Gen X, Millenials, Homelander, Silent, Boomer -- What's in a Generation's Name?

[KurtNYC]

Much was made of one chart in a document released last week by the Whitehouse titled "15 Economic facts About Millenials", not for anything it said about Millenials but for embracing Neil Howe's term for those born after 2004, "the Homeland Generation."

Names for generations are used primarily by marketers and corporations in their strategies for advertising and mass communications. The basic idea being that one's life experience shapes one's economic habits. These artificial divisions became almost mandatory after 1961 when Time Magazine embraced the term "Silent Generation" for those born prior to the Baby Boomers. In that context it doesn't look like much thought was put into the term "Generation X" and even less into the proposed term for the latest generation, "Generation Z".

What is perhaps more interesting than these names, is the debate over what the divisions are and when they begin but any name with "Homeland" in it evokes a certain mindset which some prematurely ascribe to those born in the last 10 years. The choice to use this name eclipsed whatever the document wanted to say about Millenials:

This was what a political operative might call an unforced error. The Homeland Generation is not just an unnecessary choice but a jarring one; its optics are conspicuously clumsy considering that optics are the sole concern of this document. Read it from the perspective of a non-American to get the full effect: The "Homeland Generation" sounds paranoid, xenophobic, and ready to fight. It's almost like something out of speculative fiction, what a writer might call the first generation of people after some great collapse shattered the modern world into nationalist tribes. It would be very useful in this context—it would convey fear and selfishness and reversion, instantly, to use such a darkly coded word. It's the kind of name you would give to a lost generation, seeing as the "Lost Generation" is already taken. The reader would get it.

The term was coined not by Obama or any staff members but by Neil Howe some time before April of 2013:



http://www.theawl.com/2014/10/the-homeland-generation

Others reject such cynicism and Howe's narrow focus on the Panopticon environment we are entering. In keeping with that, they begin this generation with those born after 1995 and focus mostly on predicting their buying habits:

Tammy Erickson has studied this new generation extensively. And based on her Carlisle, Massachusetts-based consulting firm's findings, she and her associates have named the next generation the "Re-Generation", or "Re-Gens" for short. The first members of this group were born around 1995, according to Erickson. "This generation has been steeped in reality and is living within finite limits," Erickson says. "They're very concerned with environmental issues, very conscious of looming energy shortages, water shortages." This level of environmental consciousness has instilled within the generation's collective personality a higher sense of responsibility to be more egalitarian and thoughtful with shared resources.

Erickson says the Re-Gens' most pressing concern is the economy. The first members born into this generation entered their formative years (between ages 11 and 13) during the beginning of the Great Recession, which has given this group a desire to do more with less. In contrast to the millennials, the ReGens are a fiscally conservative group that's more open to compromise, she says. "They're unwilling to incur large amounts of debt," Erickson adds. "They're willing to defer gratification. They're not a 'buy now, pay later' kind of group. They're more willing to save up to buy something when they can afford it."
...
An interesting generational characteristic Erickson has noticed is that the Re-Gens are relatively indifferent to technology when compared with the millennials. Erickson says they have an "unconscious reliance on ubiquitous connectivity." Essentially, the Internet has always been around for the Re-Gens, and consequently it's played a larger role in their lives than for those of previous generations.

One thing marketers agree on is the good news about the newest generation is their empathy and attachment to groups and other individuals, as theorized here:

These millennials are not distinct enough to be regarded as an entirely new generation in Howe's opinion. He says all generations experience slight changes over time. The changes in millennials are the result of trends in the cohort. For instance, late-wave millennials were born around the advent of attachment parenting, also known as "helicopter parenting." This overbearing style of parenting has led to late-wave millennials being emotionally attentive to the needs of others and also very good at working in teams on account of their many after-school activities, Howe says.

http://www.workforce.com/articles/108-another-generation-rises-looking-beyond-the-millennials

[NanceGreggs]

1. Yes, much was made ...

... of a chart using the term "Homeland Generation", by people who thought it was yet another heinous act committed by the Obama Administration - and set their hair on fire accordingly.

The other OP on the topic still has those same people insisting that the WH came up with the term, despite being shown links to the term being used since 2005.

"The term was coined not by Obama or any staff members but by Neil Howe some time before April of 2013." In fact, it was well before 2013. Howe's company ran a contest in 2005, and "Homeland Generation" emerged as the clear "winner" as a result.

So why am I not surprised that your OP would not garner any replies - because you committed the unpardonable sin of posting FACTS, instead of ignoring said facts because they interfere with now-adopted "DU Facts" about the origin, and subsequent use of the term.

It's been apparent for a while now - "DU Facts" have replaced actual facts for the "Obama is to blame for everything" crowd. And rather than admit they were wrong, they will persist in their adherence to whatever non-facts prove their point.

This kind of thinking has always been prevalent on RW sites - it's sad to see that it has taken hold here.

[KurtNYC]

3. Thanks

Churchill said famously, "a lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can get its pants on."

[NanceGreggs]

4. And he said that ...

... in a world devoid of the immediacy of the internet.

One can only imagine how he would describe the situation were he living in our time.

[Fumesucker]

5. It was Twain who said that, if Churchill did then it wasn't original with him

More DU facts..

[KurtNYC]

6. Thanks. I love that quote.

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Churchill

I wanted to get the attribution correct so I went to the ridiculously thorough Quote Investigator:

Besides, as the vilest Writer has his Readers, so the greatest Liar has his Believers; and it often happens, that if a Lie be believ’d only for an Hour, it has done its Work, and there is no farther occasion for it. Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it; so that when Men come to be undeceiv’d, it is too late; the Jest is over, and the Tale has had its Effect… (-Swift)
...
In conclusion, there exists a family of expressions contrasting the dissemination of lies and truths, and these adages have been evolving for more than 300 years. Jonathan Swift can properly be credited with the statement he wrote in 1710. Charles Haddon Spurgeon popularized the version he employed in a sermon in 1855, but he did not craft it. At this time, there is no substantive support for assigning the saying to Mark Twain.

http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/07/13/truth/

Now I don't know who to attribute it to, and I find Churchill's version a bit verbose.

[NightWatcher]

2. Homelanders sound like the kids from a Mad max movie

Tell us about the Long Ago