Get your wand off my lawn

May 15, 2008 8:48 AM

Kevin Colvin may have gotten busted, but his generation is taking over. Millenials are everywhere -- and while some people welcome our bright-eyed, tech-savvy overlords, Gen-X is steadfastly unimpressed
posted by chinese_fashion (80 comments total)

but hey, gen-x is steadfastly unimpressed with everything.
posted by quonsar at 8:57 AM on May 15, 2008 [6 favorites]

Dear Lord, us Gen Xers are already writing "spoiled young whippersnapper" articles?

Well, at least we have a shot at the presidency right now, one heavily supported by Gen Y. NOW GET BACK TO WORK AND STOP SURFING THE FACEBOOK!
posted by dw at 8:58 AM on May 15, 2008

I was annoyed by Gen-Xers, and now I'm annoyed by Millenials. I was born in 1980, making me technically Gen-X (the same way Barack Obama is a "baby boomer")

But neither of those groups is as annoying as Baby Boomers.
posted by delmoi at 9:01 AM on May 15, 2008 [4 favorites]

NOW GET BACK TO WORK AND STOP SURFING THE FACEBOOK!

Interestingly enough, Facebook's original name was "The Facebook"
posted by delmoi at 9:03 AM on May 15, 2008

Color me who the fuck cares about this shit? A stupid kid ditched work on a phony excuse and got fired for it.
posted by Mister_A at 9:04 AM on May 15, 2008

i'd fire his boss for being such a vindicative prick - trust me, when someone googles their names 10 years from now, they're going to shrug off kevin as a silly youth who probably has learned better - with paul, they're going to say, "you can't trust that bastard - do something he doesn't like and he'll tell the whole damned company about it and it could get out on the net"
posted by pyramid termite at 9:09 AM on May 15, 2008 [1 favorite]

Generation X survived AIDS, Reagan, the Cold War. But consider the stress Millennials face today: simultaneously maintaining Facebook, MySpace, and Flickr accounts

Aren't the Millennials the ones fighting our current wars for us?
posted by gwint at 9:10 AM on May 15, 2008 [6 favorites]

I find most of the "Millenials" I know pretty irritating, but I blame myself and my ever-growing crankiness, not them. I think a large chunk of it is that they often express a lot of the same attitudes/mannerisms/outlooks that I expressed when I was in my early twenties, and now I find it a source of first- and secondhand cringe.
posted by everichon at 9:10 AM on May 15, 2008 [5 favorites]

pt - I agree with you on that; it is certainly unethical behavior, and probably violates company policy.
posted by Mister_A at 9:11 AM on May 15, 2008

Oh, and delusions cruelly disabused by the corrosive progress of time.

Heh.
posted by everichon at 9:12 AM on May 15, 2008

Kevin Colvin -- previously on MeFi.
posted by ericb at 9:15 AM on May 15, 2008

Flagged as "same old same old." Will you youngsters please be quiet so us boomers can get some fucking sleep already?
posted by nax at 9:15 AM on May 15, 2008

I am constantly amazed by the number of people who are blissfully unaware of the possible impact of posting incriminating info on Facebook and the like. Most of my friends have no qualms about sharing pictures of themselves blotto, or posting vulgar, offensive messages on friends' walls. These are not high school kids, but grown adults. Having enough rudimentary computer skill to use the internet, while lacking sufficient awareness of its dangers and implications, is a recipe for disaster.

In other words, either don't friend coworkers, or keep your profile clean! This has been One To Grow On.
posted by joelhunt at 9:20 AM on May 15, 2008

oh, geez, get over yourselves - from the third link

We were the first bloggers.

i'll give them that - if they were smart they'd throw it back

We created rap music.

no, you didn't - ever hear of the sugarhill gang?

Silicon Valley.

not really - did you know that they had computers in the 70s and 80s with baby boomers starting up the companies?

McSweeney's.

whatever

Indie rock.

were r e m genx'ers? nope, baby boomers - the replacements? mostly baby boomers - what about all those punk bands? - they came up with the template of how indie business is done

Down deep, what frustrates today's young people—and those who observe them—is their failure to create an original youth culture,

oh, the irony
posted by pyramid termite at 9:23 AM on May 15, 2008 [1 favorite]

but hey, gen-x is steadfastly unimpressed with everything.
posted by quonsar at 11:57 AM on May 15

I would retort, but why bother?
posted by Pollomacho at 9:23 AM on May 15, 2008 [3 favorites]

He should have worn the dark fairy wings. Then he could have gone to the EAP at his job and gotten counseling for his "problems," and saved his job. Also I think he would have looked better in black.

I never called in sick for anything like a party, but there were days when I called in sick for my mental health, just so I could avoid the Dilbert-like insanity of Cubicle World for one stinking day. And I never would have posted it to Facebook, that's just stupid. Maybe he wanted to be caught. You're supposed to go in the next day clutching your stomach and saying it was probably something you ate, and "no, no, I'll be fine, I just couldn't let this very important project go undone another day." Learn the rules Millenials, for goodness sake.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 9:24 AM on May 15, 2008

Down deep, what frustrates today's young people—and those who observe them—is their failure to create an original youth culture

Jesus fuck, what malarkey.
posted by everichon at 9:25 AM on May 15, 2008

This is probably the dumbest article I have ever written. Pigeonholing 17 years of people into the same group being retarded aside, I was born in 1978 and am the son of baby boomers who didn't have me until they were 30. There are lots of people like me, even those who are 10 years my senior. Where does this author get the idea that my parents and their friends hate my generation? WE are their kids, not the 18 year old Millenials. We're the ones who are getting the keys to the kingdom.

Stupid fuzzy math. I am not impressed. Then again, I'm a gen-Xer, which is apparently par for the course. /lame
posted by fusinski at 9:26 AM on May 15, 2008

Haha... the dumbest article I have ever read. For shame. I guess I am fired up.
posted by fusinski at 9:26 AM on May 15, 2008

Hey, as a Gen-Xer I'm always happy to see all other generations dissed. Isn't that part of what makes gen xers special? Come on. Allow me my snarky crankery. Let me feel special for just a little while.
posted by mygothlaundry at 9:28 AM on May 15, 2008

Had you written it, fusinski, I am certain that it would have been the dumbest article you'd ever written. Unless you write for McSweeney's.

O yes I did!
posted by Mister_A at 9:30 AM on May 15, 2008

That much is true. And I probably would have complained just the same. I can recognize crap, even when it's my own. :)
posted by fusinski at 9:35 AM on May 15, 2008

That's what makes us the second-greatest generation, fusinski.
posted by Mister_A at 9:36 AM on May 15, 2008

Strauss and Howes "generation theory" is pretty interesting and seems to reflect some greater truth (although its inherit determinism is a problem). The problem is, it has become the world view for many people and it creates conflict and separation, generation warfare. This is not healthy. Reality is much more rich, complex and varied. It's like people who catagorize every person into one of 12 astrological signs - individuals are much more varied. Yet is still serves as tool and guide on occasion for large macro trends. On the one hand don't take it too seriously on the other hand don't entirely ignore it. U guess this is a typical GenX non-committal slacker approach.
posted by stbalbach at 9:37 AM on May 15, 2008

So, basically "Gen X" is the classic middle child? Ignored and unloved?
posted by madajb at 9:38 AM on May 15, 2008 [1 favorite]

Giving a shit what Time magazine thinks of you is so not Gen-X.
posted by rusty at 9:41 AM on May 15, 2008 [3 favorites]

Book? I ain't readin no book, that shit's old, like wearing a watch. Now if you can get it to me serialized as 7,000 text messages then maybe I'll take a look at it. Ooooh, my friend Gerry just wrote on my wall. Gotta go! You old timers take it easy.
posted by PostIronyIsNotaMyth at 9:45 AM on May 15, 2008

Pauly Shore.
Case closed.
posted by Dizzy at 9:45 AM on May 15, 2008

Oh-- would you mind helping me with these groceries?
posted by Dizzy at 9:46 AM on May 15, 2008

I can never figure out what generation I'm supposed to be, being born in 1978 it depends on who you ask. So I figure I'll just hate everyone and play it safe.
posted by aclevername at 9:50 AM on May 15, 2008 [5 favorites]

Fusinski, I think you're missing the point. Yeah, the Boomers are the Xers' parents, but the Millennials are their grandchildren, and thus sparkly and spoilable and not horrible grumpy bastards who don't appreciate the every one of the Boomers' sacrifices. The Boomer looks down from the position of age and experience and sees the joy in the Millennials' faces as as they bump'n'grind to their shiny ipods, apple logo outward, wearing fairy wings on Facebook, and then compares it to the gruff sneer of the cynical x-ers, as they do apparently very little but wait underneath, occasionally checking their watches.

Which tastes better, they ask rhetorically, cool, refreshing memories of youth, or snark-infested water?
posted by Sparx at 9:51 AM on May 15, 2008 [1 favorite]

Thank you, aclevername- I'm '78 also and dammit, I wish I was in a clearly defined generation so I could figure out who i'm supposed to hate and when I'm supposed to start hating them. For a while I was just picking random groups (soccer players! Algerians! Precocious children!) but I think just loathing everyone is safer, not to mention less work.
posted by Dormant Gorilla at 9:55 AM on May 15, 2008 [3 favorites]

I was born in 1981 but since I've never had any positive reinforcement, am overwhelmed by envy and hate and crippled by an inability to change my wretched life for the better I think I must belong to gen-x.
posted by Grod at 9:56 AM on May 15, 2008 [2 favorites]

but hey, gen-x is steadfastly unimpressed with everything.

"groovy."
posted by Avenger at 9:57 AM on May 15, 2008

The title of that first linked article is "Your Privacy Is An Illusion..."

What fucking privacy? The guy posted a picture of him partying to Facebook! It's not like he had it locked in a safe in his basement, he put it up on a public forum specifically for the purposes of showing it to other people.

It would be like me complaining that someone read something I wrote here. That's the point of me doing the writing, to have it read.

Sheesh.

But I'm from Gen-X so honestly, I don't really care that much.
posted by quin at 10:01 AM on May 15, 2008

While I admit not enjoying the negativity heaped upon my generation over the years, I somehow fail to see how rebranding ourselves as "the whiniest generation" is going to help.
posted by Pufferish at 10:02 AM on May 15, 2008

lolcategorizerz
posted by adamdschneider at 10:04 AM on May 15, 2008

Tip for generations: find a better claim to fame than "the 1990s."
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 10:06 AM on May 15, 2008

What fucking privacy? The guy posted a picture of him partying to Facebook!

that's public

the emails and the fact that the guy called in at his job were in fact private
posted by pyramid termite at 10:07 AM on May 15, 2008 [1 favorite]

This generational division crap is yet another example [along with the red/blue, pro-life/pro-choice, etc.] of how polychotomy ruins everything. Create divisions, put them in oppositional context with each other and watch them eat each other.
posted by sciurus at 10:23 AM on May 15, 2008 [2 favorites]

Isn't this a double or something? Anyway, fellow Gen Xers, we're beginning (beginning?) to sound every bit as whiny and self-absorbed and convinced of our own awesomeness as the generation before us, which is -- let me say -- one hell of a fucking feat. Personally, I'm over it, and declare my allegiance henceforth to the generation of the 1870s, which did many groovier things and had awesome Al Swearengen mustaches besides. Your favorite century sucks.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:24 AM on May 15, 2008 [3 favorites]

So, basically "Gen X" is the classic middle child? Ignored and unloved?

According to this theory of generations, Gen Xers are the spiritual heirs of the Silent Generation, the generation between the "Greatest Generation" and the Boomers.

Consider this quote:

Youth today is waiting for the hand of fate to fall on its shoulders, meanwhile working fairly hard and saying almost nothing. The most startling fact about the younger generation is its silence. With some rare exceptions, youth is nowhere near the rostrum. By comparison with the Flaming Youth of their fathers & mothers, today's younger generation is a still, small flame. It does not issue manifestoes, make speeches or carry posters. It has been called the...

Gen X? Nope. The Silent Generation. (And yes, that is Time magazine, the same people who gave their pronouncement on Gen X 40 years later, so cum grano salis.)
posted by dw at 10:25 AM on May 15, 2008 [2 favorites]

Ok, I'll buy that. But the article is pitching it as his being busted because his boss saw it on Facebook, and since they themselves are providing the e-mails I don't think that is the privacy they are worried about violating.

You do raise a good point though. How did these e-mails get into the wild? It seems like if the company released them, they would be opening themselves up to litigation.
posted by quin at 10:26 AM on May 15, 2008

The title of that first linked article is "Your Privacy Is An Illusion..."

Just last week at a staff meeting an eager and trendy young Gen Yer in our department was scandalized by the idea anyone might be googling job applicants and co-workers and having opinions about them based on what came up, invoking some idealized notion of privacy that we older and more cynical folks suggested was only available by not putting crazy shit about yourself online in the first place -- i.e., actually keep things private if you want privacy. (Yes, I proceeded to google the co-worker in question after the meeting, but found no dirt.)

I always wonder (fwiw, I am a child-free "Generation Jones" so no doubt my perspective is skewed somehow) if the whole "latchkey kids mostly being ignored by their over-busy or divorcing parents" thing has given Gen Y a sense that authority figures will always be looking the other way or otherwise disinterested in or distracted from their lives. (Which is a sad idea now that I think about it.)
posted by aught at 10:28 AM on May 15, 2008 [1 favorite]

Personally, I'm over it, and declare my allegiance henceforth to the generation of the 1870s

The Gilded Generation? The people who first brought us opulence, greed, and class warfare? The people whose pompousness towards the poor help create and foment the Progressive Movement and everything that came with it?
posted by dw at 10:30 AM on May 15, 2008

The Gilded Generation? The people who first brought us opulence, greed, and class warfare? The people whose pompousness towards the poor help create and foment the Progressive Movement and everything that came with it?

Okay, but I feel like you missed the part about the mustaches.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:31 AM on May 15, 2008 [10 favorites]

This generational division crap is yet another example [along with the red/blue, pro-life/pro-choice, etc.] of how polychotomy ruins everything. Create divisions, put them in oppositional context with each other and watch them eat each other.

I'm with sciurus! Who else is with us?
posted by Big_B at 10:38 AM on May 15, 2008

Just last week at a staff meeting an eager and trendy young Gen Yer in our department was scandalized by the idea anyone might be googling job applicants and co-workers and having opinions about them based on what came up, invoking some idealized notion of privacy that we older and more cynical folks suggested was only available by not putting crazy shit about yourself online in the first place

That's a lot easier to say for those for whom the Internet did not exist as a place to make an ass of oneself at the age of 14 (in fora, I might add, which in the mid- to late-nineties it was not at all obvious would be archived for all time and accessible by anyone from anywhere).
posted by enn at 10:48 AM on May 15, 2008 [2 favorites]

The problem is, most people are fucking stupid. And young stupid people lack the experience to realize they are stupid. So they act like they are not stupid, since they don't know any better, and annoy the hell out of us that are older.

I started to get into the other thread the other day on a similar topic, but there *IS* something different about kids today.

The biggest difference is the reluctance of parents to let their children grow up. When I was young and working, the thought of me having some problem at work and having my parents call to talk to my supervisor or HR was completely out of the question. It would have never been seriously considered by myself or my parents.

My friends who are in managerial roles all have stories like this... an employee in their early 20's, maybe already married, who has a parent call work on their behalf. My friends who are professors all have stories of parents calling on behalf of their grown children. Most everyone says this is something they had never heard of before about 4 years ago, and now it is approaching commonplace.

One professor friend of mine said he had 1 parent call in 20 years, and then had "at least" 20 calls in the last 2 years. A friend in manufacturing management said they get calls "weekly" from parents of employees.

I'm dead center Gen-Xer, but I also understand and agree with the "idealized notion about privacy" mentioned above. Due to my position, I am "the establishment", but so far I have never once googled someone to try to determine if they went on a bender last weekend or if they are having indescriminate sex with drunken frat boys.

Partly because I don't care, but mostly because it doesn't matter.
posted by Ynoxas at 11:05 AM on May 15, 2008 [3 favorites]

Personally, I've always felt the most affinity for the Lost Generations which came to adulthood (if they were really lucky and didn't die awfully) during WWI. I'm sure this says many bad things about me.
posted by Justinian at 11:05 AM on May 15, 2008

I think just loathing everyone is safer...

A former colleague of mine lived by this philosophy: "Everyone is an asshole, until they prove otherwise to me."
posted by ericb at 11:39 AM on May 15, 2008

Dude, are you being sarcastic?

Man, I don't even know anymore.
posted by Aquaman at 11:39 AM on May 15, 2008

Okay, but I feel like you missed the part about the mustaches.

Again, Gilded Age crap. Muttonchops are the true facial hair of America.
posted by dw at 11:45 AM on May 15, 2008 [1 favorite]

It is my understanding that Native Americans are not genetically predisposed to grow facial hair, so I'd assert that being CLEAN-SHAVEN and SQUARE WITH THE WORLD is the "true (American) facial hair".


[not beardist.]
posted by Dizzy at 11:49 AM on May 15, 2008 [1 favorite]

an employee in their early 20's, maybe already married, who has a parent call work on their behalf.

This is shocking. What do the parents call about? What do they say? Please expand - I am amazed that someone would have his or her parents do this.

Also, I do google people I interview, if I am interested. This is just to find examples of their work, though.
posted by Mister_A at 11:50 AM on May 15, 2008

I'd rather express my intergenerational opinions in song.


Hit it, boys:

Kids (from the musical 'Bye Bye Birdie')
posted by doncoyote at 11:54 AM on May 15, 2008

Quick generational test....

In IM, how do you indicate that you found something funny?

1) hahaha (or some variation thereof)
2) LOL!
3) I fucking hate IM.

1 = most likely gen-x, although possibly millenial
2 = definitely millenial
3 = definitely gen-x

It works surprisingly well.
posted by Afroblanco at 12:02 PM on May 15, 2008 [1 favorite]

What's IM?
posted by ericb at 12:08 PM on May 15, 2008

OMFG although some of the discussion in thread is interesting I hate the discussion on generations because media here by into it, and report the idea as fact.

We live on a couple of small islands in the middle of the largest ocean on the planet, yet we supposedly have the same cultural changes as the imperial pigs a world away in the US...
posted by Samuel Farrow at 12:17 PM on May 15, 2008

This inter-generational conflict has always seemed silly to me, mostly because me and everyone my age (pushing 30) don't really identify as one or the other. Technically I suppose we were the very youngest of Gen-X, our parents were boomers, but we can remember a time before the Internet and all saw Singles and Reality Bites. Plus I've always liked things that make me seem older than I am, when all my friends were into Hole and Alice In Chains, I liked the Ramones, Husker Du and Joy Division, and I often hung around with an older crowd.
posted by DecemberBoy at 12:20 PM on May 15, 2008

Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation:

Scanning the future further, this hero generation will have to confront some major crises. But, for a group that has never known war or famine, will it be an opportunity or a calamity?

Oh, September 2000, you're so adorable.
posted by designbot at 12:29 PM on May 15, 2008

My friends who are in managerial roles all have stories like this...

We were hiring a staffer a few weeks ago and she showed up for the interview with her mom. This person was in her mid- to late- 20s. She wanted to bring her mother into the interview with her. Awkward. When I was a kid I wouldn't even let my mother pull all the way into a driveway if she was dropping me off somewhere.
posted by Dormant Gorilla at 12:54 PM on May 15, 2008

I am so ashamed right now. I really am one of them.
posted by sunshinesky at 12:56 PM on May 15, 2008

So I assume you did not hire the candidate, dormant gorilla? I mean what the fuck is wrong with people?
posted by Mister_A at 1:07 PM on May 15, 2008

This is shocking. What do the parents call about? What do they say? Please expand - I am amazed that someone would have his or her parents do this.

Well yeah, I'm shocked as well.

For the professors, it is all about grades. "Josh studied really hard in your class, and he's going to try to go to medical school, and he can't have a B in your class mess up his 4.0 GPA".

For the guys in manufacturing, it seems to be attendance issues. "Johnny says he asked off from work for the first week in June, but you denied his request, and we're going to a family reunion and we really need you to approve his vacation" or "Jane has a doctor's appointment today at 2 o'clock". That sort of thing.

In my own work, it has been some attendance stuff, "Josie is very sick and can't come in today" and also some personal dynamics stuff "We don't think it is fair that you wrote up Joan over something she says other employees do as well". Like Dormant Gorilla above, I've also had Mom come to an interview with a candidate (thankfully, only once). I've also had Dad or Mom call to ask if we received little Mary's resume (this has happened at least 5-6 times just since 2008).

In my company (healthcare), it actually is spouses more than parents. I think some of that is that the company is 100% female, except for most of the the docs and myself. So, when something happens, I think the husband thinks he should call and talk to me "man to man". That seldom goes well. I've terminated employees due to spousal phone calls.

My favorite is a husband calling to ask why one woman got a promotion and his wife didn't. I suggested that she lacked leadership ability, and I felt confident in that decision, due to the fact that she couldn't even confront me herself, but had to ask her husband to do it.

All the above is anecdotal, of course, by definition. But this phenomenon has been touched on by the mainstream press. After reading an article about it, that's what prompted me to start asking friends in other industries, who all reported "yeah, happens a lot" sort of thing.
posted by Ynoxas at 2:10 PM on May 15, 2008

All these stories about people's parents calling their bosses almost makes me weep for the future - I work in software development (a trade that attracts social retardedness more than most) and I've never had someone show up to an interview with their mom/dad. On the other hand, I do enjoy the time I spend with the young'uns (mostly drinking and playing in sports leagues with them) - the energy and their plans for the future keep me on my toes (I'm 37). I do wonder what's going to happen when one of them eventually is my boss (I've gave up on climbing the ladder eons ago) - are they going to call their parents when it's time for my performance review?
posted by Calloused_Foot at 3:16 PM on May 15, 2008

...are they going to call their parents when it's time for my performance review?

No. They're going to call your parents!
posted by ericb at 6:55 PM on May 15, 2008 [1 favorite]

Who else is with us!

Me! Totally! But only for the eating part. (heads over to MeTa to create a meet-up eat-up.
posted by nax at 3:24 AM on May 16, 2008

)

Forgot that.
posted by nax at 3:27 AM on May 16, 2008

I'm solidly in Afroblanco's 3rd category.

And I don't understand Facebook/Myfriendster/Space. (I'm sorry, I just don't. I've tried.)

My parents would never intervene on my behalf in a job situation; not even if I begged them. In fact I hate to think how humiliated they would feel for me if I did.

And to the last link, the "seminal Gen X film" isn't "Reality Bites" it's "Slackers."
Your article sucks. Your favorite Kevin Colvin is a fucking idiot.
posted by From Bklyn at 5:48 AM on May 16, 2008

So I assume you did not hire the candidate

No, we didn't...we just found the whole thing a bit creepy. And after the HR person tried to be kind about letting her know that she should probably do the interview by herself, the mother CALLED two days later to find out how it had gone and whether her daughter got the job. There was really no opportunity for me to talk to this girl and find out what the hell she'd been thinking.

The weird part is this girl was about 23-24, and I'm 30, so that's not really all that huge a generational gap. What could have happened in those intervening years to have brought about a shift like that? The only thing I can think of is that it's the economy, and the fact that having to sponge off your parents for longer than usual extends your childhood- but why are the parents also all of a sudden fine with this sort of behavior? It's just baffling.
posted by Dormant Gorilla at 6:08 AM on May 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

I see your Pauly Shore and raise you Dane Cook.
posted by willpie at 7:58 AM on May 16, 2008

Well, I can't believe I'm coming in on the side of the GenY, Millenial slackers, um kids, but all of my friends in those demographics (and it constitutes most of the people I work with because of the nature of the industry), hate hate hate it when their parents still pull crap like this. I think is the Boomers and the Gen X parents who won't let the kids grow up. Fortunately, they keep me in line when I start getting over-involved in my kid's needs and decisions.
posted by nax at 7:59 AM on May 16, 2008

These Millenials with their facebooks and their Iraqs know nothing of the horrors of the War in Grenada my generation had to endure.
posted by chococat at 8:07 AM on May 16, 2008 [3 favorites]

When I was entering my 20s I was told I was too young for Gen X, and in point of fact most of the 20-somethings I knew appeared to be into tiresome retro music from the 1970s or 1980s, or tiresome grungy crap in the early 90s. I found out I was apparently too young to be in "Generation Y". Now it appears that I have been coopted into Gen X through default, or apathy. Fuck that shit. This whole Generation Naming crap is pseudoscience marketing reification for lazy feature writers and copywriters with no real or new ideas. We arise as cohorts, but associate and reproduce through variegated clades: the only metaphors for sociocultural reproduction have value.
posted by meehawl at 8:45 AM on May 16, 2008

MetaFilter: We arise as cohorts, but associate and reproduce through variegated clades.
posted by hjo3 at 1:04 PM on May 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

But neither of those groups is as annoying as Baby Boomers.

Actually, the most annoying of all are the WWI veterans. Christ, what a totally asshole generation they were. But they're all pretty much dead now, so, y'know, it's cool.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:22 AM on May 17, 2008

Actually, the most annoying of all are the WWI veterans. Christ, what a totally asshole generation they were.

no, not really - in fact, they were pretty cool - but i realize that most of you are too young to have actually met that generation - (my grandfather got gassed and shot in ww1, but survived)

now get off my lawn, etc etc etc
posted by pyramid termite at 10:02 AM on May 17, 2008

pt, my comment was a joke, intended to serve as an illustration that the blanket characterization of any generation is a stupid and lazy thing to do.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:07 PM on May 17, 2008

Like most Gen-Y/Millennial discussions, this one just makes me want to quote the following from David (Silver Jews) Berman's brilliant The Summer Before the Night Ecstasy Became Illegal in the State of Texas:

Fifteen years on, I can honestly say I'm glad it was outlawed. After three months of its use I had lost all discretion and was prepared to trust just about anyone. Worse yet, it was turning me into a joiner. That's not who I am. Anyway, ecstasy was not to find its true customer base until years later, when the strangely passive kids who grew up in the child protectorate of the U.S. eighties and nineties came of age, craving depersonalization. Apparently it helps them dance. They're a very attractive lot. Have you seen them dance?

"Child protectorate of the U.S. Eighties" is such a great phrase...
posted by idontlikewords at 11:05 PM on May 18, 2008