Tag: Millennials

There Goes a Young American

 

The sun sets on my 20s.

In 1964, Jack Weinberg gave a simple command: “Don’t trust anybody over 30.” In his mid-20s at the time, Weinberg had just graduated from UC Berkeley, where he had been a student activist. He turned 30 on April 4, 1970. But the phrase he bequeathed hardly died with the end of his 20s. It has, instead, become a timeless refrain of youth the planet over, a shorthand valorization of the superiority of young people and novelty against the stodginess of their elders and the inheritance of the past.

A reflexive rejection of what has come before fits uneasily with conservatism, concerned as it is with historical reverence. Indeed, in the 1955 mission statement of National Review (for whose website I am submissions editor), one of William F. Buckley’s main complaints about contemporary America was that, rather than embrace its past, it was “tormented by its tradition of fixed postulates having to do with the meaning of existence, with the relationship of the state to the individual, of the individual to his neighbor, so clearly enunciated in the enabling documents of our Republic.” (Buckley was 29 when he wrote these words.)

This week on “The Learning Curve,” co-host Cara Candal and guest co-host Prof. Robert Maranto talk with Dr. Mark Bauerlein, Senior Editor at First Things, Professor of English Emeritus at Emory University, and the author of The Dumbest Generation Grows Up. Dr. Bauerlein shares his views about the kinds of content American K-12 students should be reading for preparation for college and meaningful lives. He describes the main findings of his books, including how overuse of technology, excessive screen time, and social media have prevented our youth from pursuing more elevated intellectual endeavors and delayed their maturation into adulthood. He draws linkages between the narcissism of these habits and an illiberal and closeminded outlook on society among too many Millennials and follow-on generations. Dr. Bauerlein offers thoughts on how teachers, parents, and leaders can use higher academic-quality education as a counterbalance to this trend.

Stories of the Week: In Pennsylvania and other states, school districts have filed lawsuits forcing legislatures to allocate equitable funding for K-12 public education. A new book by Larry Cuban, former Virginia teacher and school superintendent, offers some sobering realities about our K-12 education system, as well as reasons for optimism.
Guest:

On this episode of “The Federalist Radio Hour,” Mark Bauerlein, senior editor at First Things and professor of English at Emory University, joins Culture Editor Emily Jashinsky to discuss his book “The Dumbest Generation Grows Up: From Stupefied Youth to Dangerous Adults.”

The Dog Phenomenon

 

From time immemorial, the human race has obeyed the biological imperative. Societies traditionally channeled much of their energy into reproducing themselves. Until now. Parenthood is falling into obsolescence, to be replaced by such simulacra as dog parenthood, cat parenthood, and plant parenthood (not to be confused, of course, with Planned Parenthood). About one out of every two dating profiles features the words “dog mom,” “dog mama,” or some variant thereof. Millennials spend lavishly on dogs. They live for dogs, talk about dogs, think about dogs — everything short of worshipping them.

Why is this happening? The usual explanation takes the form of economic determinism. Raising children is costly. “Raising” a dog is less costly. Lacking money, the argument goes, Millennials “raise” dogs instead of children. This may be part of the explanation, but not the complete one. Something else is happening — something more insidious, and something likely to stand in the way of parenting even if all financial burdens were lifted by a benevolent state. No, Millennials fear a different kind of burden, I think. Here’s my theory:

OK Boomer? If Only . . .

 

Millennials* will sometimes say “OK Boomer” as a way to insult old people they deem to be outdated and irrelevant. The phrase is a slight at the Baby Boomer generation. This intergenerational teasing is fun because many of the Millennials had Baby Boomers as parents. As one author put it,

How did a generation that promised to “teach its children well” end up with a progeny so evil they could give Damien from The Omen a run for his money?

If you look at the leadership in our federal government you might be tempted to say, “OK Boomer” yourself, but there is a problem with that. Joe Biden is 78. Nancy Pelosi is 80. Mitch McConnell is 78. None of these people are young enough to be called Boomers. At a time when Boomers should be stepping aside and letting the super-cool Gen Xers take over, we have leadership that looks at Baby Boomers and calls them “kids.” I mention this because I saw that the average life expectancy of an American is 78.7 years. Perhaps if we have any actuaries out there they can let us know what the odds are that Joe Biden lives through his first term. The thing is, would politicians be more concerned about the future of this country if they actually expected to see a little bit of that future?

Join Jim and Greg as they dig into new polling numbers showing millennial and Gen Z voters very unenthusiastic about Joe Biden. They also react to Nashville officials covering up information showing very few COVID transmissions in bars and conspiring to make sure the public did not know. And they enjoy spiking the football on John Kerry by looking back to his 2016 pronouncement that there would never be Israeli-Arab peace outside of a peace deal involving the Palestinians.

Member Post

 

Three of our last four Presidents were born in the summer of 1946. They were born to parents on the leading edge of the switch in national priorities from producing war materiel to producing babies. In fact, the Trumps were ahead of the other two couples, giving birth to their future president in June of […]

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Capitalism vs. Socialism: Facts vs. Opinion

 

Opinion: Capitalism is a corrupt system, where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Fact: Capitalism has created more wealth for more people, than ever in the history of the world.
Fact: The poor in America are still richer than about 70% of the rest of the world.
My opinion: Capitalism in itself is not a corrupt system; people are easily corrupted and the system need not be replaced.

Opinion: Democratic Socialism is a better economic system for the US than capitalism.
Fact: Socialism is defined as “[a system] in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the [government],” and “[a system] in which there is no private property.”
Fact: This is what happened in the USSR, Cuba, and Venezuela, and it resulted in extreme poverty for all, except those in power.
Fact: The Nazis were the National Socialist German Workers’ Party.

Member Post

 

Just wondering. Given that man is only an animal and moreover has the distinction of being more of a blight upon the earth than any other animal, why is there such an interest in mental health among young leftists and such a strong push to seek help for suicidal ideation? Perhaps the purpose of life […]

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Vice President Pence Thanks Millennial Military

 
Jordan 2019, AZANG and Army Reserve TOA

Photo by Sgt. 1st Class SHAIYLA HAKEEM Area Support Group Jordan, July 2019

This weekend, Candice Owens uploaded her latest podcast, an interview with Vice President Mike Pence. As he brought the interview to a close, he made a comment that prompted reflection. Vice President Pence grounded his optimism about our nation’s future in the fact of 5.5 million young people have signed up for military service, since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Indeed, the latest cohort of recruits was born after that date, and for at least the past four years, recruits have had no living, personal, memory of that day.

Utopia Under a Tent or a Waterfall?

 

I had my six-month dental cleaning and check-up. I didn’t expect to see the same hygienist. At my last visit, she was planning a move, possibly to Portland but I told her she may want to re-think that. She got back yesterday and said parts of Oregon were beautiful, breathtaking, the waterfalls, cool breezes, deep emerald green forests and didn’t want to leave. They hiked every day. She grew up here in Florida and is ready for a change. What she wasn’t ready for was Portland. She said she’d never seen anything like it, and was shocked by the enormous homeless population. Tents everywhere. “They don’t bother you, she said, or panhandle”. But “you couldn’t help but feel ill at ease,” walking from the donut shop with a bag of fresh-baked donuts. She walked by a young man at 7:15 AM, shooting up in broad daylight. Drugs that come in from Mexico and China. She said another’s face was beaten to a pulp. The smell was awful. But Oregon she said, was truly breathtaking…

I asked her why has Portland turned into this refuge? Her first answer was the legalization of drugs, marijuana. This seems to lead to stronger drugs and the lack of incentive for work or a better life. We both wondered where they got money for drugs. She said even with the abundance of jobs, they are mostly high-tech and rents have become unaffordable as a result. I asked why don’t they build affordable housing? She said that’s in the works, but you still have to have a job, and the towns don’t have the “budget to build them.” No wins here. She then commented, “I get the concept,” like what they are doing in LA.”

In Defense of Adulting at Disney Parks

 

Friday’s New York Post released an article, “Sorry, childless millennials going to Disney World is weird,” commenting on a rant by an angry mom who is clearly morally superior based on her obscenity-riddled Facebook post that has gone viral. The story was that a childless young woman was in line ahead of a mom and her 3-year-old son to get a pretzel, and because it took too long and the mom got frustrated, her child cried. Lady, nobody made your child cry but you, when you told him, “no,” because you did not feel like waiting. Perhaps you should have used this as a moment to teach your child how to wait in line and how to be patient. Rather, you post a vicious attack on Facebook that anyone without a child should be banned, blaming them for entitlement and creating long lines… all while strongly believing you should be able to skip ahead – how ironic.

Johnny Oleksinski laments in his article that people between 23 and 38 (mostly millennials) have an “unhealthy” relationship with the biggest corporation geared towards children in the world. The claim is that adults are “throwing their money away” on frivolous things meant for children. Certainly there are some that are a bit… overboard… on the Disney stuff. You know the ones – they have the full-on Little Mermaid themed bathroom, or Mickey ears for every single occasion… it’s a little weird, but what really is the harm in capitalism?

By the way, my husband and I are 37, childless, and Disneyland Annual Passholders.

Food for Thought, Towards 2020

 

Green shoots or suckers? Time will tell, but consider a few recent stories from diverse sources. Will this collection of dots end up forming a map to President Trump’s reelection in 2020? Perhaps.

We are told that the left has a lock on the minds of the youngest eligible voting cohorts, “Millennials or Generation Y” and “Generation Z.” Gen Y, the generation born near the turn of the millenium, is now 25-42. Gen Z, little talked of, like Gen X, is now 7-24. So, they are experiencing the craziness of the left’s cultural crusade first hand. Consider three articles on this latest voting-age generation.

John Hinderaker’s daughter, Kathryn Hinderaker, wrote of St. Olaf College, the small (il)liberal arts college from which she just graduated:

Conditioning the Next Generations for Poverty

 

The idea that future generations would have less than the generations that came before them used to be a bad thing. Politicians railed against economic decline as a tragedy to be avoided. But lately, there has been a distinct trend in the news and entertainment media to convince people, especially people under thirty, that having less than the generations who came before them is pretty awesome.

Millennials don’t want to own cars, the media tells them. Cars use too many resources, and consume funds that could be used for public transportation. Speaking of resources, for the sake of the planet, you should only be allowed to eat meat once a week as people did in the Middle Ages, according to an advisor to the World Health Organization. You’ll be happier with less protein, and the planet will thank you. (And you’ll be closer to the Government’s idea of the ideal weight for you [the BMI] which was calculated in 1830 and labels normal healthy weight as obese.) There is also the spectacle of a front-running Democrat presidential candidate lamenting that there are too many brands of deodorants and that waiting in breadlines for food is the way it ought to be.

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America enthusiastically cheer the first two months of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and point out that good things can happen when a leader hits the ground running on the things they promised to do. They also wince as just six House Democrats agree that illegal immigrants shouldn’t be voting. And they wonder if millennials are really far to the left or whether they embrace labels they don’t quite understand as 73 percent favor the government instituting universal health care but 79 percent want to keep private insurance.

Quote of the Day: Adam Carolla on Dudes Crying

 

The following is an abbreviated transcript from an Adam Carolla podcast. The quote begins at 1:23:30 in the show. Gina Grad is discussing how Kim Kardashian is creating a new make-up line for men.

Adam Carolla: Can I say this? This is a bad confluence of events. Because the last time I checked, dudes were doing 86 percent more crying than they did in WWII.

Fly Me to the Moon is Made of American Cheese – For Now

 

“What Sort of All Hallows’ Eve Trollop Art Thou?” PIT Seventeen asks. I’m not sure. I’m fairly sure what sort of trollop I’m not — I’m not the sort to consider glitter and body paint an acceptably modest substitute for undies. At least not on me. Nonetheless, The Sun alleges the black, bespangled, and quite bare bat bum is this Halloween’s fashion trend (any “trend” involving bums, of course, being of great interest to The Sun).

I stumbled on this so-called trend while perusing The Sun‘s investigation into snake handling, the ritual wherein Christian oppressors manhandle (“personhandle” would be more gender-neutral, but “manhandle” properly names and shames the unjust kyriarchy) innocent serpents, possibly without the serpents’ consent, purportedly for God’s glory. These oppressors — typically poor Appalachian whites — are themselves oppressed, of course, themselves victims of the same kyriarchy which enables their cross-species molestation. As one of Ricochet’s resident reptilians (I only self-identify as human online), I ought to have been outraged by the speciesist presumption that conscripts nonhuman species into human worship without even asking permission. Instead, I got distracted by sparkly bums.

Edward L. Glaeser addresses the challenges of convincing skeptical millennials and younger Americans about the merits of capitalism in the Manhattan Institute’s 2018 James Q. Wilson lecture.

Young people in the United States are moving steadily to the left. A recent Harvard University poll found that 51 percent of Americans between ages 18 and 29 don’t support capitalism. The trend is visible on the ground, too. Phenomena driven largely by millennials—such as Occupy Wall Street, the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, and, more recently, the wave of Democratic Socialist candidates for state and federal office—are all signs of an intellectual shift among the young.

Matthew Hennessey joins City Journal managing editor Paul Beston to discuss Matthew’s new book, Zero Hour for Gen X: How the Last Adult Generation Can Save America from Millennials.

More than a decade after the introduction of social media, it’s evident that Silicon Valley’s youth-obsessed culture has more drawbacks—from violations of privacy to deteriorating attention spans—than many of us first realized. For many millennials, though, who grew up with the Internet, there’s nothing to worry about. And to hear the media tell it, this tech-savvy generation, the largest in American history, is poised to take leadership from the retiring baby boomers.