At first I was a little annoyed, but then I had to smile at just how emblematic of Generation X the article really is. Screwed over by their parents, depressed, substance-addicted, and hopeless, but not one single hint of any effort or plan to change things. Generation X is the generation of ennui at the ruination of the world. Millenials and Gen Z might just be pissed off enough to do something about it.
We tried to change things I faced down 15 cops with loaded shotguns to protest Gulf War 1. I'm not depressed or substance addicted and I started doing web development in 1995 and continue to work as an a self taught engineer even though I'm pushing 50.
I faced down 15 cops with loaded shotguns to protest Gulf War 1
Why? Opposition to war in general? As wars go, the Gulf War was pretty close to ideal. One country invades another, invaded country requests help, US expels invader, US goes home. I wish every other US war was as clean.
US bases in Saudi Arabia was one of the 'grievances' of al Qaeda:
> 3. One of the principal goals of al Qaeda was to drive the United States armed forces out of Saudi Arabia (and elsewhere on the Saudi Arabian peninsula) and Somalia by violence. Members of al Qaeda issued fatwahs (rulings on Islamic law) indicating that such attacks were both proper and necessary.
It’s a feature, not a bug. The monied classes/aristocracy use the good times to pad their coffers and make the plebs feel like they can succeed and then they hunker down and wait out the bad times in their castles and mansions while the plebs fight for king and country because the aristocrats/monarchs got bored and kicked off a war, the plebs get sick and die while the rulers/owners stay safe by sending their servants into harms way out to attend to their external needs, or the plebs starve in the self-inflicted financial collapse.
Sometimes you get all three in quick succession like the early 20th century.
That put way too much intent over people's actions IMO. Who the hell are these aristocrats orchestrating multi-generational psy-ops? Do they meet over brunch to plan it? Not every theory has to be explained by conspiracies. I don't know if Strauss-Howe's theory is accurate, but it seems to me (a layman) completely defensible thru plain psychology, sociology and observation, a defensible "natural evolution/patterns of societies theory".
> Who the hell are these aristocrats orchestrating multi-generational psy-ops?
The capitalist class.
> Do they meet over brunch to plan it?
Sometimes. Sometimes dinner. Sometimes drinks. Sometimes, at meetings of the global institutions they and their paid agents run.
Not, like, in one unified, organized group, just a disproportionately powerful class, with many members aggressively pursuing their own self-interest, and coordinating on that where they recognize the opportunity.
The same way they overthrew the feudal order and established the capitalist order in the first place. (And also the same way that the larger but less disproportionately powerful classes beneath them have weakened the capitalist system in favor of modern mixed economy as the dominant system of the last century. Which has a lot of the first group irritated.)
All things considered they're not too bad if their goal when fabricating bad times is so that the next generation gets stronger. I would be solely focused on my self-interest if I was a Machiavellian oligarch.
Strong people bring the good times when you standing on the side of the winner.
On the other side, strong people brought destruction, oppression, international shame, broken nations, and sometimes the disappearance of entire cultures.
So are the greatest generation bad and the boomers good?
This is a silly way to look at things I think. Without a solid definition of time, its just the tautology of the good times and bad times being the only states and then blaming the people of those times.
And to say those were the hard times conversely states that prior to that were the so-called 'good times.' This might be generalized as the roaring 20s in the US (and similarly for Weimar Germany.) However, this generalization fails in two regards: 1) contrary to popular belief, the roaring 20s weren't roaring for most people in the US (or Germany). 2nd) the members of both eras were primarily composed of the same individuals; there is no distinct line of generations divided by 'good times/bad times.'
Lastly it implies that by definition all 'good times' are predicated upon holocaust.
EDIT: And that strength can only be continually cultivated through perpetual war.
Eh, Generation X created the internet. Tesla/SpaceX, Amazon, Google, Paypal, Netflix, Ebay, Square/Twitter, and Signal were all founded by members of Gen X. Gen X made San Francisco a tech hub. Gen X created Linux as well as *BSD. Gen X invented Java, Javascript, Python, and Ruby. Gen X created the PEV revolution.
And Y-Combinator, together with hacker news. Thank Gen X for that.
Gen X never had the numbers to do anything substantial. Millenial's population total crossed the Boomers in 2019. Gen X will not do the same until 2028. From 2019 forward, governmental power will be exercised by Millenials. Gen X will never have an era of ascendancy, our lot is to simply figure out how to be satisfied where ever we find ourselves.
