It's Gen-X's turn now

[BrightShinyGirl]

Noooooooooo! I’m too rich to be GenX!

I’m going to write a letter to someone in protest. Where did I put the stamps?

The idea is that generations are formed by people growing up with similar formative experiences. If you remember the hippies and the Vietnam War, you're a Boomer. If you were a only small child during those events, you're X. One of their predictions about X is we'd have a wide spread of financial success--a slacker hacker winds up as a .com billionaire.

 

[subdudeme13]

The Boomers have been running stuff my whole life. Sit down grandpa, and let gen-x fix what you broke.

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It helps to have perspective. You were not around for segregated lunch counters and schools (Though I see that coming back). You were not around for the Cuyahoga River catching fire. It must be said previous generations have made progress but there is much more that is needed. I don't know what generation FDR was but you are benefiting from him and his generation, you just take it all for granted.

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

It helps to have perspective. You were not around for segregated lunch counters and schools (Though I see that coming back). You were not around for the Cuyahoga River catching fire. It must be said previous generations have made progress but there is much more that is needed. I don't know what generation FDR was but you are benefiting from him and his generation, you just take it all for granted.

FDR( b. 1882) was from the Missionary Generation (1860-1882) which played a similar role to the Boomers in the previous cycle. The Lost Generation (1883-1900) was the previous iteration of Gen-X, jaded and pragmatic--Truman and the top generals in WWII were Lost.

Most of the civil rights victories were won by the Silent Generation (1925-42): Martin Luther King and Malcom X, etc. Rosa Parks was a little older. She was a G.I. If she'd been a man, Parks would have fought in WWII

The Boomers benefitted from the environmental movement and the civil rights movement, but they weren't the foot soldiers fighting the battles. They were the "Me" decade in the 70's, selfish and hedonistic--Bill Clinton and Donald Trump are classic Boomers.

 

[HumpDayHoratio]

The Boomers benefitted from the environmental movement and the civil rights movement, but they weren't the foot soldiers fighting the battles. They were the "Me" decade in the 70's, selfish and hedonistic--Bill Clinton and Donald Trump are classic Boomers.BSG

BSG…you seem like a nice person. Thoughtful and respectful. You really need to dust up on some history though. Boomers would have most certainly been “foot soldiers” in the environmental movement. They were surely REAL Soldiers fighting in Vietnam! Maybe a tad young for the CRM…but I’m sure we can find exceptions to the rule.

Here is a quote…I’ll let you do the math on the years…

“The great question of the Seventies is…shall we make our peace with nature and begin to make reparations for the damage we have done to our air, to our land, and to our water,” he declared. In a divided political climate, Nixon went on to achieve bipartisan support to become the creator of modern environmental policy.-Richard Nixon, ‘70 SOTU Address.

Yes, you owe a lot to Gen Boomer, and even more to the Greatest Gen…

President Nixon’s consequential environmental record is surprising to many people. The Nixon administration initiated many of the most important, and enduring, environmental policies in American history including: the signing of the National Environmental Policy Act, the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, the signing of the Clean Air Act of 1970, the creation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the signing of the Endangered Species Act, the signing of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the creation of the Legacy of Parks program, which converted more than 80,000 acres of government property to recreational use in 642 new parks. -Nixon Presidential Library

The problem with most, and you’re making this point, is that they think history starts when they were born…

 

[MajorRewrite]

The Boomers benefitted from the environmental movement and the civil rights movement, but they weren't the foot soldiers fighting the battles. They were the "Me" decade in the 70's, selfish and hedonistic--Bill Clinton and Donald Trump are classic Boomers.

That’s a bit ungenerous.

The Boomers are the ones who were sent to Vietnam to fight the previous generation’s stupid war, and the Boomers were the ones in college who protested the war and eventually ended it. And Boomers were the environmental activists of the day, not the older generation.

Their parents were against all that activism, but the politicians saw the demographic reality of the huge Boomer generation and gave the young activists what they wanted (in return for votes of course).

But the less said about the portion of the Boomers who became MAGAs when they got old, the better. I don’t know for fact, but I think today’s MAGAs are not the Boomers who were activists back in the day.

Time to pass the torch, certainly.

 

[subdudeme13]

There were MAGAts around before WWII when America First was born, Lucky Lindy being one. I had an uncle who was in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. Everything is intergenerational.

My preference is people who don't use dumb marketing labels like "Gen X." Plain numbers would be more useful to indicate age. Or something more descriptive, like the Asscrack Generation, for the guys with sagging pants.

Sagging pants? Like the kids across the street?

 

[Wat_Tyler]

From Google:


Broadway Uncle Smokin' Joe Willie Biden: Born: November 20, 1942 (age 81 years)


“Baby boomer” is a term used to describe those who were born from 1946 to 1964.

Those damned annoying-ass facts . . . .

 

[subdudeme13]

Since it's a contentious point I pulled Strauss & Howe's 1991 Generations off the shelf to see the dates they use:

• G.I. 1901-1924
• Silent 1925-1942
• Boom 1943-1960
• Thirteenth 1961-1981
• Millennial 1982-?

(Their name for Gen-X is "Thirteenth") They list prominent Xers in 1991 as Michael J. Fox and Eddie Murphy, both born in '61 and Brooke Shields, born in '65.

They predict that core years for a Gen-X President will be 2020-2040. Joe Biden fits the generational stereotype of the wise old Boomer providing sage advice to the pragmatic Gen-X leader in charge.

I think Strauss and Howe are off a little bit. The WWII was over in 45.

 

[HumpDayHoratio]

I think Strauss and Howe are off a little bit. The WWII was over in 45.

Never let facts get in the way of a good interweb thread/meme…

 

[Wat_Tyler]

Never let facts get in the way of a good interweb thread/meme…

The first Baby Boomers were born 9 months and 5 minutes after the first soldiers returned from the war.

 

[subdudeme13]

I was looking before and 45 was given as the starter year for Baby Boomers when all the soldiers came back from war.

 

[Pad_Foot]

Hey! If I watched Viet Nam and Watergate at breakfast as a kid? It influenced me. Boomers extend into the 60’s

 

[butters]

The idea is that generations are formed by people growing up with similar formative experiences. If you remember the hippies and the Vietnam War, you're a Boomer. If you were a only small child during those events, you're X. One of their predictions about X is we'd have a wide spread of financial success--a slacker hacker winds up as a .com billionaire.

i was born in '59, and my teenage years were more about Bowie, Pink Floyd & Queen

according to all of the gens being mentioned, i am officially a boomer, a baby boomer, an Xer AND a thirteenth gen!

 

[adrina]

i was born in '59, and my teenage years were more about Bowie, Pink Floyd & Queen

according to all of the gens being mentioned, i am officially a boomer, a baby boomer, an Xer AND a thirteenth gen!

Just keep your multiple personalities in line!

 

[Rightguide]

The Boomers have been running stuff my whole life. Sit down grandpa, and let gen-x fix what you broke.

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Like she fixed the border.

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

I think Strauss and Howe are off a little bit. The WWII was over in 45.

Strauss & Howe defined generations by shared life experiences. Someone born in 1944 has a lot in common with someone born in 1946.

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

i was born in '59, and my teenage years were more about Bowie, Pink Floyd & Queen

according to all of the gens being mentioned, i am officially a boomer, a baby boomer, an Xer AND a thirteenth gen!

People on the boundaries get to pick which generation they identify with! I’m a late Xer. I could identify as a millennial, but I have much more affinity with X.

 

[butters]

People on the boundaries get to pick which generation they identify with! I’m a late Xer. I could identify as a millennial, but I have much more affinity with X.

i don't especially care enough to do an in-depth identification, but off the top of my head i'm definitely less of the vietnam/hippy war era and more of the mickey mouse grew up a cow/tubular bells/kraftwerk bunch

 

[subdudeme13]

What issues will GenX solve by benefit of being from GenX?

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

i don't especially care enough to do an in-depth identification, but off the top of my head i'm definitely less of the vietnam/hippy war era and more of the mickey mouse grew up a cow/tubular bells/kraftwerk bunch

You’re X.

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

What issues will GenX solve by benefit of being from GenX?

Gen X tends to a have a no-nonsense, “we’re sick of this bullshit” attitude. It’s exactly what we need in a time of rising bullshit.

 

[adrina]

Gen X tends to a have a no-nonsense, “we’re sick of this bullshit” attitude. It’s exactly what we need in a time of rising bullshit.

With a heavy heavy dose of sarcasm.

 

[MajorRewrite]

With a heavy heavy dose of sarcasm.

A heavy dose of sarcasm? Hmm. I may be GenX after all.

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

With a heavy heavy dose of sarcasm.

I've had to dial my sarcasm WAY down on Lit, because when you're talking politics online, sarcasm is often misinterpreted as agreement. In real life I'm sarcastic as fuck, and it's been really hard to rein it in.

 

[adrina]

I've had to dial my sarcasm WAY down on Lit, because when you're talking politics online, sarcasm is often misinterpreted as agreement. In real life I'm sarcastic as fuck, and it's been really hard to rein it in.

Yeah that sarcasm font can be a real bitch sometimes.