Jack Tame: OK, Boomers: Here's what's up

COMMENT:

You, Boomers, had a free university education while many of us still start our adult life tens of thousands of dollars in debt. Boomers, you oversaw rampant speculation in the housing market. You rejected housing intensification plans and saw housing inflation not as a problem, but as an unrivaled opportunity to enrich yourselves without paying tax. With all of that wealth, Boomers, presumably you'd be okay with a few changes to superannuation? Oh nope ... Boomers, you expect us to cover that as well without significantly changing eligibility conditions. Because hey – you're not the ones paying!

Oh, and here's the real doozy: You, Boomers, cooked our planet. You, the Flower Power generation, the Jimi at Woodstock '69, the all-we-are-saying-is-give-peace-a-chance generation, forgot all of that peace-and-love-and-at-one-with-the-World stuff, and you ignored scientific evidence for decades because it moderately inconvenienced you.

After two World Wars and half a century in which the generations before you sacrificed millions of lives for the sake of their children and their grandchildren and a safer world, yours is the generation that repaid that incredible gift with absolute self-interest. The world faced a potential existential threat, and you didn't give a toss.

And through it all, Boomers, through it all, you still have sheer audacity ... the temerity, to complain that my generation is too sensitive or too fragile, while you kick up a stink about being called "Boomer"? Oh, puh-lease. Thoughts and prayers Boomers. Thoughts and prayers.

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Look: I'm only kind of joking. I know I shouldn't be baited but you've caught me at a moment of weakness and I can't resist.

Do I think we should discriminate on the basis of age? No.
Do I think sometimes my Millennial generation and Gen Z can be a bit too sensitive? Yes.
Do I also think it's rich for those of us in public positions, whether we be members of parliament or Saturday morning radio broadcasters, who get annoyed when we are dismissed for our relative youth, to then also use age as an insult? Albeit a gentle insult? Yes, okay, it's maybe a little rich.
But do I think the term Boomer is offensive? No.

Objectively, the world we've inherited is a hell of a lot more complicated than the one the Boomers grew up in. There are far more important issues facing us all than a debate over whether or not being called a "boomer" is really worth losing sleep.

So, dry your eyes. Drive your 3-Litre SUV to your fifth house or use those untaxed capital gains to supplement your Super and buy yourself a box of tissues.