Berkley Center

The Millennial Generation has endured none of the limitations of its forebearers. Information flows freely: young people are unavoidably exposed to new ideas and ways of life. It faces no draft. Never have its adherents been forced to abandon anything – physical or ideological – to unite as a singular body in the face of a common struggle. Prosperity, peace and stability have been the order of our few days. Without the many pressures that shaped the generations that brought us forth, the Millennial Generation has had all the time and space for divergent thought and zealous action.

Yet it is the Achilles heel of the Millennial Generation that its thought is homogenous and, sadly, often lazy. In the absence of great political scandals, the Millennial Generation has contented itself with occasional outbursts of misdirected, slogan-ridden rage. In the age of Facebook and Twitter, this generation has only had 140-character commitments: short, often baseless, and forgotten about as quickly as a page refreshes.

The relentless chorus of tech-positivists reminds us that Facebook spreads information, facilitates revolutions and that Twitter brings us in contact with other’s opinions. The truth is, however, that these outlets have only played host to outpourings of a frustration whose chief characteristic was its brevity and lack of substance. For example, the Millennials stormed on social networks to shout their Kony-related moral upset but within a week the phenomenon died. Even then, the outrage was itself an outrageous choice: Kony has been doing the same things for decades, and is now largely inactive – while Syria’s government has massacred nigh on ten thousand people in the last few months. Misdirection comes with a lack of substance. Protest against Bush manifested itself only in rude caricatures of his accent and accident-prone vice-president. Activism about the Sudan was brief and ineffectual. All of it reeks of lazy groupthink and the most minimal commitment to addressing real world problems.

Changing the world’s trajectory requires real, prolonged effort. The Millennial Generation has advertised itself as one of global citizens, but it can scarcely be said to truly serve the human cause. When bad things happen, its heart is generally in the right place but its hands, too flighty for the work, haven’t the diligence to address their moral unease. The absence of substantive debate in choosing where moral feeling is necessary and important is further cause for discomfort. Our inchoate moral and political understandings need to develop, if the Millennial Generation is to be remembered for more than its lip service to good causes.