Defining Generation X

In 2003, the original print version of EduClaytion appeared in the Pittsburgh E Resource, a bi-weekly publication of Infinity Broadcasting.  After the capture of Saddam Hussein on December 15th of that year, I ran a story titled “Saddam’s Role In Defining A Generation” which chronicled the biggest events in the lifetime of Generation X.  What were the defining moments of the first generation to grow up on television and where did the capture of Hussein rank?  

Although the article wasn’t intended to rile people up, the next week I received the best hate mail ever complete with pseudo-death threat, the only one I recall receiving to date.  “You will die devil man,” or something to that effect.  He also called me “Hitler-Stalin-KKK man,” which gave us a few laughs around the office.  Maybe he was most angry about the illustration my artist came up with, Saddam’s head munching cheese atop the body of a rat whose tail curved down the page.  He pleads, “Don’t shoot me pleeease!”  Hey, even CNN agreed. We never understood what set that guy off other than the fact he was a semi-literate buffoon. 

After perusing the old article recently, I got to wondering how we’ve changed.  Does the list hold up?  What incidents have made the most powerful impact on a generation that succeeded the Baby Boomers and (according to some) goes back as far as 1961? 

Because of television, I wrote, “Gen Xers have grown up witnessing history in the making like no other generation.”  We are all historians because we pass on memories formed from our visual perspective when these world-changing moments occur.  

Tragic moments defined the list.  I already disagree with some of these picks from six years ago, and you probably will too.  I hope to hear some feedback.  By the way, the cut off originally used was people born around 1970-71. 

*** 

1. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 topped the list.  That won’t change.  I concluded: 

“The experience was prolonged, close to home, and unfolding in front of our eyes.  The incredible spirit of resiliency displayed by this country was empowering but not without a dangerous side effect.  The magnitude was enormous, the fear so real, and when it was over a national desensitization was inevitable.  Nothing in our lives will ever shock us as it would have before the infamous attack.” 

2. The Berlin Wall Comes Down 

No other event held a greater significance for more people. 

3. The Explosion of the Challenger Shuttle 

The 2003 version of me is trying to convince v. 2009 here.  I wrote: 

“The historical impact of the Challenger tragedy may not equal these other events but was the quintessential moment of tragedy in the memory of Gen X…Like a first kiss, there is only one event to serve as the first time something happened in the world and we know where we were and what we were doing.” 

I see what I mean but am not sure if I buy that lofty ranking. 

4. The Gulf War (Persian Gulf War of 1991) 

“A war on TV was not new to the country but was new to those born in the 70s.  We knew men and women risking their lives…” 

5. The War In Iraq (2003) 

The soldiers fighting went from older relatives to peers.  I have a hunch that many people would drop this down the list, but I’m not sure. 

6. The Capture of Saddam 

He’s been dead for a while now, but don’t forget his record of genocide and murder.  What dictator committed more atrocities in our lifetime?  By December 2003, it seemed he would never be captured, but there he was cowering in a hole, a “coward’s hideout.”  The serviceman who shone a light into Hussein’s face reportedly said, “President Bush sends his regards.”  Later, President Bush said, “Good riddance, the world is better off without you.”  What an imperialist pig.  I love happy endings. 

7. The 2000 Election 

Maybe I shouldn’t have stayed up until FIVE IN THE MORNING to hear the networks call the presidency for Gore, no Bush, no wait.  Amidst the journalistic bungling, Dan Rather looked more like Punxsutawney Phil, and six more weeks of president deciding there would be. 

8. The Death of Princess Diana 

I guess I thought it looked good in print.  Maybe Elton John was playing since I worked amidst three radio stations.  We can at least say that half of the world (2.5 billion people) watched her funeral. 

*** 

Many other events checked in as also rans.  OJ Simpson and President Clinton got themselves into a lot of trouble.  I remember skipping classes with college friends to watch the Simpson verdict.  President Reagan was almost assassinated while Richard Nixon became the first president to die in our memory.  Reagan and Ford have since joined that list. 

I’m not going to rank Nirvana or Kelly LeBrock’s role in Weird Science or every news item of the past 30 years, but there is certainly one important theme.  This is the age of terrorism.  The first attack on the World Trade Center (1993) and the bombing of the USS Cole shook more than those structures, but there’s one more event that can’t be ignored. 

Today is the 21st anniversary of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland that took 270 lives.  That event doesn’t always come immediately to mind for Americans, but consider the significance of that type of terrorist attack.  

Planes had been bombed before, even as far back as 1933, but the scale of the Pan Am attack changed the perceptions of travelers and governments.  Don’t doubt that the murderers of 9/11 knew the Lockerbie Bombing well.  Policies and laws were changed.  Bad guys realized how effective blowing up planes could be.  People die in the air and on the ground.  

To show that even the Scottish have been diluted by European softness, their government released the Libyan conspirator Megrahi this past August on grounds of compassion or something because he had cancer.  Don’t get me started.  Turns out he didn’t die within 3 months and now he’s living comfortably at home, stubbornly refusing to die.  What a jerk. 

*** 

These are some of the main events that “defined a generation.”  They bring about sub-themes of desensitization, loss of innocence, and negativism, yet we always seem to rise in moments of despair.  No generation develops in a vacuum.  The effects on one group help form the foundation for the next.  We may be raising a very disillusioned group, a successor generation of skeptics for whom the shine never existed, let alone wore off. 

In the end, memories are personal.  We are all affected by different moments, most of them personal to us.  But on the larger stages of life, we share in these moments of tragedy and hope.  Only you can describe which moments played a part in developing your worldview. 

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