A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

ibing how top Nation of Islam officials were fleecing their followers . For his 

trouble , Barnette received a fractured vertebra , broken ribs and ankle and kid

ney damage from the beating . The beating of another Malcolm X ally , Leon 4X Am

eer , in a Boston hotel in December 1964 by a Nation of Islam goon squad . Ameer

 was left unconscious in the bathtub of his hotel room with broken ribs and rupt

ured eardrums . The murder of Hanafi Muslims in Washington in January 1973 by ei

ght members of the Nation of Islam 's Philadelphia mosque . The target of the at

tack was Amaas Abdul Khaalis , a former minister of the Nation of Islam who had 

been critical of then-leader Elijah Muhammad . Khaalis wasn't home , so the thug

s took their wrath out on his family and members of his sect . Khaalis ' 10-year

-old son was shot in the head and killed . His 23-year-old daughter was also sho

t in the head but survived . Two other sect members were shot , one fatally . Mo

st tragic and despicable of all was the drowning of three infants whom the murde

rers found in Khaalis ' home . Yet Al- ' Araby took issue with a claim in my ear

lier column suggesting that the Nation of Islam has only been violent with black

 people . He ordered me to apologize publicly to Louis Farrakhan , which I inten

d to do one split second before hell freezes over . As for Farrakhan 's former n

ational spokesman who is recovering in a Riverside hospital perhaps he has learn

ed that vitriolic language only attracts members of the lunatic fringe . Some of

 them may be for you today and against you tomorrow . As Khallid Muhammad recove

rs from his wounds , we can only hope that he has learned the value of keeping a

 civil tongue in his head .

 Three years ago , some 38 million Americans in their 20s were dubbed Generation

 X : a grungy , angry , hopeless group of gripers . But a backlash is emerging a

s many say that stereotype is wrong . Here 's a brief history of the labeling of

 a generation . 1990 In a July cover story , Time magazine christens today 's yo

ung adults `` the twentysomething generation , '' spawning similar articles in o

ther publications . 1991 Douglas Coupland 's novel `` Generation X '' is publish

ed in April . Critics call it a guidebook for the twentysomething set . His book

 's user-friendly pages include Gen X lingo such as `` McJob '' `` A low-pay , l

ow-prestige , low-dignity , low-benefit , no-future job in the service sector . 

'' The first Lollapalooza tour a packaging of bands popular among the Generation

 X crowd sells out amphitheaters across the country during the summer and attrac

ts throngs to its midway of body-piercing booths . In July , the film `` Slacker

 '' is released , setting off a bandwagon effect of other Gen X movies . In Sept

ember , Kurt Cobain and his band , Nirvana , release the album `` Nevermind , ''

 bringing the alternative Seattle sound and grunge wear plaid flannel shirts and

 ripped jeans to the Gen X masses . Fans hail Cobain 's anti-anthem single , `` 

Smells Like Teen Spirit '' and tag him the voice of antisocial slackers . Less t

han three years later , Cobain commits suicide . 1992 `` The Real World '' an MT

V docu-soap makes its debut in May , depicting a cross-section of Gen Xers livin

g under the same roof in New York , allowing viewers to eavesdrop on their secre

ts , squabbles and sexual sparks . In 1993 , the video verite program switches l

ocales to the Southern California beach community of Venice and moves to San Fra

ncisco beginning later this month . In July , `` Melrose Place '' Angst , Gen X-

style debuts on Fox television to a slow start . Later , Heather Locklear arrive

s to goose the ratings . 1993 Signs of a Gen X backlash begin to surface . Movie

s with a twentysomething sensibility `` Bodies , Rest and Motion '' ( April ) , 

`` Three of Hearts '' ( April ) , `` Poetic Justice '' ( July ) , `` Kalifornia 

'' ( September ) and `` True Romance '' ( September ) under-perform at the box o

ffice . A year later , `` Reality Bites '' tries to sink its teeth into Gen X mo

vie-goers . The $ 11 million film brings in less than $ 20 million at the box of

fice . Twenty-six-year old Harvard graduate Michael Lee Cohen , tired of the pre

ss overkill that has over-generalized his generation , treks across America to p

rove that young adults are hopeful and optimistic . After interviewing almost 20

0 people , he writes `` The Twentysomething American Dream '' ( Dutton ) , publi

shed in October . It explores how his generation is shaping the world it will in

herit . 1994 Twenty Twenty Insight , a business newsletter , advises corporate A

merica to shun Generation X-themed marketing . Michael Krugman , 29 , and Jason 

Cohen , 26 , ( no relation to Michael Lee Cohen ) write `` Generation Ecch ! The

 Backlash Starts Here , '' ( Fireside ) , to be published in August . Says Cohen

 , a self-professed overachiever : `` We worry too much about what the media say

s about our generation . Ecch is about getting a life . ''

 LOS ANGELES Lydia Ramos , 24 , sips mango tea while she chats about her active 

life one with no time for slacking . She works full time at the University of So

uthern California as a high school recruiter . On Sundays she teaches at an East

 Los Angeles church . In the evenings she researches her idea for a consulting b

usiness . While driving around town , she soaks in audio books , not Pearl Jam .

 Clearly , Ramos surrounded by other twentysomethings one recent evening at a tr

endy downtown cafe is not your aimless and angry Generation X clone . Yes , she 

has read Douglas Coupland 's novel `` Generation X '' ( St. Martin 's Press , 19

91 ) , in which he coined the term to describe 46 million Americans between 18 a

nd 29 as generally blase and bitter over problems AIDS , the national debt , pol

lution , a jobless economy and the meaninglessness of marriage created or made w

orse by their predecessors , some 72 million baby boomers . But when it comes to

 talkin ' ' bout her generation , Ramos is no whiner . She just doesn't relate t

o the McMarketing moniker that has lumped her with a pouting bunch depicted as o

ver-educated , under-motivated elitists hooked on `` Melrose Place . '' And she 

has plenty of post-boomer company ready to wage a war against the tag and its im

plications , which they agree do not entirely represent their generation . Many 

already consider the term `` Generation X '' passe , but they must battle other 

downbeat labels : Slackers , Numb and Dumb , the Doofus Generation , the Lost Ge

neration , the Motorbooty Generation , the New Petulants , the Posties , Baby Bu

sters , Baby Bummers , Twentynothings and Thirteeners because they are supposedl

y the 13th generation to come of age in America . Indeed , they have an X to gri

nd and the backlash has begun : The term `` Generation X '' is a turn-off to mos

t who would qualify as members , according to a recent MTV poll . Twenty Twenty 

Insight , a newsletter that provides marketing reports on people in their 20s , 

advises businesses to `` lose the X unless , of course , you 're referring to Ma

lcolm , Madame , Racer or the Planet '' and to treat these millions of consumers

 as individuals . According to the `` Bellwether Generation , '' a national stud

y conducted by Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising , `` cynical , aimless twentysometh

ings are not at all the dominating segment of this group . '' In Washington , tw

o social-activist groups Lead or Leave , started in 1992 , and Third Millennium 

, formed a year later have set out to give their generation a better image throu

gh political activism and community-based projects . And books such as `` The Tw

entysomething American Dream , '' ( Dutton , 1993 ) ; `` 13th Gen '' ( Vintage ,

 1993 ) , and the upcoming `` Generation Ecch ! '' ( Fireside , 1994 ) also focu

s on the flip side of the movement by countering some of the stereotypes about t

he generation . Michael Lee Cohen , a 28-year-old Dallas lawyer and author of ``

 The Twentysomething American Dream , '' said he 's had it with the zings . Two 

years ago after reading articles and watching TV programs that clumped him and h

is friends in the same Gen X lot as the audience that worships Beavis and Butt-h

ead Cohen set out to see for himself `` if my generation was really that bad . '

' With a Harvard fellowship after graduating from Harvard Law School , he trekke

d across 51 cities and interviewed 161 twentysomethings of various racial and ec

onomic backgrounds . `` Most of us are striving to carve out a life for ourselve

s in the face of scary obstacles , '' he said about the experience . `` We 're a

political but not apathetic . '' He says the people he interviewed rejected gree

d . `` They just want material comfort , if not prosperity . They don't want to 

be homeless or hungry . '' Sure , he said , he heard from `` wary , distrustful 

and worried '' twentysomethings , cynical about organized politics , religion an

d institutions . But the cynicism he encountered `` seems to be partly an unexpr

essed idealism . We seem to be waiting not only for a hero , but for a mission .

 '' For now , his mission is to help set the record straight . He said in the la

st several years the media , marketers , sociologists and pundits have bashed an

d disparaged his generation and the jig is up . `` We have been over-generalized

 as oversexed and overdosed with overstated lives , '' he said , adding that eff

orts to define today 's young adults `` have excluded the majority of the nation

 's twentysomething generation , '' including 76 percent of the generation who n

ever attended or completed college . `` And what about the people who weren't bo

rn into affluent families ? '' he asked . `` They are a part of the twentysometh

ing generation '' that has virtually been ignored . Cohen said most of his gener

ation 's bashing `` comes from the age-old tradition of older generations viewin

g the generations coming up behind them as the worst horde of ingrates since the

 vandals sacked Rome . '' ( Begin optional trim ) Camille Mosley , 23 , of Los A

ngeles , said baby boomers have `` made statements to set up Generation X for fa

ilure . '' `` They don't give us a lot of credit for the ideas and the creativit

y that we have . We are very bright and capable , and we have been prejudged unf

airly , '' she said , even though she doesn't entirely feel a part of the moveme

nt . `` Being African-American and because of my culture it 's a little bit diff

erent for me , '' she said . `` I think that there 's pressure on me either put 

on myself or from cultural consciousness to do just as well or better than what 

my parents did so that my children can do just as much for their children . `` N

ow that I am on my own , I am realizing the things that I need to take care of .

 I need health and car insurance , stuff that my parents always took care of . S

ome of us haven't really had to struggle and suffer , and I think that 's why pe

ople really think that we 're the Lost Generation and that we 're just out of it

 . `` But , I do have a sense of responsibility as an African-American woman , n

ot as a Gen Xer . '' Andrew Barrett , 24 , also of Los Angeles , said : `` Every

one is typecasting us as white rich kids raised on the Brady Bunch . I 'm white 

but I 'm not rich . I worked my way through college . '' Barrett , a registered 

nurse , said he disagrees with the common wisdom about his generation : grunge-a

ttired gripers who hang out in coffeehouses complaining about being overqualifie

d for jobs and out of work . `` That 's not my reality . I don't even like coffe

e , '' he said . Henry Rincon , a 25-year-old graduate of the University of Cali

fornia , Los Angeles , and Bank of America accountant , said if he must align hi

mself with a generational handle , he 'd rather go with Generation Mex . `` My i

dentity is with my family and my culture , '' said Rincon , who lives on his own

 in East Los Angeles , buys his own groceries and pays his own bills , none of w

hich include credit card debts . He praises his parents married for almost 44 ye

ars for `` giving me good family values , especially in respecting the work ethi

c . '' `` My parents didn't raise me to be a bum , '' added Rincon , who is a me

ntor to middle-school students in East Los Angeles and one day hopes to enter po

litics `` to help my barrio progress . '' `` It 's up to us who don't fit the Ge

neration X mold to break it , to trash the stereotype , '' Rincon said . `` I do

n't watch Beavis and Butt-head . I don't live at home . And I expect to have a b

etter life than my parents . ''

 LOS ANGELES In 1990 , Nate Sanders took the 12-year-old autograph business he h

ad been running from his Pikesville , Md. , home and headed for California . No 

one exactly told him to `` Go west , young man , '' but if you 're running a bus

iness that depends on the rich and famous , it makes sense to hang out where the

y do . `` I figured there would be more business out here , '' he says , decked 

out in a Los Angeles business suit blue jeans , striped cotton shirt and no sock

s . `` I wanted to get away from home and I liked L.A. . My nights in Baltimore 

were filled with trips to the Fair Lanes , where here you can do something more 

exciting . '' Today , Nate 's Autographs employs six people , operates out of a 

fourth-floor apartment a few miles from Beverly Hills and sells about $ 1 millio

n worth of autographs a year . Not bad for a 21-year-old guy who never went to c

ollege . Of course , he gets a lot of help from people like Abraham Lincoln , th

e Wright Brothers , Rudolph Valentino , Marilyn Monroe , Albert Einstein and sco

res of others who were considerate enough to sign their names a few thousand tim

es , as well as those customers willing to spend thousands of dollars to obtain 

what it took these famous people seconds to create . For Sanders , his associati

on with the autograph business began when he was still in elementary school . Us

ing a cousin 's book of celebrity addresses , he wrote to a handful of stars and

 ended up with autographs of Lillian Carter , Mel Blanc , Jimmy Stewart and othe

rs . Sanders hasn't looked back . ( Begin optional trim ) `` I was just always i

nto it , '' he says from his apartment in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles ,

 trying to explain what made him decide to make a living from other people 's pe

nmanship . `` As a kid , I could make relatively good dollars . If you 're a 13-

year-old and you 're going to a show and you 're making $ 200 in a day , that 's

 darn good . '' His parents , who still live in Pikesville , can't quite explain

 their son 's avocation . But he 's always been a collector including an early b

rush with `` Star Wars '' figurines and always seemed driven to have a better co

llection than anyone else . `` If he was to get involved in it , he had to get t

he best and most involved and most complete collection , '' says Hildagarde Sand

ers , who teaches biology at Villa Julie College . `` Whatever little boys colle

cted at the time , he had to have the best . '' His father , Elli , a science te

acher at Pikesville Middle School , says he encouraged Nathan to write away for 

celebrity autographs , but admits to an ulterior motive . `` I thought that was 

a good idea , so he could become familiar with writing , communicating with the 

written word , '' says the elder Sanders , who subsidized those initial forays b

y contributing a nickel toward each stamp . Are they surprised by their son 's s

uccess ? `` Yeah , I think anyone would be surprised , '' Mrs. Sanders says . ``

 When a kid goes out and is on his own , you wonder how he 's going to do . I wo

uldn't have been surprised if it had been a problem . '' ( End optional trim ) W

hile not on a level with such burgeoning hobbies as comic books or sports memora

bilia , autographs occupy a comfortable niche in the world of collecting . Hard-

core hobbyists may be hard to find , but almost everyone owns an autograph or tw

o , whether it 's a Cal Ripken obtained after standing outside the gates of Camd

en Yards for a few hours or the Franklin Roosevelt handed down by a grandfather 

. The money can be impressive . According to a recent article in Newsweek , the 

going rate for a George Washington signature is $ 6,500 . James Dean 's scrawl c

an fetch $ 2,950 , probably tops among entertainment figures . Mark Twain would 

cost a collector around $ 1,500 . Sanders sold his first autograph at age 10 , t

hrough the same cousin who had gotten him hooked in the first place . But he soo

n gave up the hobby in favor of the profit . `` I don't collect anymore , '' he 

says . `` I always found that to be a conflict of interest . Whenever I tried to

 hold stuff back , I 'd always have to end up selling it , because there would b

e someone who would want it and it would be ridiculous to hold onto it . You wou

ld start keeping more than you were selling and you would be out of business . '

' For Sanders , the growth from small-time autograph dealer to big-time moneymak

er was steady . He started selling at the occasional collectibles or antiques sh

ow , graduated to a largely mail-order business promoted through catalogs publis

hed four times a year and has reached the point now where he deals exclusively w

ith high-end pieces . A recent catalog includes not a single item priced under $

 500 ; in February , his second auction included a letter from Robert E. Lee tha

t sold for $ 28,500 . A letter from Buffalo Bill Cody , in which the Wild West p

romoter tries to lend frontier doctors the same sort of notoriety he had already

 created for cowboys and Indians , has an asking price of $ 62,500 . Most of his

 stock , Sanders says , is obtained during periodic maybe four times a year buyi

ng trips . Just last month , during an eight-city East Coast spree , he landed a

 letter from George Washington to Gen. Benjamin Lincoln , written from Yorktown 

, Va. ; a letter from John Hancock , written one day before the British surrende

red to end the Revolutionary War ; and a letter from Andrew Jackson , written ju

st after the Battle of New Orleans , giving the British a flag to put on ships s

o no Americans would shoot at them . `` I think we 're busy enough with just the

 high end , '' he says , estimating his business needs to bring in at least $ 1,

000 a day to remain profitable . `` There 's not much point in trying to make 10

 sales when all you have to do is try to make one . `` These things are skyrocke

ting , as far as values are concerned , '' he adds . `` I think they said ( Abra

ham ) Lincolns have an average return of 14 percent in the last 50 years , which

 is way more than anything else would have given you per year . '' Even though a

utographs can mean big money , not all collectors are attracted by the potential

 for profit . For some , Sanders notes , it 's the closest they may get to peopl

e they admired , or to people whose lives were an inspiration . With an autograp

h , he says , `` you actually get to have a piece of history on your wall . ''

 Memorial Day weekend is over . Are you sick of `` The Flintstones '' yet ? You 

will be . Even if you avoid the movies , shun the toy aisles , and don't drive b

y RocDonald 's , chances are you 'll hear `` ( Meet ) The Flintstones '' shoutin

g out from the Top 40 stations . It 's the scarily faithful version by the B-52 

's , who change their name for the occasion to the B.C.-52 's . The B.C.-52 's t

heme kicks off `` The Flintstones : Music From Bedrock '' soundtrack album ( MCA

 ) , one of several new musical titles inspired by the mad rush to merchandising

 in conjunction with the mega-hyped movie . But if nostalgia fuels the ascent of

 `` ( Meet ) The Flintstones '' up the pop charts for the first time since its u

nveiling two dozen years ago , it isn't because we haven't heard it for a while 

. Besides the incessant reruns of the original episodes , the theme has been pic

ked up in the intervening decades , most prominently by jazz artists from Clark 

Terry to Herb Ellis and Ray Brown and Barry Harris . Lyrics to the familiar them

e , whose strangest lyrics are `` courtesy of Fred 's two feet , '' are credited

 to Flintstone creators , William Hanna and Joseph Barbera , while the music was

 handled by studio music director Hoyt Curtin . Besides creating Huckelberry Hou

nd , Yogi Bear and Magilla Gorilla , Hanna and Barbera had a bit of an urge to c

rash the pop charts . In the '60s , they owned their own HBR label . As noted by

 Billboard magazine , the label 's greatest success was a No. 26 tune in 1966 by

 the Five Americans , `` I See the Light , '' and `` Roses and Rainbows '' a No.

 73 hit in 1965 by Danny Hutton , who would go on to join Three Dog Night . Pop 

music played a role in the original TV show , as reflected in `` The Flintstones

 : Modern Stone Age Melodies , Original Songs from the Classic TV Show Soundtrac

k '' ( Rhino ) . Made-up parodies of stars of the day , from Hi-Fye , swinging a

t the Rockadero to made-up bands like the Wipeouts , and the Termites . And , ye

ars before `` The Simpsons , '' they used cartoon versions of real life people ,

 from James Darren , who becomes James Darrock , doing a surf song called `` Yab

ba-Dabba-Doo '' ( as Fred , with the voice of Alan Reed , massacres `` Stardust 

'' ) . ( Begin optional trim ) The most prominent human guest star was probably 

Ann-Margret , who told Larry King that she is still recognized as Ann-Margrock .

 Ann-Margrock 's absence is the most jarring void on the Rhino collection . Her 

tunes , `` The Littlest Lamb , '' tearfully sung to Pebbles , and `` ISn't Gonna

 Be Your Fool No More , '' were originally planned for the disc , but cut soon b

efore it was issued , probably because of contractual problems . The Rhino disc 

also includes lots of versions of the show 's theme - two versions of the ending

 track ( which was titled `` Rise and Shine '' ) and three variations of the ope