Generation X: the sibling society

First off: hi to any newbies et al, thanks for browsing. I've not been round long and to be perfectly honest it's quite a cultish/clannish experience. I don't wish to deter. If you're here already then congratulations I think

I don't have any groundbreaking footage or audio. It's already there; like John Lennon said. My question to anyone born mid70s or later is: do you feel there's a heritage that you've been robbed of?

I wondered if anyone had views about the concept of the 'sibling society'? Let's face it: we're constantly looking right & left with what is a horizontal aspiration. By that I mean: what sneakers your pal is wearing; what car your neighbour's driving....hell some kill over such pointlessness!

What happened to vertical aspiration? Where your parents & theirs too were something heroic whatever colour collar they wore. And a foundryman might cultivate chrysanthemums at the weekend?

Marketing, globilisation and, dare I say it, home computers have triumphed in establishing a 'rubicon' or maginot line between generations. Anyone working/lower middle class born in the mid70s will remember asking their parents for the first home computer. What a watershed that was eh? The first toy that cost 3 month's rates and a father could not enjoy with his son... Not exactly fishin' & fire buildin' was it?

I'm painfully aware of my hypocracy right here; I am part of the homogeinised, generalized, averaged out; Ikea coffee table starbucks droneship. I just wondered if you recognized it too.

Anyway! Cheer up!!

Watch some Father Ted

I am not Gen X. I am of somewhere in the middle of Babyboomers gen. Hey, I felt in the 60's I had been robbed of heritage and a life based on caring and love for people and not material things. My now grown children, two are Gen Xer's and the third is Gen Y. They saw all this coming upon us at an early age. Not sure if I am even responding correctly to your post. Yeah, too much worrying about the latest invention or clothes style. I imparted this idea to my children and they have in turn imparted this to their children. The world is one big mess, but I guess it was always. Anyway, we have nice days. We start out preparing to have nice days, ones filled with love for each other and caring for others. And we usually end up having those days. But, hey, ain't computers great? And the internet, too? Have a great day and many more to come. This was just random thoughts, maybe not on topic, but I wrote it and am not sorry for it.

reply to post by kyred


Absolutely!! Isn't it great!! Everyone reckons I'm a miserable>/::@ at this place. Nope. Just tryin to keep the conflict down.

reply to post by Catesby


I'm sorry , But I do not understand the point of this thread.. And I just can't wait around to figure it out because I have to get to my 2nd job so that I will be able to pay my 2 mortgages and my 2 SUV.car payments..

Hopefully I will get some overtime in tonight so Ican upgrade my Iphone!!!.. That will show Johny at work "who's the shizzle"!!!!

Hello!

I am a Gen Xer born in December 1979. I think this could be a great discussion.

Gen X has written on a great deal and here are some common things I believe is "generally" true about my cultural subset of Gen X.

1. Less materialistic. The boomers before us bought a lot of stuff, Generation Y after us buys tons of gadgets/iphones/whatevers. Us in the middle "tend" less consumerist. Kyred stated that he felt robbed by his generations materialism. Many of us felt this way from a very young age, Kyred was ahead of the curve. We have been bombarded by commercials on everything from clothing to our bed sheets, all this beginning in our infancy. That combined with one parent homes or a home with both working left many to seek fulfillment in consumer products at a young age. We learned that they didn't do it for us early on, so we rejected the consumer culture. Most Xers I know don't have a lot and don't want a lot.

2. Distrust of business. We have watched tons of layoffs. We have seen people who gave their whole life to a business become worthless, their pensions go into the wind and 401K's collapse. We are not a loyal group to business and we assume they are lying when they speak. This is another reason we tend to buy less, we have a shadow over us reminding us it can fall apart at any time.

3. Medications. We are the first generation of young people to be bombarded by prozac, vallium etc. While meds were being invented and taken in the 60's and 70's, parents didn't give them to their kids until us...
Drugs are not new to any generation, we could probably be called the first prescription generation.

This is just a few points to consider.

True or not, who knows, just what I've seen and experienced.