A Generation Which Refuses To Be Ignored!
Excerpt from 'The Future is X', the new book by Mal Fletcher
God works in the lives of individuals to prepare a platform for future influence. What is true of individuals is also true of generations. God has been working in Gen-X right from the start, steadily erecting in the hearts of those who seek him a launching pad for godly influence.
It hardly needs to be said that Generation-X is very different from the Boomer generation which preceded it. Gen-X is less idealistic, more pragmatic; less individualistic, more communal; less bombastic, more head-down-and-get-results.
For three decades, Boomers in the developed world have impacted everything from movements within popular culture to the direction of international economic and political policy. Right now, though, Gen-X is on the ascendancy. Its creative, non-institutional approach is redefining many aspects of life, in line with its generational identity.
The Internet may have been invented by Gen-Xers’ grandparents, the so-called Silent Generation and it may have been developed by the Boomers; but Gen-X has made it the mighty communications hub it is today. Gen-X is also driving its emergence as a cross-platform entertainment medium.
Movie-making goes back to the end of the nineteenth century, when Thomas Edison produced the first flick. Gen-X, though, has now firmly put its stamp on the cinematic arts. It has, for example, reinvented the way special effects are generated and woven into a film story. It has elevated the skills of the animator and the comic-book artist, turning them into mainstream money-makers. Through Gen-X interest, the documentary movie genre has taken on a new significance in the social, cultural and even political life of nations and Gen-X has initiated major breakthroughs in all the technologies which provide the magic of movie-making.
Study the TV world and you’ll see the same trend. Over the past decade, Gen-Xers have slowly and often quietly moved into positions where they control access to both production resources and broadcast opportunities.
Many young TV commissioning executives find themselves deciding the professional destinies of presenters, writers and producers who were once their mentors and icons. It’s much the same in the world of print media: Gen-X editors and feature writers are shaping public thought and redefining what can be done in print and pictures.
Gen-X is coming to prominence in business, too, with many major corporations now headed by post-Boomer pragmatists who know how to crunch the numbers without losing sight of the big, creative picture. In education, Gen-X academics are filling fresh professorships in new fields of study, involving everything from game theory to mobile phone linguistics. And in politics, Gen-Xers are bringing to government a mixture of adult experience combined with still youthful energy and zeal.
God wants to sanctify every characteristic of this generation’s identity so that it can be turned to his good purposes for his world. What are the key characteristics of Gen-X? What are its major shaping influences?
Gen-X is a generation which has been shaped by rapid change through technological advance. Since you were born, Gen-Xer, just about the only thing you could count on has been impermanence and unpredictability. For you, being in a state of transition is normal and everything is relative.
When Alvin Toffler wrote in the 1970s of a roaring current of change which would leave many people feeling disoriented and disengaged, he was peering ahead into the soul of your generation.
If you’re a Gen-Xer, the generation of which you are a part was, by and large, born and raised at a time when children were considered something to be endured, not enjoyed. As a result, yours is perhaps the least parentally nurtured generation in recent history.
Study the TV sitcoms made when you were a baby, or a toddler. Look into the filmography of the same period. You’ll see very few media products which celebrated childhood or talked about children in a positive light.
In return, your generation has thrown up TV pictures of family life which seem to stick a finger in the eye of your Boomer forebears. In the ubiquitous Simpsons, Bart is a worldly-wise, cynical and sharp-tongued 10-year-old - the ultimate Gen-X kid. He is often locked in a battle of wits with his dopey, naïve father, Homer, a child of the 60s and 70s. It’s a battle Bart always wins.
Many of the grown up children of the 50s and 60s were either too obsessed with getting ahead in the world or too preoccupied with the angst of their own relationships, to share any love with the generation emerging around them.
Some students of sociology have noted that Gen-X was the most aborted in history. Looking at that from a Biblical standpoint, it seems that Generation-X has represented a major threat to the agents of darkness in this world.
They’ve tried to wipe out the reformers before they were born, just as they did in the days of Pharaoh and the time of Herod. No generation that’s had that much attention from ‘the dark side’ can be insignificant!
This article is an excerpt from Mal Fletcher’s new book The Future is X. Click here to download your e-Book copy today!
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