Discuss
Gen X here…no lies detected in the meme…
I don’t believe in boxes. Boxes are why the world is so divided and angry. Compromise and seeing people for what they are on a case-by-case basis offers more hope and produces more meaningful insight IMO.
However, looking back when I was significantly younger, I was very guilty of putting people in boxes but over time you realize how unfair it is when you are put in certain boxes by people that do not know you. But media loves it because they can group people into target groups for ratings and advertising. But look at where that has led us. Defining anonymous people and labeling them is intellectually lazy and the tool of the powerful.
Unfortunately born in 1987, so I guess I was born into the awful millennial generation. In my experience with millennials since childhood, they are cliquey and mean, millennials were terrible people in childhood, and in the 16 years since I graduated high school they still behave the same way only way more passive aggressive than they were in elementary and middle school. Since the late 2000's or early 2010's, millennials became extra offended by the slightest thing, and I'm sure it was millennials who invented the "cancel culture". I also never met a millennial who was a genuine friend, they use you for money or social status before they discard you. Sorry for the rant, I just had way too many bad experiences with millennials since I was a little kid, been used by them many times, betrayed, stabbed in the back, ostracized by them. Forgive me for despising them. I try my very best to be nothing like them, that is all I can say about myself.
i always just saw "cancel culture" as being people exercising their right not to invest their time and money in someone whose views or behavior offends them. In past decades, a lot of the things we find out now about celebrities were covered up or otherwise not revealed to the public. With the rise of social media and more intense celebrity reporting, this stuff gets out and people react. And it's not like it's completely new -- look at how people like Chaplin and Ingrid Bergman and, hell, Fatty Arbuckle were treated when they had scandals.
There are both phenomenal people and awful people in every generation. Humans' collective need to classify and label everything is inherently silly, because there will always be exceptions. One of my favorite quotes is "The only rule is that there are no rules."
@Mela_B Right. People that suck come from every generation. It’s individuals, not group categories.
@sameyeam Same. I have never fit in with our generation’s peers. I was born about 100 years late.
@midnightowl I feel the same way, I feel like either should have been born in either 1887, 1947, 1957, or 1967 or at least 1977. I guess in every state there is one decent person from our generation, then again maybe generation doesn't matter as much, these days, people of all ages are just plain mean and cold and indifferent.
@WriterGF I think this "cancel culture" is more of an excuse to be mean and ostracize people for tiny reasons or even no reason at all, it promotes cliquey behavior. The cliquey behavior you see in a middle school cafeteria where certain people are shunned from sitting at certain tables. Adults now days are acting like those cliquey middle schoolers. Are there any decent people out there?
There is a LOT to be said for things like, oh, antibiotics, medical advances, living in a place where starvation is not the norm, life expectancy is higher than 45... etc.
I was really lucky to make some older friends (30-40 years older) through my first job when I was a teenager, which really gave me some different perspectives. To this day I have friends in their teens and in their eighties and I value the different opinions/energy/views of all of them.
In general I've found that wonderful people and total asshats come in all ages but luckily more of the former 🤗
@Mela_B - 💯
I definitely feel like Millennials and Boomers very often have bad things said about them. I'm guessing maybe enough people have had bad experiences with people within those age groups, that they feel it is fair to generalize. It's not, though. Every person is different, and should be given their own chance to show who they really are.
I'm a millennial, and I don't think I'm that "spoiled brat, entilted" type that's often thought of when people think of us. I try to put others first, be polite, be fair, etc. At work, I offer to help the other team when I know it really isn't my responsibility, but it's the decent and fair thing to do, and I would want someone to help me if I needed help, as well.
So yeah - generalizations - not good. Let's focus on the individual, and allow people to show us who they really are. 🤗
I’m with @CharlesThePoet….
In my opinion, this is such a privileged thing to be one of the main things left to complain about.
Life and society are way more complicated than memes and generations, but that's how so many people sum it up because since the advent of social media, critical thinking has gone out the window.
Yea, I said it.
I can usually get along with anybody in any age bracket and carry a conversation, so as long as the person is respectful, I won’t think anything of them except that they were awesome to talk to. However, if they start treating like garbage or saying something really horrible to someone else, my mind immediately puts them in a box. I’m talking verbal or physical abuse. I don’t mean two people are having a normal conversation, but because one doesn’t like cats, they’re evil.
I’m talking about when you’re at a convenience store and a lady in her 50s is screaming at a 19 year old girl because she grabbed the wrong pack of cigarettes off the shelf to give to her, yea, I’m sorry. My mind immediately thinks “wow, cool it Karen”. I know people don’t like that but just because my mind goes there doesn’t mean that I’ll call her a Karen in person while I’m defending the person she’s verbally abusing.
I’m not sure why I do this but most people seem to blame society so I guess I’ll say society lol. If you’re a big hunk of a man but you treat me like a piece of meat and assume because you’re this young hot thing, I should please you, I’m calling you a “Chad”. If you’re an older man in your 70s and you start insulting me because I like women and you tell me it’s not natural, yup, you’re a “Boomer”. I only put the abusive people in boxes. If I don’t know who you are as a person and I haven’t seen any indiscretions that would show me your very ugly, abusive side, I’m not going to label you.
On top of all of this, Ive read so many different things saying the name for generations and the year correlating with it keep changing. So if gave up a long time ago trying to understand it 🤷🏼♀️
If you’re nice, I’m nice.
If you are only respectful to those who respect you, than you aren’t actually respectful. You are reciprocal.
If you are only honorable to those who you feel are honorable, or kind to those who are kind, or nice to those who are nice, than you really aren’t any of those things.
You are simply behaving in a reciprocal manner as you have judged others to deserve.
Which, of course, is utterly normal human behavior.
In our “culture” this sort of transactional behavior is so normalized that when we encounter those who act outside of the “acceptable”, “normal” ways we treat them as insane, whether we judge those actions to be positive or negative.
People that are non-judgmental and non-transactional in their behavior and actions are so rare that the rest of us tend to be at a loss when encountering them, unable to accept that others could do those things with no other motives that the acts themselves.
Again, it’s totally normal, and quite likely hard-wired into (nearly) all of us.
I just don’t believe in giving respect to those that are abusive. If I receive nothing from you or a positive attitude, then I give respect. Back when I was taking the bus, I would give my seat up to anyone. Didn’t matter age or sex. I would give my seat up if the bus was full. But if the bus was full and someone comes on the bus and starts treating the bus driver like crap or insulting people on the bus or starts damaging stuff on the bus, I don’t care who you are, you don’t deserve my seat.
@Sheena123 Exactly!
@Sheena123 I understand what you are saying, but when you call people Boomer, Chad or Karen you are perpetuating stereotypes. I remember back in the day when some white people would use the N word on some black people and not on others because they don’t act like Ns. It doesn’t matter. Just call all these people, regardless of ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender what they are when they act poorly—assholes. Otherwise you are perpetuating stereotypes that you will grow into and be labeled just because of your skin color, age and gender.
If you put me in a box, can I call you Schrodinger and can I be your cat?
I can’t ever remember what the different generations are supposed to be.
Because of my interests, I have a lot of friends young enough to be my kid and then some. I get along with them fine except they tend to be unreliable but I’ve learned to adapt to that.