It’s Their Fault

Victor Davis Hanson, in the National Review, has his own theory on the birth of what he deems our most selfish generation, and it is worth a read:

Sociologists have correctly diagnosed the perfect storm that created the “me” generation — sudden postwar affluence, sacrificing parents who did not wish us to suffer as they had in the Great Depression and World War II, and the rise of therapeutic education that encouraged self-indulgence.

Perhaps the greatest trademark of the 1960s cohort was self-congratulation. Baby boomers alone claimed to have brought about changes in civil rights, women’s liberation, and environmental awareness — as if these were not prior concerns of earlier generations.

We apparently created all of our wealth rather than having inherited our roads, schools, and bountiful infrastructure from someone else. And in our self-absorption, no one accepted that our notorious appetites created more problems than our supposed “caring” solved.

The argument isn’t comprehensive, but I agree that the main problem of the Boomers is their timing: it was too good. They had their cake and ate it too. And they’re still eating.