Hear, hear! Especially when so much of it is divisive, bigoted, and just plain nasty. Not that this thread is. May it never be so here. One thing I like about this place is we can just relate as writers together.
The Whiskey a GoGo? Weird, I was suddenly thinking of that place in the middle of the night last night.
One of the things that bugs me about English-language chat about 'generations' online is that they are very specifically American generations, based on events and factors in American culture and economy, yet are discussed as though they are a universal constant. I get that this thread is just a bit of fun, but when that happens in serious discussion it irks me a bit.
Same same same. I was a classic 80s kid. Even now, I still can't move past the decade. Well I can, but I don't wanna so I ain't gonna For all those that were born after the 80s - it really was that good. Endless summers, neon sunsets, heartbreak, huge hair that sparkled. But I will say this; the younger generations have done a sterling job of re-imagining it. It's dead on. Every day had a synthpop soundtrack and no-one ever questioned it. My milkman used to burn up the street in a deLorean.
It makes me happy actually to learn that there are kids in places like India (admittedly the more middle class ones) that identify along similar generational lines to kids in the west. It really gives me hope. It's very unifying. I know there's a lot of talk about cultural differences - and those are there too - but jeez, why not celebrate homogeneity once in a while, huh?
World War II was the basis for establishing the generational themes discussed in this thread. Last time I checked, it was a fairly widespread event, and it's not surprising that people across the globe accept it as a basis for generation generalizations. Incidentally, Louann, you might want to add to your list the so-called Lost Generation that fought WWI.
Yeah, the Enlightenment ended. The idea that liberalism, art, technology, science and human advancement was pushing the species toward a utopian society was quickly replaced with mechanized death and the utter destruction of Europe. Cue the age of cynicism (for lack of a better term) marked by fear, genocide, totalitarianism, and the general believe that the human race was not destined for greatness, that technology was not good, that liberal politics only bread instability, and no, Virginia, there sure as shit was no Santa Claus. A few million dead people will do that to you. Birth rates in France still haven't recovered from all the dead breeding males. And then WWII turned to WWI and said, hold my beer and watch this! It was little different in the Americas, which was still in an evolutionary upswing, but WWI ended the Concert of Europe and the West still hasn't recovered.
I'm American, so I answered in American. No one's forced to conform to that. Answer however you like. Yes, cohort studies are popular in the US, and authors on the subject have attempted to quantify their findings using a common lexicon (Boomers, Gen X, Millenials, etc.) That doesn't mean we're trying to say that all the world is like us. We're studying our own differences and commonalities, and honestly, I find it very interesting, even if all one can hope to learn about are vagaries and generalities. Certain cultural and technological trends extend throughout the West or even the world, but obviously we're having different experiences over the years.
I am also a Boomer, and that is probably why I have little patience with wokeism and the easily offended.
I'm putting words in his mouth so I could be wrong, but I got the impression it was at least as much the non-Americans that he was bugged by in some English-language online chats. A significant hyper-connected subset of Britishers can only see themselves through an American lens and leap with unbecoming eagerness on any label they can import from the States, even if it really can't be applied to their experiences. Of course Americans should use their own shared experiences to define their own culture. (And he does explicitly say he wasn't talking about this thread, so its clearly not meant to be taken personally.) Anyway rather than me continuing to humbug about things, I'll try a more earnest approach to defining my generation: All my grandparents either grew up in or fought in the war. In my mind at least that is the main and most significant anchor point for defining my generation in the UK. We're the generation two steps removed from the last nation-defining cataclysm. Hopefully more than two steps removed on the other side too; we shall see. I imagine that particular cultural line snaps around about here, as people seldom meet their great-grandparents so cultural memory probably moves on and starts to regard it as impersonal history, like Napoleon.
I'm a Boomer and "wokeism" is fine with me. Makes me a little uncomfortable sometimes, but that's what happens when one wakes up. But I'm not easily offended.
Technically I am a Millennial (1981-1996), but I refer to myself as s Xennial because being born in 1981 and growing up rural in the 80's and 90's and raised by baby boomers, I tend to have more in common with Gen X than my fellow Millennials. Guess I got caught in the Twilight Zone as the generations switched over.
Beginning of nineties, I'm in the capital though the whole country is a bit like the rural area of big western countries, and with both western and eastern influences.
