Generation X gets no respect in mainstream culture, even if its existence is acknowledged at all.
It's a complement.
Each generation has its hooks, little triggers by which it can be moved en mass. These hooks are programmed through the events that generation experiences. The events may be natural or artificial. The programming can be emergent or deliberate. Either way the bulk of a generation can be pointed, activated, and deactivated via the hooks it has grown around.
Some of the effective Boomer hooks are anti-semitism, racism, and tax issues. They come in different flavors for the subgroups.
Some effective Millennial hooks are debt, racism, and the environment. They did not fall far from the parental Boomer tree.
What are the Gen X hooks? That's a good question. They pretty much don't exist.
Gen X is the "I don't care" generation. Its formative environment fostered disillusionment, disconnection, and defensive apathy.
As a generation Gen X is difficult to push or pull because they don't react, they aren't rigid. They just kind of flop and then go back to doing their own thing.
Today's social power paradigm generally relies on the co-opted self-organization of its target groups in response to stimuli - "tugging on the hooks." As a generation Gen X is pretty much unresponsive to these things. There are any number of Gen Xers who are members of non-generational groups that are managed this way but as a generation Gen X pretty much doesn't respond. It's like pushing dry sand; anything not being directly affected doesn't budge.
As a result Generation X is rarely mentioned in official society. The power structure doesn't want to legitimize any consciousness that doesn't serve their purposes.
It is noteworthy that most of the people who seem to get anything worthwhile done today are either members of Gen X or have adopted a similar mentality.
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