Dangerous Minds pal Charles Hugh Smith has posted an open letter to the folks belonging to the so-called Millennials and Gen Y generations. Many older readers will probably agree with his thoughts on the matter, while younger readers will either be pissed off or agree themselves. I think this is one of those things where there’s never going to be agreement across the various age groups. If you’ve ever had conversations about this and similar “generation gap” type topics, you’ll know why I say this! Surely this is a controversial subject no matter what age you are.

Take it away, Charles:

Here are my first-hand observations of Millennials:

1. They can’t/won’t recycle. Here in a “green” capital of activism, very few American students can be bothered to recycle cardboard, paper or even aluminum. They stuff a cardboard box (unfolded) into a trash container, filling the container, and then pile the garbage on the side since they are too lazy to recycle the box (the recycling containers are right next to the trash cans) collapse the cardboard box or even press it down to make room for more garbage.

2. The males generally own their own vehicles; on my street, that includes Mustangs and Jeep SUVs sporting bumper stickers like “The environment is all we have.” The Millennial owner is apparently blind to the irony.

Most of the students who recycle with any sort of consistency (i.e. demonstrating their belief via actual action instead of bumper stickers) are Europeans.

3. At the end of the Spring semester, Millennials stuff dozens of huge 20-foot long containers with their waste and tossed-out “stuff”—trash bags full of barely worn shoes, perfectly good beds, desks, books, etc. I have no direct knowledge that any graduating student took all their perfectly good shoes, etc. to the Goodwill, a few blocks from the university. From my informal dumpster diving, I can attest they throw out tons of high-quality food—whole unblemished fruits, canned goods, etc. Based on my direct observation, I would say the Millennials are the most wasteful, profligately consumerist generation in history.

4. My brother-in-law reports that the vast majority of his students are in active denial about the economy or the interlocking problems of the nation and world. They express little to no interest in environmental issues or actions, or in Peak Oil, etc., even though it will most certainly impact them.

5. Local “progressive” politics is still completely dominated by Boomers and Gen Xers. If there is a Millennial political movement or zeitgeist, it is currently invisible in one of the great political hotbeds of the nation and world.

6. The over-arching emotion of the Millennials I have met and observed is fear: fear that they won’t get a cush job with bennies, fear that the “good life” which apparently means a secure job with high pay might not open up, fear that life might not work out easily.

It’s over, so move on to something better. The whole cheap oil, Savior State, consumerist/media/facebook solipsism has no future. Clinging to it in the hopes you can extract some meaning, security or swag is a losing proposition. Where is the excitement about changing things, rather than fearfully hoping the swag lasts long enough for you to get your share? Fearfully clinging to Mommy, Daddy and the Savior State is no path to greatness.

I even make an appearance at one point in the essay. Read more of Charles Hugh Smith’s An Open Letter to the Millennials/Gen-Y: Where Are You? (Of Two Minds)
 

Meh, ever generation has its no-hopers. It’s just the present one is much more documented through things like facebook. More solipsistic? Probably. One thing I can’t stand now is why people (mostly girls) keep taking pictures of themselves (usually in bathrooms)?

Well, I wouldn’t be so quick to judge. Haven’t teenagers always been selfish little shits? They’ll grow out of it.

I think you will find that most of us are struggling with debt. So many of us have been taught to believe there is no hope or future without a college education and in some cases corporations are making that true for the majority. Banishing you to the wastelands if you didn’t ‘make it’.

We also have incessant advertising bombarding us in every aspect of our lives. Have you seen media today? Most teenagers/twenty somethings have great cars, amazing clothes, live lavish lifestyles etc etc etc. There is this unobtainable image that is being constantly projected as ‘normal’.

Sadly I think the american gen-y’ers are quite screwed. The new leadership is going to come from other countries which are still free of this malaise.

I fail to see how any of this is unique and can be tied to any generation or demographic group at all.  An anecdotal rant backed up with his own self confirming observations. 

And just so you know I’m in my mid 30’s so this is not a pissed of “millennial.”

One thing Millennials have done…uh, how about getting Obama elected.

Bah Humbug!

And to be fair most of the problems “millenials” face now have been thrown on them by older dickheads. As Clint once said: “Don’t piss down my back and tell me it’s raining.”

The ones filling dumpsters with perfectly usable furniture, clothes, etc. seem like typical rich kids who have had everything handed to them. It’s also possible that many of their parents have behaved in the same manner.

I wonder how many here actually read the whole article..I tend to agree with almost everything Charles says and read his blog daily, he’s been way ahead of the curve on the sub-prime crisis, and has a keen insight with great historical perspective, along with several excellent contributing readers…his book Survival+ is a must read.
...and to Richard..how cool, squatter..I love it!

Read the whole article, he still make conclusions based on self confirmed personal anecdotal observations.  Everything he credits or condemns one generation with can be said about members of every generation.

@Steven…Boy you can say that again, granted a college education is an important asset, but is it worth becoming a debt slave?...For profit colleges today PUSH all kinds of financing options, and cost twice as much as non-profit, it’s just another Wall Street business
Watch this Frontline Report:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/collegeinc/?utm_campaign=homepage&utm_medium=proglist&utm_source=proglist

@Rider
Okay, that’s your opinion, but MOST, not ALL “millenials” I know, are so clueless they wouldn’t know how to pour piss out of a boot,if the instructions were on the heel, but man, can they text fast.

Oops, sorry for that personal anecdotal observation.

It’s not an opinion,  See that’s part of the problem, it’s a fact the story is based based on anecdotes. 

http://www.reference.com/browse/opinion

Now here is my opinion, one of the really major problems with todays society is people who take part in conversations and use words such as “opinion” incorrectly clearly having co clue what the words mean.

In fact in neither of my posts was there ever an opinion stated.

Now another opinion, he has a good point, the call to action parts of it are great.  The rosy eyed everything looks better in hindsight sections cloud and distract from those areas.

Having worked in Santa Fe last year, I can honestly say that the trend of SUVs decorated with environmental bumper stickers extends its hypocrisy across all three generations listed.

Blaming stupidity on a generation gap is fairly near-sighted. Ignorance can be found in every culture and in every age-group; which is to say it’s a characteristic of humanity, not of Millennials.

I am part of the generation in question, and it is obvious that these things are common among my peers. I believe the kind of behaviour Hugh Smith points out is a symptom of a much more pervasive problem: the rampant apathy which has spread through young people like a pandemic. This apathy is a product of our time; of pointless consumerism, disposable culture, a flawed education system, and members of certain older generations telling us that we’re useless (among innumerable other factors).

All this to say that: 1. Hugh Smith comes off as a crotchety old man in his article, because, although he raises some good points, he neglects to meaningfully think about why these things are happening (which is really the point), 2. there are many people from my generation in each of the four categories he lays out, he apparently just hasn’t met them and therefore believes all of us are a collective lost cause. We are a product of post-modernism, so maybe stop trying to fit us into narrow definitions of what a ‘generation’ should be.

Thought about this a bit more to try and find examples of ‘millennials’ making a difference. The most obscure example I can find is in the shape of the 4chan community. Whilst the content of the site is questionable the community regularly rallies together against all forms of oppression. And please remember the majority of the sites users today are in their teens.

The first most public example was of youtube removing home videos which happened to have music from a copyright holder in the background, the community reacted by spamming youtube to make their point that the video was fair use.

The most recent example is from the Oprah Winfrey competition to select a contestant as the basis for a reality program. The community rallied behind a young disabled man and put him into the top spot by millions of votes. Bizarrely another contestant somehow achieved the same amount of votes without any advertising or media involvement, there is still no evidence of a group purporting to support this women. The 4chan community then unveiled subsequent vote rigging and how Oprah was maintaining her own status quo by manipulating the votes for the disabled gentlemen.

While youtube spamming and tv reality contestants have no bearing in the real world. The ideas and thinking these young folks are getting is to question authority and know they can make a difference as a group. We can only hope that this will continue into their more mature years.

@Rider
....I can’t argue with that, you are correct..I had to re-read it, and the point you make is valid. I’m going to have a little crow for lunch…

Charles has set up a thread if you would like to contribute, or read..

http://www.dailyjava.net/forums/showthread.php?284-Great-Things-Being-Done-by-Millennials