What a smart person thinks about Boomers

Friend and reader, Doug, made this comment to my last post. He's generally cleverer than I am, so here are his thoughts where you don't have to go hunting for them in the comments. Thanks Doug:

When we were growing up, every significant milestone in the Boomers' life was heralded on the cover of Time magazine -- Boomers Turn 40, Boomers Return to Church, Boomers Breed, Boomers Retirement Coming Soon, etc. It seemed to wither up after that last one and I have a theory about this: The Boomers' retirement means that they no longer holding the senior editorial positions in the mass media any more.

My theory extends to the younger years of the Boomers' lives as well -- The Beatles, Vietnam, Woodstock and the rise and fall of Disco. In that era it was the parents of the Boomers who shaped the message of the media and they were just so proud that they had to write about their kids. That is only natural, I love to write about my kids as well. The difference is that these parents (aka The Greatest Generation) bred en masse and this boom had a significant impact on the demographics of the country, therefore it was extra special.

This trend will continue past the retirement of Boomers and likely always will. When our generation ("X") got a few years beyond college, we made our mark. The alt rock of our high school years became mainstream. We embraced the Internet and the changed the definition of "mass media". The kids graduating from high school in 2009 will do the same thing in about ten years.

So, I don't share the vindictive attitude toward the Me Generation, I view what they did and what happened as a consequence as inevitable. The demise of their influence is also inevitable -- and quite welcome as well.

As for marketing a radio station to them in 2009, I think it's a bit crazy. If we're talking about terrestrial radio, it's a dying medium aimed at a demographic beyond their prime earning years in an era when the economy has shifted people away from raw consumerism. If it's not terrestrial radio, you're pushing new media to a group that is well behind the curve on the adoption of Internet or satellite radio. Good luck with that.

I think my comment is now longer than your original post. You seem to have struck a nerve.

Boomers

Someone I admire and respect works a great deal as an entrepreneuse in the Boomer market. A recent tweet from her asked for advice about what to feature on an upcoming boomer radio station, and that raised a bit of a conflict for me.

My first reaction to Boomers is "fuck those guys".

It's probably wrong, but from my perspective Boomers are the generation that occurred between my parent's and mine, fucked up health care and education for my generation, and occasionally have the temerity to call my generation slackers.

I don't believe it about all Boomers, but whenever I'm asked to consider the group as a whole, my reaction is "fuck the 'me' generation".

Anyone else out there have a similar reaction, or know a good way for me to recast this crowd of self-involved hypocrites (joke) in a more positive light?

Seriously? Not a single comment on the chinchillas?

I thought that rant was hilarious. I don't even need to read it really. Just a gander at the snooty, unsuspecting chinchillas is enough to set me off.

Oh well.

So, you know how some weeks you really get a lot done at work, clear up the clutter in your inbox and manage to sort out the blueprints that'll lay the groundwork for the rest of your career? Yeah, me neither.

On the plus side, I did buy an attractive hat. In the other column though, it's the kind of hat you can only get away with wearing if you're particularly hip and, more-to-the-point, not lugging an extra 10 pounds of girth about just in case of emergency (like in case I retrospectively realize I really DID want that pound of cheese I ate last night).

You can't be too careful.