Merv's Politically Incorrect Audio Blog

I'll admit I'm a bit of a political junkie. I enjoy debating these things. Certainly that may come across to some as complaining, but it is not intended that way any more than debating the perceived pros and cons of OTL vs SET or planar vs dynamic. Life is good here and I am certainly thankful. The fact we are all here discussing audio toys and not worrying about our next meal or a knock on the door is a testament to that. I'm quite happy to live somewhere that a change in government is not potentially the difference between life and death as it is in some places. Our politicians are mere annoyances in comparison.

 

What worries me the most these days are the new social justice warriors/woke people/neo-whatever/climate justice folk/animal rights people/environment activists and peace activists these days. I think I missed a few. Too many new tribes and I am too tired at one point.

There is a new generation that wants all kinds of changes but they do not have much money. Then there are older generations who either have enough money or are working towards "enough". The worst part is that many of the new generation have less skills and are at worst screen zombies (yes I call them screen zombies at times).

Maybe I am weird in the fact that I often had to deal with people who did not think much of me. Every new skill, I had to master and own it. I often get the impression that many post-2000 kids expect to get their way by just being there.

Being there is not enough. I am not sure how they are going to deal with the future.

 

Well, i cannot speak for too many, but I can speak to how I know at least two “20 something” young men are going to turn out and do… my sons. We avoided all the cultural baggage, and ensured they got a solid, well-grounded education. Eldest son (27) is pilot for Southwest Airlines, youngest (almost 24) is a mechanical engineer at Toyota N.A. RD HQ in Michigan.

They make many if not all of the same observations/lament that you listed @Deep Funk

I’m of good cheer because it only takes two like my sons to run real-world, reality-based, success “rings” around all their “trophy me for participating” peers. I can’t believe that EVERY youngster (ha!) is as bad as you lament… I won’t believe it.

But that’s my experience; others (obviously) vary.

 

Too many people that can only tell others what to do and are incapable of doing anything themselves.

There is a third group that demand changes, have money, but want other people to pay for the changes, rather than investing their own time/money to make change happen.

Unfortunately, they won't deal with the future... the future will have to deal with them.

 

I feel terrible for my young clients - their levels of depression and anxiety are off the charts. The Internet keeps them hooked and tuned in to every effed up thing on the planet. When I was young, it was a lot easier to turn off the news and appreciate headphones.

 

I blame smartphones and will power issues. I love my smartphone for my porn in the bathroom but it is also a problem. I do like my assets big.

 

Asking your expert opinion: what do you feel are the main drivers of your young clients’ anxiety and depression?

 

Older generations are always worrying about how younger generations will turn out and it's almost always much ado about nothing. Like always, the younger generation will likely not turn out to be as special as it thinks itself nor as disastrous as those who came before them think they will.

 

Just to be transparent, I’m no expert, I got about three years worth of psychotherapy experience, and my other jobs in mental health did not involve working with any Gen Zs.

But I try to imagine growing up and forming your identity while attached to an addictive device(s) that simultaneously traumatizes you with doom and uncertainty while placating you with dopamine “likes” that you wind up time sucked hunting down.

Then there is the fact that all this is being experienced second hand and vicariously, rather than in the presence of a human being. Throw in CoVid occurring while you are awash in adolescent hormones.

My early years (like many here, I’m sure) were difficult but vastly simpler.

So, what @YMO said

 

Millennials (the group that fits the gripes being discussed) are now entering their 40s.

I can tell you from personal experience the generation behind them, who are graduating college now, swung the pendulum back. They show up to work on time, work hard, do not engage in virtue signaling, and… are pretty cynical when needed (as in, National Lampoon / Mad Magazine vibe).

 

I always tell the story of how my parents came here, separately in their teens, from literal starvation levels of poverty in their home country. They worked crazy hard and built a great life for themselves and their kids. They got a house in a nice upper middle class neighbourhood, put their kids through school and university, and always had food on the table. All on the wages of a cafeteria cook and hairdresser.

Nowadays, my wife and I each have masters degrees or higher, both working in relatively high ranking white collar jobs. I like to think we make good money, each of us separately making more than what my parents made combined back in the day even after accounting for inflation. Together, we still can't afford the house my parents have.

I'm sure that contributes a bit to the feelings of stress/anxiety/doom/inadequacy/blahblah

 

When I was approaching my retirement, when me and my wife earnings were very good, in Canada terms, we would never be able to afford the house we bought 25 years before without too much strain on our finances.
What will happen to young people in their 20th in Toronto for example, where population grows by a quarter of a million a year, and no new hospital was build in the last 35 years I am here, I do not even want to think about it.
But taxes are up 10% year by year. Y I would be depressed too.
But if people consistently vote against their own interests, that's what they get. Initially it all looks like such a great play and government would never run out of money right? My son got the heck out of here and it was the the happiest day of my life. In last few years I spent maybe six month total in Canada.

 

If you look broader, the problem is bigger than this. In Canada, and even moreso in the US, you can work full time at minimum wage and still be in abject poverty.

Then the bar moves. Well, that's just a starter job! That's a crap job! You need to do educate/train/pull-up-by-bootstraps! Get off your phone! All the while, the people with power are eroding worker protections, attacking unions, moving to automation, pushing 'good' jobs towards the gig economy. Just some good old fashioned suppression of worker rights. We'll see how the chips fall and this attitude starts shifting on this aspect as AI starts coming for those people who thought they were safe in higher paying white collar jobs.

In terms of complaining about woke/SJW, etc. etc. just about every generation or era has had some form of major social unrest as a marginalised population starts rising up. French, Russian, and other revolutions. Luddites. Women during the push for universal suffrage. Racial minorities trying to end segregation. Now it's LGBT+, people affected by climate, etc.etc. And each time, the people in power who benefit from marginalisation howl bloody murder and try to suppress it. Frankly, I think people should be relieved that this generation only riot and protest, rather than crack out the guillotines.

 

No future... no future...no future for you

 

I feel a profile post coming on. Oh! I did it already.

 

My major concern and problem with the generation of current 20-30 year olds, Gen Z, is the sense of entitlement. Where does this come from? Additionally who gets to determine who are the marginalized groups, social media?

Edit: it seems to me that the marginalized groups feel entitled to something without the work

 

Every generation has their own set of moral panics; entitlement, social media, and trans kids are ours.

Going backwards in time on social and entertainment issues there are violent video games, TV, radio. The moral panic about people being able to buy cheap books in the 18/19th century are particularly hilarious.

If you look at social revolutions with a sexual twist, it was 'the gays', interracial marriage, sex outside marriage, masturbation.

If you look back on combined climate/economic/social issues, there's hippies, commies, racial human rights, suffragettes, Luddites, witches.

We look back on all/most of those, and the moral panic was just so f'ing stupid. In retrospect, I can't see a single one of those panics that was justified, and most are on the complete wrong side of history. But within each generation, it's the young people that decide how society moves forward. Each new generation is born with a fresh new perspective. And they are allowed to do this, because it's *their* world now. They are going to be in it longer than us old farts, they are going to have to clean up our messes, and they should be given the right - the entitlement - to shape it how they see fit. It's us old farts causing the friction by not letting go.

And in 20 years time, they will complain when their kids see things differently and do things differently - just like all the old farts are now.

 

Kids' music today is shit.

 

I'd bet my left nut they said that about Beethoven back in the day. People get old. New things are scary. We cling onto our idealistic vision of our own past.

Lather, rinse, repeat. Always repeat.