You'll miss us when we're gone...

Love the Onion article about the coming tsunami of Boomer mortality. Lately it seemed like every week brought a couple of death notices about boomers (Ron Pallilo) or boomer idols who were a little older but pop cultural icons of our youth (Phyllis Diller, Neil Armstrong). It's going to get worse -- or better, depending on your point of view. We've been dying off for years -- whooping cough, polio, cystic fibrosis, drunk driving, illegal abortions, Viet Nam, murder, drug overdoses, cancer, suicide, HIV-AIDS, heart disease -- our numbers very slowing waning as we rolled through the school system, the workforce and the electorate. Here we go, folks. For the next thirty years it's all downhill.

Wonder when we become invisible? Hope I last long enough to be ignored.

"Be selfish! Be entitled! Demand what you want. Because we want it, too."

I have very mixed feelings about this article. On the positive side, the author makes some very good points about the failure of the American workplace to adapt to some significant new realities. (Women make up more than half of the workplace and we are the ONLY developed nation without guaranteed paid maternity leave!!!) To get through the piece, I needed to control my temper at the dismissive, judgemental assumption of privilege that pops up every time she refers to Gen Y as a group. The individuals she interviewed don't seem particularly spoiled or self-important. But when she shifts to generalizations, their generation is "pampered, over-praised, relentlessly self-confident", with a "sense of entitlement and inflated self-esteem". 
With a son and daughter who are Millennials, not to mention hundreds of former students and advisees, I'd say they are no more or less than I was in my twenties. Two things stand out as different. First, as Matchar accurately notes in her article, our relationships with our parents are different. That's intentional. I was at odds with one or both of my parents and the majority of my teachers, professors and older co-workers for most of my twenties, thanks to politics and culture wars. Would it help today's young adults if they also felt they couldn't trust anyone over thirty? I am grateful to be in position to help my children and that our relationship makes mutual support not only possible, but comfortable.
The employment landscape is also so different from the 1970s that I hesitate to offer advice these days. Other than not being limiited to classified ads divided into "Employment - Men" and "Employment - Women", finding work these days is more dehumanizing and discouraging than it was for us. For example, online applications are constructed to filter out applicants who may be good candidates, but who don't use the right keywords or don't fit the algorithm. When finding a job -- any job -- takes so much time and effort, why not be choosy so you don't have to repeat the process within a year?
As for their expectations in the workplace, yes, some are silly. A friend of mine tells stories of young hires who expect work to be like college, just as I run into students who expect college to be like high school. But drawing the line on work demands that have expanded with email and cell phones to intrude on personal lives, even for entry-level employees? Totally understandable. Looking for family-friendly workplaces? Expecting not to be discriminated against? Long overdue.

Democracy Matters

This marks the first of, perhaps, several attempts at dialogue based on a prompt. For this installment, we'll be responding to a passage from Dr. Cornel West's book Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism from 2004. In this excerpt, Dr. West argues that "the saturation of market forces in American life generates a market morality that undermines a sense of meaning and larger purpose". We'll be posting responses this week, but feel free to comment on this post if you have something to say. -- Danny

"The dogma of free-market fundamentalism has run amok, and the pursuit of profits by any legal (or illegal) means -- with little or no public accountability -- guides the behavior of the most powerful and influential institutions in our lives: transnational corporations. And yet corporate elites are not fully in control of market forces even as they try to bend them to their own benefit. Their frantic race to the bottom line indeed lifts some boats yet it often pollutes the water and empties out the democratic energies necessary to guide the ship of state. In fact, it leaves the ship of state devoid of vital public trust and a common sense of destiny.

The perception of pervasive corruption at the top seems to many to justify the unprincipled quest to succeed at any cost in their own lives, and the widespread cheating in our culture reflects this sad truth. The oppressive effect of the prevailing market moralities leads to a form of sleepwalking from womb to tomb, with the majority of citizens content to focus on private careers and be distracted with stimulating amusements. They have given up any real hope of shaping the collective destiny of the nation. Sour cynicism, political apathy, and cultural escapism become the pervasive options.

The public has good cause for disillusionment with the American democratic system. The saturation of market forces and market moralities has indeed corrupted our system all the way up. Our leadership elite have themselves lost faith in the efficacy of adhering to democratic principles in the face of the overwhelming power of those market forces. They are caught up in the corrupting influences of market morality. Our politician have sacrificed their principles on the altar of special interests; our corporate leaders have sacrificed their integrity on the altar of profits; and our media watchdogs have sacrificed the voice of dissent on the altar of audience competition."

Finally a few definitions:

free-market fundamentalism -- Dr. West argues that this is the predominant culture in America: a belief that free-market capitalism gives us the most pure measure of value. Therefore, he uses the term to mean the free-market lens through which we judge anything and everything.

market moralities -- the set of moral principles that have arisen as a result of free-market fundamentalism.

democratic energies -- the strength of the People's interest, trust, and engagement in their democracy. A central aspect of Dr. West's theories is that our current free-market fundamentalism is partly responsible for the lack of democratic energies (e.g. voter apathy).

20 Most-played Christmas Songs by Decade (xkcd)

xkcd: Tradition

Danny: For posterity, I'll post it here. An 'American Tradition' is anything that happened to a Baby Boomer twice.

Jo: Cultural critique or jealousy? So hard to tell.

"You're so Vain", generational edition

A team of psychologists have just published a study of song lyrics from the last 30 years that suggests that today's young people are narcissistic and hostile. I imagine it's actually the Baby Boomers' fault giving out all those gold stars and participation trophies to their undeserving progeny.

There are also studies that suggest a shift in the results of personality tests that measure narcissism. (Who knew such a thing existed?) Now of course, so far those studies have only involved college students, so we don't actually know if they are part of a whole culture of me-ism, affecting everyone from tots to senior citizens. Personally, between the growing popularity of libertarianism and "I've got mine, screw you" attitudes, I'm inclined to think it's not just the kids.

Activism then and now

Two interesting commentaries popped up in my Twitter feed today, both claiming to characterize today's young adults (and compare them, either implicitly or explicitly, with Baby Boomers). So I ask you, Millennials (especially my offspring) which are you: the slacktivists or a new breed of activists?

First up, Phil Primack of Boston.com, who waxes nostalgic about the Boomers and the first Earth Day, pivoting to smack down Millennials:

In 1970, when I was finishing college, Earth Day fit into the take-it-to-the-streets era of social change, though a bit less angry than both the civil rights and antiwar movements. But it helped unleash a social and political momentum that led to, among other things, passage of the federal Clean Air and Clean Water acts. That was largely because Americans, especially college students and other youth, insisted on action, not platitudes. They believed in collective power and organized protest. They stuck to it – and not just long enough to fill an afternoon with Tweets – and forced Congress to listen

But wait! Van Jones and Lindsay McClusky posted a different assessment in the Huffington Post, fresh from their experience with this weekend's Power Surge in Washington,DC, which attracted about 10,000 attendees:

What will the Millennial Generation do? What young people always do: Innovate and fight back. Students are piloting new attention-getting tactics like Briefcase Brigades. On their upcoming national action April 27, youth and students across the country will dress up for job interviews, some with briefcases, and visit local offices of members of Congress. They will ask their elected reps to stop cutting education and jobs. Photos and videos will be posted in social media. Briefcase Brigades will be followed by graduation actions. Summer actions will build up to bigger actions in the Fall.

I can speak for the Boomers: we weren't all activists; many of us just quietly went about our lives and tried to make good environmental choices. Should we have marched more, rallied more, demonstrated more? I honestly have no idea if that would have made a difference. Drawing on our experience as you see it, what kind of energy and strategies do today's young adults bring to the table?

Speaking of context...

It is so very hard to explain some things without referring to the past. Whether it's drawing a comparison between today's music scene and top-40 radio or embedding my own life experience in a gem of parental advice, I am beginning to realize how time-bound I can be sometimes. While context can illuminate, if can also be frustrating for the younger listener, I believe. We got so very tired of hearing about the Depression. What are you tired of hearing about?