Extra Point, #2

Label This: What is behind our society's obsession with labeling generations?

Welcome to the second edition of SilentPunt’s Extra Point. Because sometimes I just can’t wait until Friday.

Label This: What is behind our society’s obsession with labeling generations?

When I was young I heard all about the Baby Boomer generation. That was my parent’s generation, the group born in the post World War II era in America. It wasn’t until I was in my later years of high school and then into college that I even heard my generation referred to as GenX. 

So, in my mind that meant in the span of about fifty years (1945-1995) there were two generations. Why then does it seem we have a new ‘generation’ every few years now?

Millennials. GenZ. GenY. GenAlpha. GenBeta. WTF is going on?

I decided to do some research to find out. And by research I mean I googled it. 

I did not walk to the library, have a librarian help me search the card catalog using the dewey decimal system, find the microfiche the information was on, search that microfiche, then have it printed out on a dot matrix printer. 

No, here’s what I came up with in five seconds:

(Credit: infinitylearn.com)

Notice anything with the time spans? The first generation listed (Silent) lasted 26 years. Beta, the last and newest, just 14. And everything in between shows a slow descent in these gaps.

What is the reasoning?

That was Google AI’s response.

My response:

Bullshit.

I think this change is happening because our society is slowly devolving into a smorgasbord of self-righteous and self-important a**holes. Our attention spans are so short and our egos so large that we can’t possibly lump ourselves into this group or that group. No, every single living soul needs their own group.

I spent the last two and a half years of my college life in uber liberal Ithaca, New York. The place was awesome for many reasons. One of the cool things was that athletics was huge, both in importance and popularity. But so were the arts. And so was the feeling that there was a place for everyone. 

The beginning of April in Ithaca also marked the beginning of “Gaypril.” The LGB group on campus would use the month to celebrate and normalize their community….which for the mid to late 90s was not something that was happening in most places. 

The LGB community later became LGBT….then LGBTQ….then LGBTQI…then LGBTQIA…then LGBTQIA+. Is it any wonder why conservatives get so annoyed? I haven’t seen so many name changes since Jefferson Airplane.¹ If the NAACP can stick with their name I’m pretty sure you can too.

Conservatives annoy me similarly. MAGA. RINO. Hell, I passed a truck yesterday with a huge “ULTRA MAGA” sticker on its back window. Christians can’t just be Christians. Now they are believers, conservative Christians, born again, and evangelical. Then there is their propensity to label themselves ‘pro-family’. As if gay people can’t have families.

Folks, here’s what I think of your label:

Your parents think you are special. The world does not. 

And let’s be clear about one last piece. Not all of us are going to accomplish great things. As the great Judge Smails once said…

Your’s in grumpiness,

Henny

1. I am totally dating myself here and I’m cool with it.