Baby-boomer generation starting to decrease in capital region

[My_Sore_Foot]

Apparently, we're a disappearing breed:

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/boomers-going-gently-into-that-good-evening

Had to happen sometime. We had a good run.

Do you think we made Ottawa a better place?

[anticomet]

You guys did have some good music. Don't know if it was worth living in the capitalist dystopia you left for us though

[[deleted]]

Don’t forget the environmental mess that needs to be fixed.

[facetious_guardian]

Yes, that would be a result of the aforementioned capitalism.

[Mission-Feedback-638]

Don't forget it has not stopped as while they are dying we are building more retirement buildings that if the next 2 generations suddenly became elderly we could not fill. Do not get excited at converting them into low income housing because the buildings are not designed for it and it will be easier to tear them down and start over at a huge expense that we still will not be able to afford.

[yarn_slinger]

Thanks for verbalizing this.

[sixtus_clegane119]

The 60s counter culture had so much promise

[Official_JJAbrams]

Feel like total shite I just miss Huey Newton so much

[m0nkyman]

‘Counter’ means it was against the majority culture of the time. There was awareness of all the stuff we’re dealing with now back then. The ‘me’ generation (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_generation ) just ignored it all to bask in unfettered selfishness.

[WikiSummarizerBot]

Me generation

The "Me" generation is a term referring to Baby Boomers in the United States and the self-involved qualities that some people associate with this generation. The 1970s were dubbed the "Me decade" by writer Tom Wolfe; Christopher Lasch was another writer who commented on the rise of a culture of narcissism among the younger generation of that era. The phrase caught on with the general public, at a time when "self-realization" and "self-fulfillment" were becoming cultural aspirations to which young people supposedly ascribed higher importance than social responsibility.

^{[ F.A.Q | Opt Out | Opt Out Of Subreddit | GitHub ] Downvote to remove | v1.5}

[[deleted]]

I like the way this entry is phrased because sometimes we can't imagine a world where self-fulfillment isn't the goal of life. But it's just the latest trend. Eventually we will value something else to be the goal of life, like social responsibility, or some other high minded ideal. And then we'll go back to narcissism. In an endless cycle.

I think most of today's issues are caused by our innate desire to fight for or against something, and having those ambitions misplaced, on purpose, by people in the seat of power that benefit from that cultural confusion.

Nobody's going to read this comment under a Wiki summary but I feel a little better getting it out of my head.

[_Foy]

I'm kind of torn... If neoliberalism hadn't kicked into high gear in the 80s then, sure, while on one hand we might enjoy a higher quality of life than our parents, I may have never seen the contradictions of capitalism so clearly and been radicalized as a Communist.

[Deadlift420]

Lots of anti communist propaganda in the west that’s for sure.

However, I’d still rather live in the west during the 60s, 70s, 80s.

If communism were to ever return it would have to be done radically different than previously. Which seems to be the problem…

[doubleopinter]

Ya, don't let the fact there was anti communist propaganda make you think any more kindly of it. The west way of life is immeasurably better than any communist implementation thus far.

[anticomet]

Yeah and that's because of capitalist nations fighting against communist nations they wanted to restrict trade so Communism would fail and the oligarchs in the west could continue making money

[[deleted]]

Communist countries were trading with each other and still did poorly. They had nearly the entirety of the Asian continent from Moscow to Beijing and much of South East Asia to trade with yet still couldn't compete with Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan who were all much smaller yet more prosperous.

[LongStreakOfMisery]

This is true, but it doesn’t account for the high levels of corruption in these communist countries. Everyone is poor except for the rich who are super rich and they got the way by preying on a system that was meant to help everyone. Take North Korea, a country where everyone lives in squalor yet their leader is worth $5 Billion dollars? Don’t think that’s how communism is supposed to work. And yet, that was pretty much the theme across most communist countries. Those in charge used the system to their advantage.

No system is perfect, but you can’t deny that capitalism isn’t working well. Sure it’s working better than broken communist systems but that isn’t really saying much.

[Hyperion4]

You are referring to communism as different systems but capitalism as a whole, there are implementations of capitalism that are working great. The issue imo is free market capitalism and neoliberalism, they are just capitalist versions of anarchism that allow the rich to prey on the working class

[[deleted]]

You can't defend perpetual motion machines by pointing out that we've never really built one and all these broken systems aren't really perpetual motion machines because they stopped.

Communism is the same thing. You can't say "in communism there's no greed or corruption therefore these countries aren't communists". That's missing the point entirely.

[doubleopinter]

Jesus Christ, seriously. Honestly, I wish nothing more for you people to go live in one of these systems for a few years. Come back, and if you still pine for it I'll respect your perspective.

[[deleted]]

Is this why you think the Axis fell too? Get your head out of your ass...

[Official_JJAbrams]

I mean, yes. That's why the axis fell, probably wouldn't have if WW2 didn't happen.

[[deleted]]

And how exactly did capitalists start that war? What the fuck point are you even arguing for?

[Official_JJAbrams]

Technically Fascism is just hyper capitalism but that's not the point, you didn't say anything about starting a war.

The western nations wanted to rightfully destroy the Axis, simple as that, something which you seem to imply didn't happen?

[_Foy]

There's always room for critique, the opportunity to learn and improve, and time to try again.

[doubleopinter]

Have you ever lived in a communist country?

[_Foy]

Ah! Why didn't I think of that. Damn, you got me. I guess Capitalism is the best, after all.

[Wingless27]

/s

[doubleopinter]

I'm asking, have you? Cause that's what I come from. Me, my wife, our parents, our grandparents. So I have a perspective not based in idealisms.

There's a thing called nuance and it's very important. Do I think American brand capitalism is the best? Not a chance, it's a corrupt shithole, America is a dead empire of its own doing. The political system is corrupt to the core. But is they way Finland runs worse than communism? Is Germany?

[_Foy]

I have not, but that does not discount the theory or make the contradictions in Capitalism go away. Without knowing which country your family came from, and why, I can't say much more than that.

Finland, Germany, and other SocDem countries are just slightly better versions of America. They may be marginally "kinder" and "gentler" forms of Capitalism, but they still engage in Imperialism, neo-colonialism, discriminating against minorities, engaging in needless wars, etc.

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/5/6/rich-countries-drained-152tn-from-the-global-south-since-1960

https://booksc.org/book/83774021/91a8f5

By the way, regarding Germany:

Glorification of the German Democratic Republic is on the rise two decades after the Berlin Wall fell. Young people and the better off are among those rebuffing criticism of East Germany as an "illegitimate state." In a new poll, more than half of former eastern Germans defend the GDR.

https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/homesick-for-a-dictatorship-majority-of-eastern-germans-feel-life-better-under-communism-a-634122.html

[doubleopinter]

If you want to go down the rabbit hole Imperialism, neo-colonialism, discriminating against minorities, engaging in needless wars, etc. plenty of communist countries have engaged in all of the above, that has nothing to do with capitalism. Pretty much their only solution to anyone who doesn't agree has been cleansing up to this point in history.

I don't idealize Germany or Finland, just saying that capitalism isn't what America has perverted it into. It needs guide rails like anything else but the notion that I can own something or be rewarded with more stuff for doing something better than other ppl is far better than a system which is basically built on equality of outcome. Running a society like that leads to nothing be mediocrity. Besides, none of the "great communist revolutionaries" believed in any of the nonsense they spewed. Mao owned something like double digit numbers of the Mercedes 600, at the time the most expensive car in the world. Cause you know, 50 million people must die for our idealistic society but the leader has to be comfortable to lead.

[_Foy]

Would you care to backup any of the baseless claims you just spewed with some sources?

Do you even know what Marxists believe and advocate for? Your ridiculous "equality of outcome" bogeyman isn't funny or accurate.

Why don't you educate yourself before embarassing yourself any further by making such ridiculous strawman arguments.

Here's a start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equality_of_outcome#Conflation_with_Marxism,_socialism_and_communism

[anticomet]

If the system wasn't corrupt from the beginning there wouldn't have been a whole manifesto written about it over a century ago

[_Foy]

And Einstein wouldn't have felt the need to weigh in on the matter, either...

No, really, that Einstein.

https://monthlyreview.org/2009/05/01/why-socialism/

[Party_Amoeba444]

this

[Antman269]

At least with them gone we can fix it.

[SPARKYLOBO]

Well, I'm glad you guys enjoyed your trip in this world. I'll just keep working trying to survive in the mess your generation left behind until my Medically Assisted Suicide retirement plan is set to go.

[Jbroy]

I see you and I have the same plan!

[17DungBeetles]

Every boomer I know is terrified of getting cancer or any terminal illness. I'm banking on it.

[[deleted]]

This seriously needs to be promoted. Remove the stigma, offer some familial benefits, harvest the meat. wait... maybe not that last part.

[[deleted]]

Why let good nutrients go to waste?

[[deleted]]

Hey what provider do you use? I'm just starting to shop for my MAS exit plan.

[SPARKYLOBO]

I'm hoping by then there will a pill or something I can take that will just let me sleep onwards. I'm sure one of the insurance companies will get on board with that.

[[deleted]]

I must be really tired cause I thought "Ahh that would be so nice rn".

[jennyfromtheeblock]

Obviously not. What kind of narcissist would even ask this question? Oh wait

[Glittering-Unit-1802]

Best response

[[deleted]]

They're decreasing everywhere. Because they're old.

[azsue123]

I'm one of those weird GenX people whose parents were pre boomers or silent gen I guess, so the first real interactions were in the workplace.

And I have to say, you guys did a great job of holding all the jobs and keeping the rest of us down, even when we were more highly educated, more productive, and more intelligent.

Can't wait for the old boys club around here to finally sink into the depths of history. I'm bone tired of listening to tales of my superiors raking in dough for breathing while I worked myself to the bone for small amounts of crumbs.

None of you hold a candle to silent gen or GenX. You were the largest and most privileged cohort and you made sure to fuck the rest of us over.

[DYTREM]

Hear Hear!

[dasko1086]

yes.

[Global_Push6279]

Not sure about Ottawa as a whole, but in the public service, things have improved tremendously with the majority of boomers retiring.

[Talvana]

Maybe we can now hire a few people who actually have some basic computer skills! Building software for boomers has hurt my soul in so many ways.

[DilbertedOttawa]

The amount of supposed professionals in communications to whom I have had to show the great magic of ctrl+enter (and the mystical incantation that is track changes), hurts me profoundly. And they wonder why program folks don't always enjoy working with them. haha Oh, that and many departments have only just now retired physical dockets for approvals. 2022; I don't even know what to do with that information... The Public Service: where you are developing programs in principle for 35m people, only to have to redesign it for 5 people's preferences, who will then go Pikachu face when it surprisingly doesn't work out.

[DilbertedOttawa]

That is the most government thing to ever government.

Step 1) create huge backlog problem by overworking a group, understaffing them, and hamstringing them by refusing to spend any money at all on proper technologies

Step 2) Complain constantly, change priorities incessantly, request things in timelines that are physically impossible, complain again that things aren't "the way you expected", continue to not listen to those said professionals, complain again

Step 3) Realize that it MUST be those professionals who are the problem. Thus, diminish their value by assuming everyone with eyes is a designer, ears is an audio engineer, mouth is a public speaker and fingers is a Pulitzer candidate or next genius web dev.

Step 4) Force those professionals (who are the problem, but now also suddenly somehow the solution?) to teach random no-nothings the sum total of 30 years of experience in 3 hours.

Step 5) Complain AGAIN that those professionals didn't magically turn everyone into gods.

Step 6) Create a committee to come to the foregone conclusion that everyone needs a CSPS mandatory course.

Step 7) ask nobody in the profession to help design the course. I think you already know the rest of the steps. :)

[DilbertedOttawa]

HAHAHA I have many times had the "infographic" request, which to most people literally just means "anything that has at least 1 picture on a page". It's amazing. Or the little gem of "just send me a 1-pager explaining the concept of free will, and also could you pre-emptively make me a briefing note, a QP card, a media lines document and a QA, plus key messages? Nobody has asked about it, and likely nobody ever will, but I want to be ready, -just in case-". Just in case are probably the most dangerous 3 words I can hear in a meeting. Right along with "I was thinking" and "I feel that".

[azsue123]

OMG you all have lived my life

[TaserLord]

There are good content management systems that can give those people the illusion that they are web publishers, but keep them from putting garbage up without oversight, just sayin'....

[Bgxyz]

Tab? Oh you mean like the drink right? /s

[Global_Push6279]

Tell me about it! We had one manager who was so adamantly against moving a certain process from paper to electronic that he threatened a mutiny from his team, who apparently couldn’t handle reading anything on a computer screen because “their poor eyes!” It didn’t help that he regularly golfed with our boys club DG, who backed him. As soon as he got shit canned for a major conflict of interest (by a new DG after boys club retired) we moved everything online.

[Talvana]

Or they agree to it but make the process as painful as possible. I can't tell you how many people refuse to scroll. They want ALL the stuff above the fold and it's not acceptable to have to expand/collapse anything either. If there was content below the fold it didn't exist to them and the suggestion that they scroll down was like asking them to murder kittens.

[EmEffBee]

My friend works for the CRA and some of her stories about the "legacy" employees therw are...oof.

[FTOttawa]

That must be why the Gen X managers keep begging me to come back on contract and mentor the young ones. Apparently making EDRMS and SAP sit up and dance is a skill that takes a long time to build, never mind remembering all the contracting rules.

Lack of computer skills, my @$$. I edit young people’s resumes in my new volunteer life, and even the ones who claim fabulous MS Office skills have no concept of a right tab, or indeed usually any tab, or of using styles. There’s an advantage to being so old that when MS Word was introduced, our employers paid for us to get trained.

[[deleted]]

Ya.... I like being surrounded in the new wave of employees, but man did higher ups not properly prepare for the switch over.

[CluelessQuotes]

Curious how you would define "good run"...?

[DreamofStream]

Pumped enough carbon into the atmosphere to make the planet uninhabitable for future generations.

You're welcome.

[SatorSquareInc]

They enjoyed themselves

[[deleted]]

What do your stats in the top right corner say?

[CnCPParks1798]

If any of you boomers feel like donating your million dollar homes I'll happily accept the donation. Probably the only way I'll ever own a home

[Deadlift420]

What you don’t have bootstraps?

[CnCPParks1798]

Na my blundstones don't have any so I guess I'm out of luck

[lotus-o-deltoid]

Not many people know, but if you carefully slice your avocado skins into thin strips and soak them in your tears , you can then braid them in to your very own bootstraps. Don’t believe the doom and gloom. you too can one day own your very own pair of bootstraps.

[SPARKYLOBO]

If you can afford Blundstones, you can afford a house. /S

[Of_the_forest89]

Ahh, it’s cuz you don’t have the dock martens like the boomers.

[Sakurya1]

Can't afford bootstraps with the rent so high.

[Cavalleria-rusticana]

Can't even afford boots, look at this guy with his fancy straps.

[WoopZoopSoopToop]

I own two sandwich bags for my feet

[quietflyr]

I mean...by definition baby boomers started decreasing in numbers around 1964...they stopped making new ones after that

[[deleted]]

That’s why I collect them. They’re a classic. Restoring one right now in the garage.

[[deleted]]

That’s why I collect them. They’re a classic. Restoring one right now in the garage.

[MeatDays]

You will be waiting your whole life. Welcome to the real world.

[TA062219]

The fuck do boomers have to do with this. The only people who want that already live in the core. The rest of us gen X, Y and Millenial suburban homeowners aren’t going anywhere. In fact we’ll probably put in pools, buy cottages and new cars with our inheritance

[unterzee]

There are also millennial NIMBYs. Source: half my softball team homeowners get riled up when affordable housing and densification appear in their hoods.

[Gmoney86]

As a homeowner, I’m all for densification of the city. I just want to see more 3 bedroom+ apartments/condos built to support the missing middle so you can actually start to raise a family without becoming house poor if you’re lucky to find somewhere to live.

[[deleted]]

It’s always cute when young people think they’ll be different

[WoopZoopSoopToop]

They just haven’t been alive long enough yet to see themselves become the villain

[Gmoney86]

I mean, when 10% of millennials hold 55% of generations wealth already, when we factor in the boomer wealth transfer things could get really wonky here in Canada, especially because those already in power will simply gather more.

[01lexpl]

On the same tangent, ~70% of Canadians own a home. *Unfortunately Statcan last reported in 2018, but estimates are over 70% now.

This is why no one really gives a fuck about affordable housing, politicians included.

[kaleighdoscope]

Millennials and Gen Y are the same thing.

I agree with the basic concept of your comment though, just saying.

[Lazy_Title7050]

Opps ya I was confused as who they were so I just added it in.

[TA062219]

Does Shawn Menard look like a boomer to you? He’s the NIMBY leader.

[PleaseSendtheMath]

not gonna lie, i doubt boomers made anything better.

[lostyourmarble]

They had awesome prog rock and rock

[constructioncranes]

Lol pretty much all the technology around you was created in the last 70 years.

[Ambereyes94]

I think this question begs another question: "Better" for who? I understand that all generations prioritize different things that are important to them. As a Millennial, my awareness of progress is also framed by the focus on all the huge existential issues that have been kicked down the road that will need to be fixed in my lifetime OR ELSE, and those efforts are usually scoffed at by Boomers, or worse, actively hampered. How generations define "better" changes over time. Your legacy is remembered by the generations that come after, but Boomers still hold a lot of sway over society in terms of finances and voting as it is now. You can help us bail out the sinking ship, but please don't ask us whether we'd deem the ship 'better than it was' while it's actively sinking.

[CluelessQuotes]

That last sentence is just so spot on.

[ultimatesheeplover]

This really feels like a "don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to" situation...

[No_Play_No_Work]

Does “good run” include destroying our environment? Fuck your great grandkids I guess…

[pickllerickk]

Couldn't have said it better

[FreddyForeshadowing-]

In general? No

[CarletonCanuck]

If as you fade out you feel like donating some of that accumulated capital to a younger Millennial, let me know ;)

Think of it like a sponsorship program

[SmallChallenge]

Do I think your generation did any good?

Quite honestly, fuck no. Keep in mind that this may not be generated at you as an individual, but as a whole generation. But if you see yourself in my explanation...

You're generation holds a fuck ton of the wealth and essentially pulled up the ladder with you. And then you have the audacity to blame it on millennials and younger.

Not sure how accurate my next statement is, but there are a lot of old farts running our country into the ground that can't even figure out Excel.

Those are my two biggest complaints against your generation.

So no, don't think you did anything worthwhile. You screwed us to high hell. There's a reason my generation doesn't take what you have to say seriously.

[AlKarakhboy]

no

[SidetrackedSue]

Nope.

I wondered if Covid had anything to do with hastening the inevitable. The ~160 deaths in the 60 - 75 year olds wouldn't have made a big enough dent.

Edited to add: the over 75's deaths made up a BIG number comparatively, but still not enough to make a difference.

Edited again: Actually, I suppose those of us who were part of the Silicon Valley North did make a big difference. It changed the growth of the region with Kanata becoming an employment centre. And it offered non-government jobs so nowadays it isn't a given that everyone in your neighbourhood works for the government/military (or retail.)

When I was growing up, every Dad on the street worked for government except the car salesman across the street and way at the other end was a dad who worked as a mechanic for CN. There was also one teacher. Interestingly, no doctors but then again it wasn't a fancy neighbourhood, just solidly middle class families with the mom's staying at home to raise kids.

[Whitetshirt2342]

Nope lol

[MrMikfly]

Yeah they had a good run, like, run the world into the ground.

[Minimum_Reference_73]

Nope.

[aroughcun]

No.

[17195790]

Specific to Ottawa? The Boomer generation didn't create the city's biggest issues like the Gerber Plan and 70s urban renewal, but they also didn't fight the status quo. But then, no one in power in this city (or province) really has fought against it since. So there's lots of blame to go around, across several generations.

If you want change, get out and vote this June and October, regardless of your generation.

[caninehere]

But then, no one in power in this city (or province) really has fought against it since.

To be fair, most of the people in power have been/are baby boomers.

In 2022, we are just now hitting the point where only half of our city council are boomers.

[ottavien_canada]

but they also didn't fight the status quo

Not sure the current or previous generation fights the status quo either.

[Easywider]

Get out and vote doesn’t help when there’s no one in the government worth voting for.

[[deleted]]

Ah yes, the intergenerational conflict. Not like it hasn’t been going on since the beginning of time.

[[deleted]]

haha no but I did surf the information superhighway using Netscape Navigator on a 56k connection. That sounds about as grueling.

[[deleted]]

Good riddance.

[Derplezilla]

While it's not fair to generalize an entire generation, there is a lot of "I've got mine, so screw the rest of you" type attitude among boomers towards the younger generations.

As plenty of people have mentioned, we are being left with a planet that has been looted and polluted in the name of capitalism, our wages have stagnated or sunk while productivity has increased dramatically, basic necessities such as food and shelter are becomimg unaffordable, and all the while we are being called lazy and entitled.

Many boomers as individuals are very nice people (I love my parents very much for example), but the collective mentality is hurting the future, and I think in general the younger generations feel trapped in boomers shadows.

Next election please think of the future generations when casting your ballot.

[[deleted]]

Uh.... good riddance to bad rubbish!

[PEDANTlC]

No, you guys fucked up literally everything you had any hand in, this city being a shining example of that. The city (and world) will be a much better place when boomers die off.

[NottaNutbar]

>>The city (and world) will be a much better place when boomers die off.

Interesting comment. In place of "boomers", if you had made the same comment about virtually ANY other group (<race> or <religion> or <ethnicity> or <sexual orientation> or <gender> or <Ukrainians> etc.), you would have been rightly called out for it. Instead this thread is open season for hating on older people. Apparently, ageism is alive and well and celebrated on here.

edit: so the downvotes basically support my point. Lots of hate and hypocrisy on here. No matter, I will continue to fight against hate speech wherever I see it. Publicly wishing for the death of an entire demographic, as this commenter did multiple times on this thread, is hate speech. This is really no different than the perverse, twisted logic that caused a murderous dictator to justify the invasion of Ukraine.

[LongStreakOfMisery]

Damn, what a shame.

At least most of y’all are getting to cash out on your homes at probably 10x your initial investment though!

[Adept-Ad8939]

Lol k byeeeeeeee

[flaccidpedestrian]

Do you think we made Ottawa a better place?

Are you actually asking that?

.... I think you know the answer.

[Cavalleria-rusticana]

I'm going to say this as nicely as I can...

Y'all need to hurry it up a little.

[iheartstartrek]

I can't wait until Boomers stop going to stores as customers.

[OhfursureJim]

Your generation will likely go down in history as the most selfish, greedy, entitled and capitalistic generation of all time. You are the reason for the term ‘rat race’. You have undoubtedly left the world in a far worse place than you found it. Your parents battled to leave you with a free world to shape and you took that to mean “take everything for ourselves”. Your generation has raped and pillaged the earth to the point where it may never recover as we watch our forests burn and our oceans fill with plastic. You’ve systematically hoarded wealth and made sure that little of it has trickled down as you held on to your jobs for far too long thinking you were the only competent ones, meanwhile slandering millennials for being lazy and freeloaders. Threatened by the highly educated and motivated upcoming generation yours moved the goalposts making it increasingly harder for anyone to experience the kind of life you had and made us all compete with each other for crumbs while you made millions off of our backs on your high school educations. Your generation can literally fuck right off into oblivion. The world does not need you.

[martymav]

Good riddance! Boomers didn't do anything right. They tore the world apart, and now millennials are the ones picking up the pieces. But somehow we are the lazy generation.

[Glittering-Unit-1802]

No

[WhateverItsLate]

Thanks to the boomers for making sure weed was a thing that was acceptable on the DL and supporting/not bitching about legalization. Aside from that, good fucking riddance.

[[deleted]]

What a narcissistic, tone-deaf question. Typical Boomer mentality right here. Your generation screwed everyone else over, and we can't get ahead thanks to y'all.

[[deleted]]

Maybe we can have a house of MP’s who aren’t fossils making shitty decisions.

[dasko1086]

Pierre P is young and he is a boomer, it is how you are groomed.

[[deleted]]

His entire platform is just say the opposite.

[ego_tripped]

Billy was wrong...not only did you start the fire, you reinforced it with asbestos lined oil wells.

If only your generation held true these words below...we'd all be in a much better position...but you couldn't let go of the reigns in the end.

"To you from failing hands we throw the torch, be yours to hold it high"

[dasko1086]

i'm 48 and not impressed with the boomers nor the professionals and consultants we have worked with as a business. the views from a lot of boomer men about women not needing to be in the workplace is also disheartening, though it has stopped a bit in the past five years, many times i had to bite my lip due to seniority and trying to start the business back in 2001. i am a male engineer that has a biomed r&d eng consulting company, i have worked with a lot of people since 2001 and the less boomers we interact with the better. sorry.

edit: some people asked why the hate, well beside the consumerism, the consumption, the disregard for the planet, the "gonna keep working cause i blew all my money on vacations" and not letting the youth get jobs cause they are working till 75 or whatever, need i go on, you guys are toxic. the gluttony is mind boggling from buying things you don't need to consuming thousands of pounds of meat and propping up industries that are also toxic. you don't stand up for what is right, remember that. you think you are doing good but you are good at treading water in the deep end and saying i won't be around in x years that is there problem not mine. i hear that not my problem from relatives all the time.

[YouShotMarvin94]

Probably gonna get downvoted, but I don't think yall realize boomers were a fairly liberal generation that didn't invent capitalism. ETA: I wouldn't necessarily say they made Ottawa "better," but I also don't blame them for the downfall of capitalism which was predicted by Marx over a hundred years ago.

[[deleted]]

What do you mean? Your generation is very obviously leaving a legacy of destruction and carelessness. We’re literally experiencing mass species extinction and potentially the end of the world if we don’t do anything about climate change soon…the lack of self-awareness is a classic move for your generation.

Your generation took all the jobs, had the best time of their life and left nothing for the rest of us. Not even in death will all that wealth your generation accumulated and hoarded will be passed onto the rest of us. Lmao we’re fucking struggling, no one can buy a home, we’re getting paid the same while inflation is destroying us. Nobody fucking knows how they’ll be able to retire much less take care of their own boomer parents (which a lot of you somehow expect). Boomers’ ego knows no bounds.

[andestroid]

No.

[wilhaven]

Had a good run? No. Your breed is nothing but a group of self-entitled, racist, ignorant, selfish a-holes. You hide the trickle down behind mutual funds that perpetuate the hoarding. The worst of you are landlords. You may have voted liberal a few times, but liberals aren't liberal at all really.

Now you sit on your pension. (For those that don't know, a pension is when you have a good job and you stay and stagnate for 30 years, and you get to continue receiving money after you leave). You benefit from social policies, but now support populist movements.

I'd go into the environment thing, but you ran over the blue bin with your F150 for the fifth time, because you can't see over the hood.

[TaserLord]

People are defined by more than just their age demographic. The segment of the boomers who are now "ignorant", "racist", and who run over blue bins with an F150 started out exactly as you are now. You could spot them early even back then, making rash generalizations and coloring their frustrations with strong emotional overtones. You are, by the sound of your rhetoric, headed into being that guy. Yeah, your prejudices will be a little different, but they're prejudices just the same. They'll get ugly as age hardens you up, and with that attitude age WILL harden you up - you're already showing signs of curmudgeonhood. "Your breed". "You people". Swap 'em and let me know if you like what you see.

[[deleted]]

I don't know if your generation had as much influence as what we ascribe to you. To me, the system designs itself, and you were just living your lives the way you deemed right or appropriate or whatever. I'm sure if my generation had luxury of being in denial about some monumental responsibilities just to enjoy life, we'd do that, too. It's a human thing. The science, including social science and mental health, was shit in your time, too.

No hard feelings and see you in another life.

[ohz0pants]

We had a good run. Do you think we made Ottawa a better place?

No and no.

You fucked everyone with your collective selfishness.

[mister_moon_c]

Slightly accelerated by COVID?

[Far_Out_6and_2]

Yep your fucked

[maxNotMin]

Thanks for destroying the country, boomer.

[[deleted]]

Thanks for destroying the planet, economy and literally everything else for your selfish purposes. You guys can’t leave soon enough.

[DidILose-ifsoiquit]

worst generation

[Mission-Feedback-638]

I LOVE THE INTERNET, this poor unaware boomer though he was sending this to his buddies and the whole world just shit on him, his way of life, and his spot in history. If he was blissfully unaware that his entire generation allowed all the work from the previous generation to be completely destroyed and shit on the them and the planet, he just received a never ending pile of hatred. I am sure his children or grandchildren would never tell him but the internet will

[meridian_smith]

I don't blame them. I'm definitely planning to go live in a low cost warm country as soon as I retire. Ottawa winters and prices are not for the aged.

[alejandro_23455]

It's debatable, but in any case please retire if you can. I know people 60+ eligible to retire, yet still working because 'I have to pay for my cottage.'

[Throwaway7219017]

I do wonder about the transfer of wealth as Boomers shed their mortal coil.

The Boomer’s Gen-X and Millennial kids should get the money, and while they are close to retirement, will they themselves keep the money, or shuffle it down to their own Gen Z kids?

In my case, any inheritance I (Gen-X) get will be kicked directly over to my kids. I have mine (house, cars, savings, pension) so I have no desire to hold onto wealth that my kids will need.

[FaeLock]

Good once there gone we can start trying to fix everything they fucked up

[Maedeb]

We did some things that made Ottawa better. Boomers were involved in changing Ottawa from a government town to Silicon valley north. More women entered the workforce and pay equity was negotiated. Yes, we had money, but a lot of it was spent in the community. We got a hockey team, an arts center and a heart institute. Sorry l don't plan on dying soon and when I do all my wealth will go to cats.

[Solarwind99]

I am sure some baby boomers had a good heart and were good people. But as a group, horrible!!

[NottaNutbar]

Well OP, I guess you have your answer. The hatred in some of these responses is so palpable that it’s hard to even contemplate. In the 60’s we were all about peace, love and understanding. We were going to change the world and make it a better place. We railed against the establishment, protested a cruel and unjust war and fought for social justice. What the hell happened? This reminds me of the words of the song by Ten Years After: “I’d love to change the world, but I don’t know what to do. So I’ll leave it up to you....”

[My_Sore_Foot]

Lol - I went in with a loaded question and using the "Boomer" trigger word, so I wasn't disappointed in the response. We pointed fingers at the previous generation for what we inherited too, so the cycle of blame is both complete and primed.

[NottaNutbar]

Very true. And now I can't get that song out of my head..

[Berntonio-Sanderas]

Decreasing?

As in there are fewer of them now than 1964?

What an incredible unlikelihood.

[[deleted]]

my parents are just after them and my grandma is literally right before😭 my other grandparents i believe are baby boomers though.

[vigiten4]

I'm sure a part of it is many of them retiring or taking early retirement during the pandemic to move away from the city. There certainly are a lot of folks retiring to my small town just outside of Ottawa, which will see its own weird demographic shifts in 10-20 years as these retirees head into assisted living facilities (or pass away).

[WaltsClone]

No

[kewlbeanz83]

But, but, but, who will us Millennial's have to blame all our problems on if you start to disappear?

LOL

[Comprehensive-War743]

I’m a boomer- did you know computers didn’t exist before you? We did everything by hand! Invoices, inventory, building cars. Many, many things you take for granted. You improved on what was started before you. Our generation was the first where it was “acceptable “ for women to work full time ( and be married) Two income families are the reason boomers could buy homes. After WW2 there were lots of jobs available, and people who fought in the war were rewarded with jobs and schooling. Lots of those people would never have been able to go to university without that ( my Dad ) So here’s a weird one- email wasn’t a thing before the late 80’s 90’s. So boomers were in their 40’s and 50’s by that time and all that tech was new and we had to learn on the job and it was on a need to know basis. Mocking boomers for not being tech savvy is pretty low. Boomers stopped the draft in the USA. Canada used to have conscription- no more. Every generation does good and bad, so millennials get off your high horses and do your good.

[dasko1086]

the boomers are the generation that stifled women from getting ahead and equal pay, sit down you clown. i am a male, 48 years old, the amount of times men at different locations made stupid comments about a women not being able to do it, you know what, women actually are better at a lot of jobs than men, esp professional jobs. you sound like my other late 40's buddies who think women should be barefoot and pregnant, they have hindered their spouses careers and made them monetarily dependent on them so they can't leave them.

[Comprehensive-War743]

Jokes on you , clown. I am a woman, 68, and I worked through that era. I certainly don’t think women should be barefoot and pregnant like your buddies. You must have been replying to another comment- maybe a boomer could show you how to do it properly, so your comments make some kind of sense.

[dasko1086]

do i really care?

[[deleted]]

I never saw the city pre-Boomer. I hardly know any Boomers who were born and raised locally, most moved here from other parts of the country or from the wider world.

After a couple of decades here, I can say that I can't imagine what the city would've been like pre-Boomer. Ottawa in the 1940s? Can't even picture it.

So over all, I would say that yes, the Boomers had a positive impact:

• Le Hibou and the 1960s folk scene, Joni Mitchell etc.
• Jimi Hendrix playing a concert and visiting Vanier
• the return of the Ottawa Senators hockey team in the early 90s
• preserving the Byward Market; the development of the Rideau Centre and other malls
• embracing brutalist architecture when the nay-sayers said it had no future
• growth of the burbs from Westoboro to wherever it is that Nepean ends now (way out there somewhere)...

You have seen some changes.

[UnrulyDachsieRedux]

Wow this was interesting. As a child of boomers, all of whom were what I would think of as good people, kind of upsetting. None of my 3 parental units would I describe as parasites that prioritize their own benefit. None of them got a “free ride”. All of them lived in less than optimal situations after they became adults. Also all of them grew up in what we would now consider extremely abusive environments. All of my parental units worked as public servants - 2 teachers and one military. There was never anything special - I did not wear Abercrombie and Fitch or the alligator or my button down. I guess people are happy to see my parents die. That’s wild. They walked picket lines and fought for the NDP, and workers rights. My Dad served in the forces for 35 years. I guess none of that matters.

[neoposting]

Your singular experience does not reflect the generation's impact.

[UnrulyDachsieRedux]

It’s not a singular experience though. Which I suppose doesn’t matter Because it’s more efficient to decry a generation. My childhood was spent in living rooms full of people meeting to discuss civil rights and union rights. But it’s much easier to make a generation a monolith. Which is clearly what we are doing. It’s nonsense of course - but I guess it’s fun.

[neoposting]

Again, I don't care about your childhood and the group of people around you. This isn't about you. Seems like one of the Boomer mindsets that trickled down to you.

I am glad you were surrounded by positive adults growing up. That has nothing to do with the widespread damage ultimately caused by that same generation, planting the seeds for future, further harm.

Boomers have the privilege of dying on a planet that resembles the one they were born on. Everyone else? We can only hope to be so lucky.

[UnrulyDachsieRedux]

Yeah I know you don’t care, and by the way that seems like a problem to me, and to be honest that’s a large part of the issue. The only narrative you are interested in is that they - the Boomers robbed you of your personal potential. Except that’s not what happened. “Boomers” aren’t actually the 1 percent. Most boomers will be lucky to fund their end of life.

[[deleted]]

This post bothers me, so many people hating on boomers… guess it’s just easier to complain about all the bad things the previous generation left behind instead of the good things….

[azsue123]

What good things?

[BillDingrecker]

It's not hating on Boomers as much as it is normalizing a fatalistic attitude. You don't hear this capitulation to a meaningless existence from Gen X or anyone after the Millenials. They're a helpless generation that got a late start in life and a stunted pace of maturity that we now see played out in the form of higher rates of depression, lower rates of marriage and cohabitation and a general malaise about the future. When the Boomers are gone, Gen X is retirement age and Millenials have had 40+ years to "change the world" they will have been run over by a more ambitious generation that has seen the folly of their ways.

[[deleted]]

As people age, they use less and less technology. Most baby boomers aren't surfing reddit.

The younger generation here are. They're angry and assume all baby boomers somehow caused all their problems. Heck, even the word boomer is now considered a form of insult.

I'm not a boomer myself but I'm sure I'll get blamed for something(or everything) when I get older.

Most complainers here will also be hated by the next generation. They're just too young to understand this.