We've just lived through two years of incessant boasting from Gen Y and now the hustlers in Gen X are waking up to the fact that there's gold in them thar hills. They're saying to themselves, "Hey, why can't be I be a generational expert too? It's easy. You don't need any credentials. You can make everything up and people believe you."
So now these guys rolling out their own campaign of moaning and self-congratulation. I just saw a video by a guy named Jeff Gordinier. It looks like he's talking to his therapist and he's saying that he feels really bad because he was crushed between the Boomers and Gen Y.
No one ever paid any attention to us, he weeps, because we're not a big market but, really, we're much better than those other guys and you know why? Because we're so modest. We work hard and get things done and we're the people who are saving American values today but unlike some people we don't go around bragging all the time.
Well, you know what you call this kind of talk? If you're a nice guy you call it pandering. You tell a group people how fantastic they are just because of when they were born. It’s the exact same as astrology.
Instead of saying “I’m a Scorpio with a Leo moon." you say "I’m a Gen Xer but I’m only 37 so I’m right ‘in the pocket’. This means that I’m a loner who likes the colour blue, leather jackets, fast cars and french fries.”
And if you're not a nice guy, you know what you call this kind of hucksterism? Sartre called it fascism. He said fascism is being proud of yourself for who you are rather than for what you do. And we all know that fascists like to make themselves feel good by looking down at other people and these generational hucksters,
they're always telling the suckers that the guys on the other team, they're bad, they're nowhere near as good as you, but they're always taking advantage of us, aren't they?
Sound familiar? That's what any rabble rouser says and of course it isn't true. Look at this guy, Jeff. He's busy complaining that he's drowning in the sixties. And he's just sick of it. But that's his myth. You don't hear much about the Beatles anymore.
We hear about Britney and Paris and Angelina Jolie. They're not boomers and they're not interesting. But they're always there, in your face with their baby bumps and drug problems. And, frankly, Jeff, I'm sick of it too.
But, see, you can't fight the myth of Gen X. This guy is always going to be saying, "Hey everybody, I'm Cinderella. I'm always getting pushed around by my two ugly step sisters and, unfortunately, Mom likes them best. So even though I'm really the princess I never get my share."
And you know what? This stuff works. I saw that video of Jeff at punkrockhr and in the comments, they're lapping it up. They're crying because when they were kids they had to watch Sesame Street reruns from the 1960s. That's tough eh?
And you know what the problem is, really? In the United States today the different religions don't hate eachother enough, so people have to use these generational differences just to put a little spice in their lives If you're a normal human being you want to complain and you want to fight. Otherwise, life is boring.
