KW: Boomers (will) move on from green to yellow, from pluralism to integralism, by whatever name. And I think many Boomers will do this, because they have been at the green wave of consciousness for thirty years, and they are getting very tired of it. And getting very hungry for more depth, more consciousness, more care and compassion. I think there is a very good chance that this will happen.  But I think it will only work with "green (pluralist) exit." That is, (those who are) still identified with, or attached to, the green wave, but they were ready to transform from green to yellow, or second tier.

Boomeritis is a pathological version of the green meme, especially green infected with red. In other words, the major wave of development after the egoic-rational wave (or orange) is that of a postformal, pluralistic wave of consciousness (green). The many positives of green include multiculturalism, diversity movements, ecological awareness, civil rights, and human rights issues. Extraordinarily positive contributions.

But every wave of development has its downside or shadow elements. The positive side of green is its attempt to treat all viewpoints fairly, and to not marginalize or exclude any of them. The downside is a flatland pluralism that goes from saying all views should be treated fairlyto saying all views should be treated the same. This flatland pluralism erases all depth from the Kosmos--nothing is deeper, higher, wider, more integral, more compassionate, more caring, or more loving. Everything is merely the same, in the monochrome surfaces of postmodern flatland. This is supposed to liberate all views from nasty judgmentalism, but it merely flattens all views into equally meaningless drivel. When all views are the same, no views carry merit.

In this atmosphere, you are not allowed to believe in anything. The atmosphere of postmodernism is therefore endless irony. You say one thing, you mean another, but under no circumstances are you to be caught actually harboring a conviction. This attitude can be wonderfully funny--the early David Letterman, for example, was so appealing because of his endless irony. He is talking to a guest, and you know that he does not mean a single thing he is saying--that's the joke. Likewise, with Gen-X, think David Spade and Janeane Garafolo: they're really brilliant, and I love them both, but they simply deconstruct anything in their line of fire. But do NOT expect them to state any sort of value, conviction, belief, or meaning--because in flatland, there isn't any.

Now Boomers introduced this flatland pluralism, but the younger generation--Gen-X and the Millennials--were brought up under its influence. This is a large part of what the novel is about. Gen-X handled it by adopting a type of slacker attitude. After all, if nothing is worth believing, then why work for anything? Just slack your way through the meaningless mess. And Millennials tended to buckle under it--a type of crushed green, if you will. The comment you hear most often from college professors is that you can't get these kids involved in any discussion about the merits of a particular view, because all views are supposed to be the same.

This in itself is ironic, because it is these Boomer professors who started the whole flatland mess. And they started this flatland pluralism largely as a way to advance a Leftist agenda and promote attempts to end social oppression--which is great. The problem is that pluralism is not the way to end oppression, but to cement it in place, because the notion that all views are created equal makes it impossible to criticize the present state of social affairs (however unfair they might actually be), because no view is supposed to be superior to another. Instead of producing a generation of political activists, which is what these Boomer Leftists hoped to do, they actually produced a generation of social inactivists, who are without any sort of critical sense in how to carry forward a truly progressive agenda--because that would demand making a series of major judging and ranking of views--and that is what flatland pluralism prevents.

So we have a younger generation of crushed green. Gen-X just slacked through the whole mess, and the Millennials bought into it: they do not want to criticize the system, they want to succeed in it. Political judgment, will, and wisdom have been largely crushed--one of the main legacies of boomeritis and flatland pluralism.

So the "kids" are left with irony. All views are the same, and any conviction must therefore be deconstructed. The kids are left with flatland depression everywhere, crushed green on the go, irony in all directions

Ken Wilber