Generation "Look at me!"

Today was No Pants Subway Ride day in New York City. It caught me by surprise, and as usual, I was not impressed by this bit of "theater." However, I like to study generation "Look at me!", much like any biologist would study a troop of baboons.

As listed on the website improveverywhere.com, the REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION:
1) Willing to take pants off on subway
2) Able to keep a straight face about it

That's it, folks. And the participants were at least good enough to obey the rules. And the age group seems to be growing! As generation "Look at me!" seems defined primarily by a complete unwillingness to grow up and take anything seriously, anything at all, it used to be confined to 20-somethings and 30-somethings (mostly white people, of course). But I swear I saw a couple of people pushing 50, the sight of one of whose cellulite verily seared my eyeballs. I thought I read somewhere that most of these people left New York when the economy went south and their parents stopped paying their rent. Clearly, the baboon troop's territoriality is too strong to be disrupted by economic turmoil. Fuck, daddy must be paying subway fare too, as there was no indication of an awareness that the monthly metrocard just jumped from $89 to $104.

On the uptown 6 train, a tourist from somewhere out west got up the nerve to ask a younger pants-less rider, "Excuse me, why aren't you wearing any pants?" True to form, the hipster responded with admirable sprezzatura, "I forgot them at the gym." At this point, I had to interject, "It's called hipster self-indulgence." I heard a faint hiss, but it was lacking balls, and this could be easily ascertained, because after all, the dick wasn't wearing pants.

Now, I know I may come off as a little bit of a killjoy, but lets not kid ourselves here. In the 60s, there was real street theater that not only entertained, but had a cogent political message. People like the Diggers in San Francisco were trying to end the Vietnam war and help define a generation that refused to play by the rules of conformity that had straight-jacketed the previous generation. Today, you couldn't get these prima donnas to participate in an anti-war rally if you promised them a lifetime supply of Pabst Blue Ribbon. They are simply too cool for anything that actually has a point.