Keith @keith@social.coop

and be kind to roma and traveller friends who will suffer under a manifesto that wants to eradicate them
be kind to your jewish friends who have woken to a racist and antisemite being returned as prime minister
be kind to your friends with european accents and european names
be kind to your trans and non-binary friends
be kind to the victims and survivors of grenfell and anyone living in unsafe buildings in precarious circumstances

i could go on but you get the point. today fucking sucks

be kind today
be kind to your friends of colour
be kind to your friends with disabilities or who cant get PIP
be kind to your friends who are on benefits or can't get them
be kind to your friends who are chronically ill or mentally ill
be kind to anybody who relies on the NHS
be kind to doctors, nurses, teachers
be kind to your working class friends and those who are out of work
be kind to single mothers and those who rely on food banks
be kind first cos we need to fight again tomorrow

Land Workers Alliance 2020 Calendar

Support the #UK #ViaCampesina affiliated union by buying one of these beautiful calendars. Each month
depicts a group working to build not only a better agricultural or land-rights system, but also a fairer society.
Migrant worker solidarity of Italy’s USB union
French agricultural syndicalist resistance to free trade
The Women’s village of Jinwar #Rojava Northern Syria

https://landworkersalliance.org.uk/shop/landworkers-alliance-calendar-2020-rooted-in-resistance/

it hurts because it's speaking truth to power. it hurts because Boomers have built a culture that looks to them as the wise ones, the gatekeepers, the elders with power, and the Kids These Days aren't playing the game right. it's not disrespectful or confrontational--it's a swerve, a dodge, taking a pass on the whole packaged cycle of obedience and rebellion.

and that's why it doesn't hurt their parents, us GenXers. I have to admit, if somebody said "OK Gloomer" (heeee) to me I'd have to shake my head, laugh a little, and say "yeah, you got me." we're used to being disregarded and silenced. we love you, our kids... but we know better than to try and take away your voice. even if we wanted to, we know we can't. we can give advice and support, and you can take it or leave it as you will. but you're the ones who are leading the charge to change the world right now. drive us to a brighter, better future, or drive us off a cliff... either way, we're proud of you.

OK, Millenials and Zoomers. you've got this. 💚

and when we did manage to rebel, it was seen as the usual childish rebellion against our parents. kids these days! it's a phase, we'll grow out of it and grow up to be just like the people who raised us.

but the kids these days... they have something magical: they have a voice, and the voice gives them power, and *they know it*.

their voices let them speak to each other about their world and the problems they see. it lets them look for solutions that aren't reliant on their parents or grandparents, not even for advice, not even for opinions. and make no mistake, they've noticed the *decade* of fucking "Millennials Ruined [X]" thinkpieces written by annoyed Boomers, the endless, relentless victim-blaming of slapping down the Kids These Days for the crappy situations they have to deal with and that they had nothing to do with creating.

this is Boomers reaping what they've sown. because this is Millenials saying "OK, Boomer... you've said your piece. we're aware of your opinion, we've heard your advice. now we're going to do *our own thing*. and you can keep talking all you want, but we're *doing* something. so why don't you have a nice big cup of sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up for a god damn change."

honestly, given the reactions that the phrase "OK, Boomer" have been getting in the media, you'd think packs of teens have been systematically targeting elderly people for brutal street muggings or something. but, no... it's just a phrase, and a mild one at that. why is it so upsetting?

because it's not rebellious or confrontational, which are things older people are used to getting from younger people. it's straight-up *dismissive*. and it's not something we, GenX, the first-generation children of the Boomers, ever had the chance to express.

our rebellion was taken away, repackaged, and sold back to us when we were too young to know what it was for or why it could be powerful. we grew up feeling helpless and hopeless, trapped in a world where we had nothing meaningful to say and nothing useful to do because Doom was Nigh--the ozone layer, nuclear war, the Y2K bug, politicians that hated us sending us off to wars for blatant lies. Boomers got to have their Swinging 60s--we grew up under the specter of AIDS. we were isolated from each other, so we never realized that we weren't alone. and when we were finally able to get our own voice out into the popular culture, we spoke obliquely of isolation, depression, inward-turned knives.