Generation X... 12-15 years to Power

[Mythsaje]

My father pointed out to me that my generation, now, is less than twenty years away from taking the political reins of this country. The Boomers are in power now...the people who came of age during the social revolution of the sixties and early seventies. They remember the artificial culture of the fifties and early sixties, the first "plastic" society...and were there to see the civil rights movement come into its own, and tasted the sexual revolution when contraception became available to women.

My generation, the generation of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," and "Dazed and Confused" will be taking the reins of power from the old guard sometime in the next fifteen years (by my reckoning). Generation X will have become society.

So what is the substance of Generation X? Well, from my perspective, I see a generation more widely separated in ideology. There was no unifying social force that bound Gen X into something that stood en masse against the establishment, though there were several anti-establishment factions that gained prominence in the 80s in particular, many tied to various musical trends. New Wave was probably the first that embraced gay identity, with the success of such bands as WHAM, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and Culture Club. There was also the tail end of the punk scene in the eighties, with such bands as the Butthole Surfers and the Dead Kennedys, which embraced the in-your-face "we don't give a shit what you say" attitude. And then you had Heavy Metal. The several different strains of heavy metal, from the party rock glam metal of Poison and Motley Crue, to the political thrash of Metallica, Megadeth, and the like, to the often introspective and progressive mindfulness of bands like Queensryche, Savatage, and Iron Maiden.

And you also had rap, which was just starting to come into play as a popular music form, with its often savage attack on the established order.

As rap rose to ascendency, metal, which had outlasted both punk and new wave all the way to the late nineties, gave way to alternative, which blended together a lot of the styles that had come before it and created a newer, rawer form of music that violated many of the old traditions of music arrangment that had been doctrine since the sixties.

I think that many of us grew up believing that our elders didn't necessarily have all the answers. Like the boomer generation, we did not necessarily believe that tradition held any real answers. On the other hand, we saw that joining the system, and being a part of the system, often meant being corrupted by the system. And there was no reason to believe that the system would listen to us, or that our concerns were in any way of any interest to those in power.

I think that's one of the reasons my generation turned its back on voting. It never had to fight for them, never saw anyone else have to fight for them, and believed that what they said didn't matter anyway. Very few, if any, of the people elected to power spoke to our generation. Bill Clinton was one of the few who could, but he was one who could talk to anyone. That didn't mean he was sincere, but at least he appeared to be listening.

In the next 15 to 20 years Generation X will take the reins, and I believe that it is going to herald a huge change in the way America looks at things, as a whole. Gen X has almost no sense of tradition. It doesn't necessarily think change is bad. It's seen SO many changes in its time.

With all of this in mind, I'd like to make a few predictions about what kinds of things Gen X may embrace when it replaces the old guard, the last of the Cold War warriors.

Gen X will see no reason to maintain the criminalization of marijauna and some other drugs. Gen X will be far more likely to accept the rights of gays to marry and be what they want to be. They will more likely be slightly less likely to believe war is an answer to anything. They will be more supportive of environmental protections (many did grow up, after all, after the reanimation of Disney, when many cartoons, not only Disney) aimed environmental messages at the kids. The kids of Captain Planet, and Dr. Seuss's Lorax.

Gen X is generally pro-science. They've been on the forefront of technological innovation for at least the past fifteen years.

As long as we can keep the old guard from totally screwing up everything in the little time they have left, I think maybe Gen X will do a lot to fix some of this stuff. Sure, they've so far been fairly silent, but when the people who remember the same things they do, that grooved to the Thompson Twins, or banged head to Judas Priest, or did the break dancing thing to the throbbing roar of Run DMC, and watched Michael J. Fox go from a young Republican to a time travelling teenager, to a man made old before his time, they will realize that they too have a legacy to pass to their children and grandchildren. And that it had better be something more than "we came, we danced, and we went home."

**************************

On a side note...I'd like to thank ALL of you who showed your support by visiting my website (http://www.sajewilliams.com) in the hopes that I can get all that much closer to my dream of becoming a full-time author who has the time both to craft my unique style of fantasy fiction AND my unique style of political musings.


Thanks.

[treestar]

1. I for one look forward to the younger generation taking control

I have had it up to here with the "Greatest Generation" and its egotistical believe in its inherent superiority and its glorification of war, and the baby boomers with their selfishness (I got mine, so who cares about the rest).

And I am a young baby boomer so my criticism is honest.

[Mythsaje]

2. I think it'll be interesting, if nothing else...

In a way I think Gen X is a bit more practical in some respects. More skeptical, more questioning of assumptions, and more interested in a whole "show me what you got" philosophy rather than a "don't rock the boat" attitude.

[susanna]

6. I have a treatise I could write on your thoughts...

Gen Xer here. I rock the boat most of the time. It's not pretty, considering everything.

I am practical. I am skeptical. That said, most of the Gen Xers I've run into have bought their ancestors' conservatism hook, line and sinker (nice bass ya got there!)

Anyway...I am beginning to look to the Millenials, myself.

[Mythsaje]

15. There are a LOT of Gen Xers who just don't give a damn...

And I think they're more likely to buy into the fiscal "conservatism" than the social "conservatism"...in general. My best friend is more conservative than I am, but he is willing to LISTEN to different points of view and doesn't automatically assume that he's right. I think that's a little more common with Gen Xers too.

We tend to be slightly more racially integrated, a little more accepting of other cultures, and more tolerant of "deviance" from the norm. In general. At worse, a lot of us have the "don't bother us with it" attitude, where we're just happy not to have to worry about it. "Someone's gay? As long as he's not hitting on me, okay...whatever." "Smoke pot? Well, don't come to work high and we're okay."

Some of the knee-jerk racism melts away as the Gen Xers who don't remember when blacks were acknowledged as second class citizens come to the fore. There's an upside and downside to this, because some of us don't see the insitutional racism, but many of us don't consider it personal.

[Deja Q]

69. I wasn't around at the time, but I am an X'er and understand the institutional racism...

That aside, many X'ers have no common point of reference or anything to believe in or support.

It's going to be an interesting future.

[Mythsaje]

3. What...no one else has any comments? n/t

[katsy]

4. We've managed to screw up your future...

Hurry, we need you.

:yourock:

[Mythsaje]

5. I'm working on it from my end...

Thanks for the show of support...

[SharonAnn]

59. There are still too many 80 year olds with power. Sorry, but it's true.

In our Democratic Party in this county, there are few Baby Boomers. And we're the "young ones". The by far majority oldsters are still holding back on doing anything we need to do to grow. Because, "that's not how we do things". How we do things here apprently is that we elect Republicans.

So, I'd be happy if at some point in my family or political venues the Baby-Boomers actually had control. Then I'd complain about how things were under our control.

[Mythsaje]

63. The eighty year olds will be gone soon enough...

The Baby Boomers will become the old guard. And the new blood will be Gen X.

That WILL change the landscape somewhat. Maybe the rainmakers in Gen X will be able to remind the Boomers who've forgotten what it was like to challenge the status quo what they first got there for.

Maybe.

[Warren DeMontague]

7. Hey... Not all of us spent the 80s listening to WHAM, Hair Metal or Proto-Rap...

Ahem.



Other than that, though, your OP is right on. I seriously hope that Gen X will adopt a saner, more socially libertarian attitude towards things like personal freedom, gay rights, and the drug war. It's well past about time.

We've got a Gen X Mayor here in San Francisco that I originally thought was going to be a blow-dried yuppie creep only interested in helping developers. But Gavin Newsom has done a stand up fucking job of getting out in front of gay marriage on the national stage. :thumbsup:

[Mythsaje]

9. I was a metal-head, myself.

But I listened to a lot of New Wave too.

[Warren DeMontague]

22. Early Talking Heads was about as "New Wave" as I got

And dare I say it, that stuff still holds up.

I wouldn't categorize R.E.M. as New Wave; personally, I think much of their early 80s work stands as some of the finest Good Ol' American Psychedelicized Rock and Roll ever created- which probably explains why I consider them one of the top two American Bands of all time.

[Mythsaje]

24. I, myself, consider Talking Heads, Concrete Blonde, and

REM to be the beginnings of the alternative movement, among others. Not really New Wave at all.

[Warren DeMontague]

25. Yeah, back then we called it "College Rock" or "College Radio Rock"

I liked the Butthole Surfers and the Meat Puppets, too. The Meat Puppets put on a good show.

Edit: Although if you watch "Stop Making Sense" (quite possibly the best concert film ever made, right up there with "The Last Waltz") it becomes unavoidably clear that whatever else the Talking Heads used to be, they had a finely tuned, kickass Jamband hiding in there, too! :hide:

[Mythsaje]

26. I liked a lot of different bands...

Wasn't much into punk, though I've always had a soft spot for the Sex Pistols--don't know why, I just did. REM grew on me, as did the Chili Peppers, and I liked the Talking Heads almost from the beginning.

Metal was my thing, particularly the progressive variety. Of course, some of the NWBHM bands edged very close to prog metal at times.

My favorite band of all time will always be Rush, though.

And I really loved Prince's old stuff.

[Warren DeMontague]

30. Yeah. I had a brief Sex Pistols phase. Liked the RHCP pretty early on, but I was in S. Cal at

the time and my friends were skate rats so that's what they were listening to.

I remember seeing Jane's Addiction before they got huge, too.

I don't know if you'd classify some of that old King Crimson stuff (Red, Discipline) as "prog metal" but I've always liked that.

Seems like there's a lot of people who are really into Rush. There's someone posting here under the name "Syrinx", I'm sure you've crossed paths.. I've got a friend about the same age as me, who probably feels about Rush the way I feel about the Dead-

which is nice, because our wives can commiserate on the "We :shrug: Just :shrug: Don't :shrug: Get :shrug: It" train. :evilgrin:

[Mythsaje]

34. Well, prog rock and prog metal are connected...

Yes, the Moody Blues, King Crimson, Rush, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd gave way to Queensryche, Kings X, Savatage, and Dream Theater...and then to Tool and (in my mind) Evanescence... (it's the classical influence that tends to push my perceptions in that direction).

Never liked Jane's Addiction, personally.

Yeah, me and Syrinx have crossed paths from time to time.

One of the things that put me and my wife together is that she was a Rush fan. LOL

And a gamer, and a sci-fi and fantasy fan, and a few other things...

We actually met through an AOL personal ad. :)

[stellanoir]

10. not so fast

there are those slightly younger than boomers who are not yet X'ers who are part of a part of a small epi-generation who may or may not have it's say.

Watch out for generation "W" and we ain't about *. With one foot on the banana peal and one foot one the train, ya never know which way we're going.

[silverojo]

17. There's no such thing as a lost generation

The baby boom ended in 1964, with the advent of the birth control pill. Generation X began in 1965 (that's when I was born!). There are no years "missing", there. :)

Gen X is actually a two-part generation. The older ones, like me, were teens in the 1980's and young adults in the 1990's--those referred to as the "Atari generation". Those who were teens in the 1990's and young adults in the 2000's are the "Nintendo generation". You can guess where those names came from. :P

Someone here mentioned the millennials...I'm SO glad you didn't use the stupid name "Generation Y" for them. Thank you!

[Odin2005]

67. IMO Gen-X birth years start in 1962.and end in 1981

The term "Generation X" was coined by people born in the early 60's to differentiate themselves from Boomers. The demographic baby boom ended in '64, but people don't rember much of the first 2 or 3 years of thier lives and so the people born in the early sixties have little or no memory of the world before the 60's social movements started. According to a book on American history I've read called The Forth Turning the national mood changes in a 4-phase-long cyclical pattern with each phase lasting around 20 years, each generation has it's collective "personality" defined by which phase in which the people in a generation grew up in and which phase they came of age in. So Boomers grew up in the post-war "High" phase and came of age in the following "Awakening" phase which started in 1964 and ended in 1984. Gen-Xers grew up during the Awakening phase and then had an alienating comming-of-age experience in a phase of individualism, narciccism, culture wars, and decay of civic institutions called an "Unraveling" which went from 1984 (St. Ronnie's Morning in America speech to (IMO) 2005 (Katrina). My generation, the Millenials, grew up during the Unravelling and are coming of age during the "Crisis" Period that is hitting us because of the decay in civic institutions during the Unravelling similar to how the GI generation, the last generation to come of age in a crisis phase, did and us and the Xers (according to the book) will reverse the institutional decay.

[Odin2005]

72. *KICK*

[Avalux]

66. Yay! REM was a huge influence on me -

not just their music, but what they represented. Thanks for posting about them. Great photo! :yourock:

[Warren DeMontague]

70. Ditto. They really were a big breath of fresh air back then.

I started listening when Reckoning was "The New Album". I feel old.

[NoBushSpokenHere]

8. Great post - food for thought - times they are a changing nt

[Radical Activist]

11. Generation X came of age in the 90's, not the 80's.

In general I don't think Gen X is well represented by either party or most leaders. They still aren't being spoken to.

[Mythsaje]

16. Check it out...

Do a google search on Generation X...

[Warren DeMontague]

23. The second half did.

The ones born in the 60s didn't.

[Odin2005]

68. The Early Xers had to put up with St. Ronnie and Poppy.

[Warren DeMontague]

71. Yeah, I remember realizing that the religious right were a bunch of assholes

when Jerry Falwell started showing up on tv around 1979.

[chknltl]

12. Progressive views run rampant among the Gen-Xers...KEWL!!!

There are a whole lot of us boomers out here who feel the same way about those issues you cited. If the majority of you Gen-Xers feel as you say then this is good news indeed...
The world needs each and every one of us, welcome aboard, the ride's been a bit bumpy.

:grouphug: :patriot: :grouphug: :patriot: :grouphug: :patriot: :grouphug: :patriot: :grouphug: :patriot: :grouphug: :patriot: :grouphug: :patriot: :grouphug: :patriot: :grouphug: :patriot: :grouphug:

[vixengrl]

13. K&R Mythsage-- I think your analysis on Gen X has some good points--

Here's my take--I just learned a terrifying thing--I'm eligible to become president next year. That's 2008--an election year. I become 35 years of age in September 2008--and I know of no reason why I can't start running right now. I'm a natural-born US citizen.

No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States. Seriously--it says that.

And I realized why my eligibility is suddenly a surprise to me--I think of myself as a little less than the fully-functioning, wage-earning, property holding adult that I am--because, well, Baby Boomers are the real grown-ups. I'm just the generation after. A slacker--right? Wrong. Not a slacker. I have literally been politicized from the time I could figure out how to turn on a t.v. As my mom explained to my brother just recently about my political blog-lust--"Well, that is her entertainment."

And it is. This is a media-savvy, tech-friendly generation for whom access to news very well could be a 24 hr experience--a surround-sound. I have sat watching CNN with my parents and noted that I have my eye on the scroll at the bottom, not just the interview or whatever--my folks have to stop to take a look if I point something out--there's a difference in our attention and well--maybe bandwidth. And my generation is not without its ability to appreciate historical depth--we're the generation after the first named generation--we have a certain consciousness of occupying a certain place in time and history--a "current-awareness". We watch polls and trends very carefully.

We are a generation very much educated. Really--Johnny couldn't read, but he can now surf with the best of them. We have degrees--often degrees totally outside anything we practically do for a living, and thanks to the economy: Bush 1 and Bush 2 we've lived it--we've had a range of jobs. Lots of practical experience. Lots of balancing checkbook experience. We'll probably be also rather deficit-conscious. Pro-livable wage having worked McJobs and definitely education-friendly.

But we have our nostalgia for a time we weren't in--I think. I don't know if it's shared by all of us. Behind our outer cynicism, practicality, desire to work within the system--maybe some of us yearn for our parents' generation's hippie ethos--just a little? That can mean drug legalization (also because enforcement's a joke and rights violations suck) and more flexibility regarding relationships--between people (same sex marriage--why not--so long as it's *healthy*, meaning, without anger, bitterness, arguments, sad kids) and between nations (negotiation, talking before war.)

I like to think we can be the change we want to see. I'll leave this long post with a replay-- if the Boomers were the generation lost in space--Gen X is the generation born there--and accustomed to free fall. We have lived saturated in cultural messages and always had to sift--we are not prone to being true-believers. I think we will be the realists, the revolution of the reality-based.

Or damnit--I hope so.

(Edit because I expect better grammar and spelling from myself.)

[Mythsaje]

18. Excellent perspective...

Thank you very much!

[silverojo]

19. Your post brought a tear to my eye

Also, I wanted to add that there's a great book about the boomers and Gen X called "13th Generation". Please, if you can't find it at your library, buy it and read it...it's excellent. Very informative and fun at the same time.

It's about 2 boomers writing a book about us, who decide to get on their computer and try to contact some Gen X'ers. Once they make contact with several of them, things get really interesting. The book sort of multitasks...there's the main book, then the side conversations between "2boomers" and the other X'ers online, and the sidebars with quotes, song lyrics, and factoids relevant to us. It'll make you laugh and cry, and touches upon why we're such a cynical generation. Namely: We had to grow up faster than our predecessors, because we were exposed to a lot more at a far earlier age.

So read it if you can...you'll love it!

[silverojo]

14. Terrific post!

No offense to the boomers here, but the boomer politicians have really f*cked things up. Clinton ruined welfare, Bush is ruining EVERYTHING...and so on, and so forth.

It seems to be fate that the boomers get to party and the X'ers have to come along and clean up afterwards. (Boomers = free love, X'ers = AIDS/safe sex, is one example.)

I would only add to your post that there's a likelihood that the older X'ers are probably going to be a bit more conservative than the younger ones, since Reagan was so popular. (I'm an older X'er, and I always hated the senile old fraud, but still....) But I hope that the bitter taste of the current neo-con policies will last longer than any memories of the (so-called!) "good years" of the Reagan era. That would turn more people of ANY generation toward the Democrats.

A lot of people view X'ers as merely slackers...but the "slackers" in their parents' basements were pioneers of the internet generation, so even they made contributions to society. :D

We're growing up, the eldest of us are taking the first steps into middle age, and I'm hoping that our time of power will be a time of improvement.

The generation I particularly fear is that of today's children...when so many of them are being brought up by insane neo-cons who can homeschool them to keep them away from any "evil" thoughts of tolerance, or even science. They're like Hitler Youth, being brainwashed...only this time, who's going to deprogram them?

[SammyWinstonJack]

74. And so on and so forth.

:eyes: Broad brushes reign supreme on DU. Shame on us rotten Baby Boomers, we fucked it all up. :shrug: Not too worry, most of us are getting royally fucked, btw. Most of us will probably have to work until we die. Just desserts? :shrug:

[Mythsaje]

77. I don't blame the Boomers...

YOU also inherited some really fucked up circumstances and tried to make the best of them, with varying degrees of success. I also think many bought into the idea that rules could solve everything...that great intentions could be mandated, and forgot that law and justice are two very different things. Law can be too easily corrupted by the corrupt, or misused by the foolish. Like the way sexual and violence "zero tolerance" policies have been used to harm victims, or twisted to prosecute or punish innocent people for harmless activities.

It's great to want to make things better, but sometimes one has to consider how things can be misused as well, especially when in the hands of the Wrong Wing.

[opiate69]

20. Honored to provide the crucial 5th Kick

As usual, a great post by a great writer. (Which reminds me.. I need to buy some of your books.. probably after the holidays)

[Mythsaje]

21. Why, thank you...

I strongly urge you to look at going with the ebooks, if it's possible for you to go that route. If you have a PDA or don't mind reading on a computer. One of the best thing about electronic editions is that they cost no fuel to distribute, and use no paper.

Plus, everything I write will be available in electronic edition before they're available in paper.

:)

They're usually cheaper as well.

Thanks for the 5th Recommendation and your interest in my fiction as well. It's a great boost.

[Mythsaje]

27. I can't believe I also forgot about Ferris Bueller, Ghostbusters, Terminator, and

Beetlejuice.

A lot of anti-establishment movies, when you get right down to it.

[Zookeeper]

28. Hmmm. This has not been my experience....

My kids have lots of friends who have Gen X parents. I have been surprised and disappointed that the majority of them have no concept of Government as a force for the public good. They also are much more likely than Boomers to be Demo-phobes, and wouldn't vote for a Democrat if the alternative was Hitler.

Unless they are Fundies (and there are plenty of those), they do tend to hold fairly liberal views when it comes to Gay and racial issues. But, they are total reactionaries regarding taxes, funding "non-essential" public services, and having any of their money go to anything that doesn't directly benefit them.

(And they like Sinatra and martinis....ick. :+ )

[Mythsaje]

31. Really?

I thought I was a rarity in my generation because I like Sinatra and his style of music (nostalgia from my childhood, I assume). And I LOVE green apple martinis.

Of course I like a lot of modern rock too. My musical tastes extend back somewhere close to fifty five years, when you look at it that way.

[Zookeeper]

40. Remember the "Lounge" music...

revival of about 5-10 years ago? Big Band, Sinatra, swing dancing and cocktails were in again. I'm ok with Louis Prima, and am certainly not opposed to a cocktail, but I've just never been able to stand Sinatra even as retro camp.

[Mythsaje]

43. I didn't pay any attention to that...

I'd almost forgot it happened. I actually prefer Dean Martin to Sinatra, but that's because I think I saw more movies as a kid with him and his music in them.

[Zookeeper]

44. I didn't like Dean Martin as a kid....

I mean, that was my parent's music and, unlike now, you would never consider liking the same music your parents liked.

But, I can appreciate him now. He had a warm voice and a good sense of humor.

[Mythsaje]

45. I actually grew up listening to the music my parents did...

The Moody Blues, the Beattles, The Rolling Stones, Steppenwolf, Fleetwood Mac, etc...

My dad didn't listen to that stuff. But when I was a kid the mid-afternoon movies were always the old ones from the forties and fifties, so I remember a lot of the music too. As I get older, I find I won't go out of my way to listen to it, but I don't object to hearing it from time to time.

[Warren DeMontague]

33. I'm a Liberal, Gen X Deadhead who doesn't drink.

While he's got a good body of work, Sinatra never really did it for me.

For the record, I have complaints about where tax money goes, too. Half a trillion a year (that we know about) for the military industrial complex. $40 Billion a year for the drug war- not including the cost of our being the highest per capita incarcerator of non-violent offenders in the industrialized world..

If we were paying for a SPHC system, that would be one thing- but right now, yeah, I may not be in favor of smaller government across the board, I'm certainly in favor of smaller shitty government.

[Mythsaje]

35. Yeah, my complaint is primarily the corruption and inefficiency

and the bureaucratic CYA attitude that seems to take it as just the cost of doing business.

[Zookeeper]

38. "...smaller sh**ty government."

Well, me too.

However, the people I'm talking about aren't complaining about our tax dollars going to the Pentagon or corporate welfare. They lean more toward a Reagan-est (and they are children of the Reagan era), pro-business, personal responsibility (don't expect help if you hit a bad patch) POV. I was told by one Gen-Xer, that everyone in our neighborhood looks like they're doing well, so what's the problem. And if Wal-Mart employees think they are underpaid why don't they just get another job? And if I'm so worried about poor people why don't I move to a poor neighborhood, start a business and hire them myself.

I know there are liberal Gen-Xers out there, but my point is that it's a diverse group, just like the Boomers.

[Mythsaje]

39. I do think they tend more toward fiscal "conservatism"

(not realizing the big picture stuff that a lot of us can see) but less so socially. They're more likely to be accepting of gays and consider race and gender as far less of a factor in a lot of issues than the older generation would.

I think they're more skeptical of government, which isn't always a BAD thing, but are a little less skeptical about big business, but that's another thing pointing at the big picture thing again. Corporations are no more benevolent by nature than is government.

[Zodiak]

29. You are a kindred spirit, Mythsaje

As a fellow X-er, I apreciate your post and your optimism.

BTW...my music in the 80's was metal. VERY heavy metal.

[Mythsaje]

32. I was on the prog end of things...

VERY early Queensryche fan (I knew about them before almost anyone on the national scene). They were local.

Metallica and Megadeth were about as hard as I liked. King Diamond, Venom, Slayer, Helloween, also. They had to be able to sing. Never been into the gutteral roar of some of the other thrash metal vocalists. I also loved Priest and Maiden.

[Zodiak]

58. I am still a 'Sryche fan, as well as Rush,

Maiden, etc. I span the genre, but my dearest love is with the death and thrash metal. I love the guitar work more than anything. I was the first kid on my block to get ahold of Slayer, Metallica, Celtic Frost, Bathory etc.

My greatest 80's moment was opening up for Pantera back when they were a hair band. They were local in my area. Those guys were some serious drunks, but they were fun to hang with and learn a few tricks on our instruments.

Take a look on my myspace account to learn more about me and my music thing.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=70527736

But you are kindred in more than just music and age. From what I gather, you are also a libertarian-populist Democrat, as well. Am I wrong?

[Mythsaje]

60. No, you are not wrong.

I guess if I was going to describe my political "ideology" it would be in pretty much those same terms. :)

Cool on the Pantera thing. They weren't my cup of tea, precisely, but that's a hell of a memory to be carrying around. I'll check out your myspace page before I head out the door today. God knows I'm not going to have another chance until maybe next week. :D

[Viva_La_Revolution]

36. kick!

so I can find it in the morn. It's late, and my brain has preceded me to bed.

[ConsAreLiars]

37. Nice observations, but ...

the "generations" thing is a bit silly. We all grow up in our own time, and trying to divide those experiences into 10-year blocks is just pop-propaganda. Reality is a bit more finely structured. (Was I a beat -too young- or a hippie -too old- or just shaped by the contradictions between my ideals and the reality and the actions I took? The latter, of course.)

More importantly, every age, every demographic, however defined, has two (or more) sides to it. Clinton, Gore, and the Chimpy Monster were all raised in the same era, and their birth dates say very little about their political views.

Those caveats aside, your generation will decide our future, and there is good reason to hope for the best. I hope you are right about the prevailing views and values among those of your time, and reality itself will push you all, for survival alone, to be wise.

[sweetheart]

41. that's a myth, sage

The owners will stay in power, and x-owners will take over the family castles.

Science is the new religion, the god eisenhower warned us all about,
where budget allocations would suffice where intellecutal vigilance
was preferred in the age of the individual.

Every narrative in your mind, was programmed by the programmers who were owned and programmed by the owners.

Every conclusion of those narratives, every convenient collusion of apparent populism,
begs wonder how much of a sheep's bleating is original.

Generation X is buried under a million tonnes of programming, best of luck.

[Mythsaje]

42. That kind of thinking is like putting a gun to your head and pulling the trigger...

Not much point in living if you've already given up.

[sweetheart]

47. No, its a more realistic expectation

The system of corporate war is deeply deeply entrenched, and
it will consume and destroy you, like it has generations agog at
bikini volleyball and NFL lycra bums.

Realizing that the entire system is bought, helps you with expectations,
that if one really is a political opposition to this shitty evil war
nation of prisons, then the partisan machine that has been behind it
will not make you a solution, but another cog in the problem.

There's always the exception... .. ted kennedy, kucinich, more power
to them, the left royalty, but its come to that, worshipping our betters
because we are unworthy, just a mass of stupidness that is 'the people'
empowering all the actors on the stage, who in another time, would bow
at the end of the performance yielding all the narratives of the stage
back to the souls of the audience from which they were borrowed.

The dollar is experiencing a real decline, no matter we can happy happy it away with happy wishes.

The industry niches behind every competetive US market has been shipped abroad,
the universities are in decline, the prison system has 7 million people under its finger
right now.

I am a total optimist, you take me wrong. Just i don't place unrealistic expectations on
systems that oppress, are designed to oppress, enslave and destroy the very concept of
liberty and freedom on that any nation was founded. There is no commanding that beast,
there is putting it down. You buy in to the system, largely, IMO, as you are younger, and
have less realization that your entitlement has to do with your age, and when you get
older, you will become discarded by all moneyed interests, hurry up and die.

The system will do that to everyone who embraces it. If you realize that up front, then you
can make sure it pays you fairly and that you walk away when it tries to take you over.

Generation X, god bless 'em, but if the previous generations couldn't do it, i don't
expect much. The wage-slave system of neo-feudalism is very strongly entrenched,
and only breaking out, or the collapse of the dollar, to forego the military alternatives
to a declining, ossified power structure.

Generation X's power lies inside their own hearts, not in controlling any system. All
previous generations have tried to control the system, and it has corrupted and desttroyed
every single generation... what makes you think your special?

[Mythsaje]

48. Everything changes...

Change is the only constant.

The question is, who controls the change?

We either try to do our best, or just bury ourselves in our own lives. If you believe there's no point in fighting it, why even come here to this site?

[sweetheart]

50. Who said don't fight it:?

I come to this site because i believe in fairytales, that after a lifetime of no progressive
government, i suddenly believe that a lesser evil to bush will become progressive, when it
never was ever when it was in power.

I come here because i support all of you in that fantasy too. :-)

I support people waking up from fantasy, and looking at, over a lifetime,
what will ultimately best support their politics, realizing that they have
been programmed and brainwashed to believe in foundation myths of ownership and
propriety over a system that is not theirs and never will be.

I come here because i am a living thinking human being, and i reserve the right to say 'bullshit'
and to not have my patriotism questioned. I come to this site to pour could water on
self serving comfy thinking that gets people hurt, gets us all hurt, groupthink
to the grave, and groupthink in to iraq, groupthink in to viet nam... i'm here to disagree
with groupthink.

Have you read the iron heel, you'd like it, 100 years since it's print and it could be written today,
some things are deeply entrenched, no matter what we believe in fairytales.

You have a good point, 'why even come here to this site?'. You behave like a whip, a preacher,
a mythspinner, and when someone is disenchanted, and dispelled, 'why do you come here to this site?'.
I don't come here to be sold a myth. I come here because there are free thinkers beneath the
morass of silly posts.

[Mythsaje]

51. I ultimately believe in possibilities

and not in absolutes.

If you think I harbor many illusions, it's clear you haven't read through my journal. I understand all too well what we're up against, but I don't think much is served by acting as though the battle cannot be won.

I'd rather err on the side of positive thinking than stare up at the monolith and say it cannot be toppled.

Hope is not a myth...sometimes it's the only thing worth having when there isn't much left.

[sweetheart]

57. Well said

Whatever it takes to make ones peace.

Thanks for your contributions here, i have long admired your eloquent style.

Best regards to you and your loved ones,
-s

[Swamp Rat]

46. k&r

:thumbsup:

[loyalsister]

49. Oh I wish there were more like that!

I like the tie in to music!

I have observations of Genxers in government at the state level that have been disappointing.
I would submit that a sense of entitlement also contributes to the apathy. Everything was pretty easy when many of us came of age under Clinton.
We weren't having to worry about much.

I have noticed that they are as much the beneficieries of white\male privilege as the boomers and much less likely to admit it.
Many women have taken for granted women's rights in particular and distance themselves from elder feminists.

They have a contempt for people who confront power and injustice through protest methods such as civil disobedience- particularly if it inteferes with their lives.
They don't want to be bothered with the little people.
Thus, many have used yuppies as role models.

I agree that there are many idealists who fit your description. We just got a new one elected to our state leg. But I have also seen a number who fit mine. Unfortunately, they are also often religious zealots who are die hard Reaganites.

[Mythsaje]

52. If the economy actually starts to seriously tank

it'll be the Gen Xers who pretty much lose their minds over it. I think apathy has been their greatest hobgoblin. Apathy and a kind of thoughtless belief that everything is okay if they can't see it personally.

I DO, however, believe that Gen Xers are so afraid of change, and are more likely to roll with change than previous generations.

As far as the white/male thing...:shrug: That only applies to those who play the game by the preset rules. If you challenge the rules, or don't play at all, it doesn't matter what gender or race you are. The establishment doesn't care one way or another. It'll crush and discard you just the same.

[loyalsister]

56. Most people play do by preset rules to get into gov't

Particularly if they have done so by their 30s or 40s.
They have learned to exploit relationships and similarity to the power structure in order to gain power.
It seems to works to the advantage of white women best.
For example, the 30 something governor just had a 30 something woman write a health plan to replace medicaid in the state of Missouri.

It's authoritarian- to say the least!

http://www.dss.mo.gov/mis/mcdtransform.pdf

[Mythsaje]

61. Yeah

Maybe my point is more that those who stand on the Democratic side will be less inclined to "go with the flow" and be more willing to rock the boat.

[Skidmore]

53. I have one question.

How do Gen Xers feel about Social Security and health care? I really worried about getting any older than I am. I'm not convinced that my retirement plan will be there or that I will be able to afford the medicine I absolutely have to take, and that I will lose my home because of both of the above.

[Mythsaje]

54. Well, they're going to start having to watch their parents

hitting that age...and it'll make a lot of them who still harbor delusions of immortality really begin to question their assumptions.

I think, anyway.

[Jennicut]

55. Fellow Queensryche, Maiden fan

I was born in 1975. Grew up as a kid with Reagan and Bush and I thought they were good as I had and still have conservative Repug parents. However, in 1992 I watched the election all the way through on the news and came away transformed by the experience. I became much more moderate to liberal after that. Clinton seemed way more in touch with our generation than Bush did and he seemed young. I really liked Gore alot if not even more. Grew up with an older brother (born 1972) who was WAY into Metallica, Maiden, Megadeth, Queensryche. We were known in our neighborhood and at school as the heavy metal kids. Nickame in elementary school was "Metal Jenn". I think that music fueled our desire for revolution and change. Later on we got into Nirvana and Rage Against the Machine. My brother does not vote, it anti-government and pro-legalizing marijuana. I am more a "work the system type" and really got into politics and how it works. I feel I am fiscally conservative when it comes to wasting taxpayers money on such things as the Iraq war and pork barrel projects. But as my husband and I now have a 1 1/2 year old and 2 1/2 year old we find Health care to be expensive. It takes alot out of his monthly check from CT Light and Power and I am currently not working (but going back to school to teach preschool, have a psych degree already). We are on a very tight budget with one income but I dread putting the girls in daycare as so many kids from our generation were the first to be put in it and I don't think it was healthy. I want to be around my girls and know what is going on with them but its so tough staying home with all the bills we have. The environment means alot to me as well as we are destroying it for future generations and now that the girls are here it really hits home. And the cost of living is so out of bounds today. My Mom always said we had less than you but I tell her her that she did not have to go to school for 4 to 6 years just to get a halfway decent job. Prices have risen and not stayed current with wages. This has turned me into a very populist person. Thank God my husband is in a union because when he was in cust service at CL&P he was getting payed $14.00 an hour with a 4 year degree! Now he is out in the field and makes much more as the union negotiates a good pay for his department. I think having gay friends at college and at work made me very pro gay rights as well. If you have people you know who are gay, it makes you less likely to discriminate. Same thing with my African-American friends from college. I grew up in small rich town in CT and brought one of my friends from school to visit my family and he was given some really rude stares around town. Like they have never seen black people before! I do feel that although we are shaped by our generations it is personal experiences that dertermines if we will vote, how we will vote, and if we will be active in politics.

[Mythsaje]

62. Isn't it weird how those who often CALL themselves

"fiscally conservative" (primarily Republicans) see nothing wrong with throwing away money like it's going out of style to fight an unwinnable war or to build a bridge to nowhere, but don't want to spend it in order to invest in people themselves? Human beings are our greatest resource--if we take care of them and help them succeed, how could it lead to anything but success for everyone?

I grew up in a VERY white place, and spent most of my teen years and early twenties in rather white suburbs. Not by design...it just worked out that way. Yet now I live on Tacoma's hilltop, one of maybe three white families on the whole block. I realize that my experiences are very different from the blacks I know, but I've been brought up to believe that people are people first, and that race shouldn't be a factor in how I view them.

And rather than being repelled by strong, successful women, I've always been attracted to them. I don't know why my best friend seems to zero in on women who are less intelligent, less insightful, and with more problems than he can possibly fix, but there's a reason I've been happily married for five years and he's single...again.

I think if more of those who grew up as outsiders start realizing that they can contribute to the public discourse, that they SHOULD contribute to the public discourse, new things entirely may be entered into the dialog. And that's what I'm hoping for in the long run.

Maybe Gen X will find the traditions and systems already in place a little less sacrosanct than some of those that have come before us... if it works, let it keep working. If it doesn't, fix it.

[newportdadde]

64. I'm 30 nobody is speaking to my generation, our morale sucks.

I think secretly many of my generation wish we were our parents, to live through those periods of growth in the 80s and particularly the 90s. I see coworkers in their 50s with good pensions and the ability to retire at 55 with health-care. Some of them actually want layoffs so they can get bought out.

Meanwhile my generation who should be becoming more valued as our higher number of coworkers leave open jobs for us see those same jobs being filled by workers from India. We see raises getting literally eaten alive by increases never seen by the previous generation in things such as health-care. In the past 6 years my health-care has gone up 352%. When I think of my children and paying for college it boggles my mind what the costs will be.

I remember hearing on the radio that I believe Generation X was the first generation to poll that they believed they would not be as well off as their parents.

I honestly wonder what the hell my kids will do when they grow up. I was lucky to get into IT back in 99 but for the past 6 years no one from college has been brought on instead its all onshore and offshore. I can walk into a department meeting of 100 people and be the youngest person there and I'm 30.

[ShaneGR]

65. There's already some Gen X'ers in Washington

Tim Ryan (D-OH) comes to mind. Young 30s, just got a spot on the appropriations committee. Rising star.

[marmar]

73. We are a relatively small generation, though....

I wonder if there will be enough of us to run things. (Or enough of us who care, anyway.)
And I agree, we vary widely in ideology. I do long for the day when the religious right is silenced as a major political force, and I think that will definitely happen as we Xers gain prominence.

[marmar]

75. And for me, musically....

it was 80s Britpop, Prince and Madonna, Detroit House and Techno, and early 90s "conscious" hip hop.

Prince, Madonna, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Madness, Inner City, A Tribe Called Quest, Janet Jackson, Black Sheep, Arrested Development - soundtrack of my life.

[Mythsaje]

76. I liked both Prince and Madonna...

I always had the feeling she'd weather the test of time.

I was one of the few metalheads I knew who could stand her music.