The baby-boomers born in the years after World War II were members of the most coddled generation America had ever seen. From birth, theyhad been treated like royalty, privileged and spoiled not for any special qualities or accomplishments, but simply because they existed and were their parents’ little darlings.
Nobody should have been too surprised that, as they came of age, they were a religion unto themselves. Their not so holy trinity consisted of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. I never really got a handle on how that made them so special. But gods do not have to explain themselves.
I wasn't born 'til 1972, so thankfully I wasn't around to witness Mr. Prelutsky's remembrances. What I was privy to was what the boomers became after their 'lost decade' had concluded, and it was a horrific stirred up bowl of hypocritical urine and vomit. The boomers brought us yuppies, explicit language ratings on albums, "greed is good", and goddamn disco. In fact, now that I think about it, disco appears to be the boomer's greatest contribution to music. None of the enormous names in 1960's music were born during the baby boom: Jimi Hendrix (1942), Janis Joplin (1943), all members of the Rolling Stones (1895), John Lennon (1940), et cetera. So next time you see a boomer be sure to thank him/her for The Village People.
LT Nixon goes on in his post to indict Generation Y (aka Millenials):
What the hell are we doing?!? Gen Y has nothing to show as far as cultural or intellectual achievements because of this self-absorbed paradigm that will certainly beget the downfall of civilization.
Although I watch with a very skeptical cyclops eye, I actually do stray a bit from the LT's thoughts on the current young adults. I believe Gen Y is more in tune with the world than Xers were at a similar age. Y certainly voted in a higher percentage than X. Fuck, I only voted in Presidential election years until 1998, and this in itself is a disgusting display of apathy.
I work at a company that employs thousands, and each year we have to depend on an influx of new college grads to fill the ranks. I certainly will not claim to be an expert on Millenials (or anything else) but I will offer my thoughts on them in the most generic terms from my personal experience: they play nice together and are hard workers just as long as there is a nice $ payoff at the end. They are very impatient, but I think this will one day be a benefit. What I mean by this is I cannot stand when a 22 year old cannot figure out why they're not getting promoted after being in a position for just 6 months, but man, Gen X never had that type of confidence. If the Millenials channel that exuberance they have to move ahead, they, like the boomers, have tremendous strength in #'s to make a difference in Our Country. And because the boomers have fucked things up so royally, the Millenials will be forced to have to change policy for the better.
There are still many years that need to pass for both Gen X and Gen Y to be judged in a fair historical context. The bottom line is we've seen the worst (the boomers) and both X and Y seem determined to fix Our Country's current messes that will be passed to us and hopefully unselfish enough to not pass it onto our screaming kiddies in the back of our minivans.
*For the life of me, I'll never know how those born from 1928-1945 were dubbed "The Silent Generation". Luminaries like M.L. King, Bob Dylan, James Dean, Elvis, Malcolm X, and Hunter S. Thompson weren't exactly known for shutting the fuck up.
3 comments:
Hear what ya say about Millenials and their overconfidence and impatience; even in the trades, it burns the Millenials' ass that they have to put in time as a helper. A plumbing company my company uses used to have ten Millenials; they'd all come out on big jobs during rough-in and fight and bicker about 'being in charge' rather than doing things right. Without fail, that stuff would all have to be re-done by the older guys, and 6 months later the Millenials either considered themselves 'Masters' or were let go for comical ineptitude.
Even the high-school dropout who works with us as a carpenter's helper has a case of the ass about not being considered a proper carpenter (and therefore getting carpenter pay rather than helper pay). It had to be explained to him just how many tasks he had to be trusted to do properly, and he was still a bit of a sourpuss. So now he does stuff on the sly, to prove that he's a carpenter, but since he hasn't even seen some of these things done more than once in his action-packed Year as a Carpenter's Helper, it's all gotta ripped out and repaired (discreetly, so as not to alarm clients).
I dunno what makes 'em like that; my guess is that they either weren't born yet or were very small during the last recession and don't know how choosy employers can be during hard times. When I got out of college, the papers were saying things were better, but companies were still hesitant to hire new college grads, and even when they did, they preferred to hire grads from small-town Pennsylvania, presumably because they didn't have a grasp on the central MD standard of living and could be convinced to accept a lower salary package.
Wek,
I regard self-importance as a poor trait and modesty as a virtue. Perhaps that's why I get so mad at Gen Y. Maybe we will be a driving force for positive effect, but this lack of responding to any level of criticism could be our downfall.
Rockie,
I'm in the IT world and it's little if no different from my view. Many recent college grads with zero experience seem unhappy in a position I didn't achieve until I was 28. Makes me craaaaaazy!!!
LT,
Even if the "very serious historians" (I call them this in the snarkiest of ways) determine your birth year is of Gen Y, you will have earned a lifetime membership to Gen X. Your skepticism is more like me than I am like me.
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