In 1971, Pete Townshend of The Who pleaded, I'll get on my knees and pray; We don't get fooled again, singing against the "jaded and compliant" leaders of the day. Now, Townshend's Baby Boomers are the generation that's taken over, and they seem to be doing some fooling of their own.
In the words of David Gergen, CNN analyst and former White House adviser, "The Baby Boomer generation is not working out very well, or as well as we hoped." Gergen made this proclamation two weeks ago at the World Business Forum, and also suggested that of paramount importance to any leader/follower relationship is trust. With that said, where's the trust between Baby Boom leaders and the generations they've been tasked to lead? Let's take a look at how Boomer leaders have butchered trust in four key areas...
1. Environment
Despite the overwhelming scientific evidence supporting the pending fall-out of climate change, influential baby boomers like the billionaire Koch brothers have stated that man-made climate change is a farce. Also part of this anti-science crusade, the Republican Party is the only major political party in the developed world that is dismissive of climate science. In fact, of the 20 GOP Senate challengers that have taken a position on climate change, 19 believe that the climate science is inconclusive or just plain wrong. Their stance is reminiscent of when the Church found Galileo "suspect of heresy" after he asserted, and proved, that our planet was round and orbited the sun.
Despite the overwhelming scientific evidence supporting the pending fall-out of climate change, influential baby boomers like the billionaire Koch brothers have stated that man-made climate change is a farce. Also part of this anti-science crusade, the Republican Party is the only major political party in the developed world that is dismissive of climate science. In fact, of the 20 GOP Senate challengers that have taken a position on climate change, 19 believe that the climate science is inconclusive or just plain wrong. Their stance is reminiscent of when the Church found Galileo "suspect of heresy" after he asserted, and proved, that our planet was round and orbited the sun.
I don't even know where to begin on the baby boomer generation's leadership faults. I wouldn't blame so much the people themselves as I would the world growing as a whole. It doesn't make sense that people have just suddenly become "bad." I don't think morals and values were just left out of the upbringing of this generation or that any of this behavior has become more acceptable. There is a distinct difference between things becoming more common and mainstream versus them actually being 'okay' and accepted. If we hear of another celebrity having eighteen mistresses and crushing his wife's life, we're going to be less surprised because it's already been happening lately - that doesn't mean it's okay behavior and we as society are just going to let it go, it is still bad. I personally believe the only reason these kinds of things have been surfacing is because of the booming media revolution. The speed at which information travels and the nosey and invasive nature of the press have led to quickly spreading rumors and stories worldwide. Things like extramarital affairs from our politicians have been happening for years, but only recently has the idea been surfacing because we now have video footage of nearly everything that happens and the internet to quickly spread any suspicion. Word travels faster than ever with the technology at our disposal and it is important to consider that when judging the baby boomer generation. We can't assume they are the only corrupt ones in the world, we have to take into consideration that maybe everyone is doing it and we just aren't catching them until now. We need to be careful with who we trust, yes, but more importantly we need to get things like this out so that everyone can understand collectively that it is just not okay.
ReplyDeleteOne of the faults of the column is that we were too general - by no means did we intend to imply that all baby boomers were bad, or that they were the "only corrupt ones in the world". I also think you raise some very valid points that bad news simply travels further and faster today than it ever has before. I also like your final point - that it's up to us to let everyone know that this type of leadership is not okay. But instead, it seems as if the younger generations have a tendency to disengage - perhaps there's a sense of powerlessness, or perhaps, as you suggest, we're simply too desensitized to this type of news. What do you think - am I off base?
ReplyDeleteEvery generation has their successes, failures, incompetent and bad leaders. Although, the Baby Boomer Generation made great strides and advancements in the areas of technology and civil rights, they also had many bad leaders that have damaged this country. I believe this article accurately highlights the shortcomings, disappointments, lack of trustworthiness, and ineffectiveness of politicians, corporate leaders, religious officials, etc from the baby boomer generation. These examples are very valid to the argument that is being made in this article.
ReplyDeleteThere is a huge distrust of America’s leaders by its citizens; and we have bona fide reasons for this distrust and skepticism! We, the people, deserve to be told the truth. But, as history shows, this hasn’t been the case a lot of the time. A lot of this distrust stems from leaders from the baby boomer generation. This blog exposes Clinton’s secrecy and blatant lies to the American people about his extramarital affair, the reasons given by the Bush Administration for the invasion of Iraq, Enron, etc. Other examples of leaders from the BB Generation include: Newt Gingrich, Martha Stewart, Bill Frist, among others.
I think the Baby Boomer Generation has caused a great disservice that the younger generations now have to assume responsibility to fix. The national debt accumulated by the Baby Boomer Generation is huge. Once again, the younger generations now have to foot the bill because so many pushed for tax cuts and saved no money. The recession the United States is currently experiencing is, in part, a result of the spending of the Boomer Generation which created a defecit. Social Security is another issue. Previous generations argued that Social Security is a scheme to take money from the young to give to the elderly. Now, our Social Security system is broken but, Boomers are diligently working to ensure that we pay for their Social Security, while at the same time trying to hinder us from having Social Security saving plans. We greatly appreciate this.
On another note, this generation’s consumption of drugs in the 1960’s has led to the current War on Drugs. Eventually, in the 1980’s, anti-drug campaigns became common, such as D.A.R.E. But, by the time they came to the realization that drugs are bad for you it was too late, too many younger people were using. Now, we have the problem of carting young people to prison because of the bad example and practices of the BB Generation. Today, young drug consumers are being prosecuted for the same practices the Baby Boomer Generation became famous for. Thanks, another problem our generation is now responsible for reconciling!
I am not attacking the whole Boomer population, but because of the decisions made during this era there is a “dislike” or “disdain” for this generation. It is not fair that we are expected to fix their mistakes or pay for them. However, life isn’t fair. So, we will attempt to and if the Gen X and Gen Y can’t fix them then it will be the responsibility of our children. We need better leaders who will make better decisions that will affect our futures and the futures of our children. We need to make it clear that we don’t want these types of leaders in charge. Everyone needs to get involved in electing our government officials otherwise they have to room for complaint.
I like your examples of Gingrich and Stewart, and in some ways I think the article may have been more compelling if we used lesser known examples like Gingrich and M. Stewart. After all, it's easier to say that all the leaders that we highlighted were simply huge narcissists and discount the primary points. And your final point, I believe, is the most obvious and most understated. We do need to get involved and express what we want to see in our leaders.
ReplyDeleteHalf of those things I think we can just write off, of which I mean politics and business. Those are human qualities that I don't believe have anything to do with what age category one falls under. Of course Clinton didn't admit it. You are the president of the United States and you are doing a good job. Why would he want to ruin that over some poor decision he made. People lie all the time to keep their jobs and they have since the beginning of jobs. Same with business. Ok sure Bernie Madoff was wrong in what he did but greed takes over people. In a position of power he had a lot of opportunities. He made a stupid decision but has nothing to do with the age category once again. People have always been greedy throughout time.
ReplyDeleteNow on to the environment. Okay this was their fault but they didn't exactly know what they were doing. With regards to global warming the average American did not know they were doing anything wrong to the environment by have a huge V8 engine in 1970. With regards to other aspects such as the destruction of forests and other things, they were still evolving. Technology only really took off within the last decade, two decades at the most. The earth was so big to them because they didn't have web cams. So they didn't really see an end in sight. Now we do. It is our job now to fix the worlds problems now. I'm not going to hate my grandparents for it. Each generation has a task and this is ours.
Religion is the worst problem I see in this article. The baby boomers are still stuck in that "my religion is better than yours" mentality. This is keeping us apart rather than bringing us together. I can chat with someone in just about any country in the world and yet people are still blowing each other up over religion. This is creating animosity among the nations that aren't necessary. In a country that we call a melting pot, and has overcome slavery and civil rights, we still have religious tensions. Religion is not something we can prove or disprove so lets just agree to disagree and live our lives to the best of our abilities.
I agree that the Baby Boomers have both succeeded and failed in a variety of ways. I must admit that I believe the BBs still have a solid hold on the U.S. government. It seems Gen X has yet to take over. Most generations believe they can do better than the previous one.
ReplyDeleteAs we age our opinions and priorities can, and often do, change. What is important to my generation may ba a "back-burner" issue for the BBs. Also, some of the BBs were hypocrites. Many began their young adult lives as tree-hugging idealists, who wanted to change the world with their radical ideas. But then they grew up and had to join the adult workforce. Shortcuts and short-term goals were used to make fast money. This has negatively affected present generations. Such as Landfills, a cheap means of trash didposal at the time but neither safe nor cost effective in the long run.
Sadly, these quick decisions tended to, and still do, include a plethora of compromises. In the end the original issues to be discussed is forgotten. To me this could be a part if the mistrust between generations. If one cannot trust another to stay focused, let alone take action for the better of the people, then how can any trust be maintained? I'm not sure if the rift can mended, however, it is probable that the BBs will be retiring enmass in the next few years. Then the questions will be, can the percieved mistrust generated by the BBs time in power be remedied? Or will the mistrist prevail throughout generations to come?
You raise great questions - and the one that I would ask in return is how can those in Gen x & Y bridge the trust gap that is almost assumed at this point (between those in power and those not). How can an entire generation ensure that their own "quick decisions" don't have negative repercussions for future generations? I came across an article in Rolling Stone recently that demonstrated that even those in Gen Y can fall victim to this short-term gain issue (http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-stoner-arms-dealers-20110316)
ReplyDeleteThis article takes a look at where leaders from the boomer generation have failed. It's a hard, truthful look at this "failure" and may be opinion which angers some however it really is interesting to look at all sides of leadership and evaluate what makes a good or bad leader.
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