Variable X
They Called us Generation X. The common wisdom being that we stood for nothing. We were angry "for no good reason". And, "What IS that god-awful noise?!"
Remember the Battle in Seattle (November, 1999)? The media had us believing these "disorganized" "miscreants" were simply violent and misdirected. Today we realize they were just way ahead of the curve on this whole globalization thingy we’re only now figuring out how to damage-control. They were protesting the very world corporate practices that brought us to this economic reckoning.
The WTO now looks like a freaky fraternal circle-jerk that we let get out of control. THEY were the miscreants; they just had entourages, off-shore bank accounts, security details, harems, paid-politicians, private jets, and country clubs to cover their tracks; indeed they had their own mini-kingdom within the United States. Most of us thought nothing of it, and the media was tasked with making sure we all understood there was "nothing to see here". But our generation represented the knowledge of that unknown variable, x, that things were not as they seemed, and we felt a compulsion to bring true reality to consciousness, through art, music, and protest.
We, Generation X, knew in our gut then what everyone sees now. We didn’t take any of the glossed-over pseudo-reality (that was really just a pathetic holdover from the nuclear/cold war era) for granted. Nothing in that world made sense to us. Our parents failed in their attempt to overthrow the system, so they naturally patronized any attempt from their children to do the same. They were in charge of the media that patted the WTO protest and other grungy gatherings on the head: awww, kids these days.
But who were the ones that traited Liberal for conservative? Who moved from city to suburb? Who gave up pot in favor of alcohol? Who threw their support behind Reagan instead of Labor? Who was titilatingly DISGUSTED with Bill Clinton’s extra-marital affair? It was our ex-hippy parents. But the Seattle protesters weren’t all youngsters. They included labor unions; those true patriots that refused to sell their souls for the white collar.
It’s time for the next "greatest generation". We might not realize it until it’s history is written, but it shall be written. And let it be written that it started in Seattle.