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We're no longer 52%
Feb. 28th, 2024 02:59 pmJust like Max Frost in Wild in the Streets, I have now been taken down a peg. The Baby Boom generation (to which I belong) is no longer the most populous one in Canada. Instead, it is the Millennials who prevail. I would assume that the situation is similar in the U.S. although I haven't researched it enough to say for sure.
Anyway, back to Max Frost.
Max felt that the world revolved around him and his generation and the world owed him a gold-plated living. Folks over 30 were not to be trusted and were forcibly retired and trucked off to places resembling concentration camps. Meanwhile, Max and his people campaigned to lower the voting age to 14. In the song Fifty-two Percent, they boasted about the great youth-oriented society where all the TV shows are written for them and just about everything else is geared to their wishes and whims. Eventually Max ran for U.S. president and won by a landslide. It's beyond the scope of this entry to speculate as to whether a young or an old U.S. president is better for their country or for the world as a whole but anyway, you can listen to the Wild in the Streets soundtrack here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcN_ivZdpJQFsYSkS_lbyhep1xc7BAfNX
Is it a blessing or a curse to be in the majority? Perhaps it's a mixed blessing. Or a mixed curse, if you're in the "glass half empty" camp.
Even back in 1968 when I was a teenager and we were supposedly a youth-oriented society, there were plenty of people and public- and private-sector institutions who really had no use for young people! If we took too long browsing the magazines at the Little Brick Smokehouse on Elgin Street, the proprietor would sarcastically ask if he could stamp our library cards for us. (Aside: That may be why I eventually became a librarian - so I could stamp my own library card and possibly refuse to issue him a card!) Later, when looking for an apartment to rent while I studied for my librarianship degree, I constantly walked past places with rooms or apartments for rent and the firm statement "No students, please!" on them. Summer and part-time jobs were in short supply because there were so many of us and as for getting a job after graduation? Well, I think we've all heard of the archetypal person with a PhD working as a night-shift janitor or a taxi driver earning below the minimum wage.
Now I'm a senior and society can be quite ageist. But do the Millennials have it any easier? Jobs may be easier to come by, but not necessarily good or secure jobs. Housing is scarce and expensive. I really don't envy the younger generations.
But to end on a more positive note, I do see the progress we've made over the decades. I'm encouraged by some of the intergenerational initiatives I've seen. I think the generation gap is definitely closing. The gender gap too. We're not there yet but I think we are more socially conscious and less classist. I'd love to see the politicians work harder on issues that transcend party politics, like Universal Basic Income and fairness and equality for groups that are marginalized for whatever reason.
Below, here's the StatsCan release that sparked all this:
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/240221/dq240221a-eng.htm
Anyway, back to Max Frost.
Max felt that the world revolved around him and his generation and the world owed him a gold-plated living. Folks over 30 were not to be trusted and were forcibly retired and trucked off to places resembling concentration camps. Meanwhile, Max and his people campaigned to lower the voting age to 14. In the song Fifty-two Percent, they boasted about the great youth-oriented society where all the TV shows are written for them and just about everything else is geared to their wishes and whims. Eventually Max ran for U.S. president and won by a landslide. It's beyond the scope of this entry to speculate as to whether a young or an old U.S. president is better for their country or for the world as a whole but anyway, you can listen to the Wild in the Streets soundtrack here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcN_ivZdpJQFsYSkS_lbyhep1xc7BAfNX
Is it a blessing or a curse to be in the majority? Perhaps it's a mixed blessing. Or a mixed curse, if you're in the "glass half empty" camp.
Even back in 1968 when I was a teenager and we were supposedly a youth-oriented society, there were plenty of people and public- and private-sector institutions who really had no use for young people! If we took too long browsing the magazines at the Little Brick Smokehouse on Elgin Street, the proprietor would sarcastically ask if he could stamp our library cards for us. (Aside: That may be why I eventually became a librarian - so I could stamp my own library card and possibly refuse to issue him a card!) Later, when looking for an apartment to rent while I studied for my librarianship degree, I constantly walked past places with rooms or apartments for rent and the firm statement "No students, please!" on them. Summer and part-time jobs were in short supply because there were so many of us and as for getting a job after graduation? Well, I think we've all heard of the archetypal person with a PhD working as a night-shift janitor or a taxi driver earning below the minimum wage.
Now I'm a senior and society can be quite ageist. But do the Millennials have it any easier? Jobs may be easier to come by, but not necessarily good or secure jobs. Housing is scarce and expensive. I really don't envy the younger generations.
But to end on a more positive note, I do see the progress we've made over the decades. I'm encouraged by some of the intergenerational initiatives I've seen. I think the generation gap is definitely closing. The gender gap too. We're not there yet but I think we are more socially conscious and less classist. I'd love to see the politicians work harder on issues that transcend party politics, like Universal Basic Income and fairness and equality for groups that are marginalized for whatever reason.
Below, here's the StatsCan release that sparked all this:
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/240221/dq240221a-eng.htm
