“Here is what we know for certain: Americans are much, much crueler people than we care to admit to ourselves. Trump closed out the campaign with overt racism and calls for ethnic cleansing, and Americans who voted him either liked the idea of ethnic cleansing very very much, cheering and egging him on, or at worst tut-tutted and claimed that it would be worth it because of some largely fictional belief about the economy being “better” back in the days of mass pandemic death.”
I must not mock Gen Alpha. Mocking Gen Alpha is the mind killer. Mocking Gen Alpha is the little-death that brings total generational solidarity obliteration. I will engage with Gen Alpha lovingly. I will permit them to be cringe. And when they grow up I will turn my eye to their accomplishments. Where mocking has gone there will be nothing. Only generational solidarity remains
The Kids are indeed Alright.
We must teach them the Lore of things,
like piracy, and how to find stuff at the Library, and Unions, and what it’s not legal for job applications to ask you.
when i hear complaints about the boomers, i say “was it not boomers getting shot by cops while protesting against the war in vietnam? Were not boomers the ones who insisted that banks would no longer require a cosign from a husband or father for a woman to open an account or have a credit card? Did they not literally take us to the moon?”
When i hear complaints about gen x i say “ did not gen x bear the brunt of AIDS and the creation of the ‘inner city’? wasn’t it gen-x marching for queer rights and women’s body autonomy and a change in corrupt banking policies in some of the largest protests in the country’s history?”
when i hear complaints about millennials, i say “have not millennials fought against and lived through so many ‘once in a generation’ disasters they should by all rights have given up by now? Are not millennials those who rally against the status quo? the industry killers, the cop protesters, they who live through unending hardship as the economic noose tightens, leading the charge for sustainability and socio-economic reform?”
when i hear complaints about gen-z i say “hasn’t gen-z gotten involved younger, and been involved stronger, in the continuance of these noble traditions? Are they not living without even the broken pieces of the promise given to the generations that came before? haven’t they had their childhoods derailed by the imminence of consequences for actions they were never even present for?”
when i hear complaints about generation alpha i say “HOW DARE YOU. How dare you malign these souls who will have to fix so much that they did not have a hand in ruining… or else die of these mistakes made before they were born. How dare you do the work of our shared oppressors and alienate our fresh blood. You are not to mistreat and mock the youngest soldiers in this fight, no! you point out to them the best targets, you share your rations, you show them how to stay alive, because anyone in the trenches with us is our brethren, our sistren. Our safety and our strength.”
don’t let the worst kind of stand up comedian tell you other generations are terrible. Don’t let the worst kind of headline convince you each generation is against the other. Don’t let the worst kind of oppressive force keep us divided along lines that mean nothing real. Because that is how they win.
the thing is I already know that men and society at large hate women. I know that young men in particular increasingly skew right and towards misogyny (I’ve read the articles, although all I really need to do is spend any time on any part of the internet to see the evidence). but then every so often something like this happens where it still somehow surprises me. like my god.. they really hate us this much.
