See this is what kinda worries me.
We had the hippies, who turn into the yuppies who are now moving onto putting the consumerism of the baby boomers to shame.
GenX went from being slackers to innovators and entrepreneurs.
Now what the fuck will the SJW generation turn into? If history shows us anything it's that generations rebell against thier parents values then flip as they get older and adopt and intensify what they first rejected.
so by this reasoning, albeit fairly specious, will they turn into ultra-right wing authoritarians as they reach power?
Sadly I'll be dead by the time they hit mass power but I do wonder...
This assumes that the Social Justice types are a majority. I feel like the bulk of the generation is more Psuedo-Hipster. Defined more by what I once heard an article call Adultolescence. So... If we're lucky... That majority will swing and intensify into sensible, mature administrators?
Regardless, the SJWs are not enough of a majority to dictate that sort of generational trend. I mean, we are accepting the difference between a SJW and a Activist, right? It's "White Privilege is a thing" vs. "Gay men are the most misogynistic of all because they hate women so much that they refuse to have sex with them." I mean, no matter what shift the majority makes, I can't see those core social values changing. I mean, whatever swing has occurred, certain ground is secured.
To me, a lot of the core issues of modern activism, that is ground that is being secured. I can see a swing from "It's not my job to educate you." to "It's not my job to give you a helping hand." I can't see a swing from "It's nobodies business who you fuck." to "You know what, Preacher Joe was right all along. Heavenly Father will return soon and the gays must be purged."
No, I'm not super interested in our generational shift. Because ultimately, I think that what we are doing here on the Internet is holding a lens to the crazies. The Yuppie Generation had Biting Beaver (I should have abortioned my son because he looked at porn), GenX had FemiTheist (National Castration Day lady) but they didn't define the shift.
No, I'm more optimistic as to our generational shift, dull as it may well be. I think it's going to be a shift from perpetual late-adolescence/early adulthood into a sort of weird, quiet maturity. But that's just my hope.
No what I really want to see is our kids. I think that's where the dreams of the young stay behind. The hippies raised/ing their kids on the self-esteem movement where you were just the last looser, from what I can see GenX is raising (Or at least dreaming of raising) their kids on this "My kid is gonna be such a badass rebel who plays by nobodys rules but his own, conformists!" image, I'm really curious to see how my generation does it.
I'm thinking safe spaces that will put the teachings of Benjamin Spock to shame.
If your kid just wants to scream and finger paint, let them, they are expressing themselves. Ha! Amateur. If I ask my kid what 2+2 = and they say "9" THEN 2+2 BLOODY WELL EQUALS 9!
Though I'm equally excited to see how the Yuppies/Xers kids rebel.
I'm guessing kids who are their own biggest critics, because they grow tired of blind, senseless praise every time they fart and... Perhaps frighteningly, a group of kids who are content with the idea of being straight edge because they are sick of Mom and Dad trying to live vicariously through them and forcing them to be a badass rebel.