What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding?

To follow up on the last point from my previous post: Why exactly was there so much generational hostility launched from GenX-mania?

Much of my research has found it coming from the Boomers -- Sacks and Rosen being prime examples -- but there was no shortage of resentment -- much of it bubbling under the surface -- from the so-called Xers. Maybe this would have been seen more had the younger generation had much of a voice in how the media established the narrative; as it is, it's mainly found in twentysomethings complaining that the Boomers had plundered the money and resources and were trying to screw over future generations in self-absorbed wastefulness. (Speaking of which, does anyone know if the pharmaceutical companies spend more money finding and marketing ways for Boomers to keep and maintain erections than they does to cure actual diseases? Just something that keeps me wondering.)

It's curious that the discussion of generational success suddenly became portrayed as a zero-sum game among some 1990s commentators. Sure, the Boomers thought their parents were clueless and that people over 30 couldn't be trusted, but that generational divide (since healed thanks to sycophants like Tom Brokaw) didn't play out as nastily or prominently as the Boomer-X demarcation seemed. Sure there were millions of Boomers training and grooming Xers for success, but such reality was too unsexy to show on TV or splash across a magazine. Tension, as Greg Winter of The New York Times frequently says, is really what sells the news.

In any event, I'd like to explore whether there was as much of a generational war as pundits predicted and profiled ... and if so, why? It's not really something I recall seeing much of in person, but maybe there is some way to try to quantify what really may have been happening -- or not happening -- on a national stage.