05-08-2022, 07:11 AM
(02-10-2022, 12:15 AM)JasonBlack Wrote: Imo, neither "nomad", nor "reactive" really characterize this generational archetype well. Instead, I would posit "Survivalist Generation" as a more fitting moniker for the following reasons
1) Compared to millennials and boomers, I would say that Gen X is actually a less reactive generation as a whole. Boomers are more prone to moralistic crusading, and millennials to collective protesting and cancelation, but either way, both exhibit a sense of outrage over many political matters that leave Gen X thinking "What were expecting? A Disney movie? Lmao! Welcome to the real world kiddo. Fasten your seatbelts..."
2) Neither "reactive" nor "nomad" really characterize a sense of tough mindedness.
3) Nomad Gens tend to be the black sheep (also a potential name for them tbh) in most of the generational constellations they live through. Survivalist doesn't just imply staying alive, it implies having the fight/push against something to do so.
4) The basic archetypal roles that Nomad Gens tend to play include capitalists (John D Rockefeller, Elon Musk), generals (George Washington, Dwight D. Eisenhower) crimelords/pirates (Lucky Luciano, Blackbeard, Viktor "Lord of War" Bout), and various protective parental figures. Every one of these has a strong "survivalist" slant.
5) Nomad Gens are the most cynical generations within the saeculum and the most likely to believe that they are responsible for their own survival rather than relying on a social system to do so.
PS: I'm a millennial and y'all are my favorite generation. I realize that nothing quite says Gen X like...not speaking up to defend Gen X, but I gotchu fam.
"Nomad" refers more to mobility than to a lack of roots. Nomads may be obliged to travel light, but they cherish what little they have. They may move about because of seasonal forage, going down to the verdant lowlands of the winter but abandoning those in the summer drought to the well-watered high altitudes; they know what they are doing. They could be people who recognize that they can easily overstay their welcome; they often know the warning signs and leave when the going is good, like the Roma in comparatively good times. In general, literal nomads must hold tight onto their values lest life get crazy or precarious.
"Reactive" implies that someone else establishes an environment in which they interact. The rewards may be low, and so are the expectations. Punishments may be severe, reflecting the saying that one might as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb. If the rewards for being a pirate are higher than those of a highwayman, and the consequence for being caught is being hanged, drawn, and quartered, then the criminal Nomad/Reactive chooses being a pirate. If they can't have certainty, then they might as well raise the rewards for unlikely wins. The generation that you here describe may find that only the long-shot bets pay off, with short odds offering little-to-no-reward. So do you become a domestic servant or an oil wildcatter? The results are much the same whether one 'succeeds' as a domestic servant or 'fails' as an oil wildcatter.
"Nomad/Reactive" generations look like gamblers. They may not be the schmucks who spend their pensions, Social Security, or meager wages in casinos; the Nomadic/Reactive gambler as a historical makes bets that can go very well... or can doom the bettor. If one gets away with the bet one does very well and can become a cautionary figure. If one fails, then life is nothing because everything is power or material gain. Other generations can believe in abstractions, principles, or systems; all three of those do not work for a Nomadic/Reactive generation. The Nomad/Reactive may perceive only one chance in life, and if it goes wrong, then one's life has little meaning in the wake of failure.
The good side of the Nomad/Reactive generation is that if they succeed in some small-scale gamble, they create a model for doing what they did on a bigger scale with lesser risk. Civic/Hero generations (unless as cannon fodder) can imitate what succeeded among Nomad/Reactive types only to take the extreme risk of personal ruin out of the prospect. Civic/Hero generations are more likely to set up formal plans that leave more room for backtracking in the event that something unravels. In contrast, the bad guys become ludicrous examples of what goes wrong in the event at the least of bad planning and at worst if the world turns against one.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.