One of the more recent catchphrases of young people, “OK, Boomer,” meant to dismiss and generally shame an older person and what they have to say, although somewhat focused on a specific group, got me thinking about the broader state of our society in terms of how we interact.
The general context and meaning behind this phrase, from what I gather, is that old people are out of touch, or ignorant of current events and sentiments.
That is certainly not a new phenomenon. The elderly people that young people are bashing today could very well have been the hippies of the 1960s that bashed and rebelled against their parents and grandparents. And then those parents and grandparents could have been the young people of the 1920s who rebelled against their own elders. Point being, it is nothing new for the young to be upset with the old and vice versa.
Unoriginality aside, I find the insult, “OK, Boomer,” to be indicative of what’s happening to us as a whole. We’re becoming less civil.
Of course, respect is earned and it goes both ways, but why has disrespect now become the default? If someone has to earn your respect, wouldn’t the same have to be said for earning your disrespect?
We have started rejecting rational debate and conversations in favor of, well, poop flinging. That’s the best way I can describe it.
If we have a disagreement with someone we almost instantly resort to dismissal tactics such as, “OK, Boomer.” We also resort to other forms of name calling where we erroneously label someone in an effort to destroy their credibility.
It doesn’t even stop with the words. “Cancel culture,” is a plague on our civility as well. That is, the new, largely internet-fueled, phenomenon that boils down to: if someone does something wrong, they immediately deserve to have their social media accounts taken down and their voice silenced. If they own a business, their profits deserve to be taken away, or at the very least stopped.
That’s not very civil. That’s mob rule. And it often happens before all the information is revealed. Sometimes, when the truth comes out, it just so happens they didn’t do anything wrong at all Or if they did, it was minor and they can apologize and make amends. What if their wrongdoing is up to interpretation? Where some think they’re wrong, others think they aren’t? Unfortunately for the person in question, the damage is usually already done.
I’m not defending those who have actually done wrong, of course. But I do want to pose the question, is it right for us to act on impulse in such a way?
Is it right for us to dismiss our elders simply because we have a disagreement? I don’t think so.
Is it right to, “Cancel,” someone because they might have done one thing wrong? Did they even do anything wrong? If they did, was it bad enough for them to deserve such strong backlash?
Be civil. Don’t disrespect someone you don’t know. Review the facts impartially. Think before you act.
Thank you for reading.