For the purpose of this article it’s important to note that Gen x’ers were born from 1965-1983. Generation y’s were born from 1984 to 2002. If you’re a gen x, with kids who is around 40-45 years old than you will love this…
My wife read this post to me last night while we were waiting to see the play, “Chess” at the Princess of Wales theatre in Toronto. The play was terrible, but dinner and the company was amazing. It was so very nice to get out without the kids, eventhough we were both exhausted.. Generation X’ers you get it right?
In light of the G20, Occupy Toronto (and other places) and all the whining going around, I had to re-post this article called Generation X is tired of your Bullshit. Here is a link to the original post;
http://www.emptyage.com/post/11591863916/generation-x-doesnt-want-to-hear-it
So here it is!
Generation X is sick of your bullshit.
The first generation to do worse than its parents?
Please.
Been there.
Generation X was told that so many times that it can’t even read those words without hearing Winona Ryder’s voice in its heads. Or maybe it’s Ethan Hawke’s. Possibly Bridget Fonda’s. Generation X is getting older, and can’t remember those movies so well anymore. In retrospect, maybe they weren’t very good to begin with.
But Generation X is tired of your sense of entitlement. Generation X also graduated during a recession. It had even shittier jobs, and actually had to pay for its own music. (At least, when music mattered most to it.)
Generation X is used to being fucked over. It lost its meager savings in the dot-com bust. Then came George Bush, and 9/11, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Generation X bore the brunt of all that. And then came the housing crisis.
Generation X wasn’t surprised. Generation X kind of expected it.
Generation X is a journeyman. It didn’t invent hip hop, or punk rock, or even electronica (it’s pretty sure those dudes in Kraftwerk are boomers) but it perfected all of them, and made them its own. It didn’t invent the Web, but it largely built the damn thing. Generation X gave you Google and Twitter and blogging; Run DMC and Radiohead and Nirvana and Notorious B.I.G. Not that it gets any credit.
But that’s okay. Generation X is used to being ignored, stuffed between two much larger, much more vocal, demographics. But whatever! Generation X is self-sufficient. It was a latchkey child. Its parents were too busy fulfilling their own personal ambitions to notice any of its trophies-which were admittedly few and far between because they were only awarded for victories, not participation.
In fairness, Generation X could use a better spokesperson. Barack Obama is just a little too senior to count among its own, and it has debts older than Mark Zuckerberg. Generation X hasn’t had a real voice since Kurt Cobain blew his brains out, Tupac was murdered, Jeff Mangum went crazy, David Foster Wallace hung himself, Jeff Buckley drowned, River Phoenix overdosed, Elliott Smith stabbed himself (twice) in the heart, Axl got fat.
Generation X is beyond all that bullshit now. It quit smoking and doing coke a long time ago. It has blood pressure issues and is heavier than it would like to be. It might still take some ecstasy, if it knew where to get some. But probably not. Generation X has to be up really early tomorrow morning.
Generation X is tired.
It’s a parent now, and there’s always so damn much to do. Generation X wishes it had better health insurance and a deeper savings account. It wonders where its 30s went. It wonders if it still has time to catch up.
Right now, Generation X just wants a beer and to be left alone. It just wants to sit here quietly and think for a minute. Can you just do that, okay? It knows that you are so very special and so very numerous, but can you just leave it alone? Just for a little bit? Just long enough to sneak one last fucking cigarette? No?
Whatever. It’s cool.
Generation X is used to disappointments. Generation X knows you didn’t even read the whole thing. It doesn’t want or expect your reblogs; it picked the wrong platform.
Generation X should have posted this to LiveJournal.
I need you to post something re Occupy Toronto! I can’t take anymore, biting my tongue so hard it is starting to bleed!
Maybe my comment will be deleted, but I don’t disagree with the younger generation protesting corruption in Washington and on Wall Street. As i understand it, that was the original intent of this article. My family straddles three different generations. The Baby Boomer parents, aunts, and uncles all got jobs they could keep for 30 years, with liberal arts degrees. The Gen-X older siblings, self included, either struggled or didn’t, depending on when we graduated, and once we hit middle management, we were squeezed out by the Boomers refusing to retire. The Gen-Millennial younger siblings are all out of work, except for my cousin, who just finished his JD and promptly took an AmeriCorps assignment to defer his loans.
I can hardly argue with protesting the corruption on Wall Street and Capitol Hill when one-third of my family has been barred from even entering the workforce, let alone making a wage that they can even live on. Americans sneer at welfare recipients – well, my cousin’s AmeriCorps director encouraged him to apply for food stamps and energy bill assistance, because on a stipend of $1200 a month BEFORE taxes, and living in a city where you need to pay $850 to get a habitable – not posh, habitable – apartment, he doesn’t have any wiggle room. He got a roommate, but is still paying $525 a month for a room share, and that’s BEFORE bills, food, transit pass, etc. He’s in the red every month after meeting his basic bills.
Why is everyone so outraged that these kids worked hard, put in their time, and are asking for a chance in life? Everyone wants to make it seem like these are spoiled brats with “underwater basket-weaving” degrees who never worked a day in their lives. I’ve yet to meet a Millennial who fits the media’s description of them – just like no one in my generation, who I know of anyway, shoots drugs between their toes, whines all day, and gets fired from their jobs for stealing just like Ethan Hawke in Reality Bites.
(Just to clarify: I intended this as a rhetorical question, aimed more at the person who wrote the original piece, since I’ve been seeing it a lot on the interwebs these past few months. I didn’t mean to imply that you, the blog owner, necessarily agrees with all of it. I also know that everyone in Gen-X who didn’t get an easy start right out of college complained about it too, over the phone, in our journals, and on ListServ and other forum-type websites. People are paying closer attention to the concerns of this generation in part because they have so many more options for expressing their outrage than we did.)
Hi Alisha,
I would never delete a comment where someone is stating their opinion. I appreciate that you took the time to comment. I am also 100% in agreement with you that corruption anywhere is disgusting as is a $20 million dollar severance package for CEO’s, $25 million dollars a year for an athlete or $100 million for an actor. Where I can relate to this issue is that I have had the pleasure of hiring staff for companies I have worked for an I noticed first hand that some of the recent grads come to companies with a sense of entitlement. For example, I hired someone who after 6 weeks (before the probationary period had even ended) ask me for a raise and some clarification on their career development… 6 weeks. I’ve been in my industry for 17 years. What could someone learn in 6 weeks? Where the bathrooms are?
I think it comes from growing up expecting things – not just jobs – but these kids grow up with instant access to information, music, movies, they have social media meaning then can send and receive information right away. They don’t have patience. They don’t know what it means to put in time learning a trade, or skill, and all the other soft skills that go with it. They put in 6 weeks and want to move up. It’s crazy. It also takes time for them to adjust but when they do, they succeed. It’s just a reality check.
Hope this helps clarify my position and thank you for the other comment. I know you were just opening up a dialogue and I thank you for that. Please drop by more often!
Cheers,
Warren
Generation X, true to form, has been ‘gone fishin’ ‘ during our Global War of Terror.
A recent poll of deployed troops indicating their generational affiliations revealed:
- 41 percent Gen Y
- 38 percent Baby Boomer
- 12 percent Other
- 9 percent Generation
Not sure why anybody would check ‘other’
So once again, we see Generation X doing what they do best and have done all their lives; point fingers, blame, flame, whine endlessly, and contribute absolutely nothing.
Hi John. Could it be that Generation X are either too old or too young to be in the military – they would fall right into a slot where the boomers were in command and not going anywhere and then too old for a lot of the newer requirements where the Gen Y’s fall in. Could be more an age thing than an unwillingness to fight for their country.
Or, quite possibly, that generation falls after the 60′s peace and love generation and after the cold war ended, there was little need, nor desire to fight wars, so this generation avoided registering for military service.
Thoughts?