
Complaining about a generation of spoiled kids -- again - DavidSJ
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/16/AR2010071602729.html
======
zach
Can anyone name this fallacy, where your evidence is that people have been
complaining about the same thing for a long time, so complaining is merely the
status quo and there isn't a real issue?

I know we all enjoy quotes from ancient Greece about how children "these days"
are disrespectful, and yet regardless of what you think about the topic, this
is a stinker of an argument. You can employ it in the same way to say, for
example, that political discourse only _seems_ to be less civil than it was
any number of years ago.

~~~
ShardPhoenix
How is it a fallacy to say that moderate levels of people complaining about
something is weak evidence for there being a real problem?

~~~
nopassrecover
The fallacy is that "we've heard this complaint before therefore your
complaint is invalid" which is obviously an invalid argument. In this case
"moderate levels of people complaining" is treated as negative evidence, that
is to say, counter to their complaints.

My vote for the name of this fallacy is "the boy who cried wolf" fallacy.

------
DanielBMarkham
I have some problems with the logic here.

First, the author draws on past examples of folks complaining about the new
generation as a way to discount any current complaining. Let's get this
straight: no matter how many x examples you can show me of other people
complaining about something, it doesn't discount my complaining _or the thing
I am complaining about_ at all. People complain about sickness -- been doing
it for generations. Does that mean that my complaining about the effects of
getting sick has no validity. Indeed, it may just show the reverse: that
things are reliably getting worse. Or it may show nothing. You don't know.
Oddly enough, he makes the point that anecdotes aren't data -- then uses
anecdotes of past complainers to make a point. ouch.

This discussion has all the earmarks of being about definitions and semantics.
For instance, perhaps I would argue that a) the current parenting generation
grew up in an environment so technologically different as to be inept at
raising their own kids, b) basic survival skills, such as regular exercise and
being able to live outdoors without technology, are a critical and overlooked
skill, and c) we are not providing our children with the solid liberal arts
education they need to be able to manage the new world that is evolving. All
of this leads to a sort of passive, drifting view of life as being one form of
entertainment after another, all while waiting to strike it rich and famous.
These are specific criticisms that we can talk about, and they have nothing to
do with kids being lazy and narcissistic. Yet hell if I'm going to write an
essay every time I want to talk about the current generation. I'll just say
"Kids today! I have no idea how we're going to make it" and shake my head. Yes
-- that general kind of complaining thing has been happening for thousands of
years, and no, that doesn't mean that current criticisms are natural and
worthless. It just means that if you broaden out your terms, you can lose
critical details that are required for analysis. You end up with a kind of
"well, everything is sort of like everything else" measly-mouthed conclusion,
which, honestly, wastes my time as a reader.

------
tkahn6
Well, as for those 'indictments' published in 1944 and 1962, the children of
that era _have_ caused the recession of today.

~~~
c1sc0
I many ways, nagging _guilt_ can be a strong motivator for spoiling children.
Guilt for leaving behind a world that _seems_ worse off than when you entered
it. Stop doing that! The younger generation has to understand that never
before humankind has had so many possibilities.

~~~
omd
At 40, I'm surrounded by Generation "Me" kids from friends and siblings and in
my view the main motivator is laziness. The problem is the spoiled kids of
today are being raised by spoiled kids. Our generation started the sense of
entitlement and it shows in the parenting style. Generation X is used to
having it all and having it easy. Actual quote from a thirty-something mother
the other day: "I always let them have their way because their whining gives
me a headache".

