I am a Gen X’er. That’s the media and marketing label assigned to me by the wheel of greed. The wheel of greed seems to spin relentlessly, and it’s born out of popular culture and then adopted by marketing as a way to aggregate and analyze us to sell us products. One of the side effects of these labels is how it is pitting generations against one another. The “Okay Boomer” jab is a perfect example of how it can go awry and why we must stop with these designations.
The “Okay Boomer” comment by a young lawmaker from New Zealand to a colleague was dismissive and meant to hurt because it rings of ageism. But it is much worse than that. It shows that no matter what the generation, the desire to label and exclude is alive and well in humanity. Though I don’t understand it entirely, I applaud the younger generations for wanting to be inclusive of everyone and promoting fairness for Trangenders. I also applaud their commitment to the health of the planet. But I’m not impressed with how they, too, are labeling. To be successful at saving our precious planet, we must think as one because the earth doesn’t respond to our ages but to our species as a whole, by our numbers.
The response by Myrna Blyth of the AARP was also slightly ridiculous. It displays insecurity, and if she wanted to say something, it should have been something that would impart wisdom to the younger lawmaker. Because with age comes wisdom, and it should be celebrated as it is in the East. Knowledge is a benefit of aging that’s designed into humanity. Its purpose is to impart wisdom to generations that follow to ensure their success. I would have liked to hear Myrna Blyth say, “Your generation has an enormous task in front of you; humanity has been irresponsible in our quest for advancement. We’ve achieved great things which all generations are enjoying at the moment. But, like the iPhones we are addicted to, they create quite a bit of pollution from inception to decommissioning. It’s time for us to pause and seek a solution together. The older generations have prospered, but the younger generations are not seeing the benefit. Let’s fix this problem. Together.”
Finally, AI will learn exponentially, see these prejudices, and repeat them. We must isolate and delete them before inadvertently becoming victims of our ridiculous labels. I use labels too. I’m going to try to cut down on it. But I know it’ll be challenging because it’s also another natural way for a species to protect itself from what’s different.