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I will be the first to admit, I easily become very gloom and doom when looking at the state of our nation, especially when I talk about Millennials and Generation Z. I know young people get a bad rep – and to be fair – they deserve it. Seeing as I am technically on the older end of these self-described “woke” generations apparently wiser than their forebears, I can call it as I see it.
About six seconds later guilt crept in as I remembered that barely a week prior, my husband and I took our young children to visit a Veteran’s Cemetery to honor Memorial Day. I shed tears walking through the quiet gravesite, taking notice of headstones for those that died young – and those that had no name. My mind also recalled that the 75th anniversary of D-Day was that very day, and I left my husband watching the televised commemoration for a most-deserving tribute to what I agree, is indeed, “The
If you’re a Boomer, from that wider-than-it-should-have-been demographic of people born between 1946 and 1964, you’re probably old enough to remember that half a century ago you were the generation that was supposed to turn America into a progressive paradise. The media of the day extrapolated out from both the anti-Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement and was pushing the theme that the wave of young new voters, especially after 18-year-olds were granted the right to vote prior to the 1972 election, would use their power to help elect a wave of Democrats that would make LBJs 1964 landslide look like a pebble rolling down a hill by comparison. But we fell short by a hair of President McGovern, Carter was considered the most conservative Democrat in ’76 and then Reagan was elected.
Fast forward to 2019, and one of the things about the ‘OK Boomer’ movement is it’s based on the idea of when are all these reactionary geezers going to die? Progressive millennials and Gen Zers are especially subject to that type of angry snark, since they blame the Boomers for Trump being in office in the first place.
If the majority of the Boomers ever were as progressive as the media made them out to be in the late 1960s and early ’70s, they aged out of it, though it’s more likely they never were as progressive as portrayed by the media, who were essentially seeing what they wanted to see from the group and using the most activist members of the first wave of Boomers to claim they represented everybody. So the question today is whether the media of 2019 is doing the same thing the media of 1969 did, and seeing what they want to see in the younger generations and declaring the most activist progressives among the millennial and Gen Z groups to represent all millennials and Gen Zers? Or are those two generations not going to shift right as they age and start dealing with more and more adult responsibilities?
A tremendous post. And, as you say, a very encouraging incident.
Nice post. PCU came out in 1994 and seems more relevant today than back then. I have to say my interaction with people younger than 35 gives me hope. The ones I know are more family focused, church going, and conservative in how they lead their lives than my “boomer” friends. Some have a good basis of history and civics, others not so much. I’m doing my part with my 16 year old nieces and the young folks at work. I pass along good books or history podcasts when I can.
I am on the older end of Gen-X and what disappoints me the most about Gen-Y and Gen-Z is they are willing fascists. When I was coming of age (and still), my inclination was to resist the majority, fight authority, and fight for the little guy. These newer generations seem to enthusiastically embrace the power of government and the strongest voices of cancel culture. They are willing drones in a sea of compliance. What happened to “stick it the man”? Where is the music like “Authority Song” and “Were Not Gonna Take It” or even “Fight For Your Right, to Party“? America was built on rebellion, it is (was) in our DNA. I’m disappointed.
Much of the damage is being done by our universities, dominated as they are by Postmodernist radicals. I suspect the students with their hands over their hearts were in high school, not a university. Sadly, our primary and high school teachers reflect this indoctrination in their teaching.
I still say too much “Barney” and not enough “Jonny Quest.”
Great post, Ajalon. Welcome to Ricochet!
@jon1979 ….I’m…not…a boomer. Far from it. I’m witnessing my generation and our successors fall for the progressive left. It doesn’t surprise me much given the character (or lack of) flaws I’ve seen since high school. I do see good, the conservatives are naturally more quiet and have typically stuck to themselves. You make an interesting point that does uplift me some. I hope it’s a media exaggeration, as the one you described. What do you think? Are things being blown out of proportion by a left-wing media or are there really some terrifying statistics to worry about? I’m in the middle.
Thank you @jimmcconnell.
Isn’t that funny @blondie, PCU seemed so exaggerated back then, but compared to campuses today, it’s so mild. As a 36 year old, I will tell you there are a lot of us young people who are as you described. We error on the side of being to quiet out of fear or not wanting to offend. Many of my peers and younger who vote left are good people whose compassion is misguided and they really believe in the left’s rhetoric about helping others.
That’s great what your’re doing with your niece and coworkers, keep it up! Thanks for reading!
@dong they think they are sticking it to the man, that’s the problem. They’re youthful rebellion has been manipulated to believe in the progressive tales of revolution and reinventing the system. They really think they are fighting fascism (ANTIFA) but don’t have the thinking skills, attention span and historical knowledge to step back and see what they are doing. They think they are rebelling (against capitalism, colonialism, white men, etc.) without realizing they are void of any unique, independent thought themselves. Ideas on how to approach that??? I’m not sure.
@teamamerica they were high schoolers. I agree about universities as well as k-12. But we gotta stay positive. The left is the party of anger and cynicism.
Thank you @Percival, nice quote. No “Jonny Quest” for me, I had sports.
Hard to tell at the moment, when we still have the X-factors of who Trump will be running against and what the economic and other situations will be 10 1/2 months from now. The first wave millenials are getting into their family spending years, and it’s hard to see them wanting to chunk the current economy for the Democrats’ programs if things stay where they are, while the younger millenials and Gen-Xers might be more open to changing for no other reason than change.