Generation Wars

jn56uytrx

jn56uytrx

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"I'm Gen X. I just sit on the sidelines and watch the world burn."

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The other day I was telling a young 'un about this skit and she goes, "Oh, yeah, I always forget about Generation X." Mmmmhmmmm, that's about right.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.va...-generation-x-might-be-our-last-best-hope/amp

Don't agree with the idyllic childhood described in this article. Most of us that I know were lonely, neglected latchkey kids of divorce, but this:

"Though much derided, members of my generation turn out to be something like Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca—we’ve seen everything and grown tired of history and all the fighting and so have opened our own little joint at the edge of the desert, the last outpost in a world gone mad, the last light in the last saloon on the darkest night of the year."

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Our TV shows, like Friends, were about finding that little community somewhere. Somewhere we can laugh at the world, at ourselves, and not feel so bad about it all.

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"I never really believed the notion of a generation. If four people are born every second of every day, how can you have a generation? But I get it now. A generation is the creation of shared experiences, the things that happened, the things you all did and listened to and read and went through and, as important, the things that did not happen."

So, your mission, should you choose to accept it: Share your take on being part of your generation.

And, "I'll just sit back and do nothing like a referee at wrestlemania."

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***yes, I know they're not refereeing wrestling, but, ice cream. :smirk:
 
I'm on the cusp of gen x and a lot of my friends were older and at sort of the tail end of gen x, so I've got the ideas and a bit of a gen x (cold) heart, but also all the annoying things of a millennial like eating avocado toast and ruining the world with laziness.
 
Wyote said:
I'm on the cusp of gen x and a lot of my friends were older and at sort of the tail end of gen x, so I've got the ideas and a bit of a gen x (cold) heart, but also all the annoying things of a millennial like eating avocado toast and ruining the world with laziness.
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In fairness, I love avocado toast. :smile:
 
Millennial here.

I have noticed, though, that beards seem to have alternated between being in and out of fashion in the West for at least 2500 years; and in Europe for the past 1000 typically alternating with each generation. I remember good old Orderic Vitalis moaning about the king's little beard.

Oh, sorry, I meant 'millegenarian'.

P.S. I'll reply more seriously when I have a free moment.
 
One thing I did used to regard as important was that I'm probably of the last generation to have grown up without the internet - I was 17 before I used it regularly (before then it was just once a week in an IT lesson at school). That is to say that I grew up without porn, too - who knows how fucked the kids are because of this.
 
Wyote said:
I'm on the cusp of gen x and a lot of my friends were older and at sort of the tail end of gen x, so I've got the ideas and a bit of a gen x (cold) heart, but also all the annoying things of a millennial like eating avocado toast and ruining the world with laziness.
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fuck... I love avocado toast.
 
Deleted member 16771 said:
Millennial here.

I have noticed, though, that beards seem to have alternated between being in and out of fashion in the West for at least 2500 years; and in Europe for the past 1000 typically alternating with each generation. I remember good old Orderic Vitalis moaning about the king's little beard.

Oh, sorry, I meant 'millegenarian'.

P.S. I'll reply more seriously when I have a free moment.
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:tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy:
 
neko said:
ok...
do you guys remember finding porn magazines from the 80s in the woods as kids?????
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Actually, this would make a hilarious anime:
Dude finds magical porn magazine in the woods that unlocks his secret potential and leads him on a quest to save the world
 
I'm Gen X, the generation with the same name as the coolest Billy Idol band.


Oh my gods, people, all our dads had Playboy. If you wanted to learn about sex you just perused your parents' bookshelves for erotica and hippie-ish "love your body" type stuff, or looked under your parents' bed for Playboys, or in your dad's home office, or something.



I do kind of feel like @tovlo 's Casablanca quote. I moved to the last house on a dead end in the middle of nowhere, too.


Gen X were told to wait our turn and work our way up the ladder to success. There was always a mentality that the Boomers had earned it and we would, too "someday". It was clear the Boomers were never going to give us room and viewed the world as "theirs".
We had the brief tech bubble where a lot of us got rich in our early 20s (not I), and the end of that made a lot of people bitter. Then after 9/11 the economy tanked, so I have a "get used to it" attitude toward Millies who complain about being poor.


A key factor for Gen X is that we grew up with the threat of nuclear war and that shaped who we are. Dystopian movies were popular, "War Games" was hugely popular, and "The Day After" and "Threads" were on TV. Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains" was in our English lessons book and we read it yearly, plus the cold war was hyped. It was pretty twisted, honestly, and I think that contributes to Gen X's reputation of being slackers. Why prepare for a life you won't have, especially when Boomers aren't going to allow you a seat at the table, anyway? When I was in my early thirties a lot of friends said they were "surprised" to live past thirty because total nuclear destruction was such a big theme in our childhoods. Gen X didn't expect to live past 30. A lot of people didn't plan for careers, or even bother with college until they were older. So, Gen X was even more focused on youth culture and rebellion than the hippies because we didn't have anything to lose. Back then, being punk, or Goth, or a skater, a raver, etc was actually "rebellious", though.

One of the funniest generational moments I've experienced was when we were at a DIY show and there was a nuclear fallout shelter sign on the building, stating that it could be used as an emergency shelter. Our Millie friend had never seen such a sign and had no idea what it meant. When we told him he was astonished. When Gex X was growing up, these signs were everywhere on building likes schools, government buildings, and even big apartment buildings. My SO had to clean some out when he worked for a university, and we brought home the (empty) metal water containers.

There is also a huge gap between Millies and Gen X with expected gender roles, opportunities for careers, and life expectations.

PS: Can I just say that it drives me nuts when my Gen X peers ick on Millies? They sound so old and grumpy. It's especially funny when punks pick on Millie hair and clothes or bands Millies like.

PPS: For me, it wasn't like the theme of nuclear war dominated my whole life, or that I was even fixated on it, because my childhood was pretty happy, but it was a reality I knew could really happen. I've talked with a lot of Gen X people over the years who say they are surprised there wasn't a nuclear war, though.

 
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Looks at the Boomers with envy as many of them had it so easy with almost free college/university, great access to long term good paying careers, cheap houses, cheap cars, great standards of living, and good choices people wise for relationships while the younger generations continue to get cluster fucked. Look back to how good it was during the 50s and the 60s then to watch the west slowly decay from the 70s on wards with the 80s and partly the 90s being the last great decades.

Now lets get toxic :smirk:

 
I’m a Millennial, I think? Or Gen Z? I don’t freaking know honestly, was born in 1995 so I’m at an awkward place lmfao.

I was raised pretty old school and was fortunate enough to have parents and older family members expose me to older tastes from previous generations.

Don’t really care too much about current trends or social media honestly.


But I do love avocado toast... ._.
 
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