For us Xers, the hypocrisy and condescenion of the Boomers made us deeply cynical and skeptical of authority. Unfortunately our sin was to tell our kids, the Zs and after (the few of us who had kids anyway), fuck it, do and be whatever you want, it doesn't matter anyway. The "no rules" hippie ethos of the Boomers got filtered and twisted through us.
But I see the Zers, especially the ones at my church, craving structure. They looked at the wide open world and said, we can't even decide what direction to face. Someone be in authority, please. Give us rules.
They might be the generation that sheds the Boomer culture poison.
I didn't even have kids, because my Boomer parents were so bad at parenting, I didn't even trust myself with a whole human being. Not sure whether I regret that or not, but here I am: Not to blame for the ipad babies, but to blame for the putative population crisis.
I never thought I would appreciate 80s music. I spent that decade trapped in the backwoods, so I thought it was all fake and poison.
Then you hear the story of George Michael's life and remember skating around a roller rink in Wisconsin Rapids wearing a glo-stick around your neck listening to "Wake me up Before You Go-Go," and you smile.
Same here, I was so repelled by drum machines and synths* that the songwriting often flew over my head. It took buskers and Youtubers making covers for me to stop and say wait, that's actually a good song.
(*and the endless call-and-response bullshit on live recordings ffs, I still hate that with a burning passion, Phil, and don't you dare hide behind that rack Sting, you know what you did)
I remember this song! Wasn't it written for the Hunger Games movie? Loved those films.
With regards to our generation, yes we are old now...I think our quirks have largely been filed off, honestly. There's a reason these marvel movies are failing now! We've grown up!
It's funny because from what I can remember, the early 2010s economy was actually really bad! The "Great Recession" was declared over because the stock market started recovering, but it took ages after that for actual employment and wages to recover anything close to what they used to be. My nostalgia for that time period is more like "We made the best of those bad circumstances and had fun anyway."
Agreed. It was a feeling of "well, that was bad, but we got through it! Smooth sailing from here on out!" In pop culture. Obviously this was not the case, but that was the feeling at the time from my recollection
Thank you for this. I've written something similar regarding the failings of my generation (X). I fear that we might be responsible for some of the problems millenials face.
Eerily on point with all of this. That was one of the music videos I had to schedule at work haha, and I never put together that that era really retroactively feels like the best, personally speaking, and that it really is that era, seemingly, for so many of us. (Though maybe that makes sense statistically?)
For us Xers, the hypocrisy and condescenion of the Boomers made us deeply cynical and skeptical of authority. Unfortunately our sin was to tell our kids, the Zs and after (the few of us who had kids anyway), fuck it, do and be whatever you want, it doesn't matter anyway. The "no rules" hippie ethos of the Boomers got filtered and twisted through us.
But I see the Zers, especially the ones at my church, craving structure. They looked at the wide open world and said, we can't even decide what direction to face. Someone be in authority, please. Give us rules.
They might be the generation that sheds the Boomer culture poison.
I kinda love zoomers
They've come out surprisingly fine considering what we've unleashed on them since birth. Maybe that whole exposure thing works.
Huh… you may have a point!
I think Generations XYZ have more in common than we'd like to admit. We all grew up in the shadow of the Boomers.
I didn't even have kids, because my Boomer parents were so bad at parenting, I didn't even trust myself with a whole human being. Not sure whether I regret that or not, but here I am: Not to blame for the ipad babies, but to blame for the putative population crisis.
Very well said, for any age group.
I never thought I would appreciate 80s music. I spent that decade trapped in the backwoods, so I thought it was all fake and poison.
Then you hear the story of George Michael's life and remember skating around a roller rink in Wisconsin Rapids wearing a glo-stick around your neck listening to "Wake me up Before You Go-Go," and you smile.
Same here, I was so repelled by drum machines and synths* that the songwriting often flew over my head. It took buskers and Youtubers making covers for me to stop and say wait, that's actually a good song.
(*and the endless call-and-response bullshit on live recordings ffs, I still hate that with a burning passion, Phil, and don't you dare hide behind that rack Sting, you know what you did)
Heheheheh absolutely. “Let’s show the groundlings what a wonderful time we have together, being superior beings and shit.”
I remember this song! Wasn't it written for the Hunger Games movie? Loved those films.
With regards to our generation, yes we are old now...I think our quirks have largely been filed off, honestly. There's a reason these marvel movies are failing now! We've grown up!
This and the Girls marathon currently on HBO are hitting at just the right time
Wonderful words. Really needed to hear this today. <3
It's funny because from what I can remember, the early 2010s economy was actually really bad! The "Great Recession" was declared over because the stock market started recovering, but it took ages after that for actual employment and wages to recover anything close to what they used to be. My nostalgia for that time period is more like "We made the best of those bad circumstances and had fun anyway."
Agreed. It was a feeling of "well, that was bad, but we got through it! Smooth sailing from here on out!" In pop culture. Obviously this was not the case, but that was the feeling at the time from my recollection
I was thinking of the LOTR quote as I was reading the article, and I'm glad it was included.
Thank you for this. I've written something similar regarding the failings of my generation (X). I fear that we might be responsible for some of the problems millenials face.
The memes that marry this song to movie clips of characters in emotional distress are truly a pure crying out of the wounded human soul.
Welp, one surefire sign of aging is when people start referring to the era of your late thirties as their tenderest of dewy youths ;P
Eerily on point with all of this. That was one of the music videos I had to schedule at work haha, and I never put together that that era really retroactively feels like the best, personally speaking, and that it really is that era, seemingly, for so many of us. (Though maybe that makes sense statistically?)
I've heard it said the reliance on Joss Whedon style quips is a bit of a crutch.
Maybe we start using that crutch for its intended purpose: a club.
Beautifully written…I’m not so doom and gloom about our millenial futures but I see so much of what we experienced here