My pet theory is that generations are more similar to the their grandfathers generations than to their fathers.
So, millenials are like boomers, and gen-z is a mix because now a lot of the people who have kids have them later, but in general, a lot of the younger gen-z look a lot like gen-x.
gen-x in turn, looked more like the silent generation, and the boomer re-created the crazy 20s
>My pet theory is that generations are more similar to the their grandfathers generations than to their fathers.
100% but you got the gens a bit mixed up. My Boomer father, who would be 75 if alive, used to dress like a dirty hippy when he was young, so my rebellion - I am 47 - was being an elegant fashionista. If my grandpa would have survived, he would have agreed to my style - waistcoat and suchlike.
The parents of millennials are baby boomers and a few in the silent generation. Parents of Gen Z are mostly Gen X. Gen Alpha are in part kids of Gen X and Millennials.
You got the underlying demographics a bit mixed up. Grandparents of millennials were overwhelmingly the Greatest Generation.
Your post makes perfect sense to me if I look at the era itself. Zoomers may have Gen X parents, but we are currently living in a Millennial era. They react against this era by embracing Gen X aesthetics, attitudes, and ideological stances. Same goes for the embarrassingly emo and self-absorbed Millennials in their negative reaction to cynical, stoical Gen X maverick culture - they embraced the Boomer tendencies of identitarianism, emotionalism, and the bizarre delusion that they could somehow fix the world. (Clearly I am a Gen X asshole.)
I do not look forward to Gen Alpha eventually rebelling against the nascent we're-all-dead-inside Zoomer vibe by embodying a new version of the Millennial's look-at-me theater kid style. But alas, all things are cyclical.
As a GenX I wonder what it is like to grew up with the role models Millenials had. I follow very little post-2000 media, but I somehow have a weird fascination with The Game of Thrones, and after Eddard is killed, that series does not have a single normal man in it.
Like Jon Snow is a butthurt princess.
Joriah come on, one is supposed to get over that chivalrous hopeless platonic love around 14.
Tywin, which kind of man would hate his son for being a dwarf and liking whoring, after he single-handedly saved his city and his grandson's throne? Despite the supposedly "dominant" vibes, he has no honor, no gratitude, no sense of debt owed, and that matters, because "dominant vibes" should come from judging yourself stricter than others could ever hope to.
Sandor, laying on the tired cynic a bit too thickly, like try having an actual sense of humor.
Agree, it drove me nuts how all the millennials though Jon Snow was the best character when he was so obviously a weak moron who was constantly getting all his friends, family members, and lovers' dragons killed with his stupid emotionality, I hated him so much. How could you ever forgive him for what he caused to happen at Battle of the Brothers or getting Dany's dragon turned bc he couldn't handle his emotions? Jerk.
Though I think the author obviously intended Tyrion to be the hero/best character. HBO show runners played up Jon Snow IMO.
I keep asking myself why do I like something this bad. GRRM’s laziness, like how he never worked out the valyrian language is truly atrocious, world-building fandom mocks his way of naming places, like putting a random adjective and noun together, and weirdly the whole thing is somehow still likeable.
Be born in 1978 in a relatively poor country, so that your TV channels generally can only afford to buy 1970's and 1980's US and UK shows and even from them the cheap ones. Literally grow up on The Dukes of Hazzard and Twin Peaks. And Dallas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGdfPtW56fo
Think all this Manosphere and Game and PUA is generally crap, but maybe... Millenials actually need something like that? Because they did not have this? Where did Millenians get their role models from? I fucking hope not the Game of Thrones. Like Jaime Lannister gets the whole "man has emotions" thing entirely wrong, it is cringe and fake. The entire series does not have a scene like above...
our ostensible Millennial male models were Gen Xers like Ben Affleck and Leo DiCaprese, ie the kinds of dudes who were described as "metrosexuals" in the aughts and we all thought "hey, that sound cool" even tho metrosexual sounds like someone who only has sex on trains
Beyond the annihilation of male role models, I can offer a take on sports. Gen X/late boomer sport stars were generally awful people and they got caught. Bonds, Clemens, Armstrong, OJ, Kobe, AI, MJ, Canseco, Malone, McGuire, Brady…the list goes on. Lots of boys look up to sports stars and there was a TON of cheating and general terribleness being celebrated.
Not saying we had perfect people back in the glory days…but the amount of individualism and selfishness celebrated in the 1990s and early 2000s was pretty bad. Contrast this with Curry, James, Trout, Kershaw, Posey, etc. it’s clear that there was a shift with millennial sports stars that either showed they wised up with their PR team or something shifted culturally
You did not have to be born in a poor country to only have access to those shows. You just had to not have cable. I was born in the US and not poor and I watched a lot of Brady Bunch reruns and the other shows you mention.
Agreed on all of that, and noblesse oblige should be de rigueur for all us old uncs who made it.
Nothing pisses me off more than seeing fellow males girlishly putting down the zoomies to prop up their own comparative status. It is, quite simply, unbecoming.
Great piece Walt, albeit unnerving. As a gen-x unc, it’s always shocking to hear zoomettes described as having the empathy of dead eyed Russian prostitutes, but I’ll take your informed word for it. Is it a function of a feminized society run amok, or simply inevitable civilizational decline? In any event, feels like Weimar Germany.
the weird thing is they're actually like hyper sweet and empathetic when they see you as daddy but once they get sexually vindictive they have zero boundaries at all and it's legit pretty terrifying. They're just drunk on their own power is the thing but they are suffering more from that than anyone because it's like that kid in the twilight zone
Generation Z tends to prefer Generation X entertainment such as Arnold Schwarznegger movies to Millennial products such as Harry Potter.
My pet theory is that generations are more similar to the their grandfathers generations than to their fathers.
So, millenials are like boomers, and gen-z is a mix because now a lot of the people who have kids have them later, but in general, a lot of the younger gen-z look a lot like gen-x.
gen-x in turn, looked more like the silent generation, and the boomer re-created the crazy 20s
just having a pet theory about this seems exactly like the kinda gayfag millennial behavior this author is talking/warning/kvetching about
I'm no better I am also a gay millennial
k thnx
We're all fucked
>My pet theory is that generations are more similar to the their grandfathers generations than to their fathers.
100% but you got the gens a bit mixed up. My Boomer father, who would be 75 if alive, used to dress like a dirty hippy when he was young, so my rebellion - I am 47 - was being an elegant fashionista. If my grandpa would have survived, he would have agreed to my style - waistcoat and suchlike.
The parents of millennials are baby boomers and a few in the silent generation. Parents of Gen Z are mostly Gen X. Gen Alpha are in part kids of Gen X and Millennials.
You got the underlying demographics a bit mixed up. Grandparents of millennials were overwhelmingly the Greatest Generation.
Yes, but part of the complication cames from people having kids progressively later since the boomers.
Your post makes perfect sense to me if I look at the era itself. Zoomers may have Gen X parents, but we are currently living in a Millennial era. They react against this era by embracing Gen X aesthetics, attitudes, and ideological stances. Same goes for the embarrassingly emo and self-absorbed Millennials in their negative reaction to cynical, stoical Gen X maverick culture - they embraced the Boomer tendencies of identitarianism, emotionalism, and the bizarre delusion that they could somehow fix the world. (Clearly I am a Gen X asshole.)
I do not look forward to Gen Alpha eventually rebelling against the nascent we're-all-dead-inside Zoomer vibe by embodying a new version of the Millennial's look-at-me theater kid style. But alas, all things are cyclical.
Thanks man, I think that you explained it way better than me.
As a GenX I wonder what it is like to grew up with the role models Millenials had. I follow very little post-2000 media, but I somehow have a weird fascination with The Game of Thrones, and after Eddard is killed, that series does not have a single normal man in it.
Like Jon Snow is a butthurt princess.
Joriah come on, one is supposed to get over that chivalrous hopeless platonic love around 14.
Tywin, which kind of man would hate his son for being a dwarf and liking whoring, after he single-handedly saved his city and his grandson's throne? Despite the supposedly "dominant" vibes, he has no honor, no gratitude, no sense of debt owed, and that matters, because "dominant vibes" should come from judging yourself stricter than others could ever hope to.
Sandor, laying on the tired cynic a bit too thickly, like try having an actual sense of humor.
Agree, it drove me nuts how all the millennials though Jon Snow was the best character when he was so obviously a weak moron who was constantly getting all his friends, family members, and lovers' dragons killed with his stupid emotionality, I hated him so much. How could you ever forgive him for what he caused to happen at Battle of the Brothers or getting Dany's dragon turned bc he couldn't handle his emotions? Jerk.
Though I think the author obviously intended Tyrion to be the hero/best character. HBO show runners played up Jon Snow IMO.
I keep asking myself why do I like something this bad. GRRM’s laziness, like how he never worked out the valyrian language is truly atrocious, world-building fandom mocks his way of naming places, like putting a random adjective and noun together, and weirdly the whole thing is somehow still likeable.
Be born in 1978 in a relatively poor country, so that your TV channels generally can only afford to buy 1970's and 1980's US and UK shows and even from them the cheap ones. Literally grow up on The Dukes of Hazzard and Twin Peaks. And Dallas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGdfPtW56fo
Think all this Manosphere and Game and PUA is generally crap, but maybe... Millenials actually need something like that? Because they did not have this? Where did Millenians get their role models from? I fucking hope not the Game of Thrones. Like Jaime Lannister gets the whole "man has emotions" thing entirely wrong, it is cringe and fake. The entire series does not have a scene like above...
our ostensible Millennial male models were Gen Xers like Ben Affleck and Leo DiCaprese, ie the kinds of dudes who were described as "metrosexuals" in the aughts and we all thought "hey, that sound cool" even tho metrosexual sounds like someone who only has sex on trains
Oh. Beckham. They never registered to me, because it was obvious that only works for those who are born handsome.
Beyond the annihilation of male role models, I can offer a take on sports. Gen X/late boomer sport stars were generally awful people and they got caught. Bonds, Clemens, Armstrong, OJ, Kobe, AI, MJ, Canseco, Malone, McGuire, Brady…the list goes on. Lots of boys look up to sports stars and there was a TON of cheating and general terribleness being celebrated.
Not saying we had perfect people back in the glory days…but the amount of individualism and selfishness celebrated in the 1990s and early 2000s was pretty bad. Contrast this with Curry, James, Trout, Kershaw, Posey, etc. it’s clear that there was a shift with millennial sports stars that either showed they wised up with their PR team or something shifted culturally
You did not have to be born in a poor country to only have access to those shows. You just had to not have cable. I was born in the US and not poor and I watched a lot of Brady Bunch reruns and the other shows you mention.
2020 really was such a huge rubber band
Agreed on all of that, and noblesse oblige should be de rigueur for all us old uncs who made it.
Nothing pisses me off more than seeing fellow males girlishly putting down the zoomies to prop up their own comparative status. It is, quite simply, unbecoming.
Great piece Walt, albeit unnerving. As a gen-x unc, it’s always shocking to hear zoomettes described as having the empathy of dead eyed Russian prostitutes, but I’ll take your informed word for it. Is it a function of a feminized society run amok, or simply inevitable civilizational decline? In any event, feels like Weimar Germany.
the weird thing is they're actually like hyper sweet and empathetic when they see you as daddy but once they get sexually vindictive they have zero boundaries at all and it's legit pretty terrifying. They're just drunk on their own power is the thing but they are suffering more from that than anyone because it's like that kid in the twilight zone
What’s the primary driver of these massive shifts in psychology? And let’s hope you’ll be able to chronicle Alphas and not age out lol.
basically comms/info ecology mostly but also gender balance of power + broad cultural vibe during various key life moments
“Drunk on their own power”
this is sociological scripture
10/10 would recommend
I applaud your heroism for being a fucking dork despite you saying that it is “supposedly” a style you can’t be these days🫡
Thanks, uncle Walt. Probably some of your finest work yet, grade A reading.