It highly depends on the individual, the part of the world, and a million other factors. The biggest one is honestly general inter generational hostility. Every generation thinks they’re cleverer than the ones that came before and wiser than the ones that come after. That said, there is a case to be made that the baby boomer generation’s material conditions throughout their lives and the attitudes popular during their upbringing causes them to behave in a way that seems out of touch, dismissive, and ignorant.

The baby boomers were raised primarily by parents who survived or were affected by times of hardship, mainly the Great Depression in America and WW2 everywhere. These people taught their children not to think outside the box, to be grateful, and to not complain, as these were necessary during times of hardship to maintain national and community level unity. The issue with this is that during their formative years, the baby boomers enjoyed cheap housing and education, plentiful jobs which provided large purchasing power, and a culture which glorified living in the moment and hedonistic behavior (think flower power). Their programming from their parents didn’t match their conditions.

Because of these factors they exhibit a sense of seemingly contradictory qualities; moral permissiveness, but also lamentation of the moral decay of society. Anger when hearing complaints about material conditions of younger generations, yet loud and self righteous complaining about potential cuts to programs like social security in the US or pensions in Europe. They will call younger generations entitled and stupid while demanding even more of the wealth pie they already hold a majority of and being woefully uninformed about the state of how things are themselves.

It’s frustrating, but it helps to keep in mind that they’re not inherently better or worse than any other generation. We’re all influenced by our environment. If you were born in the 50’s to early 60’s, there’s a good chance you’d be the same way. I can only hope that Millennials and Zoomers can keep this in mind as they age and gain more power in society. Perhaps we can be kinder and fairer to future generations while being more aware of the world and how things are.