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My most recent blog post. Finishes up the list of "what to expect in the Crisis Era" from the Millennial generation.
THE SPOTLIGHT ON MILLENNIALS
October 3, 2018 Steve Comments 0 Comment
I’m going to return to looking at the list of patterns to expect for the living generations in the current social era, the Crisis Era in Strauss & Howe terms, picking up where I left off a few months back.
![[Image: gwsubshot-focus.jpg?resize=300%2C182]](https://i2.wp.com/stevebarrera.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/gwsubshot-focus.jpg?resize=300%2C182) Let’s look at the remaining items on the list of predictions about the Millennial generation – that Millennials will heroically rise to political challenge, that they will develop a sense of generational community, and that they will benefit from a new focus on the young-adult world. For evidence, I will simply consider the kinds of news stories that have been prevalent on social media and the web in the past decade. So let’s start with the last item on the list.
In the Millennial generation’s childhood era, which began way back in the 1980s, children benefited from a new focus on child-rearing. A wave of social change in the direction of increased child protection came in the form of mandatory safety rules, zero tolerance policies, and laws named after child victims (for example, Megan’s Law). I wrote about this on my old blog nearly twenty years ago.
Now that we are in the Millennial young adulthood era, the impetus for social change has shifted to the adult sphere of life. Political change may be stymied by partisanship, but a wave of social movements has risen in response to long-standing problems. These problems were tolerated when they affected previous generations – but no more.
A prominent example which can be thought of as zero tolerance policies reaching the workplace is the Me Too movement and its effects. This took off last year as a viral social media hashtag when a prominent Hollywood producer was accused by multiple women of sexual harassment. Since then, a flood of accusations has led to the downfall of many men in high places. Sexual harassment in the workplace has long been covered up by HR departments and endured by female employees, but in the Millennial era this may not be possible, or desirable, any more.
A less politically charged example is the new concern over reducing concussions to football players in the National Football League. The research into the problem began in the Gen-X era, but it was only ten years ago that the U.S. Congress compelled the NFL to act. An enormous settlement was agreed upon, which has benefited retired Gen-X players, but only after they sustained the injuries in the first place. For Millennials, a protocol is coming into place to reduce the prevalence of injuries in the first place.
Not that there isn’t a politically charged example connected to the NFL, by which I mean the Black Lives Matter movement. Football players kneeling during the national anthem are in solidarity with this movement, protesting police shootings of unarmed young black men. Though rates of violence have been declining for a generation, police killings still disproportionately affect minorities. In the past this may have been a topic for moralistic commentary in academia and the arts, but today it is the focus of a stubbornly persistent and controversial activist movement.
Another famous movement that seems to have come and gone is Occupy Wall Street, which protested income inequality and the corruption in government and finance that was brought into stark relief by the financial crisis and bailouts in 2008. The protests on the street may have ended, but they continue in the online world. On today’s Internet feeds there are endless posts about the difficulties faced today by Millennials trying to get by in the current economy – the burden of student debt, the impossibility of surviving on minimum wage, the need to delay life events like home buying or marriage until financial stability is achieved.
All of these difficulties were faced by previous generations, but now that Millennials face them there is a greater sense of urgency. Will these problems be addressed by drastic measure while Millennials are still young adults? Will student debt be discharged, and higher education be payed for by taxpayers, like primary and secondary education? Will the minimum wage be raised significantly?
This ties into the first item on the list of what to expect from Millennials – that they will heroically rise to political challenge. There is less evidence of this. Youth voting rates have increased slightly since their nadir in the Gen-X era, but have not come anywhere close to that of the great era of civic participation of the mid-twentieth century. Older generations still have a lock on government, which partisanship has rendered contentious and barely functioning. But time favors the young generation, and they will eventually make their voices heard.
All that is discussed above connects to the remaining item on the list – that Millennials will develop a sense of generational community. Just that fact the their generation’s name – originally coined by Strauss & Howe as part of an academic theory – has become a household word, and that news about them has become so prominent, shows how they are in the forefront of social awareness.
Everyone is familiar, for example, with stories about how they are reshaping the economy. With the spotlight shining on them, it is hard to imagine this generation doesn’t have a strong self-awareness. If they can combine that awareness with an enforceable political consensus, they could reshape our society, and truly bring about a Millennial era.
Steve Barrera
[A]lthough one would like to change today's world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done. Thus it is important to make the best out of every generation. - Hagakure
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10-10-2018, 09:54 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-10-2018, 09:55 AM by David Horn.)
(10-09-2018, 06:51 PM)sbarrera Wrote: My most recent blog post. Finishes up the list of "what to expect in the Crisis Era" from the Millennial generation...
Another famous movement that seems to have come and gone is Occupy Wall Street, which protested income inequality and the corruption in government and finance that was brought into stark relief by the financial crisis and bailouts in 2008. The protests on the street may have ended, but they continue in the online world. On today’s Internet feeds there are endless posts about the difficulties faced today by Millennials trying to get by in the current economy – the burden of student debt, the impossibility of surviving on minimum wage, the need to delay life events like home buying or marriage until financial stability is achieved...
Of all the movements of the late 90s, 00s and early 10s, OWS is the one that the PTB feared the most. It was handled deftly and smothered as quickly as attention on it diminished. I think yo are correct that the movement continues more underground than on the surface, because it's the one issue that left unaddressed makes addressing all the others nearly impossible.
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10-10-2018, 11:49 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-10-2018, 12:02 PM by Eric the Green.)
Millennials.... what will they do? In the 2014 election, only one in 5 of them voted. One in Five! Not two in five, not three; one in five! At this point they are wimping out again, according to the latest polls. Discouraged, they will apparently go along with Mitch McConnell's demented world and Donald Trump's bogus bullcrap. Go along and get along. Oh, whatever. Ironic detachment. And all their fuss about "boomers!" Millennials are no better. And there doesn't seem to be very many places to escape to.
We could have entered a golden age in this century. We chose to enter hell instead.
Millennials? ha ha ha!
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10-10-2018, 12:05 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-10-2018, 06:02 PM by Eric the Green.)
What to expect from the "millennial era?" First of all, there is no such thing. No one generation ever shapes an era. And before millennials get too proud, remember that they find any reason not to vote, or just forget. They are not doing job one of a civic generation. Just allowing the McConnell-Trump-Kavanaugh shit to go on, shows we can only expect nothing at all from the "millennial era." Oh whatever, voting doesn't matter. Oh well, the boomers screwed everything up. What can we do??? Millennials. Sorry, you are wimping out, and you are no better. Protest on the internet and post a meme on instagram. Go occupy a street. Go to one of your little marches and fume! The PTB have NOTHING to fear from all that!
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(10-10-2018, 12:05 PM)Eric the Obtuse Wrote: Oh well, the boomers screwed everything up.
Nice of you to finally admit it. 
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. -- H.L. Mencken
If one rejects laissez faire on account of man's fallibility and moral weakness, one must for the same reason also reject every kind of government action. -- Ludwig von Mises
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(10-10-2018, 12:05 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: What to expect from the "millennial era?" First of all, there is no such thing. No one generation ever shapes an era. And before millennials get too proud, remember that they find any reason not to vote, or just forget. They are not doing job one of a civic generation. Just allowing the McConnell-Trump-Kavanaugh shit to go on, shows we can only expect nothing at all from the "millennial era." Oh whatever, voting doesn't matter. Oh well, the boomers screwed everything up. What can we do??? Millennials. Sorry, you are wimping out, and you are no better. Protest on the internet and post a meme on instagram. Go occupy a street. Go to one of your little marches and fume! The PTB have NOTHING to fear from all that!
Yeah, I know all the generations make each era, but naming this one after Millennials lines up with the new millennium beginning.  But technically by Strauss & Howe we are in the Millennial Saeculum (1946-2029?) anyhow.
Steve Barrera
[A]lthough one would like to change today's world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done. Thus it is important to make the best out of every generation. - Hagakure
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(10-10-2018, 06:10 PM)sbarrera Wrote: (10-10-2018, 12:05 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: What to expect from the "millennial era?" First of all, there is no such thing. No one generation ever shapes an era. And before millennials get too proud, remember that they find any reason not to vote, or just forget. They are not doing job one of a civic generation. Just allowing the McConnell-Trump-Kavanaugh shit to go on, shows we can only expect nothing at all from the "millennial era." Oh whatever, voting doesn't matter. Oh well, the boomers screwed everything up. What can we do??? Millennials. Sorry, you are wimping out, and you are no better. Protest on the internet and post a meme on instagram. Go occupy a street. Go to one of your little marches and fume! The PTB have NOTHING to fear from all that!
Yeah, I know all the generations make each era, but naming this one after Millennials lines up with the new millennium beginning. But technically by Strauss & Howe we are in the Millennial Saeculum (1946-2029?) anyhow.
OK, I can see your meaning of he term.
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(10-10-2018, 02:45 PM)Galen Wrote: (10-10-2018, 12:05 PM)Eric the Obtuse Wrote: Oh well, the boomers screwed everything up.
Nice of you to finally admit it.
It is the ones in power who shut out the input of those not in power who really screwed things up. Think of Trump.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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(10-11-2018, 05:16 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: (10-10-2018, 02:45 PM)Galen Wrote: (10-10-2018, 12:05 PM)Eric the Obtuse Wrote: Oh well, the boomers screwed everything up.
Nice of you to finally admit it.
It is the ones in power who shut out the input of those not in power who really screwed things up. Think of Trump.
Knowing the Boomers so well I know that that is bullshit. As a generation Boomers were self-absorbed and self-righteous assholes who were incapable of thinking beyond the next five minutes. The only difference between Boomers with power and those without is the scale of their fuck ups. Come to think of it Boomers on the whole kept voting those that fucked things up on a large scale so don't think you can weasel out of that.
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. -- H.L. Mencken
If one rejects laissez faire on account of man's fallibility and moral weakness, one must for the same reason also reject every kind of government action. -- Ludwig von Mises
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(10-10-2018, 09:54 AM)David Horn Wrote: (10-09-2018, 06:51 PM)sbarrera Wrote: My most recent blog post. Finishes up the list of "what to expect in the Crisis Era" from the Millennial generation...
Another famous movement that seems to have come and gone is Occupy Wall Street, which protested income inequality and the corruption in government and finance that was brought into stark relief by the financial crisis and bailouts in 2008. The protests on the street may have ended, but they continue in the online world. On today’s Internet feeds there are endless posts about the difficulties faced today by Millennials trying to get by in the current economy – the burden of student debt, the impossibility of surviving on minimum wage, the need to delay life events like home buying or marriage until financial stability is achieved...
Of all the movements of the late 90s, 00s and early 10s, OWS is the one that the PTB feared the most. It was handled deftly and smothered as quickly as attention on it diminished. I think yo are correct that the movement continues more underground than on the surface, because it's the one issue that left unaddressed makes addressing all the others nearly impossible.
Well, another financial crisis could instigate something. And there are hints one is just around the corner. So Wall Street might not be as settled into power as it thinks it is.
Steve Barrera
[A]lthough one would like to change today's world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done. Thus it is important to make the best out of every generation. - Hagakure
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(10-11-2018, 06:46 AM)sbarrera Wrote: (10-10-2018, 09:54 AM)David Horn Wrote: (10-09-2018, 06:51 PM)sbarrera Wrote: My most recent blog post. Finishes up the list of "what to expect in the Crisis Era" from the Millennial generation...
Another famous movement that seems to have come and gone is Occupy Wall Street, which protested income inequality and the corruption in government and finance that was brought into stark relief by the financial crisis and bailouts in 2008. The protests on the street may have ended, but they continue in the online world. On today’s Internet feeds there are endless posts about the difficulties faced today by Millennials trying to get by in the current economy – the burden of student debt, the impossibility of surviving on minimum wage, the need to delay life events like home buying or marriage until financial stability is achieved...
Of all the movements of the late 90s, 00s and early 10s, OWS is the one that the PTB feared the most. It was handled deftly and smothered as quickly as attention on it diminished. I think yo are correct that the movement continues more underground than on the surface, because it's the one issue that left unaddressed makes addressing all the others nearly impossible.
Well, another financial crisis could instigate something. And there are hints one is just around the corner. So Wall Street might not be as settled into power as it thinks it is.
As a witty guy once said, "It's hard to awaken the dead." Millennials may not be quite that unreachable, but they are focused 100% on themselves and their friends. They have huge burdens to bear: college debt that cripples them financially, poor work opportunities that exacerbate their debt problems, cultural dynamism they don't really understand (and the rest of us understand even less), and the leftover social crippling they suffered as the objects of helicopter parenting. Until the outside world becomes more threatening than their internal world, this is not likely to change. A major recession might do it, but they already watched their parents work through the last one. They may assume it will just work itself out.
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Millennials need to see the harmful effect of Trump and Republican policies. I don't know what makes that happen.
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(10-11-2018, 02:09 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: Millennials need to see the harmful effect of Trump and Republican policies. I don't know what makes that happen.
They do. Polling results based on generational definitions show Millennial adults least receptive to Trump. Trump offers them nothing.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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(10-11-2018, 05:12 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: (10-11-2018, 02:09 PM)Eric the Obtuse Wrote: Millennials need to see the harmful effect of Trump and Republican policies. I don't know what makes that happen.
They do. Polling results based on generational definitions show Millennial adults least receptive to Trump. Trump offers them nothing.
On the other hand, given actions of Antifa and Hillary's latest comments. Currently the Dims sound like a bank robber holding somebody hostage until they get what they want. Can't imagine that is making a really good impression on the Millies.
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. -- H.L. Mencken
If one rejects laissez faire on account of man's fallibility and moral weakness, one must for the same reason also reject every kind of government action. -- Ludwig von Mises
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10-12-2018, 06:45 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-12-2018, 06:46 AM by sbarrera.)
(10-11-2018, 10:36 PM)Galen Wrote: (10-11-2018, 05:12 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: (10-11-2018, 02:09 PM)Eric the Obtuse Wrote: Millennials need to see the harmful effect of Trump and Republican policies. I don't know what makes that happen.
They do. Polling results based on generational definitions show Millennial adults least receptive to Trump. Trump offers them nothing.
On the other hand, given actions of Antifa and Hillary's latest comments. Currently the Dims sound like a bank robber holding somebody hostage until they get what they want. Can't imagine that is making a really good impression on the Millies.
Millennials are still waiting for a political party that truly speaks to them, IMO. The closest was the brief period when there was a chance that Bernie Sanders would be the Democratic Presidential nominee. I remember overhearing one young man on the street say about Bernie, "He's not President yet.." with what sounded to me like a very naive youthful optimism. I didn't personally think Sanders was a good choice for President but he was the first candidate to excite the Millennial generation, and he was the reason it is easy to think of the Millennials as the impetus behind the "blue wave" that is always just coming in the next election.
Steve Barrera
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(10-11-2018, 10:36 PM)Galen the Quack Wrote: (10-11-2018, 05:12 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: (10-11-2018, 02:09 PM)Eric the Obtuse Wrote: Millennials need to see the harmful effect of Trump and Republican policies. I don't know what makes that happen.
They do. Polling results based on generational definitions show Millennial adults least receptive to Trump. Trump offers them nothing.
On the other hand, given actions of Antifa and Hillary's latest comments. Currently the Dims sound like a bank robber holding somebody hostage until they get what they want. Can't imagine that is making a really good impression on the Millies.
Antifa is not a part of the liberal mainstream. Most liberals have no desire to punch a Nazi.
By objective standards, Trump is a horrible President. He sloughs off a near-majority of Americans as irrelevant, which would be wrong no matter which side of the spectrum he were on. He disparages those not in his camp as 'losers' -- they weren't losers before he was President. He appeals to the worst in human nature -- greed and tribalism.
Surely you have seen my comparisons between Eisenhower and Obama. Obama may be different from all other Presidents for his origin alone, but he has to be more like at least one President than like others. Without question, what Obama and Eisenhower have in common are good for not creating problems:
1. Recognition that the Constitution is the Law, and that decisions of the US Supreme Court are more definitive than popular sentiment or political advantage.
2. Respect for precedent and protocol.
3. Avoidance of corruption.
4. Not sponsoring financial bubbles.
5. Not supporting new and dangerous adventures.
6. Not vilifying the opposition.
7. Not attacking the news media when it disagrees with one.
8. Putting service above partisanship.
9. Not snubbing America's certifiable allies or getting cozy with dictatorial regimes.
10. Not filling administrative posts with cronies.
11. Getting along with the military and the intelligence services. You never know when those will be useful.
12. Not doing dirty tricks.
13. Never expecting anything to be easy or to be solved by the politician's personality.
14. Knowing history.
Much of the other similarity relates to Eisenhower and Obama both acting like 60-something Reactives who know that they cannot get away with much, and have divested themselves of any cynicism. The Reactive style makes Liberty, Lost, and now the one X President (so far) similar enough to be predictable. The Gilded took on some Civic characteristics due to the Civil War, and that allows more diversity among them as Presidents. Obama is one of those types who, irrespective of his generation, acts middle-aged from youth.
Except that Trump has not gotten a chance to start a financial bubble, which may have prevented a 1929-style or 2008-style crash, and has not been able to start some war for profit and his glorification, Trump fits none of the shared virtues of Eisenhower and Obama. Obama may be more like Reagan in his ability to communicate, and Reagan had a more permanent and immediate influence on American economic life and foreign policy. Obama could not undo Reagan's tax cuts and didn't really try, and it is still far easier to see similarities between the foreign policy of both Reagan and Obama. Trump has made a shambles of American foreign policy without any excuse, and he has imposed tariffs that can mess up the American economy badly.
After Trump we are going to be extremely ready for an Eisenhower or Obama as an antithesis, irrespective of ideology. Donald Trump is not a conservative; he is practically a fascist as shown in his despotic and dictatorial tendencies.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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(10-11-2018, 02:09 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: Millennials need to see the harmful effect of Trump and Republican policies. I don't know what makes that happen.
Sadly, it takes something traumatic. If one of your friends dies in a car accident because she failed to buckle her seatbelt, you'll never forget to do that for the rest of your life. Unfortunately, it has to be that blatant to actually change attitudes.
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(10-12-2018, 06:45 AM)sbarrera Wrote: (10-11-2018, 10:36 PM)Galen Wrote: (10-11-2018, 05:12 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: (10-11-2018, 02:09 PM)Eric the Obtuse Wrote: Millennials need to see the harmful effect of Trump and Republican policies. I don't know what makes that happen.
They do. Polling results based on generational definitions show Millennial adults least receptive to Trump. Trump offers them nothing.
On the other hand, given actions of Antifa and Hillary's latest comments. Currently the Dims sound like a bank robber holding somebody hostage until they get what they want. Can't imagine that is making a really good impression on the Millies.
Millennials are still waiting for a political party that truly speaks to them, IMO. The closest was the brief period when there was a chance that Bernie Sanders would be the Democratic Presidential nominee. I remember overhearing one young man on the street say about Bernie, "He's not President yet.." with what sounded to me like a very naive youthful optimism. I didn't personally think Sanders was a good choice for President but he was the first candidate to excite the Millennial generation, and he was the reason it is easy to think of the Millennials as the impetus behind the "blue wave" that is always just coming in the next election.
Wishful thinking is just that -- wishful. When the hive-mind finally focuses on politics, it will create change. We others are not likely to alter that one iota. So far, it isn't obvious to them that they are drowning. When they get the message -- Katy bar the door!
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(10-12-2018, 10:03 AM)David Horn Wrote: (10-12-2018, 06:45 AM)sbarrera Wrote: (10-11-2018, 10:36 PM)Galen Wrote: (10-11-2018, 05:12 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: (10-11-2018, 02:09 PM)Eric the Obtuse Wrote: Millennials need to see the harmful effect of Trump and Republican policies. I don't know what makes that happen.
They do. Polling results based on generational definitions show Millennial adults least receptive to Trump. Trump offers them nothing.
On the other hand, given actions of Antifa and Hillary's latest comments. Currently the Dims sound like a bank robber holding somebody hostage until they get what they want. Can't imagine that is making a really good impression on the Millies.
Millennials are still waiting for a political party that truly speaks to them, IMO. The closest was the brief period when there was a chance that Bernie Sanders would be the Democratic Presidential nominee. I remember overhearing one young man on the street say about Bernie, "He's not President yet.." with what sounded to me like a very naive youthful optimism. I didn't personally think Sanders was a good choice for President but he was the first candidate to excite the Millennial generation, and he was the reason it is easy to think of the Millennials as the impetus behind the "blue wave" that is always just coming in the next election.
Wishful thinking is just that -- wishful. When the hive-mind finally focuses on politics, it will create change. We others are not likely to alter that one iota. So far, it isn't obvious to them that they are drowning. When they get the message -- Katy bar the door!
I hope they can jump out of the pot before the water boils!
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