I don't blame Gen Z. My hope is in Gen Z. I know that's a shitty burden to carry, but as others have said I'll do what I can in the time I have.
Don't give up. Motivate others and keep motivated. There is absolutely power in numbers, we just have to stay positive.
I kmow we're in "Mitigation Mode" and it is gonna get shitty, but you will fully inherit this world at some point. Salvage what you can and let the boomers rot.
Take (bizarre) comfort in the fact that all older generations have looked down on the younger generations. We have evidence of it in newspapers from the 1700s.
The oldest will die soon. As will mine (whatever. I'm Gen X, okay?) Eventually your generation will be the oldest, looking down on the younger generations for being dumb and lazy.
Don't feel bad for being tired of the wheel that continually crushes us all.
Millennial here. You are completely right. You were born in a world and a system where you are constantly told everything is all right if you just work and consume and yet everything is falling apart and we are destroying our world and ourselves doing so while the "rewards" seem to be further away and feel more shallow than ever. It does not make sense and it's perfectly understandable to get apathetic over it. I only wish you would get more angry about it and less indifferent, but at the same I see that there is already way too much anger in the world and people are already constantly screaming at each other. Also, we didn't do enough either and failed to bring much substantial change. Gen Z ist right in the way they feel. You are not lazy or unambiguous or "lacking drive" or whatever. And it's also not the internet or smartphones or games or anime or whatever. It's a society headed to its doom by living a lie that's rotten to the core and the carrot you are supposed to chase starts to smell foul.
Oh and also don't give a fuck about those millenials who started to play along and kicking down as soon as they got their share of what little is left of the cake. Fuck those pathetic little class traitors.
Take comfort in the fact that everyone who hated Elvis didn't change their minds, they just got old and died. No one thinks Elvis is literally the devil anymore.
Eventually people who fawn after and put up with billionaires will eventually get old and die, falling into the minority and become forgotten.
I mean, I know I'm raining on an already pretty despairing post, here, in times that very well do lend themselves to despair, but that sentiment has been around as long as I've been alive and I'd bet good money decades longer. It's probably one of those sentiments that's as old as people.
But no one (or at least, comparatively very few) was rewarded for hating Elvis. He hasn't been a thing in a long time. Same with any other risque entertainer that was also satan, they fall by the wayside after everyone gets bored. People are rewarded very well when they bend over for billionaires. As long as sociopathy is rewarded, there will always be rampant sociopathy.
I'm not saying it's so ingrained that there's no point in fighting it -- forcibly changing the culture is of the utmost importance, especially now. But that sentiment, the battle plan can't just be "wait around and it will work itself out." It's not like billionaires either of the actual or the temporarily embarrassed sort don't have kids. I'm starting to see that's the fatal flaw the more liberal-minded seem to have. It's like we believe so hard that everyone is inherently good and that things will work out in the end that we never bother to make a move. It's the death of us.
Man, that sucks that you're getting all that flak about your generation. I'll be honest - I'm surprised to hear it; myself and every other millennial I know is so proud of gen Z. You guys are such genuinely no-nonsense people, it's really refreshing.
I've got a few gen Z coworkers now, and I'm always surprised how they can nonchalantly swear in front of their supervisors, and just straight-up say when too much is being asked of them. And they do it with such confidence that nobody confronts them about it! It's nice to see a generation that hasn't been beaten into submission by the rhetoric that they need to grovel at the feet of anyone that society claims is their "superior."
I don't have a lot of hope for the future of my country, or the world at large, but I think that if anyone can find a way to bring people together and make a change, it's you guys. I wish it wasn't something that needed to be hoisted upon your shoulders, but I really don't see millennials making that kind of positive change. And if y'all want to say "Fuck no, I'm not doing all that." I'd say fair enough, and still think highly of you.
The world sucks, and every generation knows that better than the last. Don't let people who had it easier than you tell you that you should be someone you're not.
Millennial here. Your complaints are absolutely justified. FWIW, I fucking love zoomers. At the workplace, y'all are consistently the happiest (infectiously so!), while simultaneously refusing to just bend over and take the bullshit that the rest of us have been conditioned into. We lost or never had the self respect that zoomers wield like fucking armor.
Can't really pitch a good outlook for things like the climate disaster or neonazis coming out of the woodwork. We're kinda fucked there. And you're fucked even harder. And your kids are beyond fucked. Etc.
But even within the turd this planet is becoming, there are still a few gems. YOU give me a hope that not much else does now-a-days: if we can survive long enough to meaningfully tackle the climate, then we can tackle the toxic elements of our society too, and y'all are already pros at that.
Aside from boomers that are literally regressive and are still actively voting for the worst humans available... I don't think generational hatred is really a thing anymore. All my fellow Millennials joke about the weird shit you do (as did we), but actual judgement and condemnation? Naw, it's just not there, IMO. We're all in this together...
As a younger millennial y’all have weird behavior and music and slang and you’re doing ridiculous things with your facial hair. And so did we. Our parents did it too as did our grandparents.
Fixing this world is on all of us and I’m sorry we haven’t been able to save you from having to help or carry that burden. Lot of assholes and all that. You didn’t deserve this any more than we did.
So fuck shit up. We did. I’ll stand with you as you do it. Be angry, but be pointed in your anger and don’t let us discount you. You’ve got more time to live with the consequences than we do.
I came here to say this -- I admire the younger generation. My generation just wanted good jobs, and past the age of about 25, forgot all about what happened to the world or anything like that.
The "Occupy Wall Street" generation for the most part still had the option of good participation in the economy but quite a lot of them rejected the whole premise and got involved in productive protest, to the point they almost got a socialist elected president.
Gen Z as far as I can tell is a lot more fucked than whatever came before them, and is staunchly refusing to play the game of flipping burgers and renting apartments for their whole life. Not like they have much choice but good on them for reacting accordingly, and fuck the haters
I'm almost 50 and I feel terribly sorry for absolutely anyone younger than me for what's been done to the world.
I do have a house... but will also probably never retire. I don't envision a long life in part because of climate change and all the reactionary politics that have come with it. (I wanted to add that I'm not sorry to the alt-right kids but... did the world leave them better outlets?)
It's fucked. I didn't break it and can't afford to buy it.
I hope the ants can do well in the inevitable war against the cockroaches.
I'm sorry to hear about your situation. I don't think anyone should have to feel that way, to be honest.
I'm sorry for making you feel that way today. This was intended to be aimed towards the people who do say those things about the younger generations. I'll edit that in. Not everyone who is an older adult is bad, not by a long shot. Many of you are awesome.
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