The irony is that X-ers -- a sociocultural label typically used to describe those born between 1961 and 1976 -- have become invisible at a time when they are changing the face of politics. As Jerome Armstrong, founder of MyDD.com and best known as the Blogfather of the progressive netroots, says, "It's people drawn from Generation X -- the people who have gotten involved in politics this decade -- who have brought about the whole new movement of progressive Democrats."
Obama's one of us. As this article points out, he's moving us past the boomers, and he's talking to the millenials, but it's the Xers who are in there, doing it, taking over and changing things.
I recently read Jeff Gordinier's X Saves the World. Not to dwell on generational divides too much, but there's a lot to talk about here, and I think the topic will only become more visible with the election of the first Gen X president and the retirement of vast numbers of boomers. So this is a conversation that is only starting.
2 comments:
Well-written piece. But Obama is not an Xer. As many nationally influential voices have repeatedly noted, Obama is part of Generation Jones, born 1954-1965, between the Boomers and Generation X. Google Generation Jones, and you'll see it’s gotten a lot of media attention, and many top commentators from many top publications and networks (New York Times, Time magazine, NBC, Newsweek, ABC, etc.) are specifically referring to Obama, born in 1961, as part of Generation Jones.
Thanks. And thanks for the input. But I'll take the longer-standing definition of X, from 61 to about 77, until 'Jones' gets a bit of validation outside talk shows and the TV producer who wrote the book. That division doesn't make sense to me culturally. And besides, I like claiming Obama as one of my own.
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