As you described, he's bitter angry and wanting to blame. So he blames 'your' generation for something that he does himself (equating opinion with fact). It's all about him.

I get the anger paralysis thing - I used to see it as the onset point for rage and 'losing it'. Looks like you handled it pretty well in this regard - you challenged him and called out the drama "You don't know anything about me, we barely talk except for in this smoke shack, and you are going to outwardly insult my intelligence by attacking my ability to differentiate between fact and opinion, while making a generalization which is completely opinion based to begin with???"......and he backed down after this, even reaching for self-pity and justification (snap switch from bully to victim)....OK, perhaps in the heat of the moment you didn't state it as neatly as here 😋 , but you didn't give in to anger in the moment, and that IMO, is critical.

I have found that standing up for myself and saying 'no' has remarkable effects. A guy at work used to teasingly call me a 'long-haired, part-time hippy' - it wasn't said very nicely and I did not like it. After putting up with it for a while, I once firmly but not aggressively said to him "I don't have a problem with that, do you?"......since then only cordial respect :D

Beyond it all, there's perhaps even some compassion to be unearthed (as you do) for the down-and-out lawyer, who is obviously suffering and deeply unhappy. You do not seem to have added to his misery the way you would have had you lost it with him! You did him, yourself and futurepeople (ha ha) a service, as he is likely to think twice about trying that shit in the same way again with some random other!

Nice one @futuremind 🔆