Monday, December 2, 2013
Movements in the Millennial Militia- Moral Monsters, Meaningful Masters, or Money Misers?
The Millenial Generation. Wait, misspelled it again.
The MILLENNIAL Generation. My people. Born during the mid to late 90s. Vastly different from our predecessors. This is a phenomena that has been explored greatly since our existence began. However, one article from the New York Times clearly shows that the Baby Boomers have no idea what the heck they're talking about. Allow me to elaborate...
Emily Esfahani Smith and Jennifer L. Aaker's article entitled "Millennial Searchers"makes numerous claims about the supposed mindset of the Millennial generation. This extremely erroneous article states that "Millennials appear to be more interested in living lives defined by meaning than by what some would call happiness. They report being less focused on financial success than they are on making a difference."
Where do I even start?
Firstly, you claim that millennials are more interested in a meaningful life, rather than a happy life. Isn't it possible that both could occur simultaneously? You then claim that they are "less focused on financial success than they are on making a difference." Which of these ideas are you arguing? Are you claiming that financial success is the same as happiness? Clearly you need to organize your thoughts. While you do that, I will analyze each of your main points.
The first: millennials are more concerned with having a meaningful life rather than a happy life. To me, meaningful means that it is something that helps others (or other things) in some way. Who is to say that one couldn't be happy in doing so? Personally, I enjoy helping others, and would probably enjoy a job doing so.
The second: millennials are more focused on making a difference than on financial success. I'm not sure where this is coming from. I, personally, love making a difference, but you know what I love just as much (and sometimes more)? Gettin' that ca$h money. This article assumes that all millennials are not in it for the cash, and aren't all selfish brats like myself. I like stuff. I want things constantly. Money does that. I don't think of money as a way to happiness, I just like buying stuff.
The third: money=happiness. Did you really mean to say this? Money ≠ happiness. I'm sorry, but it just doesn't. Money can be fun, but it isn't the key to living a happy life. That's fact.
In conclusion...millennials aren't the magnanimous, kind-hearted, civic-minded people that you baby boomers think. We are selfish brats, and proud of it. Plain and simple. Now go make me a sandwich and pay my bills, please.
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As much as I'd like to disagree with you, Chris, I have to say that based on what everyone around me is planning on majoring in and the colleges they are planning to attend, people are no less self-centered in their job search than ever before. I do think that both the article and your argument are jumping the gun a little bit, however, in the claims both are making. I know that, at 16 years old, I have no idea what I'm doing with my life yet, so how can someone comment that my job choice is self centered or otherwise? And even those who feel like they might know their future career choice can still end up in a completely different field.
ReplyDeleteThat is a very valid point, and I do agree completely- I don't know what career I plan on having. However, the conclusions i drew here were more based on my thoughts and ideas. Basically, even though I don't know what i will be doing, I can still make this point based on my personality.
DeleteThis blog post really interested me because I said the exact opposite in mine. I don't think we're selfish brats, as a whole. In every generation, there are spoiled and nonspoiled people. It's impossible to categorize all millennials as selfish. I would never say my generation is plainly terrible. I am proud of my generation and everything we've accomplished.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more- I am proud of our generation and what we've accomplished (and are accomplishing). That's not the way I intended for this to be taken. My point is that 1) the previous generation(s) is(are) not always in a place to make suppositions about our generation and 2) I feel that assuming that everyone in a specific group is the same is not good. This was more my view of my own persona and ideas- not a representation of the entire generation. And another note- though I don't think it's nice to make stereotypes of certain groups, if you are in one of those groups, you can make fun of these stereotypes, which can be entertaining.
DeleteI believe your generation is left selfish than mine - after all, we are the "Me Generation"! We were politically active, but generally as a way to improve our own experience not necessarily that of others.
ReplyDeleteValid point. However, I could say the same about myself. I worry about what Washington is going do to our future every day. My main purpose for doing so is exactly the same- I want a well-paying job and the freedom to actually have some money saved up when I get out of college.
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