😆 great read! Gen X here, a TikTok-type gen z recently started at my workplace, I don’t get fussed over much, but when she has to “disengage”, “decompress in a safe space” because she’s “triggered” (I ain’t joking), it takes every bit of strength to hold my 💩 together 😅
great post, and right in my wheelhouse. my weekly post drops today and is all Gen-X. as noted in the comments, birth years are an imprecise metric to identify our cohort. I'm a geriatric Gen-Xr at 60, born in august of 1964.
But my parents were Boomers, so that makes me an Xr. If your parents were of the Silent or Greatest Generation, you're a Boomer, not an Xr. Even if you were born in 64 or 68.
Gen-X isn't a set of years, it's a set of principles. Number One of those principles is freedom - of thought, of expression, of movement, of relationships. We have been saying "fuck authority" since the divorce and our single mom safety-pinned the house key to our shirt in 2nd grade.
So this election was a final countdown, of sorts. Gen-X is now in charge. Take a backseat and shut the hell up.
"Gen-X isn't a set of years, it's a set of principles"
Agreed. I think people forget that part, because Gen X was an over 20 year span and the world changed a lot in that time. People don't realize that Gen X years were so long, that a Gen X parent could have a kid that would also be Gen X if you go by years. I was born at the end of Gen X and currently I'm in my mid-40s and you're old enough to have been my mom if you had a kid young at 16. So yeah, it is incorrect for people to lump us all in the same basket. We span across too many age groups for us all to have the same ideologies. The world was a very different place from between when you were growing up, when compared to mine.
Why do people keep showing this chsrt and making these claims about Gen X? The oldest Gen X is 59, so why is the chart 45-64 and not 45-59? I want to see that data.
Way to lump half a decade's worth of Boomers (people born in 1960-64) into the Gen-X data.
Furthermore, those Boomer years had more births per year than did the Gen-X years. E.g., 3.2 million babies were born in 1974 compared to 4.2 million in 1962. [Cue Gen-X eyeroll.]
The salient feature of Gen-X is that there aren't very many of them. Skeezes like Hawley and Cruz notwithstanding, there aren't enough Gen-X voters to move the needle on anything, good or bad.
The oldest Gen X is 59. This chart lumped a large group of boomers into this data, so it's completely inaccurate. There aren't enough genix voters to deliver anyone
Meh, can't really agree with this for the following reasons:
This mostly pertains to only white Gen X. You could have left the comment about "gangsta rap" out of it because since this article is actually about the habits of white Gen X, white people weren't listening to gangsta rap at that time. Gangsta rap came out in the 90s and it was only Black people my age (teens) listening to it. It was far too "Black" and "violent" for the average white Christian household to tolerate at that time. In fact, white people spent a lot of time censoring rap from the radio and in stores because *they* didn't like it. White people *hated* us and that included our music too, so gangsta rap isn't part of the demographic your article is referring to.
Secondly, this article leaves no room for people to just not have liked Harris. I don't think it had anything to do with a generation being "Trumpiest". I think the turnover had more to do with people were just tired of the Democrat's s---. One common thing between white and Black Gen X's though is we both have very low tolerance for bs. We just want s--- done, with no excuses, or our internal red flags go up and we think you're trying to run game on us. Harris' empty platitudes with avoiding conversations about Gaza, the circular talking, and also the fact that she was talking about fixing things like immigration and the economy, which were both problems that existed preceding the Biden administration, yet they didn't do anything about them while in office, among many other things they said they were going to do and didn't. So why in God's name would anyone believe Harris again?
White Gen X's didn't vote for Harris because they were "Trumpier". They just didn't vote for her simply because fool Gen X once, shame on Harris; fool Gen X twice, shame on Gen X.
White GenX woman here, had 2liveCrew tape on repeat in my car, the good version before it was banned, listened to NWA, Easy-E, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Snoop, Notorious B.I.G, etc etc. I actually think most of white GenX was listening to that stuff- it was a huge movement impacting the music scene just as much as grunge. I listened to it all, and I consider this a hallmark of genxers- omnivores, not in a bubble listening to only the things that were fed to them. Massive respect for Black culture. Maybe I'm an outlier, but I don't think so.
😆 great read! Gen X here, a TikTok-type gen z recently started at my workplace, I don’t get fussed over much, but when she has to “disengage”, “decompress in a safe space” because she’s “triggered” (I ain’t joking), it takes every bit of strength to hold my 💩 together 😅
Lol ... I can only imagine.
Safe spaces are silly
great post, and right in my wheelhouse. my weekly post drops today and is all Gen-X. as noted in the comments, birth years are an imprecise metric to identify our cohort. I'm a geriatric Gen-Xr at 60, born in august of 1964.
But my parents were Boomers, so that makes me an Xr. If your parents were of the Silent or Greatest Generation, you're a Boomer, not an Xr. Even if you were born in 64 or 68.
Gen-X isn't a set of years, it's a set of principles. Number One of those principles is freedom - of thought, of expression, of movement, of relationships. We have been saying "fuck authority" since the divorce and our single mom safety-pinned the house key to our shirt in 2nd grade.
So this election was a final countdown, of sorts. Gen-X is now in charge. Take a backseat and shut the hell up.
https://riclexel.substack.com/s/open-letter-to-gen-x
"Gen-X isn't a set of years, it's a set of principles"
Agreed. I think people forget that part, because Gen X was an over 20 year span and the world changed a lot in that time. People don't realize that Gen X years were so long, that a Gen X parent could have a kid that would also be Gen X if you go by years. I was born at the end of Gen X and currently I'm in my mid-40s and you're old enough to have been my mom if you had a kid young at 16. So yeah, it is incorrect for people to lump us all in the same basket. We span across too many age groups for us all to have the same ideologies. The world was a very different place from between when you were growing up, when compared to mine.
thank you
oh wow, i just found a new set of words to express this - awesomeness!
Why do people keep showing this chsrt and making these claims about Gen X? The oldest Gen X is 59, so why is the chart 45-64 and not 45-59? I want to see that data.
Yup some bs data analysis. Lazy ! And we are the slackers?!
Way to lump half a decade's worth of Boomers (people born in 1960-64) into the Gen-X data.
Furthermore, those Boomer years had more births per year than did the Gen-X years. E.g., 3.2 million babies were born in 1974 compared to 4.2 million in 1962. [Cue Gen-X eyeroll.]
The salient feature of Gen-X is that there aren't very many of them. Skeezes like Hawley and Cruz notwithstanding, there aren't enough Gen-X voters to move the needle on anything, good or bad.
Agree. I keep seeing this chart and I'm starting to think this was done intentionally.
Indeed they finally feel like including us to throw us under the bus… and just tossed in some Generation Jones (lil boomers) to mess with us.
Why you add 3-4 years worth of Baby Boomers to GenX? What if you actually removed non GenX from the GenX data???
Great article. Things that impacted Gen X's mindset:
1. Cold War Fear of the soviets
2. Nuclear Winter -
3. AIDS epidemic
4. Watching our parents go through massive layoffs and recessions
5. We were in mid 20's, when September 11 happened
6. Gen X was most represented and did the fighting for War On Terror and Iraq War
As for all the above and called out - we are a tough, resilient, no BS group.
Makes sense that the ridiculous over reach by far Left this last decade was put down by Gen X delivering Trump.
The oldest Gen X is 59. This chart lumped a large group of boomers into this data, so it's completely inaccurate. There aren't enough genix voters to deliver anyone
All the good things you say about Gen X is what I always thought of my (Boomer) generation. Sadly, it looks as though I was mistaken.
Meh, can't really agree with this for the following reasons:
This mostly pertains to only white Gen X. You could have left the comment about "gangsta rap" out of it because since this article is actually about the habits of white Gen X, white people weren't listening to gangsta rap at that time. Gangsta rap came out in the 90s and it was only Black people my age (teens) listening to it. It was far too "Black" and "violent" for the average white Christian household to tolerate at that time. In fact, white people spent a lot of time censoring rap from the radio and in stores because *they* didn't like it. White people *hated* us and that included our music too, so gangsta rap isn't part of the demographic your article is referring to.
Secondly, this article leaves no room for people to just not have liked Harris. I don't think it had anything to do with a generation being "Trumpiest". I think the turnover had more to do with people were just tired of the Democrat's s---. One common thing between white and Black Gen X's though is we both have very low tolerance for bs. We just want s--- done, with no excuses, or our internal red flags go up and we think you're trying to run game on us. Harris' empty platitudes with avoiding conversations about Gaza, the circular talking, and also the fact that she was talking about fixing things like immigration and the economy, which were both problems that existed preceding the Biden administration, yet they didn't do anything about them while in office, among many other things they said they were going to do and didn't. So why in God's name would anyone believe Harris again?
White Gen X's didn't vote for Harris because they were "Trumpier". They just didn't vote for her simply because fool Gen X once, shame on Harris; fool Gen X twice, shame on Gen X.
White GenX woman here, had 2liveCrew tape on repeat in my car, the good version before it was banned, listened to NWA, Easy-E, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Snoop, Notorious B.I.G, etc etc. I actually think most of white GenX was listening to that stuff- it was a huge movement impacting the music scene just as much as grunge. I listened to it all, and I consider this a hallmark of genxers- omnivores, not in a bubble listening to only the things that were fed to them. Massive respect for Black culture. Maybe I'm an outlier, but I don't think so.