Filipovic’s memo to baby boomers: Everything is your fault

Approximately 1 million years ago, in 2019, the long-simmering generational tension between the baby boomers and the millennials exploded into meme combat: The internet was alight with cries of “OK, boomer,” as younger generations issued a collective eye roll to their boomer parents. In her new book, “OK Boomer, Let’s Talk,” author Jill Filopovic explains what she sees as the root of the tension: Millennials are leading different — and often worse — lives than their parents did, and boomers are to blame.

“A true reckoning with the consequences of Boomer policies and decisions casts a harsh light on the children of the Greatest Generation,” she writes, adding that this book is that needed reckoning and, as she puts it, “a peace offering to those Boomers who are worried about the world they’re leaving their children.” The reckoning is long overdue. America is in the midst of a generational turnover, one with the power to reshape our economy, our family structures and the fundamental social contract we make with our government. And in a time of massive income inequality, social unrest and political upheaval, it’s hard not to blame the generation that has been at the steering wheel for the past 30 years. It can sometimes feel as if Mom and Dad bought a wood house, decorated everything with paper, dismantled the sprinkler systems, lit a match and now wonder why their kids are screaming that the house is on fire.

We already know millennials are more socially tolerant than their parents, more likely to support big government action on climate change and health care, and less likely to own homes and start families than

“OK Boomer, Let’s Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind”

By Jill Filipovic Atria/One Signal ($17)