Prudes and old fogies
Published in the Boulder Daily Camera, 6/1/15
Oh oh. The moment I've been dreading for years has finally come to pass. My Generation, the Baby Boomers, has finally slid off the path of enlightenment and open mindedness into the morass of cranky intolerant old grumps. The generation of free love and flower children who wore t-shirts telling others to "Question Authority" and "Never Trust Anyone over 30" woke up one day and realized that we were The Authority and 30 was half-a-lifetime ago.
My awakening came in the form of the headline in last week's Daily Camera, "Profane Speech Causes Stir."
"Oh no. It's happening," I said to myself.
Reading the article, I discovered that this stir was caused by some young punk (note to readers: everyone under the age of 50 is now a young punk in our old, wise Baby Boomer eyes) who had dared to challenge Boulder's Conventional Wisdom in a language best understood by the young people to whom she was speaking. This miscreant, Becky Boone (what a great name, by the way… same name as Daniel Boone's wife, which somehow seems prophetic…), had been brought in by the City of Boulder in their seemingly-sincere-at-the-time attempt to better engage Boulder's younger population to help chart Boulder's future. After all, it's the future of you young punks that we're talking about since us Baby Boomers' expiration dates are rapidly approaching. We want you guys involved as we shape Boulder's and your futures.
Or so we thought.
In case you've been snoozing in your Barcalounger for the past week, Ms. Boone caught our attention during her speech to Ignite Boulder, a geeky and predominantly young Boulder crowd. Ms. Boone took two tactics that started a Baby Boomer-fueled bonfire.
First, she had the audacity to speak in the language of her audience, which, if you've been to a Buffs game lately, you know requires liberal use of the F-bomb to draw attention to, shall we say, important and notable points. Sometimes even not-so-important and not-so-notable points.
A liberal mind might consider the fact that it was us Baby Boomers who made swearing such a central fixture of the American language. For me, it started as a young child when my Grandfather taught me the proper words to use if I mistakenly hit my thumb with a hammer. He taught by example and I learned.
As good parents, we have passed this wisdom on to our children and added to it through our clever explorations of the many things that can be better described with an F-bomb predicate. In fact, just last week I heard one of my grandchildren under the age of 8 drop an F-bomb in an artistically appropriate way. Okay, that was a little creepy but, still, this was all our doing and part of the natural evolution of language that occurs between the generations.
It seems that the children of us Baby Boomers took up the mantle of using the F-bomb more frequently and now see it not as horrible profanity but as a near-normal part of interpersonal communication. That may not be something we like, but it's hardly something we, of all generations, should be outraged over.
However, that wasn't the worst part of Ms. Boone's speech. That came when she asked a bunch of young people who needed good jobs and places to live in Boulder if they agreed with the ongoing conversation within Boulder government she summed up as, "Boulder needs fewer jobs, not more housing." Anyone who finds that characterization of the ongoing City position as overly harsh probably already has a house and is rich or near retirement.
From the perspective of the audience to whom Ms. Boone was speaking, asking the audience whether they wanted what Boulder government was trying to sell was a great way to get their attention and encourage them to engage in the civic debate about Boulder's future. But, based on the response of local activists and former City Council members, the mandate to question authority expired when we Baby Boomers became The Authority. No more questions, please.
So, here I sit in my Barcalounger (really, no kidding) writing this column and lamenting the loss of the fire in My Generation's belly. I suppose it had to happen sooner or later, even in Boulder.
And, to all you young punks out there, we Baby Boomers are still going to be around for a while and, if you want to let us keep running the show, that's fine with us. Your call.
Oh oh. The moment I've been dreading for years has finally come to pass. My Generation, the Baby Boomers, has finally slid off the path of enlightenment and open mindedness into the morass of cranky intolerant old grumps. The generation of free love and flower children who wore t-shirts telling others to "Question Authority" and "Never Trust Anyone over 30" woke up one day and realized that we were The Authority and 30 was half-a-lifetime ago.
My awakening came in the form of the headline in last week's Daily Camera, "Profane Speech Causes Stir."
"Oh no. It's happening," I said to myself.
Reading the article, I discovered that this stir was caused by some young punk (note to readers: everyone under the age of 50 is now a young punk in our old, wise Baby Boomer eyes) who had dared to challenge Boulder's Conventional Wisdom in a language best understood by the young people to whom she was speaking. This miscreant, Becky Boone (what a great name, by the way… same name as Daniel Boone's wife, which somehow seems prophetic…), had been brought in by the City of Boulder in their seemingly-sincere-at-the-time attempt to better engage Boulder's younger population to help chart Boulder's future. After all, it's the future of you young punks that we're talking about since us Baby Boomers' expiration dates are rapidly approaching. We want you guys involved as we shape Boulder's and your futures.
Or so we thought.
In case you've been snoozing in your Barcalounger for the past week, Ms. Boone caught our attention during her speech to Ignite Boulder, a geeky and predominantly young Boulder crowd. Ms. Boone took two tactics that started a Baby Boomer-fueled bonfire.
First, she had the audacity to speak in the language of her audience, which, if you've been to a Buffs game lately, you know requires liberal use of the F-bomb to draw attention to, shall we say, important and notable points. Sometimes even not-so-important and not-so-notable points.
A liberal mind might consider the fact that it was us Baby Boomers who made swearing such a central fixture of the American language. For me, it started as a young child when my Grandfather taught me the proper words to use if I mistakenly hit my thumb with a hammer. He taught by example and I learned.
As good parents, we have passed this wisdom on to our children and added to it through our clever explorations of the many things that can be better described with an F-bomb predicate. In fact, just last week I heard one of my grandchildren under the age of 8 drop an F-bomb in an artistically appropriate way. Okay, that was a little creepy but, still, this was all our doing and part of the natural evolution of language that occurs between the generations.
It seems that the children of us Baby Boomers took up the mantle of using the F-bomb more frequently and now see it not as horrible profanity but as a near-normal part of interpersonal communication. That may not be something we like, but it's hardly something we, of all generations, should be outraged over.
However, that wasn't the worst part of Ms. Boone's speech. That came when she asked a bunch of young people who needed good jobs and places to live in Boulder if they agreed with the ongoing conversation within Boulder government she summed up as, "Boulder needs fewer jobs, not more housing." Anyone who finds that characterization of the ongoing City position as overly harsh probably already has a house and is rich or near retirement.
From the perspective of the audience to whom Ms. Boone was speaking, asking the audience whether they wanted what Boulder government was trying to sell was a great way to get their attention and encourage them to engage in the civic debate about Boulder's future. But, based on the response of local activists and former City Council members, the mandate to question authority expired when we Baby Boomers became The Authority. No more questions, please.
So, here I sit in my Barcalounger (really, no kidding) writing this column and lamenting the loss of the fire in My Generation's belly. I suppose it had to happen sooner or later, even in Boulder.
And, to all you young punks out there, we Baby Boomers are still going to be around for a while and, if you want to let us keep running the show, that's fine with us. Your call.
