A very interesting article was raised over at news.com.au's site, regarding Generation Y. Oddly enough, I've thought for some time that Gen Y (mostly the mid to late Gen Y's) have ... some kind of "problem".
My team at work was made up mostly of Gen Xer's. The lot of us, despite differences at times, got along. We all "got" each other, we all behave well and respect others, and in the corporate world, we know there are things you do, and things you just don't do.
In recent times, we've had some turnover (probably about time I moved on as well) and lo and behold, an influx of Gen Y kids have come in. Each one is arrogant, has terrible work ethics, exhibits unacceptable workplace behaviour and is totally counterproductive. Pretty much every one of us Gen X'er's want to kick the living crap out of each and every Gen Y kid in our department.
I really feel that Gen Y (mid to late Gen Y) is the biggest disgrace our society has seen. They're lacking in intelligence & morals, have little to no ability to effectively self-manage themselves (and not just in work, but in a variety of situations). They are politically docile, linguistically inept, historically starved, and as selfish as can be, existing in an small bubble with very thick walls. Sure - they're technologically savvy. Woop-dee-fucking doo. That's not enough to be intelligent or an effective contribution to society.
Their culture is even more pathetic - countless brand advertisements convey a revolution. What fucking revolution? What are they rebelling against? Generation X, and most importantly, generations before Generation X did the all the work. Take our favourite bimbos Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie - the pinnacle of face-slapping to the defiant and strong women who burned their bras in 1968, these two stupid Gen Y idiots have successfully helped to bring women's stature in the 21st century back to that of the 1950's by promoting the demure, weak woman.
Gen Y is useless, quite simply. Cultureless, grey, shallow and completely directionless. Despite trying, I can't even get myself to have a conversation with most of them, they take the levels of stupidity to new heights. I feel embarrassed for them and even more so for their parents. How can anyone possibly raise their children like this?
The scariest thing of all is that this is the future of our country. One of these brainless dumbasses is going to be leading our country one day - how the hell are they going to do it? By crying when they don't get their way? Will they sulk in Question Time? Will they not respond to you unless you SMS them or befriend them on ShitSpace?
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
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20 comments:
I agree on your post. I'm part of this Gen Y, and on a day to day basis, I lose hope for the future. I started to think how a true dumbass could be President 40-50 years from now. How spoiled and stupid my future kids will be, regardless of my interference. I can't be optimistic for anything.
Always wanted to hear the perspectives of an older generation. This is what blogging should be: real, honest opinions. The Gen Y blogs I stumble upon are mainly about "oh, my bf dumped me" or "have a happy day or else".
Haha, right on. I'm 27, so I guess that makes me generation Y. You're right, we suck! I'd like to think I buck the trend though.
I too am part of Generation Y at 22. Or is that Generation Z? The net is slow on this iPhone so I can't really Google it right now.
As someone for the eraly/mid part of Gen Y, I have to say that the people I know of my own age are more politically, historically and culturally aware than those of my parents generation. The problem is that they are also more lazy, less able to bear responsibility and have grown up a hell of a lot slower than my parents did, and I include myself in this. They are also a lot more likely to believe lame conspiracy theories about everything from 9/11 to the failure of New Coke.
A very of good friend of mine is a perfect example of my generation: he's married with a couple of kids, but still thinks it's cool to take a month off work to go hiking around South America. Of coure I can't say anything, but it just burns me up that he doesn't see anything wrong with this kind of thing.
However, it's worth realising that Gen X hasn't actually done that good a job of running things. Maybe people with a fresh set of dreams in their heads is exactly what this world needs.
All this generation labeling thing is stupid.
I really dont agree to this post. I believe that every single generation has been blaming their kids for doing the dumb crap that they do. Look at the world youre handing to us? Gee, vietnam and global warming is good to you? Oh yea, you have done a lot in terms of hard-working. You cant generalize an entire generation, thats like generalizing a race. Where i live, its called racism. Then again, im 14 years old, what do i know?
The Boomers said the same thing about us GenXers back in the day. I remember entering the work force in my twenties -- underpaid, low on the totem pole, and with modern technical skills that were crucial to keeping the office operating.
It was clear to me at the time that the Boomers' generational bitching was wholly self-serving. They wanted us to suck it up, pay our dues, bow to our elders, and openly engage our passions -- all this for nine bucks an hour and no real prospect of advancement. They had a lot more to gain from our subservience and koolaid-drinking than we did.
I'm not about to recapitulate that mistake. The kids are all right.
Although many of generation Y are as incompetent as you presume, a very big handful of generation Y are able to conduct ourselves in the most upright demeanor. Also, you pompous toad, you fail to neglect the fact that generation X, as all generations, has many notorious downfalls.
I'm part of late Generation Y, but I was raised to respect others and not be an indignant, moronic slacker. Words cannot describe how much I agree with this entry. Most of late Gen Y annoy me to bits. I side more with Gen X and pre-Gen X people. They're typically a lot more kind and understanding than Generation Y (not to mention actually listen and consider your feelings more often than not).
I have to totally agree with the poster on this one. I am a Gen Xer on the tail end of the Gen X timeline, and even in college I felt Gen Y's were just somehow brain deficient, morally deficient, and intellectually all BS.
Even if Gen Y's somehow get skipped in the presidential lineup, you still have to deal with them running pretty much everything at some point. I can imagine lawyers texting each other during murder trials about who's paying at TGIF that night.
I remember when I used to be such a frigging optimist. Gen Yer changed all that gradually over a period of 20 years, with their blatant racism, their vapid stupidity, their vacant looks, their complete lack of fashion sense, their retarded grasp of language, and a complete disregard for the existence of or importance of history.
I think we're dancing around the word "souless fascists" here, are we not? For whatever reason, they don't have any souls, and that is the core issue for me. Don't get me wroing, there were souless people all throughout my life and I dealt with them, but when I look back at those suck-ass people in my life, one thing sticks out: they were either GenYers, or they identified with Gen Yers. They really don't have souls. They are the brainless and brain-eating Zombie outbreak of our times. If they all get surgically taken out by a storm of mini-meterorites tomorrow, it will be the one redeeming event associated with Gen Y for me thus far.
Hey dude, I'm 15 and most of the people my age and older fit this description. good post
Kiss my ass Hubster
I'm 14 and i have to say i think you're generalising WAY too much. Sure, there are some lazy and arrogant people my age or above above but you can't just decide that because of those few people we are all like that. Most of us are so much more politically aware than our parents etc. and actually take an interest in the world around us.
Is it so bad that we have more access to the things that matter faster than you did? Internet & social networking isn't only about being shallow & lazy... some of us DO care and do not appreciate you labelling us like that.
Actually, it is deeper than stupidity. It has to do with a psychological profile as well as lack of basic education. When I went to school all schools had to offer certain classes. I now get people in college who think Canada is a state of the USA bordering on PA. In 1970 no one in college would have made that mistake. Nor would they have thought site is sight. However there is also an attitude that a D is just fine and dandy. We can't teach them to think if we don't give them basic skills. A college student should be able to read and know Canada is NOT part of the USA. Prehaps it is time we make sure a D is NOT ok.
"However, it's worth realising that Gen X hasn't actually done that good a job of running things."
However, it's worth realising that Gen X, to date, hasn't ever been running things, at least not very often. The baby boomers have been doing that.
If you hired a bunch of Gen Y idiots who is the real idiot them or you Gen X that hired them?
I am 22 yrs old and i believe there is loads of talent out there. If your firm attracts only the ones with a "problem" that is someone elses fault.
Also, speaking of people like Paris Hilton, i don't admire her, i don't look up to her, i agree with you when you say that she is degrading the image of women, but her goal is to make money to keep living a certain lifestyle, she does this by making dumb actions once in a while....who is stupid, we (all generations) that consume this information or her that uses us to make money?
Making such general statements is a sign of ignorance just like saying that Americans are all fat and stupid, French are all arrogant, so on and so forth.
While all this is true, what exactly did Gen X do??? The problem is that while a lot of us are ready for a revolution, like the one our parents went through (the boomers who are actually running things now), we didn't/don't have the types of leaders that were seen in the 60's and 70's, thus have no idea what to do.
It is sad that in fighting wars, laws, and injustices, earlier generations could not help rid of us of the pain and turmoil that they suffered. Instead we replaced a civil rights movement with the worship of spectacle and celebrity. Very sad indeed.
Our parents fought so that we could have it all and we are thanking them with ineptitude, laziness, and complacency. But I think we have the drive and the heart, just not the skills nor the knowledge required to enact change on a mass scale. Who will lead the way!!!
I read your article, and as a Generation Yer, who feels like an outlier, I have to agree. They suffer from information glut, and their education, which may have been sufficient years prior, no longer can offer them the tools necessary to sort through this information.
However this is more than just a Generational problem, it permiates any and all who have to live in a country where 24 hour television and the internet have replaced books and serious study. For example, our current President, Obama, is readily labelled a fascist, a socialist and a communist, as if these words have lost their meaning. There was a time when no one would have conflated these terms, however now, the as of yet unregulated information of the internet and 24 hour news can throw misinformation to the wall and see what sticks. Note this is not a partisan comment against either side, but rather both sides.
Another clear example of how information glut has weakened our country can be seen in the Evolution vs Creationism debate. This debate is actually quite old in our countries history, yet until this Generation it was not able to reach the ears of those whose education might suffer from it. Now any fact, value, or piece of common sense can be rendered into a soundbite, a tweet or a text.
As a manufacturer I have a huge issue with Gen Y. I fell ass backwards into a management position rather quickly, as such I had to grow up very fast. Among my employees most are level headed, even the dullest of our older generations, but my one Gen Y employee disgusts me. Today, even though he is on salary he takes a 4 hour lunch, and this problem is routine. If we don't watch him he will leave early. It's not that he is wilfully disrespectful, or selfish, he's oblivious. I feel that when I explain simple concepts to him of showing up on time, respecting others, and making sure his work represents the quality we expect that it goes over his head. It's almost as if he's never been told this before.
My eventually solution was to isolate him, and transfer any pressing responsibilities to more capable departments and workers. He still has work for which we hold him accountable, but it is far less than what his paycheck indicates he is worth. This, to me, is especially sad, because most of our employees are machinists, and baby boomers.
What I have found solice in is the new immigrant population, specifically Latinos. They have provided the most amazingly competent, collected, dedicated and loyal workers I have. I could imagine that the void left by my generation in terms of capable workers is what has driven the rise in illegal immigration. It's possible that we, my generation rather, are due for a rude awakening when the economy demands for more laborers who are willing to break their backs and toil in sweat for their paychecks. I believe, in many ways this is already happening.
in answer to the several persons asking what generation x does, well ... we do the actual work of keeping the world functioning. the baby boomers 'run things' in the sense of making management decisions. generation x 'runs things' in the sense of turning wrenches and fixing machines.
this is of course a generalization.
gen y ... they are IMO pretty much useless ... though this is not entierly their fault ... when i went to school, i got flunked if i didn't get it right, not congradulated. that makes a difference.
*I dropped out of school in grade eight; Even so, I know how to use a semicolon and spell the word 'eight'.
to the above poster, well, it probably WAS the first time anyone had told him.
FWIW, i am gen x.
to gen y people out there who are aware of all this and feeling somehow ripped off ... don't worry, you are supposed to feel that way when you are in your twenties (even if civilation wasn't tanking you would still feel that way).
I would also remind you that you have more resources to draw on than either we gen x'ers or the baby boomers had, you need only to avail yourselves of them.
but ... you had bloody well better start learning how things work, because when we are gone you will have to actually fix the stuff that breaks down.
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