My mom once tried to make it out like wages were bad when she was young, and she mentioned how little she was paid in a secretary job in the 80s. We ran it through an inflation calculator and she was making like 70-80k as a secretary while my wife was making 40k modern bux with a college degree.

A good portion of Gen X got to experience the hayday of capitalism in the west just like Boomers did, this makes them vulnerable to the same nostalgia tactics as Boomers. Apathy was also directly poured into their brains by early media giants to encourage them to not do anything- at least until they become their parents and adopt their reactionary opinions

I know generations are idealistic nonsense, but I unironically think boomers and gen X both are dealing with a permanent midlife crisis.

Some boomers seem to have this forever young mentality, and seem to resent actual young people slightly out of a sense of envy. Youth is the one thing millennials and gen Z have that they don’t, and they wish they could literally steal it from them. So the closest thing they can do is make everything a luxury for the rich and clog up all the jobs to keep millennials and younger fighting tooth and nail for McDonalds jobs well into their 30s and have to live with their parents…because how DARE they ever get the spotlight and not them?

This isn’t because their boomers, but I think that loads of propaganda has made this naked attention grubbing crabs-in-a-bucket mentality normalized among them.

I think Gen X still believes that they saved Africa from communism by listening to a rock music concert. Live aid perfectly combined activism with consumerism.

Gen X grew up under rampant consumerism of the 80s. Plastic action figures and dolls. They have all of their nostalgia invested into brands.

Gen X will never shut the fuck up about how they were the last generation to play outside.

They get mad about regulations. “We used to have candy cigarettes and lawn darts.” “Why don’t they show guns in kid cartoons anymore?” “Kids today are too soft”.

They grew up entirely under Reagan, so they believe all of Reagan’s policies: “welfare queens”, fear of frivolous lawsuits, anti-union sentiment, etc.

They spent most of their childhood eating leaded painted chips and inhaling leaded gasoline. I believe this causes Gen X to have behavioral problems in the current day.

They experienced the 90s crime panic as soon as they get out of high school and now they still obsess over local crime numbers. This is probably tied to some racist beliefs.

The 90s culture told them that it’s wrong to work in an office jobs because it’s boring and they’re all meant to be rock stars. They think they’re too good for a steady job.

Their culture they were raised by tells them that they are rebellious but they aren’t rebelling against anything. 80s rock music presented a generic image of rebellion against nothing in particular, maybe cold war rebellion against communism. Today their instilled rebellion manifests itself against social movements, ie rebelling against “woke”. See Kid Rock as example.

Gen X loves fast food but they want to murder the people who make fast food.

Gen X didn’t have the internet until they were already adults. They never developed skepticism for the internet properly. Facebook bricked their brains.

I think a lot of their beliefs are probably influenced by Reaganism. They internalized Reagan’s policies as children because they were too young to see the biases.

GenX in general doesn’t get enough hate imo.

Tbh I just find dealing with parents (of any generation) difficult in general. There are people my age who are now parents and it really feels like we’re speaking a different language sometimes. It’s probably inevitable and not inherently bad, but a bit alienating all the same.

I agree with the post, but mostly because I seem to find any generation of parents awkward to deal with :p

my do-nothing job that pays me like 80k

Phew!

I’m older than you, and my parents are boomers. But I always wondered how much better life would be growing up if my parents didn’t buy into to bourgeois ideals so hard. Like so much interest was paid into maintaining appearances and pointless consumer goods that served no function. Sooo much effort was made into keeping the house nice, mowing the lawn, making everything neat, etc. We had a fine china and a presentable interior or a house. But my parents put zero effort into raising children. I feel like the kids were like the plates on display in the china case, just for show.

Probably as a reaction to my parents, but mid 40s me has ZERO interest in appearances. My flat is a bit messy, with commie pictures and books everywhere. Dishes get cleaned but might sit around for a day.

wait I thought gen x became overbearing parents because boomers were neglectful? thats been my experience at least

Gen Alpha parents are pretty messed up

Yeah most of the shitty boomer mentality that gets mocked is really Generation Joneses brainworms and that includes early Gen X.