Millennials - Dead to the World?

I recently received in my email inbox a missive from LinkedIn detailing some survey which was held amongst Millennials on whether their parent generation the ‘Baby Boomers’ had made their lives better….. Or worse? An extract from the article …

As millennials face daunting student debt and the threat of job displacement due to automation, a majority say baby boomers are to blame, according to a poll from Axios and Survey Monkey. The survey results hint at a coming political battle, as baby boomers fight to preserve programs like Social Security and Medicare, all while millennials seek shelter from the coming shifts in the job market.
Source

Let me position myself here. I fall in the ‘Baby Boomer’ category though in date of birth only. I have children who fall in the ‘Millennial’ category but again based purely on their date of birth. (There were some pro’s about growing up in a country suffering boycotts and embargoes … political correctness, feminism and other 80’s and 90’s human manipulation movements took longer to reach us)

Let me state outright ….It is my opinion that in general the Westernized Millennial is probably the most useless generation ever raised!! .. So from that point of view the Baby Boomers MUST bear the brunt of the blame. Why? Because we popularised (and legislated in extreme cases) things like political correctness, banning of corporal punishment even in the home, passed on the raising of children to the schools and relinquished our parenting duties in the home.

Who in their right mind came up with the idea that children who ‘participate’ should be rewarded with a trophy, even if they finish last? Sure way to raise underachievers!! Oh some smart shrink some where had the idea that getting beaten in healthy competitive activities led to low self esteem …
Simple maths that … 10 psychiatric sessions to address low self esteem issues = 10 x $150 which equates to $1500 for a non-guaranteed solution. On the other hand 10 cheap trophies preventing (????) the problem is 10 x $0.85c … a massive no brainer..right?

How about ‘political correctness ? So some liberalist ‘baby boomers’ decided to manipulate the term ‘Politically Correct’ (originally pertaining to ‘sticking to the Chinese Communist Party political lines’) to start controlling the use of language and the freedom of speech, under the guise of wiping out ‘verbal microaggression’, racism and denigratory speech …. Amongst other ridiculous allegations. Some fine examples as reported in the UK Daily Mirror some time ago…

Exotic - A word some social justice warriors claim carries ‘nasty racial underpinnings’. U.S. fashion editor and blogger Katie Dupere says ‘exotic’ is ‘a major verbal micro-aggression’.

Clapping - Applause was banned by the National Union of Students’ Women’s Campaign over concerns that it could ‘trigger anxiety’ among nervous students. Whooping and cheering have also raised concerns. Instead, politically-correct students now show support for a speaker with a bizarre display of ‘jazz hands’, a form of exuberant but silent manual acclamation taken from musical theatre.
FAT - An unacceptable term, which, according to so-called ‘fat-liberation activists, is used ‘to shame people who might not fit the conventional beauty standards of our society’. Contradictorily, though, anyone with a fuller figure is allowed to ‘reclaim “Fat” as an empowering identity’.

Full Article

Smash me down with a feather…. How is that last one? How bizarre, how bizarre!!

Then of course, let’s stop corporal punishment (caning) in the schools and at home. Not allowed to discipline a child? I understand that this statement will bring a rush of argument but parental chastisement for discipline breaches versus abusive parents/adults are two different things. There is certainly some merit in the biblical statement ‘Spare the rod and spoil the child’.

When one sees a naughty child one should smack the parent !!

Image Credit

Image Credit

Let me get back to the title of this diatribe…. the ‘dead to the world’ part. I KNOW this is generalisation but bear with me as I describe what I mean.

Ride on public transport or walk through a shopping mall and observe the younger generation (around 12 - 30 year olds) standing around, in queues and even walking. They will inevitably have a mobile device in their hands, heads bowed and for the most part be oblivious to the world around them.

Try a simple exercise when with a young teenager or young adult … basically a millennial. Take them outside and ask them to name some of the plants in the garden? Or tree types? How about the wild birds which flit about? Cloud formations? The absence of curiosity about the world around them is mind-boggling to me

The lack of knowledge about the world around them outside their digital environment is scary. Unfortunately I have first hand experience of this ….. And every time I meet a millenial I ask them a few arb questions about our surroundings and am very seldom surprised by a knowledgeable response.

So what is your thoughts on the millennial generation? Are they victims of poor parenting or just generally socially inept due to the proliferation of PDA’s like mobile phones and tablets etc. ? Any other viewpoints around anything I have written here is welcomed although I must say I am averse to verbal abuse {smile}

I let this man have the last say on the matter…. The lyrics are marvellous and sort of sums up my rant !!

There he sits inside your local coffee shop
Sporting a man bun and facial hair
Somehow he believes although he has no job
That by his 30s he will be a millionaire

M-I-L-L-E-N-N-I-A-L-S
Gotta love millennials

She posts lots of selfies on her instagram
With a quote that's inspirational
Hopes to change the world while wearing yoga pants
Armed with her dreams and knowledge of essential oils

Gotta love millennials
M-I-L-L-E-N-N-I-A-L-S

27 years old trying to make it on their own
Maybe start by leaving your parents' home
But maybe we're just wrong, hahahaha
Criticism isn't easy for their ears
They feel like they know most everything
See they grew up with undeserved confidence
'Cause they got trophies just for participating

M-I-L-L-E-N-N-I-A-L-S
Gotta love millennials

In a couple of years we will have to pass the torch
In a couple of years they will be in charge
And one will be our president, hahahaha
Oh no...
M-I-L-L-E-N-N-I-A-L-S
Gotta love millennials

Help
Please pray for millennials