may 15
2008
Alright, DAD
Radar: Gen X vs. The Millennials.
9 comments
I never considered myself a Gen Xer (the Pixes? no thank you), but now that I work with a Gen Yer, I'd say there's at least as big a generation gap between me and the millenials as there is with me and the boomers. And that sucks.
posted by taylor at 11:42 AM on May 15, 2008 
Pshaw, pshaw! I dont buy it. For one, they claim someone born in 1981 is a Gen-Xer. Growing up on TGIF and Color Me Badd? More Gen Y than Gen X.
Doesnt this just amount to that age-old, hell-in-a-handbasket alarmism meant to compensate for the insecurities that come with aging? Just sayin'.
posted by Eloise at 12:38 PM on May 15, 2008
They felt threatened by our youth, confused by our lack of earnestness, and deeply troubled by our lack of appreciation for James Taylor.
Indeed. I cannot stand to be around Boomers when James Taylor comes on. At least we understand that Jack Johnson is as lightweight as cheez-whiz.
posted by Gavin at 1:05 PM on May 15, 2008
i've always felt stuck between the two, i'm 30 this year, so i think i'm too young to be one, (the cast of reality bites seemed a lot older than me when it came out.) and a smidge too old to be the other. (my mom was born in early 1945, so she has a bit of that as well.)
also, "mtv generation" is not an insult, 80's mtv was awesome, it's the mtv that exists now thats terrible. though that new show exile, about sending the my super sweet sixteen kids to third world countries is inspired!
posted by kittyholmes at 2:22 PM on May 15, 2008
I've always felt that there was actually a generation between X and Y (or M, if you will). That's the generation of Coupland's Shampoo Planet. To me, Millennials are something else entirely.
(Bonus link from 1992:
Move over, X. Here come the 'global teens')
posted by sjb at 2:57 PM on May 15, 2008
I happened to be in college at the peak of Gen X hysteria (early '90s), which means I fucking hate boomers. I'll never be able to get over it.
I really liked this article, except the antipathy for Millennials was a little too much. Perhaps this is because I think The Hills and Facebook are high art.
posted by Rex at 4:51 PM on May 15, 2008
There's a certain level of dismissive elitism in the article, focusing a little too much on the stereotype of a Millenial and a Yer. It's as if the author wrote the article to validate his own beliefs without really going out there and talking to people. Those formative years are all about self absorption on some level. It leads to people figuring out who the hell they are, or at least to an extent they can get by. Consequently, how the world is at the time of those formative years has a great affect on people.
Plus, every article I read about this generation stuff cites the years for X and Y differently. Some say X ended with 79, others say 84. Where the hell are the sources?
posted by patrick at 6:20 PM on May 15, 2008
generations are a stupid thing to base prejudices on because, as demonstrated in the comments here, they're so fluid and hard to define. also - as a millenial myself, if he honestly thinks that we get along best with the boomers because they're our parents, he clearly has a much better relationship with his parents than me. i can relate a lot more to gen x'ers (as a whole; again, it's all fluid). in essence, this article struck me as a guy who's mad at something so found a scapegoat in those younger than him and decided to have a round of bullying to an entire generation. kinda sad, really.
posted by Kylelonious at 10:54 PM on May 15, 2008
It was satire!
posted by kelsie at 6:14 PM on May 16, 2008
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