"X Saves the World"

The upcoming 2008 election could not arrive at a more opportune time. Americans hunger for a leader capable of creating and implementing innovative solutions to 21^st century problems. Issues the country once seemed immune to, such as the nation’s safety, the economy’s health, and the availability of natural resources, resonate along the campaign trail. And the time that always seemed so distant has arrived.

How did America find itself in such a predicament within our lifetimes? Jeff Gordinier’s newly published book, “X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft but Can Still Keep Everything from Sucking,” allows its readers to step back and take a look at American culture over the past couple of decades. This fresh perspective offers answers to how America arrived at her current state. Gordinier, also editor at large of “Details Magazine,” convincingly believes that Generation X will rescue the damsel in distress.

The manifesto may naturally offend the majority of America, which happens to be made up of the Baby Boomer and Y Generations. But most of America may also want to take notes from the slacker generation, or Generation X, especially if they have any interest in future generations. It may seem ridiculous that Gordinier believes X, the tiny demographic sandwiched between the Boomer and Y Generations, can and will be America’s superhero. But don’t worry, Generation X never liked competition and certainly never enjoyed taking any credit. In fact, Generation X runs from the spotlight.

Gordinier does not blame America’s problems on one generation. Instead, he identifies the villain as America’s movement towards a corporate monoculture.

The corporate takeover of our towns happened during broad daylight. Optimistic Americans welcomed big corporations into their towns, believing the growth would generate opportunity. Despite the delusion, nobody realized these corporations’ enormous power to breed. Over the past few decades, corporations colonized and cloned themselves repetitively, leaving almost no region untouched. And now, most towns, once characterized by their differences, look like the same town, owned by the same corporations.

This corporate monoculture kidnapped almost every aspect of American lives, including the media, leaving the average citizen alienated, numb. The corporate take-over eerily resembles a modern-day form of slavery, with a few kinks (like homesickness) worked out. Historically, slave owner culture often replaced the slaves’ native culture. America is no exception: Corporate culture is replacing American culture.

Because of their general distaste for corporate culture, X, the only generation to escape the enemy, may have what it takes to rescue America. Gordinier displays this fact through each generation’s taste in music.

Before X’s hey-day, 1991-1999, there was Queenryche, Color Me Bad, and New Kids on the Block. And then Nirvana arrived on the scene. The band appealed to Generation X, who couldn’t move from underneath the Baby Boomers’ super sized shadow. Gordinier describes Nirvana’s elusive message as “a sarcastic reaction to a revolution.” And in 1991, Xers were tired of hearing Baby Boomer’s toss around hollow words such as revolution and movement.

The Boomers’ size and affluence, alone, exhort enormous influence over every aspect of American life. They influence not only trends but also beliefs. And in the 60s, they believed they were saving the world. But X perceives the Boomers as a gluttonous generation who choked and compromised their values. The evasive Generation X, who worked hard not to “sell out,” as their parents did, successfully puzzled marketers as well as other generations who never managed to fully stereotype the generation’s sensibilities.

Marketers stopped loving X around the summer of 91, when Perry Ferrell’s Lollapalooza Festival lured marketers to coin the generation’s music as “alternative.” Gordinier compares this move to the sterile insect technique, or gathering a swarm of male flies and blasting them with chemical radiation. The infertile flies are then released to mate with female flies, who would lay infertile eggs. By 93, bands like Stone Temple Pilots, Seven Mary Three, Candlebox, and Bush flooded the airwaves, mated with their listeners, who quickly decided that alternative music sucked.

1999 marked the end of X’s heyday. This same year, MTV also stopped loving X and started loving Britney’s millennial generation, a much larger target market. Gordinier calls this shift: monoculture’s revenge.

Everything that Generation X stands for: music, art, design, freedom (culture), everything that ran counter to a monoculture started disappearing. Gordinier compares Millenial music to Wal-Mart, “cheap, clean, massive and censored.” Generation X musicians, who committed suicide or were killed in drive-bys, were considered bad investments. Besides, their music contained the presence of human qualities that inspired listeners to pay attention, wake up, question authority and to fight for integrity.

How did defiant X let their art disappear from mainstream radio? You guessed it: Money and Greed. In X’s heyday, it was cool to not care about money, but The dot-com boom appealed to X sensibilities: away with dress-codes, dull offices, and many other old workplace rules. Xers started thinking about the possibilities of early retirement and wealth. The stockmarket crash of 2000 killed the boom, and Xers became members of the most enduring and influential movement of the past 50 years: the yuppie phenomenon. Suddenly X, morphed into a complacent workforce. The generation either became familiar with corporate jargon or risked being categorized as freak slackers. Gordinier writes that while the yuppies were busy colonizing his favorite neighborhood, they were apparently doing the same thing to his brain.

Now, America is staring down Huge economic, safety, environmental, cultural, and spiritual problems, problems threatening to bury everything we love about this country. And X, wary enough to see through delusional movements, yet old enough to feel a connection to the past, won’t go away without a fight.

Because the Baby Boomer Hippy Generation stigmatized the whole practice of standing up to the man through “peaceful protests,” Generation X has crafted and mastered a whole new form of protest, which also happens to be entertaining. Brooks Brothers Satirists, such as the Yes men and Billionaires for Bush take on some of the most ludicrous positions to prove a point: America is silently and without question accepting some of the most insane decision making going on in America right now.

Generation X not only rules comedy and satire, they are also saving the world in a quiet, modest, and local way. Take Cameron Sinclair, who started “Architecture for Humanity.” His international organization provides up-rooted people with housing, and we’re not talking FEMA trailers. Sinclair believes that people will take care of their homes and communities if they have pride in them.

Sinclair likes to use the word “Urban Acupuncture,” to describe the ripple effect of piercing a place with one small, dramatic pinpoint improvement. Sinclair uses this metaphor for the whole Gen X approach to problem solving: Fix things in the microcosm and let it radiate outwards. He describes the “Urban Acupuncture” as a “You Tube Mentality,” start small, aim high.

Gordinier writes that Sinclair Xishly hasn’t displayed any signs of “Hands Across America Megalomania.” Contrarily, he refuses to see himself as the top dog in a hierarchy. In fact, Sinclair wants to give credit away by open sourcing “Architecture for Humanity.” Anyone can start a chapter by downloading the mission statements and blueprints. No permission necessary. .

Gordinier also mentions Sustainable South Bronx’s “Green the Ghetto,” who lobbies aggressively for parks, greenways, and blooming floral roofs.

When you go to the polls, think about the “slacker generation’s” contributions they achieved without “selling out.” Think about the inventiveness of the generation who got the shaft, the generation who created Google, YouTube, Amazon, Netflix, and Wikipedia, among just a few of its accomplishments.

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Unemployment 101: Quit Your Job, Save the World

I happened to stumble upon some great news for anyone, including myself, who finds themselves categorized, in one form or another, as “different.” This revelation appeared before me in the form of a book called The 4 –Hour Workweek. Despite Author Timothy Ferriss’s similarly unconventional personality, he also happens to be a member of the “New Rich.” This quiet subculture, characterized by their ability to globe trot and enjoy an abundance of time and money, live a caliber of luxury beyond imagination. Ferriss, once underpaid and overworked, deciphered the “New Rich’s” methods and now earns $40,000 a month, working just 4 hours a week. The 4- Hour Workweek, a step-by- step how-to manual, demonstrates his perfected “lifestyle design” method. This alternative to the way we make a living may also revolutionize the way we live.
Through his own career suicides and extreme accomplishments, Ferriss gained a deeper understanding of success. This word has morphed into an ugly public façade that reeks of mass consumption. Its only purpose, to feed our emotional weaknesses, tricks us. For instance, if you make $100,000 “per year,” sacrificing 60 hours a week, you only actually earn about $10 an hour. And then, if you survive 35 years of this torture, you retire. But guess what? Due to inflation, the numbers don’t add up. Ferriss calls the “deferred retirement plan” a “bittersweet ending.”
Ferris’s answer to success’s trickery consists of a gradual and undeniable technique for escaping the mundane and distracting office environment. How could a boss deny doubling productivity? This remote work agreement frees up time in order to achieve real success, the actualization of dreams. One of Ferriss’s most unconventional ideas is to altogether quit your job, an excuse for mediocrity or a “bad habit.” He writes that “quitting is integral to winning.”
The 4-Hour Workweek’s tradition defying climax, consisting of a few simple steps, teaches you how to build an automated business structure in three phases. In just 4 to 6 weeks, Ferris thinks anyone can be on their way to embodying real success. The completely duplicateable method requires very little creativity. Just follow the steps.
The actual business plan’s last stage involves replacing yourself, your largest obstacle, with automation, permitting liberation. However, an excess of money and time, only the vehicles for your goals, will create a deep void within you. Ferris analogizes this switch in your working paradigm as going from triple espresso to decaf. He names the excessive combination “fertilizer for self doubt.” Although the workplace is filled with gossip, annoying email jokes, and bad coffee, we survive and thrive on the human interaction it provides us. The most difficult step, the one that does require creativity, not to mention strength, is replacing that social web. Otherwise, the mind will naturally focus on solving unproductive problems (a.k.a. depression). Creating another focus, besides “working for the sake of working,” combats this condition. Ferris also notes that it takes 2 to 3 months to unplug obsolete routines and become aware of just how much we distract ourselves with constant motion.

To fill the void, Ferris prescribes relocating, (gulp) namely to a foreign country. And this, my friends, is the part that scares me. He calls this foreign extended escapade an “anti-vacation,” a step outside of your comfort zone. This experience will mirror your own prejudices and weaknesses, making it that much easier to fix them. Ferris won’t even accept the single mother excuse against traveling. Like most of his crazy philosophy, he backs his facts up with a single mother of two who traveled for 5 months case study.
But the fun part happens when Ferris shows you exactly how to live like a rock star for cheap. He even goes so far as saying that “traveling around the world and having the time of your life can save you some serious money.” As usual, the book provides a step-by-step guide on how to accomplish this task.
I know. Many are thinking, “Living like a rock star, endless amounts of time and money, focusing on yourself…..” Yes, it does sound hedonistic, but don’t worry, the book proves, point-for-point, that this philosophy aims to reverse years of damage caused by mass consumption and stress, which made happiness a real chore. Ferris shows you how to use learning and service as the two components to happiness. I know, I’m repeating myself, but he provides all the resources.
Everyone should read this book, even if you have no interest in building a self automated business structure. The 4-Hour Workweek is a fun read, and I learned a little about myself too. Although I pride myself on being “different,” I am also full of self doubt. If we could live in a less stressful world, a happier world, think of the possibilities for not only saving lives and the environment. We could also put smiles on billions of faces.