Someone on Facebook recently tried to argue that “Boomer” and “Baby Boomer” are two different things.
Here’s the thing.
Words have meaning.
That meaning is shared, flexible, and changeable over time.
From a sociolinguistic perspective, however, it is important to be aware of WHO is attempting to change the meaning of a word, HOW, and WHY.
This requires a critical and ongoing awareness of cultural power dynamics.
The Relationship Between Language and Social Justice
Marginalized and oppressed groups routinely develop language to describe axes of oppression.
The oppressor is always motivated to co-opt and appropriate that language, in order to render it useless.
Words are only as valuable as their shared meaning.
Once that meaning has been diluted or changed enough, another term must be created to take its place.
This process takes time. It is possible that the new term will never gain the same level of cultural awareness as the original.
A common example is how AAVE is constantly appropriated by White people. The vast majority of what is currently referred to as Gen Z or Gen Alpha slang is actually appropriated AAVE.
Some people are now appropriating “Boomer” outside of its original context. Here’s why that’s problematic.
The Development of “Boomer”
“Boomer” is the abbreviated version of “Baby Boomer.” Baby Boomer is the term used to describe the generation of individuals born between 1946 and 1964.
I am a Millennial. When Millennials were coming of age in the early 2000s, Baby Boomers were constantly talking about how entitled and lazy we were.
Millennials were accused of “killing” a variety of different industries. We were gaslighted about our inability to achieve the level of economic wealth and prosperity the Baby Boomers had at our age.
Boomer rhetoric was epitomized by arguing that drinking Starbucks or eating avocado toast was the reason that Millennials can’t afford to buy a house. This obscures the true causes – stagnant wages and the aftermath of the 2008 housing crisis.
Millennials started making memes about our experiences. This culminated in responding “OK Boomer” whenever a Baby Boomer would blame Millennials for being trapped in low-wage jobs or having to move back into their parents’ homes.
What Makes “Boomer” a Useful Term
“Boomer” is literally shorthand for “Baby Boomer.”
It is a term that highlights how the Baby Boomer generation was (and still is) holding onto positions of power in society. How Baby Boomers continue to create and uphold policies preventing Millennials from generating wealth or stability, while gaslighting us about it.
In other words, it is a term designed to highlight a specific expression of systemic oppression.
The same is true of terms like “Karen,” which is one of the terms that generated within AAVE and has also been widely appropriated outside of its intended context by White people.
In the same way that “Karen” is shorthand for a specific kind of White woman weaponizing structural racism to her advantage, “Boomer” is shorthand for a specific kind of Baby Boomer who weaponizes their socioeconomic power and privilege at the expense of future generations.
Not all Baby Boomers are “Boomers,” but all “Boomers” are Baby Boomers.
“Boomer” is describing a specific relationship of structural power within U.S. culture. What makes “Boomer” meaningful is that it is rooted in how specific economic circumstances manifested as access to structural power and privilege in the present day.
Ramifications of Language Appropriation
When words like “Karen” or “Boomer” get watered down and decontextualized to mean “anyone that I find annoying on the Internet,” they lose their rhetorical power.
Words like this, created out of a specific axis of structural oppression, can be used to highlight the ways that structural oppression is operating in a specific moment.
This allows marginalized and oppressed communities to build a collective consciousness and develop strategies to dismantle oppressive power structures.
When these terms are decontextualized, it only aids in furthering the goals of the oppressor.
Calling someone who is not a Baby Boomer a “Boomer” furthers the goals and aims of Boomers. It obscures the structural power that Baby Boomers still hold in the U.S. economy, government, and other cultural institutions.
The meaning of words is dynamic and changes over time.
But when a specific term is coined by a marginalized group to highlight an aspect of systemic oppression, and that word is appropriated by the majority and decontextualized, it is a further act of systemic violence.
It robs the marginalized group of their ability to meaningfully discuss the nuances of the oppression they are experiencing. This hinders the development of a collective consciousness and strategies to dismantle structural oppression.
Other Related Examples
I have written previously about how this applies to “performative activism.”
It happened with “woke” (which also originated in AAVE).
It happened when teenagers started saying, “that’s so gay” in the early 2000s.
It happens when “Neurodivergent” is used as a euphemism for Autism and ADHD, or gets co-opted by healthcare professionals.
It is currently happening with “DEI.”
This process is happening all the time and will continue to happen as language continues to evolve.
Any term related to social justice is at risk of being decontextualized and appropriated by the oppressor.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Anyone doing social justice work needs to remain vigilant about the contexts in which we are using language. We must remain aware of what power dynamics specific terminology was intended to illuminate.
Otherwise, we are assisting the oppressor in cutting off all new social justice movements at the knees.
The only type of person that can have “Boomer energy” is someone with a specific type of socioeconomic privilege. And who is weaponizing that privilege in a specific way.
“Boomer” can only be construed as an insult because of the very real harm that so many Baby Boomers have done. Baby Boomers are directly responsible for policies escalating climate change, income inequality, the housing crisis, mass layoffs, mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic response, etc.
Baby Boomers perceive “Boomer” as an insult for the same reason that TERFs think that “cis” is a slur. Those in power resist any term which names privilege or renders their experience as anything other than “normal.”
Marginalized groups using terminology to describe the oppression they experience is never an insult. It is only perceived as such by those unwilling to acknowledge their own privilege, who demand deference or reverence from those they are subjugating.
Calling anyone you dislike a “Boomer” is lateral violence, undermining progress towards social justice.
Baby Boomers are the ones who decided that “Boomer” was an insult. By using it as one, you are actively siding with them.
Which according to your own logic, means that you are the one expressing peak Boomer energy. Maybe that will be enough to get you to stop.