Generation-X culture vs Boomer culture

[Higgenbotham]

Some info explaining why I'm sure she did it.

Our office was 20 miles from the main office and all her Boomer supervisors were in the office 20 miles away. She was the only one who really had access to the files. It would have looked very strange if any the people from the other office came down to access the files.

My previous supervisor had been a Boomer and the documents were put into the file probably 6 months before he left, and it may have been another 3 months before the Xer came on board. So the files had been intact for close to a year before she came on board.

It may be the Boomer was ordered to do it and refused, but I doubt it. Reason I say that is there were similar cases and no other files ever got destroyed.

[Trevor]

In addition to thinking she could get away with it. I've heard these kind of stories before, but until recently, didn't understand the generational undertone that they had.

[John]

To all:

In case you haven't guessed, I'm writing a book on the subject
of this thread. As you know, I've never been successful in getting
people interested in Generational Dynamics, and I've certainly never
made any money from it.

But when I mention to someone that I'm writing a book on the
relationship between Gen-Xers and Boomers, I get replies like "That
sounds VERY interesting. I can hardly wait to read it."

This is a VERY EXPLOSIVE issue. And it's not surprising. The "Gen-X
culture" is based almost entirely on hatred of one-third of the
population, not only in the United States, but in countries around the
world. Politically, it's relevant not only to the Boomer Tea
Partiers, but also to the Millennial Wall Street Occupiers.

I actually have a draft of the book almost completely now, and expect
it to be completed by the end of the month. Then the only problem
I'll have is getting it published -- something I've never been able to
do before, except by self-publishing. So we'll see what happens.

John

[John]

Tentative Table of Contents

Tentative title:
For Boomers: How to Survive in a Generation-X World
How to make your way in the workplace, in love and in life

Tentatively, here are the chapters:

• Introduction to the Generation-X culture
  
  How things have changed since the 1990s.
• Boomers in the Generation-X workplace
  
  A collection of stories, most of them my own personal experiences,
  of being a Boomer in a Gen-X workplace. I've posted a few of
  these stories already, but I have a lot more.
• Financial crisis and Gen-X culture: The Boomers did it all
  
  How the Gen-X financial engineers perpetrated the massive
  fraud that created the global financial crisis in order to
  get revenge against Boomers who screwed them out of jobs
  in the 1990s and who caused the Nasdaq crash that cost them
  their savings.
• Gen-X Music
  
  Lyrics from some Gen-X music. This material was published
  in the past in the web log.
• Feminism and Generation-X children
  
  How feminist policies created a generation of children who mostly grew
  up with single mothers who often abused them, and with no male
  influences except a stream of mothers' boyfriends and their sexual
  abuse.
• Feminism and Politics
  
  How feminists and Anita Hill targeted young girls and young black boys
  by targeting Clarence Thomas, a black role model, with vitriolic
  racist attacks, creating a 1990s workplace where most males wanted
  nothing to do with females, for fear of triggering a crazy sexual
  harassment charge.
• The Lost Generation and the Holocaust: Virtue versus Duty
  
  One of the great questions of history that I've been hearing all my
  life is: How could ordinary Germans support the Nazi Holocaust? From
  the point of view of generational theory, that has the same answer as
  the question, How could ordinary Gen-Xers in financial institutions
  support the massive fraud that led to the continuing financial crisis.
  The "Lost Generation" of the time had the same attitudes and hatred
  toward the previous "Missionary Generation" as today's Generation-X
  has towards Boomers.
• Gen-Xers and Technology
  
  Gen-Xers have little but scorn for Boomers' ability to understand
  technology and the modern world. They see Boomers' claims of wisdom
  and experience as little more than scams, and so they use technology
  to scam Boomers.
• From Andrea Dworkin to Barack Obama: The transformation of politics
  
  Barack Obama is the first President in the Generation-X culture,
  and like others in the Gen-X culture, his policies have been
  largely based on hatred for one-third of the population, which
  is why all of his policies have failed. The country and the
  world are headed for new catastrophes, comparable to the Holocaust
  and World War II.
• Summary and Advice: How to survive in a Generation-X culture
  
  A collection of ideas for Boomers (and others) who have to deal with
  Gen-Xers who hate them, and try to survive nonetheless.

John

[Trevor]

Much as I hate to say it, I'm not real surprised that Generational Dynamics has not taken off. For one thing, it's relatively new, and for another, it interferes with people's political views. They're much more comfortable believing that the war on terror happened because Bush is evil, or Iraq is going to fall in into civil war or that things will be fine if we just elect a different person. GD gets in the way of that, so it's ignored.

Another reason is that it states that there's nothing we can do to avoid what's coming. It was mentioned that after "The Fourth Turning:, Strauss and Howe mostly focused on the millennial generation. In general, people believe that the future will look much like today. In the 1990's, most people believed that in 20 years, the country would still be going nowhere, society would be even more decayed, the next generation of children would be even more violent than the last, etc. Well, as it turns out, it wasn't true, but I suppose it's in our nature to believe that things will continue the same way forever.

[Marc]

Hi, John,

Good luck on your book regarding the Generation-X culture and its explanation/admonishment to Boomers and others. It sounds like you may well have a significant contribution to bring forth in social psychology as well as history via your book.

The only thing I'd advise (this is just friendly food for thought, not a "nitpick," but realize I'm a Gen-X realist ) is you may want to make sure that you have significant numbers of balanced, peer-reviewed references to add to your own thoughts if you are wanting the book you write to make it into college courses and university libraries in a big way. Maybe a course or two at various colleges/universities could indeed evolve out of your book.

Actually, I don't know if there is any interest in this, but using college yourself (as a student) might be a plan in helping you write your book. Maybe enrolling in the Harvard Extension School (located in your backyard) could help you; you could even consider its Master of Liberal Arts (ALM) program, with a concentration in history, and with the ALM thesis you write being the supporting foundation for your book.

Good luck with this! —Best regards, Marc

[Marc]

Just one more thing here, in regards to my own perceptions of Generation-X nihilism and destructiveness, in light of my being Gen-X myself. From my own observations, I feel that quite a few Gen-X'ers grew up with a deficiency of love and a deficiency of structure, which I think that John and others would agree have been significant (anti-)nurturing ingredients of much of the Gen-X cohort. I can also see how much of this nihilism and destructiveness in Generation-X can be especially directed at Boomers: the Boomers, at least stereotypically, grew up in a Leave It to Beaver nurturing world, followed by this great big psychedelic rainbow for them to chase as they grew up. (Yes, the Vietnam War was a reality for them, especially for those who fought in it, but that war may have made that psychedelic rainbow even more enticing and brighter for them by really giving Boomers something to protest in their coming-of-age years.) Good jobs also seemed much more plentiful and easier for them to get.

However, my own observations seem to show a lot of Gen-X'ers as being persons who can care little about community and society at large, and who are more focused on simply expressing their nihilism and destructiveness at anything they can express it against, as opposed to their specifically engaging in a "war against Boomers" per se. Others may see it differently than I do. But, if there is truth to what I say here, this may make for a more holistic examination of Gen-X'ers, which may make for more holistic research. Again, just some friendly food for thought here, and anyone's further comments, if anyone has any, are welcome. —Best regards, Marc

PS: As for Obama's administrative style, I do think that in this Post-Unraveling era we're currently in, that any President would have an extraordinarily difficult time governing, and may well resort to "Obama-esque" tactics. Yet, I do think that his early-Nomad nature does leave a stamp on him. It's a complex subject that makes for interesting further research.

[John]

Dear Marc,

> The only thing I'd advise (this is just friendly food for thought,
> not a "nitpick," but realize I'm a Gen-X realist ) is you may
> want to make sure that you have significant numbers of balanced,
> peer-reviewed references to add to your own thoughts if you are
> wanting the book you write to make it into college courses and
> university libraries in a big way. Maybe a course or two at
> various colleges/universities could indeed evolve out of your
> book.

> Actually, I don't know if there is any interest in this, but using
> college yourself (as a student) might be a plan in helping you
> write your book. Maybe enrolling in the Harvard Extension School
> (located in your backyard) could help you; you could even consider
> its Master of Liberal Arts (ALM) program, with a concentration in
> history, and with the ALM thesis you write being the supporting
> foundation for your book.

This is not going to be written in the college textbook style which,
arguably, was the style of my previous books. This still has
references, but the style is much more emotional and angry, because
I'm REALLY angry (in case you've never noticed). The ideal would
be to sell this in drug stores and grocery stores.

As for taking a college course, I don't think so. What I could do is
TEACH a college course on Generational Dynamics, but I don't think
that's going to happen.

> Just one more thing here, in regards to my own perceptions of
> Generation-X nihilism and destructiveness, in light of my being
> Gen-X myself. From my own observations, I feel that quite a few
> Gen-X'ers grew up with a deficiency of love and a deficiency of
> structure, which I think that John and others would agree have
> been significant (anti-)nurturing ingredients of much of the Gen-X
> cohort. I can also see how much of this nihilism and
> destructiveness in Generation-X can be especially directed at
> Boomers: the Boomers, at least stereotypically, grew up in a Leave
> It to Beaver nurturing world, followed by this great big
> psychedelic rainbow for them to chase as they grew up. (Yes, the
> Vietnam War was a reality for them, especially for those who
> fought in it, but that war may have made that psychedelic rainbow
> even more enticing and brighter for them by really giving Boomers
> something to protest in their coming-of-age years.) Good jobs also
> seemed much more plentiful and easier for them to get.

The point I'm making is that feminist policies in the 70s and 80s
destroyed families so thoroughly that they created a generation
willing to do anything to screw their parents' generation.

> Just one more thing here, in regards to my own perceptions of
> Generation-X nihilism and destructiveness, in light of my being
> Gen-X myself. From my own observations, I feel that quite a few
> Gen-X'ers grew up with a deficiency of love and a deficiency of
> structure, which I think that John and others would agree have
> been significant (anti-)nurturing ingredients of much of the Gen-X
> cohort. I can also see how much of this nihilism and
> destructiveness in Generation-X can be especially directed at
> Boomers: the Boomers, at least stereotypically, grew up in a Leave
> It to Beaver nurturing world, followed by this great big
> psychedelic rainbow for them to chase as they grew up. (Yes, the
> Vietnam War was a reality for them, especially for those who
> fought in it, but that war may have made that psychedelic rainbow
> even more enticing and brighter for them by really giving Boomers
> something to protest in their coming-of-age years.) Good jobs also
> seemed much more plentiful and easier for them to get.

I agree that Boomers aren't the only target. Higgie has mentioned
several examples in his own experience, and the Breitling commercial
is really mind-boggling for what it indicates about Gen-X.

> PS: As for Obama's administrative style, I do think that in this
> Post-Unraveling era we're currently in, that any President would
> have an extraordinarily difficult time governing, and may well
> resort to "Obama-esque" tactics. Yet, I do think that his
> early-Nomad nature does leave a stamp on him. It's a complex
> subject that makes for interesting further research.

President Bush didn't resort to Obama-esque tactics. He couldn't have
if he had wanted to because the mainstream media hated him. The
reason that Obama could do it is because the Gen-X culture, including
the MSM, supported him. Also, I can't imagine a President McCain
being Obama-esque either.

John

[Marc]

President Bush didn't resort to Obama-esque tactics. He couldn't have
if he had wanted to because the mainstream media hated him. The
reason that Obama could do it is because the Gen-X culture, including
the MSM, supported him. Also, I can't imagine a President McCain
being Obama-esque either.John

Thanks for the reply and further insights. When I think of the current Post-Unraveling, I admit I have a biased definition of it which probably doesn't jibe with your definition of it: I look at the Post-Unraveling as basically starting in 2008 when people started feeling that the sky was falling and that we were facing financial Armageddon. But, using my "custom" version of the current Post-Unraveling, I respectfully do wonder if a President McCain, if he were elected President in 2008 instead of Obama, wouldn't have resorted to a lot of the same deceptive and appeasement tactics that Obama does. Such tactics may be "the Gen-X way," but given the super-polarization in Congress (and American society) that has existed for the past few years, I feel that a President McCain would have really risked coming off as a milquetoast if he eventually didn't try some of the same tactics (despite the "adaptive and sensitive" cohort nature of the Silent Generation). Just my, again, Gen-X perspective there Thanks again for the cogent feedback. —Best regards, Marc

[Trevor]

My experience has been that the later-wave X-ers generally don't have the characteristics that the early ones do, at least not to the same degree. In fact, they're often pleasant to be around and easier to talk to than the Boomers are. They don't think you have horns and tails for disagreeing with them the way I've seen too many on both sides do. Even with the early ones, not all of them are destructive and nihilistic.

With the destructive members of Generation X, however, I've noticed that while Boomers may be their primary target, they hate virtually everyone, sometimes even including themselves. They don't care what lengths they have to sink to in order to screw someone over, or get even with someone they think wronged them. They don't even care about how it could end up hurting them, either because they're willfully blind or they just don't give a damn.

As for what the X-er feminists have done, look no further than what they're teaching in schools. I heard a joke about a presentation at a seminar where a woman says: "Ladies, look to your left. Now look to your right. Statistics indicate that both of these men will rape you." Since I have had the misfortune to have been to those seminars, that is not much of an exaggeration. Everywhere you go, you're told: "Keep your guard up with every man, it's normal for men to abuse women", the list goes on and on and some don't even bother pretending that this is anything more than sheer hatred. As I think you can guess, I have some strong feelings on this matter myself.

Admittedly, I've never seen the Breitling commercial, so I can't render judgment on that one.