Enough is enough! Fed up with endless critiques by their know-it-all elders, Gen Z isn’t going to take it anymore and has begun to clap back. The response has taken the form of a simple meme, “Ok Boomer,” a retort that was inspired by (of course) a TikTok video.
In a split-screen visual first reported on by the NY Times, an older white man dripping with condensation lectures, “The Millennials and Generation Z have the Peter Pan syndrome. They don’t ever want to grow up. They think that the Utopian ideals that they have in their youth are somehow going to translate into adulthood. And that somehow they’re going to create this Utopian society in which everything is equal and the government takes care of everything.”
While he rants, a young woman on the left screen is busy writing in a notebook that is revealed in the end as reading, “Ok boomer.” It’s short and sweet, but packs a big punch in its implication that the Boomer Genereation needs to examine its own failings before it judges a young generation that’s inherited a world that feels like it’s in meltdown mode.
Naturally, where there are memes there is merch, including a cute collection designed by Shannon O’Connor, who told the NY Times, “The older generations grew up with a certain mind-set, and we have a different perspective. A lot of them don’t believe in climate change or don’t believe people can get jobs with dyed hair, and a lot of them are stubborn in that view. Teenagers just respond, ‘Ok, boomer.’ It’s like, we’ll prove you wrong, we’re still going to be successful because the world is changing.”
Priced from $21.99-$39.99, O’Connor’s “Ok boomer” offerings are now available on bonfire.com.
