Generation Gap

Entitled, my ass

By Kevin Eggleston

They call us the “Entitlement Generation,” a spoiled, generally ’80s-born, vacation-demanding, Facebook-obsessed, dissatisfied group of brats born to whine and usurp “their” jobs. “They,” of course, being the baby boomers, a group so irritatingly large that any term they coin tends to become ubiquitous by default. Their argument in its most basic form is that we don’t work hard enough. As baby boomer spokeswoman Hillary Rodham Clinton said in 2006, young people today “think work is a four-letter word,” stemming from a “culture that has a premium on instant gratification.” In response, Chelsea Clinton appointed herself spokeswoman of the Entitlement Set, countering: “Mom, I do work hard, and my friends work hard.” Then instead of jabbering on like a politician, she presumably got back to work.

It seems each side of the generational divide is working hard. But working at what? The baby boomers have been working hard. They sharpened their swords, padded their armor, and clashed like jousting knights in the 40 Years War. Behold the “culture wars,” that have raged since the 1960s. In the process, they’ve imploded the national debt, failed to make any meaningful reform to health care, obliterated the bipartisan work ethic in government, repeated — in 2003 — the unnecessary war they protested in the ‘70s (while failing to fight genocide in Africa — twice), reduced the once mighty space program to a joke, and pushed the earth to the breaking point. Oh, and they overused antibiotic soap, which just might result in a superbug that will kill us all.

They succeeded, of course, in maintaining entitlement programs for themselves, like Medicare and Social Security, and in likely preparation for their physical deterioration, they’ve expanded civil rights for the disabled. They’ve also managed to make national elections about emotionally resonant but essentially red herring issues, like abortion, the death penalty, and — in 2004 — gay marriage. Basically: squabble, squabble, bicker, squabble, secure our retirement, and leave the tough stuff for the kids.

We should be pissed off. We should be rebelling with wild abandon, like the baby boomers did for their right to have insane, drug-induced sex in the grass as they distrusted “anyone over 30.”

We should be drawing lines in the sand, uniting on our side of the generation gap, and demanding the entitled-walker-assisted army of baby boomers to stop whining about unfounded Medicare fears and reform healthcare. Then we should demand they take real action to save the planet. And then we should insist that they leave the social issues to us, thank you.

But the 1960s, 40 years later are finally over, and generational histrionics are so 20th century. According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, although the generation gap is wider than it’s been in 40 years, it is more “tepid.” But there is a reason our generation isn’t “working hard” by storming the Quad and burning our leggings. It’s because we’re working hard at results and responsibly addressing the dirt our forbearers swept under the rug.

Case in point: Earlier this summer, baby-boomer culture-warrior Michelle Bachmann (who is a Republican congresswoman but is better described as bat-shit crazy), was mightily embarrassed when her “entitled” son decided to join the popular Teach for America program, which Bachmann blasted as “re-education camps for young people.” While Bachmann was injecting more poison into the public discourse, her son was preparing to take action to help inner-city youths. On a grander scale, it parallels “entitled” college students spending their spring breaks building homes in New Orleans while the baby boomer president flew over and looked down with concern.

No, our generational mood is not violently angry; it is more evolved. It is one resolved and resigned to cleaning up after our parents, while also working together to form a new future vision. It is why we voted for Barack Obama, an intelligent post-boomer who is currently struggling to overcome an ancient, stagnant, squabbling Congress in order to finally reform health care and cool the planet. More and more, it is the older folks who are behaving like children. But I say this: it is we who have been left with our elder’s burdens, and we’re already getting our hands dirty. The future is bright because we feel entitled to a clean earth, steady jobs, and civil rights — and we’re willing to put in the effort to make it happen.

Illustration by Tara Nelson