Which generational label fits you best? Image / 123rf.com
Which generational label fits you best? Image / 123rf.com
COMMENT Every generation of young people is regarded as more feckless than the last. This does not mean young people did not give a feck. The dictionary describes being feckless as "lacking initiative or strength of character; irresponsible" ... not as being young.
Of course, young people have always been agitatingagainst the aging and rusting views of their elders while the older generation bemoan the follies of youth ever since Adam and Eve had children.
This is nothing new. Cain, Abel and Seth were bound to have scoffed at their parent's dress sense: "Wearing leaves is so old style", while their parents sighed and muttered about the lazy post-paradise generation who never had to worry about keeping warm.
Now we have Generations Z and X, millennials and baby boomers. For some reason the generational labelling alphabet starts at the end. Is this because the "A Type" personalities took over and the "B" Types were too relaxed to claim the rest of the alphabet?
The naming and blaming of previous or current generations for all manner of ills does seem to have reached a crescendo and the digital natives are becoming restless having realised that (a) it is a bit silly and (b) the whole idea has become a plaything for the marketing gurus who see it as a way to sell us more stuff we did not know we needed.
This includes the Influenzers, who, like a contagious bug, infect the online world with their excitable selfies but that is across all ages so is more of a gaggle than a cohort.
Do we need new monikers and for the new evolving generations? The babble of politicians such as Trump, Boris Johnson, Scott Morrison and Winston Peters could be described as the "New Regressives". Regressives does have a certain post-modern vibe with its hint of retroactive bitter grumpiness when thwarted.
The more recently arrived cohort of toddlers could be called the "What and Why" generation to capture the overwhelming curiosity they bring to everything they touch – whether they are meant or not. A subset could be the "Out of Touch" generation for whom anything precious has to be put up a very high shelf.
Those muttering darkly about "in my day" are the generational delusionists who cannot see past their past. The retro-profactionalists divide the world into them and us - with being either with them or against them as the only definition available.
The "I am not prejudiced. I just don't like -------" (insert a bigoted statement of your choice here) are the refusonics who refuse to accept that not everyone wants to be like them.
Behold the New Regressive! UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Photo / AP
Last but not least – if labels are going to be attached to specific generational traits - there is an urgent need for a new name for those who feel that such labels are reductionist. Let's call them peopleolists and see what the marketing types can do with that.
He aha te mea nui o te ao. He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata (What is the most important thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is people).
Terry Sarten (aka Tel) is a writer, musician and social worker. Feedback welcome: tgs@inspire.net.nz
