A Boomer and GenXer Walk into a Bar
Wit and wisdom, some smart assery, and a Mother and Daughter questioning “Are we even related?”
A Boomer and GenXer Walk into a Bar
Why Disrespect Is Spiking And What It Reveals S:2E:37
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Disrespect has become a default setting, and it is showing up everywhere from traffic stops to school meetings to the way people treat a server over missing fries. We sit down as a mother and daughter duo and ask a blunt question: when did “standing up for yourself” start looking like chaos? Along the way we separate peaceful protest from intimidation, and we talk about why yelling, threats, and property damage do not persuade anyone, they just harden the other side.
We are not asking anyone to stop questioning power. We are arguing for boundaries, civil discourse, and accountability without turning public workers into targets. If you want change, we make the case for civic engagement that actually moves the needle: vote, stay involved locally, and stop feeding the outrage machine. Subscribe for more unfiltered conversations, share this with someone who needs a calmer way to disagree, and leave us a review with your take: what does respectful protest look like today?
email: boomerandgenxer@gmail.com
Cold Open And Studio Chaos
SPEAKER_02Welcome everyone to today's show. Boomerman, the GMX are walking to a bar coming to you from the rabbit hole studio with you as our listeners will explain some witten wisdom, some smart ass race, primarily from Bobby. And a mother and a daughter questioning, are we even related? My name is Jane. My co-host is my daughter Bobby. And for the next, I don't know how many minutes it's gonna take because Bobby and I can't even come to grips on one thing right now. Uh, we're gonna entertain you.
SPEAKER_01How are you there, Bob? Well, apparently I'm seeing bugs and uh not hitting the actual fly that's flying around. What are you talking about? You're seeing bugs. I don't know. I thought there was a bug. I got this pushpin wall next to me on my side of the studio. You have one too, but for some reason, um I thought there was a bug on one of my pushpins, and I was like, look, there's a bug on my pushpin, and you're like, that's a um marker, you idiot. Yeah, how much but there was an actual fly flying around that we're trying to kill.
SPEAKER_02So if you hear our hands smack, it's because somebody or we smacked uh Dr. Domain.
SPEAKER_01Who's this? We you smacked.
SPEAKER_02Okay, well, anyway, I don't know. I don't know what y'all are drinking down there, but you got flies flying all over the place and bugs on push pins. Who would notice that there's a bug on a pushpin?
SPEAKER_01Well, when you're looking for a fly and you see something that looks like a bug, there's a fly in my soup. Waiter, there's a fly in my soup.
SPEAKER_02He won't eat much. So I just want to mention that we did a previous podcast on cryptids, and we had asked people about the Van Meter, Iowa, uh, what's he called? The Van Meter, Iowa visitor. Visitor, and we got so many responses that I will tell you, I don't need any more responses, folks. There's a festival in September, and Bobby and I are going to set up our booth there, and we're gonna talk to the locals and see what the folklore is all about and and see if anybody's got any real pictures that we can look at. And uh I understand there's been other podcasts and and Bobby, did you tell me there was a documentary done on this?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there's actually a couple of documentaries that have have actually gone down and walked the path and you know, the streets and tried to find the the old mine that he was buried in. Yeah, everything like that. Yep, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, we're not gonna cruise the town like that, but we are gonna talk to people and I may. Okay, you may on your on your little moped or whatever it is in my lambor feet. Yeah. Anyway, so uh thank you all for responding. We appreciate it. We got enough information now, and I think we're gonna be moving on.
From Protests To Respect For Authority
SPEAKER_02But uh today, you know what I want to talk about because I'm seeing so much of this not only on TV and the news, and you know, we've been dealing with protesters for a long time now, and it's like I don't know. I get angry about stuff and I get disgusted about politics and things like that, but I'm nobody's political pawn. So you know what? I go on with my life. Some people are having a difficult time doing that, and it is truly a psychological disorder, folks. Uh, those of you who are, you know, getting that angry that you want to hurt somebody or hurt somebody's property. That is a disorder. And y'all need to go talk to somebody. And I'm not talking about somebody in your line there. You're wait, wait, wait.
SPEAKER_01I thought you were at the Boston Tea Party. You mean to tell me you weren't chucking tea into the Boston Harbor with the rest of them? I would have been chucking tea, but you know what? I wasn't hurting anybody, but you were destroying property, property of the British government.
SPEAKER_02Well, uh, okay.
SPEAKER_01It wasn't floor government at the time.
SPEAKER_02Well, okay, there's that. First of all, I remember the remark. I remember the remark that you made made about me being at the Boston Tea Party.
SPEAKER_01I mean, you know, then it's true. Protests have been since the beginning of time, and it has been, you know, over lots of different things. Absolutely. You know, everything from peaceful to demonstrative to property destroying to violent to downright, absolute, completely raising the ground that you stand on. Protests.
SPEAKER_02I don't disagree with you on that, and I am all for a peaceful photos. Is that is that counter to protest? A photos?
SPEAKER_01Where you just go around taking photos. God.
SPEAKER_02I don't know. But anyway, I am all for peaceful protests. I am all for listening to somebody's perception on something or you know, whatever. But when you spit hate and venom and you're yelling and you're trying to hurt somebody, and you know, that's what your job is. Um, you're really not going to convince anybody to turn the the other way. And if you really want people to, you know, hear you, it's called sitting down and talking about it and being reasonable and looking at the facts and not just what you hear on the internet or on the evening news because they're all a bunch of freaking liars anyway. But you know, it's a little bit more than that. But where am I heading with this?
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say we've already done one with a protest. I know. Here's where I'm heading with where are we going with that?
SPEAKER_02Scratch. Uh, here's what where I'm going with that is the complete disrespect for authority right now. The complete disrespect for not only authority as in police officers, uh, government officials, and I don't really care about Senate Senate Congressmen. But, you know, even the parents, you know, don't get the don't get the respect. But it's all in what you raise and how you, you know, bring your kids up and what you what you accept and what you don't accept. But I do want to talk a little bit about the disrespect of uh authority. And and you mentioned it to me earlier, Bobby, before we were on the air. I think it really went way south during the time period of George Floyd, don't you?
SPEAKER_01Well, I mean, if you're talking like the the public perception of authority, I would say yes. I think I personally I believe that it was before that that it went way south. And I believe that it was not in the public perception. I believe it was in the home. Like you said, I believe it started in the home with the parents um, you know, not raising their kids with the respect of authority, uh not only the parents' authority, but the authority of the school, the authority of, you know, generally in in neighborhoods and communities, the authority figures and things like that. But yeah, when it comes to the the the wider perspective of authority, I think that yeah, I it all began to really begin to crumble for this this time period, this generation with the um the geor floyd death.
SPEAKER_02And I I can hear some of our listeners right now, I can hear their thoughts because I can I can forecast the future. I can hear that, I can hear them saying, I'm not just gonna lay down and let things happen. I'm not gonna, you know, stick up for my rights. I'm not I'm no one is asking you not to stick up for your rights. But there's a difference between chaos and setting boundaries. And when you get chaotic and you get defensive and you get very um agitated and uh you come out swinging at somebody or destroying somebody's property, that's a little bit different than setting your boundaries and saying, hey, listen, I'm gonna stand up for this. And uh, you know, I have friends who I do not agree with. I mean, I do not agree with them on several topics, but you know what? We're adults and we can talk about things and we can walk away friends. I mean, Bobby, you and I don't agree. Nope. And so, you know, but we're adults, we're crying out loud. And we we do have different opinions, but I do want to go back to the disrespect that you see a lot of police officers and now firefighters. You know, there's people who are um, you know, going after not only police officers, but ice. And listen, I understand that you, you know, you may have a position related to what's going on in the government. I get it. I get it. I have a position too, but I am not going to attack a police officer, I'm not gonna attack an ICE agent, I'm not gonna tell them I'm gonna shoot their family or hunt them down or anything like that. You know why? Because you need to move on with your life, folks, because whatever happens is gonna happen, and you're yelling all of that hatred is not gonna change anything. But when we talk about, you know, the lack of or the disrespect that we're seeing towards authority right now, it's police officers, it is uh um firefighters, it's school teachers, it's parents, it's you know, somebody who's serving you in a restaurant. I mean, don't you ever experience that?
SPEAKER_01Well, I don't think they really have any authority serving me in a restaurant. Uh I guess they could tell me get the hell out. Um, but yeah, it okay, then let's talk about on an airplane.
SPEAKER_02You know what? When you buy a ticket, that's that company saying, I'll give you a ride. Yeah, no different than you showing up with your car in their driveway and saying, I'll give you a ride for a hundred bucks to go to whatever town it is. And they get sh crappy in your car and you tell them get out.
SPEAKER_01Get out. You know what? I hope they wouldn't tell me to get out of the freaking airplane halfway through the ride.
SPEAKER_02No, but I have the right to tell you to get out of my car. They have the right to tell you to get off of that airplane with before they before they they have the right to tell you you're going to follow these rules. Right. Yeah. And people get so disrespectful to not only the the stewards that are on the planes, but when I say servers, you know, you walk into a restaurant, you think you can yell and scream at the people who are serving you. And don't get me wrong, I don't put up with bad customer service. I do not. I don't like somebody to be, you know, mouthy to me. I don't like them to be short with me. If I'm there to pay for a meal, let's do this, you know, in in a nice way. But if if you know you're losing your crap because somebody didn't give you a large French fry, I think, I think that's problematic.
Everyday Disrespect In Public Spaces
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I I agree. And and a lot of that when it comes to like the service industries and things like things like that, I think a lot of that is a learned response. So I I do believe a lot of that begins with who they are you know modeling themselves after from a young age. Give me an example. Well, uh in the home, you know, let's say that they look up to their mom or dad, right, and they constantly see their mom or dad berating people who serve them. Or each other. Or each other, what you know, whether it be a food service worker or a gas station clerk or the other parent who is cooking them a meal. Right. If they are constantly seeing that beratement as a normality in their lives, they are going to reflect that and they're going to expect that that is how the world works and that's how they're expected to
How Bullying And Modeling Start At Home
SPEAKER_01act.
SPEAKER_02And we talked a little bit about this in our bullying podcast, do you remember? Yeah. And you know, one of the things that people don't realize is bullying starts at home, folks. Yeah. It starts at home. I'd say for 99% of it. Yeah. And when your kids see you bully the neighbor or bully a server or bully anybody else, and you're going, I don't bully anybody. Really? Let's think about it. Let's think about what bullying really is. It's demeaning, it's degrading, it's debasing somebody else, and sometimes threatening. Come on. Come on, you probably have. And they see that. And you know, the disrespect, I think, is really a complex issue that's really kind of dip uh driven, I'll say, by a cycle of eroded trust, don't you think? Because people don't trust the police officers anymore. People don't trust, you know, the firefighters, they don't trust ICE, they don't trust the government. Now, listen, I'm not saying on the government you don't have a right to distrust. What I'm saying is is you can distrust without being um being uh f you know combative. You don't have to be combative about it. And what's happening is we're seeing a shift in our in our social values. People are saying that they're building boundaries when really they're not. They're being bullies and they're being outspoken more than they should be. They're being loud and obnoxious and argumentative and uh, you know, combative. And you know, there's a and there is a heavy demand that's placed on law enforcement because of that change in those shifting social values.
SPEAKER_01Well, and a lot of it is it's a learned response. So it's either an instinct developed because, you know, an early authority figure like a parent or a caregiver uh use their power, their own power over that person, either inconsistently or abusively, or it's it's learned in a way that it is ingrained in them through social cues. And what I mean by that is I I will use an example, and it's going to be a hypothetical
Fear Messaging And Forced Identity Scripts
SPEAKER_01example. So hypothetically about me. Yeah, totally. Hypothetically, you have a child who is growing up constantly inundated with information around her that says, You are of one type. Okay, so it says let's say, let's take the authority out, and let's say sexuality, because that'll piss a lot of people off. Let's say sexuality. So you have a daughter who's grown up around uh an archetype in society that says it's okay to be gay, and and it's okay to be gay, whatever. You know, you don't need to know my stance on that. It's okay to be gay. It's okay to be trans. You should be gay. You should be trans. Big deal. You should be a part of the alphabet mafia. You should be uh exploring your sexuality, you should be knowing that at the age of five what your sexuality is. You should be following those avenues at every turn from a very early age, regardless of how your parents feel, or how your church feels, or how your family feels about this, or how you think you might feel in five years. You should be taking these roads constantly wherever they turn. And once you follow that road, you should be consistent in that road. You should be part of that quote unquote mafia and fight every day for those other people who are also on that road, even if it's not your road. You should be immediately defensive against people who say, but you're only five. You were only five when you thought this, having your feelings changed. Even though maybe your feelings did change, you should be defensive against that. You should immediately become defensive and violent and maybe even scared of the people who question this. Because how could they ever, ever have your well-being in their own minds when all they can do is question you of what you should be now? Right. Take that and put it into authority. Yeah. And these children are inundated with it every single damn day.
SPEAKER_02And you hit the nail right on the head with one and all of that is correct. I mean, all of it. Um, it and it sometimes it's just a matter of a few words, how you present it and how these kids are receiving it. And you know, it is fear, it is, it's fear. We are uh we are a society of fear mongers, and whether it's you know, political, whether it's how you should dress, and see the word should, should be, yeah. How they want you to dress, how they want you to.
SPEAKER_01God forbid your opinion should change. God forbid that you should change any
One Bad Incident Versus A Whole System
SPEAKER_01kind of thinking. Like, okay, I didn't like authority figures because I had a really, really bad interaction with a cop that overstepped his bounds and he hurt me, and he didn't have any reason to, and he was in the wrong. Well, guess what? In five years, I've met really good cops and they didn't hurt me, and they didn't overstep their bounds, and they were there for me when I needed them. And when you go forward and you evolve because you have new facts and you have new information, that's not okay anymore for some reason. It's not okay for society to evolve once they have new information.
SPEAKER_02But it is, and that's not what you're saying. You're saying that what society is.
SPEAKER_01What society is saying is that it's not okay to evolve anymore when you have new interactions, new information, and it's not your feelings any longer. That's that's what I was trying to get at with you know the whole story is once you evolve, once you have new feelings, new interactions, new scientific evidence of what you feel and what you know and what is the truth, it's not okay to come forward with that. You need to shut up and sit down and follow the line. And if you don't, all of a sudden you're part of the problem.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And you made the comment about a situation, and it's unfortunate that people will place their lifetime, opinion, or perception on one situation, and you know this.
SPEAKER_01And it's generational.
SPEAKER_02I have a a saying that I say all the time, and it is you know, excuse me, one mistake does not uh a loser make. Right. And one, you know, one small incident does not a bad person make. Right. You stole a candy bar in a store when you were a kid, or let's say that you got picked up for a little bit of marijuana, it doesn't make you a horrible person the rest of your life. And what's happening on the other side is that, you know, let's say that you've got a like you said, a cop or um a teacher or your parent that you disagreed with on one or two situations, you're gonna have hundreds of thousands of situations in your lifetime. Stop basing it on one or two situations that you may or may not have even been involved with. And you know, I'm gonna go back to the to, you know, not only Rodney King or not only Joy George Floyd, but even Rodney King, and Rodney King's was a really bad situation. There's no question about that. But if but we don't set our whole life on the fact that we had a a few bad cops, right? Right. We've got a lot of good cops, and people go, no, we don't. We don't have any. Really? Well, you know, you're the same people that the minute somebody says something to you that you disagree with, you go, let's call the cops, let's call 911.
SPEAKER_01The minute they give you eight chicken nuggets instead of 10, you're in the drive-thru calling the cops.
SPEAKER_02911 because yeah. And so I all we're saying is, you know, there is a different perspective on this stuff. And, you know, I think many feel authorities overstepped their bounds, and some of them did. Come on, say they did, but a lot of them didn't, and they're just trying to do their job. But it did lead to concerns over, you know, police brutality, systemic bias, and you know, the lack of procedural justice. But on the other hand, think about the good things that they've done for the communities because they're they really do protect you. And uh another thing on a police perceptive or per uh perspective is that um you know, officers often view disrespect as a threat to public safety and order. And once they feel threatened, guess what? You're kind of screwed because you don't threaten a cop. Right. And they're there to help, not to hurt. They're there to help, not to hurt. Now, some of them are assholes, but you know what? A lot of times you're an asshole too.
SPEAKER_01And and they deal with people at the all door ranges. Well, and it so most times they With people at the worst moment in their life. They're not rolling up on people because they called 911 because they're having a great day. Right.
SPEAKER_02That's exactly right. I don't call them for that.
SPEAKER_01They yeah, that that that that's not what they're called for.
SPEAKER_02But you know, uh also with my uh, you know, misconduct and accountability, which is what you were talking about, there's incidents of you know excessive force in some situations. Right. And there is some corruption. Name me a place where there isn't uh corruption. I mean, school districts, government, uh, you know, uh uh CPA's office, gas stations. Gas corruption. Yeah. And we understand that there's a decline, but you don't have to be a part of it. That's the whole thing. You don't have to be a part of it. I think about all these people who are carrying around all this anger towards authority figures. And you know what? I I tell you the same thing I would tell you about a gunman. Stay away from them, don't go near him. What do you need to be in that uh environment for? Well, I have every right. I'm not saying you don't have a right. I'm saying why would you put yourself in that situation anyway?
Supporting Police While Rejecting Overreach
SPEAKER_02And um, I know that Yale University did some uh did a like a research on this, and it indicated that the perception of fairness dictates public compliance, just the perception, not even the actual like statistical fairness, not even the perceive, and you know that newscasters use the same words that you used as your examples earlier, yeah, and they tell people how they should feel. Yes, and I don't need you to tell me I'm intelligent, I don't okay, halfway. Okay, that's all of you.
SPEAKER_01But um Don't tell me what to do.
SPEAKER_02Now the point is, is you know, if you're intelligent, and I think most people are, if you're intelligent, you can come to your own conclusions. I don't need a newscaster, I don't need a neighbor, I don't need some violent idiot out on a line somewhere screaming and damaging somebody's car or standing in the way of traffic or yelling at people or you know, uh hitting them with signs or whatever. I don't need you to tell me that stuff. I can figure it out. I'm an intelligent person.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, and here's my thing though, you can be on both sides. You can be on both sides, you can absolutely uh support law enforcement, let's say. You can absolutely support law enforcement, you can support the good guys, and you can still be against police overreach and excessive use of force. Absolutely, you absolutely can. And you know from the previous podcast, I am I I am for protest. I absolutely am. I am too peaceful. Because it has been with us since the beginning. You know, this government was founded on protest, you know that, and I know that. And Thoroughgood Marshall knew that. And it's it's it's embedded in not only us as humans, but you know, it's embedded in this entire country. Do I always agree with violent protests? No, no, I don't. And I know you're glaring at me from over there because your eyes are closed.
Change Through Voting Not Violence
SPEAKER_01Why are your eyes closed? Look me in the eye here, Bobby. I don't agree with people getting hurt, I don't agree with things like that, but sometimes, sometimes for the government to listen, you need to open their ears.
SPEAKER_02No, I and I I'm just gonna shut you down right there because if you want the government to listen, then elect the right people into the Senate and the House and the Congress. You know what? You're electing the wrong people and you're letting them roll back in and you're letting them have a career of that, and they don't give a rat's ass about you, and here you are fighting about all of this stuff that they don't know your names, they don't give a shit. Come on, and yet here you are fighting about it.
SPEAKER_01Listen, so you're vote, you're voting them in, vote them out. The grasshoppers didn't listen until the ants rose against them. And I know you don't know what that means, but every gen is.
SPEAKER_02How do you know I don't know what that means?
SPEAKER_01What's it from? I don't know. A bug's life's life? A bug's life, the movie.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01The grass the the ants had to physically ride. I do remember that against the grasshoppers.
SPEAKER_02I do remember that.
SPEAKER_01They outnumbered them a hundred to one.
SPEAKER_02That's true. But you don't have to do it with violence, Bobby. You can do it by voting them in and voting them out. Why do we have 92-year-old senators sitting in uh in a seat? Why do we have 87-year-old senator? Yeah, we did. I mean, come on, folks. You know, if you want to create change, create change.
SPEAKER_01But why why are we talking about their age? Why not talk about um their competency? Both.
SPEAKER_02Dr. Domain. I see. Dr. Domain is pointing. His finger just went in my face. And he's like agreeing with you, Bobby. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_00That's just a a major theme of yours is ageism. You're your biggest, you're a big ageist.
SPEAKER_02It isn't ageism, it's ageism. Oh, it is.
SPEAKER_00Why'd you call it the age of the of those individuals?
SPEAKER_02Okay, then let me back up. They've been in office for 62 years. They've been in office for 62 years. Okay. They don't have any. No. That's proven. Okay. Let's not even joke about that. They're not good at it. And uh when you've been in office that long, what happens? You become numb to the problems. You become numb to the problems. They're not your problems. It's whatever's popular today on the internet, and that's what they focus on.
SPEAKER_00So were you a better shut up, Bobby? Were you a better employee further into your career than when you first started?
SPEAKER_02Let me tell you what I told you here about two weeks ago. I said every employee should leave their job before they're disgruntled.
SPEAKER_01Every employee I should have quit two weeks ago.
SPEAKER_02I think once you become really, really competent in your job. She's gonna do the knife hands pretty soon.
SPEAKER_01You better watch out.
SPEAKER_02I think once you become very, very competent in your job, and that's wonderful that you do. If you get to the point where you're bored and you're not really making a difference, that's time for you to go, and you should go before you're disgruntled because nobody is looking. There is no market out there for a disgruntled employee.
SPEAKER_01Alrighty then. I'm just saying. And that goes for authority figures too.
SPEAKER_02It is for authority figures.
SPEAKER_01For you put your foot in somebody's head.
SPEAKER_00I think you're missing the point, though.
SPEAKER_02Okay, what am I missing?
SPEAKER_00We have a we have a process in place to I said that. Oh, and vote the people out.
SPEAKER_02That's what how many times have I said that? There you go. Did I, Bobby? Come on. Quit looking at him like you're gonna take his side because you know darn well.
SPEAKER_01I'm age rating you at this point.
SPEAKER_02I swear I will come down there. I will come down. Okay, that's it. Bobby, I think that's all I have.
SPEAKER_01I gotta go. The authority figure in this uh booth has just said that that is literally all the insanity that we have for today.
Wrap Up And Listener Email
SPEAKER_01But hey, listen, we appreciate you joining us here at the Rebel.
SPEAKER_02Before we go, Bob really, what was our point today? Our point today was there are processes in place. If you don't want these people in office, then get them out of office by voting with mistrust and distrust and authority.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was listening to another podcast, I guess.
SPEAKER_01We're going right back to the government. Oh Lord, please send her an email at boomer and genxer at gmail.com and just tell her how much you love her because I think we're losing her to the old Alzheimer's. But hey, if you have hate mail, well, you know where you can put that. So until next week, I'm Bobby Joy. And she's silent. And you're stuck with a little space out later.