Though I’ve read the explanation of why the cohort born from 1928 to 1945 was first named “The Silent Generation“, I cannot fathom how so many nitwits still think it’s a good label for the generation which gave us Elvis, The Beatles, and every other pioneer of Rock and Roll; most of the leaders of the civil rights movement, including Martin Luther King, Jr; actors including Robert De Niro and Elizabeth Taylor; directors including Stanley Kubrick; artists including Andy Warhol and Jim Henson; writers including Harlan Ellison and Charles Beaumont; comedians including Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder; scientists including Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan; sports stars including Muhammad Ali and Willie Mays; and many, many other important (and not at all silent) public figures. And since the generation gave us the majority of the Beatniks and the older hippies as well, I have started a one-woman campaign to start calling it “The Beat Generation”.
Silent, Indeed
August 19, 2024 by Maggie McNeill
Posted in Biography, History, Miscellaneous, Music | Tagged acting, language, video | 2 Comments
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Nice tribute to my Parent’s generation. I am an Xer. My Parents had their family a little later in life. Friends all thought that they were cool and interesting. And, i had a connection to an earlier era in a nice way. Definitely grew up a little differently. They were great.
Just for completeness, they were keen to inform me that Hugh Hefner was a member of their generation.
If i may reply to your original campaign, something along the lines of “sophistiqué”. Trying to convey artistic and sexy and Avant-garde.