Oh, and the meaning: The petard, it seems, has long since
fallen out of use, but was a small engine of war used to blow breaches in gates
or walls. They were originally metallic and bell-shaped but later cubical
wooden boxes. They were full of gunpowder, i.e. bombs.
The phrase means to be blown up with your own bomb. How does
it apply to a population cohort?
The Baby Boomers have always been a little quixotic. Statistically,
they, as measurable cohort, supported the Vietnam War. Statistically, as a
measurable cohort, they did not support participating in the Vietnam War. They
are, somewhat unduly, credited with stopping the war. Actually, the Viet Cong
and NVA had something to do with it. Trust me. In fact, the opinion of a whole slew of Baby
Boomers concerning war seems to have solidified in favor of the darned things
since Jan. 27, 1973.
Fast forward to the present. The cohort appears to have
taken a hard course toward conservatism. Republicans they are to a large
degree, as Yoda would say. Their attitude seems to be what we call the Clarence
Thomas Syndrome: “I’ve got mine. Ya’ll bite me.”
Now comes the hoisting. Having helped elect Donald Trump get
elected, and having watched their investments, to a significant degree donated
by their parents, soar for ten years or so, the Baby Boomers leaned back from
warm rooms on full stomachs, turned on the Fox show, and prepared for the comfortable
descent into Valhalla. Young people were discounted as being stupid cell phone
addicts. Progressives just wanted their hands on someone’s money to build bridges
and sewer plants the “Boomers” no longer cared much about. Worse still, they
wanted to hire teachers by raising taxes. Minorities should have never come to
America in the first place. Science was as useless now as it was in high
school. Life was good.
Then came Covid 19. It was a nuisance. It amounted to nothing but a hoax,
their hero Sean Hannity told their other great hero. It would pass soon. Laissez
les bons temps rouler. The virus will pass quickly. Prez said it would.
Well, lo and behold, it didn’t. Worse Sean is telling “The
Prez” that he must now open the economy up, i.e. quit all this non-participation
nonsense. Profits are falling and that is a real crisis. Let's all go out and party on.
Oh, there would be some problems. A lot of people would die
in the process.
No problem. It would be the old folks. You know … Baby
Boomers who didn’t have a safe place to hide or respirators to see them through.
They’ve had their day in the sun. Now it’s time for their day in the barrel.
That’s what it means to hoist yourself by your own petard.
January 27, 1973? That’s when the military draft ended. You
know. Baby Boomer Day.
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