Danielsaurus

The Millenial Generation and Political Discourse

Maegan Carberry responds to the pessimistic belief that young Millenials, who showed up in full force in 2008 to vote Barack Obama into office, have since stopped caring:

Many say that the historic election was an isolated moment in time and that momentum has plateaued, but 2008 was the beginning of something that will manifest itself in the coming decade, starting with November’s midterm election, to 2012, 2014 and beyond as our nation’s demographics shift toward majority Millennial voters. It was the arrival of a generation that has since taken action to support our values system and vision for the future. We are often criticized as disappearing acts, or celebrity-crazed misanthropes who want the posters for our walls more than we respect the politics.

I don’t believe we disappeared. We went to work on the issues we care about. I don’t believe we disappeared. We went to work on the issues we care about. We demanded marriage equality, participated in the health care debate, fought for the rights of our peers who are veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, called for an independent energy future, demanded fiscal responsibility, rallied for access to higher education and pushed for a more transparent government free to utilize the digital tools that are unique to our communications.

This is absolutely true from my experience as well. I’d say this ‘departure’ from politics isn’t actually a sign of us not caring anymore, but rather us showing our skepticism of top-down mechanisms of social change. We still care; we just want things to be done differently, in ways that are connected and in tune with the local level, and we want to be involved in that change. We’re a Grassroots Generation; we’re not going to sit idly by and entrust the well-being of our futures to politicians and corporate-sized nonprofits. We’re going to get out there and make change ourselves. Look no further than youth-led (and radically successful) organizations like Invisible Children and Krocket Kids for proof of that.

Welcome to the Elderly Age

An interesting perspective in New Scientist magazine about what it means for many nations across the world who are now watching their populations grow increasingly older:

In the future, old people will be expected to stay in the formal economy for longer. The idea of a retirement age was invented by Otto von Bismarck in the 1880s, when as chancellor of Germany he needed a starting age for paying war pensions. He chose the age of 65 because that was typically when ex-soldiers died. But today in developed countries, and soon in poorer ones, women can expect nearly 30 years of retirement, and men 20 years.

There is a deal to be done: longer working in return for more, and more powerful, legislation to outlaw the ageism that blights the working lives of many in late middle age. The old will also expect a society that does not marginalise them; they will consider it a right to live in homes, cities and workplaces redesigned to meet their physical requirements.

Some worry that an older workforce will be less innovative and adaptable, but there is evidence that companies with a decent proportion of older workers are more productive than those addicted to youth. This is sometimes called the Horndal effect, after a Swedish steel mill where productivity rose by 15 per cent as the workforce got older. Age brings experience and wisdom. Think what it could mean when the Edisons and Einsteins of the future, the doctors and technicians, the artists and engineers, have 20 or 30 more years to give us.