Why Adults Care What Young People Think

Adding this to my thesis: Generational divides are the true fault line in this country, more so than race or class, which is why attention to the young is particularly pronounced.

Notice how much of our discussion is around "culture issues": sex and identity, transgender, college campuses, etc. I believe these are Trojan horse issues designed to distract from the overwhelming nuts-and-bolts functions of government, which overwhelmingly favor the elderly. COVID-19 sort-of brought this issue to the front, but in general, Social Security, ADA, etc. are overwhelmingly in favor of the elderly. Efforts to aid the young are often on the face of it helpful while entrenching special interests, with the most recent student debt jubilee being the most recent examples. The next generation will face mounting tuition costs as a result, rather than see greater competition between universities.

The combination of inverted age pyramids and socialized government services, coupled with stagnant wages/recessions/declining real growth, means that fewer and fewer young people are essentially being handed the bill from older generations, and there's not a whole lot to stop it from happening. Anyone old enough to see SS as a potential source of income suddenly have a tremendous incentive to keep it in place, along with the value of their degree, work experience/etc. On these issues, it is worth pointing out that Republicans and Democrats are de facto united - only young Republicans are likely to vote against policies for the elderly.

Adam Smith, Alexander Hamilton, and many other influential figures who built the modern world were simply young people whose efforts were spent poring over trade center records and budgets - they were scholars of public finance. Right before COVID, there was an "OK Boomer" meme that I thought might bring this fault to the front of the culture war. It is only a matter of time before some angst-ridden teen realizes that the budget is extremely elderly-focused.

In the past, younger people tended to view older people as authorities because they had demonstrated their competence. As a younger person, it seems today's older people have demonstrated a general incompetence; For instance, climate change, economic instability, etc. Thus, we view them with skepticism.

I’m in my mid 20s so I likely fall into the category of “pretty but lacks wisdom”. But from my experience speaking to folks over the age of 60, especially when it comes to discussing wisdom, has left much to be desired. I used to think and have deep respect for older folks (I come from an Asian family) simply because of their age, but over time I’ve noticed that they seem to lack intelligence and seem to have learned nothing from their supposed wisdom gained from their years on earth, which they seem rather eager to impart. Despite all their wisdom, they are incredibly gullible, less intelligent and more stubborn and their advices for the most part falls flat in the face of real life situations.

I think people are opening up. "Respect your elders" is a contract with a capped payout. I don't have to acknowledge my neediness, and you give me your attention but not your understanding or love. The middle-man (the social contract) takes too much off the top, it's a compromise where everyone gets a little cheated.

Younger persons don't have the knowledge and wisdom to assess what previous generations did. Their own thoughts sounds more like pre-conceived, propaganda driven, ready made sentences. (I know because I have been there and only know realize how dumb and manipulable I was, and probably still are. At least now I can see it).

As time passes the environment, morals and the goals of a population can change drastically, and its behavior is attuned by those variables.

Anyone born in the boomer generation would probably have behaved exactly like them, for the good and the bad.

The professors in that article might be speaking like that, making amend to the young, but deep inside every generation thinks to be smarter than the previous and the successive ones.

Well, I’m old and not a parent so I assume I’m pretty much invisible to most young folk. Unless they are asking me a question or engaged in a specific conversation I guess. No big deal, as my concerns aren’t their concerns, and how I socialized is more social (or at least in person) than how they do.

But don’t seek the boomers short as do nothings. Four dead in ohio and all that, and the various riots of 68 were the young. And you can thank this age cohort for the networked device in your hand and the connecting software.

Did we make mistakes, yeah, but at least we didn’t make Facebook.