Olive Branch
I am a great admirer of people who aren’t too proud to be wrong, or revisit their stances now and again. There’s a lot to be said for standing strong in one’s convictions, but a steadfast adherence to that mindset can lead one quickly into the space of blissful ignorance. The Socratic utterance, “the unexamined life is not worth living,” is profound in its commitment to constant interrogation of the things we hold to be true. To really discern the “truth” one must constantly search for ways to disprove a given stance. The result is a strengthened belief, or a good reason to reevaluate things.
All of which is to say that I still believe in what I wrote about Millennials the other day. I think that the defense I offered in response to the critiques of our generation in popular culture are fair — if overly sarcastic and snippy — as well as logically sound. My defense of the generation is rooted in what I perceive to be a mischaracterization of a group, stemming mostly from the parroting of talking points that are easily disprovable, as most stereotypes are. Why I chose to take up the defense of Millennials is that I felt the mischaracterizations to be more pernicious than the average intergenerational squabbling. The accusations felt, and feel, particularly aggressive.
So, I wrote a bit to respond to some of the accusations. What I did not do was offer anything in the way of an olive branch to the generations that I rather hypocritically (though, intentionally) generalized. The majority of people in my life who fit into the generations I identified at the very least tolerate Millennials, if not admire them, hire them, enjoy them. As I said previously, the voices denouncing Millennials are more likely the loudest ones, as walking around randomly singing the praises of a generation would come off as a bit gratuitous (which is goofy if you think about it, but we will leave that for another time.) I don’t really know if offering said olive branch is entirely necessary; one could argue that you are either offended because what I’ve written is true, or the water rolls off your back because you realize that while it is true for some of your generation, you are not the target of what I said. All the same, after having spoken with some of my Millennial counterparts, it is in good faith that I suggest the words I’ve written should not be taken as an unmitigated condemnation of the generations that preceded mine. Furthermore, I can understand the confounding nature of my generation. Enigmas, shrouded in layers of web persona, trends, and varying personal projections, it is difficult to suss out precisely what our generation is about. We are a weird bunch. So while I don’t agree with any pointed attacks of Millennials stemming from the confusion swirling around us, I certainly do not disagree with the confusion itself.
I stand by my thesis. What I have to say in defense in Millennials and some of the critiques hurled our way remains the same. But despite my sarcastic and indignant Millennial tone I know the older generations love so much, I hope what can be found is an invitation to deeper consideration of the way our culture talks about Millennials. So, to those of you who I might have scared off because I couldn’t keep the snarky comments to myself, this is my olive branch, and my request for you to take a second look.
