Gen Xers, the ones born between 1964 to 1981 (roughly) are the least populated generation (nearly 50 to 70 million against the Boomers, Millennials and Gen Z) and I think history will not look fondly of these individuals.
Before they were called Gen X, they were known as the Latch-key Generation, the MTV Generation (often mistaken as the Millenial generation, but my generation didn’t see much music other than reality shows like The Hills and alike); and worse The Forgotten Generation.
I think they took it literally. They are extremely tough and they often look down at the Millennials and Boomers for whining, this is the suck-it-up generation. They seem to be more conservative than what was considered in the 2016 Election.
Gen X ranges from people close to 60 as young as 42, and sadly these people who adulted in their teens, self-parented (back to the Latch-key), did loads of underage drinking (but 21 as the legal age wasn’t fully universal until I believe Vermont switched in the early 90s); etc. Ironically their child-like behavior was very evident in the last five years. Just watch the Fox News Channel, and there’s only a couple Millennials and many of the “young”est talent is over 40.
I was raised by an Xer, my gram is a Silent Generation, my paternal family whom I didn’t know until 2018 is almost an identical; as well as my teachers in my out of district programs (they actually leaned left politically, but socially, they are tough, obedient and sometimes agressive), so I know Gen X inside and out. So here’s what I think about them – now…
- Tolerance is so low – “Suck it upppp!” – That’s a line often used by Stacy London, the fashionista on What Not to Wear and one of the many public faces of Gen Xers of tolerance of people being challenged, in their world, they like to challenge others. When it comes to politics, I have seen more xenophobic Facebook shares than I have seen of racism or sexism. They “tolerate” the LGBTQ community in the letter of the norms, but not the spirit, meaning they really don’t accept them. These are also the “Karens” that have autistic children in the 90s blaming it on MMR vaccines, and whine about how their lives are full of injustices of their “vaccine injured child” – hey where’s your “suck it up” ethos? They pray to RFK Jr. and jack off to Del Bigdick, I mean Del Bigtree. They believe in a monolithic culture, and their view of a mono clut is bland and generic Americans, because Xers do not want to be bothered with others and deal with differences.
- They fawned for Trump – in the 2020 Election, many of this generation was one of his largest base of voters. Of course why wouldn’t they? He was the face of building businesses in the 80s (even in reality he conned the banks and other parties.) The Apprentice in retrospect was just a facade of Trump’s larger than life persona. Just that facade was another facade to his empty self.
- Their childlike instincts kicking at middle age – mocking the other side, such as “Blue Lives Matter” or “All Lives Matter” in the letter of inclusion but clearly the spirit of no tolerance, of which they deny they are “racists” but that’s not the other infraction. During COVID19, their true colors of entitlement that if you thought was so bad with the Boomers, is considered to be child’s play with their resistance to socially distant, their resistance to masking, then their resistance to vaccinate. The politicians elected in 2020 and 2022 was to “own the libs”, they overtly wished President Biden to fail.
Megyn Kelly of late is a classic example of little tolerance, and high annoyance to anyone that doesn’t look or sound like her. Her SXM show of late is personally attacking the Royal Family because of Megan Markle making the appearance of making herself a spectacle, but if you think Megyn is taking a high road of constructive criticism, you are far from reality, she is taking it personal. I don’t think Kelly has a high EQ score…
- They lack responsibility; they preach “freedom” instead – Xers also are all about freedom, but no personal responsibility known in conservatism. Unless being a “Conservative” today means no more responsibility and I just didn’t get the memo. Again going back to COVID19, they didn’t care about mitigating risks, they just wanted to live as if it was their last day at the price of others around them.
- Extreme entitlement – In New Hampshire the average age is in the 40s, which means teenagers, my mother’s age and my gram’s age is the majority. Sticking to Generation X, which seems to be the average population in the town I live in, thinks only about themselves, they take the freedom to have fireworks in the back yard, and do it on a work night in the summer or you got that annoying neighbor to burns his trash, yeah just because you live on a 1/4 acre property doesn’t mean that your freedom is indiscriminate; the lack of being mindful is non existent in a dark red town that means Do Whatever The Fuck You Want…
- Live in the moment – Day by Day – the lack of self-forecasting, the lack of looking ahead, selectively forgetting the past, from personal actions, to even again political ones is asking for trouble. I am thinking about climate change as I am writing this paragraph, of which many Gen Xers I know, that lean conservative/low tolerant/least informed just don’t get it. They won’t. They grew up in the fears of global cooling in the 1970s just as Exxon researchers saw that with rising global temperatures, they could extract more fossil fuel, so then sell more things that could use fossil fuel and just warm up the planet – What Could Go Wrong? The Exxon story has came out in recent years; and yet people will deny it because they’ll say “I don’t know that”, “I need to research that”, “I don’t believe it”.
- Technical Literacy? HA! – Xers love to brag to Millennials about the flip-phones and rotary dial 500 Series phones. Can they even do something on a PC let alone a Mac? If an Xer used a PC at a young age, the chances they need excessive handholding by a Tier 1 tech a hopeless cause. They can be tech-savvy if they could listen from their own and “suck it up!”
Assholes like Jordan Peterson are out to claim that Generation Z is entitled, and narcissistic, but people acting antagonistic in 2023 are the ones who “really” won in the 2020 Presidential Election; mocking minority groups on abuse of law enforcement to minorities; storming the Capital where many probably didn’t know the process; believing Qanon, because they believe whatever is said on Facebook is true; the inability that they, the Xers can’t be challenged; that their core beliefs take precedence over everything else. In the next 40 to 50 years as many of the Xers drop dead (or think they can still be alive because they are so self-centered), the historians will start to assess if Generation X was a Chinese-knockoff, pirated brand of the Baby Boomers, taking their narcissism so literally that; their covert narcissism of the pst that lead to their present overt narcissism, their grievances to the rest of the world, and their literal middle child syndrome mentality; their cold hearted, emotionally unavailable parents; lead to the smallest group of people to be the most narcissistic, and most toxic generation our country has had in recent history. If Xers are so bad right now; imagine how they are as they age.
While I could be over-generalizing a generation, yes the Millenials are narcs in some ways, Gen Z is too early to tell; some Boomers could be annoying, nothing could top the millions and millions of a small group of misfits who are typically minded people whose malignant self reaffirmation is their own vanity and their attitude to society is being seen right now in our society and our politics. They make the Boomers jealous with their strong ethos of ignorance is bliss.
It’s costing us a lot now, it and it’s going to get worse. Millenials like me and Gen Z are paying the price and we are not supposed to whine, but it’s OK for the Xers to project their grievances to us. Why should we “respect our elders” when our elders are acting like children?
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