{"id":89077,"date":"2020-01-31T09:55:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-31T14:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=89077"},"modified":"2020-01-31T17:59:03","modified_gmt":"2020-01-31T22:59:03","slug":"sightings-david-gottlieb-memory-full-boomers-and-the-art-of-never-going-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=89077","title":{"rendered":"(Sightings) David Gottlieb–Memory Full: Boomers and the Art of Never Going Away"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sightings, <\/em>as its readers know, peers through the lens of contemporary media and culture in order to reflect on public perceptions of and approaches to religion. In the increasingly secular West, religious impulses often are found in the form of personalized spirituality, and yet the relocation of the spiritual impulse has done perhaps little to reduce the search for personal immortality. The media lately has brimmed with illustrations of the personal pursuit of immortality, which is being developed into a high art form by the Baby Boom generation.<\/p>\n

A case in point: On September 9 of last year, \u201cA Very Brady Renovation<\/a>\u201d debuted on HGTV. In this seven-episode series, all six surviving members of the original cast of the 1970s show \u201cThe Brady Bunch\u201d help recreate the interior spaces of the Brady family\u2019s fictional home\u2014inside the real-life Studio City, California house that was used for exterior shots of the family home in the original series, which ran on ABC from 1968-74. \u201cA Very Brady Renovation\u201d is a perfect metaphor for my generation\u2019s near-mastery of the art of<\/em> never going away<\/em>\u2014not to mention its lust for boosting property values.<\/p>\n

The blossoming of the \u201cOK Boomer<\/a>\u201d meme ran almost concurrently with \u201cA Very Brady Renovation.\u201d The meme captured the disgust and anger felt by cohorts of the still young at a generation broadly (and sometimes accurately) characterized as insensitive, inflexible, entitled, and all too influential. Writing for the Atlantic, <\/em>Andrew Ferguson<\/a> noted that the meme \u201cundammed vast, transgenerational reservoirs of grievance and self-pity, running in every direction.\u201d Lyman Stone, also in the Atlantic, <\/em>had already made a case for the assertion that \u201cBoomers Ruined Everything<\/a>,\u201d opining that, in areas as diverse as \u201chousing, work rules, higher education, law enforcement, and public budgeting,\u201d \u201cthe Baby Boom generation created, advanced, or preserved policies that made American institutions less dynamic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

“Memory Full: Boomers and the Art of Never Going Away”<\/p>\n

David Gottlieb (@UChiDivinity<\/a> PhD’18) explores how an aging generation is preserving its youthfulness … forever.https:\/\/t.co\/C1d87k6keb<\/a> #OkBoomer<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ubPrUjtAYq<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Sightings: Religion in Public Life (@DivSightings) January 20, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n