RASCAL REPORT
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.
– Henry Ford
Insights from P.J. O’Rourke
In a nutshell boomers are an individualistic generation that believes in unlimited possibilities and potential for ourselves and society at large.
We are accustomed to an extravagance of choices (due to sustained postwar economic growth and innovation)
We really believe we can do anything
Because of the vast number of choices available to us, our existence has been confusing
We think confusion makes life interesting
We are all alike about us each being unusual.
Boomers and Gen Z share common toxic trait
Who knew. L.A.-based creator @flower_sea_sand says “besides having nothing going for them, both generations (Boomers and Gen Z) tend to turn their deep insecurity and self-hatred outward.” In the 10th episode of her “Boomerfication of Gen-Z” series, she posits that Gen Z behaves more like boomers than millennials or Gen X. And she makes her case for both groups being “shameless bullies.”
Boom Radio seeks older listeners
Boom Radio was launched in February 2021 by a couple of radio vets seeking to take a share of listeners from the BBC by making its audience feel young again. It might be working. They’re up to 500,000 monthly listeners.
Why so many boomers struggle to embrace immigration
Baby Boomers, born between 1945 and 1964, were likely to spend their childhood and adolescence primarily around other U.S.-born whites. Even the Boomers’ parents were almost entirely U.S.-born. So the largest generation was largely insulated from contact with immigrants, and diversity – at least in the way we think of it now – was foreign to them during their formative years. People’s attitudes toward immigration are generally formed based on their exposure to immigrants in childhood and adolescence – so when the diversity explosion began in earnest at the dawn of the 21st century, Baby Boomers were likely unfamiliar (and perhaps uncomfortable) with it.
Baby boom retirements driving economic woes
The massive baby boom generation has changed the world since the day it was born. Why would the 2020’s be any different? What’s happening now is the baby boomers are starting to retire. The number of births peaked in about 1957 in the U.S. and 1959 in Canada. Those folks are reaching their mid-sixties now. Many of them, and especially those who went into fields like teaching or medicine, were hard hit during the pandemic. If they possibly can, they’re retiring. You won’t find a lot of Gen Xers (born about 1960-1980) in those fields. Hence, there are massive labour shortages of teachers, nurses, doctors, tradespeople, and on and on.