The TSA Generation
A generation defined by an obsession with technology, a need for security, and the adaptability to find freedom in a world of contradictions.
As I reached another birthday the other day and the new year dawns, it occurred to me that the Millennial generation is now old enough to run for Congress. In reflecting on that, I would like to suggest a more fitting title for this cohort, and since only 35% of older Millennials (born 1981–1988), and 45% of younger (born 1989–1997) self-identify as such, I think I’m justified in applying some nomenclature both groups can get behind.
The Me Generation or Generation Snowflake—sure, there is some truth to these accusatory names, but perhaps we can ascribe some of that fear and selfishness to very rational roots. Though the younger Millennials may not recall with the clarity that I do, this is a generation that grew up in front of the television and as young children saw Waco burning, the terror of Columbine, the Oklahoma bombing, and the USS Cole smoking. As we entered or finished high school, we saw the Twin Towers turned to dust and the War on Terror that followed. As for the younger half, they may have been too young to remember 9/11 distinctly, but they have seen enough San Bernadinos and Marathon bombings to get up to speed with the rest of us. Now, we are faced with a world plagued by crises of immigration, terrorism, and the hangover of globalization.
We are the last generation that will remember a world before the TSA, the most visible and identifiable element of the surveillance state that the new millennium rung in. A continually-adapting microcosmic organism that so perfectly mimics the federal government: annoying, expensive, ineffective, unaccountable, but somehow necessary and tolerated.
Not just aware of the dangers of this world in which we live, but confronted by them every time we step into an airport, board a train, or turn on the TV, many of this generation have accepted the trade off between liberty and security.
But we also live in a bizarre world of contradictions: we expect our government to provide us with domestic security, healthcare, education, step in to guarantee our civil liberties and protect our natural resources, but shudder in revulsion when the beast should step out of line.
To kids raised under the shadow of the Orwellian Patriot Act the revelations of Snowden were no big surprise. Still too young to run for office, we turned to our forbears, the Boomers, who in turn left it up to the government to remedy.
Our obsession with security is peculiarly matched with our devotion to technology: we accept new tech before it’s even been vetted, jumping into Ubers with strange drivers and plugging our credit card numbers into apps we just downloaded. We avoid phone calls for texts, and texts for more secretive and anonymous apps like Whatsapp and Snapchat; we have logins and passwords saved for dozens of websites, private data stored on the Cloud, old myspace accounts left frozen in time, and decaying hotmail accounts we ditched years ago for trendier gmails.
Our freakish version of free market libertarianism encourages new technology to rise up — side-stepping regulations that hold back traditional business models — and avoid government regulations for as long as possible. By the time state and city governments catch up to Uber and start forcing ID’s, licenses, and background checks onto drivers, there won’t be any drivers left to regulate.
Our flirtations with liberty are fraught with discrepancies as we champion states’ rights victories for left-wing social causes, but head to the supreme court to fight local policies we do not like, as I point out in my piece on nullification.
As this generation takes up the yoke, it falls on us to address the contradictions between our love for liberty, our obsession with technology, and our need for security. From director Alfonso Cuarón:
“I used to think that any solution would come from the paradigms that I know. Now I think that the only thing is to think of the unimaginable. For the new generation, the unimaginable is not as unimaginable.” (Vulture)
We need new modes of thought to solve the challenges of this rapidly evolving world. Reliance on traditional ideologies will weigh us down in a race where security threats and technological developments are constantly outpacing each other.
Generation TSA, We need to adapt.
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