideologies have created an existential crisis for future generations, that’s fair game.
Stop with your nuance. You have to either personally punch every homeless Vietnam veteran in the face or absolve Reagan voters of 100% of the damage they did (and continue to do). It’s one or the other.
Ok? A majority of the top level comments on this post are saying that they are unsympathetic towards the homelessness problem because they are boomers, or even insinuating that they deserve it.
Boomers have fucked my generation so I couldn’t give a chicken fried fuck about this, hell maybe now that its affecting boomers the government might actually be forced to do something about it.
Gotta love how every single comment here is talking about boomers like they’re a monolith that’s been voting for Republicans since the Nixon era.
Boomers have been consistently voting conservative since the Nixon era. Sure, not all of them, but the majority. And they’ve been the largest voting bloc since. Millennials are due to overtake them soon though.
Source? https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2018/03/01/1-generations-party-identification-midterm-voting-preferences-views-of-trump/ Y’all really do have this boomer scapegoat in your head. Also, millennials make up a larger voting bloc now than boomers.
Republican and conservative are not identical terms. Boomers are not a majority Republican, but they are a majority conservative. (Actually it’s a plurality, not a majority, so I did misspeak. It’s a very hefty plurality, though.) Conservative Democrats are a minority in the Democrat party, but they exist, and they help pass conservative legislation, and they block progressive legislation.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/181325/baby-boomers-likely-identify-conservative.aspx
Also, as of the 2016 election, boomers still outnumbered millennials, but maybe that’s changed. I haven’t heard the news if it has. The trend line for boomers is going to accelerate down as boomers become older. You also have to factor that around 70% of boomers vote whereas only about 50% of millennials vote.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/04/03/millennials-approach-baby-boomers-as-largest-generation-in-u-s-electorate/
Also, where was I scapegoating boomers? I said they’re consistently conservative. That doesn’t mean they deserve to be homeless or each one is personally responsible for the housing crisis. I think you might be assuming that everyone younger than the boomers is a monolith.
Right, but relying on the voting habits of a majority to justify mocking a poor old person becoming homeless is pretty reductive and just ever so slightly cruel. It really doesn’t make for a compelling discussion.
Edit: thanks for the downvotes, but in case you didn’t read lolcatnip’s first comment, I’m agreeing with them as a rebuttal to hperrin, not saying hperrin is doing the things I said. hperrin was going to bat for the commenters.
I’m not a fan of mocking homeless people. Calling it a consequence of the voting habits of their generation is a perfectly valid argument though. It’s a good jumping off point to a larger discussion about the consequences of a generational rejection of progressive policies. We’ve consistently allowed wealth, property, and power to accumulate in the hands of a tiny group of powerful people/companies, and this is the result of those policies. We already knew that this would be the result, because it always is, every time.
Didn’t say you were. OP of this thread was talking about the general response from all commenters.
Seriously. Everyone here talks about taking down corporations and everyone getting their needs met, but is pretty quick to generalize and discard a now at risk population who has a lowered ability to self serve.
The vitriol towards baby boomers is disturbing. Blaming a single, entire, generation for all of the current problems in the US is insane. It’s like if we blamed millennials for the Trump craziness.
Hang on, because I don’t think
anyone is(I should say) most people are actually doing that. When we speak of “Boomers” we mean the generation, and the individuals who espouse those prototypical generational thought processes. If I meet someone in that age group, I don’t go “Aw, fuck you for trickle down economics” because I don’t blame all Boomers on a personal level. But recognizing where they fucked up, and why their ideologies have created an existential crisis for future generations, that’s fair game.Stop with your nuance. You have to either personally punch every homeless Vietnam veteran in the face or absolve Reagan voters of 100% of the damage they did (and continue to do). It’s one or the other.
Ok? A majority of the top level comments on this post are saying that they are unsympathetic towards the homelessness problem because they are boomers, or even insinuating that they deserve it.
It’s a good reminder to me that many voices on Lemmy are just edgy folks spitballing opinions as if they are gospel.
Boomers have fucked my generation so I couldn’t give a chicken fried fuck about this, hell maybe now that its affecting boomers the government might actually be forced to do something about it.
“boomers” are not individuals, it’s a title for a large group.
True