Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Generation X Is Sick of Your Bullshit (2011)

gizmodo.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 100 posts

Re: Generation X Is Sick of Your Bullshit (2011)

#11

Post by phone8675309 »

BbzzbB wrote: post #5
causi wrote: post #3

At first I was a little annoyed, but then I had to smile at just how emblematic of Generation X the article really is. Screwed over by their parents, depressed, substance-addicted, and hopeless, but not one single hint of any effort or plan to change things. Generation X is the generation of ennui at the ruination of the world. Millenials and Gen Z might just be pissed off enough to do something about it.

CC this theory : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss%E2%80%93Howe_generatio...

Strong people bring good times

Good times breed weak people

Weak people bring bad times

Bad times breed strong people

So it goes

Re: Generation X Is Sick of Your Bullshit (2011)

#12

Post by spywaregorilla »

nineplay wrote: post #9

I'm just happy to be sitting quietly on the sidelines while the Millennials and Boomers fight it out. We'll be boomers soon enough though, it's a label that's gotten completely detached from the year of your birth. I am feeling old enough to miss the "good old day". Even as I sit here typing message on a social forum, I can't help but feel that the internet has been a net negative. We weren't as unhappy as the curren…

No I think that's unlikely. The boomer label isn't simply old, a large part of it is viewing the world from a life spent in times of extreme economic growth.

Re: Generation X Is Sick of Your Bullshit (2011)

#13

Post by karmakaze »

Gotta admit this is funny as well as indicative:

> only awarded for victories, not participation.

I don't want to read another glamorous blog post about how well someone tried--without hearing about what could have been done differently and what will be done differently next time.

Re: Generation X Is Sick of Your Bullshit (2011)

#14

Post by cogman10 »

Steltek wrote: post #4

I'm reminded of an SNL gameshow sketch. Boomers vs Millenials with Generation X being the gameshow host. When the Boomers and Millenials were arguing, Gen X sat back going, "Meh. Not my problem." With Millenials having kids, being married, etc now, I don't think Boomers can continue being the boogeyman holding us down. It might be time to actually start fixing things.

The average politician in the house/senate/congress is a boomer.

I agree that the solution is for millennials to get more politically active. But the cards are sort of stacked against us. We have less money over all than prior generations which means any representative we want is likely going to be outspent by older representatives (for not being whiny or whatever).

On top of that, the political landscape has changed somewhat significantly. What changed is we have computers to draw congressional maps that remove political competition. There are few "swing" districts in the US and that has a lot to do with computer aided gerrymandering. That sort of system makes it easier for an old fart to stay in power for far too long, because they've picked constituency that won't remove them from office for bad behavior.

Of course, the only solution is to be less apathetic than the boomers and gen xers. To vote in very large numbers that are hard to ignore. That, however, is a hard thing to pull off. It's hard to convince people that their vote matters and will make a difference or that participation matters.

Re: Generation X Is Sick of Your Bullshit (2011)

#15

Post by nineplay »

spywaregorilla wrote: post #10
Steltek wrote: post #4

I'm reminded of an SNL gameshow sketch. Boomers vs Millenials with Generation X being the gameshow host. When the Boomers and Millenials were arguing, Gen X sat back going, "Meh. Not my problem." With Millenials having kids, being married, etc now, I don't think Boomers can continue being the boogeyman holding us down. It might be time to actually start fixing things.

Boomers have the bulk of wealth and political power. We (millenials) still have a a couple decades I think before things are our fault

Millennials have the voting majority though. How long before they start to get the blame for the election results?

Re: Generation X Is Sick of Your Bullshit (2011)

#16

Post by new_stranger »

phone8675309 wrote: post #11
BbzzbB wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CC this theory : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss%E2%80%93Howe_generatio...

Strong people bring good times Good times breed weak people Weak people bring bad times Bad times breed strong people So it goes

It is very interesting, this is a cycle you can see repeated in cities and governments for hundreds (or thousands) of years.

The multi-generational mindset shifts of work vs leisure come in waves.

Re: Generation X Is Sick of Your Bullshit (2011)

#19

Post by setpatchaddress »

spywaregorilla wrote: post #10
Steltek wrote: post #4

I'm reminded of an SNL gameshow sketch. Boomers vs Millenials with Generation X being the gameshow host. When the Boomers and Millenials were arguing, Gen X sat back going, "Meh. Not my problem." With Millenials having kids, being married, etc now, I don't think Boomers can continue being the boogeyman holding us down. It might be time to actually start fixing things.

Boomers have the bulk of wealth and political power. We (millenials) still have a a couple decades I think before things are our fault

You’ve gotta do something about the boomers sooner than that if you want to inherit a living planet. The thing that makes Gen X as a group ineffective is that it’s a much smaller cohort than boomers or millenials. Boomers didn’t have enough babies to replace themselves, narcissistic fucks.

OTOH, maybe generations are just astrology for journalists.

Re: Generation X Is Sick of Your Bullshit (2011)

#20

Post by phone8675309 »

new_stranger wrote: post #16
phone8675309 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strong people bring good times Good times breed weak people Weak people bring bad times Bad times breed strong people So it goes

It is very interesting, this is a cycle you can see repeated in cities and governments for hundreds (or thousands) of years. The multi-generational mindset shifts of work vs leisure come in waves.

It’s a feature, not a bug. The monied classes/aristocracy use the good times to pad their coffers and make the plebs feel like they can succeed and then they hunker down and wait out the bad times in their castles and mansions while the plebs fight for king and country because the aristocrats/monarchs got bored and kicked off a war, the plebs get sick and die while the rulers/owners stay safe by sending their servants into harms way out to attend to their external needs, or the plebs starve in the self-inflicted financial collapse.

Sometimes you get all three in quick succession like the early 20th century.

Post reply on HN