AFP, WELLINGTONWith the quickfire putdown “OK, boomer”, a 25-year-old New Zealand politician dismissed a heckler during a speech about climate change — highlighting the generation gap between herself and other lawmakers in a clip that has gone viral. The catchphrase is used to dismiss out-of-touch, condescending or closed-minded attitudes associated with the baby-boomer generation and older people more generally. Green Party MP Chloe Swarbrick used it to hit back at interjections while speaking this week in support of a bill to reduce New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions. “In the year 2050 I will be 56 years old ... yet, right now, the average of this 52nd parliament is 49 years old,” she said. However, when clips of the moment were shared on social media, messages of support for Swarbrick streamed in from the Millennial generation, born between the early 1980s and mid-90s, and the even younger Generation Z.

Source: Taipei Times November 07, 2019 16:08 UTC