
I’m a millennial and my generation sucks - Jerry2
http://nypost.com/2016/07/04/im-a-millennial-and-my-generation-sucks/
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samizdatum
I'm baffled that this sort of discourse is considered acceptable. Not in an
"I-feel-appalled" sort of way, but in a very literal, "why doesn't society
treat this like racism or sexism" sort of way.

If someone wanted to argue that intergenerational differences are significant,
they'd have to contend with the fact that the ratio of
intragenerational:intergenerational variance is far smaller than
intrasex:intersex or intraracial:interracial variance, and commit themselves
to also being a racist or a sexist.

It's routinely taught in org-psych and related fields, for example, that
different generations have X characteristic that makes them better or worse
suited to a particular role. Imagine the uproar that would ensue if we taught
that "women are better at teaching professions while men are better at
science", or "you should prefer asian employees in STEM roles vs black
employees".

Maybe someone would then say, "hey, our condemnation of racism isn't based
upon some ANOVA or arbitrary significance test- we aren't racist because Every
Human has intrinsic worth." In which case, we can stop promulgating this
antiscientific ingroup/outgroup hysteria and just focus on the Every Human
part.

~~~
FuckOffNeemo
I've never considered an association between intergenerational conflict and
it's typical blanket statements, as being in line with interracial and sexist
prejudice.

Though now you've brought it to my attention. Intergenerational conflict
really is just another form of bigotry, why isn't is condemned publicly as
such?

~~~
samizdatum
I think societal condemnation is inconsistent, poorly calibrated, and largely
rooted in exogenous/historical factors.

The outrage over isolated killings of charismatic megafauna is matched only by
the indifference to extraordinarily large-scale habitat destruction that sees
multiple species go extinct every day. See also factory farming.

The incredible revulsion we feel toward an individual pedophile is diluted
over an entire industry of child sex trafficking until it reaches homeopathic
levels.

I think the condemnation of racism and sexism were basically gavaged into
society by social movements and brave people fighting for their rights. While
this was definitely an incredible step forward, it did little to neuter our
base instincts for prejudice; we were instead outfitted with a sort of
pattern-matching, Pavlovian hair-trigger that fires whenever someone says the
word "black".

It's said that society progresses one funeral at a time, and that could be the
reason why intergenerational prejudice has had no champion. Who will fight for
Gen Z once they're dead?

~~~
FuckOffNeemo
I'm not capable of putting words together to express how much your comments
rang true on the discussion of prejudice (though societies whimsical nature
towards one mega fauna dying vs deforestation, a sexual assault vs. the
Catholic Churches paedophile circles) was far too raw.

So instead, I'll digress to the stereotype of my generation and settle for a
hasthag.

#mindblown

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FuckOffNeemo
The one photograph shown of the writer, in a suit, on a rooftop bar in
Manhattan looking perplexed at life. Shows us his privilege and/or success,
neither of which come easy to the majority of his peers within what he calls a
self entitled generation.

The writer, as some one who allegedly is '... Interested in other people'; has
an extremely elitist attitude with a matching level of arrogance. He's an old
soul, eh? He looks and sounds like a straight down the line dickhead from my
perspective.

Though I'd gladly see less selfie sticks and Kardashians from my generation.
The consumers of those products are hardly just us. Have you seen what media
our teens now consume? Our parents are more than capable of zoning out at the
next Stupid Shore. Is that the responsibility of social media? Our parents?
The schooling system?

Articles on generational discussion are deliberately polarising. In the same
light as left vs right, secularism vs. religion, socialism vs. capitalism.

No discussion. Just perversion and conflict.

Edit: formatting, grammar.

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ternaryoperator
The intergenerational complaining seems wrong regardless of direction: The
millenials complaining that the boomers ruined their world, and the boomers
complaining about the Gen X slacking and millenials' self-absorption.

Take any group that's large enough and you can create stereotypes to make them
ugly in your eyes.

Each generation brought and brings new things, discards things valued by
earlier generations, and moves forward as best it can.

Help, contribute, learn to love those outside your age group and outside your
values and we'll all be better off.

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SerLava
Good lord, I didn't know the New York Post had gone full Onion. I'm scared
that someone will think this is a real article.

~~~
angersock
Well, judging by the 10 upvotes it has here on HN, it looks like at least ten
of your fellow hackers are pretty dumb.

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slv77
Nit-pick...

The Baby Boomer's didn't invent the transitor, first computer, first personal
computer (Altair), the cell phone or the basic internet protocols. That claim
rightly belongs to the previous generation.

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angersock
Oh boy! Another well-written and carefully-reasoned piece from the NY Post!

What a crock of shit. There's always been social cachet available for people
willing to piss on their own generation; this is neither novel nor
particularly well executed.

~~~
dalke
A double crock even - I'm a slacker member of Generation X.

I'm used to being ignored by Boomers, who think our arts and culture were
nothing like the glory of the 1960s. But this article doesn't even acknowledge
we exist!

It characterizes Millennials as: "entitlement, dependency, nonstop
complaining, laziness, Kardashians"

Except for the last, those are _our_ stereotypes.

Joking aside, there's indeed nothing novel. People in the 1940s make the same
complaint about the youth of their time; who expected everything to be given
to them on a silver platter.

