If you have basic access to the internet and social media, you've probably seen this video of a young, blonde woman bashing our generation for two minutes and 17 seconds. Older adults have had a field day sharing this video and hating on the generation that they raised. Let's compare her claims of millennials to the people of the 60's.
She begins by insulting our lack of manners. Apparently, none of us say "yes ma'am" and "no ma'am" or hold doors open for others anymore, so we are terrible excuses for human life. First of all, I'm not sure where this woman lives. Most everyone I know practices these basic manners. Sure, we occasionally forget to always be on our best manners like they were back in the day, but did holding the door open for a lady mean anything if you didn't take her basic human rights seriously? Let's not forget that women were rarely allowed to progress outside of basic "women jobs" (secretary, housewife) and were consistently sexually assaulted in the workplace, with no human resources to protect them.
Moving on, she calls out our "really obscene music that degrades women and pretty much glorifies drugs and crime". I can only assume that she is referring to rap, a genre of music that is often written by underprivileged individuals who use their music as an outlet for the horrific situations they were raised in. God forbid we all know what it's like. If you really think that we degrade women more in today's music than in the past, I have five words for you: "Wives and Lovers" - Jack Jones:
"Don’t think because there’s a ring on your finger
You needn’t try anymore
For wives should always be lovers, too
Run to his arms the moment he comes home to you
I’m warning you…
Day after day, there are girls at the office
And men will always be men."
Apparently, we are shallow because "we use 'bae' to describe someone we love." Right, because the generation before us really placed their significant others on pedestals:
Next, we are "lazy and entitled." This is interesting to me considering the overwhelming percentage of young people who are enrolled in college today. "We want free education but we are not really willing to put in the work." I totally understand why the generations of the past would jump all over this one. In the old days, a college degree wasn't required to be successful and, if you did go to college, you could pay the entirety of your tuition easily with an average part-time job salary. That is not a reality for our generation. Yes, we are stressed about graduating with over $50,000 in debt with no guaranteed job. You would be, too.
The woman continues to rant with weightless comments about our generation's infatuation with social media and our lack of respect for our country. First, I can promise you I see my grandmother post more on Facebook than I do. Second, our generation is passionate. We clearly care about our country or we would stay silent about revolutionary social problems like generations past have, which the rant lady is clearly all for. She says "everything that used to be frowned upon is now celebrated." I'm going to make a safe assumption that she is referring to social revolutions that our generation has embraced such as the support for the LGBT community since that is the only major issue that fits her description other than racial equality. If you think millennials suck for celebrating communities of people who have been put down and silenced for so long, you are the problem.
She closes the video by apologizing to our elders for our generation and expressing her hopes that we will get off our asses and contribute to society. She uses many broad and generalized accusations, so it is difficult to identify her point. At the end of her spiel, I definitely felt that she was heading in one central direction: our generation sucks because we are straying from the path of the good old days. I can't help but laugh. We are the generation that is changing the world, yes. People are mad about it, yes. Why? Because we are the generation that makes the world a happy place for everyone? We are the generation that sees terrorist attacks for what they are: a sickindividual rather than a plagued religion. We are the society that transgender people finally feel safe enough to be themselves in. We are the ones who write music that calls gay relationships out for what they are: the same love. We are the ones who took that and fought to give them the basic human right to get married. We are the people who value women equally in the home and workplace. I don't find any of that to be lazy or ungrateful. I, for one, am damn proud to be a part of "Generation Y." You should be, too.