Slog - Comments on Generation We

Comment by Dave in Chicago

Dave in Chicago — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:57:27 -0800

Yay, generation Wii!

http://www.fabjectory.com/wp-content/themes/benevolence/images/Mii-Heroic.jpg

Comment by whatevernevermind

whatevernevermind — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:58:15 -0800

I only wish they could have squeezed in a few more Muslims into that video.

Comment by elenchos

elenchos — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:02:34 -0800

This makes me realize my life is half over and I've never spent all the time I wanted to talking about how much I hate Faith Popcorn.

Comment by DLF

DLF — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:18:12 -0800

I want to help them.

I just can't come up with some pithy remark.

I want to help them fulfill their dream.

Comment by Dan Savage

Dan Savage — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:19:18 -0800

I can't watch the whole thing -- any identifiable homos in there? Which would require some article of clothing that blares "gay" as loudly as those headscarves blare "Muslim." A pink triangle pin? Two dudes holding hands? Anything?

Comment by TVDinner

TVDinner — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:20:21 -0800

Punks.

Why doesn't anyone talk about Generation X anymore?

Oh, yeah. There are fewer of us and we haven't done much of anything, except for the occasional sprig of parsley on our meals for one.

Comment by monkey

monkey — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:23:01 -0800

Nice

Comment by Sceptica

Sceptica — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:30:58 -0800

I don't really understand why the new generation is presented as superior. Mere youth doesn't imply superiority. In fact, I myself like a bit of wisdom and experience. Oh, and just because we haven't yet had a chance to screw up, it doesn't mean that we are intrinsically better than the Boomers. And one more thing: we may be more "tolerant," but the Boomers brought us civil rights legislation. We i.e. can type more quickly on a keyboard), but the Boomers went to the moon. They had Led Zeppelin and we have Rhianna. So, no, I don't get it. Sure I hate the debt we're inheriting, and in particular I hate the environmental destruction, but the airs of superiority turn me off. There.

Comment by Sceptica

Sceptica — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:32:04 -0800

meant to say "we are more technically savvy (i.e. we can type more quickly on a keyboard).

Comment by Dougsf

Dougsf — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:51:36 -0800

I guess my sole source of comfort right now is that someone from my generation conceived and produced that spot.

Comment by elenchos

elenchos — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:54:12 -0800

Boomers were not in power in the Civil Rights Era. The peak of Boomer power was "the end of welfare as we know it," Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Social Security reform, and well, everything else that has made Clinton-Bush such a fun ride.

I do remember when Gen X was getting a big sloppy wet blowjob in the media every week. It was exactly like this video. Guess we got older and the media stayed the same.

Comment by DOUG.

DOUG. — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:57:28 -0800

Obama's a Boomer.

Comment by emma's bee

emma's bee — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:19:15 -0800

@11: Hm, that's not how I remember it. I was born in the first year of GenX, and I just recall us being labeled as the Alex-Keaton-wannnabe young Republicans. Our cohort apparently ensured Reagan's second term with our first vote, Max Headroom notwithstanding.

It wasn't til Doug Coupland came along to name us that we started getting tagged as rave-y slackers and/or microserfs.

Comment by The Hippies Were Right All Along

The Hippies Were Right All Along — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:56:40 -0800

@8: Not superior, but... pissed maybe? And with a louder voice than the few of us Gen-x'ers not parked in front of Beavis and butthead.

As for music, we had hair metal, for God's sake!

Comment by Tom

Tom — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:11:35 -0800

We turned into our parents, so will you, kiddos. Bwahahahahaha

Comment by DaiBando

DaiBando — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:37:30 -0800

Fuck you. I'm a boomer. I voted for Obama ten days ago. And Gregoire. I also voted for every proposition that would potentially raise my taxes, because I believe that it is the right thing to do for the community. Except I-985 (and especially fuck you, Tim Eyman). I have voted for every school levy on the ballot since I moved to Seattle in 1989, and every transit proposal (except the monorail; made no sense). I have worked hard for what I have, and I hope that the limited amount I've been to spread around has done some good. Especially my vote. So up yours if you don't get it that there are a lot us of who sacrificed in our own way so you could be "Generation We." 'Nough said.

Comment by Jason

Jason — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:39:59 -0800

#12: Depends on which historian you follow. Straus & Howe (who pretty much wrote the book on this stuff) end the Boom in 1961, the year Obama was born.

Comment by RainMan

RainMan — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:47:45 -0800

@13: I know what you mean. Young adults of the '80s adored Reagan (I didn't, of course) and some decided at that point that they were Republicans and stuck with the GOP right up to the present Imbecile-In-Chief and his would be successors, Grandpa Munster and Miss Congeniality. Hence the Alex P Keaton stereotypes and Doonesbury cartoons of the era. But not all us literal children of the 60s drank the Kool-Aid. Someone our age will soon be elected president. Maybe then the country can move beyond the fault lines that have divided us for 40 years. I may be too old for Generation-We but at least I'm hopeful.

Comment by Heather

Heather — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:50:00 -0800

In order to win Obama will need the votes of all generations. It is about old ideas that need to move over not older people who need to move over. The idea that it is all generational is not a new idea. When baby boomers were young they also spoke of things like "trust no one over thirity" or "woodstock generation" Maybe it is just a function of youth that generations find it hard to get over themselves. This younger generation's children will likely think of their elders the same way.

Comment by question

question — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:17:04 -0800

who funded that? excellent production values. little kids reading lines with political conviction. and a call for some corporate 'we need the gov't to give us money to innovate' in energy stuff.

probably the 'green' energy folks-- a worthy cause. but maybe t boone pickens or his ilk?

Comment by Robyn

Robyn — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:28:50 -0800

What's the point of this video? It's a PSA for the Millennials - whoop-de-doo. Just get out there and vote and prove that you are so special, educated, environmentally conscious, open-minded, etc. Don't just sit back and be proud to be a privileged generation - it won't last if you don't actually act on stuff. Vote, volunteer, join the peace corps. Prove yourselves.

Comment by John Bailo

John Bailo — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:52:46 -0800

Once again SLOG continues its ageist and defamtory policies of stereotyping people.

I once complained to the Department of Census for using the term "Baby Boomers" in a public document.

I argued -- why would you lump people together in a massive group and say that their opinions, ideas etc are all the same because of their birthday.

Once again, SLOG proves that it's part of Hypocrattle, wash-IN-TON.

Comment by Big Sven

Big Sven — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:30:44 -0800

I'm in favor of anything that gets young people to vote. I've been ashamed of the hipster ennui that passes for political posturing in my generation (thirtysomethings.)

Give 'em their own moniker, free dope, whatever. Just vote.

Comment by Sargon Bighorn

Sargon Bighorn — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:46:06 -0800

On My God what stupidity. These rich western kids whose Baby Boomer generation parents never let these kids know a day of want are thinking they can now make a better future? Do these kids know how to tie an "eye splice" do they know how to bake a loaf of bread from scratch? "Birth Right"?? WTF Pompous spoiled rich kids. Plant a garden and eat from it for a year, build a mud-earth oven and bake bread in it, learn to make art that brings your inner self to the fore, stop walking around talking on a mobile phone thinking you are getting something done. Generation spoiled is what you really are because you haven't learned how little you know. Icks am I talking about myself? Oh never mind....

Comment by Demolator

Demolator — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 23:11:05 -0800

It's annoying how Americans mark time in terms of decades and generations. If this clip would have introduced an Age of We, defined by a shift in the culture, I would have wept. Something like this is what a lot of people are looking for. Too bad I was born in the seventies.

Comment by Madashell

Madashell — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 23:18:11 -0800

I have a little unease about generations being pitted against one another. It's ageist, and it generalizes peoples' preferences, behaviors, etc.
My dad is ten years older than McCain, and he is more open-minded and aware of the world than most 30 year-olds I know. My own Gen-X has been typified as preppy-dressing Reagan lovers, but I hated nearly all of 80s pop culture, and certainly, Reagan.
I appreciate the energy behind this PSA - I do feel for future generations because indeed, this country is now in a mess, and it's hard to say how much of it we can clean up in these next 8 years.

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:05:51 -0800

Actually, if you're "not partisan" you're more like "Generation I-Got-p0wnd" cause we're stealing all your cookies.

Don't just get active, get organized.

Obama's organized.

Comment by Kristin Bell

Kristin Bell — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:00:09 -0800

Weird. I never knew gen-x was republican-oriented or alex-p-keaton-ish! I thought we were all just slackers who lived in Seattle in the 90's and made coffee cool while paying homage to grunge and flannel if we ever managed to get out of our parents' basements or garages. Well, I don't know about you...I'm still in the garage! lol I maybe in the garage, but at least I can still vote! hahahah

Comment by ams

ams — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 03:22:27 -0800

what was with that "punitive taxation" line they slipped in there? They want $0.50 packs of smokes or something?

Comment by Christy O

Christy O — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 06:57:00 -0800

You could make this video about any generation in history. Youth are always more diverse, more progressive, more technically adept, more socially tolerant, and more ready to Change the World, than their elders. That's not radical change, that is a completely static character trait of the human race. Yawn.

Comment by Catalina Vel-DuRay

Catalina Vel-DuRay — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 07:18:54 -0800

Every Generation thinks they're the saviors of the species. And every generation is wrong.

I found this piece almost as banal as those self-congratulatory baby boomer commercials (although those are usually promoting erectile dysfunction medicine or arthritis relief)

Comment by Jasper's Bitch

Jasper's Bitch — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 07:47:36 -0800

I was at the UW in the 80's and Reagan and the FBI were recruiting. It was freakish how many students thought that was "rad".

Comment by pastrychef

pastrychef — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:56:09 -0800

Every generation in America has been better educated than the previous one. And every generation has had to clean up some mess left behind by their less than perfect elders.
Still, if it convinces young people to get up from the Wii and vote it's a pretty good thing.