Millenials! Are They (we) That Bad?

PintoBean

PintoBean

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The running joke lately is how spoiled, infantile and incapable millennials are. For reference, a millennials would be defined as 19-35 I believe. They are the butt of snowflake jokes. They are the butt of losing election jokes. The running line on millennials is that they are in debt, under/unemployed, entitled, spoiled and lacking practical skills. I have to say I don't fully disagree. I'm 39, so I'm not a millennial. I'm on the cusp, dealing with them and interacting them, but not one of them. I find myself taking a harder line on myself and other people than they do. At least I think I do. My siblings are millennials. Everything about our upbringing was the same, but age and zeitgeist. My parents got sick. Their reaction? Hostility, disgust, where's the nearest nursing home and when can we drop them off? Mine? "This is unpleasant and tragic, let's find solutions. I hate this, but I need to spend some time helping them." I'm not saying I am better person (though clearly I am), I just feel as if I hold myself to a different set of standards than people even only 4-5 years younger. What are your thoughts and feels on millennials? Is it as bad as the jokes portray? Are you an offended Millennial? Are you a righteous millennial? Are you someone from totally different generation with a different perspective? Any input appreciated!
 
I had the pleasure of having to deal with a gentleman at work in his late 60s yesterday who ended up yelling about how he thought segregation was great and how he shouldn't have to deal with the possibility of black people moving into his neighborhood if he doesn't want to, how blacks have never been oppressed throughout history and how they shouldn't be equal, anyway, how he could never vote "progressive" because, word for word, "it's where the freaks congregate," to name a few things. He then proceeded to yell at and verbally abuse one of my employees, on the basis of her being African American. I'm sure he would've thrown a fit if he'd learned that she's a lesbian too, given his loud condemnation of anything pertaining to gay rights. Verbally abuse my employee? No. I had to firmly ask him to leave, which took a while, and he claimed it was because we didn't want to debate with him because we, also word for word "knew we were delusional." And this was an intelligent man, not someone mentally unstable who had simply gone off the rails. Those were his normal, shitty beliefs.

So, I am of the opinion that people of every single generation can be shitty human beings, and that there is not one generation more so inclined to be than another.

What amuses me sometimes is that some people react so strongly to the younger generation's "triggering," that they are essentially triggered by the triggering, without realizing it.

I can only speak for myself though. I am just me. Everyone else is just themselves. My reaction to my sister getting crushed by a forklift when I was 17 and subsequently spending 14 months in the hospital? I moved out to the city where her hospital was even though I had nowhere to stay, and spent 14 months at her side in the hospital, taking care of her, spending almost every night at the hospital, learning her wound care, bathing her, everything I possibly needed to know. Upon her leaving the hospital I then moved in with her and took care of her alongside her home nurse aide... I was actually better with her equipment than quite a few of the aides, which was a little sad. I assisted with all of her PT and OT, fighting to get her to be able to walk again, and I did not leave her side until she had finally, through so much pain and torment, recovered. And I would do it for any of my loved ones, time and time again.

That's just who I am, though, and I am not a fan of broad generalizations. I recognize what you describe however, and I have seen it in individuals, but as I mentioned, I have seen horrendous things in individuals of every age.
 
@hush wow, I definitely wasn't saying that people of other generations can't be "shitty" too. I really cannot imagine someone going off in the work place about how great segregation was. Literally can't imagine it, that's awful. I'm not idealizing any one generation of another. Just asking if people felt any of the accusations leveled at Millennials are merited.
EDIT: and I am sorry to read of your sister's horrific injury.
 
PintoBean said:
@hush wow, I definitely wasn't saying that people of other generations can't be "shitty" too. I really cannot imagine someone going off in the work place about how great segregation was. Literally can't imagine it, that's awful. I'm not idealizing any one generation of another. Just asking if people felt any of the accusations leveled at Millennials are merited.
EDIT: and I am sorry to read of your sister's horrific injury.
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Like I said, I recognize what you mentioned. Browse Tumblr for a bit and it's hard not to...
 
hush said:
As an example...

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lol that reminds me of this one

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I think my knickers are in knot today. A somewhat younger friend of mine e-mailed me his GoFundMe page in which he asked viewers to "help his dream come true." For context, he had enrolled in expensive, off-shores film school for an MFA and wanted about $30,000 to complete his senior project (a film). I didn't donate. Later I got a personal e-mail asking for a donation. I asked bluntly why I should fund his film school project rather than donate to a much needier individual/cause. He responded snarkily that for only just the cost of one of my Louis Vuitton bags I could help a "worthy" cause. I felt pissed. I have no LV bags (nor do I want any) and only approximately 1.5 years ago was without health insurance and couldn't afford to to go to the doctor. Everything my husband and I have is because we have scrimped and saved and gone without. I do feel that younger generations are more entitled.
 
I have been impressed with a lot of Millennials I've met. I think that the way they are portrayed in all types of Media is often a gross misrepresentation. A lot of them have a really good handle on their beliefs and values and what they want to do with their lives.
 
CosmicINFJ said:
I have been impressed with a lot of Millennials I've met. I think that the way they are portrayed in all types of Media is often a gross misrepresentation. A lot of them have a really good handle on their beliefs and values and what they want to do with their lives.
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I think a lot of the problem for Millennials and the cause of jokes about them comes from the fact that they are in a bad situation. They were sold on taking out tons of loans for degrees that turned out to be near useless. I say this without blame because I was simply too out of it to even know how to get a loan. I waitressesed my way through a useless philosophy degree simply because no one shoved a too good to be true loan in my face. I think predatory lending got worse for younger generations, not sure. And then the job market got even worse. Big expectations, no jobs, lots of debt. But the entitlement and narcissism aspects of millennials I do believe to be a real problem.
 
I think putting those kinds of labels on an entire generation is redundant and sounds sour.

Our generation, when compared to the generation before ours, may seem spoiled. However, the generation before theirs had to wash their clothes by hand. So I don't really see the point, we can sit and pick parts of our lives and compare to those who have come before us.

To me, it just sounds like another attempt to pigeon hole people and project unfair stereotypes onto them.

It just feels like more finger pointing and name calling.

Which ultimately doesn't get anyone anywhere, as there is good and bad in all walks of life.

Reminds me of a song by Amy MacDonald.


Good thread, always fun to hear people's stories and experiences.
 
Everything else aside, Millenials seem to have an issue with going out to vote/registering to vote. For at least the past 12 years, they've showed the lowest turnout. Do they not REALIZE that they have a voice, and can stop all these candidates that they bitch about from being elected...either as president, congressperson, governor, etc ?
 
Serenity said:
Everything else aside, Millenials seem to have an issue with going out to vote/registering to vote. For at least the past 12 years, they've showed the lowest turnout. Do they not REALIZE that they have a voice, and can stop all these candidates that they bitch about from being elected...either as president, congressperson, governor, etc ?
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I was just venting about this exact problem to a friend a couple days ago, lol. Before the election I even heard some people saying their idea of a protest was by not voting... and now those same people are protesting the votes that others made. If you want your voice to be heard, it has to be through action, not inaction. How can you protest something when you did nothing to stop it from occurring in the first place? And that isn't even just referring to the two presidential candidates with whom we were left, but all the way back to the primaries, and all other political offices, as you mentioned. If more people had participated, we might not have even had to choose between those two, but here we are.
 
I'm right on the line between millennial and gen-x so I can technically claim both generations. ;) I started school at 4 so I share more perspectives and life experiences of gen-x than I share with millenials and I find the differences between the two generations very interesting since I do not relate at all with millenials even though you'd think I would since I'm right on the edge of both generations. So what's the difference? I thought it was our parents but that doesn't explain the situation with your siblings @PintoBean It's something different in our life experiences that make us so different. I just can't really put my finger on what that is.


Here is what they said about us:

LOL not that much different - but as a gen-xer it can feel like we have no voice. Smooshed between two very large and sometimes arrogant and loud generations.

My opinion is we are so different beause no one cared about us, and we were mostly ignored. Even by our parents. That is a stark difference to the experiences of millenials who due to their sheer numbers people have caterted to them their entire lives. What are the millenials going to do? How do we market to millenials? Everything focuses on them because everyone wants a piece of them.
 


I have a more substantial comment but the above is pretty much what I instantly think when folks get their panties in a twist over millennials.
 
CindyLou said:
I'm right on the line between millennial and gen-x so I can technically claim both generations. ;) I started school at 4 so I share more perspectives and life experiences of gen-x than I share with millenials and I find the differences between the two generations very interesting since I do not relate at all with millenials even though you'd think I would since I'm right on the edge of both generations. So what's the difference? I thought it was our parents but that doesn't explain the situation with your siblings @PintoBean It's something different in our life experiences that make us so different. I just can't really put my finger on what that is.


Here is what they said about us:

LOL not that much different - but as a gen-xer it can feel like we have no voice. Smooshed between two very large and sometimes arrogant and loud generations.

My opinion is we are so different beause no one cared about us, and we were mostly ignored. Even by our parents. That is a stark difference to the experiences of millenials who due to their sheer numbers people have caterted to them their entire lives. What are the millenials going to do? How do we market to millenials? Everything focuses on them because everyone wants a piece of them.
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You make a good point. We're jammed between the Baby Boomers and millennials. And we are different IMO than both groups. It's a weird sandwich to be in. Oh yeah and remember Reality Bites:
 
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