'OK Boomer' is the burn that unites generations — even boomers

Perhaps it is for the best that not even meme experts know who first posted the generational burn of the year, "OK Boomer." We are told that it is originally a Generation Z joint, and that it started on the current social network of choice for under 25s, TikTok. We know that millennials picked up the torch fairly quickly, carrying the phrase to the highest echelons of Twitter; it was a millennial legislator from New Zealand's Green Party who used "OK Boomer" both to put down a heckler and to go viral on YouTube.

But also I'm here as a card-carrying member of Generation X, the oft-ignored predecessors to millennials, to say that we too feel incrediblyseen by this meme. Rolling our eyes at our loud and self-centered predecessors was pretty much the only thing this culturally disparate, hipster-filled generation had in common in the 1990s, other than our love of flannel. A dismissive, sarcasm-drenched "OK Boomer" sounds like it could be a line from Reality Bites, or from an Alanis Morrisette song.

Of course, since we're Gen X, we also have to be a little bit arch and hipster about it. "The more things change, the more some things stay the same, I guess," says writer Daniel Smith-Rowsley. "But it's all good." Smith-Rowsley penned a Newsweekarticle declaring war on Baby Boomers from the perspective of a 20-something in 1991 — back before those of us born between 1964 and 1982 even called ourselves Generation X.

That title was popularized by a Douglas Coupland novel of the same name, which was released later that year and prompted a slew of imitators. Which clues you in to the Gen X approach to this meme: if there's any negativity to our reaction, it's jealousy that we spent the 1990s pouring into long angsty novels the same sentiment that Gen Z managed to get across in two words.

The genius of the meme is that it maps onto any situation involving a powerful self-centered elder and an impossibly overmatched young underdog, as in this perfect example of the form:

Tweet may have been deleted

Boomers for 'OK Boomer'

Even more tellingly, the meme has been embraced by the generational big kahunas — Baby Boomers — themselves.

Oh sure, there was backlash from a few radio hosts and columnists who didn't get (or pretended not to get) the joke. There are commenters on Facebook, the kind of people who insist on taking everything literally, who see dark intimations of generational warfare. But there are also plenty of boomers who understand what's going on here; they are fully aware of our dark moment in history and the responsibility that people their age bear for it.

"If I'm being absurdly out of touch about how hard it is for young people to get a start in this world, or even afford dental care, then feel free to say 'OK, Boomer' to me," a Boomer friend wrote on Facebook. "I'll ask about my transgression and then I'll do better."

The generation born after World War II, up until 1964, is a perennial paradox. It is the generation of Barack Obama as well as the generation of Donald Trump; there are millions who get it and millions more who don't. There are grumbling Fox News-watching grandpas and there are eightysomething Jane Fondas, showing up and getting arrested every week at climate change protests.

Tweet may have been deleted

On the one hand, Boomers were the generation that marched for Civil Rights, flooded the streets in their millions to try to end the war in Vietnam, and founded Earth Day decades before the Green New Deal was a thing. We owe those kids a lot, not least because of the timeless music they made at the same time.

On the other hand, Boomers were the ones who pulled up the ladder of the housing market. Their high wages and full pensions are things the rest of us have been paying for some time. And most damningly of all, the world released more CO2 into the atmosphere since the end of the Cold War in 1989 than it did in all human history until that point (820 gigatons vs. 758 gigatons respectively, according to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory).

That corresponds with the period that Boomer leaders started to take the reins of power (1990 in the UK, 1992 in the U.S.), power the generation has still not relinquished. Boomers effectively own those gigatons and all the damage they will continue to do. Seen in this light, "OK Boomer" is letting the generation off incredibly lightly.

Despite their prior environmental awareness, too many Boomers were asleep at the switch in the 1990s and 2000s — or at best, they failed to draw the connection between all the flights they were taking, all the miles they were driving, all the Boomer-tailored shopping they were doing, and the health of the planet. Lest we forget, climate change denial is a boomer-era phenomenon, too.

For all they achieved earlier in life, the Boomers have a lot of making up to do now. If "OK Boomer" lasts longer than the average meme, it is because of this essential shock to the system, this warning shot across the bows. They may have helped save the world in the 1960s, and they might think that earned them a good long retirement. No dice.

Among every subsequent generation, the Boomer reputation is currently toast. If they are to rescue themselves in the eyes of history, then we need to start seeing a lot fewer Trump types and a lot more Jane Fondas. 2020 would be an excellent time to start showing up and become activists again.

OK, Boomer?