Monday, May 26, 2008

Generation X vs. Generation Y (Seriously? Is there even a fight? Umm, we have iPods, the internet and gourmet happy hours. We win.)

I'm sure you all heard about the story of Kevin Colvin a few months ago? If not, quick recap--- Kevin was a twenty-something Gen Y'er who worked at a bank, wrote his boss an email declaring a family emergency and stating he must return home, and lo and behold, his lame boss trolls the internet (and more specifically his Facebook page), finds pictures of him partying in Fairy suit at a Halloween party instead of mourning the "family emergency" and writes a response to his email, attaching the incriminating pic, adding the text, "Cool wand.", and then BCC's the entire company. What an asshat. I remember telling one of my friends about this a couple months back and he said, "What a loser," and I responded in harmony with, "I know! He sounds like Bitter Boss, how lame of him to stalk his Facebook page." Silence. Then my friend said, "I was talking about the kid who lied, ditched work to party, and wore a fucking fairy costume." Oops. Need I mention this "friend" is a guy, and about 6 years older than me? Touche.

Back to the reason of this post! A Generation Xer, Robert Lanham (ugh, even his name sounds old! It doesn't hold a light to Generation Y names like, Ryan, Justin & Drew), responded to this expose' with a funny (although somewhat whiny, bitter and pathetic) article about the unsung virtues of Generation X, and how Generation Y is overly entitled, spoiled, coddled . . . and they basically suck. I'll admit, some of his words ring true, but the writing seems more targeted at the Baby Boomers who didn't give Generation X their due, less about why Generation Y doesn't deserve the praise their receiving, and reads a lot like good 'ole green-eyed jealousy. Read the article here.

The only reason I knew about the aforementioned article is because I was doing my due diligence on Radar (one of my favorite sarcastic websites) and came across this article by Alex Pareene. Hello? Rhi? Are you out there? Just so you know ... I have a new hero and new add to my Do Boy List. I HEART ALEX PAREENE! He totally whipped Robert's asshat article with biting honesty, cheekiness and best of all ... brand new, one-liner ironic statements that are usually reserved for trendy tshirts modeled by celebutards in Hollywood. Classic.

My favorite quote from Alex Pareene's article. (This pretty much sums up everything.)
I'm sorry Time made fun of your generation. But, guys, it's Time. Don't worry
about it—we Millennials made it irrelevant. We're killing print! You think we
want Morley Safer calling us the Next Greatest Generation? We don't know who
Morley Safer is!


(And just so you all know . . . . I'm Generation Y. Does that kill you!)

7 comments:

Rhi said...

Hee. I am Gen X. But I still love you :)

Woolly said...

I gotta be honest here... what is gap between Gen x and Gen Y.... cause in my humble opinion anyone born from 1985-1995 is a part of what I lovingly dub the "FUCK YOU" generation. So far it is hard to meet a person born in that gap that cares about anything. If your a little confused I will explain more later

icouldkillher said...

As I sit hear reading your post with my bff (she's 29, I'm 37) I looked at her and said "okay, your Gen Y right?". As she was eating the last of my families hard-boiled eggs, she looked right at me and said "I don't know..." I love her but she does exemplify the narcistic approach that this generation takes. Basically, Gen X'ers are better.

Lucas said...

Ok, Gen Y's are probably the group that makes up the majority of the bloggers out there.

I do see exactly what Woolly is saying, although I think it's a bit more those born 1989 through 2000 who don't seem to care about anything. Drives me bonkers.

I'm also a Gen Y

Emily Dorchak said...

ha, thats funny. the boss guy reminds me of the dude from the office. michel, is that how u spell it? lol.

Citygrrrl said...

It seems to me that every generation hitting the age of kids, mortgages, and social death thinks the generation behind them sucks. It's got to be resentment over the loss of their glory days. The Gen X'ers, like myself, who have managed to avoid such grown-up responsibilities have no problem with Gen Y'ers as a rule. Aging Hipsters Unite! :D

einhander said...

Peolpe who derive there identity from subscribibg to the idea of belonging to a generation suck.It's basically the times that are of any significance.It basically sucks now due to the total glut expansion of popular culture whereas before things were being generated in original,createive and unique forms.Generations can't help you,each person is on there own,living there own lives,begins to age then randomly dies and it's over.Fuck the idea of generation y being some new special generation.Whomever is that age will just just live there lives and die like every other human that has ever existed,without event.Fuck gen y.