Talkin’ ‘bout the 13ers’ generation
1 would like to expand on Wil
liam Strauss and Neil Howe’s
book “Generations.” It is prob
ably a manifesto extraordinarc for
conservatives, but it is truly a book
whose audience excludes no one.
“Generations” is about life on a
cyclic continuum. It defines the 14
.generations of the
United States and how
they exert influence on
one another. A genera
tion is generally a 20
ycar span of pcers/co
horls with a distinct iden
fit^charactcristic of one
of four types: civic,
— adaptive, idealist, and
reactive.
The “G I’s” arc from the era of JF K,
Ronald Reagan and John Steinbeck,
and they fall under the civic category.
So do the 13crs, next-juniors, the
millcnials, bom in and around the
year2000. Those wi th the cohort g roup
oi mariin Lutncr Ning Jr., uioria
Stcincm and Woody Allen belong to
the adaptive-type generation and
called the silent.
The boomers, the most prominent
generation so far, arc considered ide
alistic. We, the 13th generation, range
from age 8 to 28 and arc rcactives.
As I said before, the power of this
book comes from its commentary on
society and how a generation’s rela
•livc position in society dictates its
role—or sentence — whichever way
you look at it.
So, as we await the arrival of our
first boomer president, this column is
dedicated to the 13crs and under
standing their unique place in history.
The 13crswcrcdismisscd from the
very beginning. Many of our parents
were spiritually bom of the 1960s and
’70s psychedelic drug culture — uh,
excuse me, mental expansion — and
a self-absorbed “times they are a
changin’” feeling.
Problem is, their self-immersion
was too deep to understand where
they were going as a collective. Couple
that with conflicting international
missions, confused leaders and the
narrowing of sex roles in the family
stimulated by the feminist movement,
and it isn’t hard to fathom the actions
of the boomers as first-time parents.
No Stove Top stuffing and June
Cleaver here. My childhood is full of
memories of “Breakout” and “Space
Invaders,” my favorite Atari games,
and waiting for my single-parent mom
to gel home with food from
McDonalds so she could break up the
fight between my sister and I. Like
other 13ers,I was expected to grow up
fast.
And our first round of standardized
test scores proved what underachiev
ers we were. The 13crs, shunned and
scorned, were dubbed the “Baby Bust
ers,’’arising tide of mediocrity. These
arc the perceptions ol youth culture
that consumes our elders.
While our parents struggle to
branch out from an overly focused
center of gravity in their coming of
age, the 13crs arc characteristically
tangential and diverse, mocked and
forgotten by elders who can’t under
stand that it is our alienation and
cynicism — especially toward insti
tutions such as education and govern
ment— that binds us tightly.
In an almost perfect metaphor, the
Seattle grunge rock, which inspired
Nirvana and Pearl Jam, shows our
true generational colors. The maca
bre, sepulchral, almost indistinguish
able lyricsovcradriving beat pegs not
only the disdain and disappointment
with a society which has failed, if not
to give us at least a fighting chance,
then to provide us a protective bubble
until we decide it’s our time to flower
into adulthood. We have had the luxury
of neither. But we have come to wel
come, to skirl the limelight in favorof
an underachieverhood, the
unappreciated persona with the knowl
edge that it isour uncanny pcrceptive
ness and resilience which will prevail
in our mid-life.
Society has been cruel to us in
many ways, but it is especially the
mixed messages that have been doled
out which are among the most hei
nous. It troubles me that, as 13ers, we
are caught between our experiment
ing parents, who overindulged in sex,
alcohol, and drugs but who were too
confused about it — they probably
enjoyed it too much — to form a
collective moral denouncement of
those behaviors until their 40s.
Incredibly hypocritical.
And, of course, there is the fear of
AIDS. The 13crs are the most aborted
and birth-controlled generation, yet
we still outnumber the boomers. But
thpv havp unnpH thp sfakpc Wp arp a
fearless, risk-taking generation be
cause expectations of us can’t get any
lower. So, first society fixates our
attention on MTV and all around sexu
ality in the most media driven society
ever, but, if we have sex, unlike our
parents, we could die unless we sty
mie our upgraded libidos.
In essence, we were given all the
freedom early, only for it to be re
voked as soon as we could enjoy it.
But we aren’t dubbed the 13crsfor
nothing. Although foreboding and
entrenched in superstitious bad karma,
we mimic the all-powerful 13th card
in a suit — the ace. In the “Blackjack
Game of Life,” playing cither role, it
is the card that always beats the per
ceived kings and queens of the game.
Ernisse is a senior pre-med major and a
Daily Nebraskan columnist.
--r" i--—
Stop the guilt about Thanksgiving
4
Now that we have all been told
how awful wc should have felt
during Thanksgiving, I would
like to have us all face reality.
I quit watching the news on televi
sion after about the dozenth story on
the homeless and how
rotten a Thanksgiving
they had in thccity mis
sions and about the kind
souls who volunteered
to serve them. When
they really wanted to
jerk a few tears, the
ncwscriuers threw in a
couple of homeless chil
dren.
Then, of course, there were the
stories on improved consumer confi
dence this Season, compared to the
slumps of the last three seasons. All of
the stories laid the credit for renewed
confidence squarely at Bill Clinton’s
feet. Nary a word said about the 4
percent growth in GNPovcr the third
quarter
The final straw for me came on
Thanksgiving day. As I relaxed after
a wonderful, traditional dinner of tur
key, 1 glimpsed the headline of the
thulium oicii, rn^iim^
changing.” What 1 read nearly made
me hit the ceiling.
The whole slory — the lead story,
mind you — was an endless diatribe
about how a group of politically cor
rect wackos arc trying to indoctrinate
Lincoln schoolchildren into thinking
the pilgrims were a bunch of geno
cidal maniacs, all under the banner of
multiculturalism or diversity or sensi
tivity. That wasn’t the slant the re
porter put on the story, of course, but
it’s the essence I got from it by using
common sense.
Some of the gems gleaned from the
article are truly amazing. Thanksgiv
ing is a lime for “human dependence
on nature and each other.” It is to be
used as a “springboard to combat
stereotypes of American Indians,”
teaching respect for their culture and
values. Thanksgiving was an oppres
sive myth perpetrated by whites. Chil
dren should not forget what followed
the first Thanksgiving dinner: geno
cide by white Europeans.
The most ridiculous use for Thanks
giving was “to deal with language
issues.” Docs anyone out there know
that the term “Indian summer” is de
rogatory? I’m not making this up,
folks. I couldn’t, it’s just too bizarre
an example of the hypersensitivity
afflicting these people.
Worst of all, it’s not happening in
Berkeley,Calif.,or Madison, Wis.,or
New York City, or some other Ameri
can suburb of Moscow. It’s right here
in Lincoln, the heart of the Great
Midwest. And your kids arc being fed
this garbage.
It’s high time to throw cold water
on these people and their lunacy. I
want to speak a few truths about what
Thanksgiving is all about.
First of all, we’ve got plenty to be
thankful for. To begin with, we live in
the greatest country on the face of the
planet, in the history of the planet. We
are Americans.
All the shortcomings attributed to
us by the PCcrs pale in comparison to
the rest of the world. You want geno
cide? We’re amateurs compared to
Uic ucrmans, me soviets or even omcr
bargain-basement dictators such as
Idi Amin or Pol Pot. For every
Wounded Knee or Sand Creek in our
past, is a Buchenwald, or Treblinka,
Katyn Forest or a killing field in ev
eryone else’s.
You want racism? Look at places
like Japan, where an entire class of
people, the burakumin, arc shunned
universally, even though they’re Japa
nese. Or India, with its “untouch
ables.” Or take a look at all the tribal
warfare, black-on-black violence in
South Africa. You want sexism? Look
at India again, where they only re
cently gave up the practice of burning
widows. Or Africa, where many tribes
practice ritual mutilation of women’s
genitals.
Homelessness? Try Bosnia, where
people arc homeless because their
homes have been shelled, and they arc
thankful to be alive at the end of each
day. Hunger? Try Somalia, where
people are starving at an unbelievable
rate. And where are the citizens of
these countries turning for help? To
us, that’s who. That alone should tell
you everything you need to know.
We are the greatest country on the
face of the planet, in the history of the
planet. But the loony left doesn’t want
you to know that. You’re supposed to
feel guilty because you’re American,
more so if you’re white and/or male.
I refuse, however, to buy into the
“race guilt” notions that they tried to
peddle over this holiday, attempting
to induce shame because of my heri
tage. It won’t bring back the dead, and
i(won ’ t make every th ing eq ual today.
Quick—name me the last leader who
tried to lake power with a race guilt
theory. Here’s a hint — he was a
German political figure in the 1930s,
distinguished by his toothbrush mus
tache.
No, we have much to be thankful
for this year. We had two examples of
it this last month, in fact. The first was
Nov. 3, when we held elections. Even
though I disagree with the outcome,
there is still wonder in it all. We did
something in our country, without
firing a single bullet, that lakes a coup
d’etat in most of the world. We take it
for granted; half of us value the ballot
so little that we don’t even bother to
vote. .
The second was Veteran’s Day.
We live in a country so great ijiat men
have laid down their lives in combat
to preserve what we stand for. Men
like my father, who had to get his
father’s permission to enlist in the
Marine Corps in 1943, because he
was only 17. It broke my granddad’s
heart to do it, but then he had done the
same thing a quarter of a century ear
lier. Luckily, they both survived two
of the biggest wars humanity has ever
known, but millions did not.
So be thankful this year, for your
good fortune and, most of all, for your
country,
i
Repfidd is a graduate student in history,
an alumnus of the UNL College of Law and a
Daily Nebraskan columnist.
P.S. Write back.
The Daily Nebraskan wants to hear from you. If
you want to voice your opinion about an artictle that
appears in the newspaper, let us know. Just write a brief
letter to the editor, sign it (don't forget you student ID
number) and mail it to the Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska
Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. Or stop
by the office in the basement of Nebraska Union and visit
with us. We're all ears.
First Round Volleyball Action!
Come cheer the nationally ranked
UNL Volleyball Team
in a Big 8 Championship rematch
against the Buffs of Colorado. „
Thursday Night
December 3, 7:00 p.m.
Nebraska Coliseum
Admission
$5.00 - Adults
$3.00 - All Students & Sr. Citizens
For tickets call (402) 472-3111
NEBRASKA
VOLLEYBALL
o/?.T Thomas Jewelers
The Smart Choice
Lincoln's Largest and Finest^^^^^^^
Collection of Quality Diamond Bridal Sets
The A.T. Thomas Guarantee Assures You of...
•Diamond Quality •Lifetime trade-in value
•Precise modem cut for ‘Lifetime cleaning and
maximum brilliance inspection
•Protection against *Money back-satisfaction
diamond loss guarantee
cy4.T ‘ffiomas Jewelers
Open East Park Plaza
Sundays220 N. 66th