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Good News: Here Comes Gen Z
I have been seeing this trend through my own child and her friends who are Gen Z. Extremely practical, level-headed, hard-working youngsters who scoff at political correctness. They aren’t ‘conservative’ in the classic sense, but they lean in that direction, mainly because they’ve seen through the absurdity of today’s leftist ideals and attempts at radical social reform.
Teenagers rebel. They usually find a weakness in the arguments their parents and teachers make. Because of rapid changes, parents and teachers are more out of touch, advising them to play by the old, outdated rule books. Or to abide by the political priorities and remedies they themselves believed most effective.
Generation Z seems to be rebelling against left-wing excess. Part of the ‘rebellious’ behavior is simply ignoring them, working hard, and not looking to others (government) to solve their problems.
As a side note, I’m seeing young YouTube commentators who can run rings around professionals on major networks, this impressive young man being one of them.
Published in General
Gen Z may have the Gen X problem. Not enough of them to matter.
Franco, I hope you’re right.
WooHoo, bring ’em on…Am seeing this with nephews and nieces, too. (Sigh of relief!)
Good luck, but expecting cultural trends to gradually fix themselves is like expecting the Nazis to gradually leave the rest of Europe alone.
A Woke Millenial and business needs to lose an extrodinarily expensive EO lawsuit.
Then normalcy will return… slowly.
Conservatives don’t fight for the culture, won’t work for a better culture, and unlike the Left we won’t risk a penny on changing it but are always grief-stricken when the Overton Window keeps shifting away.
So what do they think is going to change it? Lawsuits? New laws? In other words, the tools of the Left.
I don’t know if my youngest three are XYZ or millennial (they are 19, 21 and 23), but I concur with your assessment.
I hope you’re right. My own experience does not quite line up.
Also, there’s this…
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2019/01/17/generation-z-looks-a-lot-like-millennials-on-key-social-and-political-issues/
Interesting. My youngest three are also 23, 21, and, as of tomorrow, 19. My older three are 32, 30, and 28. I can easily see my younger ones being much more conservative than: the oldest, certainly; the second, almost certainly; the third, possibly.
Could be something to this. One can hope.
Sounds heartening if true, but I recently read the Lukianoff and Haidt book “The Coddling of the American Mind” and they seemed to indicate that Gen Z is the source of much of the current problems in college with students being unable to handle criticism or difference of opinion without melting down. I guess it could also be that Gen Z who don’t have that affliction don’t go to college but start businesses and work for themselves, which would dovetail pretty nicely with the opinions in the video.
If Gen Z is more conservative than millennials are, it would simply be history repeating itself between the early Baby Boomers of the 1960s and the late Boomers of the 1970s.
The original parameters of the Boomer generation — 18 years, from 1946 through ’64 — was so wide, a first year Boomer born in ’46 could technically have birthed a baby just after graduating high school in ’64 and have that child also be labeled as a Boomer. What that meant in terms of the pop culture media liberalism of the day was that the activist liberal Boomers born in the late 40s who were taking to the streets by the late 60s were painted as the voices of the entire Boomer generation, even if the Boomers born in 1961 or so were still more worried about where their favorite toy was in 1967. If they were taking it to the streets, it was because they were going to the playground with mom and dad.
By a decade later, the boomers from the latter part of the demo had become much more traditional than the ones they were supposed to follow, and were more worried about going to college and getting good jobs than the early on-camps SJW efforts of the ‘stars’ among the first wave of Boomers (and those within that group who thought they would be the ideological leaders of millions of young people were none-too-happy that these uppity kids weren’t following their orders on what to do).
I suspect the Millennial-Gen Z divide may even extend into the early vs. late Millennials, as with the Boomers half a century ago. All the angry progressive stuff the media of the current day is celebrating the Millennials for may be turning off the youngest demo in that group as well as the Gen Z crowd, where rebelling translates into rebelling against the people just a decade or so older than they are by following a more traditional lifestyle.
We’ve had a few Rico folks commenting (see @henryracette above) that their kids are not fitting the millienial stereotype and rebelling just as you say. I would love a good backlash! Thanks, @franco!
I thought about this and wondered if the process Lukianoff and Haidt describe might have a flip side. They focus on the rise of depression etc but what about those who aren’t? Might they be battlehardened against the touchy-feely stuff?
Most millennials aren’t fruitcakes but do keep their heads down, perhaps Gen Z are just more likely to call it out?
Agree 100 percent. I haven’t seen this level of self-delusion in … several hours anyway. But in this political landscape, several hours = several weeks.
Many on this thread seem happy to ignore recent comprehensive polling (courtesy of Pew) that shows Gen Z’ers to be at least as Progressive as their older siblings, if not more so. Furthermore, recent data shows that even young Conservatives have guzzled much of the social justice Kool-Aid re: intersectionality, accepting at face value, for instance, that People of Color are still an embattled group in America and need special protection, etc.
In other words, they, like Progressives, are okay with treating people differently based on melanin and gonads, which is social justice in a nutshell. Hooray.
And yet here we are at Ricochet with our faces stuck in the sand, making silly pronouncements about how “Just the other day I overheard my son mocking Progressives” and “Hey, my daughter’s friend’s brother makes fun of how his teacher is always bleating about racism” and “My kids can’t wait to get a job!” etc., almost as if …
— this isn’t the most politically correct cohort in U.S. history. (It is. These kids accept most Politically Correct pieties unquestioningly.) And almost as if …
— they aren’t getting their U.S. history from people who eagerly propagate the Howard Zinn idea of America (They are. These kids have internalized the idea of America as a deeply flawed, sexist, homophobic and of course racist country with buckets of blood on its hands, etc. But exceptional? — a unique bastion of tolerance, liberty and opportunity? Pshaw!). And almost as if …
— they don’t have a positive view of socialism. (They do. For the first time, polling shows young Americans are looking more favorably upon socialism than capitalism).
But none of this matters to most Conservatives. Because you hear the same tired platitudes about how, “Oh, that’s just young people being young, heh-heh-heh” and “They’ll grow out of it, heh-heh-heh,” and “Age and taxes and children’ll cure ‘em, heh-heh-heh” etc.
And this used to be true. It wasn’t true in Europe, but it was true over here.
…Until very recently.
But new data shows this is no longer the case.
Yet the Pollyannas continue to sing, somehow, with their heads stuck in the sand.
It could also be that 200 students in a school with enrollment of 2000 can make a lot of noise. Evergreen State aside, if ten to fifteen percent of a student population gets together to do anything they will have an impact. As with everything, we see outrageous examples of something and graft that onto our impression of the whole. The thing that sticks out is always what comes to mind.
That’s not to say the attitudes/problems don’t exist, just that they may not be quite as widespread as thought. I’m not challenging the book (I haven’t read it), just the impression that has been in my own mind and throwing the thought in the discussion.
If you listen to yesterday’s Order Liberty podcast, you’ll hear an interesting interview with author Tim Carney about his new book, Alienated America. The author argues that one of the things that most clearly distinguishes those who thrive in America from those who are sinking is their involvement in community organizations and churches: people who are connected through this kind of involvement do better.
That rich civic life is an expression of a distinctly American tradition, one Alexis de Tocqueville praised in Democracy in America. To the extent that conservatives remain engaged — in their churches, their schools, their civic organizations (including, for example, the notorious Knights of Columbus) — they are fighting for the culture.
But if your point is that conservatives are reluctant to speak up and decry leftist nonsense, I agree with you: we don’t do it often enough. I hear people talk about how difficult it is, how dangerous it can be, professionally or academically, to voice a conservative opinion. (Interestingly, I never hear anyone describe how uncomfortable it can be socially to speak up. My own suspicion is that more conservative silence springs from a fear of social opprobrium than from a concern of professional or academic risk.)
Data, schmata…I am in close contact with my nieces and nephews. They don’t like the taste of sweetened Kool-Aid; stand up to profs and classmates; and are engaged/married, working and having children. They all thumb their noses at “progressive” orthodoxy. Of course, they live in ‘flyover country’. So, no, I’m singing loudly with eyes front and wide open, thanks.
I don’t believe it. Is your post meant to be satiric? This is exactly, precisely, the attitude I’m talking about. To a T. And here you are exemplifying it.
I’ve got to take a screenshot of this. But my question stands: was your post meant to be satiric?
And if it wasn’t, do you at least perceive the irony of my cataloging all the usual platitudes offered up by Pollyanna conservatives, and then you going ahead 3 1/2 minutes later and being the poster child for them?
My son is Gen Z and in college. He and his friends are in the sciences, and all of them ridicule the SJW types, despite them all being supportive of gay marriage, trans rights (but not crazy “call me what I want or you go to jail” nonsense), and other left wing social issues. But they all seem to be very fiscally conservative, market-friendly, and much more ‘live and let live’ than their older counterparts. His group of friends read authors like Jordan Peterson and Jonathan Haidt in the little free time they have after classes and studying their butts off.
As an example, my son recently told me that he won’t support Pride anymore, because Pride is associating itself with Communists, Antifa, and the whole host of intersectional idiots. My son said, “How am I supposed to support Pride when it requires me to march with Communists to do it? Screw them.”
So.. More libertarian than conservative, not religious at all, but far more sensible than the crazy SJW types running around.
However… These are students in the hard sciences. You don’t just have to be smart to get through them, you have to be willing to take your lumps. No one gets an ‘easy A’ in mathematical physics, so these students have learned to work through adversity, and they have to work damned hard to make it. I have no idea what the kids are like over in the ‘studies’ la-la land. My guess is that they are just as radical as their Millennial counterparts. And even more fragile.
If you prefer to treat my daily life as fodder for satire, feel free to do so; what I find more personally-dismaying is your use of “poster-child” as a pejorative…I once was one. Your comment seems to employ the satire/smugness which you’ve imputed to me. I have a life to live and no further time to spend on this. Do carry on…
Gang? Denial is going to destroy us. It doesn’t matter that your son‘s roommate’s cousin, age 21, is starting his own business or that your daughter and her new boyfriend both read National Review. None of that matters. It could not be less relevant.
Anecdotes mean nothing. National trends mean everything. And the fact that Progressive dominance over the culture (academia, news, and scripted entertainment) is finally bearing fruit is something we ignore at our peril.
I honestly can’t believe the level of delusion on display here. I’m going to post a link to some relevant data, which I know, in my heart, won’t do any good at all, because it will either be blithely dismissed, or simply go unread.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/politics/2019/01/17/next-generation-voters-are-more-liberal-more-inclusive-believe-government/
Whoa, Filmklassik. Ease back a little. It’s Franco’s post, not Nanda’s. I agree with the pessimistic side here, as you do, but there’s nothing ludicrous about seeing it differently. The evidence is mixed.
My kids are in their twenties. My son just graduated from UCLA. Much to the shock and disappointment of both left and right, he’s had a great time there, never saw Antifa, took Bible classes, and joined a Jewish student group. (my daughter was head of the Jewish students group at Occidental College, and they do not have the most Jewish-sounding last name in the world). My daughter’s friends do not regard abortion as some sacred sacrament of womanhood. Two of my son’s friends are strong Christians–the Arab guy and the Black guy. The kids do have some conservative characteristics.
But I wouldn’t get all whooped up about it, as Filmklassik says. They aren’t Republicans. They aren’t thinking about the Second Amendment. They aren’t joining Generation Opportunity. It could go either way.
No. It can’t. It can’t go either way. And, trust me, I am not the one sounding the alarm. Places like Pew Research are sounding the alarm. Without even knowing it.
Here’s a question that may sound rhetorical but it’s not. I’d love a non-glib, thoughtful answer to it.
What would it take to convince you (and anyone else on here who would care to weigh in) that the current generation of young people – – that is, millennials and generation Z – – are indeed more progressive than their forbears?
What would you need to see, eventually, over time, in order to re-examine your assumptions about them?
OK. You’ll have to tell me if this is glib or thoughtful, but I largely agree with you–the kids’ generation moved left. You don’t have to hit me with more numbers. But I see a mixed picture, which you don’t.
I’m almost 67. I’ve been through this several times now. After 9/11, Bill Kristol crowed that since everyone hates us baby boomers, the new adults would do everything possible to be different. They were going to get haircuts, join the Army, start attending church regularly and stop having premarital sex.
Insert laugh track here, sure. He was wrong. But he had a point; most of us of a certain age were impressed to the point of awe at what our young people were able to accomplish. In 2001-2003, these would be the generation x gang, not the millennials yet. Young adults looked moderately conservative then. David Brooks wrote a book “Bobos in Paradise” about how much more patriotic young adults were. But it didn’t last. Five years of GOP screwups, two no-win wars, and the worst financial crash in 80 years took a lot of the conservative sales pitch away.
Go back farther. When I was 18, Blacks were calling for massacres of whites, the cities were burning, federal building were bombed, capitalism was “obviously” on its last legs, and the Apollo program was a racist waste of money. That didn’t last either.
My point isn’t that everything is ephemeral; it’s that politics is less like bowling and more like billiards. Chance and cleverness can change the outcome.
Also, I’d ask progressive about which things?
There’s really only one social issue left, abortion; for most people under 50, pot and gay rights ceased to be active left/right political issues a helluva long time ago. Being gay is now about as controversial as being left handed.
On warfare, the Trump movement has been notably unenthusiastic; nobody’s going to call Trump a neocon. No major segment of the right is itching for a fight overseas.
Finance? Free trade used to be orthodoxy around here. It’s not anymore.
Health care? Most kids have never known a time when their families loved their health care. The stuff you read on sites like this about kindly old Doc Smith, who delivered babies for a crate of milk, means nothing to me, let alone people 30-40 years younger than me.
In other words, none of them is a slam dunk for either side.
Europe has been in an inexorable left wing spiral for the last 25 years. I am not just talking about economic policy, which, while remaining (primarily) left, tends to wax and wane depending on the country.
No, I’m talking about cultural things. I’m talking about political correctness. I’m talking about social justice. I’m talking about speech codes.
“Hate speech” laws, for example, did not really exist in Western Europe 25 years ago but they are rampant there now. They did not exist in Canada 25 years ago, but today? Ta-da! They did not exist in Australia 25 years ago. Today? Ta-da!
And the United States, traditionally, is 10 to 15 years behind Europe when it comes to adopting Progressive policy and culture. Examples:
Europe had gay marriage but we didn’t. Then we did.
Europe had legalized marijuana but we didn’t. Then we did.
Europe had nationalized health care but we didn’t. Then we did.
And now, political correctness has thoroughly infected European policy and culture and you’re telling me there’s a chance — a scintilla of a sliver of a ghost of a chance — that that isn’t gonna be next on the American adoption agenda? …Even though our young people are more PC than ever and a majority say they favor such things as European-style hate speech laws?
Sorry, my friend. I will not ignore inexorable cultural patterns, and polling, and recent history. The only thing — and I mean the only thing — that could possibly shake them out of their SJW stupor is some kind of unforeseen and calamitous event. (A second 9/11 but on a larger scale; a second Great Depression; etc)
@filmklassik Believe me, I can be as pessimistic as anyone, and I don’t have a stake in having this post proven-out, other than abject hope. And no, I’m not counting on being saved by Gen Z ( perhaps helped a bit, though) .
I certainly don’t expect all of these youngsters to be rebels, but there are indications that go against your prognosis, and that the SJW/victim thing is getting old. I would think we’d have a civil war soon if you are right, and none of this speculation will matter much.
Whether this will be enough to turn the tide, well I’m more allied with your sentiments – that we are in dangerous territory and we need to be vigilant and fight against these forces.
Are we talking about the same subset? Here Gen Z is defined as between 14 and 23. Did you watch the video? There’s some data there too.
I won’t be sticking my head in the sand, but I’m also not relying on the most vocal examples from recent reports of the mainstream press either. They could well be the minority.
There are no inexorable cultural patterns. None. Unless nobody lifts a finger. The Overton Window doesn’t get shifted because we crack down on ISPs, or send protest letters to Disney, or threaten to boycott Spielberg. It gets shifted when cultural work swings back our way–when we do it better than they do. Not until then.
Of course we can. It takes practice, brains and talent. These are not exclusive to the left, no matter what the left says.
You fight culture with the weapons of culture.
The fact that there are fewer of them is one of the reasons they’re more conservative.
The more populous cohorts believe very strongly in proportional democracy because they’ve got the votes to dominate the political process. The less populous cohorts believe in individualism because they see that their votes are effectively useless against the electoral juggernaut that was born before them.
The less populous cohort also enjoys a professional advantage, as there are fewer of their peers competing for the same jobs. Unfortunately, the flip-side is that the more populous cohort ahead of them will dominate the management positions.
Generation Z is not more conservative. Good lord, this is a canard on the order of Bigfoot, Nessie and the Piltdown Man. Recent polling shows them to be at least as Progressive as Millennials.
At least.