Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg want a cage match? What a Gen X thing to do

They were the forgotten children — the latchkey kids — and were going to grow up to be the forgotten generation.

Wedged between self-absorbed Boomers and get-out-of-my-way Millennials, they were too filled with existential angst to blow their own horns.

So they eventually settled into grunge music, socks and blue jeans, and an attitude that tells the rest of the world to F-off.

“I don't want to care,” wrote the muse of that generation, Bret Easton Ellis. “If I care about things, it’ll just be worse, it’ll just be another thing to worry about.”

But here they are.

Clues Gen X is already taking over

The next generation is getting ready to take the reins from the doddering Boomers — from Joe Biden who now makes small talk with the draperies; Mitch McConnell who stands frozen at the dais; Dianne Feinstein, who can’t hide her age and infirmities; and Donald Trump, who is hotly pursued by a lifetime of falsehoods and felonies.

In truth, Generation X has been taking over for some time now.

The tech giants are the leaders of the global economy, and the most important names in the tech world today are Gen-Xers or thereabouts.

In politics, the next generation of U.S. leaders are emerging from the benches of the Republican and Democratic parties in their 40s and 50s and getting ready to make a bigger mark on the national stage.

Because America is a creative powerplant that always arcs toward the edge of madness, the nation’s next leaders are getting ready to duke out the direction of the country with a cage fight and a raucous debate.

Musk and Zuckerberg want to fight

Elon Musk (52, born in 1971) is the richest man in the world with an estimated $232 billion in personal wealth, and the founder of Space X and CEO of Tesla Inc. motor company.

As the new owner of the social-media giant Twitter, which he recently redubbed “X,” Musk has been good naturedly challenging tech rival Mark Zuckerberg to a Las Vegas cage fight.

Zuckerberg (39, born in 1984), is the founder of Facebook and its now parent company, Meta.

Himself a multi-billionaire, Zuckerberg is on the cusp of the Millennial generation, but the Harvard Center defines Gen X as those born between 1965 and 1984.

Since Zuckerberg famously dropped out of Harvard in his sophomore year, we’ll slap a Gen X sticker on his forehead.

They literally want a cage match

Musk and Zuckerberg have been beating their chests the last two months, challenging one another to a match in the octagon.

On Sunday, Musk tweeted out, “Am lifting weights throughout the day, preparing for the fight.”

Zuckerberg shot back that he has sent Musk a proposed date, Aug. 26, but has not heard back. “He hasn’t confirmed. Not holding my breath.”

But Musk insists he’s good to go and plans to livestream the event on X.

UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) President Dana White said in June, “Both guys are absolutely dead serious about this. They both want to do it," reported the Daily Beast.

Newsom, DeSantis will fight with words

In California, the most liberal state in the nation, Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom has thrown down the debate gauntlet to Ron DeSantis, who as governor of Florida turned his battleground state into one of the nation’s most conservative.

Newsom (55, born in 1967) isn’t running for president, so it appears he’s either playing attack dog for Joe Biden or raising his profile for his own future White House run.

Either way, DeSantis (44, born 1978), who stumbled out of the gate in the Republican primary and is looking for ways back into contention, recently accepted Newsom’s offer.

Today the two are aiming at a debate on either Nov. 8 or 10 in one of the battleground states, either Georgia, Nevada or North Carolina, reports the Washington Post.

Both men despise one another.

Newsom recently called DeSantis a “small, pathetic man.”

DeSantis went to San Francisco, where Newsom rose as mayor, and made a video saying, “We showed up here and saw people defecating on the street.”

Then he blamed California’s left-wing leadership.

Together, they offer 4 competing visions

These four men represent competing visions of America, and their contests were well underway before they talked of meeting in the arena.

All have been sparring for months, and, in fact, years in the case of Musk and Zuckerberg.

In the tech world, Musk is leading the movement against online censorship and support of free expression.

He abhors cancel culture, and when he took over Twitter, restored to the social platform a number of voices that were censored by prior, more liberal management.

He used Twitter to launch the DeSantis campaign, which has been leading the charge against left-wing social-justice ideology that seeped into the universities, public schools and corporate boardrooms.

For his part, Zuckerberg donated $350 million to some 2,500 government election departments during the pandemic-stricken 2020 election. Republicans argue that the better part of that money went to get out the vote in counties that voted for Biden.

Zuckerberg has worked with the U.S. government to try to reduce disinformation on his platforms, such as untruths about COVID-19 vaccines.

Musk alleged in his release of the “Twitter Files” that the government was violating First Amendment rights by imposing censorship on social-media companies.

This isn't a lark. It's a battle for the future

Newsom, who The Atlantic called “The Democrats’ New Spokesman in the Culture Wars” has been challenging DeSantis and his freedom agenda in Florida.

Red states such as Florida are actually “where freedom is under the most attack,” said Newsom.

He accused DeSantis of rolling back “50 years of progress” on LGBTQ rights, voting rights and abortion rights, Politico reported.

DeSantis retorted that Democratic leaders such as Newsom are dividing the country with their identity politics and woke ideology.

The contestants say they are willing.

Let the X Games begin.

And if you think this all a lark. That these pairings of Musk-Zuckerberg and Newsom-DeSantis are the comic relief from the real contest — the 2024 race for the White House — understand that they represent the competing visions of four Americans who are likely to play outsized roles in shaping our national culture.

They are members of Generation X.

And who knew?

They actually care.

Phil Boas is an editorial columnist with The Arizona Republic. Email him at phil.boas@arizonarepublic.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Elon Musk wants a cage match with Mark Zuckerberg? How Gen X of them