“Woke” Millennials (Generation Y) – Me Included!

I have noticed that there has been some serious criticism against the next ruling generation; The Millennials, born between 1980-1995. It seems that the older generation don't like what kind of people are being produced by the era of the Internet and modernization of, well everything.

Some journalists describe my generation quite harshly, even pejorative. I know that they use strong, mean, and pejorative adjectives so that texts would stand out and I understand that completely as I also think about rhetorics, especially in the headlines. It's good to have journalists who bring up things that most people are afraid to say out loud but I don't agree with the suggestion that millennials, in general, will be somehow damaging to future society.

Everyone goes through the clueless teenage era doing childish and selfish things, because of our brain that is not fully developed by then. That happens to everyone, regardless of the generation; it happened to previous generations, it happened to me, and it happens to everyone no matter how sophisticated their family is. Compared to previous generations, this clueless era was known only for the close circle of friends and family, but the millennials had the chance to put it on the Internet which they, of course, did.

I am sure that everyone can agree that, no one thought how big of a deal Internet will eventually become. And because of that, a whole generation's whims and youths are out there, and it doesn't always look that good. But every decade we learn something and in the future, next generations might not fall in the same holes as we did.

Therefore, I don't appreciate the idea of "stupid" millennials, because of course, people will engage in something that is considered "cool", because people want to feel part of something and part of new things.

And although millennials are not in control yet, they have brought up fundamental issues about race, equality, and the environment. Deep matters that determine the future values and therefore future practices and goals. But they get trashed about it.

So why do we "whine" so much?

Well, I think because we just want more than Generation X. We don't think the world is where it should be, where Generation X left it.

But I do understand the critics, these 2 generations are probably the two most different generations following each other in human history. The surroundings where these two generations grew up are like the barn and the skyscraper. No wonder these two generations collide because they don't understand each other at all.

I want to take a closer look at some words that are used to describe the millennials, after all, I am one of those people who experienced the social, technological, and cultural changes in The 90s as a child; I am a product of my society.

I am (according to some): Woke - Hypocritical - Rhetorical - Preacher

Sounds like a very annoying generation (:D), but let's see first how Gen Y is described in general.

• Generation Y is known for its liberal thoughts, mostly because of the Internet which allowed this generation to be the first to grow up with a connection to other continents, cultures, and languages making it a very tolerant generation. "The 1990s was a time of increasing globalization of the world economy, mostly as the result of technological advancements, the collapse of the USSR, and new free trade agreements."

So...This preaching happens because Generation Y differs a lot from the previous generations, therefore it is understandable that opinions are more fundamental and therefore louder than before. The Internet offers a wide platform and audience, so it makes sense that Gen Y is louder than other generations; they had better tools for it and they grew using it.

And if there is a problem in society, shouldn't it be preached? Isn't it better that people are "woke" than totally unaware?

"Hypocritical" is used a lot too, but I think that describes our era in general, which includes all the generations living in it. That's because I don't think there has been a more doubtful era in human history than now. We are finding it hard to believe anything anymore and that's why we suspect everything and everyone. And anyone of us could be hypocritical if we just dig deep enough.

The reason millennials get the blame for hypocrisy is because of that general doubtfulness and their quality to speak their mind and break taboos. If you say that recycling is a good thing but do not recycle everything in your life, you are hypocritical. If you say that alcohol is bad, and someone sees you having a mojito on your vacation, you are hypocritical.

What is hypocritical, is to ask people to be perfect, when no one can do that. A normal, reasonable person knows that.

"Rhetorical" means that someone tries to persuade someone to think or act the way he/she wants. It's good that rhetorics is brought to the big audience, to show the fishing net rhetorics ultimately is, maybe reducing populism in the future. So thanks to preaching, we might have fewer secrets and more transparency in the future.

I already know what some journalists would write about me: "Not another, woke, new-age weirdo, lecturing us how to live our lives!"

But I wouldn't be offended by that, because they are identical "lecturers" as I am, we just differ in style (and generation) how we write. But we both lecture, if we wouldn't lecture, then we would be writing novels and poems, but we aren't, we are writing texts to make some issues in our society visible, from our (generations) point of view.

As part of Gen Y, I doubt previous worldviews and values, which makes me annoyingly woke about the differences; I understand the difference between these two eras and how difficult sometimes it is to please both generations. And as I don't find the idea of God reasonable, I turn desperately to new age, which then, makes me a new-age weirdo. Some see new age people that way, and that's ok, but it's also ok to admit that you are undetermined about fundamental questions of life.

"Victim" they would also say, always blaming others. But I disagree, I know exactly why I am the way I am, which eventually leads to the era I was born (plus personal traits of course), the era of being in the middle of old and new.

I would say that millennials have enough on their plate already, prejudicial attacks towards a whole generation is the last thing they need. But I think it's wishful thinking to assume that we would be seen another way because the more the millennials age (and take part in developing the society), the more collisions will happen with the X-generation.

This will be an interesting era in human history overall, I hope I will live long to see how things are in 50 years. If we, Gen Y, really are too "woke" and "hypocritical", I have my hope in Generation Z, who does not have to carry Generation X's past on its shoulders. (By the way, Generation Z is also called the Generation Alpha, why did they get the cool name?!)

Maybe we millennials think too much about ourselves, but I think that's good because at least it will make it easier for the Alphas to cultivate when we handle most of the bulldozing.