Gen X is in charge now, and boomers are being shown the door
Gen X is in charge now, and boomers are being shown the door
Considering the nature of linear time, I dont know what the alternative could be.
Biden is actually the first and only president from “The Silent Generation”
(Side note: Trump, Dubya, and Bubba were all born in 1946)
Within two months and one week of each other.
Huh, that's interesting.
You know how in school they say “one day one of you will be president.” Well for Bidens generation all of them were wrong except his teacher
It's also possible that Gen X will be skipped over the way the Silent Generation was skipped.
Kamala is the youngest possible Boomer (born in 1964). If she wins and serves 2 terms she'll be out in 2032. At that point Gen X will be between 52 and 67. People might want a candidate younger than that.
I would vote for a vampire, mummy, or other deathless creature.
Dracula was pretty cool...
Took way too long. Don’t let the door hit ya on the way out.
I'm fully in support of Kamala, but she's not Gen X. Close, but no cigar. She was born in 1964.
She's Generation Jones. So am I (b. 1963)
Damn, they even have her picture on the page 😆
Generation Jones is noted for coming of age after a huge swath of their older siblings in the earlier portion of the Baby Boomer population; thus, many note that there was a paucity of resources and privileges available to them that were seemingly abundant to older Boomers. Therefore, there is a certain level of bitterness and "jonesing" for the level of doting and affluence granted to older Boomers but denied to them
This reminds me of the Xennial generation that fell between X and Millennial. This also sort of shows how little we can really actually equate from these 20+ year generational spans. Really I am just happy she's not old enough to collect SSI yet.
I can't tell if she looks young for her age, or if she looks super young compared to everyone else on stage wirh her
The dates for these generations are not set in stone. Lots of organizations use 1965 to 1980 but the US SSA uses 1965 as the start.
People born around the transition points are going to have more in common with each other than with people born earlier in the date range. Especially when you consider families having kids a few years apart but each is apparently a different "generation".
The median age of the senate is 65. The article is just cherry picking.
As a member of Generation X, I would say that it's not going to be much better.
Just look at, say, Elon Musk as an example of the kind of people from my generation who get to positions of influence.
Most GenX are the product of the Neoliberal era, so have interiorized the whole "lookout for numero uno" idea of how to be in society and whilst commonly aware of things like Climate Change, they're usually unwilling to inconvenience themselves for the sake of fighting against it, quite the contrary even (just look at how well SUVs sell), and similarly when it comes to Consumerism, they seem to be the most prone to wasteful consumption (the kind of people who replace their mobile phones every year or two).
In summary, Gen X generally are more well informed than Boomers but even less principled than them.
Gen X here, too.
DeSantis is younger than me.
That's all I'm going to say. Gooooooooooo Millennials and Gen Z. PLEASE.
I was born right on the border of Millennial and Gen X. Tory leader Rishi Sunak was younger than me.
Generation really doesn't matter. Greedy cunts rise to the top and always will.
Today's horrible influencers are tomorrows horrible leaders.
Once they hit our age they're be equally shit. The only thing that makes us endearing is that we are a forgotten generation for the most part. No power. No numbers. But fuck me have we got influence.
Honestly, given the money Gen X has, Gen Z would mostly probably do the same.
While some of our actions can be directed by principle, mostly it's just shrinking income.
I wish we could raise wages AND use them to embrace Buy It For Life items, all while subsidizing public transportation etc etc.
But now it's lack of money that holds Gen Z back, not principles, in my opinion.
Probably a product more of age than of generational specificity.
You get used to your comforts, you probably have investments, you’re consumed by trying to get ahead enough so that you don’t have to die at your job, just in a nursing home what takes all of your money.
Gen X myself, and maybe an outlier, but I’ve probably become more radical as I’ve aged rather than the other way around. I’ve been stuck being poor for decades before finally “making it”, and that has really driven home the awareness of how fragile it all is. That, and just general omnivorous reading that includes a lot of depressing scientific literature regarding climate change. It’s terrifying.
I vote for the left (I would have happily voted for Sanders), support local measures and politicians that lean towards social policy and move towards things like green power, etc.
So yeah…not necessarily a thing you can just pin on a generation, though each generation will have some stronger proclivities than others in certain areas. The millennials will have to watch out, they’re next to fall for circling the wagons to protect whatever they might have, hate on their gen’s billion- or trillionaires.
We won't be next because no one will be. Prove me wrong. Good fucking luck. You won't acknowledge what must be done.
I was born in the 1990s and teenage me thought that the future would be awesome because people like me would be in power.
By now, people my age and younger have reported back, become politicians, celebrities, journalists or otherwise people with more power than me, and said "nah, we are pretty much the same as our parents were, some of us are awesome and some horrible".
The type of people who seek power probably won't change generation to generation... But the voters are changing rapidly as boomers die and millennials/zoomers replace them (far more progressive overall)... The voters will force the change, not the small percent that seek their own glory (ie the list you have there)
This. I was born in the 50s and we thought the same thing in our teen years with the same outcome.
Elon Musk as an example of the kind of people from my generation
Elon's an Afrikkkaner fratbro social media junky with $200B to his name. That's just not the lived experience of most Americans.
Most GenX are the product of the Neoliberal era
They're nostalgic for the 90s, because it was a time of relative abundance. They're not all Chicago Economics School trade globalists with a hard on for abolishing the minimum wage and privatizing social security, because none of them stand to benefit from any of that shit.
they’re usually unwilling to inconvenience themselves for the sake of fighting against it
You've got a selection bias. The GenXers who fought the fiercest got crushed the hardest. Prisons are choke full of social revolutionaries who got swept up in the 90s/00s Law and Order era. Hospital wards are full of GenXers pumped full of opioids to treat work-injuries and heavy metal poisoning. Morgues are full of GenXers who died in the service sector job filling lunch orders during COVID or were wiped out in the AIDS epidemic before it was treatable.
Losing doesn't mean you weren't fighting. It just means you were outnumbered, outspent, and outmaneuvered. For every Kamala Harris or Ron DeSantis who climbed up through the bowels of the system to live in its head, there are thousands who got crushed under its feet.
Gen X generally are more well informed than Boomers but even less principled
The folks you're seeing are simply the ones that made themselves useful to the ruling class. One thing the GenX crowd was right about - the Revolution wasn't televised. It was a war fought and lost in the back alleys and the boiler rooms and the darkest cells of solitary confinement. If the GenX capitalist class is looking extra cynical, that may be thanks to all of their relatives and neighbors they had to stack up like cordwood to reach these heights.
Whilst I did not live in the US, I did live in 4 countries in Europe (having got involved in politics in 2 of them) and from what I've seen those GenXers who fought for a better World are not the majority, not even close.
As somebody in that cohort and hence having moved along with it over the years through school and work, the general impression I got over time is one of political apathy and consumerist self indulgence.
(Certainly I was generally the odd one out in having strong political beliefs and it's funny that even now in the political party I'm involved in, in my local area only a handful of active members are from my generation, whilst most are from the older generation and the second largest group are from the younger generation)
It really wasn't much of a fighting generation to begin with back at their teenage and young adult years (just compare it to the much more recent Climate movements of the young) and there was a lot of apathy towards the ones amongst them who were (the pinnacle in the US was maybe Occupy Wall Street, which was violently suppressed by Obama - the very same who did the shoving of trillions towards Finance in the first place - and notice how still today so many of my generation think he was a great President).
I agree with you on the outmanouvered point, though that was a lot easier to do because the will was there for a few, not for the many, so when the few got suppressed the many wouldn't lift a finger and often even agreed that those "making waves" should be stopped.
Even if Harris were Gen X, this would be premature.
...yeah, they're going to jump from five baby boomers straight to millennials next change of the guard, and like, whatever, man: we acclimated to disenfranchisement thirty years ago...
At least you got to enjoy coffee and cigarettes
checking the average age of the House, the Senate, and the Gubernatorial slate
Awww...
Generational cohorts are all just made up nonsense. It just exists to distract the working class from what we have in common with each other and what separates us from the working class. I, a millennial, have much more in common with a working class baby boomer, than I do with a rich and powerful millennial.
Stop encouraging these artificial divides. Build solidarity across the working class of all ages. And stop playing into the media’s narratives.
Preach. So tired of this bullshit "generation warfare".
I think you're conflating two different things. There are a variety of social factors that affect age cohorts differently, and a lot of that comes down to the experience during formative years. We are a product of our environment in many ways, and it's not nonsense to study and opine on these shared experiences and how they shape us. Class solidarity is an entirely different subject. You likely do have more in common with your social class across generations, but that doesn't mean you don't have anything in common with wealthy millennials. I wouldn't let lazy journalism own the concept of generations itself.
Yep, it's similar to Astrology where certain psychological characteristics are attributed to the signs of the zodiac.
Glad the boomers are on the way out. As a Gen X'er, not sure we care enough to take charge.
Don't know about you, but I'm out here slackin' away.
As an aging millennial, I am surprised by how the process of time works.
Like you spend your life acquiring skills and using your knowledge in an ever expanding cornucopia of experiences.
Then followed by a gradual decline to be left only with your memories of who you once were. But then you realize you were only a small part of the existence of others, and ultimately the universe. Yep, the thought of faculties diminishing over time is enough to put the one into an extensional crisis.
Yup. This is a wise time in your life to start your estate planning, medical directives, etc. Find yourself a good lawyer for this. I'm sure the cost varies by location and practice, but mine was only about $1,500 US.
I'm just trying to exist in peace. That already feels like an impossibility.
Boomers? Biden wasn't even a Boomer!
Gen X is too small to matter. Millennials are stepping up and will compete with Boomers for a little while until they finally take over. Thing about Millennials though is that it is a very K shaped generation. About half have had decent success and are conservative/liberal and the other half have been absolutely crushed so it's kind of a mixed bag and as long as the Boomers have any influence not much is likely to change. GenZ is bigger than Millennials though and should be right behind them. They are very different and much more politically radical, on both the left and right. Things are likely to change with them.
One thing I'm looking forward to with millennial leadership is just people that finally fully understand the power of the internet, big data and what truly distinguishes the information age. If you didn't grow up with it, it's hard to grapple with just how much it truly upended ... fucking everything. They mostly still don't understand that a computer can basically read their mind now, just through indirect data gathering and comparing them to all of the other people. We all get that at a more intuitive level, we've spent too long around these algorithms and seas of semi-anonymous others.
Of course we'll be in some quantum AI room-temp-superconductor age by then, so, y'know how it goes. But we should at least have a better handle on the information age problems, so that'll be nice.
It's almost like generational distinction is meaningless and it's actually about class.
And life stages
I'm worried about the Alphas and younger Zs who weren't paying attention until after Covid. The news doesn't talk about Trump's laundry list of controversies or extremism. They just yell about the economy and the border and point at Biden.
As usual, they make rationalists look alarmist.
There's apparently 65.2 million Gen Xers vs 75 million millenials. Smaller, but "too small to matter" seems like a really weird take.
I'm amused with all the people who think there's some hard line where you have to be born before or after some exact year to be of a named generation as if this wasn't all made up. A baby didn't get labeled Gen-X if they were born after midnight on a certain day.
As far as I'm concerned, she's Gen-X. She was 13 when Star Wars came out.
Maybe I am missing something but you do have to be born before or after some exact year to be of a named generation. That’s kind of the definition. Gen X is 1965 - 1980.
Dude, it's all made up and there is no hard definition for the years of Gen X.
I mean if you really want to be pedantic about it, the people we call Boomers these days are the original Gen X.
The term Generation X has been used at various times to describe alienated youth. In the early 1950s, Hungarian photographer Robert Capa first used Generation X as the title for a photo-essay about young men and women growing up immediately following World War II. The term first appeared in print in a December 1952 issue of Holiday magazine announcing their upcoming publication of Capa's photo-essay.
Or maybe it's people born in the 1950s and 1960s?
The term acquired a modern application after the release of Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, a 1991 novel written by Canadian author Douglas Coupland; however, the definition used there is "born in the late 1950s and 1960s", which is about ten years earlier than definitions that came later.[16][17][13][18] In 1987, Coupland had written a piece in Vancouver Magazine titled "Generation X" which was "the seed of what went on to become the book".
Or maybe it's 1965-1980?
In the U.S., the Pew Research Center, a non-partisan think-tank, delineates a Generation X period of 1965–1980 which has, albeit gradually, come to gain acceptance in academic circles.
Or maybe it's "Gen X is whatever we decide it is."
The Brookings Institution, another U.S. think-tank, sets the Gen X period as between 1965 and 1981.[31] The U.S. Federal Reserve Board uses 1965–1980 to define Gen X.[32] The U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) defines the years for Gen X as between 1964 and 1979. The US Department of Defense (DoD), conversely, use dates 1965 to 1977.[33] In their 2002 book When Generations Collide, Lynne Lancaster and David Stillman use 1965 to 1980, while in 2012 authors Jain and Pant also used parameters of 1965 to 1980.[34] U.S. news outlets such as The New York Times[35][36] and The Washington Post[37] describe Generation X as people born between 1965 and 1980. Gallup,[38] Bloomberg,[39] Business Insider,[40] and Forbes[41][42] use 1965–1980. Time magazine states that Generation X is "roughly defined as anyone born between 1965 and 1980".[43] George Masnick of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies puts this generation in the time-frame of 1965 to 1984, in order to satisfy the premise that boomers, Xers, and millennials "cover equal 20-year age spans".[44]
In Australia, the McCrindle Research Center uses 1965–1979.[45] In the UK, the Resolution Foundation think-tank defines Gen X as those born between 1966 and 1980.[46] PricewaterhouseCoopers, a multinational professional services network headquartered in London, describes Generation X employees as those born from 1965 to 1980.[47]
But those are just think tanks. Surely other experts have a specific range, right?
On the basis of the time it takes for a generation to mature, U.S. authors William Strauss and Neil Howe define Generation X as those born between 1961 and 1981 in their 1991 book titled Generations, and differentiate the cohort into an early and late wave.[48] Jeff Gordinier, in his 2008 book X Saves the World, include those born between 1961 and 1977 but possibly as late as 1980.[9] George Masnick of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies puts this generation in the time-frame of 1965 to 1984, in order to satisfy the premise that boomers, Xers, and millennials "cover equal 20-year age spans".[44] In 2004, journalist J. Markert also acknowledged the 20-year increments but goes one step further and subdivides the generation into two 10-year cohorts with early and later members of the generation. The first begins in 1966 and ends in 1975 and the second begins in 1976 and ends in 1985; this thinking is applied to each generation (Silent, boomers, Gen X, millennials, etc.).[49]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_X
This isn't science, it's categorization based on pretty arbitrary stuff.
I agree. I think they do pop up every now and then, always for a cultural event. For example, I draw the line between Millennial and Gen Z at remembering 9/11.
Warm bodies outnumber the dead, news at 11.
you'd think so, but boomers had it so good they hardly ever die. the amount of stress they left the newer generations while not giving a fuck themselves made them likely to outlast some millennials let alone xers.
I'll take your comment at face value and see it as a comment on the theory that 'there's more people alive today than have ever lived'.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-living-outnumber-dead/
However that seems not to be true. The dead are more numerous. However they are unlikely to vote (unless the republicans find a way).
Kamala was born in 64. She's a boomer. Also, GTFO with Generation Jones. She's a boomer. X-ers are those who came after the pill became omnipresent after the mid 60s. I am one of those (born in 77). We are relatively few in numbers in comparison to the boomers. Because of the pill. Also GTFO with Generation Jones. She's a boomer.
Trump and Biden also aren't boomers. They predate the boomers. They were born during or shortly after WW2. That's usually called the silent generation. Trump being part of the silent generation is of course ridiculous. But he's the exception of the rule, I guess. But both are born very late in that generation, so they are its last remnants I guess. Soon they will all be gone.
Boomers is short for Baby Boomers which were literally the babies born after WW2 vets came home and had families. I don't know why your misinformed comment has so many upvotes
We are relatively few in numbers in comparison to the boomers
That's not true. The birth rate dropped slightly from the low 20s per 1000 in the 40s to the mid-60s, then dropped to the high teens in the Gen X era. Relatively few in numbers implies that there were twice as many boomers or something. The reality is that there were about 75 million baby boomers births, and about 65 million Gen X.
Trump is a boomer (1946, same year as Clinton and Bush), Biden is a "silent generation" guy, born before the end of WWII. He's actually the first (and presumably last) Silent Generation president. The ones before him were all boomers or "greatest" generation.
While those facts might not be wrong in your neck of the woods, they are at least very, very US centric. That is of course ok, as we are talking about the US candidates here. But generally, keep in mind that the world is way bigger than the US. You make up a whole of 4% of the world's population. And those numbers all vary from country to country.
Kick the Boomers out!
Wiki says Gen X is 1965 - 1980. Kamala was born Oct 1964. Boomer.
I mean given the passage of time and human mortality this was almost guaranteed to happen at some point.
This headline makes me incredibly happy.
Uh i wouldn't boast about Boeing lol
I'm Gen-X and I barely feel in charge of my own life, much less the direction of the nation.
Thanks for this post. It's been entertaining reading.
heck no. millenials can have it.
And that's how you can tell a real Gen Xer
Can we stop making assumptions of an entire group based on some arbitrary rule? The people that will get to power is based on the population that votes for them and not when they were born, start voting in primaries, supporting candidates that match your values and going out to vote for them during election and you might just get what you want.
Millennials aren't going to be the savior you think they are. Like, I want to be hopeful, but I see a lot of Millennials my age just acting scared. They've finally gotten some stability, they've finally gotten some comfort, and they're incredibly loss averse. I see a bunch of people my age bought a house in the suburbs posting in the neighborhood Facebook group every time there's a loud bang "did anyone hear that noise? What was it?" with people lamenting about how the neighborhood is going downhill.
Ten years ago, millennials were pissed the fuck off and were ready to burn shit to the ground. The ruling class gave them just enough to be scared of losing it.
Said every generation ever.
As a millennial, I think I can speak for all of us and say we're OK with Gen Z taking over early, they might still have the emotional capacity to effect lasting change.
I agree, and since most of us didn’t start our careers “on time” due to the absolute destruction of the economy in 2008, and also being most of the military strength during GWOT, Gen Z can take charge.
Just don’t short us too badly, maybe throw us a little bone here and there. We will happily take it since our Boomer parents were so massively shitty to us.
That's really the answer to any of the "Generation ___ will save us". It's not generations, it's age. If a generation takes over earlier it will be more far looking and less fearful. If it doesn't, it will age into being the same mess all the others have been.
The Boomers dying off might change things merely because they were a huge generation and X is a small one, meaning the average age of a voter should be going down.
People raised with the same ideas as their parents/friends/society aren't going to magically change just because they come from a younger generation. When Millennials start coming into power, there are still going to be Millennials on both sides of the political divide. The Republican ones will likely be just as insane, if not worse than the Boomers or the Gen Xers. It's not like Millennials are just magically going to all be progressive and everything changes. Any of them getting into politics are going to become part of the mainstream political culture and internalize their political beliefs as they learn from their elders. The Right is much more organized about maintaining their ideas and pushing their beliefs, that's why they work so hard to suppress the other side.
The boomers grew up in the "Golden age"... Gen x is the boomers first round of kids... Born from hippy free love and mistakes... Then the boomers grew up, got divorced, and started their millennial "real" families... Gen x caught the shit end of the boomer stick for sure, and it fucked them up as a generation... That and the fact that they caught a lot of the boomers pig headedness, probably because they had far less access to information than millennials.
Luckily they're a small and mostly insignificant generation that won't ever be able to prop up the old oligarchy parties the way the boomers have been able to.
I'm Gen X and I can tell you from experience that that is mostly accurate.
We're the generation that was born, came of age, and entered the workforce when Boomers were still far from retirement age and hording all the good jobs. We had to all go to university to study for the leftovers.
It was the generation after us, that second round of kids that you talk about, that came of age and started going to University right around the time that Boomers began to retire, leaving all these well paying jobs for them to pick up now that us X'ers had already settled on the crappy jobs.
Luckily they're a small and mostly insignificant generation
Fuck you buddy. You're right, but still, fuck you.
Millenials might just make it, but if Gen Z is actually like what it looks like, leadership positions everywhere are going to skip a generation.
Turn on, tune in, drop out.
Every generation has plenty of those - no worries!
Yeah, they’re called “capitalists.”
As a Gen Xer I'm heartened to see Gen Z stepping up to literally save the world. Seeing the swell in support for Harris and in voter registration numbers, I for once am feeling hopeful. I hope they can accomplish what the forgotten generation couldn't.
Gen Z reporting in. Above comment's point was not to generalize an entire demographic as 'doing good'. & it was a good one. Don't assume that of us either.
Judging entire groups of people as a monolith is always bad. I'll add 'good' is subjective of an individual's values. Expect future generations to mock us for what we believe acceptable.
Already I see a lot more self awareness versus the boomers, so it looks like a net positive in any event
Not really, you also see a lot of boomers calling out other boomers.
Yeah. X/Mil cusper here. The elder Gen X are more like Boomers than anything, but have more anger and technical acumen.
If I'm not mistaken gen X is the first generation to become more progressive as it ages
Def. I've only gone harder left/prog/anti-capitalist as I grew older.
As a Gen Xer, I wish that was true, but in terms of US voting patterns, it isn't
https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/first-read/poll-gen-x-gen-z-take-different-political-paths-rcna66264
I know I am. I quite literal don't recognize my political leanings of 10 years ago.
This is such a gen Xer thing to say.
Whatever
Ok Boomer
That is true of every generation. Call it a human flaw.
Tucker Carlson.