Are Millennials Cemented as Civics/Heroes Yet?

[Eric the Green]

(03-11-2022, 10:32 AM)JasonBlack Wrote:

(03-11-2022, 05:04 AM)Eric the Green Wrote: There is no difference. Many Millennials realize that the threat of climate breakdown is a threat to the whole world and that includes our country. They understand that many issues can't be restricted by national border.

And the main problem therewith is their insistence on punishing their countrymen for excessive fossil fuel usage before viable, cost-effective alternatives are available. More on that below. 

in a word: 

Quote:I disagree. The Ukraine invasion by Putin is a direct threat to our freedom and democracy. He has directly threatened the USA by putting his nuclear forces on high alert and declaring economic war. Millennials are not saying they want to go to war. They support the actions of ALL concerned people-- to impose severe sanctions on Russia and Putin and his oligarchs and to send all kinds of aid to Ukraine. This violation of the norms of behavior by nations encourages the many other dictators in this terrible crisis of increasing tyranny around the world to do the same.

It is not a matter of guilt. Many millennials see that other countries care about their citizen's health and their treatment of workers, and that the USA does not. They are exactly right. We are the most backward developed nation in the world by far, and millennials are civically-informed enough to know this, and to take action. This is desire for our nation to succeed, not to fail.

I might be getting off topic here, moving from the realm of intentions/generation characteristics to specific policy, but even a cursory look at Russia's history compared to the US will tell you that's a terrible idea. 
1) Russia is used to authoritarian, top-down decrees on people's behavior in a way the US isn't.
2) They have never had a friendly international neighbor in over 1000 years. The Russian mindset is one of continual mistrust, paranoia and readiness to do battle. 
3) Suffering is in their blood. The Russians have turned stoicism into an artform. Even in the 21st century, "life is pain" is a very real concept to the Russian people, who are used to famines, harsh inland Winters, wars and violent outbreaks. 
4) One thing I will grant millennials: they are much more aware of the deficiencies of American infrastructure than older generations, especially our lack of efficient public transit. It is precisely for this reason that we are perhaps the country in the world most dependent on oil. We're also among the most dependent on satellite technology and internet usage, and any disruption thereof could potentially throw off an entire production line. I would like to see many more advancements in the field of alternative energy. We've made a good bit of progress so far, but until we do, we can't afford $10 gasoline the way public transit-rich Europe can. Timing and specifics are everything.
5) Russia is a strongly patriotic country where you look out for your own at all costs. America is more divided than it has ever been in the nation's history. They have the morale to get through this. We do not. 

Funny.

We are going to need to rediscover our morale. That's what we Americans have done in every 4T. It's time now again.

We are not going to pay $10 for gasoline. If prices are going up, don't blame sanctions. The prices are set by speculators. Pricing has been taken out of the hands of the people and given to these traders, who set prices by expected events, and the companies greatly benefit and profit from letting the traders jack up prices.

The idea that renewables and electric vehicles etc. are not yet sufficiently available is no excuse. Americans voted to make them unavailable. It was never a technical issue; it was a political issue. They need to be made available NOW. We are not dependent on Russian oil. That is not why prices are going up. They are set globally, and expectation of low supply in Europe is pushing traders to jack up the prices. But there are temporary replacements for Russian gas and oil while renewables are being developed. The Middle East can pump more and so can the USA. Europe understands that being dependent on Russian gas needs to end, and renewables replace them. Turning off this Russian spiggot will cripple the Russian economy, force Putin to resign, and force the Russians to find another way to get by than selling gas to Germany.

Neoliberalism has made it impossible for a 4T mindset to function. It's true, electric cars are expensive. So then why don't we give subsidies and tax credits so more middle class and poorer people can buy them? Why is there not a shop on every corner to convert old gas guzzlers to electric? Why don't we invest more in mass transit? Because the free market believers don't want us to raise taxes, that's why. Because government bureaucracy never works, they say. Because government is the problem, they say.

Suffering is in the Russians' blood? Fine, make them suffer. They put this monster in power. It appears the Russians are mostly not interested in this invasion. Putin is not able to summon his country to this battle. The sanctions will hit the oligarchs the hardest. The harder the better. Putin needs to feel enormous pain. The Russians need to be taught a lesson. They need to be stopped by whatever means are necessary. I don't care what their history is. We have our own history to deal with. We need to summon the will to work together again. We do this now or we go out of business and die. We do it in 4Ts. That's the nature of turnings. They are extreme and even dysfunctional. We go from extreme to extreme.

Millennials are a civic generation. This crisis and others of today are bringing out their civic qualities. This is not guilt. This is willingness to understand real-world problems and to act on them.

Quote:

Quote:They are that. But many of us Boomers really felt liberated and elevated by the social and spiritual movements that our generation experienced in our youth. The best of us do, at any rate. Younger generations have a distorted view of those times painted by the media and conservative propaganda. I celebrate and revere those times. Millennials who understand this are blest.

Sorry....what? Left and liberal-leaning journalists outnumber conservative journalists by a ratio of about 4 to 1 (source: professor Gad Saad). In 2022, even the corporations are leaning heavily to the left as far as media is concerned, which is something I would have thought oxymoronic even 10 years ago. Granted, much of what they're actually doing is still quite capitalistic, but the rhetoric most millennials have been exposed to over the last 14 years has been disproportionately left-leaning, not capitalistic, and least of all conservative.

I don't agree; whether journalists are more liberal/left or not, the media owners are conservatives and they run the show. Education has been crippled, including removal of civics classes. The bosses have forced people to put their nose to the grindstone to earn a pittance. They have no ability to think critically. THey have to think about bare necessities. Americans have been largely enchanted and deceived by various false ideologies. Neoliberalism/Reaganomics is top of the list. For 40 years the idea that the government could not solve problems and lower taxes would work instead has become so engrained that nothing constructive has been done in America for 40 years. Millennials and Xers have indeed a distorted and limited view of Awakening culture, and that's not only propaganda against the Awakening-era liberal movements by neoliberalism/reaganomics, but propaganda distorting the liberating culture of boomer youth and silent mid-lifers that awakened us to new life. It is seen instead as merely following the pleasure principle, which of course seeing it that way makes it easy for the commercial capitalists and salesmen to coopt and apply in the advertising.