Generation X: Forgotten Casualties in the Generational Crossfire

A cliché as old as time, partly because time is the basis: A generation is aged out of cultural and political dominance, perhaps even relevance. Old values are challenged, and in some cases, destroyed by successors that the old guard neither relate to, nor particularly respect. The old gods and masters are torn down and replaced by new icons, as they in turn are accused of false idolatry by the outgoing party.

Such is the very nature of humanity – politically, spiritually, culturally and even economically. Sometimes evolution, often revolution, and rarely without significant bitterness and resentment on all sides of what appears to be a binary conflict, but in reality is far more multifaceted. Ancient wisdom, valid or not, is discarded and often deemed irrelevant by a new establishment, one whose idea of relevance is rooted more in the present and immediate future than notions of staying power. New ideas, valid or not, are enforced and accepted at face value for the time being by the successors, then rejected at a reflex level by the predecessors, simply on the basis of being new. Or in many cases, beyond their psychic scope.

Every generation, mine included, accuses those directly following of being “soft”, “lazy”, “disrespectful” and so on. Blame is placed with varying degrees of accuracy, not to mention considerable gaslighting, even when partially correct. This of course goes double in the Golden Age of Opinions, where thoughts and feelings are digitally deified, commodified, and placed at a level of urgency and priority never before seen, in an era where the data supporting them is more verifiable than ever. The smart are getting smarter, and the stupid more willfully ignorant than ever, as the fabric of society is stretched and torn over a body politic that has outgrown the available size measurements entirely.

Largely parallel to the bitter war between liberal and conservative values, perhaps the most prominent conflict of ideologies in the current time is that between the Baby Boomer generation, who have been on the way out for about 15 years (but didn’t get the memo), and the Millienials, perhaps history’s most vilified age demographic. I myself identify as Generation X, the forgotten grey area in a false black-and-white dichotomy between ethics and economics that has reached farcical levels. I grew up with the internet, but didn’t consider it ‘real life’. I have a healthy skepticism and jadedness that came almost naturally to my fellow X’rs, lacking the cultural naivete of many of the people younger than me, but also the political shallowness of far too many of those older.

We were the last generation to truly, consistently support music by buying albums, and railing against plagiarism, posing and pandering, all of which are almost prerequisites for success now. On the flip side, we cheapened it by also popularizing piracy, magically applying a different code of ethics for the theft of one specific type of product and culture. We killed pop music’s last remaining shred of cred with the advent of nebulous ‘talent’ shows, factory farming performers with shelf lives as short as the attention spans of their target audience. We also popularized outsider music, be it grunge, gangsta rap or industrial metal, to a level where it dominated the cultural conversation more than the mainstream.

We were the last generation where the majority of children moved out of home in their late teens and early twenties – I was out of home at 18, which was late compared to many of my peers. I was kicked out at short notice, and this posed virtually no threat to me given the economics of the day. I didn’t resent it then, and I don’t now, because rent was cheap and places were easy to find. Of course, this was in an era where one could survive off welfare if necessary, and gig economies were more interesting notion than harsh reality – I didn’t even find a consistent full time job until the age of 21.

Our legacy is mixed: We popularized gay, trans and women’s rights is eras where backlash was harsher, and more universal. The track record on race relations to me was less impressive, but improving. Our demographic representation was obviously worse than now, but we also lacked the crushing corporate monoculture of today, where you can hear the same song on the radio twice in an hour, or see the same TV commercial three times in a single ad break. We didn’t get attacked for not liking cringeworthy fantasy TV shows, or monotone musical performers (not going to signal boost the inferences by way of mention here). The mainstream hadn’t yet attempted to colonize just about every major non-conformist musical and cultural space it had become aware of, and instead of everything from porn to advertising presenting as social media, nascent forms of chat and social media fit in around the rest of our world.

Gen X kids made most of our mistakes young and early. We did stupid things out of boredom that most millennials, perhaps rightly, would scoff at. We also acquired life experience and learning opportunities from our errors because the margins of error were wider, and we didn’t run the risk of social and career assassination over comments made online. We talked about our feelings, just not all the time or in the public hivemind, because we were too busy trying to make rent, and just maybe scrape enough money together for concert tickets. Most of us weren’t forced to live at home until 30 like kids now. That, by the way, is an economic reality for which the Boomer generation, with their now-infamous political naivete and inexcusable economic mismanagement, should take full responsibility.

When I was in a teenager, most were in a hurry to grow up, get a car and get out from under their folks, good or bad. We didn’t want to be young forever, because youth wasn’t the focus of society at the expense of the rest. We grew up in a culture that didn’t cater to youth in the way that today’s one does, where popular music didn’t revolve almost exclusively around PG demographics or PC politics. Said politics existed, of course, but were not enforced with the ‘join-or-die’ mentality of today. That being said, nor were conservative ideals promoted with the drowning man desperation of today’s alt-right.

The mainstream were less tolerant of outsiders, often violently so, but also less likely to co-opt their spaces and demand a cut of everyone’s action, right down to the intellectual property. Music and film were far more diverse, video games and television far less so (argue that all you want, the hard data exists whether we like it or not). Reality TV existed, but it’s stars were considered more parody or laughing stock than role model, at least in the early years, while ‘influencers’ occurred naturally, not by presenting as such. We weren’t yet aspiring to the false perfection perpetuated by either, or the heavily filtered, life-as-persona mentality of social media. Nor do I imagine we would have fallen for it so easily.

Like the Boomers before us, and the Millenials after, we were called ‘weak’ – accused of being ‘bleeding hearts’ for displaying political leanings beyond low level sociopathy. You know, as if becoming cynical and unempathetic was a sign of maturity. We were far more politically apathetic and socially aware than our successors, protesting less than we should have, even if we were far more aware than our parents.

Old-timers used to taking hour long lunches with a half dozen smoke breaks in a work day called us ‘lazy’, as people like me managed what would’ve been considered a five person workload back in their prime, for a much smaller slice of the economic pie. If you wanted to own property when and where I grew up, you usually had to either work in the mines or join the military, then mortgage to the hilt, instead of simply buying outright with two years’ income like Mom and Dad.

I will say outright that the pressures and nuances of modern economics and labour division would physically and psychologically destroy most Boomers. The mythic ‘tough guy’ narrative that older generations tend to spin about themselves may have actually applied to the generations before them –as in those who lived through World Wars, The Great Depression and frontier life. But the reality is that they worked less hours for more pay, in an era where education usually lead to employment in a chosen field, not just decades of debt enslavement in an economy where precious few get to do what they love.

They squandered wealth we never had, and continue to do so, while accusing us of wasting time and money on a level we only wished was possible. Theirs also, the nasty habit of throwing their hands up in apoplectic dismay over the slightest intrusion into their political forums and cultural spaces, by people who simply want a piece of the pie, the one they pay the same taxes for. They accuse people of being in their feelings, yet get extremely emotional over movements like legalizing gay marriage or Black Lives Matter, even when the success of said causes has absolutely no negative bearing on their quality of life or political input whatsoever.

Richer than every generation before them, and all since, the majority of Boomer seniors today are insulated by privilege from the social consequences of a voting mentality overly obsessed with tax cuts, and the cuts to vital social services that result. Or the economic realities of a job market where pay is proportionately lower, and automation has simply resulted in excessive staff cuts more than alleviated workloads. Their education was a near-guarantee of employment, not just debt enslavement. Travel is a distant, near impossible dream for most people I know under 35 – for Boomers, an annual assumption.

Far too often I’ve had to explain to people older than me that being offended by things like cannabis, LGBTQ+ rights or adult video games now places them in the minority, and that the more conservative viewpoints they often endorse are in popular decline, and not the majority default. Old folks who spend thousands a year on drinking low end beer in front of bad cable TV laugh at the few hundred rent paying Millenials waste annually on meal deliveries or video games. They fail to realize open world games are the closest most get to travel for years, if ever. Or that there are people who simply, literally don’t have the time to go out for a nice meal, let alone cook two or more a day. Or keep a cushy 9-5 schedule with a full sleep. Lazy Millenials, those who left the nest and aren’t Youtube stars at least, generally starve.

The original Generation Snowflake (mostly white, fragile and melting under the slightest heat), Boomers accuse Millenials of being crybabies simply for wanting the basic equalities and rights that the flower children of the 60’s originally fought for, then abandoned when things got tough. The concrete roses of today simply don’t have the luxury of wilting like their grandparents, and there aren’t enough petals left to lose. Failure on the level that the Boomers have managed in this century simply isn’t viable, and nor is it tolerated. I envy the political awareness, social empathy and genuine thirst for change that those younger than me seem to have, and I hope they stay the course, or else the ship will sink for good.

What I don’t envy is the sense of tribalism and herd mentality at all extremes of the sociopolitical and cultural divides that exists in many younger than me. Criticize, say, a black female musician for openly stealing lyrics and beats? Some basement dwelling armchair psychologist will flippantly call you a misogynist and racist, even if you have proof, let alone a track record of anti-bigotry politics in eras where such views were dangerous. Have a nuanced view on legal gun ownership? Left-wing psychos will decide you’re a gun nut with Confederate leanings, even if you spent your youth defending yourself from the like. Dislike a certain 2010’s TV show featuring dragons, and people will literally scream at you – usually online, but sometimes in person, simply for not liking what they do. Not for having a differing viewpoint on a hot social issue, simply having alternate tastes. As such, you grow to hate what you were merely indifferent to. You’re forced to take a side, and being a neutral lone wolf simply isn’t allowed.

I used to simply be unbothered by things like trap or pop music. However, when one is forced to listen to it for hours at work every day, then hear it blasting on transit from someone’s phone on the way home, only to hear it through your bedroom ceiling as the neighbours once again decide you don’t get to sleep, it starts to provoke an aggressive response. No matter how popular the culture in my youth, we simply weren’t force fed to the same extent we are today, nor patronized as heavily in the process. This principle applies to politics too, by the way, a fact which both wings of the great vulture that is modern society should take note. Diversity isn’t a bunch of different demographics all liking the same things, bullied into doing so by aggressive and invasive advertising, or social media metrics.

True diversity is an acceptance and appreciation of differences, navigated not by flattening the edges and rounding off the sharp corners of cultures (and subcultures) we don’t understand, but by learning to navigate carefully around them with tact and respect. Nor is it having to constantly explain and justify these differences to people with a fraction of your life experience, pattern recognition and economic responsibility. People who still haven’t left the nest, and are more grounded in virtual worlds than corporeal ones, and can’t understand why you reject culture that relies on social conditioning techniques similar to political propaganda. Instead of vigorous, clinical and healthy debate over art and culture that inspire passion, one is accused of being a ‘hater’, a phrase overused to the point of meaninglessness.

Being ‘woke’ isn’t just about voting preferences and social media behaviour. If you hate the likes of Donald Trump, don’t turn around and watch reality TV, the very medium that enabled his continued relevance to the point where he became a political threat. If you support the ‘Me Too’ movement, listening to adult rappers who openly court and date minors, without apology, is hypocritical. For all the sociopolitical awareness of today’s younger generations, there is a cultural naivete as trade-off. Now plagiarism and empty posturing are excused as part of the culture, much like abusive behaviour was swept under the rug in days past as boys being boys, or times being simpler. We have traded for lesser evils without considering that neither set of evils were ever necessary in the first place.

I often joke that Generation X is essentially on cleanup duty, trying to fix environmental and economic disasters we inherited from our parents. We do this thanklessly, often invisibly, while trying to navigate the all-ego, low self-esteem superficiality of modern culture, with it’s ridiculous obsessions with branding, labelling and categorizing, often virtue signalling as a matter of moral superiority instead of genuine empathy. Those who’d have been staunch conservatives in any other ear now capitalize on a misinterpretation of liberal values for a false sense of moral superiority, claiming victories they were never even in the trenches for, defending interest groups who never asked to be defended by ignorant Orwellian though policing. Meanwhile Gen X survivors who remember times when such opinions were not always safe to share were, and still are, too busy trying to survive and be better people in shitty economies to worry about being better than the next person, whether it be ethically or superficially.

We didn’t have the luxury of retiring out of our political and economic messes like our parents, who complain about disappointing pensions while people like never expect to retire, and hope to still be employable at their age. We also faced consequences, often violent, for offensive behaviours and opinions that are standard behaviour from the younger keyboard warriors of today – many who’d be far less aggressive about their politics in an era where such aggression was considered extremism. Or less inclined towards hate crimes in a more physical world where guys like me, growing up, would defend our queer and non-Caucasian friends with steel toed boots and chain wrapped fists, out of sheer bloody necessity. I can only imagine if alt-right types existed when I was in high school – we ran much scarier bigots out of school, occasionally even out of town.

The criticisms of Millenials by Boomers were the same ones the old guard received in their youth, before they sold out and forgot the values that once made their generation so famous. Generation X got plenty of them as well, and we proved the majority laughably wrong. The accusations against Boomers by Millenials are done from within a digitally curated, culturally controlled matrix that is, in many ways, less diverse than the world in which I grew up, even if it is more politically enlightened.

One generation was steeped in musical rebellion, only to grow bitter and cynical despite the relative wealth and ease of their existence, not only crashing the ship, but stealing most of the lifeboats and cutting the rope ladders behind them on the way out. The other, obsessed with virtue signalling and world saving to a somewhat admirable degree, often fails to realize that they have traded much of their privacy, their non-demographic identity and their true cultural individuality in doing so. Married to their opinions to an embarrassing extent, yet too often seeking external reassurance and approval in a world where, more than ever, internal resolve and independent critical thought are not only advisable, but necessary. Herd mentality is as strong as ever, but with digital culture replacing religion as the means.

Then there’s X – the variable caught inbetween, hoping for the best but fearing the worst, aged beyond our years by lessons of harsh experience. Living and dying on mistakes that our parents could simply sweep under the rug, and those who follow may never even get the chance to make (and learn from), but are all too happy to critique from the comfort of digital anonymity and pop cultural insulation.

Occasionally failures, mostly forgotten heroes, raising terrified children in a fucked up world, caught between dying conservative anachronisms and Orwellian, far-left groupthink. Attacked by those we paved the way for, and those whose fires we are trying to put out – while they turn off the water of course. Neither victims defined by identity politics and the sick, sad desire to publicly share in every moment and aspect of our pain, nor antagonists who haven’t earned their jaded cynicism, branded by an illogical hatred of our replacements. Defined by imperfection no longer allowed, ever dodging stray bullets of wasted ammunition, hoping succeeding generations do better. Hoping they get the chance to.