The only stereotype I can say is true about GenY is this: You got shafted big time by the Boomers (not my gen) + GenX (my gen). You had the worst of parenting and schooling and the least rights, all for “safety”. You got fucked.
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I went to an uber liberal university (never finished) in 1990/91. Hampshire College. I saw PC when it was actually a good idea, before it got fucked up by the late 90s. Too bad too.
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Actually, GenZ has it better in 100 ways then you guys had it. You’re at the tail end of GenY… you’re in the overlap part. HOPEFULLY you get some of the GenZ benefits. My ne’s 11, fully in the GenZ, and he sees the benefits.. although they have their own unique issues too.
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E had safe spaces, trigger warnings, all the stuff that’s so common today, 25 years ago. The floor below me was a safe space for the lipstick lesbians. Gothy, smelled like patchulli down there. Kinda scary, but nobody cared that they had that floor. Unisex bathrooms, no big deal…
so, it spread, but in the spread, the core of the good ideas got messed up and now, well… it’s just messed up.
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Well, it lost its balance. Previously, there was a strong white male patriarchy. Universities shifted focus – it was a success! But then… it continued further and further. Now, there’s been a backlash and hell, I saw it coming when I was 18.
I was a bit of a prick but I meant it when people would talk tolerance while demonizing so-called intolerant people. My line was this:
“How could you say you’re tolerant when you’re against intolerant people? What if the intolerant people are tolerating YOU? Doesn’t that make them more tolerant and you the truly intolerant one?”
I lost friends and girlfriends alike doing this, but gained a few too.
So, that was 25 years ago. I could see that people who misunderstand what tolerance REALLY MEANS were gonna fuck things up.
Glad you resolved it.
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One fascinating development is that the backlash against the WRONG application of social justice (the SJWs are doing it wrong and have been for years), is that the backlash UNDERSTANDS feminist theory perfectly well and is using it as an effective weapon on the same playing field.
To me, this means feminist theory is a success, because not only does everybody understand it now, but it’s being used effectively from both sides.
But, instead of saying, “Oh good, our message and methods were successful at combatting ignorance of rights”, it’s become, “Oh shit, what now? They know our language”.
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Well that’s the thing man, the narrative is SO well known – you guys GREW UP with it drilled in your heads, that it’s old and boring now.
And it should be. It was an effective program. Everybody knows what it means now. No more need to push it anymore.
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Here’s how far the disillusionment spreads: [and I see this as a positive]:
My ne over the summer (5th to 6th grade) had to read “Freak the Almighty”. In the end, the last few chapters were ok, but the whole time he was complaining:
“Why can’t the strong guy win? Why is it ALWAYS “small person wins against big bad bully? I want to see the strong guy pummel the little guy and walk away smiling sometime.”
So, yeah – the liberal education system overplayed their hand and are blind to it. Backlash is inevitable and necessary for societal balance.
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Nobody even has to *do* anything. They just repeated the message for too many years for too long, incorporated it into every part of the education system. Now it’s common knowledge. Nothing surprising about the loser becoming the winner. People are ready for something different. It’s sad really, because it was a fine idea, but they over did it. Now, they’ll pay with a generation or two of jaded folks.
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Funny thing is, I *agree* with the principles of political correctness, multiculturism, tolerance.
But it has to be done RIGHT.
They’re doing it wrong and have been. Institutionalizing it has KILLED IT.
It pisses me off because they ruined a great idea.
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Well, what you’ve learned about them was the broken message unfortunately. That’s the shame of it. It’s rekt and been so since around ’96/97 and just getting worse institutionally.
It was only supposed to be about etiquette. It was based on US military standards of respect for others – based on training the officers have received since the 1960s. In 1988, it was adopted by some well-meaning women in a girls’ college in the town of my college in Amherst, MA. I saw it in 1990. It spread. Like the telephone game, it grew into something that resembles NOTHING of its intention. Pisses me off.
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it’s a case-by-case basis. That’s how it should be. That’s how it was supposed to be. Start with a general attitude of civility towards others. You listen. Pay attention. Don’t be an asshole unnecessarily. Stuff like that. Just tact.
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I don’t even blame the SJWs just as I don’t blame those who hate them. It was the inevitable result. If you militarize a good thing, institutionalize it, make option things mandatory, punish those who refuse to comply… of course people are going to fight back.
Of course, its source was the military… so I guess it was really inevitable… but again, for me, sad. I live what I think of as proper tolerance daily. I’m doing it now. I listen. Pay attention. I let people be themselves, but I don’t hesitate to push back if they’re being an asshole, just enough to find the human inside and not so much that we end up in a neverending conflict over words and definitions from both sides.
But we’re in a polarizing time. Everybody’s a heckler while being dead serious simultaneously. I just have to wait it out.
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