Hey, Suckers, Suzanne Kart posted a brilliant video essay by author Jeff Gordinier about the nature of Generation X.
Why do you care about this video?
- From a Human Resources standpoint, this video is a good reminder of why it’s important to harness the talent of Generation X. We are a small group of employees compared to the pension-busting Boomers, but we are awesome.
- From an entrepreneurial standpoint, Jeff’s riff on Google is brilliant. When he discusses Steve Jobs and Al Gore, it’s even better.
- From a sociological standpoint, the rant on The Beatles is freakin’ hysterical. It’s too much.
Dudes, I’m buying the book right now — but I’m buying it through HR Wench’s site because she is an Amazon affiliate, yo.
@Cols, buy this book via Amazon at hrWench’s site. She is unemployed and we need to support her kittehs!
w00t!
I showed this video this morning to a group of boomers I’m teaching at a workshop. Shut them right up!
By the way - this video is brilliant. I’m totally buying the book.
thank god for this guy.
@GenX There’s nothing like baldfaced profanity to remind baby boomers that they aren’t as cool as they think they are…
@hrWench I’m glad you’re getting a cut of my purchases!
@Gemellen He’s brilliant. You can friend him through me on Facebook if you’re interested, yo.
Do you have to take drugs before you start writing about generations? This kind of braggadocio was so much bullshit during the 1960s and it still is. It’s hucksterism at its very best. You pander to a group people by telling them how fantastic they are just because of when they were born. It’s about as meaningful as astrology. And didn’t Satre call fascism being proud of yourself for who you are rather than for what you’ve done. Yes he did. Instead of saying “I’m a Scorpio with a Leo moon and a Virgo rising” this “dude” is saying “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’s starting to discover community plus I like fries, steaks, leather jackets and fast cars.”
And here’s something interesting to consider? Who sets the style for a generation? The people who came before. The 1960s are not the boomer generation. Every famous person in the 1960s was born during the WW2 and earlier. The boomers came of age in the 1970s so the Gen Xers like this guy were shaped by them and people who were older than them. This guy quotes Johnny Rotten. Born 1956. The Ramones: born in the 40s and 50s.
PS: In addition to bolstering the egos of people who feel like they don’t have enough power and recognition, the generational hucksters love to put down people in other generations. The Flower Children put down their parents. Gen Y hate the boomers. And now this weepy Gen Xer whines about being squeezed by the boomers and their selfish children. It’s classic demagoguery. So, Laurie not-a-joiner Ruittimann, when you start to puff out your chest, watch out. Sucker is certainly the right word to use before you watch this kind of brilliance.
I thought long and hard about getting excited about Jeff Gordinier, but in the end, optimism and enthusiasm won — sort of. I think he’s awesome and his book is great, but I’m NOT a joiner and it’s tough for me to get excited about anything other than cats.
Nevertheless, Animal, Jeff is onto something big — a cultural observation that’s bigger and more important than categorizing Boomers, Xers, and Yers. I’m reading the book and it’s very good. He’s a strong writer and very insightful, and he doesn’t try to simply label or dismiss generations. In fact, he opens the book with a discussion on whether or not Generation X exists and who really fits into that group.
There are patterns and trends in life that represent large cultural trends (and no, I’m not talking about being a Virgo) and Jeff is observing, documenting, and provoking others to think about the cultural trends around a specific group of people. FWIW, I like the book so far. I’ll send you my copy when I’m done if you’re interested. Let me know.
xo/laurie
It would cost you (or me) more to have you send your copy to me than for me to buy it myself. Laurie, I don’t know if deep down you’re a joiner or not. But if the book was so good why why is this video so dumb.
And you know what makes it dumb? Not that there aren’t differences in generations. We can easily see different ideas become popular. Feelings about short skirts and pre-marital sex are the most obvious. Women holding senior positions is another. Once people stop worrying about such things the society becomes more relaxed I suppose. No one freaks out because I can see your hair or your ankle.
But does it change personality? The people are still pretty much the same. And their main occupation is the same: survive, compete, surrender, succeed.
But this guy, like the other generational boasters is mainly concerned to prove how good you are because of when you were born. He does it by saying that everyone is against you. Your poor saps have been oppressed by everyone else because they are bigger markets than you are and the whole society, therefore, caters to them. But, although, unappreciated, you are really better than them, Cinderella.
This sounds like the psychology of any minority. No one respects us but really we are better, holier, harder-working, you name it.
True, I didn’t read the book but that is what he said here.
If you want to argue your views on the Recruiting Animal Show, alone or with a panel of your fellow grievance mongers, I mean peers, let me know. (recruitinganimal @ gmail.com)
But does it change personality? The people are still pretty much the same. And their main occupation is the same: survive, compete, surrender, succeed.
I agree that occupations never change, but I think they are prioritized differently at different points of the American story. I think there are common themes that unite Americans (and now the global-tom-friedman-world) and set up a common point of view. There’s a JFK/RFK/MLK generation. There’s a 9/11 generation. Experiences unite and define us, and to make sense of those experiences, we call upon language — so limiting and incomplete with its generalizations.
This sounds like the psychology of any minority. No one respects us but really we are better, holier, harder-working, you name it.
Was it Brecht who said that the minority is always right?
If you want to argue your views on the Recruiting Animal Show, alone or with a panel of your fellow grievance mongers, I mean peers, let me know.
Maybe I’m just a Gen X slacker, but I don’t care enough about Generational differences to argue about it.
Brecht was a Stalinist. And you know how much they liked minorities. Thanks for the discussion. I’ll name you as my inspiration when I discuss this with others.
This was my follow up
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