I like to believe that one of the qualities describing my generation (which, being nondescript, is called Generation X) is that we take each thing that comes at us just seriously enough. We do view things with a sense of detachment — the original knock against us — but if work needs to be done, we'll do it.
That means we shouldn't take too seriously any analysis that ascribes a common set of characteristics to a group of people that recently numbered 65 million, nor the notion that a mass of people at that scale can truly be "sandwiched" by somewhat larger masses above (the baby boomers, recently 75 million) and below (the millennials, 83).
But we've nonetheless reached one of those moments — in this case roughly the 25-year anniversary of the Gen X coming-of-age — that inspire people to look back and see what they've become.
The big recent spread was in the New York Times.
"This Gen X Mess" can serve as an entry, since it runs down "the stuff we loved and hated" and has links to other relevant essays, including ones about influencers such as John Singleton (nod, may he rest in peace) and Evan Dando (alive and well on Martha's Vineyard — oh?).
Much is made in general these days of the fragmentation of cultural experience. It's true that Gen Xers were in the thick of the mid- to late-20th-century phenomenon in which a large chunk of the American population experienced the same things at the same time. But maybe that's been overstated. If you're a Gen Xer and scroll the Times' list of dozens of cultural references, you might indeed find as many as several that were an integral part of your life.
Meanwhile, Alex Williams, who is an Xer, refutes the labels that were applied to the generation early on and detects a fair amount of impact over the intervening years. ("Actually, Gen X Did Sell Out, Invent All Things Millennial, and Cause Everything Else That's Great and Awful.") It's a solid analysis, though it doesn't address the question of which generation is responsible for the trend of very long headlines.
Over at the Spectator USA, Caroline McCarthy, a millennial reacting to the Times presentation, thinks Xers are enamored of themselves. ("Spare me, Generation X: you're not that special.") In a sort of "Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" typical of generational battles of pride, she writes: "Much has been made of the overwhelming amount of attention devoted to millennials, attempting to decipher what we're like as a generation. Let me be clear: We didn't ask for this! This was all the work of marketers, largely Boomer and Gen-X, who hyped us up so that advertisers could sell us products."
She doesn't think millennials give a rip about introspection. "Gen-X, on the other hand. Oh, boy. You all spend so much navel-gazing, I'd swear you were … millennials."
Well, that's random. But are we? Secretly millennials? Back to the Times, which helpfully provides the interactive quiz "Are You Secretly a Millennial?"
For the record, I took it, and I am. I'll have to reconcile that with a different quiz I once took that said I'm clearly a boomer.
If something more irreverent is to your tastes, head over to "Gen X Is The Best Mess Ever," by Neal Pollack at The Federalist. Sample: "When we weren't watching reruns of 'The Brady Bunch,' we slept in ditches and murdered one another. Everything smelled like cigarettes and Drakkar Noir and then our parents got divorced again."
I'm only aspirationally as entertaining, though you'll note that I did make ironic use of a cliché in the headline for this article. A very Gen X thing to do, but don't give me too much credit. I appropriated the maneuver from a scene in the 1989 blockbuster "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," directed by baby boomer Steven Spielberg and starring pre-baby-boomer Harrison Ford as an early 20th century archaeologist who takes things just seriously enough.
"Forwarded with comment" is a periodic, online-only feature of Star Tribune Opinion. The idea is to share and discuss interesting items we encounter in our daily reading but are unable to republish in full.
