The world we've inherited is rotten, and it's getting rottener. We are living in the twilight of a world order on the brink of economic, ecological and ethical collapse. We are the last generation who will live in this version of the world.
So, one thing first: All generations shit on the generations that came after them, and all generations shit on the generations that came before them. We're all obligated to pay lip service to the crew that fought WWII, but that's mostly knee-jerk "respect your elders" shit. They also raised the punks that became the 'boomers who destroyed the economy and committed more war crimes and abominations than anyone else in history. Holocaust? Greatest Generation. Rape of Nanking? Greatest Generation. The kids are all right. They really are. Ahem. That said... I read most of this first before I bothered to look back at what, exactly it was. There's a little too much egocentricity to the writing; a little too much "we are the champions my friends" to it all. And yeah, sure, it's a college graduation speech. That's part and parcel. But comparing yourself to Moses and Gen Y to the Israelites in Egypt is... well, kind of a new high in low. But sure, okay, hyperbole. Rally the crowd. Except what the hell is an "Independent Concentrator?" So let's say you've managed to swing a $62k a year Ivy-league education. Good on you, mate. You may very well end up with some of the archetypal GenY gripes about unemployment and underutilization and god help you if you put it all on student loans. A Brown degree counts for shit-tons more than one from the University of Phoenix, regardless of what it is. "Independent Concentration" sounds suspiciously like Applied Guruism but as it turns out, it means "roll your own major." I'm an old fart. I graduated in '99. Back then, I knew one person who rolled-their-own major... and it was in web design. So I can see the utility in doing it. That said, she didn't exactly have a lot of company. Any guesses as to how many "independent concentrators" graduated in 2014? 17. Normally, one person delivering a speech to 17 others doesn't make news. But then, it's the age of the Internet where if one of them is "deputy literary editor" it sure could. So while the actual event where a 32-year-old junior editor delivered a 3700-word speech to 17 people whose degrees range from "Comtemplative(sp) Cognition" to "Narratology(?)" was likely a cringe-worthy affair, it can be polished and rebranded and made to appear as wisdom. And that is why everyone hates GenY. This is literally the manifesto of a room full of trust fund kids bitching about how they have it rough and it's being presented as grand oration at a noteworthy event. There are AA meetings with more people in attendance and at least the Bilderberg Group doesn't pretend they've got street cred. So good luck, class of 2014. Yes, you got the shaft. But we took our licks, too and then we invented the Internet. The gracious thing is to say nothing and prove everybody wrong, not compare yourself to Moses in a room filled with 17 of the Toniest "jews" in Rhode Island.The following was adapted from a commencement speech delivered to the Independent Concentrators of Brown University at their diploma ceremony on Sunday, May 25, 2014, in Providence, Rhode Island. Miriam Markowitz is deputy literary editor of The Nation.
Great answer! I know the speech is full of hyperbole but I can't disagree with it's message. Millennials are the first generation polled to say they did not expect to do as well as their parents. The parent's say it's because they're whiny slackers but is that necessarily true? They haven't done as well as their parents. Gen-Yers are on the razor's edge of a complete worldwide upheaval. Things are moving faster and faster. Changes abound. Social, economical, our technology and even our very climate is spiraling out of control. Of course every generation has it's gloom and doom but we can't just ignore the reality that things aren't right and they're getting worse. I was born in '87. Gen X and Y are the same generation as far as I'm concerned. We are the children of the largest generation and, more than ever before, we have the whole world literally at our fingertips. Things should be getting easier, not harder. We should be working less, not more. Our poor should be getting richer, not sinking deeper into poverty. The people in charge of things should be helping us, not themselves. We need to stop blaming the past and change our present for a better future. But how? Do we even deserve it?
This is another attitude that grates: the notion that there's some discontinuity of suck that waited around to bite you kidz in the ass. Remember the kerfuffle about Reinhart and Rogoff? And how they said that there was an "inflection point" in economic growth caused by too much debt, when in fact there was a trendline? The two are not the same. Yeah, things are rugged out there but you grew up in a society that chose to bring back measles... we grew up in a society that fully expected armageddon any day now. And shit - the 'boomers invented Earth Day and environmentalism, so they ain't all bad. I sure didn't have to deal with a draft to fight a useless war in Southeast Asia; they did. Reinhart and Rogoff titled their book "This Time It's Different" implying that somehow, our economy is a special little flower when in fact it's just a data point on a trendline. I know it's not nearly as inspirational to think that you're just more of the same, but it's also not nearly as alienating as claiming you're one of a kind.Gen-Yers are on the razor's edge of a complete worldwide upheaval.
To say that my, or any generation is unique was not my intention. You're absolutely right that society is a flat circle of the same economic trends repeating over and over. I also can't stand the malaise that many twentysomethings seem to share about the world without considering the same hardships have existed for centuries. What really worries me though is how easily distracted we've become to inequality inherent in the system. When I was born the middle class was alive and flourishing. The job that barely covers my apartment now could provide a house then. You could find higher education that wouldn't put you in debt 100K and an actual career upon graduation. A 26 year old with a half decent living could actually consider being a father without fear of one misstep blowing it all away. We are not special little snowflakes but you can't ignore that opportunity is a dying animal. What happened to decent work for decent pay? The social contract is broken, in my opinion, a way never before seen. Don't get me wrong, we've still got plenty going for us. It is up to us to suck it up just like past generations to make it better. My point is the gap is getting wider. The pitfalls deeper.
The gap is definitely wider and the pitfalls are definitely deeper. That's not a generational thing, though. The generational thing is that everybody else has 20 or 40 years on you and since they lost their entire retirement funds in 2008 they aren't leaving the jobs you're supposed to be filling. That's another thing that kinda bugged me about your link, although I couldn't make the point until now: the author makes cracks about "working on apps while Rome burns" or some such shit when, in fact, "making apps" is exactly how you get ahead. All these old coots that can barely check their voicemail on the Androids their kids insisted they get aren't about to figure out how to make a living on a 22MB, 99 cent download. They're making their money filing TPS reports and collecting a pension. So fuckin' disrupt, yo. Do exactly the shit the old people don't know how to do and buy them. And recognize that malaise is a justifiable response to a stacked deck with no recourse. "Hipsterism" is exactly what happens when there are no opportunities and too much education. People pop out of it eventually, they just need to figure out how. "I'm unsatisfied but I don't know how to fix it" is a much more useful emotion than "I'm disappointed but complacent."
Have you ever read Don't Call Yourself A Programmer, And Other Career Advice?They're making their money filing TPS reports and collecting a pension. So fuckin' disrupt, yo. Do exactly the shit the old people don't know how to do and buy them.
You’re in the business of unemploying people. If you think that is unfair, go back to school and study something that doesn’t matter.
If you haven't posted that for general discussion you have been remiss. That's a great piece of writing.Engineers in particular are usually very highly paid Cost Centers, which sets MBA’s optimization antennae to twitching. This is what brings us wonderful ideas like outsourcing, which is “Let’s replace really expensive Cost Centers who do some magic which we kinda need but don’t really care about with less expensive Cost Centers in a lower wage country”.
Yep, in 2013. Pitty we don't have a way to bump posts =( That and this shaped a lot of my direction in what I ended up working on in college:A more general statement of the preceding paragraph is "remember that programming is done in every technical and scientific area". If you loved to write about genetics, for example, you wouldn't major in Writing at college (assuming they even had such a major) but instead would major in Biology. If you loved to write about life in Roman times you'd major in History. Computer programming [as distinct from Computer Science] is a bit like writing. It is used almost everywhere, it is something that you get better at with practice, but it isn't necessarily a fit subject for study on its own, especially if you don't want to be bored out of your skull for four years.
It's true that people are retiring later and later. The crash in '08 hit everyone hard. Well, almost everyone. Social security is getting further out of reach. Of course they can't leave. They're broke. We're all broke. You say "they aren't about to figure out how to make a living on a 22MB, 99 cent download" but they've been filling out TPS reports their whole lives. They don't want to be there they have to be. Meanwhile a kid is clawing for the same job for probably half the pay. Not that it really matters because the job probably won't exist another few years anyways. We all can't code. Not all of us are that smart, our schools are terrible. The middle class of any generation survives on jobs that are dying out. How are we going to "pop out" into opportunity that isn't ever coming back? Of course it's a stacked deck and the chips are down but at least you used to have a chance. Today it feels less like blackjack and more like dice in the alley. We're not even allowed in the casino anymore. That is a class problem. It will eat this country and all countries like it away to the core. We're not unsatisfied. We're barely hanging on. And most of us are too scared or hypnotized or dumb to do anything about it. The game is rigged. The dream has become a nightmare.
The foundations under many institutions of power are shifting. New institutions will replace them. Concentrate on building something better than what is toppling down. That's the task of every generation. And redistribute the captured wealth. Nothing is as fragile as the powers-that-be would like you to believe. They just have a vested interest.
Plus your great-great grandchildren might face great migrations further inland, starvation, due to climate change, and global warming as ocean levels rise, until the end of the widespread droughts in some areas, and mass flooding in others.