The Generational Blame Game... Where Nobody Wins!

It’s said that you know you have reached middle age when you stop criticising your elders and start criticising the younger generation. Maybe, because they become an easier ‘target.’
“Every generation,” wrote Mike Rutherford, “blames the one before,” in commenting that he had lived through a time when “all young men wanted to do was to be like their fathers,” to the extent of wearing the same clothes, following them into the same jobs, and having most of the same interests. “But then there was a huge change and our generation wanted to be anything but their fathers. It wasn't our parents' fault, there was just a big social change.” And maybe therein lies the nub of what we now conveniently call, ‘the generational blame game.’ And both are as eager to play the game, as and when it suits them. Not all the time... just when it suits...
For example, the younger generation are lightning quick to blame my generation for everything bad such as, the incredible rise, and maybe the threat of artificial intelligence (AI), political extremism, intolerance and polarisation; environmental abuse, neglect and consequent climate change; societal discrimination and economic inequality; water deficit and desertification; poverty and starvation; technological and digital addiction or dependence; drug and alcohol dependency; data protection and privacy; the mental health crisis; diminishing employment opportunities; undocumented migration; trust, or lack of trust, and so much more...
It would ‘do your head in,’ to do any of those justice in debate or discussion, so let’s just touch briefly on a couple of these topics. Environmental ‘abuse,’ through deforestation and urban sprawl, proved necessary in the past as timber was seen as the primary or secondary construction material, however, several generations must take responsibility for the absence of deforestation and regeneration, and a lack of urgency, a laziness, in seeking alternative resources and methodologies. This is not abuse, not neglect, however, the outcome is the same, the environment is suffering, and through consequent climate change, we have today’s genuine planetary issue.
The current reluctance of the world’s politicians, movers and shakers, to commit to green imperatives is difficult to rationalise, with teen activist Greta Thunberg saying “The eyes of all future generations are upon you, and if you choose to fail us, I say, we will never forgive you,” adding, “but we see your betrayal.” Harsh epithets may be a cathartic release, an emotional analgesia, but do little to solve the problem. It’s happened, and let’s not cry over spilt milk, but work towards solutions, whilst not completely absolving this, and recent generations, from their impact on the environment.
For example, I grew up in a time when milk was delivered, fresh each morning, into ‘billy cans,’ left on the porch. We then evolved to milk deliveries in pint bottles, cream in half-pint bottles, which had to be paid for, replaced, if broken. None of these ‘single use’ cartons for my generation! Drinks were sold in glass bottles that were refundable, so weren’t discarded ‘willy-nilly,’ and there weren’t beaches littered with plastic bottle flotsam. There were no MacDonald’s, Pizza Hut, or Starbucks, to create ever-increasing mountains of ecologically challenging plastic, paper and cardboard. So, respectfully, Thunberg et al, most of that is down to your generation!
Political extremism today is encouraged by so many leaders, as a mechanism for creating disharmony and change. Probably, not since Genghis Khan, Adolf Hitler, and Joseph Stalin, have we seen a politician with the impunity and aggression across peace and war, trade and tariffs, borders and migration, and societal diversity, the ‘isms, as United States President Donald Trump. Largely emasculated during his first presidency, he now has no ‘filters,’ nobody holding him back, and is clearly a law unto himself, and in fact who said of himself, “I could stand in the middle of 7th Avenue, shoot someone, and not lose a single vote.”
‘Marmite’ politics - you either love them, or hate them - may not be palatable, but is here to stay by the looks of it, as the generation game road show continues unabated.

Ray Petersen The writer is a media consultant