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kleinbl00  ·  3946 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Congrats, Millennials. Now It's Your Turn to Be Vilified | Wired Opinion | Wired.com

A couple things.

THING 1) the whole "flip flop" thing is kinda new. Yeah, you personally have your shit together. Here's the problem, though - used to be there was a higher percentage of people with their shit together. Your generation has their "shit together" less than previous generations - which is not to say you're stupid, it's not to say you're lazy, it's not to say you're entitled, it's to say that you're not hewing to the societal norms required of you even when it's in your best interest. GenXers were just as disillusioned and ironic about The Man as the Beatniks were - but when you need a paycheck, you put on a happy face. Millenials show a documented reluctance to put on a happy face. Call it will, call it stubbornness, call it resignation; at the end of the day, it is a new wrinkle.

THING 2) The first mutherfucker who took a shit and didn't bury it was fucking up the environment. Long-term ecological damage predates writing. Don't hang the goddamn greenhouse effect around my neck, punk. That job you can't get? Tell your dad to retire. I'm still in my position because he blew his 401k on Worldcom stocks and is gonna be regional GM until the sun is a cinder. Know why you can't get a job? 'cuz we're all stuck in positions we should have moved up from in '05. "Wealth Gap?" Gimme a break. That shit started unraveling in '67. Again, take it up with your parents.

I've said before - y'all got the shaft. No doubt. Y'all earned a little bitchin' about it. No doubt. You point that finger at me, mutherfucker, and I'll break it off. History ought to be taught backwards just so that everybody can see that for every effect there's a cause and for every disaster there's an idealist with startling focus and negligible perspective. It's all a continuum, it's all Hands Across America, it's all Pay it Forward and when you get in the mindset that "we" fucked up "your" world…

…well, it puts you in an "enjoy the ramen, hipster" frame of mind. Not what you want to do to a demographic that, by your own admission, has a leg up on you.

Word to the wise.