Moran of the Day: Revival of Boomer Self-Reighteousness at Salon

Gen Xers Now Can Feel the Same Moral Certainty as Boomers? Get Me a Bucket, I Need to Puke

TSO has the details on the latest craze of "Being proud of your country for the first time" with this latest tripe from Salon regarding our President Elect. Unless your name is Wek, trying to attribute cultural characteristics to an entire generation is going to have a lot of shortcomings as America tends to be a pretty diverse place. Heather at Salon takes this politically opportune moment to shelve her VHS copy Slacker, stop reading The Onion, and embrace the self-righteous tendencies of many of our predecessors to Hail the new Obama Administration:

But when we watched Barack Obama's victory speech on Tuesday night, we looked into the eyes of a real leader, and decades of cynicism about politics and grass-roots movements and community melted away in a single moment. We heard the voice of a man who can inspire with his words, who's unashamed of his own intelligence, who's willing to treat the citizens of this country like smart, capable people, worthy of respect. For the first time in some of our lifetimes, we believed.

She goes on to point out that even the 9/11 attacks were as "Gen X kitsch" as references to Vicki from Small Wonder:

Just when we were starting to understand how to be a part of the larger world outside, Al Gore had the election stolen right out of his hands in Florida, and then the twin towers collapsed before our eyes. At first we felt moved to act for the greater good in the wake of that tragedy. But then the whole country seemed to implode in front of us, from our invasion of two sovereign nations to the rise of celebrity culture to tanning beds to McMansions to Guantánamo Bay to Hummers and a big, faceless herd of humans in low-rider ass pants, chattering about whether or not to get Botox. It was so sad and pathetic that it was funny to us, even if it was only sad and pathetic to you.

I don't think it's fair to assert that the cultural response from 9/11 was a big laughable joke for some Gen Xers, because some of us still think about its ramifications a lot. How far are we supposed to mimic our Baby Boomer elders anyways? Should we start treating veterans like shit and obsessively consume in a "greed is good" mantra to make up for our own vacuous lives? This "feel-good" politics is dangerous, because it means the ruling administration can float any turd our way an we're expected to gobble it up like it was the Golden Goose laying an egg.

But don't take my word for it, let me introduce you to another Gen Xer: