"Our generation will be known for nothing…"
- Words from the 14 year old boy in the 8th grade
who "wrote" the most important poem of our generation…
#please
If I see one more buzzfeed article on my facebook about how lazy, entitled, self-absorbed, and wasteful our generation is, I might scream. To the uneducated individual who thinks they know everything about politics, economy, and "Why the Millennials Suck": You know nothing and I am not sorry about calling you out on it.
For those of you who lack social media, an onslaught of articles from various news outlets called the Millennials the worst thing to happen to the world. This is not joke. I mean I agree, we're all living at home. Oh, and we don't vote… like ever. The young adults who do vote are often persuaded by their favorite reality television star. Thank you Snooki for telling me that I should want to vote. You're celebrity power is so much more persuasive than the United States' economic situation, "war on terror," health care, and women's rights.
Has anyone seen the Newsroom? Will McAvoy spat out, "Now, none of this is the fault of a 20-year-old college student, but you none-the-less are without a doubt a member of the worst (period) generation (period) ever (period). So when you ask what makes the us the best country in the world, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about." Even HBO has confirmed that we're awful, and if HBO knows anything it's how to make an accurate television show. (besides Game of Thrones and True Blood; cause they're fantasy) (I mean… Girls is pretty accurate... right?) But are we the worst generation ever?
That's something I ask myself, and text to my mom every night while contemplating my imminent future: Am I a part of the worst generation in the history of the world? I don't know, I think the fascists of Europe in the 1940s were kinda bad, but they had problems ya know like the great depression. We're just self absorbed -- it's not like we have any economical problems…
No, I don't think the Millennials are the "worst generation ever." I think you're sorely underestimating just how valuable we are. We've had some serious accusations thrown at us, so please let me take a minute to use the United States' census to prove just how important we are.
1) We vote, unlike what you might have heard.
So I've been told that our generation doesn't vote, and we need to. Sorry MTV, CNN, and FOX but I think you're thinking about the college students of 1996. But, here, in 2008 and 2010, voting amongst college students rose. (Wait a second... didn't minorities and college students vote in 2008 more than ever before?) I mean god, could it get lower than those biddies in the mid 90s? Now, it's nowhere near the percentage of the 1970s and early 80s, but we do vote. Hell, I know 16 people who voted all the way from London in 2012, lets see if anyone did that in 1970.
2) Boys can cry. Women can shave their heads.
There's a reason why census data on homosexual couples only started in 2005. Could the reasons be: Brittney Griner, Ellen Page, Tom Daley, Conner Mertens? There's a reason why it's happening now and not before. How about the fact that the people I mentioned are part of the Millennial generation, does that mean anything? The people born in the late 80s to early 2000s actually care about the individual.
Drew has made it a point this week with sports athletes like Matt Kaplon, Agatta Dera, and Tommy Butschi. They proved that while no culture is perfect, and there are always going to be people who detest others, a majority of Drewids can accept people for who they are and who they love.
3)MissRepresentation
We know that women and minorities are treated like shit, and we are trying to change that. We're even using our obsession with the internet and using websites like youtube to show just how much inequality there is. If you don't believe me go watch "How the Media Failed Women in 2013." Or just flash back to Kony 2012. Oh, and we make sure everyone knows bullying is wrong, something the previous generation just called "part of growing up."
4) What's Empathy?
"Not only do millennials lack the kind of empathy that allows them to feel concerned for others..."
Joel Stein, "The Me Me Me Generation," in Time Magazine
Say what you want about twitter, facebook, pintrist, instagram, and tindr, but we're all connected. We have empathy, and it is completely different than any other generation before. (This can also be a downside and aid conspiracy theorists, but hey, they're people too!) Why would I like the status about someone who got into a graduate program at an ivy league school? I mean, they are just looking for attention. I like it because it's so amazing, and I'm so proud to know that person. The effort and time they put in is something to commemorate. So Congratulations, damn strait I'm going to like your admission into Yale.
5) Twerking, planking, the harlem shake.
I mean how many times do you need a smiling picture in front of the Eiffel Tower? Instead, let's plank on the Arc de Triomphe! We're simultaneously learning about a culture and getting some much needed exorcise, what other generation did that? We even do the harlem shake underwater!!
Obviously I'm being ignorant, but what I really mean, is that we see the world. More college students take advantage of study abroad programs than ever before. We even "twerk" on walls in Italy, "bernie" in front of Big Ben, and "cupid shuffle" in Barcelona. So yeah, twerking is a bit of a downfall and may be a bit degrading and can cause people to catch on fire, but we're creative and try to make things memorable. And we can't stop. (Thanks Miley!)
Sure, we have our faults. I'm pretty sure we're going deaf because of those pesky little ipods. We also might be going blind because we spend hours staring at tablet screens. But all we've done is adapted to what others invented and made them ours. Kahn may have made the internet, but we made flappy bird.
What you need to understand about the Millennials, is that we're fighting against you. We're fighting against the stereotyped and bureaucratic United States that previous generations set up for us.
We're cleaning our environment. We're eating healthi(err... Now). We're fighting to end a war. Oh and we read, -- the Harry Potter revolution, anyone? All the while, we became the most educated generation in the history of the world and are dealing with the averaged 30,000 dollars in debt that no government official is helping to fix.
And we DO live at home because we'd rather save up money to pay off the debts we accumulated to earn our degrees. (But that's not responsible, its just lazy!) And yeah, we don't have jobs. (I mean aren't like 60% of jobs part time now?) We use public transportation. (Wait, oil is not a renewable resource!) Oh and we don't try to look for jobs. (Uhmmm... I have a resume on linkedin, and pass copies of them out to corporate firms like the donations basket at church)
But it's all about us: our selfies, our planking, our results from "Which Friends character are you" (I'm Rachel btw). I think we've earned the right to a bit of procrastination and escapism.
I mean, we are the generation that made it soccially acceptable to scream "Go Giants!" at your television set while sitting on your coach eating kale chips and browsing tumblr. Millennial's suck…. Said no one ever.
#truth. #MichelleOut
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