Though he gives consideration to the high suicide rates in this generation, Mackay seems to ignore the fact that suicide research increasingly points to a meaning and value vacuum which leaves the younger generation without an anchor via which to weather storms of ambiguity. And, though once again Mackay points to the issue, that's also leaving aside drug use and myriad other escape mechanisms Options use to avoid dealing with the anxious complexity of postmodern life. Tolerance is the Options value. But, of course, extreme tolerance, of the kind this reviewer would venture to say that Options advocate, can lead to the abdication of moral responsibility. There seems to be an inherent contradiction in setting Options up as the generation to help society fly on in the face of unending turbulence.
Generations has the potential to do that.
The Boomers, for their part, inherited a pyramid which they took apart brick by brick. The dialogue between the two will be, and often is, the sound of two hands attempting and missing a 'high five'. And if the hands ever do meet the clap will resonate with the sound of humanism being rebuilt. Which may well suit Hugh Mackay. Article last updated 17th March 1998.