Chloe
      Town
     
    
   
   
    
     
      ONTREAL
      (CUP)--
     
    
   
   
    
     
      he
      ‘Generation
      X’
      mythology
      was
      vaguely
      compelling
      at
      first.
      It
      really
      was.
      Fashioning
      ‘McJob’-trauma
      and
      game-show
      banter
      as
      an
      ideology
     
     
      was
      hard
      to
      resist.
      So
      was
      the
      chance
      to
      further
      lambaste
      creepy
      fortysomethings
      who
      still
      pine
      for
      their
      (pre-sellout)
      hippie
      days.
      But
      that
      was
     
     
      all
      before
      I
      realized
      that
      the
      most
      intriguing
      aspect
      of
      the
      Gen
      X
      phenomenon
      is
      the
      fact
      that
      it
      refuses
      to
      go
      away.
     
     
      ‘or
      over
      a
      year
      now
      we
      have
      been
      threatened
      and
      shamed
      into
      fearing
      the
      impending
      crisis
      of
      a
      ‘New
      Generation
      Gap’’.
      A
      tirade
      of
      magazine
     
     
      icles
      (Time,
      Details,
      The
      Atlantic),
      newspaper
      editorials
      (hundreds
      across
      the
      continent
      -
      just
      add
      mine
      to
      the
      pyre)
      and
      radio
      shows
      (CBC
      had
      an
     
     
      tt
      on
      ‘Morningside’
      and
      ‘Centrepoint’
      last
      week)
      have
      successfully
      duped
      many
      of
      us
      into
      believing
      the
      rhetoric
      that
      Xers
      are
      a
      disillusioned,
     
     
      ticulate
      mass
      of
      restless,
      apathetic,
      angst-wrought
      youths.
     
     
      Now
      aside
      from
      the
      more
      obvious
      objections
      I
      may
      have
      for
      this
      character
      sketch,
      I
      have
      one
      big
      bone
      to
      pick
      with
      this
      trend.
      Far,
      far
      too
      often
     
     
      ‘high-horse
      pontificating
      has
      been
      done
      by
      didactic,
      belligerent
      old-folk
      --
      leaving
      no
      room
      for
      their
      victim’s
      response.
      While
      they
      gleefully
      flay
     
     
      ilive,
      we
      are
      left
      with
      no
      option
      but
      to
      meekly
      whimper
      in
      the
      sidelines.
      Figures.
      Isn’t
      it
      just
      like
      those
      narcissistic
      Boomers
      to,
      once
      again,
      slip
     
     
      way
      into
      the
      limelight
      --
      even
      when
      the
      talk
      is
      about
      us.
     
     
      y
      suspicion
      is
      that
      most
      of
      this
      Gen
      X
      hype
      has
      been
      fabricated
      and
      sustained
      as
      a
      means
      of
      “marketing
      the
      millennium’.
      Through
      labelling
      and
     
     
      dging
      our
      generation
      as
      lame
      and
      unthreatening,
      we
      become
      an
      easy
      colour-by-number
      outlook
      for
      the
      21st
      century.
      Not
      only
      are
      we
      pigeonholed
     
     
      Nasse,
      but
      we
      are
      targeted
      to
      appease
      the
      fear
      of
      young-blood
      competition
      for
      Boomers.
     
     
      hat
      was
      once
      a
      charming
      metaphor
      for
      a
      generation’s
      frustration
      with
      mall-culture
      and
      a
      dwindling
      job-market
      has
      clearly
      festered
      into
      our
     
    
   
   
    
     
      loitative
      enemy.
      And
      since
      I
      don’t
      accept
      for
      one
      minute
      that
      ‘‘we’’,
      as
      a
      generation,
      can
      be
      defined
      by
      this
      or
      any
      other
      terminology,
      I’d
      really
     
     
      0
      can
      the
      X
      lingo.
     
    
   
   
    
     
      And
      as
      for
      that
      grunge
      thing
      I’ve
      heard
      so
      much
      about,
      don’t
      get
      me
      started.@
     
    
   
   
    
     
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