http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4IjTUxZO…

why doesn't the term "millennial" refer to someone currently at most 13 years old? (allowing for those that rightfully insist the millennium commenced at the start of 2001

Quit whining.

Sometimes I wonder if the Republicans are trying to ruin government so that they can show people how bad government is. If they could cut money to Social Security, they would. Then, when folks complained that their checks were late, they could talk about privatizing the thing. It reminds me of the Iraq debacle. For years Republicans complained about "nation building". After Iraq, it was obvious they had a point. But just because one party is incompetent, doesn't mean government can't do things right. It just means that one party is incompetent. I hope people figure this out, but I'm not holding my breath.

@4,

The younger generation becoming apathetic and cynical is just a bonus to Republicans, assuming that isn't an intended result. Apathetic and cynical people don't tend to vote.

I'm smack in the middle of generation X so I usually just assume I'm going to be fucked no matter whether things turn out good or bad.

@2, I think it makes sense for those that were born around 1983 to be considered "Millennials" because they came of age in a time when the current 21st century culture-- internet culture, essentially--became dominant. Gen X kids may have had computers in their homes, but only the nerdiest participated in BBSes and early internet culture, so that is a clear difference.

The kids born after 2000 will probably get their own label to harass them in popular media, which will of course overlap with "Millennial" as Millennial does with Gen X.

It can't be said often enough how lazy this magazine (and newspaper feature writer's) analysis of every generation is. The only thing missing is a catalog of all the "me generations" before the 1970s that Reeve starts with. What was the "Lost Generation"? What was F Scott Fitzgerald talking about if not youthful narcissism? What were all those Civil War veterans doing going west to look for gold and "find themselves", as we would say now, if not navel gazing. What was Herman Melville talking about? Entitled, lazy youth that would rather fuck off doing weird shit in weird places instead of trying to be more like their parents. Instead of buckling down and Getting A Real Job™.

This. Shit. Is. So. Old.

So. Lazy.

So. Intellectually. Dishonest.

It's got to stop. Think about who comes after the millennials. What do you think these fuckers at the NYT and Time are going to write about them? The. Same. Shit. We could sit down right now and write their "generation me" feature stories for the next 20 years and then tell these hack writers to to take the next two decades off. Get a real job, maybe.

Hey. Let's do.

Lack of confidence in institutions isn't due to "petty partisanship and gridlock", it's due to these institutions waging policies that are increasingly not popular with the population during a time of crisis.

I'm just bummed the term Gen Y didn't stick. I like that so much better. Millennials sounds like a Robbie Williams song.

@4 What the fuck is this "sometimes I wonder...?"

OF COURSE THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE FUCKING DOING!!! These are people raised on Reagan's joke "The most terrifying words in the English language are 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'" That's the NICEST thing they can think of to say about the government.

Except the military. The military is good and holy. Except when they want veterans' benefits. Then they're whiny leeches and should just die.

I hope these "Millennials" are smart enough to see that they need to work to rid the government of the Republican creeps that are making it so ineffective (and deliberately so). They have that power, or will soon enough. Maybe not if you're a hipster on Capitol Hill, but there are loads of Millennials still stuck in places like the Eastside (VOTE OUT REICHERT, DAMMIT) and elsewhere who are subject to your attentions.

I'm an old fart born in the Eisenhower administration, and find myself annoyingly agreeing with Fnarf again. Fuck the militaristic, nationalistic jingo bullshit, which is just a smokescreen over the stripmining of the country by a small clique of rich assholes.

The recent spat of articles declaring the Millenials a group of entitled, spoiled, generation is insulting. Quoting a piece in Mother Jones, "If I want something beyond debt and slow wages, am I simply being entitled and delusional?"

You had a swear jar? No wonder Greenberg made you arbiter of the vocabulary words after you graduated from Center.
-Vic

@12 @13 @14

Yes, fiftysomethings. A thread about slandering young people is really all about you and your issue du jour.

Can you imagine if we tried to debunk stories calling blacks lazy, and a bunch of white folks came along to change the subject to white people problems? The difference is that young people are still fair game and you can still use them as punching bags in polite company. With race, such supremacy is now gauche.

If they all voted for Democrats instead of complaining, we'd have fewer problems. The fucking media is the one that's at fault here. They don't report the truth anymore. In the interest of "fairness" which is bullshit.

@Fnarf and Karlheinz, for every liberal millennial that would happily vote out Reichert, there's a South-Park Republican millennial that loves him some guns and is happily voting FOR Reichert in every election.

I don't think there's any hope for a generation that has 90's nostalgia.

@17, yo, Ph'nglui, what the fuck you talking about?

At no point in my comment did I slander any young people. I'm solidly pro-young people. My point was in response to the article, which was saying that said young people don't trust government; I was suggesting that there was an effective way to make change happen instead of giving in to hopelessness. That's not off-topic. It's certainly not "my issue du jour", whatever that means. It's not slander, and it's not changing the subject -- it IS THE SUBJECT OF THIS ARTICLE.

You need to adjust your medication or learn to read, one or the other. I normally like your posts, so I'll chalk it up to change-of-life hormones or something.

Not a Millenial problem, but a problem with the youth of all generations - they don't vote. They are 20 points or more behind older generations in voter turnout. Gen X and boomers and all of them were the same. They complain about the system while holding the single biggest key to affect change in it and being to lazy and self absorbed to use it. This generations version of being cynical and disaffected is going to be to embrace libertarianism, just wait.

@20,

What was the matter with the '90s? The '90s were awesome in a number of different ways.

This may be a surprise here, but the Millenials, like any rational thinking people, might perceive their fate more tied up in the fate of private industry than government.

@22

It's like going to a post about rape and saying, oh, by the way, women really need to get out and vote to change the culture of violence. Instead of saying that men need to stop raping.

Saying you "hope" millennials vote these motherfuckers out is a distraction, at best. The demographic data says unequivocally that they are progressive voters. It's people your age and older who are the problem.

My point is that you should have begin by apologizing for your generation, who elected Reagan and Gingrich and Hastert and Bush and Boehner. You did that. Asking the millennials to clean up your generation's mess (and several other messes the older generation made, like global warming and collapsing infrastructure and loose nukes and need I go on?) is fair enough, in so far as your generation isn't about to even try, but first lets acknowledge who made this mess.

@23

The single biggest key to fixing our fucked up country is for the older generations to stop voting like psychopaths. Stop voting for nihilism. Stop voting for the end of everything decent in America.

Yes, sure, we'd all like the young to turn out more. But why? Because of their lack of misanthropic goals. Because they don't see letting innocent people starve and suffer and die as acceptable.

Again, it's like lecturing women on avoiding rape. Yes, perhaps necessary. But first let's lecture men to stop raping. And let's lecture old fuckers to stop voting for evil incarnate.

At least apologize to the young for the fact that the old are so intractably misanthropic in their voting patterns, and then beg them to come fix it for the sake of all humanity.

@26 - Why should he apologize? It's not his responsibility that older people eventually become the demographic base for reactionary politics.

All this talk about the specifics of each generation are very divisive and not very factual. Different age groups want different things out of life (youth is more carefree while older ones tend to be fearful, etc), and time's arrow make each passing generation a little bit different from the previous one, but by and large our interests and needs are overwhelmingly the same.

ALL Y'ALLS.

Speaking as a millenial who is also the child of a baby boomer (me 1988, my parents 1949-1952) I can't help but feel that every single criticism of my generation is just an updated replay of every single criticism of YOUR generation. There is no way that the establishment didn't point to you, point to Woodstock, point to your hair, and clothes, (hippies, hipsters, hipwaaaaaaaaaaah) and claim them as evidence for your collective failure as human beings, your disassociation from the vested national interests. They decried your very existence as a parasitic plague and stylistic folly.

You call US narcissists and nihilists, when you were all about playing the anarchists, tripping acid and weeping over the Kennedy assassinations. In OUR lifetime, we have experienced the Bush administration as our main introduction to the extent to which political power corrupts, and we've both imported terrorism, exported war, and been attacked on a massive scale, and witnessed mass shootings that are now essentially beyond the counting.

We are finding our feet, amidst this shitstorm. It was on a reactionary basis that we elected Obama, but more of our generation and age demographic turned out for that election than ever before. We are the largest generation in US history. And given the number of lies, the quality of discourse, and the bureaucratic, systematic effort to deprive us of education and opportunity, it is complete and utter hypocrisy to accuse us of being self-entitled and lazy. You're parroting your own detractors, making mouth sounds at us without, apparently, comprehending their meanings.

So, Fnarf, and others of your ilk, you established slog commenters. You want us to participate in our government? By...uh, making comments on Slog? Great fucking plan, revered elder. Really excellent leadership. Let us all follow your example in bring about this utopian vision where we all type our fury, type our way to glorious revolution. Because you know, I agree with you in that I think people- and I say people, because let's just quit fostering the illusion that political and civic ignorance is endemic only to my generation- are really incompetent at participating in government.

It's part of the reason why shitheels like Supertintendent Banda are trying to muscle out my and Anna's high school citizenship and social justice teacher- and yet can't really justify their doing so in such a way that seems to represent either an active interest in suppressing such information, or truly astounding ignorance. It is a systemic problem. And not everyone has equal access to that understanding, or the tools to do anything about it. So if you, oh wise crusties of the slogsphere, would like to actually accomplish something aside from cutting and pasting links, start with simple education. Start with civics education and making it mandatory in every school in the nation. Get right on that. Retirement's coming up for you, so you'll have the time. We on the other hand have burgers to flip and philosophy degrees to get, and skinny jeans to buy.

@26, I'm not entirely sure who you're yelling at, but I assure you I am a progressive voter. I certainly didn't vote for Bush & Co., and couldn't vote for Hastert if I wanted to (which I don't) because he's not from my district.

It's funny that you take this article to task for lumping everyone together in a made up generalization, and then immediately do the exact same thing.

The article in question -- the actual one posted by Anna Minard, which I read -- sez, or quotes someone saying, that Millennials don't trust the government, are losing faith, "wonder whether the governing institutions of your country are up to the task". They're becoming "decidedly cynical". That's a direct quote.

My point was that, due to the demographic strength of their generation, they can or will soon be able to do something active about the evil that's got into our government, and I hope that they are able to do so and not succumb to that cynicism.

I don't think that's a very controversial point of view, and I sure as motherfucking HELL don't think it's the equivalent of telling a rape victim it's her fault. That's crazy talk. I will refrain from telling you to go fuck yourself, because I like you, but don't think I'm not tempted.

"Keep the faith, don't become cynical, you CAN make a difference" -- you see that and think "GRRR RAPE DEFENDER YOU BASTARD"? That's nutty.

Most of the people who voted for Reagan will be dead soon, if they aren't already. The people who voted for Bush are being demographically swamped, and the people who voted for the tea party are falling further and further out of the national conversation. The pendulum will swing back. The monsters are going to lose. The long arc of justice etc.

@28 @31

If you're going to make speeches towards millennials in general, exhorting them to vote Reichert out, lumping all of them together, then be prepared to be lumped in with your own generation.

Think about it. Some typical progressive 25 year old in the 8th District is listening to Fnarf tell him it's not enough to vote against Sheriff Dave. On top of that, he's got to work his ass off to get the other twentysomethings to get with the program too. Because we all know the fifitysomethings can't be counted on to do anything but fuck everybody over.

How 'bout Fnarf first go get all his fiftysomething cohort to stop voting in league with the Satan. Once Fnarf discovers the secret of getting everybody his own age to give a shit about the public good, then the young can do the same. Hop on the bus to Sammamish and meet up with some Eeastside voters of your own generation and maybe connect with them. It's just lazy to throw your hands up and say it's time for the next generation to fix the problem because your own generation has just too many assholes.

If we're each an island, fine. We're islands. Nobody's keeper. But if we're members of a cohort, then you first get your own cohort's head out of its ass, and leave the kids alone to worry about theirs.

@30

The kids getting their legs blown off in Iraq and Afghanistan are not avoiding conflict or avoiding consequences. The ones who sent them there are the ones avoiding consequences. The kids who will be paying student loans for the next 30 years in a diminished economy are not avoiding consequences.

The people who ruined the earth and then retired to collect more in social security than they paid in are the ones skipping out on the bill. The millennials are all about consequences. They have no choice.

@33, OK, I'm changing my mind and going with FUCK YOU. You're an idiot, and you can't read. Nothing in any of your screeds here relates to anything I said or Anna Minard said or Pew Research said or the Harvard report said. You're talking to yourself. Maybe adjust your medicine or something.

@34

You needn't have withheld your precious "fuck you" for so long. Accusing me of being off my meds pretty much says the same thing, doesn't it? Put your precious "fuck you" in one had and shit in the other and see which one gets filled up first. Your precious "fuck you" is nothing but meaningless noise because you've run out of things to say.

The point still stands: you're lumping millennial together to make demands on them while refusing to be lumped in with your own cohort. "Fuck you" doesn't change that.

I moved back to Canada after 18 years in Seattle. I've never seen so many people my age who are apathetic about politics than here. That might be because the screwing over isn't as overt or publicized. But I think it's a huge mistake to equate distrust of government with being disengaged from politics. American millennials share a pretty common ideology of which mistrust of government has to do with the government's failure at its mandate, not a disavowal of government in and of itself. Except maybe for a couple of fuck mooks on Greek row who think Ron Paul is a rebel.

Sorry , Fnarf. Your approach is all hat and no cattle. What exactly have you done of material value to rectify the situation? I mean really when did you last community organize to bring legislation and what campaigns have you worked for? What does being a top commenter on slog count for and what evidence do you have that it is more helpful or productive than whatever you perceive my generation to be failing at? Anna Minard is a journalist with a weekly paper with a large readership. So far as a millennial she's got more influence in terms of communication than you do. If you've worked to rectify apathy in any other way besides voicing your complains to the obscurity of the internet and making clever fucking ablest remarks about mental health? I found that extra funny, given I was forced to leave the us to get my medication covered. Very very amusing and clever, you.

@32 - I would think that Fnarf already pushes his cohort to buckle the trend and make a progressive contribution to our future but historically, youth is the engine of change, so it does make sense to call it to fulfill its potential. On the other hand, this inter-generational blame pinning is worthless except for conservatives who play on it (lies about SS being bankrupt).

Oy.

@37: Fnarf is very politically and socially active. Two campaigns for legislation he's worked on (off the top of my head) concerned gun control and the viaduct? He has a life outside of Slog. He never claimed that commenting here had a political value equal to or greater than actual activism.
As to his rhetoric, ( profanity, ableism etc.) Fnarf will be the first to admit he is an asshole. Doesn't work in his favor, especially since all y'all (you, him, Ph'nglui) are all pretty much exactly on the same page, but there you are. Wouldn't be the internet without people in agreement talking past each other, interspersed with hissing and spitting.
Can we all just try to do what we can to address how politically fucked up this country is, each within our own demographic?

@39: Oy indeed!