In the UK there was a fair bit of nuclear propaganda in the 80s probably to keep the citizens anxious also it wasn't so optimistic where I grew up in Yorkshire (coal mines, steal works) or in the North more broadly (think Liverpool, Newcastle) so maybe it's not the great connection you might think it is
One of the odder things, for me is to see how the definition of 'what is a Boomer' and 'what is a Gen X' has changed over time. When I was a tad, a 'Boomer' was 1946-1959 which made Boris Johnson and me Generation X. Indeed Douglas Coupland's classic 'Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture' which popularised the term defined it as those born 1960-1978.
In Copeland's book, Generation X's defining characteristic was resentful complaining that our world was too small, and out of opportunities because the Boomers had grabbed all the good stuff while we were too young to do anything about it. Now 5 year's worth of our cohort don't even get the right to complain! Turns out we were Boomers and for some reason still missed out on all of the good stuff! All of our existential angst -- "Oh yes! My big brother always got something better. My parents always loved him best!" is gone to naught because we are no longer in the cohort that is allowed to have any.
Cheers! And thank you for writing this. I'd buy the next round if only we were having this conversation in a pub.
It is difficult to see what someone born in 1964 has in common with someone born in 1946, or indeed what someone born in 1964 has to do with the baby boom. If we're going to generalise about generations, we need to get it down to decades. I can't particularly relate to someone born in the late 1960s, although we are both Gen-Xers, whereas all the people left in the leadership contest would have been at school as the same time as me and therefore seem like they have more in common with me.
In the UK there was a fair bit of nuclear propaganda in the 80s probably to keep the citizens anxious also it wasn't so optimistic where I grew up in Yorkshire (coal mines, steal works) or in the North more broadly (think Liverpool, Newcastle) so maybe it's not the great connection you might think it is
How do I cancel you??? I’ll have to ask a Zoomer I guess, can’t wrap my head around that shit. Born in 1970
One of the odder things, for me is to see how the definition of 'what is a Boomer' and 'what is a Gen X' has changed over time. When I was a tad, a 'Boomer' was 1946-1959 which made Boris Johnson and me Generation X. Indeed Douglas Coupland's classic 'Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture' which popularised the term defined it as those born 1960-1978.
In Copeland's book, Generation X's defining characteristic was resentful complaining that our world was too small, and out of opportunities because the Boomers had grabbed all the good stuff while we were too young to do anything about it. Now 5 year's worth of our cohort don't even get the right to complain! Turns out we were Boomers and for some reason still missed out on all of the good stuff! All of our existential angst -- "Oh yes! My big brother always got something better. My parents always loved him best!" is gone to naught because we are no longer in the cohort that is allowed to have any.
Cheers! And thank you for writing this. I'd buy the next round if only we were having this conversation in a pub.
It is difficult to see what someone born in 1964 has in common with someone born in 1946, or indeed what someone born in 1964 has to do with the baby boom. If we're going to generalise about generations, we need to get it down to decades. I can't particularly relate to someone born in the late 1960s, although we are both Gen-Xers, whereas all the people left in the leadership contest would have been at school as the same time as me and therefore seem like they have more in common with me.