On August 24th, 2002, The New York Times published an article titled "For GenXers, A Wake-Up Call". In this piece they discuss the Vice-Presidential selection of Paul Ryan, age 42, in relation to his demographic identity as a Generation Xer. As many articles have, this one also imposes a "GenX" label on a person who is part of a huge demographic born approximately between 1960 and 1980, and it compares all individuals of this age group to the pronouncements of Douglas Coupland, Kurt Cobain, or Elizabeth Wurzel. While these writers and musicians certainly contributed to the making of a generational ethos, it is important to note that our generational voice is not represented by one or two figures from the past, but by a larger generational consciousness that has moved through time and space and has been gearing into action on a variety of fronts, as demonstrated by the many Occupy and Anonymous movements around the world.
The power of our generational voice is not only rooted in commercial and popular culture (which is why demographic data don't readily coincide with cultural representations), but in the witnessing of deeply disturbing and life-changing political, historical, and personal events around the globe (the 1990s being the most war-torn years in recent history). This is a generation whose worldview is based on change, on the need to combat corruption, dictatorships, abuse, AIDS, a generation in search of human dignity and individual freedom, the need for stability, love, tolerance, and human rights for all. As pawns of huge political events and wars (the fall of Communism, the Berlin Wall, apartheit, independence from dictatorial regimes, and so on), this is a generation that has felt the need to critique and express itself in its own ways, through its own linguistic styles, whether that be through grunge, hip hop, MTV, its own leadership and business models, and its own uses of new media technologies. This is a generation that can see through the constructed messages of old propaganda machines, such as the one Paul Ryan represents, as clearly as we can laugh at the failed attempts of advertising messages or make sarcastically poignant remarks about the sad state of human affairs.
This is all to say that this is a generation whose "X" does not just represent a demographic or age-cohort, as the New York Times article implies, but an ethos and a way of looking and experiencing the world that Paul Ryan does not even come close to representing, despite his McJob or like of grunge music. You see, Generation Xers will not boom onto the political stage. When we reach the political stage, which we already have, you will not hear us coming.
~ Christine Henseler, August 26th, 2012
The power of our generational voice is not only rooted in commercial and popular culture (which is why demographic data don't readily coincide with cultural representations), but in the witnessing of deeply disturbing and life-changing political, historical, and personal events around the globe (the 1990s being the most war-torn years in recent history). This is a generation whose worldview is based on change, on the need to combat corruption, dictatorships, abuse, AIDS, a generation in search of human dignity and individual freedom, the need for stability, love, tolerance, and human rights for all. As pawns of huge political events and wars (the fall of Communism, the Berlin Wall, apartheit, independence from dictatorial regimes, and so on), this is a generation that has felt the need to critique and express itself in its own ways, through its own linguistic styles, whether that be through grunge, hip hop, MTV, its own leadership and business models, and its own uses of new media technologies. This is a generation that can see through the constructed messages of old propaganda machines, such as the one Paul Ryan represents, as clearly as we can laugh at the failed attempts of advertising messages or make sarcastically poignant remarks about the sad state of human affairs.
This is all to say that this is a generation whose "X" does not just represent a demographic or age-cohort, as the New York Times article implies, but an ethos and a way of looking and experiencing the world that Paul Ryan does not even come close to representing, despite his McJob or like of grunge music. You see, Generation Xers will not boom onto the political stage. When we reach the political stage, which we already have, you will not hear us coming.
~ Christine Henseler, August 26th, 2012
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