The New Gen X Manifesto?

[Writer]

http://www.forbes.com/books/2008/08/14/slackonomics-economics-millennials-oped-books-cx_rl_0814bookreview.html

Between the nostalgia factory controlled by the baby boomers, constantly mythologizing and glorifying the idealistic 1960s, and the Twittering/Facebooking of the millennials, little room is left for the group that brought us Nirvana, My So-Called Life and flannel shirts as a non-fashion statement.

"Gen X has turned 40 with nobody noticing!" goes the theme, though not quite. While this specific milestone may have gone by without fireworks (but with a fair amount of articles and books), there have been vague rumblings of an X takeover in the zeitgeist. Knocked Up director Judd Apatow has made slackerdom cool again; rock band Sonic Youth is playing at fashion shows; and Barack Obama, though unlikely to refer to himself as an "Xer," is threatening the boomers' long monopoly of the White House."

More at link...

:P

[magellan]

1. Gen X'ers can have the WH

Though I'm far from convinced they'll be any better. It isn't the generation; it's the corruption.

[blogslut]

2. Obama is Generation Jones

We watched the boomers and learned from their mistakes. ;)

[grannie4peace]

5. i wish the boomers

would be remembered for the grateful dead, being right about drugs, jfk, and not the likes of schrub:hippie: :patriot:

[cliffordu]

12. No kidding.

Owsley was my hero.....

[lumberjack_jeff]

3. "The boomers long monopoly of the White House"?

Uh, all two of 'em?

Bonus news flash: Born in 1961, Obama is a boomer.

[DailyGrind51]

6. Obama could have joined a big law firm or become legal counsel

for a "Fortune 500" company and make $millions, but he opted to become a community organizer and enter politics. He really seems like he wants to do good.

[Writer]

8. Gen X is '61-'81. n/t

[Terry in Austin]

10. 1964

There seems to be some debate about the first Gen-X year, ranging from 1961 to 1965. Strauss & Howe favor 1961, but you see a lot of pop-culture demographics type articles in the media that pick 1964.

Of course, drawing a clear-cut boundary for something as gradual as a generational shift is a little arbitrary.

[Writer]

11. Yeah, it really shouldn't be down to specific years but a range of experiences.

Obama, for instance, fits the profile of a Gen X'er based on his own writing and quotes, not to mention his personal story. More recently marketing companies have broadened the X'er demographic from the oddly short 1965-1978 to something more in line with the Boomers: 1961-1981.

What's interesting is that if you go back and look at the earlier articles about Obama (early 2007) you'll see more references to his being a "post-Boomer" or a "Gen X'er," but those references dwindled as soon as he became more popular and especially when he started leading in the primaries.

[cliffordu]

13. What's Pepsi have to say about it??

[lumberjack_jeff]

16. It may be squishy from a cultural standpoint.

But from a population standpoint "the baby boom" ended in 1964 with the widespread adoption of the birth control pill.

As originally intended, it's not arbitrary at all. The baby boom was the period of high birthrates after WWII.

[Writer]

17. Strauss and Howe based their choice of years '61-'81 not simply because of birth rates...

but because of cultural influences, as well. Here's a blurb from wikipedia:

The generation receives its name because it's the 13th to know the flag of the United States (counting back to the peers of Benjamin Franklin). Strauss and Howe defined the birth years of the 13th Generation as 1961 to 1981 based on examining peaks and troughs in cultural trends rather than simply looking at birth rates.<1> Howe and Strauss speak of six influences that they believe have shaped Generation 13. These influences are as follows

* Readily-accessible birth control
* Legalization of abortion on demand
* Increase in divorce
* Increase in mothers in the work place
* The Zero Population movement
* "Devil-child films"

[supernova]

4. "Creative destruction," I like it.

:-)

and I agree. What boomer monopoly on the WH? There's only been Big Dog and GW. And if blech, they win, McSame is a Korean war era person.

[Odin2005]

7. The media is a little late, the oldest Xers (born in '61) turned 40 7 years ago.

IMO there is an interesting generational similarity between Obama, who was born in 1961 (the first Xer birth year) and FDR, who was born in 1882 (what I consider the first birth year of the so-called "Lost" Generation. The Lost Generation has so many similarities with Generation X it's scary, and the "Muck-racker" generation that came before the Lost Generation was a lot like the Boomers.

[Writer]

9. That's what Gen X is here for: to fix stuff...

... until another cohort blows through here and messes it all up again. ;)

[marmar]

14. I was born in 1972.....I'm chronically GenX.

..... I think I'll put on my flannel shirt before sipping my latte.

[Writer]

15. I post on this issue a lot...

and every time I do, I always assume that people are tired of reading this material; however, I'm taken aback by how many respond and seem interested in discussing this topic. It's like a Gen X Coming Out Party.

BTW: 1975 for me. :)`