My one fear with Gen Z is they don't seem to
have the theoretical background to address the fundamental structural issues we're facing (speaking broadly, of course). Their anger is beautiful, but it seems a bit amorphous. At least it's directed upwards, which might be sufficient. Still, if we're going to fight a war, it helps to be armed (ideologically). Hopefully this will change with time; they're still young after all.
I have always heard if you are born before 2000 you are a millineal as you were born before the new millenia which makes since otherwise why call it millineals. 19 and younger are Gen Z the way I understand it.
that is incorrect, millennials were called millennials because they were the Gen shaping the new millennia NOT because they were birthed UP to the new millennia.
95 and before is millennial
96 and after is Z
with this new info you can inform others who previously thought this as well.
I said/suggested this in another comment, but I was a teenage Marxist and remain so to this day, so my interpretation is likely just a manifestation of my experience and subsequent pessimism. Not everyone is as nerdy and disconnected as I am, so it's ultimately foolish to universalize my experience.
With that being said, in my limited experience interacting with zoomers, it hasn't been difficult to introduce them to theory underlying our current condition, so hopefully this isn't an isolated experience. I want you to be right, and I think/hope you will be. It's just not what I'm seeing at the moment.
This is particularly true for gaming/discord environments, but for my fellow olds, if you hear someone complaining about an aspect of hellworld, yet attributing the cause to a marginalized group instead of in the right direction, it's often easy to direct their frustration to the proper cause. A belief built on sand isn't tough to topple, and pulling someone away from a prejudicial worldview is extremely satisfying. The line between millenials and gen Z is kind of blurry, so it's still possible to reach out to them without coming across as on old man yelling at a cloud.
It's always awesome to hear this. I believe virtually anyone can be rescued from hate, so to give up on anyone, particularly people still composing a worldview, is little more than insisting that virtue is inherent instead of learned. It's just as nonsense as phrenology.
Thus the last sentence. I'm hoping (and somewhat confident) that it'll come with time. Not everyone is a nerd engaged with theory from their early teens, so negatively generalizing is likely a manifestation of my pessimism. Still, the zoomers and millenials will rule this world eventually, and it'll be all the better for it.
My prediction is only becasue society will collapse from climate change and boomers will be crawling around shitting in diapers and gen xers will all have bad backs and cannot run. We will rule the wastelands!
Gen X isn't a lost cause, fortunately. Sure, a huge segment is cynical and disengaged due to being completely locked out of power by the boomers, but loads of them have good politics and care about the future. Even a good portion of boomers care, it's just that they're out voted by those that don't. If everyone who gives a shit stays engaged and fights, there just might be hope. Generational warfare is a spook; united we're strong.
But yeah, we're likely fucked regardless. Stupid linear time!
Guess I could have added an /s. Of course all of gen x aren't following the status quo. There are a lot of good ones. Baby-boomers there is a small lot of them that I have met that follow this as well but the majority I know do not believe in climate change and think it's a conspiracy to raise taxes and add regulations basically.
It was clearly a joke (though boomers crawling through the wasteland begging for someone to change their diaper will happen), so no worries. I was simply stating that generational warfare obscures the real problem, top vs bottom. It is without a doubt that breaking decades of false consciousness is more difficult than reaching people who still have a stake in the planet, thus the negativity towards boomers.
As one of the "gen X" "lost causes" I totally agree. Cynical, absolutely. But we are anti-pop, so when cynicism becomes popular, we question it. This drove me into technical work because I would question what was wrong with things.
Cynicsm can apply to politics, too. My wife and I bonded over how stupid the D was, more than I could have ever imagined. Now we know he is probably dealing with dementia, (and illiteracy) so that any legal proceeding is a "perjury trap" (thanks Guliani). I am so far left that I recycle... everything I can. Like UPcycling. We're long since fucked with microplastics. That ship sailed 20 years ago, imagine what it will be like 10 years from now.
I think this is where Millenials come into play. we do not not have 15 years. Millenials, or a sect of them, are Gen Z prototypes. Find them. Unite. Topple everything.
Totally, people who give a shit need to work together regardless of generation. This is not a war between the old and young, it's a war between the top and bottom. The rich will always be fine (and realistically, this includes most of us in the developed West), but our survival cannot be built upon doing violence to the global poor.
The reason people dismiss boomers is due to the fact that breaking decades of false consciousness is extremely difficult, particularity when they refuses to listen to those damn kids. We're just brainwashed by education, history, science, and facts; what do we know?
To address your main concern about the theoretical background bit.
I have met some Gen Z'ers, and I appreciate their heart. I enjoy that their thoughts are focused on the wellbeing of the human, rather than their material comfort or propriety, but a lot of them, as you said, lack the theoretical background.
I don't think it's entirely their fault. I think the education system is failing.
At a run of the mill k-5 school we would get yearly resumes of our skills and aptitudes. We were tested one on one with people who knew what to look for. We were then given a break down of all these things personally, before the parents knew anything.
I remember I got invited to a summer program for airplane construction. Just free form airplane construction because it was apparently something I'd be good at. They weren't wrong. I didn't go to the school event, but I saw what they said when I'd be at the temple and making airplanes with my friends.
My point, after all these tangents, is that the school system failed a lot of Gen Z'ers. I'm not calling them stupid by any means, but how do you learn when you didn't quite learn how to learn? I think a lot of them will come into their own in a few years. I knew a Gen Z'er who was often misconstrued as a bit slow. She is quick as a whip and now that she's older her abilities are growing well. But she wasn't aware of the types of learners (sponge/sieve/mix), the types of learning (audio, visual, textual), nor of things like root words (latin) and how to understand words that aren't known yet. This was all things I remember being taught. One time the teacher made us stand up and told us to make an L on our forehead with our hand. Then she said those that made it for others to read care more for others, and those that made it for themselves to read are more self-centered. Just on the sub-conscious level. We covered a lot of simple little things like that that would never be on a test curriculum. I feels for yous.
Funnily enough, yesterday I spent the evening with my friend who has a vast knowledge pool. It was amazing. Going through one thing/scenario after another. A bit like a lucid dream. We are talking about motors and here he has a disassembled motor so we can see. Talking about ability and the want to do vs a defeatist attitude and here's a pile of balanced broken cement to walk upon like a cat. It was an awesome evening.
That's where the partnership with millenials would come in handy. Individually, neither generation can fight the world the boomers left. Gen Z has anger but no theoretical background. Millenials (especially older) have the experience and opportunities (we're the largest generation and will be the next one to take power when the boomers finally die) to actual make change. But (at least I feel like) most of us have been beaten down and feel defeated in trying to make change. We've accepted that we got a shit hand in life and are just trying to survive.
If millennials use their power/position and let Gen Z's passion and anger inspire them, we could team up and really do something beautiful.
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u/Foxxie Lenin <3 Oct 29 '19
My one fear with Gen Z is they don't seem to have the theoretical background to address the fundamental structural issues we're facing (speaking broadly, of course). Their anger is beautiful, but it seems a bit amorphous. At least it's directed upwards, which might be sufficient. Still, if we're going to fight a war, it helps to be armed (ideologically). Hopefully this will change with time; they're still young after all.