Boomers Are Losing Narrative Control

A loose theory about the history of now

Sweeping generalization alert. This might might upset some people, rightfully so, but I hope it suggests useful insights. My parents are baby boomers, I love them dearly. Some of the finest people I know are boomers. I do not like the concept of generations, but it can useful.

The vibes are off, right? Worrying about the zeitgeist has become part of the zeitgeist. History has clearly not ended, but is liberal democracy really on the ropes? Extreme poverty has fallen worldwide, rich nations are still rich and it is still possible to argue that they continue to grow richer, yet ennui prevails.

There is no one explanation, but an under-discussed megatrend (forgive me) is growing intergenerational resentment. Baby boomers and millennials accuse each other of being entitled. Baby boomers and Gen Z accuse each other of being complacent. Gen X watches from the sidelines, taking an occasional sip of wine, shaking their heads.

Baby boomers have been in the catbird seat since they were teenagers, exerting enormous cultural and social power. As their grip weakens, they are not only losing control of the generations below them, but also of how we think about the time we live in, and about them. Maybe young generations feel off-balance because we are now defining the times but never learned how. Or maybe our unsettled feeling is downstream of boomer disorientation.

Baby boomers are collectively struggling to maintain their self-definition, especially in the face of mounting scrutiny from the youths, and have paid real consequences as they struggle to reassert themselves. COVID-19 killed thousands of older Americans who rejected vaccines and were especially susceptible to conspiracy theories.

The loss boomers seem to be feeling most deeply is not of the moral high ground or of their power, which remains significant. Looking back at public hearings I attended or tuned into about zoning reform and housing developments, I have a sense that baby boomers were grappling with a realization that history may not remember them as they assumed it would. The cost of living crisis has led to new perspectives about so-called reforms that touted radical transparency, endless public input, and an expansive view of direct stakeholders as safeguards of civic representation and equity.

The germ of this historical narrative theory comes from a characteristically lucid essay by

T. Greer

,¹ noting that we view the second half of the 20th century through the lens of how baby boomers experienced those decades.

• The 1950s is idealized as a time of simplicity, stability, and innocence. In reality, it was defined by growing racial tension and an emerging counterculture. The most famous pornographic magazine debuted in 1953. Lolita published in 1955.

• The 1960s was a time of social liberalization, a parade that baby boomers enthusiastically jumped in front of even though they were still teenagers. The Civil Rights movement was fought and won by their immediate predecessors. Culture became youth culture, morality became youth morality.

• The 1970s married the anxieties of fully fledged adulthood with professional ambition and sexual exuberance. The Vietnam War and Watergate cemented their self-image as righteous moral crusaders. And everyone headed to the disco to party. The drugs were tame and unadulterated, casual sex was low-risk. Marketers, their hooks in boomers from birth, further stoked their narcissism.

• The 1980s and '90s were boom times for boomers, who earned salaries their grandparents could only have dreamed about, and had lots of kids (yielding another boom, of millennials, the largest generation yet). Boomers embraced conservatism and centrism. (Ironically, their moral panic about song lyrics looks less ridiculous now. Witness Diddy and Marilyn Manson. Men who celebrate misogyny turn out to abuse women, go figure. Wait, was Tipper Gore … right???)

Then 9/11 stopped the music, kicking off an age of uncertainty and paranoia. The war on terror started as a revenge tour but slumped into moral ambivalence and humiliation, shredding American self-respect. You cannot kill an idea, yet the American idea weakened. The national mood became less dependent on economic conditions.

Relatively late in life, boomers grew much more conservative, without letting go of their sense of idealism and self-seriousness.

Here in liberal (whatever that means) Northern Virginia, baby boomer NIMBYs argue against dense housing near jobs and setting aside little bits of roadway for bike lanes with the righteousness of civil rights marchers. They are viscerally outraged and personally offended by anyone else claiming moral authority, or mere disagreement.

Baby boomers are disturbed by the notion that progress—environmental, economic, racial—requires dismantling huge networks of legal restrictions, and ways of thinking about justice, that they lovingly crafted. They fear a more dynamic future that offers less certainty and less of a role for them to play.

In the new millennium, digital technology became central to daily life, and many baby boomers never quite caught on (it is OK to admit it) and were totally unequipped for the behavioral feedback loops of smartphones and social media, if they got hooked. To be fair, technology shows our true selves as much as it does anything else.

My mind drifts to a demure retired teacher from my middle school lecturing me on Facebook about how if asylum seekers had “gumption,” they would stay and fix their home countries. As for contested facts, scholars now find that older women are disproportionate spreaders of false claims and outlandish stories online.

People tend to be more emotional as they age, yet nevertheless, as we saw from the Tea Party movement, baby boomers have noticeably resisted the archetype of elders as stoic sources of wisdom. They are forever young and rage is forever a virtue. Their politics is zero-sum. Their faces grow red, their breathing grows shallow. They raise their voices and interrupt. They attack institutions. They see enemies everywhere.

I suspect elderly progressive battle axes and churchgoing conservatives do feel the cognitive dissonance of waging holy war against apartments that would bring new neighbors. It deepens their rage. A dear friend likes to intone that every accusation is an admission. Maybe not every accusation in reality, yet YIMBYs are often accused with not believing what we say.

The generation that discarded religion en masse has lost control of its legacy. They see a new history being written. The greatest generation will keep its laurels. Newer generations will clean up the mess boomers created, however unwittingly. Pity the elite American baby boomer, still astride a world, staring into the abyss.

Shalom and happy Yom Kippur to any Jewish readers. Best wishes to your loved ones.

I will be back soon with a detailed guide to picking an electric cargo bike. In the meantime, you can read a more data-driven musing about baby boomers below.

Thanks to my 585 subscribers, especially my 10 paid subscribers. If you enjoy this blog or want to work together please contact lucagattonicelli@substack.com. Check out YIMBYs of Northern Virginia, the grassroots pro-housing organization I founded.

1. Tanner wrote this inspiring essay on cultures that build and participatory politics which had a huge influence on me, even though he claims it was basically cynical satire. He also wrote this wonderful piece exploring the post-WWII nationalization of American life, which turned the country into one big pond we all had to compete in. And this is just what he dabbles in, he is a world-class China expert! Do yourself a favor, check out his writing.