You’ve got to hand it to Gen Xers. We have been so ambivalent about everything we have finally been totally forgotten. I saw some nonsense poll on the news about generations and they had Baby Boomers, Millennials, and Gen Z. I was like, “Well, holy crap, they’ve just stopped acknowledging we exist.” This should surprise no one, least of all a Gen Xer.
In a world where we are obsessed with defining groups, Gen Xers have accidentally beguiled society by being distinctively vague. Our very definition can be summarized as a noncommittal shrug.
Honestly, it was all fun and games to be the forgotten generation until our teenagers landed their first, “Okay, Boomer” on us and, we were like, “What the hell did you just call me?” Turns out the younger generations don’t even know that Gen X was/is a thing. It got me thinking, what is Gen X even? After careful research, meaning none, I’ve come to this conclusion: Who the hell knows?
The Middle Child of Generations
Society has been too obsessed with the Boomers and the Millennials to notice us and find out who we are. It’s fine. Whatever. We’re used to it. We are like the middle child of generations. We sit quietly at the dinner table, fading into the background, while our smug older sibling lectures the baby of the family for wanting free college. We try not to snicker audibly when the baby rattles our older sibling by citing that they did have free college. Like good middle children, we keep our mouths shut because we know they will both beat the crap out of us.
The Barely Parented Generation
Being invisible is kind of our specialty. Just ask our parents. Unlike the Boomers who grew up under the hawkish eye of parents who lived through the depression (good luck throwing anything out), and long before the advent of the Tiger Mom and Helicopter parent (good luck getting away with anything), Gen Xers roamed the neighborhood freely, mostly feral.
This wasn’t all bad, mind you. We lived entire lives our parents knew nothing about, lives that involved cigarettes, Lord of the Flies-esque marauding, and abject bullying before there was a hashtag. You know what we called bullies? Popular kids. Simpler times.
I’d argue we were the least parented generation of all time mostly due to our parents’ disinterest in us, coupled with their overabundance of confidence that we’d be fine. Of course, a billion-dollar therapy industry would later prove this untrue. But, in our parents’ defense, they had very few data points on child rearing, that Dr. Spock book, and the one, I guess, on the joy of spankings? “The Wooden Spoon” chapter being especially well-worn.
The Tantric Generation
Despite Freud’s theory, it wasn’t all our parents’ fault we vanished from history. Another curious thing about Gen X is that we aren’t defined by one horrifyingly catastrophic event on the world stage during our childhood years. Boomers grew up in the ominous shadows of World War II. Millennials grew up in the chaotic shadows of a post-9/11 America. Gen Xers? Well, we grew up with that gas shortage…oh, and just the constant threat of world destruction by nuclear war that never ended up happening. Whatever. It’s fine. We were the tantric generation…sustaining anxiety for decades, always on the verge of destruction, but never quite getting to climax. Not as fun as the Sting version.
We don’t talk about it much, who would listen, but flirting with utter doom takes its toll on your psyche, man. That night our entire generation watched the oh-so-uplifting made-for-TV movie, The Day After, that cheerfully explores a post-nuclear war apocalypse, we adopted “whatever” as our collective anthem. Seriously, what was the point?
What’s insane is that in 1983 something like 100 million Americans in 39 million households watched this movie at the exact same time. I was 13 years old. 13! Gen X was raised by parents who popped popcorn and gathered their families for the nuclear destruction movie while simultaneously lecturing us for not having any life direction. Trust me, we were thinking, “Okay, Boomer” long before it was cool.
The Generation of Programmed Television
But when I think about what truly defines Gen X, it’s that we grew up watching the same limited TV shows and movies…at the exact same time. Think about that. Our collective pop culture experience is ridiculous. “Must See TV” wasn’t a slogan, it was our reality. Get your shit together by 8pm or, sorry, buddy, no soup for you!
Combine our non-parenting and doom complexes with the programmed television of the 70s and 80s and you get to the heart of Gen X…Escapism. We drowned our fears in the comforting problem-solving format that made us believe you could build a golf cart on a deserted island, assemble a motorcycle while temporarily blind, find your soulmate on a 3-day cruise to Acapulco, and outwit Mr. Roper every time. I mean, you can. The guy was super clueless.
So, forget being impressed by the Millennials growing up with the internet… or Gen Z having the world’s information in the palm of their hand since birth. The bonds of Gen Xer are far more powerful: A completely skewed view of reality that was utterly destroyed when we emerged into young adulthood.
The Reality Bites Generation
Let’s just say that the Brady Bunch and Happy Days failed to prepare us aptly for graduating college into a recession. Not only did we finally find out the world wasn’t going to blow up and we had to get that life direction our Boomer parents lectured us on, worse, we were not going to be in a sitcom opening montage. Come and knock on our door? Yeah, not so much. I still have never ridden a tandem bike, which is a bunch of BS.
Yeah, we were pretty lost until the movie Reality Bites came out and explained it all to us. If our reputation is that we don’t embrace anything, screw that. We have been bunkered down in “what’s the pointism” quite impressively for decades.
But now – perhaps now – our time has come as a generation to shed our invisibility cloak and take our rightful place as the generation that invented noncommittal shrugs and perfected the delivery of the word, “whatever.” It might be exactly what the world needs. Before Boomers finally pop that bulging blood vessel in their foreheads, and Millennials rightfully tell us all to go to hell, and Gen Zs make an app to plug us all into the matrix, maybe we can come together and unite the generations to create one incredible supergeneration!
After all, we are Children of the Fonz! We are little bit country AND a little bit rock and roll, we don’t play ball in the house because “Mom always said, don’t play ball in the house.” We survived watching Fantasy Island whilst babysitting. We know the cost of every grocery item in the 70s and 80s from faking sick and watching The Price is Right. We spay and neuter our animals because Bob Barker told us and he was right. We are hots and pepper corporated, or whatever they said on Laverne and Shirley.
We are Gen X, dammit! UNITE!!!
Or whatever.
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We saw the Berlin Wall get destroyed and we watched the Challenger explode.
We had to fear having sex right when our bodies were telling us to have sex! (AIDS)
A friend of mine had a chunk of the Berlin Wall in lucite, I was so jelous of him. I tried to make a millenial understand what it meant at the time the hope then the horror of watching perestroika in real time. What a waste of time. Was at work on 9/11 not in grade school. Was afraid of get called up and die in a desert for something that i did not understand. My thing about Gen X, I don’t recall racism. We grew up liking everything. Will Smith was cool, Heck we all watched MC Hammer cartoons. We knew the differences we just did not care,
What are the millenials and SJW creating? GenX elected Obama, If I was American I would have been proud to vote for him too. But, like my voting for Chretian in the 90’s I would have later regreted giving power to the change that is ruining what we thought was real.
I preferred Fight Club with Edward Norton and Brad Pitt to explain the issues we face.
Loved this article! Made me laugh out loud. I think everyone had those same plaid pants in your picture. Remember when kids used to fight over who got to ride in the trunk of the hatchback? Yeah those were the days……
And for all of those posting a comment complaining or “correcting” your recollections, a quote from a great movie of our generation, “Lighten up, Francis”.
Aww, thanks! “Lighten up. Francis.” Charlie Sheen, police station, Jennifer Gray (Grey?). None other than Ferris Bueller’s Day Off! Love it!!
Gorgeous. Thank you for this. We’re suffering through a self-inflicted national belief that everything has to be argued about, based mostly on politics and fueled by the existence of the internet. This piece reminds me that there’s both comfort and wisdom in what’s the pointism.
P.S. – I miss the ’70’s but I REALLY miss the ’80’s. 😉
I love this. In the summer, all we had to do was chores and be home before Mom. The rest of the day I rode my bike to anyone’s house and explored for miles. No one ever knew where I was.
Just spot on. Freedom and independence. The amazing combination that gives us great memories. Born in 67 to silent generation. And yeah, I still watch Loveboat reruns and if you do like it, whatever.
My love of The Love Boat is so embarrassing. It got me so psyched to make-out. I lived for the make outs. I guess it was my 70s porn! Cringe!
One of the more accurate characterizations of GenX thank you.
Hassenpfeffor Incorporated!
Spot on xx
*Hasenpfeffer Incorporated. -But otherwise bang on! The latchkey gen. I can’t imagine how kids suffocate now with the helicopter parents of today.
We also had grandparents that served in WWII. We had parents that served in Viet Nam. And some of us went on to Desert Shield and Desert Storm. We had bomb drills
We were the first latch key kids. We had the first alternative music and goth before it was goth. We had old bikes and new computers. We are the bridge between the boomers and the millenials. And seriously, we just dont give a shit because no generation is that special.
“nothing horrifying happened on the world stage during our childhood years.” – Apparently you forgot that the carnage of the Vietnam war that was on the news every night.
Very true, Renee. I think this impacted you based on when you were born. I was born 1970 and the war ended in 1975. Without 24/7 news coverage, I knew very little until later on in school and was horrified. Thanks for adding this to the convo.
Makes me damn proud to be a Gen X’r. Now if we could just bring back Jello pops.
Brilliant. Followed the link on DIGG (which has something vaguely GenX about it) and now a fan.
Thanks!
You have wonderfully, and concisely said what I have been thinking for so long, and I thank you for that. And, not only that, but you did it with the absolute best cultural touchstones of our generation. Thank you. Or not, Whatever works, I don’t really care ?
Love the point you make about pre-streaming TV creating our simultaneous collection of pop culture. Woe to any kid who missed a seasonal TV special….there would be no YouTube or Netflix showings….you were just screwed until it showed again the next year! Speaking of TV, don’t forget we were “taught” life lessons by those ubiquitous “After School Specials!”
Another unifying activity unique to us Gen Xers was the Friday night MALL experience. Long before Tinder or Match dotcoms, there was dressing up and strutting around the mall in packs, flirting with the objects of our crushes who worked in the sports shoe stores or the food court, hoping to be noticed and maybe be asked to a movie after work
Ah, we were such a cool generation of teens! Enjoyed your article and its comments!
It’s really something that we watched things at the same time. OMG…the mall!!! That was a thing. In my town we had this “downtown” main street and you went to Village Pizza, the movies, and Marie’s Sweet Shop. You strutted your stuff there. BTW, Gen Xers were BORN for Netflix streaming…it’s like the mother ship of our childhood TV dreams calling us home!!!!
I loved this! I didn’t actually survive watching Fantasy Island while babysitting, as I was permanently scarred by a scary episode with someone peeking in through the blinds at one of the guests. ? But one thing…as far as nothing bad happening during our childhoods? The AIDS crisis. lest we forget. ?
Thanks. And, yes, the AIDS crisis was heartbreaking. xo
I saw a little kid climbing a tree yesterday. I was proud of him.
LOL!
Ha! I was big into climbing trees.
well, it must be said that we’ve by far got the best ‘generational name’ . i mean what could be cooler than Gen X ( a great band as well). so happy to have been a teen throughout the 80s, a decade that contributed so much to art, music, writing, fashion, sport (snowboading, mtb, skateboarding), culture etc…
You make a good point!
Brilliant
Aww, thanks!
Spot on. Our strength is our ability to disconnect and persevere. Screw micromanagement. Just give us the assignment at work and we will figure out on our own how to get it done.
Thanks, Karen!
We had pride in America, for just being American , no matter your economic status, race or sex.
Thank you for this awesome, witty take on what defines our generation! (Yes, I’m a GenXer.)
I would politely argue that Gen Xers did leave one tremendous mark on the world – they produced amazing musical giants the likes of which will never be seen again, artists such as Freddie Mercury (and Queen), Michael Jackson, Prince, George Michael, Billy Joel, David Bowie, Cindy Lauper, Sting (and the Police), Annie Lennox (and Eurythmics), Phil Collins, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Madonna, to name some really famous ones. The unparalleled music of our generation, thank you Gen Xers, you will never be forgotten! 😉
1965-1979 is Gen X – I’m pretty sure the artists you listed are all boomers…
True, but their music was popular during the Gen X coming of age years.
Gen Xers are generally considered to be born starting 1965, some push it further to 1960. Baby boomers were born before 1960. But I can see how some may argue 🙂
Correct . Here are the Generations:
* iGen, Gen Z or Centennials: Born 1996 and later
* Millennials or Gen Y: Born 1977 to 1995
* Generation X: Born 1965 to 1976
* Baby Boomers: Born 1946 to 1964
* Traditionalists or Silent Generation: Born 1945 and before
Yes! I tell my kids Gen xers are the MTV generation! Back when MTV was actually showcasing new music/videos. I wanted to BE Martha Quinn.
Oh man, me too. MTV was everything.
Yes! Loved MTV and Pop Up Video
Yes! Such a good point!! We want our MTv!
Hell yeah, we did! We are quietly this badass generation, not desperate for attention. I love that about us!
We lived during the Vietnam War and draft, pope shot, president shot, both lived. Shuttle exploded, Iran Hostage Crisis, and horrible Jimmy Carter but best thing we lived through was 8 yrs of Ronald Reagan. He seemed like the grandpa I never had.
Exactly! But that stuff gets swept under the carpet or claimed by the Flower Children and Bommers
For me, it wasn’t because our parents were disinterested, first generation were most of us who had two parents both had to work outside the house to make ends meet. It wasn’t because my dad didn’t want to go to my soccer games, it was because he was still working when they happen at 5pm on a Tuesday. Honestly, we as a society, didn’t fear the outside. It was before Jacob Wetterling where a stranger might snatch you from your bike on a gravel road. Parents didn’t live in fear of being arrested because their kids were out of there sight for more than a minute. Shaming our parents, because they were providing for us is the wrong take on this situation. It broke my heart when I heard that my father felt shame because he couldn’t be at all my games and other school activities. He was a great father. Just because you are physically there at each event doesn’t make you a great father. Just see the unreasonably competitive parents at youth sporting events. 9 year olds don’t need that level of BS in their life. Don’t shame the Baby Boomers on parenting. That is my take.
That’s super sweet, Jim. I don’t think all of our experiences were the same with our parenting, but I do think, in general, not a lot of thought went into parenting the way it does now. It’s not shaming them at all. In some ways that was the best part about growing up. Freedom! I think most of us read this and thought wistfully, wow…those were the days! Now it’s mirco-parenting and worrying about every threat because we have
access to more news all day long. Sorry that was your takeaway.
No one thought to call it that then, but we were really the last “free range” generation. Our kids are helicoptered and sheltered within an inch of their lives. With the result that we, their parents, have ended up their best friends. Sweet, but not the healthiest idea.
And watched Diana marry that ugly Prince Charles lol
Me too. Set an alarm for some ungodly hour.
Thank you. I feel seen 🙂
🙂
I think you pretty much nailed it! Or maybe not. Who cares really. I was certainly nodding in agreement the whole time I read this; don’t tell my older sister or younger brother – they would both kick my a** if they knew I agreed with the middle-child analogy.
Ha! Too funny. Thanks for chiming in!
We had the shuttle explosion and the AIDS epidemic to frame our coming of age years, but perhaps the boomers have appropriated those from us as well.
I was thinking the same thing about AIDS and the shuttle exploding.
Could be. I think, my point was really more about not being born into the shadow of the great depression or WWII or 9/11. Lots of tragic things happened, but the big one we were terrified of happening, never did. All paled next to threat of nuclear war. Thanks for chiming in!
DUDE!!!
This is one of the best GenX articles I’ve read – spot on my friend!
Nanu, Nanu!
This made me laugh. Remember Fonzie on Mork & Mindy…or did I dream that??
Spot on except you missed huge part with The Tantric Generation. We had Vietnam. Fathers, Uncles, brothers, someone in our life fought in that horrific war.
True, but it was over in 1975. I was born in 1970, so for many of us, tragically, it wasn’t hugely impactful. And we didn’t have the world’s news 24/7 yet. What an awful war.
I truly believe that the war in Vietnam was more deeply felt by Americans. I was born in 1970, in Canada. I know that some Canadians participated in this awful war but everything I knew about it growing up came from watching American TV.
Excellent and also very X to have blogged about it. Maybe we could bring back blogging?
As Gen X, I remember my mother turning the radio station to her beloved country and I didn’t want my new wave loving friends to know that country music was playing in the background and so I would tell my mother to drop me off a block away from the school entrance. I remember watching the Challenger blowing up on TV in the classroom and we were all gasping. Then discussing the movie The Day After in history class. And remember the TV series Lace? My classmates and I were gossiping about who Lucinda (or is it Lucinder??) Lace’s biological mother could be. I always used to be frustrated with not making the perfect waterfall of bangs, however manipulated by Aquanet. Also, creating tapes (cassettes) of music clips from recording from the radio. Heck, nowadays there’s even a band locally called Prom Date Mix Tape, performing nostalgic music of the 80s. And then the grunge of the 90s. The day Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain shot himself. Attending grunge concerts in small venues, friends getting jobs at the Bon Marche because that’s the first place one could make some cash due to the Gulf War recession. Ah the memories!
Love this – makes me remember so much, like the fact that I’m a Gen Xer! Yes, I had totally forgotten. Whatever.
LOL!!
LOL!!!!!
Great article. Born in ’73, so I’m like the middle child of the middle child generation, and literally a middle child of two siblings. I can’t be any more unseen, lol. Yet, I still have that powerful nostalgia for 70/80’s pop culture and sense of kindredness with fellow Gen X’ers(gawd I hate labels) that effortlessly and loosely binds us together.
You might be confusing your childrearing gurus- Dr. Spock was not the “Wooden Spoon” guy, but Dr. James Dobson, conservative Christian psychologist and author of “The Strong-Willed Child.”
I’m sure I am. For me it’s this cross over between that book in my house and the wooden spoon that reigned supreme. Although the Dobson book is probably the culprit. I don’t research…just sort of give you look in my brain. My apologies to Dr. Spock, I think, maybe he was off the mark too…I just don’t know!
Love to see so much conversation about this blog! Please be respectful in the comment section. It’s all just my point of view, so not researched or thorough. Although I poked fun at my parent’s generation, the Boomers, I truly have nothing but love for every generation.
I’m 49 and my parents were born in 37 and 40, thank you so much for your insight. It’s so much safer today I wish more kids grew up like that
Yes, we’re still restless & anxious, and now we’re invisible! Oh well, whatever, nevermind
LOL!
I’m 49 too!
This made me laugh hard. Thank you, well done!
You think Gen X is forgotten? Try being a Xennial!!! ??
Seriously though, I definitely identify with this, though depending on which chart you’re looking at, I fall either in Gen X or Millennial. Many of the references impacted my older cousins more, but I absolutely don’t feel any connection to the millennial generation. AND I was the middle child for 5 years before my parents had twins which upgraded me to one of the “older kids.”
Oh man!!
I’m on the other end…what would we call that? X-boom, Boom-X? They periodically re-categorize what years belong where and my birth year got tail-ended in the boomer category but I’m Gen X all the way (and born at the end of the year). My parents fell into the Silent or Forgotten Generation too, between the Greatest generation and the Boomers. Very similar dynamics, repeated patterns over time.
My best friend calls us the lost generation. Too young to be a boomer, two years young to be an Xer. We are inbetween.
Best friends are the best!
I think xers were unparented, unplanned and unwanted. We were birth control-ed and aborted out of existence. We are the smallest generation and if wasnt because hippies stopped having sex…lol
Yes!!! Xenial generation for sure. He had all the upbringings of the boomers, but the technological integration in about middle school. Man, we don’t fit in with either one of the generations.
What millennial hurt you? There are entitled, selfish and useless people in literally every generation. Every millennial I know has worked hard, usually 2-3 jobs, to pay off their ridiculous student loans and to afford the house and kids are gen x parents repeatedly tell us we need to have.
I heart millennials. For real. I’ve been working with them professionally for my entire career. We owe them a debt of gratitude to advancing the workplace to provide flexibility and diversity. 🙂
Don’t forget that we had MTV! We also had missing kids on milk cartons and the movie “Adam” as well as three mile island to add to our anxiety…
I don’t know the movie Adam, but yes to the other stuff. 🙂
Love this. I looked up to the original Xers when I was a teenager. You were more open-minded to nontraditional __fillinthe___ blank. Legalize pot, don’t discriminate, don’t need stuff, laugh, play, cry, scream. Fund public schools and parks and pools. The Boomers instilled some good values in us; they just forgot them when they got into power.
I’m a Generation X-er. I was born in 1968. From what I understand, most Gen X-ers have Baby Boomer parents. Not so, with me. My Mom and Dad were both born in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. My Dad was born in 1932, and my Mom was born in 1939. They were a happily married couple, and their marriage lasted until the day my Dad passed away after a long battle with cancer. They celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary in December of 2017, and my Dad passed away in April of 2018. He is loved and missed so much!
It’s upsetting to me to know that Generation X is known as “America’s forgotten middle child.” Maybe we’re not as big a generation as the Baby Boomers, but we do exist. When will we finally be taken seriously?
Interesting. I know some others like you with older parents. Don’t be upset we are forgotten. It’s way more fun to be awesome under the radar then in the middle of every fight. We’ve got better things to do!
Many of the younger Boomers had a lot of unsupervised time as kids. In fact I believe many of the older ones did too. Most likely they had a stay-at-home mom, but after coming home from school, or during the summer, boomer kids were able to do a lot of playing and roaming around without a parent hovering.
1970 baby here. Love this, especially the line about bullies being the popular kids. 100% true! My kids don’t even worry about whether or not they are popular — different world we grew up in.
I could name all the bullies by first and last name right now, but I don’t have to. Every kid I grew up with knows their names too! 🙂
Hasenpfeffer Incorporated. You’re welcome.
This is all so correct! Everything is about the Boomer or the Millennial.
Girl I feel every word of this post to a T, you nailed it!
Definitely feel most of this (& it cracked me tf up!)
In *my* case, & I’m guessing lots of other kids in my neighborhood, it wasn’t so much our parents were disinterested in us. They loved us & were interested, but they hadda get to work. Often single parent families. Inner city. So, *our* parents didn’t have the luxury of sending us to therapy.
But that aside, I think watching Boomers & Millennials battle it out while sitting blissfully on the sidelines is one of the great joys of our generation. 🙂
I have never felt as included as I do now, thanks!
“We lived entire lives our parents knew nothing about, lives that involved cigarettes, Lord of the Flies-esque marauding, and abject bullying before there was a hashtag.”
I had no idea you were one of my circle of friends in 1979. Nice to see you again!
White Gen-Xers are the worst. They think their experiences are always everyone else’s. Growing up post-Civil Rights didn’t teach them a thing about diversity — or their blinders. No wonder Gen-Xers can claim to be open-minded but run screaming from anything that intrudes on their limited ideas of a diverse world.
Hey there. At first I was like, wow, that’s not at all fair to say that white Gen Xers are the worst. Then I realized that this is part of the conversation. So, yes, I grew up in a pretty damn white suburb, but I also grew up pretty damn poor. Neither a character flaw, just my reality. But here’s the thing…limited programmed television meant we all watch all the shows, including white and black casts. I watched Good Times, What’s Happening, Sanford & Son, and one of my all-time favs, The Jeffersons. I know every word to that theme song…and it’s probably the best one ever written. I must have taken that reference out when editing and I wish I hadn’t. I honestly thought they were each great, and mostly kind of the same in terms of life, family, friend struggle. One of the most shocking things for me and my life is that I grew up thinking we’d see the end of racism. I’ve been hugely disappointed and wildly vocal/active about my disgust that it hasn’t and supported championing justice for all. So, yeah, I’m white, but I grew up with a diverse set of TV friends and families that shaped me and I don’t think your takeaway, at least about me, is fair. Nothing but love for you, my friend.
By the way, I hated Sanford & Son, but I watched it because it was the only thing on!! Why did I hate it? I didn’t really get the humor. I was far too young! (I can also hum the theme song.)
Reading this made my day, I can relate to every word you wrote. It’s conforting to see us Gen Xers do share so much, thank you!
Sesame Street Premiered 5 days before my 2nd birthday. We are the Rubber Ducky Generation.
Why do you NEED a diverse world? Don’t you think it’s weird that people are forcibly making random shit up just to be diverse? Why do we need to celebrate diversity? I mean really what’s the bizarre obsession with being different so your can force people up let you fit in? ?
Because diversity brings innovation and progress, via fresh perspectives and intelligent contributions, and it brings new blood, to a stagnant gene pool, that’s why… Looks like we got one of them racist traitors here . Look, we would rather deport your racist ass to siberia where you belong, before keeping ethnically diverse people from entering our group or moving in to our neighborhood. So you ain’t so well off with your white nationalist state, in freaking Siberia. I guess you and the white polar bears can hang out in your whites only neighborhood lol
Because “diversity” exists and it needs to be acknowledged and celebrated. Think about the tv shows back in the 80’s and 90’s…it was mostly straight white middle class people. And that was pretty much it. That does not reflect reality at all. People want to have something to identify with when they watch television / movies and even vote. We need to be more inclusive and less exclusive if we’re going to continue to make whatever the hell it is we’ve collectively done to America actually work. And it needs to work for EVERYONE as much as it possibly can or it will fail.
I’m always surprised when I write a blog that I think is super benign…just fun stuff I’d talk about with my friends over drinks…and it ends up being something deeper for people. It’s kind of cool, and this is a good convo, but it’s also kind of exhausting. It wasn’t meant to be a big think piece on hugely complex issues that you can’t ever solve in 1,000 words. Appreciate everyone being kind on here though. xo
Anything published anywhere becomes material for a purity test.
Purity tests? God, that’s insufferable. Whatever. But since I control the comment section, I’m no longer posting mean/dickish comments.
One thing that’s missing from this piece is anything about the emergence of HIV/AIDS. That was as much a frightful event as worrying about nuclear war. And it contributed in some part to the signature apathy.
The TV was pretty terrible: filled with stereotypes, sexism, and racist tropes. But it’s what we had and hopefully it taught us to think critically and not just “whatever”.
“We are hots and pepper corporated, or whatever they said on Laverne and Shirley.“
First of all … Hasenpfeffer. (For reference: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasenpfeffer).
Second … some of us Gen X’ers were born straddling the divide between that and the Boomers. You think YOU’RE invisible ..?
Third … I just spent several excruciatingly painful hours explaining to a Gen Z what the point of “The Day After Tomorrow” was. I still don’t think they (preferred pronoun) got it. Where were you when I needed you most? Probably somewhere remembering the words to that damn Nillson song.
And, yeah. Those opening theme lyrics still make no damn sense.
Damn iPhone.
Adding crap I didn’t type.
Delete the Tomorrow’ from the movie title.
Hahaha it tried to “millenial up” your “gen-x” flick!
Please read Dr Spock before referencing him and getting it absolutely totally wrong; it just made you sound stupid.
Otherwise, accurate article.
Okay, Boomer! Ha!! That works so well here. Look, it’s not an article. It’s a blog. It’s not researched…it even says that in the blog! It’s just my point of view. Somewhere in my brain Dr. Spock was the book our parents read and our childrearing was basically spankings and lectures. That’s it. But, gee, thanks for calling me stupid. Whatever.
Perfect answer.
Geez. People are so rude on here! Makes me not want to start my own blog. I enjoyed your post. 🙂
I should be nicer, but I draw the line at being told I look stupid. You go write a blog or an article or whatever! I never ever imagine people will take my blogs too seriously. They seem light-hearted to me. Oh, well. Start a blog! You’ll know you’re successful when people are mad at what you write! 🙂
Love it, everything you said in this essay (umm, I guess I should say blog in 2020)…cultural references to The Fonz and Happy Days (Ah Potsie, I loved you), The Brady Bunch, Gilligan’s Island, The Love Boat, Three’s Company (I hated Mr. Roper’s character!), Laverne and Shirley, Fantasy Island, The Price Is Right…
The shows–the ones we watched at the same time as millions of other kids–they were my Real childhood education. Wishing my family was like Mike and Carol’s, wishing I won money or a boat like they did on The Price Is Right (what was an eleven-year-old kid going to do with a boat? I didn’t worry about consequences back then, all I knew is that I wanted to win a boat, dammit!), wishing I had an awesome best friend, wishing Jack and Gopher were my boyfriends and Janet was my mom and Krissy was my aunt and the Captain was my dad or uncle or grandpa…yep, those great shows all informed my understanding of what to expect in the world, and to reject all advise from my parent’s generation such as save money, don’t waste food, and slow down when you’re eating so you don’t keep choking…
Who’s sorry now? (Me.)
Thanks for helping explain our generation’s walk into a brave New world, after the Boomers went by.
Thank for taking the time to add your story, Ann! So glad you liked it.