Posted on 03/03/2004 7:07:10 PM PST by qam1
Sure it's fun to be young, single and independent. But there comes a time to grow up, writes Tim Ferguson.
The terrorists in al-Qaeda seek to destroy Western culture. They needn't bother. Give Western culture 30 years and it will collapse under the weight of its incontinence nappies.
The West's celebration of youth has infected its culture like a deadly virus. Too many members of generation X go childless as they perpetuate a youthful lifestyle of attachment-free independence.
It's understandable. Today youth is celebrated by the mass media like never before.
Sportswear, soft drinks, junk food and zippy inner-city cars are made by corporations that survive by selling their wares to young, single people with disposable income.
The commercial media have no choice but to deliver a younger audience to these corporations. Youth lifestyle is subsequently promoted by the media as the pinnacle of Western culture.
The lifestyle of the young is seductive. It's not surprising that X-men want to play the never-ageing Peter Pan and X-women choose the capable romantic, Wendy Darling, as their role model.
I call them "Neverlanders".
Like Joan Rivers' cheeks, their youth is stretched to the point where it becomes a little sad, even tragic. The Neverlanders can be found groping each other in doof-doof nightclubs, zipping around the CBD in red convertibles, filling their Bridget Jones diaries with increasingly repetitive tales of increasingly repetitive acts, sobbing once a month as they wonder why they can't meet a nice girl or boy, or both.
Botox, hair implants, boob jobs and makeovers with the unappetising label of "extreme" abound as gen X clings to youth.
If you ignore the sobbing, it's a fun life. But Neverland's ticking crocodile is approaching.
In the 1960s, your average fortysomething was at home most evenings with their spouse and kids. They had enjoyed their jitterbugging youth but had decided that, after their 21st birthday, it was time to "grow up".
The closest many gen-Xers come to being "grown-up" is serial monogamy. The poo-spluttering wailing sirens known as "babies" do not enter the equation. And that's where the whole thing comes crashing, hungover and a bit teary, to the ground.
The capitalist culture of youth contains its own demise. As Neverlanders delay breeding, the quota of new young people shrinks. Each year the value of youth will increase with its rarity, the promotion of youth will intensify and the struggle by the ageing to live the life of the young will go on.
Our society will have fewer babies and more fortysomethings dancing the Time Warp at the Metro.
Treasurer Peter Costello has revealed the awful truth that gen X's inadequate superannuation will not sustain us in retirement. And we can forget age pensions. Our life expectancy is growing faster than our super and the Australian government of 2040 will not have enough taxpayers to sustain the 6.2 million over-65s.
All too soon, a new social group will send our economy and culture reeling. This group will not be the unemployed, the drug-addicted or the homeless.
It will be the single, aged poor. With their savings spent and no children to support them, the burden of the Neverlanders will cripple the West.
We are doomed. There are no solutions.
Pamela Bone ("How about having babies earlier?", on this page last Friday) believes young women should consider having kids before starting a career. She is right. She is also right when she admits there is no clear way to bring about such a revolution in twentysomething culture.
Young women are fully aware that motherhood is rewarding, but they also know how hard it can be. Many figure it's best put off until they've lived a little and their bank balance is healthier. Fair enough.
The boys aren't much help either. Traditionally, men are the ones who propose marriage, but they're procrastinating too. A freewheeling life is an attractive alternative to the pressured existence of father and provider. It's easier to act like a kid than to raise one.
Governments, poor things, can't do much to inspire us to breed. Tax breaks, child care and maternity allowances are all very well, but the choice to have kids requires more than money.
We can't look to the market or media to save us. It is not in the short-term interest of advertisers for consumers to grow up. Health concerns and budget restrictions influence those with kids and mortgages more than those without.
Carefree, single youth will remain our most hyped, celebrated and comfortable lifestyle. And, every day, our population will grow a little older.
Osama bin Laden can put aside his hateful dogma. Instead, he can sit back and quote the crocodile of Neverland - "Tick-tock tick-tock".
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social aspects that directly effects Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1982) including all the spending previous generations (i.e. The Baby Boomers) are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details.
"Away, and mock the time with fairest show. False face must hide what the false heart doth know" (Macbeth)
The problem is that there is a sizable percentable of eligible bachelors in the late 20-early 30 age range that wants to have children. We surely don't want to be 45 with a newborne, that would put us at 53 or older when the boys reach sports playing age, so we can't play with them as athletically as we'd like. That also puts us at 60+ when our daughters would start dating, which makes us too old to beat up their boyfriends who might try to take advantage of them.
In addition, I certainly don't want to date a woman who all of a sudden realizes that her biological clock is ticking (ignoring all scientific fact about the safest and best years for bearing children) so when I pass the 35 year mark, I'll continue looking at the 26-33 age range as I don't want an older woman who might have less success in producing healthy children. I should have more wealth accumulated by 35 (and up) so sure...I'll be a sugar daddy. At least I'll be a daddy.
BS. As a card-carrying member of Gen-X, its been my observation that we're having more babies than the previous generation...most of the X'ers in my area have three or more kids. And we're working our butts off to do it too. This whiny loser can bite me - Gen X is working harder at being good parents than our parents ever did.
Oh, come on. I turn 50 this year, just fought for and won custody (non-parental) of 1 and 2 year olds; my mother is 38 years older than me and goes to exercise class each day; I ride a motorcycle that does 0-60 in 2.8 seconds. You are a LONG ways from being too old to raise a newborn or play sports.
Having said that, good luck finding a nice lady, and your attitude seems really responsible and considerate. I always stayed well away from the party girls.
Up your's, Boomer Swine. (That was directed at the author, not at qam1).
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