In yet another generational skirmish, Generation Z is now characterizing us boomers as “angry” for unreasonably resisting their demands that we shuffle off to the graveyard and bequeath them our homes and assets.
Perhaps they are just confusing the term “angry” with the word “no,” which they are apparently just now hearing for the first time.
A piece on the Yahoo! news site on June 21 explored the responses given by boomers to the Generation Z accusation that we are always “angry” despite having had “the happiest lives of any generation.” As we have seen from comments here in the New Times, some of the young accuse us of having had it easy, of hoarding all of society’s wealth, and of taking an irresponsibly long time to die.
I avoid anger myself. Like hatred, anger usually only hurts the holder and doesn’t usually impact the subject. I may get momentarily peeved or annoyed, but it generally evaporates as soon as I turn off the news and tune in to SpongeBob SquarePants or Three Stooges clips. Intense anger or hatred is a terrible burden to bear.
And I always remember that some of my favorite people are good, intelligent younger folks who, although often disagreeing with me, will undoubtedly conquer their “chronological challenges” and gain wisdom as they age. Just as I did.
The boomers who commented offered references to Vietnam and the draft, which could get you sent off to war and killed or maimed, even if you didn’t want to go. Imagine that in this day and age.
Some of the young accuse us of having had it easy, of hoarding all of society’s wealth, and of taking an irresponsibly long time to die.
The constant threat of nuclear annihilation also came up, as did our recessions, skyrocketing inflation, gas lines, assassinations, and riots. We lived under the threat of the polio epidemic, and all knew kids who had contracted it, often distinguishable by leg braces and crutches.
The work environment was different then, as you couldn’t take off “mental health days” just because you felt like it, were expected to be reliable, could easily be fired, and didn’t expect to work from home in your pajamas. We had some pretty shitty minimum wage jobs, often involving a grill, gas pump, broom, or some uniform. Instead of living at home, we shared an old house with friends to save rent. When we finally bought houses, they were in dicey areas, needed a lot of work, and required far more than the recommended 30 percent of our income.
In distinguishing themselves from the young, some boomers mentioned suffering chronic pain, disease and disability, and the accelerating loss of family and friends to death or dementia. Some mentioned not being praised and affirmed for just doing the job they were paid for or not expecting “trophies,” constant recognition, and affirmation. The term “entitlement” came up.
But after listening to the complaints of the youngsters, it occurred to me that perhaps the biggest generational difference is that we boomers acknowledge the hardships and struggles that our parents’ generation faced and usually recognize how much easier we had it.
World War II had just concluded, with the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans, and the wounding of many more. Living near a VA facility, I recalled seeing disabled veterans, as well as those suffering from “shell shock,” now known as PTSD. Most of the fathers in my neighborhood had served in the military, and many had seen combat and sometimes shared stories of their experiences. A few, such as my father, had been badly wounded and suffered disabilities.
Civilians also suffered hardships and challenges. Food and gas were rationed, many products were not available, and many women were forced to work in the defense industries, both to serve the war effort and to supplement the meager military incomes of their husbands who were serving overseas.
Abroad, the situation was more dire with the Holocaust and the slaughter of civilians. Many of us had Jewish friends and can recall hearing of the murder of their families in the camps. Today, it is a lot different when someone shows you their tattoo.
Before that, there was the crushing poverty and desperation of the Great Depression. People were desperate for any work, and hundreds of thousands migrated from the dust bowl to places like California, willing to take any job in order to support their families and themselves. My grandfather moved his family across the country for a job as a railroad switchman and was grateful to have it. Add to that a world that was quickly racing toward yet another world war.
Growing up with a backdrop like that, it was pretty difficult for us to overlook the suffering and hardships that our parents’ generation had endured and to fail to feel gratitude for our good fortune in living in safer and more prosperous times.
So, yeah, we boomers had it easy relative to earlier generations, and you Z’s have had it easier still. ∆
John Donegan is a retired attorney in Pismo Beach who vents by shouting at the news and lecturing his cat.
This article appears in July 2-9, 2026.
For someone who claims to recognize the hardships his parents went through, and feel gratitude for “their (generational) good fortune,” why would your self-centered generation destroy it for the rest of us through the mass importation of illegal aliens, the destruction of the dollar, shipping our factories and jobs overseas, and basically calling any of us who point this out as either racists or whiners?
When you wrote this piece of drivel, did you do so as you stated out the window of a beach front condo overlooking the sea as you dined on steak, drank top shelf wine, and had a cigar?
Me? I have to go to my second low paying job in about a half hour.
Yeah, our parents had to live through a world war and a depression, but THEY BOTH ENDED. Our entire careers under Reaganomics were a series of intentional economic disasters: 20% interest rates in the 80’s, the Savings & Loan ripoff, oil and beef “shortages.” Neocons twisted our parents’ Cold War into an excuse to prop up brutal dictators all over the world to protect corporate profit and caused the refugee crisis. We all had 5 or 6 siblings, so what we inherited didn’t go to far. The fight is not over, and I wouldn’t expect you to join in until they reinstate the draft and start shooting protesters. Oh, wait…
@Steve Felton. Your memory is faulty. It was under Reagan that Carter’s inflation came down, and stayed low for 40 years until Biden’s profligate spending to buy votes drove it up again. The last gas lines were in 1979 under Carter. It was poverty from socialism which drove all the refugees out of Venezuela, a previously prosperous country. The rioting violent “protesters” that you worry about are not victims, but the entitled, indulged white kids who are trying to give their lives meaning by channeling Che Guevara and the thrill of the 1960’s revolutionary struggle.
It may surprise you to know that I was a registered Libertarian for the first 25 years of my voting life. I received mimeographed brochures from ASU and even circulated a None of the Above petition for California elections. Even Barry Goldwater had standards; he told Nixon to step down when his transgressions pale in comparison to Trump. Independent now, it amazes me that Christian Nationalists claim to be libertarians; Ayn Rand was adamant about abortion on demand. Crony capitalism is why youngsters can’t have nice things. How’s that ‘drain the swamp’ thing working for ya?
I encourage you to come back to the light, and re-embrace libertarianism.
Sadly, the fetid swamp remains. Recall all the howling when Musk tried to trim some of the vote-buying excesses in the federal budget, such as trans musicals in Columbia. The Democrats have their hungry maws buried as deeply in the federal trough as do the Republicans.
Libertarians need to come back to libertarianism. Even the Koch’s fund the religious right now, and when I voted for David Koch in 1980 the LP platform included gay equal rights and amnesty for all illegal non-citizens.
I’ll agree with this.
I already served, 1/12FA.
I salute it.
If you are looking for a generation to blame for our current problems, perhaps you need a mirror. Younger voters like yourself supported the Democrat’s open borders, in part because none of you have any interest in doing the work yourselves that illegals do. You were the ones who pushed the environmental policies and regulations which drove manufacturing out of the country, and which have driven business out of California. And, of course, flinging words like “racist” is a characteristic of you kids, not us oldsters. I do not have a beach front condo, do not smoke cigars, and when I drink wine, it is more likely from a box than a bottle. At the moment, I am enduring the hostile accusatory staring of my cat for giving him the cheap off-brand cat food that Grocery Outlet had to heavily discount in order to get rid of, and his annoyance with me for taking more than my usual one half for my own breakfast.
Native born Americans are quite willing to do the work illegals do, just pay a living wage and stop dodging taxes by hiring illegals. We pick vegetables and fruits in the Central valley, remember? Read your Steinbeck.
Our jobs were sent overseas by way of NAFTA, signed by someone from your generation: Bill Clinton.
You’re a retired lawyer, John, in Pismo. Cat food? Boxed wine? Hardly, sir. You aren’t fooling anyone.
I was just having fun with the “cat food” line. Instead, I prefer dog food, having observed that the French are fond of horse meat, and worthy of imitation. While I’m not rich, I am doing fine, but there are a lot of lawyers out there who are really struggling. A Bar ticket is no guarantee of wealth. Especially many lawyers who are self-employed, like I was for most of my career. You only get to take home the money remaining after all the usually substantial bills have been paid. It is not a very secure situation, and discourages one from developing expensive habits.
FYI: Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath was written about 90 years ago. Things change. How many white faces do you see working in the fields in 105 degree heat these days? There are not many Americans who are willing to work that hard. Even the building trades, the careers that perhaps half of my Anglo friends from school went into, are primarily Latino these days, and contractors report have difficulty finding workers. Few of our indigenous kids are willing to work that hard.
Manufacturing started leaving in the 1960’s, long before Clinton and NAFTA. The shoddy work of American car manufacturing nearly killed the American car companies during the 1970’s.
John:
Regarding Steinbeck, the reason Caucasians left the fields was because of WWII. The US brought in Braceros to fill the empty positions in the agricultural fields as Caucasians went into the factories or battlefields. We didn’t leave the fields because of sloth, sir. The GIs finished WWII and a grateful nation gave them the GI Bill where they were able to college and we’ve never been back.
My late father was a carpenter and contractor building tracked houses in So Cal in the 70s and 80s, before he went to prison. Again, thanks to your generation opening up the borders, contractors hired illegals to work in the building trades for a hell of a lot less then native born American men. Again, thank you John and all your cohort, for destroying everything.
None of this happened in a vacuum and I salute DJT for taking out the trash.