Post-election, Salon ran a much commented upon and vastly quoted Gen-X screed An open apology to boomers everywhere.
The editors highlighted a few mealy-mouthed, wishy-washy responses, but examining some of the 500+ letters published before comment was cut off led to the discovery of some real treasures.
I’ve copied a few here and only wish non-anonymous attributions had been included, since there are some terrific writers in the group.
Disappointed in Salon’s editors
They selected as the “Editors’ Choice” letters that are obsequious, fawning, and rah-rah collectivist — pro Obama, but still treacly. How about choosing some of the many letters rightfully critical of this self-indulgent goop?
I am guessing that your parents gave you a democratic place at the dinner table and more freedom to doubt than any generation in American history. This was partly problematic as the culture of the 80s was a poor place for an adolescent to navigate without some firm direction. As a result, many in your generation learned an unprecedented degree of entitlement, self-involvement, and materialism.
Self deprecating my ass. It’s still all about you, and behind all the pop culture, what you’re really talking about is ageism. We get it. You’re younger and cuter and have longer to live. Big whoop.
As for the Obama worship, please. I’m just thrilled to the gills for black people, after all the cr-p they’ve put up with in this country. And it puts the screws in right wing attacks on affirmative action, because Obama is so qualified. Don’t kid yourself, though. He’s a smart cookie alright, and was sharp enough from day one to swipe the Clinton policy agenda, which is what he’ll use to govern. But the speeches that send you are stuffed with canned rhetoric and shallow chiches.
Thanks for the sneering apology, but you don’t get anything. Try doing something useful for three seconds and get back to us.
“We didn’t get that.”
_____
And still don’t. Drop the groundless condescension and you may begin to “get it”.
_____
“We aren’t joiners.”
_____
Yes, you are: it’s in your “we”. We “Boomers,” however, had to fight every inch of the way against enforced conformity. Against compelled “joining”. The so-called “counterculture” was comprised precisely of non-joiners — those who refused to join the usual program of war and military service as proof of maturity and patriotism.
_____
“We don’t like carrying signs.”
_____
We didn’t either. But it had to be done. There’s a difference between “like” and “responsibility”.
_____
“We tend to disagree, if only on principle.”
_____
And we disagreed in reality — not only on principle but also for real: many of us got our heads busted by real nightsticks for doing so.
And believe it or not, we didn’t belittle our parents based upon a false “We know better,” therefore did not so get it wrong about the prior generation. You manage, though, to be consistent with the “Boomer”-bashing I see fairly often from your generation. The bottom line on that point: you don’t know what you’re talking about, but can’t resist insulting those you falsely lump together and blame for Bushism, and its nature and consequences. This is a central point you miss: the Bush criminal enterprise, despite being “Boomer,”* was a MINORITY, which is why they had to STEAL the election in 2000.
And what did you do about that? I, and other “Boomers,” were vocal, from 12/12/2000, about the theft, and the subversion by the SC which assisted it. I didn’t see you in the streets, carrying signs, perhaps because you were too busy blaming the “Boomers” for doing that which they in fact opposed.
*Point of fact: the architects of Bush II, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and Paul Bremer, are not “Boomers”. They were born in 1941, 1932, 1943 and 1941, respectively.
Arrogant Bullshit
Gen X’ers are conditioned consumers ….
They didn’t “take to the streets” against the Iraq war because they don’t really believe in anything ……. and you are not willing to be ostracized, tear-gassed or beaten on the head for something you don’t really believe in …
Sorry …… voting in a presidential election is neither a sign of courage or an example of self-sacrifice ….
And if music is the expression of a generation’s soul, there is a wasteland.
Where it not for the enormous technological shift that gave Xer’s the temporary upper hand over us boomers, y’all wouldn’t be so damn uppity. To have been chastised, or worse, ad nauseaum by our parents and then villified by these spoiled Gen X brats makes my decision not to have children one of the best of my life. You’re as boring, conformist and dull as the silent generation. I roll my eyes at your trite petty concerns and utter lack of passion about anything.
from a slightly pre-boomer
Geez what a snide piece of self-congratulation masquerading as rapprochement. And you think the so-called BOOMERS take themselves seriously? Don’t you get the picture, kiddo? You’re young now. You won’t be always.
do me a favor and stop congratulating yourself while standing on my shoulders.
i’m 60 years old. i grew up lower middle class with parents who would die rather than vote for a republican. we divided on the vietnam war, but many did. i marched against the vietnam war in washington d.c. in november 1969 w/about a million other people (numbers deflated by the media.) i marched on the streets of miami with a sign that said “get out of cambodia.” i was on the forefront of feminism. i proudly marched with my best friends, who were gay and tired of hiding it. i was sickened by nixon, ford, especially sickened by reagan and the great lie that he lived and sold to the american people (and still it lives on). and don’t get me started on the bush family.
when geo w started railing against iraq as revenge for “9/11” i thought he’d gone mad. i was in the streets protesting our involvement, but where was the press? where were you?
at present, i am unemployed, because even though i am college educated with years of experience, skills, and knowledge in several professional areas and extremely computer-literate, i can’t find a job. and i’m not too picky either. once you reach the age of 40 in this country, you become “old;” once you reach 60, you become worthless and unemployable. i’ve been interviewed by people your age, and i’ve seen the flicker go across their face as to “uh-oh – didn’t know she was ahhh, old” even though my resume and phone interview knocked their socks off and they couldn’t wait to hire me.
i worked and voted with pleasure for barack obama after having been aware of him long before he declared and long before oprah. as for hilary, i didn’t think she was electable based on her married name: clinton. but she didn’t deserve some of the crap that was spewed in her direction by either party, either.
and the last time i looked, it wasn’t your generation alone who tippled over and got us a democratic win in 2008 – it was millions of voters, of all ages, of all colors, and even quite a few republicans who came over the light. but apparently you’re ready to take the credit for it
so, “chicken” (your favorite cutesy term), while you can use all the so-called “boomer” cultural references that have been claimed by madison avenue in order to promote goods and services to offer up “your apology,” i would ask you to please do it while standing on your own two feet.
we “boomers” are getting awfully tired of carrying your load.
— shar476
As a member of Generation Y, I’m getting a little tired of hearing Generation X prattle on about their irony, cynicism, and self-deprecation.
(W)e wanted you, our little brothers and sisters, to totally rely on, to take for granted, the liberty we fought for. We delight in the kind of silly-self-important prattle contained in Heather’s title, because it means that we won the battle and you’re so free you have no idea what the word means.
When you grow up, you’ll see that and stop talking about yourselves as somehow, above joining.
Join us in some humility. It’s time for a change.
Sounds more like Gen Y to me
I am 39, supposedly of the Gen X group. While I recognize many of the cultural items in the letter, I do not recognize the sarcastic, self-obsessed cynicism. Does anyone actually see the world through so dark a pair of glasses as the author? Sheesh. I got depressed just reading it. It is true that during our lives we have seen some abysmal “leaders”, but there was always another chance to get it right.
Speak for yourself!
I hate this article. It purports to speak for an entire generation when nothing could be further from the truth. I am a gen-Xer and relate a great deal to the ideals of the 60s, as do plenty of friends. I hate the fact that more people don’t get involved in civil rights and politics, and don’t get apathy and complacency that in this letter is attributed to my entire generation (I take offense to the label and despise this sort of pigeon-holing). I’m hoping that Obama ushers in a new spirit of revolution in all things.
Frankly, Heather…
…if you felt uncommitted to service; uncaring about the way the world was going; and uninterested/too cynical to do anything to help, that’s _your_ individual lack. That’s your selfishness and apathy, because no one with any kind of heart or intelligence (or sense of history, for that matter) would have thrown up their hands and declared the battle lost without even seeing what small opportunities there were. What–there were no homeless shelters you could work at; no food banks you could assist; no “resident reader” programs you could aid? Come _on. The fact you had to wait for someone like Obama to show you that societal commitment was finally cool–that’s just frickin’ sad. As others here have noted, part of growing up is realizing you can’t blame everything on your elders. The boomers aren’t ultimately responsible for your devotion to snark and superficiality–you are.
Hmmm…
Prattle.
i am not sure how to respond.
Prattle is a nice-sounding word. Sorta like what a gold finch sounds like. I would apologize to Heather. Some of us assumed that our children would be thoughtful and sensitive to the social interests we believed to be important. Alas. We did not pound equity and fairness into your brains with the same ferocity that aggressivity and covetousness was pounded into our soft heads. It is pleasant what you say, Heather, but you really do not seem to know anything about the difference between authenticity and rhetoric. Perhaps that is the Obama factor.
huh?
I couldn’t finish the article. I couldn’t get past the idea of a Gen Xer — the most shallow, self-absorbed generation in history — accusing someone else of self-involved prattling.
Love It or Leave It
Here are some moments from my Baby Boomer life:
1. Kneeling when I entered my junior high school every morning so the principal could measure whether my skirt was long enough. Getting suspended for three days when I refused to kneel one day. (My mother was so embarassed she essentially disowned me.) How would you like it, Gen Xers, if people were not measured by the content of their character but the length of their skirt?
2. The high, pitched, keening screaming of my mother when she got the news my foster brother David had been killed in Vietnam.
3. My brothers waking up every day wondering if the dice had been rolled, their number called for the mandatory draft to become a Vietnam soldier. If you refused the mandatory induction, you go to prison or leave your country. What greater fear could there be than being forced to go and fight in a war ?
4. Watching Bobby Kennedy, my Bobby, our Bobby, murdered on television. This man, who evolved before our eyes, who grew up, who became a man not of privilege but of imagination and thought and of the world. Imagine the hopes and dreams you have invested in Barack Obama and imagine if they were destroyed in one brutal, senseless moment.
5. Watching my now husband being shaken down and detained because we were driving in a very upper class neighborhood in a very rusty vehicle. We were stopped because my husband had long hair. Yes, you could be stopped by police because of a hair style in those days. We know that is why we were stopped because we requested the police report after we were stopped, searched, asked to spread ’em, and given tickets for careless driving and a “dimmed” tail light (not out, just dimmed). We fought it and it may have helped that my husband was a returning Vietnam veteran with two purple hearts. (Yes, he was one of those who faced mandatory conscription into the military, or prison, or leaving his country and family.)
6. If you think boomers spent too much and you are paying for it, I guess you would rather have issues like in China where infant formula is contaminated with melamine (monitoring food manufacturing industries and our governmental-related agencies to do so cost a lot), no dependable clean water or immediate electricity, no good roads, no internet, no public education (I don’t have any kids–should I have paid all these years to educate yours).
Jeez. If you think we gave you a bill and nothing in return, imagine what life would be like if you could get kicked out of a public school for the length of your skirt, or get arrested because of hair gel, or you had to worry whether the formula you fed your baby would also poison that baby. You shopped at Walmart to save $2, you get boob enhancements, believe bandwidth is a right not a privilege, you expect to drive safe roads, send kids to public schools, yada, yada, yada. You live a life of luxury in comparison to every other country in the world.
FOUR DEAD IN OHIO. Remember what war protests really meant during the Vietnam war. Protests are allowed now. I got whipped by a police baton and spent a night in jail. I was 17 years old but was jailed anyway. In those days, war protest and being arrested meant you were basically screwed as far as jobs and college.
I was lucky because I was 17 so it never shows up on my permanent record. But there are still FOUR DEAD IN OHIO. The United States Government used to shoot war protesters.
When rednecks used to say “Our Country. Love It or Leave It”, that was really true. You had to serve in the military under the mandatory draft or leave the country or be imprisoned. If you protested a war, you might be killed by the very U.S. soldiers who didn’t want to be soldiers either. If you were a female, protesting a war could get you jailed and, essentially, ruin any job or college prospects.
This is the first election in which the under 30 age group voted more than the over 65 age group. Where were you Gen Xers all this time? Shopping Walmart?
Electing a president you believe in is a great step. But ignoring Congress and the failures of those in Congress is a big mistake. Saying I, as a Baby Boomer, owe you money? Well, give me back all the taxes I have paid to guarantee you clean water, safe food, your education, your children’s education, roads, bandwidth, police protection.
But, most of all, give me back those FOUR DEAD IN OHIO.
— sureok
I think I understand a bit more, now
I think I know now why Obama is such a hero to so many. The people who are spreading the faith are like this person – ignorant and blissfully unaware of her ignorance. When I was in school, I was forced to read and study the writings of Martin Luther King. Perhaps that is why I hear Obama’s speeches and am left uninspired – because I know what true inspiration sounds like. This woman thinks that good intentions are enough and therefore dismisses the value of the work people did to actually make things happen. She does not value accomplishment – she insults the people who built the internet she uses to display her ignorance. Obama’s lack of leadership is nothing to her – all that matters is that he is intelligent. He doesn’t actually have to do anything with that intelligence.
Find a speech by MLK on the web and read it. You’ll be amazed at how great this man was. Learn about Rachel Carson, who was not a baby boomer, but who influenced the boomers to make changes. Learn about the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Air Act, and how a man was put on the moon. And then come back and apologize in earnest for this selfish, self-serving piece of claptrap.
You know the phrase in your essay that’s really going to haunt you as you age? That is, if you turn into someone with enough conscience to be haunted by your own earlier foolishness.
” . . . self-important prattle . . .”
The best and last word:
H. Havrilesky strikes me as a person who writes so she can see her name in print. None of us give a tinker’s hoot whether you roll your eyes or not. Roll away, babe. We boomers are the reason you’re writing this inane blog rather than some 25 year-old white guy, dictated to and typed by his “secretary”. You will never “get it” unless you have lived it. Get it?