I'm interested to see how members of TFT would characterize today's generations (Silent, Boomer, X, Millennial) in a few sentences. Any takers?

Originally Posted by MichaelEaston

I'm interested to see how members of TFT would characterize today's generations (Silent, Boomer, X, Millennial) in a few sentences. Any takers?

The Silent are as Poseidon/Neptune, a watery and often placid generation with an ability to make waves that goes unnoticed after the return of calm.

The Crown of Creation are the Zeus & Hera/the Jove & Juno who make a great deal of noise with their enthusiasms for interference in the doings of the Children of Men.

With X we have Hephaestus/Vulcan, the creators of material worth of real value to the Children of Men but often they hammer at their labors beyond the view of the other Generations.

The Millennials are Hebe/Ganymede who are the servers of the Crown of Creation; they carry and pour very well.

Lost: Crotchety old (now extremely old) folks who want to keep their money to themselves. Have a been-there-done-that attitude towards their past flapperism or bohemianism. Salty and crusty. When they were young instead of centenarians, they were alienated and desperate in a romantic way, being the expatriates in Parisian coffeeshops and the World War I ambulance drivers. Ever since World War I, they have been toughened.

Interbellum: Radical, leftist folks who were the forward thinkers of their time, sympathetic to Communism without any "But what about the rich folks?" selfishness. Intelligent and scientifically oriented, believing in the power of technology (their views towards sex, for instance, are shaped by science rather than religion or cultural relativism as with many other generations). Always standing up for the underdog, and they were the underdog (and wild and rambunctious) when young. Geniuses at organizing, but hampered by their crime and gang instinct (they took perhaps a little too much cultural influence from the Lost Generation).

Greatest: A homogeneous group of all-American types noted for their loyalty. The most deferential to authority out of all the generations alive today. Clean-cut and mindful of social conventions, they turned out unable to stomach things like couples living together before marriage or boys with their ears pierced, not to mention the adventure their Boomer children wrought on the world, so today they live apart. They formed the soldiers of World War II and the Organization Men of the Postwar Era in their dutiful way, with tight gender roles after the war. They are civic-minded, with America's highest voter turnout (and Democratic, despite their discomfort with things like homosexuality). An active group of seniors who enjoy community activities in their retirement communities and just adore the golf course.

Silent: An ageing but hip demographic, with a touch of its beatnik roots visible even today. Raised by Lost parents in the Great Depression and World War II and Postwar Era, always knowing a conservative America until the youngest were 21, they see the world as too repressive. They are subtle and want to see the grey, seeing both sides of things. Believe in talking about "our feelings" and "sharing", recognizing the importance of being in tune with one's emotions. Emotional fellows who deal with inner conflict. Unpatriotic, believing in civil liberties rather than homeland security. Think of the teens and rock-and-rollers and civil rights activists of the Postwar Era.

Boomer: Idealistic, loud and vociferously booming omphaloskeptic Americans. Have gone from being antiwar, antiestablishment, antiauthoritarian hippies to representing "mainstream" America and the renunciation of all things 60's. Career-oriented folks who define themselves by their occupation and talk about life "goals". Will do anything in politics as long as it gives them a chance to put their moral views at the forefront and provides a soapbox to talk about values. Won't stop obsessing over the Iraq War, and one of their flaws is to view their causes and interests as the only ones that matter. Have a Peter Pan syndrome whereby they try to stay young, latching onto Gen-X and Bittersweet fads and often looking like dorks doing it.

Jones: Rotten folks with high arson and robbery, drug overdoses and low SAT scores. They are Red Zone America personified, being patriotic in a loud way and very conservative, but with more of an edge than Greatest Gen conservatism and a right-wing ideology that pretty much crosses all issues. Representing your "average American", they are overweight, beer-guzzling and eat a lot of red meat while watching the tube a lot. More conservatively dressed than either than seniors or their juniors, although they did popularize punk culture when younger. Believe the world is too chaotic. Act like Nazis. Saw their peers get into a lot of trouble when younger during the disco years, and now they want to restrict people's freedom because they believe they know best.

Gen-X: Alienated folks who are hip and cynical. Their sense of humor is ironic. Have a penchant for wearing black, and are in tune with the depressing and morbid -- "the void". Sometimes as suicidal as Kurt Cobain, they popularized things like body piercings (which they still wear to this day) and extreme sports. They do not feel attached to this country, not feeling like citizens of America in the same way the Greatest Generation does. They are not really loyal to anything, for that matter. They have always seen a world that is tilted against them. They are diverse, being valley girls, surfers, hip-hoppers, punks, preppies, goths and grungers.

Bittersweet: Ethnically diverse young people who are very idealistic, sometimes watching their idealistic dreams be shattered (Generation Me). See the world as being too repressive, being the victim of the Scapegoat Generation phenomenon wherein they were framed for the ills of the world. More tolerant than all older generations of alternative lifestyles and eccentric behavior. Technology-savvy folks who are attached to their cellphones, iPods and MP3 players and know how to use their laptops and write in a blog. Their Boomer parents always stick up for them and taught them to be ieealistic and do what's right. Post-Berlin-Wall global doers. Drift towards neutral colors (although they and Xers have rediscovered stripes of late).

Originally Posted by James E. F. Landau

Gen-X: Alienated folks who are hip and cynical. Their sense of humor is ironic. Have a penchant for wearing black, and are in tune with the depressing and morbid -- "the void". Sometimes as suicidal as Kurt Cobain, they popularized things like body piercings (which they still wear to this day) and extreme sports. They do not feel attached to this country, not feeling like citizens of America in the same way the Greatest Generation does. They are not really loyal to anything, for that matter. They have always seen a world that is tilted against them. They are diverse, being valley girls, surfers, hip-hoppers, punks, preppies, goths and grungers.

Your characterization of Gen X is about 10-15 years out-of-date. I see the Gen-Xers as the Circle the Wagoners today; the moms who work part-time to have a "work-family" balance, the soccer dad coaches, the volunteers in community projects. If you take the S&H X year definition, Xers range in age from 27 to 46. The core group (born between 1965 and 1975) would be 33-43. A bit too old to be valley girls, hip-hoppers, punks, and grungers.

Originally Posted by James E. F. Landau

Jones: Rotten folks

Not so fast. I haven't assumed room temperature yet and I have yet to begin decomposing. :

with high arson and robbery, drug overdoses and low SAT scores.

Only the strong amongst us survived the awakening.

They are Red Zone America personified... right-wing ideology that pretty much crosses all issues.

Not necessarally anymore. Our huge group of cohorts went Democratic in 2006 thus securing control of Congress for blue America

they are overweight, beer-guzzling and eat a lot of red meat while watching the tube a lot.

But that's only because we may be part of a top secret government experiment that may or may not have something to do with black helicopters and scorpions in Ross Perot's bathroom. ::

Act like Nazis. Saw their peers get into a lot of trouble when younger during the disco years, and now they want to restrict people's freedom because they believe they know best.

Ummm, no. That's more a core boomer gig than ours. We actually tend to be somewhat libertarian due to our skepticism of most public crusades. However, I will grant you that a small minority of people in my age range believe that they can bring back what they think that they remember from the pre-awakening world of their early childhood through corporatism and TV approved fundementalist christianist religion. I remember those types in high school. They were no fun then and they're no fun now. Let's talk about something more pleasent. Like maybe those scorpians in the Perot lavoratory. :

Originally Posted by The Wonkette

Your characterization of Gen X is about 10-15 years out-of-date. I see the Gen-Xers as the Circle the Wagoners today; the moms who work part-time to have a "work-family" balance, the soccer dad coaches, the volunteers in community projects. If you take the S&H X year definition, Xers range in age from 27 to 46. The core group (born between 1965 and 1975) would be 33-43. A bit too old to be valley girls, hip-hoppers, punks, and grungers.

Indeed. Xers started coming into their own for sure in 2004 with the rise of the "security mom". At that point the median Xer was 33, just reaching the peak of fertility and child-bearing. I haven't heard much of the grunger/McJob stereotype since I was little (my "When will Xers get serious?" thread aside...).

Originally Posted by The Wonkette

Your characterization of Gen X is about 10-15 years out-of-date. I see the Gen-Xers as the Circle the Wagoners today; the moms who work part-time to have a "work-family" balance, the soccer dad coaches, the volunteers in community projects. If you take the S&H X year definition, Xers range in age from 27 to 46. The core group (born between 1965 and 1975) would be 33-43. A bit too old to be valley girls, hip-hoppers, punks, and grungers.

Some of it is like 25 year out of date. Like the "valley girl" thing, that was a fad back in 1982 or '83 if i remember correctly. Back then, I was a core Xer of 12 or 13! And Im not sure if the rest of the country, those of us not living in southern California at the time, actually got the joke and realized that the term "valley girl" was actually kind of a snide reference to a young girl living in the San Fernando valley back then, that some how caught on around the country with a little help from Frank and Moon Zappa of course. Like I said, I was a pubescent adolescent male living in Albuquerque, NM at the time. It was a little "off" to me back then, even though I found the song kinda funny
And I think even grunge has very little relevance today, I've always kinda considered it a fad as well, that borrowed from hardcore punk and heavy metal and died with Kurt Cobain. There still is some die hard old punks and goths out there that are still active I guess. anyway, just a little observation. I enjoyed reading Mr. Landau's take on all of it though!

Originally Posted by The Wonkette

Your characterization of Gen X is about 10-15 years out-of-date. I see the Gen-Xers as the Circle the Wagoners today; the moms who work part-time to have a "work-family" balance, the soccer dad coaches, the volunteers in community projects.

When I was posting here in 2000, some people began saying after the NASDAQ crash in March of 2000 that the Xers had already entered their next life phase and were centering the wagons around family, being conservative parents, etc. I just didn't see that happening. In Moraga, the Xers were the people who threw parties. They were the IKEA shoppers and European, Asian and Middle Eastern immigrants in their late twenties and thirties who met with other singles with their dogs both on their leashes and then went out to the coffeeshop. Even the ones who had children (who weren't necessarily married) would take them into coffeeshop and to rock concerts with them -- not exactly keeping everything hip and "for adults" out of their children's lives.

[QUOTE>If you take the S&H X year definition, Xers range in age from 27 to 46. The core group (born between 1965 and 1975) would be 33-43.[/QUOTE]

When I read Generations and this site, I was never able to understand how Howe & Strauss fit 1961-1963 into their Thirteenth Generation. They looked like Boomers to me (although Anthony and Susan eventually convinced me of the existence of Generation Jones). The examples of 1961ers Howe & Strauss gave, such as Jodie Foster and Michael J. Fox, seemed unconvincing as Xers. I now consider the Xers to be those people born from 1964 to 1974. You can read more about my generational schema at http://www.fourthturning.com/forum/s...ead.php?t=3432

A bit too old to be valley girls, hip-hoppers, punks, and grungers.

Hmmmmmm. Probably too old to be valley girls now. Probably should be "They were valley girls, surfers . . ."

I still see rappers/hip-hop style people and punks who are in their late thirties, though.

Originally Posted by James E. F. Landau

When I was posting here in 2000, some people began saying after the NASDAQ crash in March of 2000 that the Xers had already entered their next life phase and were centering the wagons around family, being conservative parents, etc. I just didn't see that happening. In Moraga, the Xers were the people who threw parties. They were the IKEA shoppers and European, Asian and Middle Eastern immigrants in their late twenties and thirties who met with other singles with their dogs both on their leashes and then went out to the coffeeshop. Even the ones who had children (who weren't necessarily married) would take them into coffeeshop and to rock concerts with them -- not exactly keeping everything hip and "for adults" out of their children's lives.

Originally Posted by James E. F. Landau

If you take the S&H X year definition, Xers range in age from 27 to 46. The core group (born between 1965 and 1975) would be 33-43.

When I read Generations and this site, I was never able to understand how Howe & Strauss fit 1961-1963 into their Thirteenth Generation. They looked like Boomers to me (although Anthony and Susan eventually convinced me of the existence of Generation Jones). The examples of 1961ers Howe & Strauss gave, such as Jodie Foster and Michael J. Fox, seemed unconvincing as Xers. I now consider the Xers to be those people born from 1964 to 1974. You can read more about my generational schema at http://www.fourthturning.com/forum/s...ead.php?t=3432



Hmmmmmm. Probably too old to be valley girls now. Probably should be "They were valley girls, surfers . . ."

I still see rappers/hip-hop style people and punks who are in their late thirties, though.

If you end generation X at 1975. How do you classify late 70's cohorts? And how do you classify the generation of 80's and 90's born cohorts who follow them?

Originally Posted by James E. F. Landau

When I was posting here in 2000, some people began saying after the NASDAQ crash in March of 2000 that the Xers had already entered their next life phase and were centering the wagons around family, being conservative parents, etc. I just didn't see that happening. In Moraga, the Xers were the people who threw parties. They were the IKEA shoppers and European, Asian and Middle Eastern immigrants in their late twenties and thirties who met with other singles with their dogs both on their leashes and then went out to the coffeeshop. Even the ones who had children (who weren't necessarily married) would take them into coffeeshop and to rock concerts with them -- not exactly keeping everything hip and "for adults" out of their children's lives.

Watch the meltdown of the debt-fueled consumer optimism. We are going to see very different responses among the non-elderly adult generations (Boom, Thirteenth, Millennial). Which generation is more likely to find alienation in an economic meltdown? Precisely -- the most materialistic generation of the time, the one that identifies itself most by what it can buy, the one that makes fashion statements, the one that has kids to feed, clothe, and otherwise supply. Generation X, the generation that has the most at stake if for no other reason than age.

[QUOTE>If you take the S&H X year definition, Xers range in age from 27 to 46. The core group (born between 1965 and 1975) would be 33-43.[/QUOTE]

When I read Generations and this site, I was never able to understand how Howe & Strauss fit 1961-1963 into their Thirteenth Generation. They looked like Boomers to me (although Anthony and Susan eventually convinced me of the existence of Generation Jones). The examples of 1961ers Howe & Strauss gave, such as Jodie Foster and Michael J. Fox, seemed unconvincing as Xers. I now consider the Xers to be those people born from 1964 to 1974. You can read more about my generational schema at http://www.fourthturning.com/forum/s...ead.php?t=3432

It's the huge cultural divide between people born in the late 1950s and those born in the early 1960s... one cohort was able to get some positive identity from the Boom Awakening and the other wasn't. Boomers can recall the euphoric era of the early 1960s of JFK, Beatlemania, the Beach Boys, and the early space shots. Generation X either wasn't born or were unaware of such due to infancy. Boomers knew the time when most things possible were good; Thirteeners never knew that time.

Musical tastes are different. Educational objectives were different. Methods of teaching that Boomers knew (they got their first math lessons before teachers knew how to teach New Math and learned to read before the ineffective Look-See method came into common use) were very different. Boomers found the Boom Awakening exciting; Thirteeners found it incomprehensible. Boom kids were more likely to participate in the Sexual Revolution before it became dangerous; Thirteeners have known AIDS throughout their adulthood.

H&S tried to link the divide as one between rising pathologies and peak pathologies. All trends were toward the worse -- falling SAT scores, rising drug use, rising arrest frequency, rising alcoholism... among Boomers. With Thirteeners those all were at their worse and started to go down -- but not before older adults started hitting Thirteeners for failure.

College education was cheap for Boomers -- but expensive for Thirteeners due to rapid hikes in tuition. Think of all the bad raps on youth -- those were against Thirteeners. Tax revolts beginning with California's Proposition 13 gutted educational funding for...

I remember one divide in culture. Boomers had parties; Thirteeners used the word party as a verb. My brother, born in 1959, could verify what I noticed; kids two years younger than he used the word as a verb, as in "Let's Party!"; kids his age didn't!

GIs: opinionated, sanctimonious, superiority complex, don't dance, don't rock 'n' roll (see Andy Rooney)

Silents: suffocated by details, believe lawsuits are the solution to all interpersonal disputes, painfully hip (see surviving Beach Boys)

Boomers: narcissistic, prone to plastic surgery, hate details, impatient, backstabbing, like to yell on TV (see Chris Matthews)

Xers: can tell difference between different Radiohead songs, have no solutions, like to indulge in obscure pop culture trivia to distract themselves from feelings of uselessness, ridicule everything for similar purposes (see Stephen Colbert)

Millennials: tend to believe in things, like the audacity of hope; addicted to Internet and online communities; incapable of abstract humor; think they're number one. (see anyone of them, they're all the same really)

Originally Posted by Uzi

GIs: Xers: can tell difference between different Radiohead songs, have no solutions, like to indulge in obscure pop culture trivia to distract themselves from feelings of uselessness, ridicule everything for similar purposes (see Stephen Colbert)

Who's Radiohead ? How about Uriah Heap and Black Oak Arkansas?

Millennials: tend to believe in things, like the audacity of hope; addicted to Internet and online communities; incapable of abstract humor; think they're number one. (see anyone of them, they're all the same really)

IOW, if you see 1 Millie you've seen them all and they occur in packs.

Originally Posted by Uzi

GIs: opinionated, sanctimonious, superiority complex, don't dance, don't rock 'n' roll (see Andy Rooney)

People in their eighties and nineties generally don't dance. Nobody does the jitterbug anymore.

Silents: suffocated by details, believe lawsuits are the solution to all interpersonal disputes, painfully hip (see surviving Beach Boys)

Fair! Which may explain why we have not had a Silent President.

Boomers: narcissistic, prone to plastic surgery, hate details, impatient, backstabbing, like to yell on TV (see Chris Matthews)

Plastic surgery? Common practice of the middle-aged who don't want to seem middle-aged. (Look at the Boom-directed hair-coloring products in which aging Boom jocks mock someone who didn't buy the product that they ply: "No play for Mr. GRAY! I presume that implies the prospect of a one-night stand). I see Generation X doing that twenty years from now, just as I saw the Silent doing much the same twenty years ago and GIs doing that forty years ago. Age denial is a common practice among the middle-aged who can get away with it.

If Generation X doesn't do plastic surgery or hair coloring, it will be because the game is up on the attempt to recover youth because people are so focused on survival that they won't afford plastic surgery, one-night stands, or other luxuries.

The rest of the characterization -- regrettably fair, so far.

Xers: can tell difference between different Radiohead songs, have no solutions, like to indulge in obscure pop culture trivia to distract themselves from feelings of uselessness, ridicule everything for similar purposes (see Stephen Colbert)

The most successful Generation X candidates for high offices may be those torn between Boom and Millennial identity.

Millennials: tend to believe in things, like the audacity of hope; addicted to Internet and online communities; incapable of abstract humor; think they're number one. (see anyone of them, they're all the same really)

I don't know about them being a monolith... likely more aware of the material world than any generation since the GIs and expect to find solutions by changing the material world than by trying to transcend it as do Boomers.

Originally Posted by pbrower2a

Fair! Which may explain why we have not had a Silent President.

Just go and read about The Beach Boys' court battles. It's nuts.

I don't know about them being a monolith... likely more aware of the material world than any generation since the GIs and expect to find solutions by changing the material world than by trying to transcend it as do Boomers.

They'll try and change the world by staring at their iPOD a little bit longer.

I've included all the living generations

Lost- fascinating! very old, almost other-worldly! And for it's few surviving members, how many get the chance to see 3 centuries in their lifetimes!

GI's- Were such the dominant presence throughout most of my youth that it's been kind of nice to have them not have them so "present". Don't get me wrong, I love talking to them and appreciate their accomplishments, I think I just had a very negative view of it's members in power when i was younger.

Silents- An interesting lot! A very die hard bunch as well! They're generally nice people trying to stay relevant in a culture where their star is rapidly fading. I've met some that retain wholesome qualities from their childhoods that I find rather endearing but would have probably found irritating 20 years ago. I think they mean well.

Boomers- they're the one's more or less in control of things now and are naturally gonna take a lot of heat from other generations. They're not all bad, in fact most of them are good people, however many of the ones I see in charge, I get kinda skeptical, of their lack of actual hands on experience in the high paying positions they're been put in charge of. Actually I think there's too many unnecessary management positions in the workplace, but maybe Im missing the point. Most of my interaction with Boomers is from work, so that's what Im going on.

GenX/13thGen- difficult to characterize as a whole early on since there were many "tribes" in their youth. Now that the "troubled" 30 and 40 year olds of the 00's have stopped fighting amongst themselves, their survival skills have gotten sharper and many have learned or are learning what really matters in life to them after so many lessons learned the hard way. And don't think they're not paying attention to whats going on... the slacker image is pretty out dated by now. Don't underestimate them by any means!

Millennials- They seem less hostile and more approachable than Xer's at like-age. Very bright and upbeat as well. Some come off a bit wishy-washy and unrealistic about the world sometimes, but over all they seem to be a good bunch. They're just now starting to show what they're capable of. it could be interesting! I still find their optimism a bit bizarre... not used to it I guess

Homelanders- more will be revealed...

[QUOTE=stab1969;225381]I've included all the living generations

Boomers- they're the one's more or less in control of things now and are naturally gonna take a lot of heat from other generations. They're not all bad, in fact most of them are good people, however many of the ones I see in charge, I get kinda skeptical, of their lack of actual hands on experience in the high paying positions they're been put in charge of. Actually I think there's too many unnecessary management positions in the workplace, but maybe Im missing the point. Most of my interaction with Boomers is from work, so that's what Im going on.

Those in charge as executives of the giant corporations and in the Bush administration aren't quite getting the heat that they deserve yet. Don't worry... some will... after they die, that is.

Too many management positions in the workplace? That is the proof of incompetence. GI executives at one time had lesser education than Boom clerks -- and I'm not talking about law clerks -- but they typically advanced slowly and steadily, having started on the shop floor and showed competence, loyalty, and dedication at every level. They knew who had ability beyond his station and who was best left where he was.

To be a Boom executive, one seems to need to show a mercenary streak of gong from one organization to another when such fits one's 'need' to show talent. Long-term loyalty is ill-rewarded, as demonstrated with out-sourcing. Having ever had a connection to the shop floor is evidence that one is incompetent.

That, I think, will change.

Originally Posted by pbrower2a

Too many management positions in the workplace? That is the proof of incompetence.

yes, exactly! If you ever saw that movie, "Office Space", there's a scene in which the main character talks about having 8 different bosses and how every time there's a discrepancy of sorts, he has to hear about it from all 8 bosses, i think the discrepancy in that scene had to do with cover sheets on TPS reports(whatever those are..) To me that's somewhat extreme in comparison to my situation, but Im pretty sure it exists! hmm... now that I think about it, I think I have something like 4 bosses Also, few months ago, all the managers at my company were made into "directors", and all the supervisors were turned into "managers". Then they made a company wide announcement about it... I kinda wondered if that came with a pay increase for them. One of those "company morale boosters"! I've seen and heard of worse at and about other places though...

Most of the Boomers I know seem to suffer from chronic dissatisfaction. Especially the women. They seem to be bitter and hating one another. It didn't used to be this way 20 or so years ago. What happened? Does this happen to all people in midlife? Will their midlife crisis ever end?

Originally Posted by Uzi

Most of the Boomers I know seem to suffer from chronic dissatisfaction. Especially the women. They seem to be bitter and hating one another. It didn't used to be this way 20 or so years ago. What happened? Does this happen to all people in midlife? Will their midlife crisis ever end?

OK, so why does this surprise me? We're Peter Pans, we can fly and we'll never get old. We are also the Crown of Creation, and our way is the ultimate and final way.

... and reality is finally proving all that ephemeral or worse - just plain wrong. Why be unhappy about that?

Originally Posted by Uzi

Most of the Boomers I know seem to suffer from chronic dissatisfaction. Especially the women. They seem to be bitter and hating one another. It didn't used to be this way 20 or so years ago. What happened? Does this happen to all people in midlife? Will their midlife crisis ever end?

I dunno. Roadbldr '59, do I seem bitter to you?

Of course, some of us later wave Boomers have teenagers at home. That may make some of us wacky.

Originally Posted by The Wonkette

I dunno. Roadbldr '59, do I seem bitter to you?

Of course, some of us later wave Boomers have teenagers at home. That may make some of us wacky.

Nah. The Xer gals seem far more bitter than the Boomers IMHO.

uh-oh, roadie. Let's not go there, k?

Bria

Originally Posted by Bria67Xer

uh-oh, roadie. Let's not go there, k?

Bria

Don't call him "Roadie". He hates it.