I Hate Gen-X
How did a whole generation end up with nothing to say? ----------------------------- Buy a shirt or hat!


Generations


Parents [and a little history]
Although GenX didn't choose their parents their parents chose to have them, and, unfortunately for the rest of us, many of those parents thought their job stopped after the sperm passed on its genetic material to the egg.

From the conformist restrictions of the 1950s post-WWII boom economy, when kids were taught to "duck and cover" in the perceived-to-be-real threat of all-out Soviet nuclear attack, to Donna Reed-like Moms who did what they were told and started the destruction of our ozone layer while spraying all that hair into impossibly high helmet formations, kids had structure, kids had order, kids were told how to behave and what to believe, and they got the belt on the backside if they didn't do it. We were still a largely agricutural society at the end of WWII, with simple religion-based social mores - which were 95% rightwing Christian. But the social upheaval of WWII changed all that, with the movement of people to the warfront and to military bases and cities of industry, women to industry, birth of a homosexual culture as they found each other in these new and often unusual social situations. People got exposed to the outside big wide world, they saw things, they tried things, they got ideas. For the first time in America, there emerged an identifiable subculture of cool....

First it was the beats, who's icon became Jack Kerouac, the writer who's novel On the Road questioned and refuted the conformist middle class values the nation had grown so comfortable with in the first half of the century.

With the beats the 60s were born. The social revolution of the civil rights movement, where blacks agitated for equal treatment under the law (as our 14th Amendment guarantees)made the nation take a long hard look at itself and address its own hypocrisies, such as the blatant racism at work in our social fabric. Intelligent, educated, thoughtful black leaders led the way through careful and methodical non-violent protest to change laws and behaviors. Progressive whites joined the cause, which really started in an organized way in the mid-50s. The horrible mistake that became the Vietnam War was beginning, and the young, who faced the very real prospect of being drafted and sent off to a war with questionable motives and lacking the support of the country's people, became almost of one mind in realizing the need for change. The basic fairness called for in our nation's Constitution was at issue. How could we as a people treat people with black skin, or the Native Americans who were here first, or gays, or anyone who didn't neatly conform to 50s images and values, as second class citizens and not be tormented by the hypocrisy of it all? The young would have no more of it. The great evil of Vietnam, the new ideas of the beats and later the hippies, exposure to foreign cultures and ideas through the emerging media (television and radio were now ubiquitous)gave rise to drug culture, as LSD, pot, and every other kind of drug hit the scene and found consumers ready to try it all and expand their minds. The mood was for change, and drugs offered new perspectives....

Now all of that is very heartwarming and touching, but the hippy freaks of the 60s soon gave in to their excesses, and things quickly spiralled out of control. Important new ideas about parenting, about how we live (architecture, art, music, sex, you name it), about what we eat, about how to raise children, about how to educate children, about how to treat mental illness, about how to treat criminals....everything we knew about society was now called into question, ideas exploded exponentially, and even today in the year 2000, the creativity and new thinking born in that era thrives today, the threads of yesteryear's fabric woven into today's intricate fabric of multiple layers and colors and textures. America, and the world - which reflected and refracted and infused many of the American ideas and energies, will never be the same. But the reverberations of the great soundwaves of change which started then in some cases today sound a cacophony of noise - particularly in the manner in which children of the 60s raised their own children. So many people got so stoned on drugs and used their expanded minds simply to loosen their morals and their legs in a lazy slide into trashy and vulgar behavior, that it became hip to be dirty, to not have a job, to have your kids call you by your first name, and so on. The excesses and weaknesses of the young people of that era are the primary culprits behind the useless slugs that exist today in society as GenX. Parents of Xers, who themselves were pretty wild, had lots of free love, did the drugs, lived in communes, followed the Dead, defied authority just to defy it, found it very hard to discipline their own kids. And in some cases, kids were having kids.



COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
WORLD WAR II
BOOMERS
INBETWEENERS
GEN-X
GEN-Y
The Defining Personalities/Objects/Behaviors of Each Generation
*Boxer*Singer*Female Beauty*Political Leader*Director*Actor*Female Singer*vehicle*fashion*sex*Good Actress*Political Attitude*drug*moral weakness*
Joe Louis
Frank Sinatra
Marylin Monroe
FDR
John Ford
John Wayne
Ella Fitzgerald
U.S. Army Jeep
skinny ties
missionary
Kate Hepburn
War Effort
alcohol
racist/greedy
Cassius Clay
Mick Jagger
Raquel Welch
Nixon
Roman Polanski
Jack Nicholson
Janis Joplin
VW Bus
long hair
free
Jane Fonda
Anti-War
pot
sloth
Larry Holmes
Michael Jackson
Madonna
Reagan
John Hughes
Harrison Ford
Debbie Harry
'78 Trans-Am
guys/w one earring (stud)
danger signs
Meryl Streep
Cynical-apolitical
cocaine
insensitivity
Mike Tyson
Kurt Cobain
Julia Roberts
Gingrich
Kevin Smith
Keanu Reeves
Sheryl Crow
any SUV
pierced tongue
sex=death
Jennifer Jason Leigh(?)
Too Cool to Care
ecstasy
amoral
Oscar de la Hoya
Brittney Spears
Reese Witherspoon
N/A
Farrelly brothers
Freddie Prinze Jr.
Christine Aquilera
giant SUV
glitter
"hookups"
tie: Reese Witherspoon/Christina Ricci
Legalize Hemp
red bull
materialism




G E N E R A T I O N S

Gen-X came from somewhere, their slack in the genetic line exists for a reason. . .those who bore them bear some responsibility [see Parents]. Perhaps an analysis of generational differences would be helpful. SPY Magazine (R.I.P.) pointed out in a 1994 issue that decades seem to be "long" or "short" - and while, technically, they are each ten years long, some seem to go quickly while others seem to linger. Generations are the same, with the defining features of one bleeding over into another and exact years of beginning and ending hard to pinpoint. The Zeitgeist of GenX is clearly that of celebrating the ugly. Think about it, who are the great artists of Gen-X? Who are the great thinkers of Gen-X? Who are the great political leaders of Gen-X? Who are the titans of business success for Gen-X? Who are the great poets and authors of Gen-X? [Bet you can't name even one ...] Offered here is one perspective on when each generation was born, their defining feature, and their ultimate impact on society...

WW II
BOOMERS
INBETWEENERS
X
Y
1918 - 1936
1937 - 1954
1955 - 1963
1964 - 1978
1979 - 1999
The Greatest Generation
THEME: Sacrifice
The Wild Ones

THEME:Revolution
The Children of Divorce (From a Cloud of Pot Smoke to...)
THEME:Dysfunction
(...Dimishied Expectations)
THEME:Too Cool to Care
[nature abhors a vacuum]
THEME:redux?




Zeit-geist n
The spirit and outlook characteristic of a period or generation.
[G, "time spirit"]

DECADES
The 50s / Conformity :
Conformity, God, Country, Ike, Meat&Potatoes, Amos'n Andy, Post-War II Economy, TV, Elvis, Duck and Cover, J. Edgar Hoover, Black Square-rim glasses, Kill the Commies, Actors Studio, Hollywood Blacklist, Musicals, Hats, Brooklyn Dodgers, Ava Gardner, Howard Hughes, Frank Sinatra, Martinis, Margaret Meade, George Pal, Eames chairs, Polka Dots, the Polka, Korean War, James Dean, Marylin Monroe, Montgomery Clift, John Wayne, Joseph McCarthy, George Wallace, the Klan, SNCC, Thurgood Marshall, Fallout, tv dinners, Helmet Hair, Ducktail, Greasers, Jeans, Milton Berle, Burns and Allen, Bobbysocks, the Bomb
The 60s / Social Freedom :
Youth, Free Expression, Idealism, The Association, Nihilism, Timothy Leary, Mind-Expanding Drugs, Eastern Religion, Government Hypocrisy, Air Pollution, Rivers on Fire, Ecology, Mammas and the Pappas, Rachel Carson, Steve McQueen, Jane Fonda, Supremes, Hairy Armpits, DDT, riots, Free Love, Beads, Suede, no underwear, not shaving, Sandals, Vietnam, Choppers, The V.C., friendly fire, India, Hari Krishnas, Civil Rights, Women's Rights, Burning Bras, Feminism, Stonewall, Dr. Spock, Kirk and Spock, Easy Rider, the Fuzz, Pigs, The Man, Bobby Seale, Psychadelic, "Peace" symbol, The Beatles, Kubric's 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Who, Grateful Dead, Hendrix, "I Have a Dream", MLK, JFK, LBJ, Malcolm, Black Panthers, campus protest - takeovers, Kent State, the Establishment, "white devils", Rockets, Jerry Lewis, Mercury, Apollo, Moon landings, Jacques Cousteau, satellites, plastic, Mrs. Robinson, Corvette, James Bond, Mustang, 11/22/63, Cuba, Mao, Che, Abby, Chicago Seven, "Nattering Nabobs of Negativity", Bell Bottoms, Nehru Jackets, Bowl cuts, the 5th Dimension, Bewitched, Jeanie, Star Trek, Julie Andrews, Hair, Phil Ochs, Johnny Carson, Jonathon Winters, Lenny Bruce, Dallas Cowboys, martinis, BBQ's, Raquel Welch, Planet of the Apes, science fiction, incense, "organic", VW bugs/busses, Woodstock, Hell's Angels, Humphrey, Muskie, jet-packs, water-skiing, Communes, napalm, "Charlie"
The 70s / Drug-Hazed Narcissism :
Wide: hair, ties, pants, cars, Brown and Orange, Ugly Plaids, Red,white and blue (and lots of red, white and blue 5-point stars), Anti-Heroes, Charlie's Angels, Starsky and Hutch, Shaft, Barry White, Pet Rock, driftwood clocks/tables, Disco, Heavy Metal Music, sex swingers, nudist colonies, natural childbirth, sandalwood candles, Fleetwood Mac, Parents as "friends" and calling them by first names, Puka shells, OP shorts, Ceasar Chavez, Shaft, Watergate, "plumbers", skateboarding, "Getting High", Jimmy Carter, Warren Beatty, Oil Embargoes, Punk Rock begins, KISS, Ohio Players, Marvin Gaye, Carlos Santana, Yes, Led Zeppelin, Hangliding, hashish, feathered hair, ABBA, BeeGees, ELP, ELO, est, Dirty Harry, John Waters, Divine, OPEC, gas lines, aerospace, Fall of Saigon, Saturday Night Live, anti-nuclear protests, Steve Martin, Richard Pryor, Mel Brooks, Farrah, Mannix, station-wagons, Brady Bunch, Columbo, All in the Family, Jeffersons, Good Times, Norman Lear, ten-speed bikes, backpacks, earrings on guys (left ear: hip / right ear: gay), Gay Rights, "Dude", "Foxy", Jaws, Jodie Foster, Bobby Sherman, AMC Pacer, Bay City Rollers, Sex Pistols, John Travolta, Lily Tomlin, Steve Miller Band, David Bowie, Donna Summer, The Clash, Blondie, Talking Heads, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Genesis, K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Star Wars, Sonny and Cher, Laugh-In, Jerry Brown, Tom Hayden, Earth Day
The 80s / Retrograde :
Reagan, neo-conservatism, Moral Majority, Ayatollah, "gay cancer", Cocaine, Greed, Deficits, Lionel Richie, New Wave, A Flock of Seagulls, Gary Numan, Heatwave, The Gap Band, The Police, U2, deconstructivism, performance art, Oliver North, Iran-Contra, neo-50's retro, Crewcuts on jocks, Plaid Shorts, Wham, CDs, E.T., Walkmans, Jerry Falwell, TV preaching, Repo Man, handheld computer games, the Brat Pack (Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Demi Moore, Sean Penn, Anthony Michael Hall, Tom Cruise, Emelio Estevez, etc), Frank Sinatra, Love Boat, Dynasty, Jackie Collins, Stephen King, Bret Easton Ellis, Jay MacInerny, Tama Janowicz, Human League, Pet Shop Boys, Bronski Beat, hair bands, Michael Eisner, Kevin Costner, James Belushi, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Terminator, Bladerunner, The Hunger, Ridley and Tony Scott, Apple SuperBowl Commercial "1984", Madonna, Sandra Bernhard, Donald Trump, MTV, Rap music emerges, break-dancing, locking-popping, Black Beauties, free-basing, Andrew Dice Clay, sagebrush rebellion, Jay Leno, David Letterman, corporate merger-mania, News divisions put under entertainment divisions - must show profit, Cronkite departs - Rather in, Geraldo Rivera, Barbara Walters, Nancy Reagan, Patient Zero, Patti Davis, Dan Quayle, Cable, superstings, syth-pop, Echo and the Bunnymen, Chrysler K-cars, Bob Dole, Gorbachev, Apple Computer, Japan Inc., Born-Again, Cold War Ends
The 90s / Obvious and Vulgar :
Global Warming, ozone hole, techno/house music, silicon, Silicon Valley, Bill and Hillary Clinton, filegate, travelgate, Whitewater, Monica, impeachment, Kenneth Starr, extreme sports, ecstacy, bungee-jumping, pierced tongues, pierced chins, nose rings, earlobe inserts, scarrification, tattoos, tribal, Betty Page tattoos and hairdos, 70's retro, yellow/orange/brown design colors, circle/square 70's retro design motifs, small tile mosaics - again, coffee houses, personal computers/Microsoft/Bill Gates/the internet, V Chip, digital cameras, cell phones, high speed access, download, email, internet porn, cyber...., Jerry Springer, Ricki Lake, Gorbachev, Yelstin, Raisa Gorbachev, James Carville, "Free Nelson Mandela", Mandela elected President, "spin", Vanilla/Apple/Chocolate Martinis, Joan Rivers, RuPaul, Gansta Rap, "X" everything, Vulgarization of culture, legitimizing of gang culture, reality shows, Hubble telescope, blue lasers, LED, plasma screens, nanotechnology, polymers, bioshpere2, molecular machines, bioengineering, Monsanto seeds that die (see dictionary under "evil"), Somalia, Desert Storm, Desert Shield, chemical weapons, sarin attack in Tokyo, fire ants, killer bees, Dunge Fever, West Nile Virus, Lime Disease, olestra, prozac, anti-depressants, rhohipnal, collagen injected lips, liposuction, protease inhibitors, HMO, managed care, Alan Greenspan, interest rates, NASDAQ, IPO, ......






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