The Rhetoric of Gen X

Last night I was teasing Ouiser to get up and dance to "At the Car Wash" joking, "It's your generation! You should get up and dance!" Then "Hey Micky" came on and I said to A, "When were you born?" she said, "1982" and I said, "Oh, at least you were born when this came out!" And I realized the relativity of my age to Ouisers and A's to mine.

Now I'm finally watching the Zoo TV dvd I've had but not watched yet and I was mesmerized by the words flashed on screen to "The Fly." It was quite interesting in that it was cutting edge 10-13 (?) years ago. As I folded my Gap "Inspi(RED)" t-shirt, the relative time between the message flashing with an arrogant lack of subliminalism and the simple message of the shirt that cost more than the DVD but made in South Africa had a surreal impact.

Are these words the voice(s) of my generation? Did it turn out to be as profound and irrelevent as it all seemed at the time?

THE FUTURE IS FANTASY
SUPERFICIALITY IS GOD
AVOID CONFLICT
IGNORANCE IS BLISS
IT'S THE REAL THING
CONSUME LATER
DO NOT ACCEPT WHAT YOU CANNOT CHANGE
CHANGE WHAT YOU CANNOT ACCEPT
BELIEVE EVERYTHING
DO YOU BELIEVE ME?
YOU ARE A VICTIM OF YOUR TV/HATRED/APATHY/SELF
IS THIS ALL WE GET?
YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE
WHAT DID THE FIRST PUNK ROCK GIRL WEAR TO YOUR SCHOOL?
WORK IS THE BLACKMAIL OF SURVIVAL
I WANT IT NOW
BE GENTLE WITH ME
THIS IS NOT A REHEARSAL
ENJOY THE SURFACE
FREE MANDELA
THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT
AMBITION BITES THE NAILS OF SUCCESS
IT COULD NEVER HAPPEN HERE
TASTE IS THE ENEMY OF ART
BELIEVE
MANIPULATION IS ART
YOU ARE NOT IMMUNE
EVERY ARTIST IS A CANNIBAL
CELEBRITY IS A JOB
DEATH IS A CAREER MOVE
MOCK THE DEVIL AND HE WILL FLEE FROM THEE
REBELLION IS PACKAGED *
RELIGION IS A CLUB
CONTRADICTION IS BALANCE
I'D LIKE TO TEACH THE WORLD TO SING
GUILT IS NOT OF GOD
TOMORROW BELONGS TO ME
EVOLUTION IS OVER
SILENCE = DEATH
DEATH IS INEVITABLE **
EVERYONE IS A RACIST EXCEPT YOU
ROCK AND ROLL IS ENTERTAINMENT
WEAR A CONDOM

*I particularly like this one now. 15 or so years later, you come to realize how packaged it was then

**If silence equals death and death is inevitable, does that mean silence is inevitable?