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News and Views of America's Living Generations
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COMMENTARY

The Reappearance of the Generation Gap

Won't Someone Please Think of the Children?

The Wisdom Deficit

The Debate of the Century

Tuesday, May 18, 2004

You've come a long way, baby. When I see the pictures of American soldier Lynndie England, posing in front of naked prisoners, cigarette dangling from her mouth, I can't help but think of the old Virginia Slim ads from the 1970s. Ubiquitous on billboards across the nation, they always depicted a smiling, smoking woman - and represented a triumph of feminism, at least in one sphere of public life. Silent and Boomer women could light up anytime they felt like it - how liberating!

Xer and Millennial women today actually have fewer rights where cigarettes are involved, but they have enjoyed expanded opportunities and empowerment in the arenas of sex, marriage, the workplace, and the military. And it all comes together in the weird tale of Pfc. England at Abu Ghraib prison. Here we have several Millennial generation themes in concordance - females as bullies, digital recording technology, porn for the masses, and service in uniform.

Pity our poor leaders, who must frame the moral context of an occupation amidst a sea of voyeuristic images of the modern, secular, perverted American.

Posted by Steve Barrera at 5:42 PM

Wednesday, May 05, 2004

The prisms of generations. Is it really fair to characterize people by the generation to which they belong? There certainly is a great diversity of viewpoint among Americans of any given age bracket. Nonetheless, one can often find examples on the Internet of a particular individual exhibiting his or her generation's archetypal mind-set. Consider these pieces, whose subject is the Iraq war:

From Silent George F. Will, we have a warning that we should not "short-circuit complex discussions," and that we need a government that can "be counted on to think and, having thought, to have second thoughts."

From Boomer Victor Davis Hanson comes an exhortation to maintain our moral resolve and to "unite in marshalling the will to finish the task in Iraq."

Meanwhile, Gen-Xer David Burge demonstrates his cultural insensitivity and sarcastic bent.

Finally, Millennial Shauna Fleming does some serious organizing to drum up support for American soldiers, and for the war's child victims - on both sides.

Posted by Steve Barrera at 1:39 PM

Tuesday, May 04, 2004

The good old days? Ever get one of those irritating and idiotic emails extolling the virtue of America's Golden Past, contrasting it with the sad state of our country today? After receiving the umpteenth such message, I decided to write one of my own.

Remember when?

A lot has changed in America since the good old days. If you’re one of the many Americans who misses that simpler time, when right was right, and wrong was wrong, you’ll appreciate these fine nostalgic points.

Remember when blacks stayed at the back of the bus, and gays stayed in the closet, because there were consequences if they didn’t?

Remember when a man could impregnate his teenage stepdaughter, and a healthy sense of shame kept his crime from being known?

Remember when Chinese, Indians, and Arabs were sources of amusement in Bugs Bunny cartoons, and we didn't have to treat their cultures and societies seriously?

Remember when gasoline was really cheap, because people didn’t mind air pollution?

Remember when a black man and a white woman wouldn’t dare hold hands in public, because they understood that their love was an abomination?

Remember when you didn't have to share your neighborhood with Muslims or Mexicans, because they stayed in their own pathetic countries where they belonged?

Remember when the state kept out of family life, and children being abused at home just learned how to deal with it?

Remember when the government didn’t over-regulate business, and we stoically accepted the death toll from unsafe products?

Remember when the government respected the rights of corporations, and they could refuse to hire you if they didn’t like the color of your skin, or the way you prayed to God?

Remember when terrorists only attacked in other countries, because we kept ourselves safe by supporting any evil regime that was anti-Communist?

Remember when Americans proudly waved their flag, since they might otherwise have to face a Congressional committee?

Remember when Dad beat you, and everyone understood that's just how proper discipline works?

Remember when Mom kept her place, like she was supposed to do?

Remember how wonderful life was in the good old days - so wonderful, in fact, that no one even dreamed of change?

Posted by Steve Barrera at 12:57 PM

BACKGROUND

Current ages of the living generations
Lost	104+
G.I.	80-104
Silent	62-80
Boomer	44-62
Gen-X	23-44
Millennial	?-23
Homeland	?

Millennial Saeculum
High	1946-1964
Awakening	1964-1984
Unraveling	1984-?
Crisis	?-

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About This Weblog- Generation Watch features commentary by Steve Barrera on America's living generations and their current experience. It has a companion news portal at LifeCourse Associates.

Where noted, background information on generations theory is copyright 1996 Broadway Books. All other content on this web site is copyright 2002-2005 Generation Watch and Steve Barrera. All rights reserved.