Generational Warfare

Ya'll know I like to tweak the Boomers, and have a lot of faith in the younger generation.

Though the bell curve is wide, generations do have personalities and points of views.

I'm a Gen X type - so I found this description by our buddy over at BroadsideBlog very interesting, and right on target.

If you are a boomer, here is how you see them (condensed from “10 characteristics of Generation Me” by Gary Schlee, based on a book by Kathleen Shaputis):

Direct to the point of being rude
Lacking self-esteem
Sense of entitlement
Thin skinned
Dreamers
Cynical
Professional students (living at home)

If you are in Generation Y, you see yourself this way (from “Generation Y” by Sally Kane):

Tech-Savvy
Family-Centric
Achievement-Oriented
Team-Oriented
Attention-Craving (wanting feedback, guidance, mentoring)

He doesn't cover Gen X, but a decade ago at ScienceBlog, this works.

Generation Xers -- those born between 1965 and 1984 -- are tormented by anxiety, fear of failure and a lack of control over the forces that affect their lives. To cope, many have adopted "chameleon" personalities, pretending to be what others want them to be, but at great emotional cost to themselves,
...
In Masks and Mirrors: Generation X and the Chameleon Personality (Praeger, 2001), Bernard Carl Rosen, professor emeritus of sociology at Cornell, asserts that elite Generation X'ers are at the forefront of the technology revolution but are filled with anger at the preceding generation -- the baby boomers -- who, they feel, takes advantage of them.

To the frazzled, elite X'ers, who feel under intense pressure in a fiercely competitive society, the glue that keeps society together looks weak and the social system feels wobbly.

"To cope with their anxieties and fears, many X'ers have decided that fighting is useless, submission intolerable and escape impossible. Thus, they choose pretending -- that is, they become chameleons as their only chance for protection," says Rosen, a socio-psychologist. "This practice, however, of pleasing whomever they are with, is ultimately self-defeating." Over time, "chameleonism," becomes permanent, Rosen says.

About right, but Chameleon? No .... Salamander.

Hat tip Lucien.