Fear, in all its forms, is at the heart of these issues — fear of failure, ridicule, discomfort, ostracism, uncertainty. Of course, these fears haunt all of us, regardless of demographics. But that is precisely the point: Our culture isn’t preparing young people to grapple with what are ultimately unavoidable threats. Indeed, despite growing up in a physically safer and kinder society than past generations did, young Americans today report higher levels of anxiety.My generation sure screwed up as parents.
Sunday, October 15, 2017
Why Are Millenials Wary of Freedom?
This column makes so much sense that I'm surprised it was published in the NYT.
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2 comments:
This is scary. Freedom is what makes our country so wonderful, and so distinctive. As Churchill said, "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others." We may not have figured out how to make it run perfectly yet, but the fact of the matter is, nothing else has ever worked. There are a large number of Easter Europeans in my area, and I've noticed that the vast majority are Republican, even though my town leans left. They've lived through communism; they know what it is like to have your rights suppressed, and they understand what a precious gift freedom is. Although I agree with some Republican viewpoints, I am more of a "Blue Dog" Democrat myself. Sadly, conservative or even moderate Democrats seem to be dying out. One trend in the Democratic Party that has especially concerned me is the lack of concern for the protection of individual rights - democrats used to fight for the protection of individuals' liberties; that seems to have been replaced by a love of communism. We need to teach our children to be proud to be American. We need to teach them that almost nowhere else in the world is freedom actually protected and considered a right to the extent that it is here. We need to teach them to value true diversity - not just different races, but different viewpoints. When I was growing up, we were taught that because we were lucky enough to be born American, if we worked hard we could get quite far. Now, that's considered a microagression. The song "American Pie" springs to mind. Don McLean wrote it about the loss of the American Dream. We seem to be going much farther than just losing the American Dream - if we lose Democracy, then we lose America. Bye, bye Miss American pie...
I disagree with none of what you say. It seems that for some, nothing but perfection is to be lauded in the nation--and as you say, our system of govt (and even our society) may not be perfect, but it's pretty darn good and has the potential to get better.
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