Mumsnet paused a “boomer” thread this morning, and…

Same page then! 😊

It does make sense 😊.
Your last sentence - x 💯

so what is allowed then on here?

It was more than that. I was born at the end of the 50s. I think because of the war, there was a more cohesive idea of pulling together for the future. The politicians had mostly fought in WW2 and many had also fought in WW1. They were looking forward and trying to rebuild. It’s hard to grasp now but you get a feel for it if you look at the old black and white information films.

A lot was wrong and needed to be put right, but there seemed to be common assumptions about values that we don’t have anymore. I don’t mean that people now don’t have values and standards, very far from that, but there wasn’t the resentment you get now. Partly I think because it’s such a long time since people have articulated and discussed what they want society to be like.

There was more equality in the UK after WW2 than there is now and that made a huge difference, in my view.

I am not saying that things were better then, far, far from it. Please don’t think that I mean that.

I’m a boomer and I couldn’t care less about being called that.

it was targeted at older people because apparently they all count out their coinis slowly to give that OP the correct money, and are audacious enough to want a receipt.

When it is OPs job to take their money.

The comparison with men? TBH right now? all men who aren't constantly, and loudly calling out all the rest of the violent fuckers of their sex, are part of the problem. So yes, i will call out men - we KNOW it isn't all men and the comparison is pathetically daft.

No worries at all, I didn't think we were at odds really but worth clarifying where we were both coming from if that makes sense?

Oh definitely, and generations are such loose terms given that real people live within them and have so many different experiences aren't they? But we also need a some taxonomies to explain wide-scale change, which often is based on things like war, economic surge or downfall, and as we have seen in this century, pandemics!

Totally agree that no one should be held accountable to the generation in which they were born, that's narrow-minded and unfair.

Ok, thank you for clarifying, which you have done very fairly and very well, and I absolutely take your points 👍.
Yes, I do think these things about the evolution of society are fascinating. No one generation can be blamed or steretyped, even if their experiences mould them.

I didn't say you did, I just clarified that I didn't. You also said 'my priest' which suggests at least a short term religious practice. I wanted to be clear that I wasn't coming at it from a religious or moral stance and not really sure what is wrong with that frankly, I'm not insinuating anything about you, but I am being clear about my angle.

Well you're talking about the end of that period aren't you - it started with idealism for an amazing future that didn't materialise because of the economic pressures of recession and rising debt - it was a dynamic period.

I was simply explaining why that period was labelled the way it was by both economics and politicians at the time - and it did all start with optimism. It fell apart over time, as so much does.

It's why it only lasted a decade.

Generalisations!

Like people think that in the 80s you were either a yuppie/Sloane yelling “loadsamoney” or wearing a donkey jacket and brandishing a “Scabs!” placard in the miners’ strike. No one else existed.

I am Gen X but I don’t think being born a year or two earlier would have magically afforded me a 35p house, a final salary pension and a life of cruises. I do think there was a certain demographic born in mid 1940s to 50s who were at a sweet spot in history. Not everyone, of course, but those who benefitted from great grammar schools, university expansion, full employment and affordable housing - and indeed a housing ladder.

I never claimed to take life advice from religion 😂i quoted one priest!
Blimey!! 😂
The whole Keeping up with the Jones was definitely a thing, but quite noticeably linked to status and consumption. This was discussed by politicians and educators as well.
It was the very opposite of idealism.

I learnt it in an educational establishment many years later for my A-Levels as opposed to from a pulpit, so my version was probably just an economic concept, rather than a motto through which to live your life. But also, full disclosure, I don't take life advice from religion. I'm a humanist, just for abundance of clarity.

Is it though ? What about millenials or Gen X ? All ageist ?

Goodness - you got deleted for that?! Was there an explanation? Because some posts are very unpleasant.

Right. I grew up with it and heard it a lot, plus caution against it, as greed and materialism grew. Our priest even gave a warning in the pulpit "stop trying to keep up with the Jones! Live within your means!"
Good advice.

Seems like one of my responses to a post today was reported… and I got a pretty nasty email from ‘those who must be obeyed’… only posts I commented on was to say I thought the term boomer was an insult… then I tried to make people see that weight loss jabs were tested on force-fed monkeys.
Which ever if my posts were reported … they were both accurate!

If you say so, I didn't invent it. I leaned it at college.

Yes, that's the problem, isn't it? Together with ludicrous notions of perceived advantages. It's class and wealth, not age that confers it.
Jeremy Corbyn, Jeremy Clarkson, Princess Anne and Johnny Rotten are all "Boomers".
No similarity at all!

No. It's about being competitive and dissatisfied with your lot. "They've got a Magimix! We need one! They've got a set of steak knives! We need them!"
Consumption, not idealism. The very opposite.

How so? Keeping up with the Jones' is all about aspiration and idealism.

Not really - the able-bodied are advantaged as a class compared to disabled people as a class. It certainly isn't the case that younger generations are more fortunate than the class of people born between 1946 and 1964. There is no element of "punching down".

Not many posts with "Gen Z" in the title are positive either. Any characterisation of an entire generation of people that ignores huge individual variation in personalities is ridiculous.

They do but they don’t expect older people to. Apparently older people are supposed to be very ‘proper’ 🤣🤣🤣

Dire Straits also excellent - my parents listen to them too (see also Wham, Culture Club and various music that was my generation’s 🤣)

My mum admits she fancies the arse off Roger Daltrey too 🤣🤣

"I despise all Boomers"

"I despise all men"

Two statements no MNetter will ever get deleted for.

Yes, it's the internalised misogynist ageism. Older women have been the font of wisdom, traditionally, and had valuable knowledge.
Think of men's fear of this, and the persecution of "witches". The way that older women are degraded now is by being objects of scorn and ridicule . This just shows how the importance of female wisdom has been eroded by men for their own power, and this has been accepted by many women as well.