officialvoiceofgenerationx

[officialvoiceofgenerationx]

Sorta low key talking up Denmark to my teen. Talking about how they could get a student visa, maybe a work visa, possibly establish residency there. I wanna go, of course, but at the very least I want something better for my kid.

[officialvoiceofgenerationx]

I ain't been on here much lately because, as a member of Gen X, I'm not a huge fan of social media. I go through little phases of engagement, and then I get disgusted with the whole thing.

You should assume that when I am not making statements as the Official Voice of Generation X, my lack of statements is, in itself, a statement that I am making as the Official Voice of Generation X.

Or not. Whatever.

[officialvoiceofgenerationx]

I am so ready for these kids to take over the world.

[officialvoiceofgenerationx]

I was at the grocery and "Landslide" was playing and I remembered how much I fucking hate Stevie Nicks.

[officialvoiceofgenerationx]

Gen X doesn't "feel less stress" than anybody else. We just weren't raised with the idea that anything would be anything but stressful. We're used to it.

That isn't a good thing. The fact that we just keep showing up to shitty jobs in horrible conditions for not enough money is not something we should be proud of. Our collective "oh well, whatever, nevermind" is exactly why we haven't made the world better.

Millennials aren't exactly shakin' shit up. Hopefullly, Gen Z will be the problem employees that change how things are done.

[officialvoiceofgenerationx]

Don't put pictures of your baby online, you stupid fuck.

[officialvoiceofgenerationx]

Suzanne Somers kicked it, so she's been in the news. Her defining role was Chrissy on Three's Company which was the first show that I remember feeling insulted by. I'm sure I watched other shows that were just as stupid, but Three's Company was the one that made me aware of it. It also inspired my decision to never go to southern California. Everything about that show struck me as vapid and shallow. That's pretty much sit-coms. There's a reason I don't watch TV.

Somers was written off the show because Somers wanted to be paid the same as one of the other two stars - John Ritter. He was getting $50k per episode. Somers and the third star, Joyce DeWitt were getting $30k per. That's some gross pay inequality. Ritter wasn't more famous than Somers or DeWitt - he got paid more because he was male. That's all.

So, Somers wanted to paid equally and she got fired. She did okay, peddling workout videos and fake medicine - and outlived Ritter by 20 years. Still, how fucked up is it that she lost her job for wanting to be treated like an equal?

It isn't hard to treat people fairly. Actually, it would've been easier to pay the three stars of this particularly shitty sit-com the same. I don't understand - and I've never understood - the desire some people have to treat people unfairly because of their gender or race or whatever. Hopefully, kids coming up are smarter and will do better.

In the meantime, there's one less Boomer in the world.

[officialvoiceofgenerationx]

Best Halloween House

When I was a kid in the 70s, the best house in town on Halloween night was these two old spinsters. They were retired school teachers - my dad was a student of theirs when he was in grade school.

They would bake loads of cookies - sugar cookies with icing, with candy corns or M&Ms in the icing. They'd give little paper plates of cookies to anybody - kids of former students, like me, got full-size paper plates. There was candy. too. I mean, these old ladies went all out for Halloween.

I thought of them the other day and went "Oh, they were lesbians. Duh."

[officialvoiceofgenerationx]

This is promising. Hopefully, Gen Z will be the generation that forces USA to change how people work.

There is no reason - other than the greed of the rich - that people spend 40 hours a week at work, barely making enough to get by. It won't change unless/until a critical mass of people refuse to accept it.

[officialvoiceofgenerationx]

This is weird because everything on this list actually dates from at least 50 years ago. If it was around 30 years ago, it was in old people's homes. The only exception is the film can as pot container - we were still doing that well into the 90s.

Still, it is a solid list of stuff that I remember from older relatives' homes in the 1970s.

Side note - a younger Millennial friend of mine is starting a vintage shop online, mostly focusing on clothes and housewares from the 1960s - 90s. I designed the logo for the shop and I go to thriftstores and junkshops with her to give my opinion about stuff. It's fun - and it's hilarious that I'm some kind of expert on "vintage" just because I'm 54.

Jen X

[officialvoiceofgenerationx]

Oh fuck, no. Please, no. Just go away, for fuck's sake.

[officialvoiceofgenerationx]

Gen X % compared with trans %

Generation X is about 19.6% of the total US population.

Transgender adults are about 1.6% of the US population.

It's normal for the media to simply ignore the existence of Gen X. We're a slightly smaller cohort than Boomers or Millennials, so we're simply left out. But transgender people - who are less than a tenth of the population size as Gen X - are in the news everyday.

I'm not arguing for more Gen X representation. I'm totally fine with my cohort being left out of the news. I'm just pointing out that the media puts far more emphasis on trans folks than their population size warrants. The media does this, of course, because politicians - GOP - are using a small minority group to rile up their base, which causes other politicians - Dems - to respond.

It's all fake.

When I was a kid - in the 1980s - people were freaking out about satanism and Dungeons & Dragons. Then some Senators wives got all upset about hairmetal lyrics. It was all bullshit. Today's trans controversy will seem as stupid in the future as 80s Satanic Panic seems now.

Let the trans folks be. They ain't hurtin' you.

Jen X

[officialvoiceofgenerationx]

Red Hot Fuck Those Chili Peppers

I heard a song or two by he Red Hot Chili Peppers in the late 80s and I wasn't real impressed. They did the funk/punk mashup well enough, but I wasn't into it. Then somebody I knew was sexually assaulted by three of them after a show - one of the many sexual assault cases against members of RHCP that went to trial. From that point on, their music didn't matter to me. They're rapists, nothing more.

It sickens me that they've been able to get away with it. Sure, they've been hit with lawsuits and shit, but they've somehow managed to avoid prison. And they keep selling albums - I guess there are a lot of bros who think that rape is acceptable if the rapist is a good bass player. Fuck that.

The Beastie Boys were pretty problematic when they started out - though their misogyny only went as far as "Girls", never actual rape. But the Beastie Boys eventually grew up, admitted that they had been grade-A shitbags and did better. No doubt the fact that one of them married Kathleen Hanna contibuted to their turn around. RHCP have never owned up, never admitted that they were horrible human beings. I have to assume that they aren't sorry.

So, fuck them rapists.

If this is news to you - read up: https://www.google.com/search?q=red+hot+chili+peppers+sexual+assault&rlz=1CAOWOB_enUS973&oq=red+hot+chili+peppers+sexua&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgAEAAYgAQyBwgAEAAYgAQyBggBEEUYOTIHCAIQABiABDIICAMQABgWGB4yCAgEEAAYFhge0gEIODM1NGowajeoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[officialvoiceofgenerationx]

No surprises here. Gen X started adulthood financially fucked and nothing has changed. As the Official Voice of Generation X, I am even more unprepared than the avareage Xer - I got nothin'.

Then again, Gen X is a relatively small generation sandwiched between two bigger ones. The Boomers are going to be gone in the not-too-distant future - finally - which will significantly change the financial lanscape. The fact that there arefewer of us will mean that we won't be as much of a burden on the taxpayers who keep our Social Security payments coming, i.e. Millennials.

Millennials and Zoomers are increasingly disgusted with the GOP, which is why Repubs are becoming increasingly authoritarian. If the voters decide, the GOP won't last another couple decades, so they're trying to remove voters from the equation. It seems like a losing strategy, but they can do a lot of damage before they fold. If the US survives as a democracy, and the Social Security system doesn't get gutted, Xers might be okay in our old age. Not well off, on average, but okay.

Which is all I ever hoped for. I can live on very little and I never expected much. All I want is a roof and a meal or two a day. I've never had what you'd call access to healthcare, so Medicaid will be a step up for me. And I have no intention of annoying the shit out of everybody by constantly yapping about how much better the bands were back in my day, or bitching about how kids are weak because they weren't abused enough. Fuck that noise.

We just have to hold it together until the Boomers are out of the way. Which they will be soon enough.

[officialvoiceofgenerationx]

This is a blurb, but I found it interesting because I had assumed McCulloch was firmly in the atheist camp, based on his lyrics with Echo & the Bunnymen. Obviously, the fact that he half-credits a song to God doesn't necessarily mean he's a believer.

Gen X has never, as a whole, been particularly for or against religion. When we were young, we were as opposed to organized religion as any group of people are when they're young, but people change. I've certainly been all over the map on this topic in my 54 years.

And, obviously, McCulloch isn't Generation X - he's a Boomer. But Echo & the Bunnymen was pretty popular among Gen X. They were in the big three of British post-punk bands whispering moody, vague nothings into our ears - the Smiths and the Cure being the other two.

I wouldn't say "The Killing Moon" is "the greatest song ever written" - it isn't even my favorite song by the Bunnymen - but it is pretty good.

[officialvoiceofgenerationx]

I discovered Husker Du in '85. The first album I heard was Flip Your Wig which was fuckin' killer. I got all their old stuff as soon as I could find it. Like a lot of bands I was into in the '80s, the first album I got was the one that broke big, and most of the stuff that came after wasn't as great. I learned that when a band signs to a major label, their best years are behind them. Most bands broke up, but some - REM and Sonic Youth come to mind - continued to vomit out garbage for decades.

Husker Du was great. But it ain't the '80s anymore. I might like to hear "Divide And Conquer" or "Terms Of Psychic Warfare" once in a while, but I've moved on. I truly hate it when Boomers yammer on about the music of the '60s and I have no intention of becoming one of those braindead clods who won't shut up about the music "back in my day". Music wasn't necessarily better then. Don't let anybody fool ya.

Check out Husker Du if ya wanna. Or don't. Land Speed Record will sear your face.

Jen X

[officialvoiceofgenerationx]

Best song by the Durans. Hands down, no questions, mic drop.