I was going to simply quote-tweet "Can confirm" to this hilarious and accurate joke; but then I made the mistake of reading the replies from butthurt younguns shouting "…but when did Gen-X fear World War 3?"

People: It literally defined our generation.

Hey, millennials and zoomers who are dealing with your first bout of World War III panic:

Find yourself a Gen X friend to see you through it.

We spent the entirety of our childhoods prepping for nuclear war, alone, while eating Pop Tarts cold from the foil.

We got you.

— Jay Black (@jayblackisfunny) February 24, 2022

I got a degree in astronomy is that amongst all the US-Soviet tub-thumping I was a 13-14yo physics nerd who couldn't sleep for fear of being vapourised as eventually depicted in "Threads" or "The Day After".

Aside: Go read Carl Sagan's original COSMOS, it will terrify you.

The Soviet premier – eventually, several of them in quick succession – died, and there was a jingoistic US President literally joking (on a hot mic) about declaring war on Russia, and burbling about the "axis of evil"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_begin_bombing_in_five_minutes

It is not an exaggeration to say that I spent most of 1981 through 1990 with half an ear listening out for air-raid sirens and in a media environment which was obsessed with the potential for [essentially stupid political differences] being the death of this wonderful world.

It even leaked out into our popular culture:

So: Jay is right. If you want to talk to someone who understands what it feels like when a Boomer/other crusty is threatening to evaporate the planet because their ego is hurt, talk to a Gen-Xer.

We lived that for literal years.

And yes, I still eat Pop-Tarts from the foil.

Originally tweeted by Alec Muffett (@AlecMuffett) on 2022/02/25.