I can’t stand it. Everywhere I go I run into someone complaining about what is wrong with people of my generation, the so-called “Generation X.”

I’m sure some of this university’s students have had to sit and listen to some professor point out what is wrong with the young. Talk to anyone from a previous generation and the hottest topic is what the media has dubbed “X-bashing.”

Watch the news and before long some report on how students scores are poor; how the kids are all so angry; Generation X are all slackers or how the young are all psychologically damaged.

Well, maybe we are psychologically damaged (read Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America by Elizabeth Wurtzel over Christmas break), but look at the world we grew up in.

It has been an age-old tradition for generations to clash. The young blame the old for the world they have inherited, and the old say nothing is right with the young.

But I’m young, and I get tired of hearing what is wrong with us, and at the same time I haven’t heard the young whining about the world.

“All Xers are whiners,” is one the myths about our generation. Most of us know we have inherited a screwed up world. As a matter of fact, we knew it at a much younger age than previous generations and so we don’t expect much of a free ride.

No one expects to get their social security money back or to be able to double their standard of living as easily as previous generations have. What’s to whine about; most people simply accept all this.

A good example of this difference between generations is the tragedies that took place. When Kennedy was shot everyone in school was mourning and saddened — perhaps even whining.

When the space shuttle blew up, the next day everyone was telling jokes about it: What does NASA stand for? Need Another Seven Astronauts. How many astronauts can you fit in a VW beetle? 11; two in the front, two in the back, and seven in the ashtray.

Just the other day I was sitting in class and heard my professor, Kim Smith, tell us what he thought was wrong with young people today.

In all fairness I should say he said that today’s college grads are bright and hard working, but he said they are for the most part unprofessional. I went and asked him what he meant, and he explained how employers are saying young people often use excuses and make unreasonable demands for young employees. As far as excuses go, this may be true, but I don’t think it is exclusive to young people.

I think one of the problems of all Americans is that too many people are unwilling to take responsibility or blame. Young people may be simply doing it because it is what has been taught to them by their elders and the media. Perhaps this is the result of a generation raised by television and divorcing parents.

I feel one of the attributes of our generation is a demand for honesty and reality. A “cut through the crap” attitude of young people who have also been raised on television, but realize it is a bunch of bull, and can smell a lie (like Christian Slater said in Pump Up the Volume) like a fart in a car.

The strange thing is advertising campaigns have exploited this, like the Levi’s commercial that says, “It’s got to be real.”

The idea that young adults are slackers is not their fault, but rather it is today’s market.

College grads end up working as night shift managers at Burger King because the job market is flooded with graduates and corporations are downsizing.

The baby boomers entered the fastest growing college grad job market in America’s history. The slacker image also comes from the movies that are supposed to represent young adults, such as Reality Bites.

I read an article in Newsweek lately that disagreed with the unprofessional slacker image.

It said the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research found that 87 percent were satisfied with the demands of their jobs, 87 percent had a strong sense of company loyalty and 69 percent believed in getting ahead by hard work. It said the baby boomers trailed in all three categories. Add to this the fact that 48 percent of those between ages 18 and 24 do volunteer work, and I wonder who are really the slackers.

Personally I think the term “Generation X” is a label exploited by the media for their own gains.

The one truth about the whole generation is that it cannot be stereotyped because it is the most diverse generation in America’s history. If one label is placed on them, perhaps it should be that Generation X is afraid of the uncertain future America has for them.

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Tim Frerking is a junior in journalism mass communication from Pomeroy.