X doesn't mark the spot: As Millennials and Baby Boomers feud, a generation is left out

[JonLP24]

Generation X has largely earned a reputation for being cynical and disconnected politically.

It's not OK, Xer.

As millennials and baby boomers have been squaring off in a battle of ideals on and off social media, the generation sandwiched between them is simply battling to remain relevant in the political and cultural zeitgeist.

Generation X, that collection of grown-up latchkey kids and slackers born from 1965 to 1980 whose name was popularized by a cynical 1991 Douglas Coupland novel, has yet to produce a president after four straight boomers (born 1946 to 1964) have held the highest office in the country.

"It’s kind of like our generation got skipped" said Meagan Johnson, author of "Generations, Inc.: From Boomers to Linksters — Managing the Friction Between Generations at Work."

"I always compare it to the 'Brady Bunch': We’re Jan, we’re the middle child, nobody wants to go to prom with us because we’ve been forgotten. We’re caught between the cute millennial sister Cindy and the more popular boomer sister Marcia."

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1082381

[NightWatcher]

1. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place

We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War’s a spiritual war… our Great Depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.

Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

[Initech]

3. Yup, I am most definitely one of those people!

[dewsgirl]

5. I'm here for it.

[Volaris]

17. PERFECT response.

I get that we might have to resign ourselves to
A) letting our kids fix the shit that we were to distracted to bother with, and
B) take up the responsibility of caring for their grandparents while they do so

But not sure yet that we should have to keep our mouths shut about doing both of those things as a necessary default.

Just sayin.

[Mike Niendorff]

27. Precisely.

We have a winner.


MDN

[Docreed2003]

34. Awesome response

Perfectly encapsulating GenX. Love that book

[Polybius]

44. We most certainly have a place

We were the first to play video games, and the first to have really awesome toys.

[JustAnotherGen]

2. Yeah

But the other two generations are proving as a 'group' what I've thought all along . . .

I don't have time for your bullshit.

I loved the silents and got along great (and related to) my great grandparents (mom's) and dads mom and dad (born at turn of last century).

Those folks had zero fucks to give and could have cared less about this nonsense - and I agree.

If they have time to argue - they've got time to either chillax or be productive.

[maxsolomon]

4. Don't worry, Gen Z will start to hate you soon enough.

"This is a fictional narrative" - Dr. F. Hill

[htuttle]

6. Our parents were experimenting with drugs and newfangled theories of raising children

I was a Spock baby for a while, then my mom moved onto other theories. I remember Baba Ram Dass-type coffee books all over the place.

What about the sub-group of Generation X, called by some Generation Jones? We even have our own president (Obama), but everyone keeps lumping us in with the boomers. I hate that, since the f'ing band NAMED 'Generation X' had just released it first album the year that I graduated from high school. If that's not emblematic of being the member of a generation, I don't know what would be.

Childhood: Books like 'You Will Go To The Moon', Tang, Spacefood Sticks, stories about flying cars -- LIES, ALL LIES
Tweenhood: Vietnam, Watergate
High School: Disco.....then finally punk.

We can't catch a break.

[Withywindle]

22. I still can't get over being named after Billy Idol's old band.

(Though admittedly "Dancing With Myself" is a great song).

I wish we'd been called the "Blank Generation" after the Richard Hell song.

[Polybius]

45. Generation X sounds a lot better than Baby Boomers

And Generation Z sounds like they copied from us.

[sacto95834]

23. Generation Jones...

I am a member of that sub-generation; too young to understand the Boomers and a little too old to relate to Generation X.

I grew up watching the Brady Bunch and the Partridge Family. The generation before the Age of AIDS. I watched my college "Young Republican" friends fawn on Reagan. The original Star Wars trilogy came along to add a bit of optimism to our world view.

I thought my generation would never have a president, but then Obama came along. I hope GenX will get their champion as well.

[CottonBear]

24. I'm Generation Jones too.

As a 6 year old, I watched the moon landing. I listened to pop, rock, disco, punk & new wave.
I watched the Brady Bunch and the Partridge Family along with MASH and all of Norman Lear’s shows. Star Wars was an amazing movie. I had a pet rock and a mood ring.

I watched Nixon resign and Ford take office. Jimmy Carter’s election was so exciting and hopeful. But, the Iranian hostage crisis and Reagan’s dirty tricks were followed by 12 years of Republican presidential hell. I finally got to vote for a winning candidate when Bill Clinton ran, only to live through 8 years of Bush, before finally getting to vote for Barack Obama, a Generation Jones candidate!

Sigh. I’ve lived through two major recessions.

I have always been an environmentalist. It is beyond frightening to see our planet in such grave peril and to realize that evil, greedy corporations could give a fuck about the future of our little blue world.

[Hugin]

38. Joneser checking in.

We're here! We're here! We're here!

If we all yell, maybe Horten will hear us!





Edit to add: Every Millennial who really gets to know me eventually says to me quite literally, "Hey, you're not like them." and then they take very very good care of me. But, my favorites are the newest generation. They give me hope after a life of being ground between the Boomers and the X-ers.

[sacto95834]

40. Yes....fan of the Millennials

I find the boomers (although technically I am one) to be very selfish and self centered. I never identified with them. It horrified me that so many of my peers were Ray-gunites and they couldn't understand why I was a Dem. They liked me so they just thought I was brainwashed growing up in Hawaii.

To me, Gen X seems so cynical and didn't want to participate. When the millennials came of age in such great numbers, I had hope once again. Although most of them were brought up by helicopter parents, they care about the environment, have lost many of the prejudices from the previous generations and seems to be really engaged in politics - much more than Gen X.

I was so glad when somebody grouped us as Generation Jones. We were the latchkey kids. Post Nixon and Vietnam War - born just in time for the Age of Age and Reagan and the Moral Majority. How could we be anything but cynical. Still I think we have in our hearts a streak of optimism.

[Polybius]

47. Obama is in no way an Xer

Officially, Xers start at 1965. Even then, 1965-1968 don't seem like real Xers. But Obama is 1961. He's a young Boomer, and still has four years to go.

The only real Xer that has a chance in 2020 is Cory Booker (1969). Mayor Pete too I guess, but he's knocking on Millennial's door.

[sacto95834]

48. Obama

I look upon Obama as a member of Generation Jones. He's one year older than me and yes we are technically the tail end of the boomers, but I never identified with that generation. I was glad when Jonathan Pontell carved out Generation Jones which is the tail end of the boomers starting around 1954 and goes through 1965-ish.

I remember seeing George Lucas' American Graffiti and it never registered with me. I certainly have no memory of that era, but many of the Boomers identified with that movie and era. I see myself more as part of the Breakfast Club and later St. Elmo's Fire than Graffiti. I was never comfortable being called a Boomer and many of my peers feel the same. Since Obama and I are very close in age, I consider him part of Jones. Of course it will always depend on the individual as to how they see their place in the world.

I think the film Xers seem to gravitate towards is Reality Bites and Fight club. Again, too films that I do not identify with; thus I felt i am not a part of Generation X. I was stuck in between the Boomers and X. Again, it's just what I think and how I see myself.

[virgogal]

7. I am from The Silent Generation......I get being ignored.🤪

[Hortensis]

28. Lol. I was noticing you didn't exist.

When Boomers were young and stupid, I'm pretty sure some of us didn't ignore the chance. All those marches, protests, waving fists. Wouldn't have been me. "My people" have always been everyone who votes enlightened.

[Buckeyeblue]

8. While our boomer parents were being self absorbed and getting remarried

We basically raised ourselves

[Blue_true]

9. Yes, Boomers have largely been a disappointment. I was born in the middle of that

generation.

[Volaris]

18. Bwahahahahaha YEP!

And if our own kids wanna be pissed off at us for not realizing how steep that learning curve actually WAS, that's a credit to how much we just 'took it', kept our fucking mouths shut about it, and kept going to work.

[FirstLight]

10. Hahaha...

My daughter is Gen Z, Her older Brother is Millennial

She's more politically aware, and likes to remind me that Gen X has never held office, so we haven't done shit...

I tell her "Wait a minute there, missy, WE GOT POT LEGALIZED!...You're welcome!"

On that note, here's my take:

<img src="" alt="millenials" border="0">

[pnwest]

11. I read a description of us Gen Xers as the

generation born with our feet in the analog age and our heads in the digital. Our generation went from wall mounted land line phones to cordless phones to beepers to cell phones. We went from encyclopedias, newspapers and phone books to having the entire wealth of human knowledge in a handheld device. We spanned Doobie Brothers 70’s music, Punk, Grunge, Emo, Techno, Alternative. We entered the workforce just as computers were doing the same thing, we integrated computers into every kind of job. We rebeled against our boomer parents, and have zero patience for the millennials’ s self-indulgent whining. Our short generation saw the world change SO much, so fast...nothing really phazes or impresses us. Only Gen Xers “get” Gen Xers.

[Docreed2003]

35. this!!!

[chowder66]

12. Great more division. Just what this country needs. Label it, trash it, burn it. nt

[Withywindle]

13. Well, there are a lot fewer of us than there are of either Boomers or Millennials

1965-1980 was kind of a baby bust, at least in the US. We're not a sizable bloc to pander to since we just don't have those kinds of numbers.

[MineralMan]

42. That was the age of contraception, actually.

The birth control pill first was more or less widely distributed in 1964. I remember that, because the college health center at my school led the way in prescribing it for unmarried young women, despite that not being exactly legal.

So, that began the first period when women really had solid control over conception, and many of them opted into that, starting in about 1965. In the 1980s, HIV raised its ugly head and put an end to casual, guilt-free sex, and the birth rate started going up again.

There was that 15 year period, though, when women embraced control over their reproductive choices. That's why there was a "baby bust" around then.

[sacto95834]

49. Never Thought About that...

but you're right. When I was in grade and middle school, we (born 1962) were a small class compared to those that came years before us. My year was particularly small. It seemed the 1961 born had about 100 more then us and the class of 1963 born was slightly larger than 1962 by about 50 students. Thus my class lost a lot of student government elections.

I think MM is correct, the tail end of the Boomers are noted for the baby bust as women started to get control of their bodies and had access to contraception. Interesting.

[roamer65]

14. I'm a very early X'er.

Wouldn’t have it any other way. Most of us are the kids of those born during the 1930’s, the children of the Great Depression and WW2 years.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

16. I am a genx

Born in 1965. Still wear my mowhawk.

[Polybius]

20. You barely made it

1965 started it all. A shame you weren't five to seven years younger, by the time video games exploded in 1980, you were already 15.

[Withywindle]

21. My parents are Boomers

Born in the mid-late 40s, had me in the late 60s when they were in their early-mid 20s.

If I'd had a kid around the same age my parents had me, that kid would be a Millennial, born early-mid 90s.

Some Gen Xers are grandparents now - I see baby pics from my schoolmates on Facebook all the time.

[tandem5]

15. I'm a late gen x...

I'm part of a narrow band of people that grew up as computer technology took off. We're a sub generation that knows how both hardware and software work. I find myself caught in the middle of older generations who consider computer tech intimidating and a younger one that thinks of it as ubiquitous magic. Suffice it to say I offer IT support for my parents, my older sisters, and my younger nieces and nephews.

[Polybius]

19. Here's how I feel

[Mc Mike]

25. We're perfectly placed to mend rifts between boomers and millenials.

[Blue_Adept]

26. A lot of us GenX Parents are raising Gen Z kids

And they, along with a lot of the millennials, will do some damn hard work. And I think we're instilling the right values in them.

We may be unable to enact change directly ourselves, but we seeded the next generations to do what needs to be.

[SharonClark]

29. What utter bs

Quit fighting the imagined wars between generations and be responsible for your own life and actions.

[Hortensis]

30. :) Here, here. Victimization sydrome and bigotry are

always with us, coming to a forum at least dominated by liberals lessens the frequency and virulence, doesn't eliminate. Only targeting POC is considered unacceptable here, but pretending not to notice the existence of dark boomers, evangelicals, or whatever the targets are, lets them be smeared also.

Lol, remembering a study that revealed bigotry based on entirely group size.

Subjects told of two identical imaginary groups except for size, stir the pot and let simmer. When questioned, by far most were looking down on members of the smaller group and ascribing bad things to them. The less liberal and more strongly conservative the people studied were, the stronger the phenomenon. Some were even demonizing and taking virulent dislikes to the imaginary people in the smaller group.

[mindfulNJ]

31. I've said this SO many times

and I get OK Boomered.

I agree...I really don't understand this generational labeling and pitting one against the other. What is the g'damned point?? What if ALL of us Boomers, Millennials, Gen XYZ, etc. each admitted that YES we are guilty of what we're being collectively accused of. What then?? Total waste of time when the actual bad guys are the corporatist one percenters in EVERY generation.

[The Genealogist]

32. Thank you!

So sick of this media narrative of generation versus generation. All this ridiculous narrative does is divide peolle further, as if we need more reasons to fight amongst ourselves in this country.

[mindfulNJ]

36. Ok Boomer

Sorry...couldn't resist!

In all seriousness, yes. For sure. We don't need any more divisiveness....plenty of that to go around.

I would like to get "OK One Percenter" trending.

[sacto95834]

50. While we are all individuals...

Groups of people born during a certain period experience the world similarly. Many of us experienced 9/11 and thus it has affected our world view for good or bad. Again, we all react differently, but as a group certain behaviors are similar.

Like I said, I came to adulthood in the Age of Reagan, but I hated the man, but there is no doubt he had an affect on the voting populace.

[smirkymonkey]

51. Thank YOU!

[aikoaiko]

33. We're fine, thank you.

I plan on selling Madonna's pap smear that I acquired to fund my retirement plan.

[Skidmore]

37. The whole feud

is utterly self defeating. There is not one of us who hasn't gone or will not go through all stages of life from the moment of birth. We should be thinking in terms of how best to support our whole population across their lifespans instead of falling for divisiveness. Insisting on unity for basic policies cannot harm.

[get the red out]

39. Yes

I was born in 1964, a boomer, and my sister was born in 1973, gen xer. We are more alike in our thinking than not.

[ismnotwasm]

41. There is no fucking feud

It’s a meme war.

[MineralMan]

43. Exactly.

We're all still individuals, just as we have always been. There is nothing you can really say that will be universally true about anyone, based on their year of birth, other than their numerical age.

It's an artificial classification, this generation thing. It has too many exceptions to be treated as a true measure of any age group.

And as I say so often to myself: "OK, boomer."

[Rstrstx]

46. For many 18 year olds, anyone over 30 is old and therefore a Boomer

So the Gen Xers and older Millenials are getting lumped in with Boomers. And anyone older than a true Boomer is a dinosaur.

[evertonfc]

52. my son is 18

I have an awesome relationship with him and his friends. I'm 47. A few days ago one laughingly said ' ok boomer". After 3 minutes of him being pinned to floor, I explained I want a boomer. It was all.in good fun. Still gotta show em who's boss

[Crazyleftie]

53. Made up feud

(by the media) that doesn't exist. A distraction for the lemmings.

[Jake Stern]

54. Truth be told

I feel a little guilty that Mellenials and Gen Zers came of age in a post-9/11 world on fire when I was able to enjoy an era of relative peace and prosperity when the future still looked bright and, for a little while, it seemed like there would finally be enough to go around.

An era when change swept the planet taking with it the Berlin Wall and the USSR and Apartheid.