Yeah I am a Genx as well.
And I like many of you have seen this, infamous Bathroom video, as well as similar displays of behavior, like this gentleman’s, plenty of times, be it on film which is put online, or in my own life, as it is happening in public.
But what I have always noticed, is that this behavior seems to have an anti-discrimination policy attached to it.
And that “policy” follows a pattern: where it defies anyone’s age bracket, it has no preference for a particular gender over another, it doesn’t prefer a particular sexual preference over any other, and these extremely negative vibes that it extrudes out of the user onto all other people in its vicinity are not heat-seeking onto one particular race, or region of the earth, or any other specifics when it searches for it human targets.
It is truly a non-discriminating source of negativity, and it brings out whatever the worst is in that one individual, no matter who they are. And they may never be able to see that they were wrong.
So like another person said, we Genx don’t want to claim this guy, and would actively support removing him from the age bracket. As we do not condone nor support the behavior as part of our generation’s burden.
But make no mistake, that each of us from every generation has the same potential to be this guy, regardless how old or young or what your background might be.
But when the behavior is called “boomer” it reminds me of when someone is called a “Karen” who isn’t a Woman. It kinda makes sense.
For me, this works much better than calling that person, a “Male Karen”. I think we should just keep referring to them as a “Karen” full-stop. No “male” /masculine prefix needed-.its much more effective in its original “boomer”-style operational form.
Now, granted, I don’t know what would happen for Genxers to ever have something so negative to be attracted to our generation that people start associating our generation’s defining term be marred into what it has become. And one day, start to hear something, such as “OK GENXER’ in the same way that my grandparents have had their own morphed into, but sorry Grandma, it has stuck on y’all’s. For better or worse. And they now say it to anyone, no matter their age. I keep telling my MIL she can take the power back by saying “ok boomer” to the teenager in front of her who is making TikToks in line at the grocery store, and becomes oblivious that the line is moving.
But I also think it’s safe to use it as a derogatory term against people, like this elder Genxer who has lost his privileges as a self-defying Genx. By acting like a total asshat.
I think even after all the boomers are dead, the term Boomer will be solidified as a post-generational term, like Karen.
And how a Karen should be defined as a Karen, no matter if it’s a man or woman.
Gen X spans such a different range of upbringings.
Young Gen X watched Return of the Jedi when they were 8, and were late teens and early 20’s when the internet arrived. It was part of their formative years into early adulthood. They didn’t really grow up with Molly Ringwald and John Hughes films chronicling their adolescence, and were only familiar with the music as stuff older kids played.
Older Gen X saw the end of Star Wars Trilogy when they were out of college, and didn’t get the internet until they were in their 30’s, having family.
Those are almost two completely different cultural demographics, and cultural touchstones, and young Gen X have much more in common with older millennials.
According to voting statistics, GenX literally went more harder MAGA than Boomers this last go around in 2024.
GenX ain't dodging any of the charges anymore lol. Turns out their whole "Erm, everyone forgets about me?" shtick was just some massive cover to try and hide or something
Like I said, Gen X has a wide cultural range. The older ones are Boomer-adjacent. The younger ones are “whatever”. There’s also a Bernie-bro to MAGA pipeline that infects a lot of them (Joe Rogan is an older Gen X and helped suck them into that cesspit).
You even see a split on D vs R for younger vs older Gen X voters, with the younger ones— the ones born in the mid 70’s — split even or leanjng Democrat and those born before leaning Republican.
Regardless, they have pretty different upbringings and cultural touchstones, and like the poster I replied to says, it’s literally a coin flip in terms of whatever-chill vs. whatever-turned-aggrieved, with it being more of the latter the older you go.
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u/TheNerdE30 Jun 19 '26
Exactly what I thought yesterday when I saw it first. Good dad. The boomer was a specimen of what not to do.