Sunday, October 11, 2009
Evil Bastards
Baby Boomers are simultaneously endangering Social Security's finances by retiring early, and blocking the career advancement of Gen Xers by not retiring. That's pretty vicious trick. No wonder I hated Dr. Spock's spoiled generation before I became a part of it in the generational gerrymander of the 1990's.
Actually, hate's too strong a word. You may recall the scene from The River's Edge in which the members of a high school class collectively sighed and rolled their eyes when the thirty-something said "we stopped a war, man." If you were in your twenties at the time, you had spent at least ten years rolling your eyes at that kind of statement. You wouldn't become part of the generation that "stopped a war, man" for another ten years. I no longer really care what generation I'm considered part of,* but I am enough of a paranoid conspiracy theorist and believer in pitchfork populism to wonder who benefits if generational bitchfests drown out serious discussion of economic issues and class interests.
*Not really. True story, my younger brother stopped by apartment one night in 1990 when I was trying to figure out some the lyrics to "Bodies." The first thing he said when i answered the door was, "David, is that the Sex Pistols you're listing to? It's 1990, you're worse than you used to make fun of old hippies for being ten years ago." Didn't like it when Madison Avenue decided I was one of those old hippies a few years later.
Actually, hate's too strong a word. You may recall the scene from The River's Edge in which the members of a high school class collectively sighed and rolled their eyes when the thirty-something said "we stopped a war, man." If you were in your twenties at the time, you had spent at least ten years rolling your eyes at that kind of statement. You wouldn't become part of the generation that "stopped a war, man" for another ten years. I no longer really care what generation I'm considered part of,* but I am enough of a paranoid conspiracy theorist and believer in pitchfork populism to wonder who benefits if generational bitchfests drown out serious discussion of economic issues and class interests.
*Not really. True story, my younger brother stopped by apartment one night in 1990 when I was trying to figure out some the lyrics to "Bodies." The first thing he said when i answered the door was, "David, is that the Sex Pistols you're listing to? It's 1990, you're worse than you used to make fun of old hippies for being ten years ago." Didn't like it when Madison Avenue decided I was one of those old hippies a few years later.
