TWITTER: Entitled in BookThree: Flight Log 2016

There are many ways that I find that I am forced to agree with some of the criticisms leveled at my generation. Honestly, in many ways I do not feel like a millennial and, in fact, there are some research groups that would place me in Gen Y or (more accurately) would place the entire 1980-1990 Generation into their own category (for obvious technological reasons).

That being said, there are many ways where I am forced to loudly, passionately disagree with some of the criticisms leveled at my generation.

Often, Millennials are called “immature” or “perpetually childish” or the “Peter Pan generation.” There are a number of reasons for this but the ones I often see pointed to are: adult cartoons, adult video game playing, adult comic book reading, young adults living with parents, young adults not buying homes or having children, etc.
I would argue against the depiction of “the perpetually immature” here. And, largely, for the same economic reasons that I would argue with another Millennial Complaint.

“Millennials are entitled/lazy.” Guess what… for some of us Millennials… we came of age around 2000 and hit the working world around 2010. Know why those numbers are AGGRESSIVELY important for understanding the generation?

In the year 2000; US economic growth and job creation had hit a beautiful high. The United States had a budget surplus and people were working. Then the Presidential Race divided the country in passionate, sometimes insidious ways. Only a year later, 9/11 hit and scarred the American Psyche. Two years later, the US entered war with Iraq and repeatedly declared we’d go it alone if we had to. That same year, billions of dollars in tax cuts (largely to larger corporations) are signed into law with a ten year deadline. The decade was punctuated by warfare, consumer credit crises, SARS and epidemics of Avian Flu and other viral outbreaks, terrorism literally reaching the heart of the country, and massive division among political parties.

And then… things got really bad as we transitioned into the new decade. The absolute collapse of the housing market; the “Too Big to Fail” fiasco; bail outs for Big Business and evictions for Every Day Citizens; a global economic recession that some claim rivaled the Great Depression.

Now look at the Millennials again. We came of age at a time when the world was successful and we were all excited to be a part of that world just as soon as we finished High School/College. But… as soon as we finished our education… the world had already dissolved. The successes? The economic strength? The existence of jobs or a housing market? We felt screwed. And now, we’re being blamed. Millennials aren’t helping the economy because they aren’t buying houses. We can’t afford houses. Millennials are being assholes because they’re asking for insanely high minimum wage hikes. We’re asking for a similar minimum wage (in terms of buying power) as the generations before us enjoyed. Millennials are just looking to blame “Corporations” because this new breed of hippy doesn’t have perspective. No… we’re looking at the last 40 years and realizing JOBS disappeared while PROFITS soared. And then we’re taking the logical analysis.... if we can’t get work, and our lack of buying power is why we’re hurting the economy… then we either need better pay at the shitty jobs we can get and/or we need to find a way to create jobs in THIS country.

It is easy to continually point out divisions. Blacks vs Whites; Immigrants vs. Native Born; Cis vs. Trans; Baby Boomers vs. Millennials. But remember that the media no longer purely reports… the American Media is owned by their corporate interests (FOX, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN). And those corporate interests most certainly have agendas they wish to push in government. Why do you think Net Neutrality was so poorly covered by certain news outlets? Why do you think certain candidates get more press time than others? Why was the Ferguson, MO story headline news for a month straight but Freddie Gray was given less than a week?
Call me paranoid, but the more we focus on these divisions and the more we have “Millennials are Lazy” v “Baby Boomers are Out of Touch” and all the other divisive little squabbles… the more of our energy is successfully being diverted away from asking the hard questions.... like during the government shut down, why did the senators still get paid? Like why is affordable education a pipe dream but $1.7 trillion on the Iraq War (partly via Private Contractors) was no big deal? Why is a Senator making $174,000 per year with benefits and a pension (as paid for by tax payers and voted for by the senators) perfectly acceptable… but a single mother asking for enough to afford a 1 bedroom apartment is outrageous?