3 Likes
I know the obvious book here is Couplandâs Generation X, but about Shampoo Planet and his âGlobal Teensâ?
The novel is about the generation after the X generation. The primary character, Tyler, is a âGlobal Teenâ, what was popularly labeled in the media as Generation Y. They are the children of the hippy generation, who âreact by loving corporations, and they donât mind wearing ties. To them, Ronald Reagan is emperorâ. They exist in a globally connected world marked out by advertising and corporate power. They are optimistic when compared with their siblings in the X Generation. However, they do not have experience with leaders who show care for other people. âI still remember Jimmy Carter. I still remember Pierre Trudeau. I still remember a time when society cared about other people. But thereâs nothing in these kidsâ databases to show that there are other options, that it wasnât always dog eat dog. Older people have to somehow convince young people that better things are possible.â
Iâd wager that the majority of congress are boomers, though. Yeah, still a few silents left over, a few Gen xers, but I bet most of them are in their late 50s and 60s into their early 70s.
First, polls consistently show that Gen X is split between an older cohort born in the 1960s that is radically conservative and a younger cohort born in the 1970s that is quite progressive, though not as optimistically liberal as Millennials. As both parties search for new leaders, the GOPâs greatest champions are likely to come from the older cohort, while the Democratic Partyâs heroes will probably come from the younger cohort.
Second, many Gen Xers adopt a cynically libertarian posture, even if they arenât ideological libertarians. This generation is filled with âsocially liberal, fiscally conservativeâ types, who take a hands-off approach to most issues. As latchkey kids, many Gen Xers grew up with weak parental supervision, so they are instinctually distrustful of authorities attempting to impose their will from above.
Third, Gen Xers are used to playing by their own rules. These rebels without a cause are the misfits of the generational cycle. Not only can this make them difficult to manage and organize, it also means the number and scope of political and personal scandals could skyrocket in the years ahead as this generationâs leaders come under greater scrutiny. When you take on Gen-X clients, make sure you vet them thoroughly â and make sure you have a good crisis management specialist on speed dial.
4 Likes
Well for those running things yeah still boomers, but for the cogs, I escaped having to move to Pittsburgh âfor collaborationâ by getting a directly billable position that requires me to be at the customer site. The group I support âmoved to St. Louisâ and everyone had to reapply for the new jobs there. Of course they opted to not because they have rooted lives here in Seattle and hey the company can hire new guys for less.
1 Like
Those are the ones born in the 19A0âs?
3 Likes
Hm⌠thatâs interesting.
So weâre confused and lazy? Thanks Google.
[ http://www.npr.org/2014/11/18/354196302/amid-the-stereotypes-some-facts-about-millennials ]
2 Likes
I really dislike the people who start Gen X at 1965, itâs a relatively new phenomenon and I find it annoying. Doug Coupland and I were both born in 1961. I never identified with the Boomer generation.
4 Likes
But itâs so much easier to just say all people from Maine walk like this,
but all people from Utah walk like thisâŚnow I have to expend the
effort to consider people as individuals. Damn it!
1 Like
Youâd think so, but none of these things make any sense when you poke them with a stick. For one gen x is most often defined as those born 1970 and after. Which yeah doesnât quite always work @TheBobD, but my mom was born in 62 and there is no way in hell sheâs anything other than a baby boomer. Dad on the other hand was born in 56 and everything about him bears much more resemblance to early gen x. There are huge groups of people who just sort of fall into the gaps culturally. And wherever you place your hard line date brackets youâre leaving some people out. Gen Y was just the term for Millennials before that term was coined. And Millennial itself is so nebulous noone can figure out what the hell is up. Its basically the current journalistic sobriquet for âkids these days! get off my lawn!â. I was born in 84, outside of the economic situation of myself and my peers nothing about our lives, the culture weâve been steeped in, or our current tastes bears any resemblance to much of whatâs written about millennials. And yet there we are, millennials. Before that term popped up we were either a handful of different terms including gen y or ignored entirely. Or sometimes rolled into the tail end of gen x (which doesnât really make any sense. When it first started being used it seemed to be referring to those kids who were 10 years younger or so than us. Over the years Iâve watched as its expanded outward. First getting back dated further and further. And then as more people were born (as tends to happen) continuing to include anyone younger than your arbitrary starting point. Iâm 31 does it make any god damned sense to consider me in a contiguous cultural block with some one whoâs 14, or 10, or fucking 5? I mean both me and my 14 year old cousin are pretty into adventure time but thatâs really about it.
Its really all about demographic categories for marketing. And lazy generalizations about culture by journalist with nothing better to write about.
2 Likes
âI got a boring job, bought a house, and had 2.5 kids that I raised super seriously. Why wonât these millennials grow up into adulthood like I did?!â
2 Likes
Am I missing something here? They place third out of four in knowing the moniker for the arbitrary 30 year period surrounding their birth. The only actual takeaway here is that the âThe Silent Generationâ are as unaware of the existence of âThe Silent Generationâ as everyone else is, but we only get comments and retweets if we somehow shoehorn âMillennialsâ into the title.
Oh they have a name already, and its soooooo dumb.
Also, as a GenX-er who works at a University full of Millennialâs, I can say with certainty that none of them have any idea of anything save their generation and Boomers, thats it, there are no other âgenâ's, just Millennial and Boomers. And I have been called a Boomer, to my face (Iâm old but Iâm not that old!), my co-workers in their 30s have been called boomers, pretty much everyone older than a Millennial is a boomer. Its weird.
8 Likes
Iâve never been called a boomer, but I look young for my age. Iâve never heard any of my peers called a boomer by undergrads either. I wonder how different demographics affect perceptions like this⌠like do middle class kids tend to be less cognizant of age generations or more?
2 Likes
I use magical, marketing buzzword years to delineate the generational difference between Gen Y and the Millennials because Gen Y are old enough to have kids now.
Iâm Gen X and weâre well known for swinginâ on the flippity flop.
3 Likes
They need to add two more columns⌠One to the far left, âSpace Gypsiesâ, and one to the far right, âRenaissance Generationâ. 
4 Likes
Agreed. I think too it was like, okay, weâre âBaby Boomersâ so what category are you?
I always hated all the GenX stuff about being sarcastic and checked out; I always felt it was more like, âThis whole âgenerationâ thing is so dumb and weâre not really interested in that game that seemed SO important to all yâall boomers. How can we make you comprehend?â
4 Likes
Iâve been biting boomers since 1984 (when my teeth came in).
40% of Millenials know that theyâre Millenials. 18% of the Silent Generation know that theyâre in the Silent Generation.
WaPoâs headline: âA majority of millennials donât think they are millennialsâ
Why? Because itâs another Gen-X hitpiece (my cohort - sigh) on how stupid the people younger than them are. Hooray!
You know why they donât know that theyâre âMillenialsâ? Because those guys in the over 30 bracket? They identify more with the Gen-Xers than the 18 year olds. Because OF COURSE THEY DO! Theyâre 30 and those kids are 18 - of course theyâre going to identify more with the 35 year olds than the 18 year olds. Jeebus.
5 Likes
