that has attracted a more debased form of politician and led to the gridlock that has halted any sense of progress. It’s also created a culture in Washington, D.C. This has created a culture where the dialog between liberals and conservatives has become a shouting match that only makes people dig their heels in further. These days “whatever” matters more than ever.Īmerica’s political divide has calcified over the past decade because more and more people are basing their personal identities on their politics. Throwing around the occasional “whatever” gives us the time and energy to focus on the problems that really matter and take action. The quickest way to stop fanning the flames of outrage is with a simple, “whatever.” Like dogs distracted by squirrels, we’ve got our heads on outrage swivels these days. We also live in an era where many seem to be addicted to outrage. In the world of social media, we unintentionally amplify the most wretched voices by subtweeting, commenting and liking the posts from the army of grifters fighting for our attention. Somewhere along the way, people forgot that it’s even more powerful to ignore someone than to admit they got under your skin. Two of the most popular Gen X phrases were “whatever” and “talk to the hand (because the face don’t give a damn).” These may seem to be flippant responses but they are the correct way to deal with other people’s nonsense and in 2022, we have to deal with a constant barrage of it. This is a call for us to remember what we once stood for and to fight back by doing what we do best-staying above the fray. Many of us have lost our way by forgetting our disdain for authority and skepticism toward institutions. Plus, weren’t the ’90s great?Īlso, with hat in hand, I must admit that this message is for Gen Xers as well. OK, it might not fix all of our woes, but the way things are going now surely aren’t working.
The answer to all of these problems is simple: admit that Gen X at one point had it right and if we followed its lead, we could reverse these terrible trends. All of this is happening while we face the greatest challenge of our times, climate change. We live in an American culture that is fractured by political partisanship, fueled by a constant culture of outrage, crippled by a preoccupation with technology, plundered by greedy boomers and annoyed by overly sensitive millennials. You’re not the center of the universe.”īut things have changed since the ’90s when Gen X was coming of age. And with that came a sense “that you don’t have to shine a light on yourself. In the young Gen Xer, the culture of the era “instilled a wariness and skepticism, and a kind of ‘figure it out for yourself’ mindset,” Paul Taylor, author of “The Next America: Boomers, Millennials, and the Looming Generational Showdown” told The Washington Post. “Nothing was more embarrassing in the ’90s than trying to convince people to like the thing you made." “After writing this book, I’m back in the mindset of ’90s thinking, which is that nothing is worse than selling out,” Chuck Klosterman, author of “The Nineties: A Book,” told Esquire. Nobody would have ever referred to themselves as an “influencer” in 1991-that’s the definition of a sell-out.
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This complete reversal on the social acceptance of gluttonous TV viewing made me wonder what happened to the values we were raised on as Gen Xers? We were taught that sincerity was for simpletons, everything corporate is evil, old school is always better than the latest and greatest, authenticity is king, conformity is death and there is nothing worse than being a sell-out or a poser. “I don't watch TV, man,” people would say. In fact, they bragged about not owning a TV. “Man, this guy would have been crucified in 1993,” I thought.Īs a 45-year-old card-carrying member of Generation X (those born between 19), I remembered a time when nobody bragged about the amount of TV they watched. It seemed that his unquenchable desire to get through shows in the Golden Age of television meant he’d sacrifice the entertainment value of the show just to get to the end. This article originally appeared on 03.10.22Ī few weeks ago I came across an article about a kid who watches television at 1.5x speed so he can cram as much viewing in as he can.
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