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 “
Thanks again for a great analysis Katrina. Sport is one area where the adults have consistently failed youngsters. Cycling New Zealand and Sport NZ stand out as the worst offenders. Cycling NZ told the young women who spoke out when a man raced in their category to keep quiet or face the consequences.
I, too, shake my head in disbelief at the inept 'grownups' in sports. Someone made a great comment which came into my email, but for some weird reason doesn't show here - she said she sees many people who should know better dumbing themselves down to meet young people who are still on the way up. She wasn't referring to sports, but grownups "dumbing down" to be in with the kids is precisely what we're seeing everywhere.
One of the major observations I've made is that we are living in an era that has basically taken away the goals young people used to have and the resources they would have had available to attain these goals. I mean things like the "normal" life progression of finishing school, getting a job, coupling up, buying a home. The normalisation of not settling down and the economic uncertainty that globalsation and neoliberal economics brought have basically destroyed the normal life pathways that used to exist.
To fill the void this generation has turned to politics and the culture war. Instead of nursing children they nurse political grievances like babies, causes are their adoptive children. But real parenthood forced people to mature quickly - whereas this surrogate parenthood doesn't, it actually grows people's petulance since the ideals they demand are never deliverable. This is a lost generation.
This brings to mind Robert Kegan's stages of adult development. There's an essay theorising that the structures that formerly supported young adults in their maturation are breaking down, leading I think to this kind of pseudo-adult/perpetually emotionally adolescent type we can see a lot of today.
It's a bit of a read but fascinating, and has helped me put things I've observed into perspective:
Great remarks...I notice a nihilistic element in our eldest gal, I play it down, but frankly she sees too clearly the deck stacked against her & I understand her glass-half-emptiness. The younger one less bogged down but still 'woke' to it. Someone said Sunak's compulsory service notion will just super-charge this over there, should the tories win, doubt it... perhaps that's right. A newly-pregnant niece is feted in our small family, ramming this home for me.
I was born in a country with national service - which created a cottage industry in getting out of your obligation. (Since joining EU/NATO their post-communist military is now fully professional but I do have a cousin who spent 3 months the brig for desertion). National service in Aus has also got a major black mark against it due to the Vietnam war controversy. However I came to believe some kind of service obligation is actually a social good - and importantly an individual good which gives many young men the entry into adulthood they no longer have.
Not necessarily military only but something like Flying Doc, SES, CFA etc, maybe Aus should have its own version of Peace Corps to do aid in the Pacific region. There is nothing worse for a country than a generation of young men without jobs or prospects - such women do suffer as well of course, but it is not they who externalise their issues and cause major trouble.
You've reminded me of a historical situation our youngest was in after a good friend committed suicide in her late school yrs...her then boyfriend spiraled down mentally & it was very fraught for his parents. That made me wonder what I would do if I was his parent & I decided we'd stop everything & travel to somewhere that needed active pairs of hands, to take himself out of himself for 6 months or so...not easy but doable.
I think that there's some truth in this. We humans often like to have a purpose that's 'bigger' than ourselves, and those things you mentioned could fall into that category.
Oh wow, Katrina, speaking as an old fossilised dinosaur woman, I could not agree more with Jim Spence and you on the subject of confusing youth with wisdom. As you so clearly spell out, it is normal for older teens/younger adults to believe that they know better than their parents (or anyone more their parents' age than theirs) about well, everything. Because when your actual life experience gauge is hovering just above "none" is the time when your sense of self-importance may just about be maxing out. Smart adults know that this too shall pass as their younger colleagues have shit happen to them, which Mum and Dad can't rush in to fix. If a pseudo-adult is put into a position that they are not equipped to handle (Mr. O’Neill-Stevens springs to mind here), either they actually do grow up and get it, or they sound like the petulant children they still are.
Thank you for pointing out that when the "inmates are running the asylum" it's because the staff are letting them do this, which doesn't serve anyone well. Rather than modeling true adult behaviour, which may involve saying "no" to some not so bright ideas, I see many people who should know better dumbing themselves down to meet young people who are still on the way up. How this is supposed to support mature decision making is a mystery to me.
Great read Katrina, and yes the craziness of young Rohan O'Neill-Stevens' lopsided view of his young mind being made out to be the truth, is concerning, regarding the recent Let Kids Be Kids tour. But careful, if questioned... they throw the 'homophobic/transphobic label around. Which is another layer of lies and insanity. Hopefully more people notice soon and start speaking up about it.
Again thanks and let us consider NZCA2 Dickey v R where in January 2023 our Court of Appeal jusrices decided to agree the age of mental maturity to be 25 years and therefore setting a precedent which has been used subsequently to reduce sentences for youth ...as not having the capacity (not being sufficiently mentally mature) to comprehend or reflect upon their own criminal actions....
Excellent points. The young activist politicians are such a waste. All that passion and drive, instead of being honed by a decade or two of life experience, perspective and humility, are given power before they're mature enough to wield it. No wonder it drives them batshit.
They value "lived experience" over actual life experience.
Did you hear the video of the young woman at Vanderbilt getting all agitated about her friend needing to change her tampon? It’s insane. One of many thoughts I had is how could she be a parent to anyone.
It rings a bell, but I can't recall it completely. I take it that her friend was female, and identified as trans or non-binary, and when her female body was menstruating it sent her into a meltdown, which the young woman narrating the video joined in with?
No it was that she needed to change her tampon and she thought it was a huge emergency or her friend would get toxic shock and it was just nuts. Mainly was the young woman’s hysteria mixed with entitlement.
Thanks again for a great analysis Katrina. Sport is one area where the adults have consistently failed youngsters. Cycling New Zealand and Sport NZ stand out as the worst offenders. Cycling NZ told the young women who spoke out when a man raced in their category to keep quiet or face the consequences.
I, too, shake my head in disbelief at the inept 'grownups' in sports. Someone made a great comment which came into my email, but for some weird reason doesn't show here - she said she sees many people who should know better dumbing themselves down to meet young people who are still on the way up. She wasn't referring to sports, but grownups "dumbing down" to be in with the kids is precisely what we're seeing everywhere.
One of the major observations I've made is that we are living in an era that has basically taken away the goals young people used to have and the resources they would have had available to attain these goals. I mean things like the "normal" life progression of finishing school, getting a job, coupling up, buying a home. The normalisation of not settling down and the economic uncertainty that globalsation and neoliberal economics brought have basically destroyed the normal life pathways that used to exist.
To fill the void this generation has turned to politics and the culture war. Instead of nursing children they nurse political grievances like babies, causes are their adoptive children. But real parenthood forced people to mature quickly - whereas this surrogate parenthood doesn't, it actually grows people's petulance since the ideals they demand are never deliverable. This is a lost generation.
This brings to mind Robert Kegan's stages of adult development. There's an essay theorising that the structures that formerly supported young adults in their maturation are breaking down, leading I think to this kind of pseudo-adult/perpetually emotionally adolescent type we can see a lot of today.
It's a bit of a read but fascinating, and has helped me put things I've observed into perspective:
https://metarationality.com/stem-fluidity-bridge
Thanks - I'll give it a read.
Great remarks...I notice a nihilistic element in our eldest gal, I play it down, but frankly she sees too clearly the deck stacked against her & I understand her glass-half-emptiness. The younger one less bogged down but still 'woke' to it. Someone said Sunak's compulsory service notion will just super-charge this over there, should the tories win, doubt it... perhaps that's right. A newly-pregnant niece is feted in our small family, ramming this home for me.
I was born in a country with national service - which created a cottage industry in getting out of your obligation. (Since joining EU/NATO their post-communist military is now fully professional but I do have a cousin who spent 3 months the brig for desertion). National service in Aus has also got a major black mark against it due to the Vietnam war controversy. However I came to believe some kind of service obligation is actually a social good - and importantly an individual good which gives many young men the entry into adulthood they no longer have.
Not necessarily military only but something like Flying Doc, SES, CFA etc, maybe Aus should have its own version of Peace Corps to do aid in the Pacific region. There is nothing worse for a country than a generation of young men without jobs or prospects - such women do suffer as well of course, but it is not they who externalise their issues and cause major trouble.
You've reminded me of a historical situation our youngest was in after a good friend committed suicide in her late school yrs...her then boyfriend spiraled down mentally & it was very fraught for his parents. That made me wonder what I would do if I was his parent & I decided we'd stop everything & travel to somewhere that needed active pairs of hands, to take himself out of himself for 6 months or so...not easy but doable.
I think that there's some truth in this. We humans often like to have a purpose that's 'bigger' than ourselves, and those things you mentioned could fall into that category.
Oh wow, Katrina, speaking as an old fossilised dinosaur woman, I could not agree more with Jim Spence and you on the subject of confusing youth with wisdom. As you so clearly spell out, it is normal for older teens/younger adults to believe that they know better than their parents (or anyone more their parents' age than theirs) about well, everything. Because when your actual life experience gauge is hovering just above "none" is the time when your sense of self-importance may just about be maxing out. Smart adults know that this too shall pass as their younger colleagues have shit happen to them, which Mum and Dad can't rush in to fix. If a pseudo-adult is put into a position that they are not equipped to handle (Mr. O’Neill-Stevens springs to mind here), either they actually do grow up and get it, or they sound like the petulant children they still are.
Thank you for pointing out that when the "inmates are running the asylum" it's because the staff are letting them do this, which doesn't serve anyone well. Rather than modeling true adult behaviour, which may involve saying "no" to some not so bright ideas, I see many people who should know better dumbing themselves down to meet young people who are still on the way up. How this is supposed to support mature decision making is a mystery to me.
Your observation about adults "dumbing down" is spot on! I wish I'd thought of it - lol! I'm sure I'll find a way to use it elsewhere soon, though :-)
Great read Katrina, and yes the craziness of young Rohan O'Neill-Stevens' lopsided view of his young mind being made out to be the truth, is concerning, regarding the recent Let Kids Be Kids tour. But careful, if questioned... they throw the 'homophobic/transphobic label around. Which is another layer of lies and insanity. Hopefully more people notice soon and start speaking up about it.
Again thanks and let us consider NZCA2 Dickey v R where in January 2023 our Court of Appeal jusrices decided to agree the age of mental maturity to be 25 years and therefore setting a precedent which has been used subsequently to reduce sentences for youth ...as not having the capacity (not being sufficiently mentally mature) to comprehend or reflect upon their own criminal actions....
That would have been a good point to include! Shame I forgot about that, but I'm sure I'll find a place for it another day :-)
They can't have it both ways!
Excellent points. The young activist politicians are such a waste. All that passion and drive, instead of being honed by a decade or two of life experience, perspective and humility, are given power before they're mature enough to wield it. No wonder it drives them batshit.
They value "lived experience" over actual life experience.
Did you hear the video of the young woman at Vanderbilt getting all agitated about her friend needing to change her tampon? It’s insane. One of many thoughts I had is how could she be a parent to anyone.
It rings a bell, but I can't recall it completely. I take it that her friend was female, and identified as trans or non-binary, and when her female body was menstruating it sent her into a meltdown, which the young woman narrating the video joined in with?
No it was that she needed to change her tampon and she thought it was a huge emergency or her friend would get toxic shock and it was just nuts. Mainly was the young woman’s hysteria mixed with entitlement.
Ah - clearly too much watching Tik Tok.