The trouble isn't with young people, it's with grownups who won't be the grownups they need to be.

The trouble with young people today is that they’re the same as they’ve always been. In other words, there’s no new ‘trouble’ with young people today - but there is with the grownups.

I came across this recent article about Scottish politics¹, which amongst other things, mentions the increasing number of young people in its ranks. It’s a similar phenomenon happening here in New Zealand, too. In the article, ex-First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, is quoted as stating that politics is “too full of young people who have just come through the political ranks”.

The deliciously scathing writer of the above article, Jim Spence, excoriates her “hypocrisy” with: “As first minister, she appointed a cabal of youthful, incompetent and incoherent ninnies with levels of life experience which wouldn’t trouble the back of a fag packet.”

I don’t think I’d be wrong in saying that a sizeable contingent of us in NZ would agree we could transplant his sentiments into our politics and public service here, as well. There’s nothing wrong with inexperience, we all have to learn. The problem lies in thinking it’s not a problem when power is given to youthful, incompetent and incoherent ninnies. We’ve all been one of those at some stage in our lives, but I can’t imagine my younger self handling prematurely acquired power in a way that didn’t in all likelihood make me, at the very least, a bit of a prat, to put it kindly to my younger self.

(And yes, older people can be incompetent and incoherent ninnies, too, which is another story. Thought I’d better get that one out of the way now.)

One of the big differences between Scotland and NZ, besides the land mass², is that none of our mainstream media would publish Jim Spence’s heresy against the new imperious youth gods. Our mainstream media would quail almost as much at the prospect of publishing that, as they would about publishing the statement a woman is an adult human female. Much of the ensuing outrage would come from their own staff of “youthful, incompetent and incoherent ninnies with levels of life experience which wouldn’t trouble the back of a fag packet”. Young people are not the problem, though, they’re just doing what young people have always done if they’re allowed to do it. It’s the grownups who need to grow the feck up into being grownups again, and take charge. I’m being optimistic that there are still some whose brains haven’t been entirely captured by youthful need-a-safe-space dictators.

When ‘crusty’ ol’ ex-politician, Nick Smith, was elected Mayor of Nelson in October 2022, he chose a (then) 22-year-old social justice activist – i.e. an active trans activist – Rohan O’Neill-Stevens, as his deputy. Mayor Smith waxed lyrical about Mr O’Neill-Stevens, and said his decision to have a (baby) deputy mayor of a different political leaning to himself was “a deliberate choice to provide balance, and about letting the older generation grow the skills of the next”. I take this to mean that Mayor Smith thinks he can teach Mr O’Neill-Stevens something. All I can say about that is “hahahahahahahahahahaha”. I wonder if Mayor Smith has been re-educated yet?

I doubt that young Mr O’Neill-Stevens, who comes across as an ideological neo-rainbow zealot, is willing to learn anything at the feet of older more experienced politicians or councillors. He’s been handed reins of power he’s barely worked five minutes for, and that’s heady stuff.

Recently, a group called ‘Let Kids be Kids’ did a roadshow tour of the South Island to raise awareness amongst parents about some age-inappropriate content in the Ministry of Education’s ‘Relationships and Sexuality Guidelines’, which they thought should be removed. The fact that young Mr O’Neill-Stevens knew nothing about the content of the roadshow didn’t stop him spilling the usual bile to the Nelson Mail. He is quoted as saying that the group was “peddling hate and vitriol”, and that “there’s no guise of legitimate discussion here. This group is very clearly saying conspiracy theories about LGBT+ community in a way that’s destructive, harmful, and full of hate.”

Love that “balance” young Mr O’Neill-Stevens is providing.

I can’t see that any of the grownups in the Nelson City Council have done a lot in the way of showing the young Deputy Mayor how to act like a grownup. Even though I expressed optimism earlier that there may still be some grownups in the room, I have my doubts that he’s “letting the older generation grow the skills of the next”. Conversely, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Deputy Mayor has taken the entire Council’s brains hostage and re-educated them by now to hate anyone who doesn’t agree with his neo-rainbow agenda.

It's the job of grownups to show young people how to be grownups, even though young people may consider that being like the grownups they know is the last thing they want to be. It doesn’t matter, things about life still get learned from grownups that can’t be got from the internet. Plus, they’re usually the ones who know how to clean up the mess after great ideas turn to custard.

Of course it’s good for younger and older people to mix it up. Even if we do irk each other now and then, it’s beneficial for us overall in myriad ways. But, I prefer those in the actual driving seats of government, public service, councils, universities, and media to be grownups with a bit more life experience than “troubles the back of a fag packet” - and not afraid to own it.

¹Jim Spence on Nicola Sturgeon hypocrisy and rape crisis tribunal (thecourier.co.uk)

²NZ is about 3.5 times the size of Scotland in total land mass, it has a slightly smaller population of 5.3M, compared to Scotland’s 5.6M.

Header Photo by Ant A: