Posted on 04/25/2007 4:18:43 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
Some seem to think so, but media's glare can distort
"The Millennial Generation has every right to be the Melancholy Generation." -- from USA Today. Is it more difficult to be a 21-year-old American in 2007 than it was in 1987, or 1967, or 1947? Has today's college senior witnessed more defining tragedies than her parents and grandparents?
Doubtful. Every new generation has to cope with tragedies and wars, natural disasters and senseless violence.
But a USA Today article wonders if the the so-called "Millennial Generation," i.e., "those born since the early 80s," has faced an especially rough road.
"[T]he signposts on this generation's road to maturity have been a somber directory of tragedy shared," say the co-authors of the article.
"The Oklahoma City bombing. Columbine. September 11. The space shuttle disasters. Hurricane Katrina. And now Virginia Tech."
The article quotes the author of the book Parenting the Millennial Generation: "They've seen the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, the worst natural disaster in U.S. history and the worst mass killing ever. . . . They have a more realistic view of the world than previous generations."
Right. As opposed to those happy-go-lucky 19-year-old soldiers who fought in World War II, or those blissfully ignorant twentysomethings who tried to feed their families during the Great Depression.
The Tumultuous Generation A respectful correction. The horrific massacre at Virginia Tech was the worst mass murder shooting, but not the worst mass murder ever. (The Oklahoma City bombing claimed more than five times as many victims.) Nor was it the worst mass murder at a school. In 1927, Andrew Kehoe killed 45 and injured 58 when he blew up a school in Bath Township, Mich. That said, it would be obscene to minimize such seminal events as 9/11 and Katrina and the Virginia Tech shootings. There's no disputing that today's 21-year-old has been witness to far too many historically significant tragedies.
But say you turned 21 in 1977. Just some of the events that would have defined your life experience:
The Bay of Pigs. Racial hate crimes during the civil rights struggle. The Vietnam War. The assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Charles Whitman killing 15 and wounding 31 at the University of Texas. The Apollo 1 astronauts. Charles Manson. The Zodiac killer. Kent State. The resignation of President Nixon.
Tumultuous times then, tumultuous times now.
A whole new (media) world In the 1970 rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar," Judas wonders: Now why you'd choose such a backward time and such a strange land?
If you'd come today you could have reached a whole nation
Israel in 4 B.C. had no mass communication . . .
Of course, what passed for "mass communication" in 1970 seems Paleozoic by today's standards. Watch movies from 35 years ago and you see people in phone booths, watching snowy TV, sending telegrams, writing letters, and you think: How did they ever get anything done?
USA Today notes this is the first generation that "endure[s] repeated mass catastrophes in the harsh, inescapable glare of a 24/7 media environment."
In 1963, Walter Cronkite told a nation the president was dead. In 2007, we saw cell phone video and almost-instant MySpace postings about the Virginia Tech shootings, as the news channels provided saturation coverage. Whether it's a national story like Virginia Tech or a local tragedy such as Jessica Savin, MySpace and Facebook often offer instant glimpses into the lives of victims. (There are two "Rest In Peace Jessica Savin" groups on Facebook, with dozens of candid photos and messages from friends.)
If the technology had existed, Zapruder would have been on YouTube by mid-afternoon on Nov. 22, 1963.
I'm not slamming the USA Today article. In fact, it makes the argument that the Millennial Generation COULD be the Melancholy Generation -- but it's not. The twentysomethings quoted in the piece refuse to let the world frighten them.
"I don't see what good it would do to just live in fear," says a 21-year-old senior.
"[Shared tragedies] shock us into a sense of community," observes another.
The world probably isn't any scarier in 2007 than it was in 1977 or 1937. We just have a lot more ways of holding up a mirror to ourselves.
mailto:rroeper@suntimes.com
Don’t believe me? Tune into an episode of South Park. You may not like the crudeness and cursing, but there is a good message in every episode.
Yeah - he turned 91 last month and passed his driving test, no less!!!
Did somebody say POLIO?
The comparison is 21 in ‘37 like my dad was vs. 21 in ‘77 and I’m just a little older than that. ‘77 was a lot better.
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.
What about Galveston, 1900? Wasn't that worse?
One of my grandfathers was a machine-gunner during The Great War; one time I was talking to him when he was about 75, about five years before he died, and he remarked that he was glad he wasn't going to be around to see what was coming up.
We were also dancin' the night away in '37, doing the Big Apple, the Balboa, the Truck, and a step called peckin'.
We also had better music in '37. I'd take swing bands led by Benny Goodman, Bob Crosby, or Ina Rae Hutton, sweet bands conductred by Eddy Duchin, Shep Fields, or Guy Lombardo, the Western swing sound of Bob Wills, Cliff Bruner, or Smoky Woods & His Wood Chips, and vocalists such as Judy Garland or Bing Crosby over the Sex Pistols, Rick Dees & His Cast of Idiots, and other 1970's acts.
Don’t forget the San Francisco Earthquake. (See Post 9).
I didn't!
And some succumbed to the influenza, which took millions of lives in 1918. Some say it killed as many people as the war did.
No argument about the music - the depression and war kind of trumps that, though.
I surely hope you do. I have a 16 and 15 year old, I raise them to take personal responsibility and I do not go along with the PC BS. Luckily, I live in an area that is very conservative so it isn’t so hard to drive the points home.
What about Galveston, 1900? Wasn't that worse?
The Galveston hurricane, which killed about 6,000, was worse, as was the Lake Okeechobee hurricane of 1928, which killed about 2,000.
If a twenty-something can’t easily buy a house —— and that’s a nice 2- or 3- bedroom with a yard in a good neighborhood —— he’s looking in the wrong area. There are plenty of homes in America that are affordable. Under $25k. You just won’t find them if you live in an area where the cheapest home is $400k. Get in the car, young man, and seek your dream.
“If a twenty-something can’t easily buy a house —— and that’s a nice 2- or 3- bedroom with a yard in a good neighborhood —— he’s looking in the wrong area. There are plenty of homes in America that are affordable. Under $25k. You just won’t find them if you live in an area where the cheapest home is $400k. Get in the car, young man, and seek your dream.”
That as one point I was thinking of, that getting started is a lot harder these days, but you’re right - if you insist on living in LA, SF, Miami, NYC, forget it. But if you move to the fly over states, it’s a lot better...if there’s jobs.
I think every generation has it’s hurdles, but it’s how they tackle them (if they do at all) is what defines them. The “greatest generation” (and an apt title that is) rose to the challenge and built the foundations of prosperity after the wars. Ever since, each generation has lost sight of that, and gotten more and more pampered.
The generations we’re raising now will be utterly useless, as they are not allowed to see anything negative, suffer any defeat, and are coddles and cucooned to the point that they are unsufferable to deal with. That will change, and probably throug strife and chaos, like another 9-11 attack, or a greater war breaking out, or the unthinkable, warfare on our soil. The future generations have their own hurdles, which they are being discouraged actively by their boomer overlords (gotta love that term) from approaching, and they also have the mess the boomer overlords have made - just in terms of the economy and the IOUs the boomer overlords have taken out on their dime alone is a monumental task.
The future generations have their work cut out for them, and some day it will be sink or swim for them. How will they fare? That’s a very good question...one we could answer more readily if we actually were in the process of preparing them for it.
The article seems to be asking “are things worse for todays generation”? and then answering “not really”.
Every generation has their own pleasures, problems and challenges.
Roger that and as another FReeper pointed out, they suffered the 1918 flu pandemic too.
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