Is It OK To Say "OK, Boomer?"
It sounds like a cheeky way to blow off the opinion of someone older than you—but does this phrase cross the line when it comes to snark?
The New York Times published a piece that has had far-ranging effects and stoked inter-generational ire just by focusing on what could be viewed as an innocuous phrase: “OK, boomer.” The article explains the rising popularity of responding to older people’s opinions by saying “OK, boomer,” referring to their belonging to the Baby Boomer generation. The phrase began among Zoomers and is meant to encapsulate the angst of Gen Z when it comes to the world they’ve inherited—and there may be some legitimacy. Millennials were the first generation worse off than the generation before them. To quote the article:
The phrase has gained so much attention that one entrepreneurial Zoomer put a design of the words on clothing and sold more than $10,000 worth of merchandise.
Following the article, “OK, boomer” seems to have captured the cultural moment. A 25 year-old politician in New Zealand used it to silence older hecklers, The Times’ own opinion column weighed in on it, and the Internet is still abuzz with the echo of “OK, boomer” fallout weeks after the article was published.
But is it OK to say “OK, boomer?” Detractors say that at best it’s stereotypical, at worst it’s ageism. Baby Boomer proponents say that it’s a flippant phrase and shouldn’t be given more weight than it deserves.
Where do you fall in the debate? Is it OK for teens and young adults to say “OK, boomer” or are they crossing a line? Let us know in the comments.
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Discrimination in any form is poisonous. We live in an environment of ageism. Those who would bridle at being addressed on the basis of their gender, weight or skin color feel that calling older people"hun" or"young man" is OK.
Persons need to be taken for who they are and what they can do.
It is not only OK for Zoomers to use the phrase "OK Boomer," but it should be encouraged. Boomers are clinging to power to the detriment of younger generations whose future becomes bleaker with every passing day that Boomers remain in power. "OK Boomer" is too polite, and I'm a Boomer that's not afraid to admit that we're a greedy, self-serving generation that puts our own enrichment above all else.
It is fine for someone to say "O.K. Boomer", if he wants to be told "go f*** yourself". The are of similar levels of rudeness; although "O.K. Boomer" implies that the speaker has an IQ that is even lower than Donald Trump's IQ.
The actual problem is that nobody else seems to know that this phrase isnt inherently an insult(or at least not a new insult). Anybody familiar with classic situation of person from an older generation being unfamiliar with what the newer generation is doing and being met with "whatever old man!" It's just that, it's nothing new. There will more than likely always be specific generation gap where there is a lack of understanding between the 2 sides.
No, it is wrong. If we are living in a PC culture, this is unacceptable ageism.