1. What do you see as characteristic of your generation?
A: Well, apparently I am Generation X, though when "Gen X" was a big buzz word around the early 90s when Reality Bites, et. al., were big movies, I thought I was a lot younger than Generation X, since I was then in my late teens (19, I think?). Now, I guess I am considered "Generation X" through some revisionist history.
Anyway, I think what's characteristic of my generation is preoccupation with instant gratification, an obsession with exterior imagery, with "having" rather than "being" -- or, worse, "appearing to have" even over simply "having." Fear of exploring individual potentialities in favor of pursuing the "safe" route.
2. What differences do you see in your generation versus the World War 2 generation abd the baby boomer generation?
A. My grandfather was in the US Army Air Corps in WW2, was in the Berlin Airlift, and also in the Korean War. My mom is 51 now and grew up largely in Japan on a US airforce base; she's a baby boomer.
I think my grandfather's generation had values that included: Loyalty to employer in exchange for same; dedication to promoting democratic ideals globally and at home; a feeling that there was a pretty clear sense of right and wrong -- less relativistic moralizing and more absolutism in the moral field (which I don't necessarily this is a bad thing; clearly some things really ARE wrong). Segments of my grandfather's generation fought hard to fight fascism, totalitarianism, and establish the New Deal at home, including minimum wage laws, basic welfare provisions, etc. They did good and bad stuff, in other words. McCarthyism? Bad. Beating Hitler? Good.
The baby boomers I think actually took their parents at their word that America's unqiue historical purpose was to fight for democratic rights for all. So they expected the ideals trumped in WW2 to be actually established at home. You know: Let's fight the extreme right wing and ensure equality of races and gender and that cornball hokey stuff people make fun of now.
The Baby Boombers' parents fought Hitler and fascists because Hitler and the fascists were racist, ethnocentric, militaristic, bloodthirsty warmongerers. They were taught, and rightly, that that was bad. So they expected that their own country ought to follow along in that tradition, too. Not that the USA shoudl just fight that in other countries, but we should fight it here, too. WHOOPS!
Unfortunately most of the baby boomers got tired of pushing in that direction and settled for a sort of liberal-ish culture mixed with the same ol', same ol' economic structure.
3. What similarities do you see in your generation versus the baby boomer and World War 2 generation?
For one thing, I do not think "generations" are monolithic. My family is white southern working class and so that segment of my family's generations have certainly had their own conservative values that may or may not reflect mainstream generational trends. The same generation from a California background may have different values, for example.
My mom is more liberal than her dad, but by the standards of a lot of kids I know, my mom is still pretty conservative. A "conservative Democrat," I'd say: pro-choice, but religious (Catholic), supports some welfare, but was/is against gay marriage (which made me sad). I think we all would rise to fight fascism and genocidal maniacs, across the generations. I think we all agree going after Hitler and Italy in WW2 was good. I'd sign up tomorrow to do it if I could, and I'd kick Franco's ass, too. But who gets called a "genocidal maniac" or a "terrorist," etc., these days is pretty contentious and politically-defined (in a bad way). Saddam Hussein? The USSR? That's where the generations may differ.
We would all probably agree America's potential is huge, but it hasn't fully lived up to it yet. It's an unfolding and interesting process, I think we'd all say. We would hopefully all agree America could be a place where everyone was really free, had equality of opportunity, and freedom of speech. Folks in my generation, Genereation X I guess, might say there ought to be minimal economic guarantees enshrined into Constitutional law in light of the "right to LIFE, liberty, and pursuit of happiness" the Founders wrote about. (The "right to life" seems to imply minimal economic guarantees to me; for ex. you can't live without food or housing of some kind).
But in Plano [uh long story for folks not in N. Texas] a lot of kids don't want that -- they think that wanting federally mandated minimal economic guarantees is just code for "giving blacks hand outs" -- or something. The New Deal generation did think that Americans deserved minimal economic guarantees -- so in some ways they're more liberal than youngsters with lip piercings and tribal tattoos today. But not everyone back in the 1930s supported the New Deal. It's complex. We all have a lot of differences and similarities. Sometimes I wonder if Baby Boomers aren't sorry they set the rebellious example they did in the countercultural movements they spearheaded in the 1960s - Situationism, Civil Rights, Anti-War, women's rights. Well, maybe their example in turn was the New Dealers.
Welp, too late, now, fuckers! You set the example, and sometimes you all had some good points, but fuck you all for selling out.
4. Is there anything you dislike about your generation?
My generation is supposedly generation X. I dislike a lot about it. We came from Baby Boomers. We should know better. They started a lot of great things and made LBJ's Great Society responsible, got us out of Vietnam, etc. Generation X may have put Clinton in the White House, but he did absolutely nothing comparable to LBJ's Great Society or to FDR's New Deal. In fact, he eliminated many new Deal programs, like AFDC ("welfare") and expanded the US's military reach across the globe. Yet he has a reputation of being some sort of uber liberal who oppressed white people and doled out tax money to undeserving minorities while keepin' the white man down. The Elian Gonzalez thing is still seen by many as the ultimate example of what happens when you get a soft liberal in charge -- they let non-whites dictate everything and us white folk get left out! Fuck! Interestingly, a lot of times people who feel exactly this way have full sleeves of tattoos and body piercings.
So, yeah, the hypocrisy in my generation disappoints me. Also, it's inability to mobilize in support of the values it seems like it should logically hold. It's unwillingness to fight for gay rights -- often folks who enjoy the idea of lesbian porn or menage a trois-es will be the most homophopbic people you'll meet. There is rampant hypocrisy. Fuck that! There is a severe disconnect between the sort of culture my generation says it likes -- "alternative" this and that -- and the sort of politics it ultimately embraces, which are some of the most backwards and right wing and embarrassing things on the planet currently. I am embarrassed about Generation X and those younger than us. We should know better.
5. What were the most important priorities of your generation?
Getting a good job and education and becoming financially stable. Absolutely core, understandable priorities for anyone, anywhere, at any moment in history. Without these things you can't do much else. I think these priorities are almost universal. Without economic stability you are not even human -- you are just a stomach and a mouth and can't develop your other potentials/faculties. So having a good career is totally understandable and I wish more of my friends had careers they enjoyed more.
6. What events shaped your generation?
Well, for one thing, I am a Gen X'er, so my generation is not dead. Events still shape my generation, just like events still shape anyone living and breathing.
9/11. The war on Iraq. Current events. The Clinton presidency and the Perot independency campaign. The Nader campaign. The sudden popularity in "alternative" culture around 1991 once Nirvana came along--that shaped our generation and subsequent generations. That was the 9/11 of the cultural/pop music world -- suddenly the same folks who picked on you in the 80s for dressing punk were at punk shows trying to be your best friend or asking you what next record they should buy. Suddenly the high school counselor who thought you were a "Satanist" in the 1980s after watching an episode of Geraldo -- suddenly that same fucking asshole was wearing a lot more black and listening to heavier music, maybe considering getting their labret pierced a few years later. That definitely shaped Generation X -- and to anyone with a clue it was also very revealing, and very depressing.
Without a doubt, the advent of the Internet also shaped my generation. No, Al Gore did not invent it and he doesn't think he did, and people that think that he claims that watch too much fucking Bill O'Reilly (Gore did help DARPA fund the "internet"'s --it wasn't called that then but it evolved into it -- development in the 1970s whether folks like to believe that or not). The Internet's rising prominence is still being felt and is still influencing folks, even the Baby boomers and older generations. Again, we're not all corpses frozen in time. What influences my generation influences the generation my WW2 vet grandfather belongs to, too (to the degree members of his gen. are are still alive, of course). The Internet influences him as it does me and 5 year olds.
The "conservative revolution" in 1996 (Newt Gingrich anyone) and AM conservative talk radio also influenced my generation, I'm sad to say. The voices of Limbaugh, Michael Savage, even Morton Downey Jr and trashy day time TV -- that all had its part. Trashy TV shows. Sensationalism. Scandalism. Jerry Springer. The "extreme sports" + Mountain Dew + Surge + rollerblading + spiky hair + "radical" culture, + MTV changing to get "more in touch" and establish scene cred -- that all influenced tons of people. Grunge music. Industrial rock. DVD movies. Blegh.
7. What were the most important technological advances of your generation?
Technological advances like the Internet and cars that got better gas mileage are a couple. Also, seeing Gulf War 1 take place across Cable TV -- CNN -- with advanced weaponry was really eye-opening. That influenced Generation X'ers whether they're cognizant of it or not. Widely available cable; movie rentals; home video game consoles; the rightward shift in the American political spectrum combined with high tech warfare.Laser guided bombs, dropping bombs down chimneys. Cellphones. But, again, above and beyond all: THE INTERNET.
8. How has your generation impacted the world?
Good question!
Some positive ways: I think Gen X has contributed immensely to America's cultural identity by way of music, radio, movies, independent films, hell--mainstream films, novels, etc. More cultural than political. Perhaps also technologically -- a lot of Gen X'ers helped develop net technologies during the "New Economy" of Clinton's late 90s in the Silicon Valley. The big dot-com boom and bust of the 1990s. Mobile phones, video over the internet, computer technologies.
Nothing meaningfully political (yet).