I remember once reading a Frank Miller rant in one of the Sin City comics, where he was describing boomers as being overly liberal, like “social justice warriors”, referencing what boomers represented in American universities. I was reading it some 20 years after the comic was released, and it was quite funny because by then boomers were associated with being overly conservative and greedy real estate hoarders and short-term-profit CEOs, with complete disregard for everything else (not that this was anything new, it just felt like they had doubled down on the worst features of the previous generation).
I always viewed Gen X as a mix of cynicism and pop culture, and in those battles that arose online, mainly between Boomers and Millennials, Gen X was the “chill” gen. However, now that the majority of CEOs are Gen X, we are seeing an unprecedented mass surveillance and data-collection economy, like fucking Gen Xers want complete control over everyone. And yeah, I hope Gen X is remembered for that, just as Boomers are being remembered as completely out-of-touch greedy conservatives with consolidate wealth instead of for the cultural changes they led in the 60s and 70s.
It seems that in early Web 2.0, Millennials were associated with “social justice warriors”. Inclusivity and visibility seemed like very Millennial concerns, but when I see places like 4chan and 9gag, I realize it’s not kids there, it’s a bunch o resented people in their 30s and 40s, the Culture War is a very Millennial thing, it was industrialized, became a performance, and when in power, that generation will probably be remembered for hate.
It seems like we are not remembered for when our generation was the opposition, but for what it did when it became the establishment. What do you think?
GenX here. I was alive and remember the older folks the millennials and later didn’t get to meet. Boomers were, and still are, much more liberal than their parents and grandparents were. It’s hard to imagine but it’s true. Example: god forbid you were a girl - you could be one of three acceptable things 1) a baby factory/cook/maid for your husband 2) a nurse 3) a nun. And 2 and 3 were sketchy - those were just for the ugly girls….I’m serious… They shouldn’t vote, they didn’t have credit cards, and they certainly didn’t need to “think” - just do what your father said until your husband took that job over. GenX girls literally could be whatever they wanted - we were the first generation where that was possible (even if it came with disapproving side eyes - it was still possible).
The generational hate is misplaced IMO. It’s hard for my kids to understand what life was like after ww2 and the fifties. Boomers really did think and act quite liberally compared to the world they grew up in. We gen Xers saw a glimpse of that world and for all the boomer’s faults, we appreciated what our parents tried to make for us. I’m not saying they were perfect, there tends to be a lot of selfishness in that generation as well as pulling up the ladder behind them. GenX ain’t like that generally speaking. I don’t think you’ll see that type of behavior from us. If you want to criticize us, you’d have to point at our apathy and “fuck it” attitude. We’ve seen some shit yo, and we were tired of it all by high school. Some of it is the same rage boomers rebelled against, some of it directed at all the fucked-up-ness that was new (the economy, the environment, drugs alcoholism and physical abuse, the rich’s exploitation of the working class, having to care for both kids and our parents on a pauper’s salary, etc.). We ain’t perfect, and some older GenX might as well be boomers - but in the end I’m not sure any of it matters. There just ain’t enough of us compared to the rest of you. Boomers croak, and millennials, genz, and alpha have like 75%+ of the vote (someone should fact check me on that but I think I’m in the ballpark). And I would HOPE my generational cohorts would vote more in line with the younger folks - because otherwise they are posers who sold out (they should listen more closely to their Rage Against the Machine lyrics).
Remember, it’s class warfare, not generational warfare.
The last thing corporate media want us to consider is class, which is why they promote minor—and even fictional—wedge issues to distract us from it.
That being said there have been progressive folks going way back. My folks were kinda amazing for silent generation and the ones fighting for civil rights go way back before boomers. I mean. Jane Adams.