Millennials/Generation Y discussion

Fry, there is nothing in the Bill of Rights about slavery, one way or the other. You don't know what you're talking about.

Besides the contents and other considerations of the US Bill of Rights should go into another OTC thread like the politics thread.

I see one problem with a lot of the commentary in this thread namely it is doing the exact same thing older generations have done IE blaming an entire generation. It is frankly disingenuous to say an entire generation is to blame or doesn't care etc. See my first post with the top link and it should be pretty clear this a steady and problematic pattern in the society in general.

edited 17th Mar '16 7:30:58 PM by TuefelHundenIV

It is pretty accurate, so far as my (admittedly limited) research has shown, to say that there is pretty much always a back and forth conflict between an older generation and the new one. The old generation almost invariably finds the new one self-centered and unprincipled, while the newer one finds the old one out of touch with their current reality and holding toxic values for society. I'm sure that when millennials grow old we'll be the exact same with the generation after us.

edited 17th Mar '16 7:44:59 PM by wehrmacht

That kind of attitude is part of it, yes. However, it tends to get reinforced and grows stronger based on the technology gap between generations. And the gap between the past couple of generations is staggeringly huge.

In this case, we have the Internet (on which we are talking), something that didn't exist outside of a handful of sci-fi works for the prior generation. If you look at how they consumed media and information, it came in prepackaged sets, especially when it came to television shows and news. Online, there's a lot more varied sources for opinions, which means people are less likely to fit into preexisting ideologies. They could only get their news from networks like Fox or NBC or such, which tended to have their own specific biases...and no alternatives than those.

As for fiction; instead of buying a whole newspaper and thus indirectly supporting all of the comic strips in that paper, I can just go to individual webcomic sites, or find the comic strip archives online. Instead of having to buy whole tapes/records/CDs, I can download individual songs online. Instead of having to wait until the TV show comes on, I can stream it online...or go to YouTube and watch some of the original shows on that site, any time I want. Instead of being limited by space on my physical bookshelf, I can now download hundreds of books onto a device that is smaller than a physical copy of any single one of those books. And so on.

The bottom line is, the millennials or whatever you want to call them can get their entertainment and information on their own terms and time, something that the prior generations did not have anywhere near to the same degree of ability to do so back in the day. That alone is a dramatic difference, one that obviously would color their views of the world. It comes with new options, new solutions, and new problems, a lot of which the older generation aren't equipped to understand. It's not something that they can be blamed for, not can every single person from that time be held accountable (since quite a few have adapted). But times change, and standing still always gets you left behind.

In twenty to thirty years, a lot of people here will probably be on the other side of this discussion. Probably due to 3D printing and the changes it will bring. We'll just have to see how that works out.

edited 17th Mar '16 8:16:18 PM by TotemicHero

I do wonder if we'll find the best cross generational contact not with the generation of our parents (gen X) or their parents (the WW 2 generation) but the generation before that, the one that suffered the Great Depression.

Though actually I found an interesting argument that can be made to the grandparent generation when it comes to their voting. I know my grandmother bases a lot of her argument on Europe on her wanting things to be better for me and my brother (basically she supports the UK leaving the EU because she wants us to have an advantage in getting jobs compared to migrants from other EU countries), so I made the point to her "if you care about what's good for me, then listen to me when I say what I need".

Our parents generation care about their interests, but our grandparents generation care about our interests, perhaps we should explain to them what our interests are?

What about those of us whose parents were born before Generation X, but never quite fit in into the stereotypes (at least, the more negative ones, such as taking buckets of drugs or being very entitled) of the baby boomers (at least from an Anglo-American perspective)?

In the case of my parents, they're both Catholic^note so, there's not that generic Protestant mindset that is obsessed with work and moving away from your family and community as quickly as possible and lived during the dictatorship, in a very frugal way (even if they managed to find work more easily than us). While they don't use the Internet, the fact that me and my brothers tend to inform them of stuff we saw on the Internet on a daily basis allows them to understand and empathize with our difficulties in setting a firm foot in the job market (at least, on a basic level) or living on our own^note for the first couple of years, my parents lived together with our grandparents on my father's side (in the early 70's, iirc), which is something that became unthinkable from the 80's onwards.

For that matter, I wonder how different are the issues between Generation X'ers, Baby Boomers and Generation Y/Millennials/whatever across different cultures?

EDIT: Lots of little edits.

edited 17th Mar '16 9:03:54 PM by Quag15

I did meet one Boomer like that, he was my econ teacher in senior year. He was a very heavy working guy and didn't do any of the stuff his classmates did but he was a total ass though and would defend his generation over the drug thing. He truly believed that legalized marijuana would be less safe then any of the drugs his generation took and that it was cause America to go to ruin.

On the other hand I also met another Boomer who didn't fit any of the stereotypes. He never took drugs, drank, or any of that. He was also genuinely concerned about the world he was sending us off into not because we weren't prepared for it or couldn't handle it but because it should of been made a lot better for us. He and the econ teacher apparently were known for getting into disagreements

The first type is what draws my ire in regards to the Boomer generation moreso then anything else.

Not exactly related,but I've heard several old teachers and professors ramble on about how today's subjects for tests and education in general are "dumbed down",in order not to trouble us dumb kids.Not exactly a "Generation" issue since the claim is a year-decade thing.Does this hold true in any way?

edited 18th Mar '16 2:23:54 AM by alekos23

the fact they are absolutely certain they are right about everything and this generation doesn't get a say? the current government over here seems to follow that, they're not allowing 16 and 17 years olds to vote on their future, cutting anything this current generation needs to support themselves, while spouting off rhetoric about "needing to tighten their belt" while they make it easier for the older generations, it does seem very self serving with an attitude that we don't matter

one thing I see spread around the internet a lot is the "in 1944 18 years olds died on the beaches of Normandy, in 2016 18 year olds need safe spaces" me, I feel that is a load of bollocks, the vast majority of them were bigots (and since it was in living memory, I feel we can judge them by modern standards), and yet are held up as paragons of virtue for fighting worse bigots, what do you lot think?

A lot of the people who shared that would probably have failed the physical test for the draft.

I am reluctant to judge the world views of those who stormed the beaches that day, but suffice to say that they were willing to fight for those oppressed by Nazi occupation. That's ultimately a lot more than putting some text on an image because you feel that the feeeeeemales are going to take away your waifu.

And since it bears pointing out, these things are almost never made by Generation X people, at least in the West. A good deal of the time they're made by some millennial kid who has never set foot on a college campus and relies on 5 hour long alt-right YouTube videos for information about everything.

Those people who died on the beaches of Normandy are all dead though, so who really has the better idea about how to live?

my late grandfather fought in the war, and held homophobic views, and people got upset if I challenged them, I feel that nobody is inherently worthy of respect, they must be judged by their actions, and if off the battlefield they were bigots... well, fuck em, a lot of the homosexuals freed from the Nazi concentration camps were screwed over by the Allies, at the very least they were not recognised as victims of Nazi atrocities, and at worst were tried and imprisoned

In my mind respect is a point-based system. You get a bonus for fighting in wars and being old and crap, but if you're a big enough asshole you can still piss it away and end up in the negatives.

Others would say it's not point-based, just judge (is that the correct word?) people's strengths and flaws individually. Homophobia is a flaw, even though it's quite expected especially of someone of an old age. Surviving war is... actually, what strengths does "surviving war" give? Does "surviving war" count as a strength in and of itself? Can "surviving war" really be used as an excuse for rude behavior? Or "old age", for that matter.

edited 27th Apr '16 5:33:58 AM by hellomoto

I don't consider age to be worthy of respect, mostly because most of my elders are dicks, so it may have soured my view a bit

By right, age is supposed to improve a person. By left... real life is complicated.

I also don't consider age alone to be a point of respect.

edited 27th Apr '16 5:41:13 AM by hellomoto

I may be born in 1996, but is it bad to not do what most Millennials do?

How do you define "not doing what most Millennials do"?

Not being fond of social media usage, having a bit more archaic fashion sense (from wearing old man's pants to being full formal when going out), and having different music tastes?

I was born in 1988 but I do know what you mean.

Using the past as the standard of behavior is literally the opposite of progress.

EDIT: As an example, in 1916, 18-year-olds were dying in the trenches around Germany. I don't think anyone's eager to do that again.

edited 27th Apr '16 11:32:55 AM by TobiasDrake

it's part of the military worship that keeps popping up I feel, as if they are somehow "better" than the rest of us for killing people, the age of large scale conflicts is over (I hope) so this generation will not have to experience that sort of horror again, and I'm quite happy with that situation

The entire thing just shows how little anyone posting it cares about actual military veterans. Safe spaces are (when not misused by Internet idiots) to provide help and assistance to trauma victims, what group of people often end up suffering some kinda of trauma and needing help dealing with it? Military veterans.

They might. People were saying that after World War I too. The military is important and the people who serve in it are deserving of respect. It's a very hard life.

But that's the military. It's a whole different world from civilian life.

Also that. Frankly, the way most countries treat war veterans is appalling. "Thank you for your service, go rot in an alley."

edited 27th Apr '16 11:51:58 AM by TobiasDrake