Boomer views on the millennials

These comments were posted on James Howard Kunstler's website, Kunstler.com. In his most recent article he wrote:

I have a lot of hope for the millennials, the young people just coming up. They're going to get sick of living in an ethical vacuum and sick of political paralysis.Their brains are going through the final stage of development where it arrives at the ability to make judgments. They are going to judge the Boomers and their X'er successors harshly and they're going to remind us that Americans are capable of valiant action even without the trappings of jingoism and sports metaphors.

In response to this statement were these comments. Take heed fellow millennials.

Hi Jim, I wish I could represent the Millenials in saying we are the hope of the future, but like several others have pointed out above, the majority of my generation is so far entangled in techno-babble and self-congratulation that they could only understand resource depletion if their iPods stopped charging one day.

Jim - I don't know about hanging your hopes on the millennials - they seem to be buying into the whole American circus just like every generation - don't see much hope with them (or anyone else, really). The one thing they have embraced is each other - in a giant virtual circle-jerk with its narcissism and endless chatter.

This comment a vicious critique:

I would have to disagree with Jim this week as I see no promise with regards to the Millennials. My daughter and her companions are from that generation and I doubt any of them could find the United States on a map.

The problem, as I see it, is that we no longer have regional common cultures. No, the only culture this upcoming generation knows is the one provided to them by the media conglomerates.

Funny, but my wife and I had this conversation last night as we struggle to communicate with those around us. We likened it to a modern Tower of Babble as there is little commonality amongst us with which to begin our conversation.

For example, my wife and I have a traditional liberal arts education. Our conversations are peppered with references to Homer, Plato, Gibbon, Voltaire, the Bible, etc. This shared knowledge gives us a frame of reference with which to begin our conversation.

That said, I find it difficult to communicate with someone that only has pop culture as a frame of reference. We can't build a national consensus based on the actions of Charlie Sheen and Britney Spears.

The only predictable outcome is that the Millennials will turn into an insane mob once they figure out that they are entitled to nothing - nothing except the bill that is.

An insane mob! I don't think so buddy.

And this supportive comment:

What I see in this "millennials" generation is greater tolerance and less desire to compete with their fellows in serious ways. Although your notions quoted above may be accurate, I believe, they are more superficial, and the two attributes I see are more at the heart of the matter and what is required to remedy our illness.

And this comment,

I see them less as pawns for a cornpone fascist wanna-be than as deers who will look up, just in time to glimpse the headlights. They all think technology will solve any and all problem.

That, friends, is a bipartisan American disease. Millennials all seem to have caught it.

This is a good one,

The Millenials could also be called the Suburban Generation. Suburbia being a giant cultural/economic/social bubble, I just don't see them being rebellious enough or having enough grit to fight against the status quo. They basically live in a world of digital media, chain stores, strip malls, and 4 lane roads clogged with SUVs. Of course, many of us do, but it seems that previous generations have known at least a hint of something different. It seems to be all that the new generation really knows or understands.

This guy holds nothing back:

Well let's not forget that half of America's kids are now low IQ Hispanics and Blacks - with more Hispanics all the time. I mean fourty million White abortions over the last fifty years can't not have some effect. Check out an HBO Documentary on teaching at a Black Hight School, "Hard Times at Douglas High". Absolute insanity - any White who bothers trying to teach kids like this is brain damadged. One seemingly gay guy was almost in tears saying how he spent hours trying to prepare something nice for them and they just destroyed the class in a matter of minutes.

Most of these kids have no business being in high school much less preparing for college. They should be out working in the fields or in factories as Booker T Washington said long ago. And their education should prepare them for this. As it is, it's just a cross between baby sitting and a day prison. School is the ruin of a many a good potential laborer - and that goes for many a White kid too.

Here is the link to the article:

http://kunstler.com/blog/2011/03/make-no-mistake.html

It's funny how the boomers who wrecked this country look at us millennials with such disdain.

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