The catch phrase “Ok Boomer” has taken over the internet over the last few weeks. The internet’s newest meme blew up and has become popular lately. The two-word meme even has its own Wikipedia page. 

“Ok Boomer” started on the app TikTok after an older man posted a video, coming after the younger generations. The man ranted for about a minute on his ideas that “Millennials and Generation Z have the Peter Pan syndrome and don’t ever want to group up,” the younger generation needs to “mature and realize nothing is free,” “things aren’t equal,” and lastly, the “uptopian” the younger generation has in mind is “not sustainable.” 

TikTok is a video app used mostly by people under 30 years old. According to Business of Apps, 60% of TikTok users are 16-24 years old. It may not have been the smartest move to post a video ranting about younger generations on an app mostly used by younger generations.

Not only did the man receive a ton of backlash, but the new meme was born in response to his video. 

The simple phrase may have been a cheap shot at the man, but it may have also been a little more. Taylor Lorenz from the New York Times wrote, “‘Ok boomer’ has become Generation Z’s endlessly respeated retort to the problem of older people who just don’t get it, a rallying cry for millions of fed up kids.” 

Lorenz has a point. Baby boomers are not afraid to share what they believe is wrong with younger generations. We constantly hear “back in my day…” and are constantly talked down to by baby boomers. 

Some even make fun of the concept of a “safe-place” and how we apparently want everything to be free. To be fair, we were just screwed financially by the older generations and cannot afford living in 2019. 

Again, “Ok Boomer” seemed to be a harmless comeback in response to the video, but it has left many others offended. 

Conservative radio host Bob Lonsberry compared “Ok boomer” to a common racial slur. On Twitter, Lonsberry twitter “Boomer is the n-word of ageism.” 

The tweet has been deleted, but the stupidity still lingers. As comedian John Mulaney once said in a Netflix special, “if you’re comparing the badness of two words, and you won’t even say one of them, that one’s the worst word.” 

Most cannot even fathom comparing the two words because, news flash, they aren’t nearly the same thing. 

So, how much longer will “Ok boomer” be a relevant meme?