40 comments

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  Racing School

  7 months ago

  The Youth of your Generation has voted in the first Black President! :-)
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  rosepena

  1 year ago

  Repeating my comment from Friend Feed here:
  My two children are your age and are by no means dumb. I acknowledge each generation has different challenges. Having worked in technology since probably before you were born, I must say you ( and my kids) make me very proud. Keep up the good work and don't let anyone steal your joy!
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  Mark Dykeman

  1 year ago

  Based on the excerpt that you've provided, I'd say that the author is trying to stir up a ruckus to increase his book sales.
  
  I'll be honest: I think there may be some truth in what he appears to be saying, but it certainly doesn't apply to an entire generation of people. I'm sure there are young people who are slipping through educational systems without getting a decent education and who waste a lot of time and potential on trivial stuff, regardless of whether or not we agree on the merits of the subject matter they are supposed to be learning. But that's not a new phenomenon either, so, to quote the Bard, his book could be "much ado about nothing".
  
  Corvida, you're obviously a talented and motivated individual so I can understand that might take offense to this author's book. Moreover, you seem to have gotten a good education and have a strong, supportive family behind you. You should be very proud of that. There are probably a lot of young people who haven't had that kind of support and some of them may be the group that the author is describing.
  
  Don't write off Shakespeare yet: give it another chance. If not now, maybe a few years down the road: there's some good stuff there.
  
  Powerful post, Corvida.
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  Corvida

  1 year ago

  Thanks for your thoughts Mark. Every generation has those type of people, but to continuously apply it to an entire generation as a whole is really infuriating for me. My friends aren't in that category at all and to be honest, I don't meet too many peers that are. I understand what you're saying though.
  
  As for Shakespeare, I need a translation of his books in today's English. Then I'd be more than happy to read him again. Some of his writing style went way over my head and I just couldn't connect with the book. I needed a decoder for his work. It was ok while reading it in school, but for leisure, Shakespeare was too complicated...or maybe too much work for me.
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  pjcabrera

  1 year ago

  " Shakespeare isn’t timeless to me because I don’t connect with his topics nor his logic. Maya Angelou is timeless to me. Malcolm X is timeless to me. Rita Mae Brown, Katherine Forrest, Audre Lorde, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Terry McMillan, Dorothy West, Jacqueline Carey, Emily Dickenson, Alice Walker, James Baldwin, Nikki Giovanni, Langston Hughes, and a ton more are timeless to me. My generation doesn’t need to be in love with Shakespeare just to be considered “intellectual”. "
  
  Oh! You tell him, girl! I bet the author of this book hasn't read half the authors you name, and probably doesn't know his Shakespeare half as well as he'd like to believe. People who call on Shakespeare to prove they're intellectually superior forget Dumas, Machiavelli, Joyce, Byron, and many many other influential writers and thinkers. What they don't know is that by doing so are showing they're really intellectually lazy!
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  Webferret

  1 year ago

  True, but reading literature by all black authors doesn't mean you are intellectual either. Shakespeare does suck though. But so does Maya Angelou
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  Corvida

  1 year ago

  Those aren't all black authors. I never said Shakespeare sucks. I just don't connect with his writers. It's not for me and Maya Angelou may not be for you, that doesn't mean she sucks. You just don't connect with her. Who are you to say she sucks?
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  Webferret

  1 year ago

  "I just don't connect with his writers. It's not for me and Maya Angelou may not be for you, that doesn't mean she sucks."
  
  So you get my point. Who are you too say "MY" generation doesnt suck. Most do, some dont. LOL.
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  Corvida

  1 year ago

  Any entire generation can't possibly suck. You're referring to two separate areas under the same umbrella. There are different patterns of engagement here. Individuals don't suck. You either agree with them or you don't, but they don't suck.
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  renrui

  1 year ago

  no is n ot Shakespeare is to english language just like Cervantes to spanish his work made english evolve umtil these day c´mon you all cln do better
  
  please be wiser instead of narrowminded
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  frederic

  1 year ago

  Corvida - nice rant (and that comes from somebody who can be a cranky English professor if called upon :)
  
  But don't be too harsh with the reviewer - in the last paragraph, he actually breaks down all of Baurerlein's arguments with one quick stroke:
  
  "The book's ultimate doomsday scenario -- of a dull and self-absorbed new generation of citizens falling prey to demagoguery and brazen power grabs -- seems at once overblown (witness, for example, this election season's youth reengagement in politics) and also yesterday's news (haven't we always been perilously close to this, if not already suffering from it?)."
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  dbarefoot

  1 year ago

  While I agree and disagree with sundry aspects of the original article and your reply, I wanted to address one point in your response: ignorance of politics and history isn't something to be proud of.
  
  There's the obvious Santayana quote to cite here. But beyond that, history shapes the lens through which we view present. We understand the situation in Iraq by examining the US's role in Vietnam. We understand the battle for gay rights by looking back at the civil rights and women's suffrage movements. And so forth. If you want to think sensibly about any issue, you need to consider its history.
  
  As for history being 'full of lies'...well, it's the best we've got. It ain't perfect, but do you reject everything that isn't?
  
  Likewise, politics profoundly affects the way our world works. All this web-based technology has some impact, but governments change nations. The web isn't going to solve the climate change crisis. Only governments can do that. Yes, the web can help organize and motivate governments, but remaining naive about politics means, in a way, being ignorant of how the world runs.
  
  I'm 34 years old. When I was 24, I knew some history, but I knew precious little about politics. I know a lot more ten years later, but I wouldn't call myself informed. History gets written by the winners, and nations are run by the old. If anybody wants to change that, they need to get informed about these topics early.
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  Webferret

  1 year ago

  +1 I agree
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  Corvida

  1 year ago

  I definitely agree that I need to informed of these topics at an early age.
  
  However, I'm not entirely ignorant of politics and history. I pick and choose just like you and everyone else what to pay attention to and what I can safely ignore. I'm well aware of the battle for gay rights and the history of it and similar movements. That's because I chose to pay attention to the information about them, mainly because they're directly related to me. Everyone picks and chooses. I'm just being honest about it.
  
  I'm not trying to write history, I want to make it. I'm not trying to run a nation, I want to help build a better one. There are more personal reasons why i don't pay attention to these two topics. We'll just leave it at that but I appreciate your comment Darren and hopefully I can speak to you further about it in an email.
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  Andy DeSoto

  1 year ago

  Ha-HA! You tell 'em, Corvida! We're taking their jobs and there's nothing they can do about it. Intelligence and hard work are personal choices, not generational ones.
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  Webferret

  1 year ago

  Were taking their jobs because they are getting older not because were any smarter. ( i mean know how to turn on a computer and use google)
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  Corvida

  1 year ago

  No one said anyone's smarter than anyone else. Having intelligence and working hard are key skills to have when getting a job or moving up in the ranks. The Facebook creator is a prime example of that. He's intelligent and diligent, not necessarily smarter than those who work for him or any other company for that matter.
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  Webferret

  1 year ago

  Your right. getting a job and moving up in the "ranks" does involve a little intelligence and hard work. What kind of intelligence is the bigger question. Social intelligence? Visual spatial intelligence?
  http://www.amazon.com/Social-Intelligence-Scien...
  
  As for becoming the next Facebook Creator, that involves a lot of hard work, intelligence, and LUCK.
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  sarahintampa

  1 year ago

  Wow! Getting your rant on! Awesome(sauce)
  
  ;) So, tell us how you *really* feel.
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  Corvida

  1 year ago

  I think Generation Y is full of game changers who are more determined than ever to do what they set their minds to whether people agree with it or not. To some extent we're concerned with our happiness first and foremost and we don't think there's anything wrong with that. How could there be? You have to take care of "you" before you take care of someone else. Even the airlines say the same. We're not narcissistic, indulgent, or lazy, but we still have a lot to learn.
  
  That's what I really think. We're awesome and we're going to do great things in the future. Hell, we already are :D
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  kylelacy

  1 year ago

  Corvida.
  You are brilliant.
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  Verlier

  1 year ago

  You rule, nuff said.
  
  We are not dumb.
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  Phil

  1 year ago

  I. Am. Amazed. As a Ph.D. grad student twenty-something, I don't think you could have said it any better. You make me proud to be who I am, and where I am in my life thus far. Thank you.
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  inko9nito

  1 year ago

  "You’re absolutely right, I have no clue about history and politics. Both of these subjects are full of lies."
  
  NICE! My favorite part. (well, one of them)
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  brad

  12 months ago

  was waiting for someone to call that out. You really must love someone who admits she knows nothing about what she is talking about, yet keeps ranting anyway.
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  inko9nito

  12 months ago

  That's not what I meant when I quoted her. I was complimenting her on the "both those subjects are full of lies" part, which is true.
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  Adam_Y

  1 year ago

  Every sucessive generation will be labled as less intelligent, less active and less resourceful by the preceeding one.
  
  It's a natural by-product of realising that you are going to be replaced and that your values die when you do and that everything you have worked for over your entire life means so little because like everything else it was stored on an out-dated medium.
  
  It'll happen to you too...
  
  Then again, from what I've heard, the next generation really is dumb and lazy...
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  DerekHalpern

  1 year ago

  While I would love to agree with you Corvida, I think you may have fell for one of the most obvious marketing tactics on the internet. Call a group of people out and they will write about you.
  
  Here is my response:
  
  http://derekhalpern.com/generation-y-marketing-...
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  achernow

  1 year ago

  I've read, and I like the article. I've posted a lengthy response over at my blog.
  
  http://adam.chernow.org/blog/?p=1716
  
  -Adam
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  nishland

  1 year ago

  Maybe that author/original poster played a slick game of "how to get dugg". Either way....every generation has had to overcome the pains of ridicule for being more effective and efficient. Nothing wrong with that. (i.e., woodstock vs freaknik vs...okay I am not in "your" generation, just a couple years older...so I don't know what the new thing is)
  If nothing else, our parent's should take credit for rearing children with ravenous desires. On one hand, such desire creates an atmosphere of change...which is good for society and challenges us. On the other, it creates a monster. (save that for another post).
  Change is good. At one point in our lives we all have to adapt. This generation has a culture, has tradition, and is creating history.
  
  btw "American Idol" wasn't created or produced by twentysomethings!
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  Kim Woodbridge

  1 year ago

  Corvida,
  
  I'm old enough to be your mother but my youngest brother is about your age. I have friends of all ages and have found that being an idiot is not restricted to any age group.
  
  About a year ago my mother pointed out a newspaper article to me that discussed how college students, so I guess that would be generation Y, were more narcissistic that previous generations. The next day we went to a King Tut exhibit here in Philly that was really crowded. My daughter wasn't feeling well so we had her in a stroller. It was really hard to push the stroller through the crowd and almost impossible to see the exhibit. And you know who were the nicest, kindest, most helpful people there? Not the people my age or my mother's age - it was the people your age. The experience immediately led me to discount the article that I had just read.
  
  Have you read The People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn? It's a wonderful book that tells our country's history through the voices of the people living it rather that through the voice of the government and politicians. I have recommended it to many people who don't care for history and all have enjoyed it.
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  Smith

  12 months ago

  Well, if you want to prove the author of the book wrong then why didn't you just read the book instead of responding to someone else's "review" of the book. You cannot, as an intelligent human being, come to any sort of informed and intelligent conclusion about the book until you read it in its entirety instead of pulling out disjointed quotes from a review. That, Corvida, is lazy and it undermines your point (while proving the author's point). I have not made a statement in support of the author, I have given you a lesson in life that you should take with a bit of humility: understand and learn what you're fighting against if you plan on making any relevant counterarguments that will be illuminating to others. Read the entire book, then speak. That is intelligence.
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  inko9nito

  12 months ago

  That's not what I meant when I quoted her. I was complimenting her on the "both those subjects are full of lies" part, which is true.
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  Mark

  12 months ago

  "You’re absolutely right, I have no clue about history and politics. Both of these subjects are full of lies."
  Wow, this tells it all. Like John McCain saying he's "not good with economics," but wants to be president. If a generations doesn't know anything about history (how about English, social science, etc), how do they think they'll advance (sorry, you won't learn these lessons watching American Idol)?. The truth is much of this generation is self indulgent, pampered and seeking immediate gratification. The fact that FAcebook and MySpace are the no. 1 sites is a great indicator--are these "friends" seeking new worlds, making discoveries, learning? No, like it or not, it is mostly gossip and useless noise. . You can't generalize about a whole generation, however, and I do think this generation will have some real "game changers," as someone said. That's because they don't think like their predecessors and are willing to put the time, effort and energy into seeing their visions through-- in other words, what the top winners of every generation have done. They'll also bring new ideas and changes into the workplace, government and across society, which is much needed. But again those ideas won't come from American Idol or MySpace.
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  Gabriel Suppiah

  8 months ago

  The youth of the future rocks.
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  Dude

  7 months ago

  screw baby boomers they are dying generation!
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  SEO

  6 months ago

  This topic is rather sensitive. Generations evolve along the way. We must always understand that without the younger generation, many things would not have been what it is now and likewise for the older generation.
  Rif Chia
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  Jon

  6 months ago

  It seems you've taken the bait. It's not clear if you've fully read the book, but the point of the book is not necessarily that we're "the dumbest generation" (the title is just sensationalism); rather, it deals with how technology enables us to tune out many parts of reality, and become absorbed with the inconsequential. You efforts to debunk this theory are nothing short of spectacular "I’m not narcissistic. I know I’m the shit!" You sure told him. Also, you nailed him again when you pointed out that all your gossiping is done via phone, as opposed to the Internet, as he posited. Snap, girl! Two points for you!
  
  You are only demonstrating the kinds of behavior warned about in the book, even if you do it on your cell phone instead of online. I don't know how you think that you've countered his point. You're willfully ignorant of history and politics. Lucky for you, they're not important at all, right? Like the history of your revered Malcolm X, who called for the separation of whites and blacks. Meaningless, right?
  
  History aside, at least you're classy. In responding to a *written review*, you call the author a "loser" and tell him to "shut up". You realize he can't hear you, right? Your post reeks of immaturity and amateur posturing. Although I will agree that our generation certainly is not 'dumb', you make it plainly clear that there are still members of our generation who clearly are.
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  Mr. Know Nothing

  2 months ago

  Objectivity is a great thing. Everyone thinks they know the correct way to live life, and when someone challenges this illusion, people get cranky.
  
  It would take more than 50 years of full time education before I'd consider myself adequately equipped to "rant". And whats more, as I progress along my education journey, I'm sure I'll find how uneducated the whole process of "right and wrong" actually are.
  
  If what I said struck a nerve, I apologize for that was not my desired approach. If you have something to say in great length feel free to email me.
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  Webferret

  1 year ago

  LOL. Corvida, the author of the article has some very valid points.
  
  In the four minutes it probably takes to read this review, you will have logged exactly half the time the ***********AVERAGE*********** 15- to 24-year-old now spends reading each day. That is, if you even bother to finish. If you are perusing this on the Internet, the big block of text below probably seems daunting, maybe even boring. Who has the time? Besides, one of your Facebook friends might have just posted a status update!
  
  SOME WHAT TRUE. DOESNT APPLY TO EVERYONE.
  
  
  The way Bauerlein sees it, something new and disastrous has happened to America’s youth with the arrival of the instant gratification go-go-go digital age. The result is, essentially, a collective loss of context and history, a neglect of "enduring ideas and conflicts." Survey after painstakingly recounted survey reveals what most of us already suspect: that America’s youth know virtually nothing about history and politics. And no wonder. They have developed a "brazen disregard of books and reading."
  
  I AGREE 100% WITH THE ABOVE STATEMENT. AND TOO YOUR ARGUMENT, HISTORY IS NOT FULL OF LIES ITS FULL OF POINTS OF VIEW. AND YOU WONT LEARN ANYTHING BY JUST STUDYING YOUR CULTURES HISTORY. IM NOT GOING TO SAY WHAT I THINK OF HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES.
  
  
  The problem is that instead of using the Web to learn about the wide world, young people instead mostly use it to gossip about each other and follow pop culture, relentlessly keeping up with the ever-shifting lingua franca of being cool in school. The two most popular websites by far among students are Facebook and MySpace. "Social life is a powerful temptation," Bauerlein explains, "and most teenagers feel the pain of missing out."
  
  MOSTLY TRUE.
  
  This ceaseless pipeline of peer-to-peer activity is worrisome, he argues, not only because it crowds out the more serious stuff but also because it strengthens what he calls the "pull of immaturity." Instead of connecting them with parents, teachers and other adult figures, "[t]he web . . . encourages more horizontal modeling, more raillery and mimicry of people the same age." When Bauerlein tells an audience of college students, "You are six times more likely to know who the latest American Idol is than you are to know who the speaker of the U.S. House is," a voice in the crowd tells him: " ‘American Idol’ IS more important."
  
  
  I AGREE
  
  LOL. ITS NOT PERSONAL CORVIDA. THE WRITER HAS SOME GOOD POINTS. YOU JUST HAVE TO LISTEN. YOU KNOW THERE ARE STUDIES AND STATISTICS THAT BACK UP WHAT THE WRITER IS SAYING. JOIN US ON TWINE. WEVE PUT TOGETHER SOME GREAT RESOURCES THAT YOU MAY BE ABLE TO USE IN YOUR WRITING. OH AND HISTORY IS MY THING
  
  PBS - Frontline - Growing Up Online - 2008 - 56 min -
  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-625118...
  
  WEBFERRET:)
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