Since the beginning of this millennium, I’ve been writing critiques of the “generation game”, the idea that people can be divided into well-defined groups (Boomers, Millennials and so on), with specific characteristics based on their year of birth.
An example that comes to mind is the “anti-Greta” activist Naomi Seibta, climate change/science denier who has been associated with the ultra right.
Wouldn’t the Right in Australia would be motivated to find ways of dividing the younger demographic, not only as a distraction from the real threat of climate change but as a way of undermining this cohort’s seeming rejection of ‘old’ ideologies and beliefs?
If the right were an ideological project this would be true, but much of it is just identity politics for old people, precisely the kind of thing encouraged by the generation game.
As a former member of the AGE OF AQUARIUS I see my generation differently from the freedom loving and long haired twenty somethings of the 1970s. In the 2020s, these same people are losing their mobility and their hair colour (some like me have lost their hair). Generational attributes change over time and cannot be locked into tight little boxes.
Thank you John, again, for a stimulating piece.
An example that comes to mind is the “anti-Greta” activist Naomi Seibta, climate change/science denier who has been associated with the ultra right.
Wouldn’t the Right in Australia would be motivated to find ways of dividing the younger demographic, not only as a distraction from the real threat of climate change but as a way of undermining this cohort’s seeming rejection of ‘old’ ideologies and beliefs?
If the right were an ideological project this would be true, but much of it is just identity politics for old people, precisely the kind of thing encouraged by the generation game.
So pleased to have solid articles to refute those who blame the boomers (of which I'm one) for everything.
As a former member of the AGE OF AQUARIUS I see my generation differently from the freedom loving and long haired twenty somethings of the 1970s. In the 2020s, these same people are losing their mobility and their hair colour (some like me have lost their hair). Generational attributes change over time and cannot be locked into tight little boxes.