At least HRC challenged them and asked what their solution was if it was not voting. And I loved Bill Clinton's "Well what do you call someone that is so violent 8 year old kids plan their own funeral?".

If they buy in to "white privilege" then they believe in "black privilege".

It's not about the professor's vernacular, it's about his authority. He holds power over the student and the student must break that power.

Tell a Millennial he's wrong and he'll find a cultural appropriation or privilege with which to refute the underpinnings of your position. You're an old fogey, not hip to the new technology and culture, so you must be wrong and "you're not the boss of me" is a valid response. It's a childish temper tantrum against parental authority.

It has always been thus. The only difference is that now we're allowing the younger generation (Millennials) to win the argument. We're accepting the "white privilege" and "cultural appropriation" defenses and even feeling guilty about them. We've given them the power.

We've convinced them, through a massive corporate marketing effort to reach them and politicians pandering to them, that they're the most important and precious generation ever. And that their opinion, no matter how incomplete and poorly informed, is pure gold.

That the grown-ups (if you can find any left) know more and have more experience does not enter into their thinking. The "grown-ups" are the ones who screwed up the world and this generation is going to fix it, so get out of their way. Not since the Baby Boom have we seen a generation so empowered by its own narcissism and so blinded by its own brilliance to the consequences of its actions and philosophies.

Who is this we, of whom you speak? I'm a boomer by age, but a dinosaur by attitude.

We are just doing the job, collecting our paychecks, and listening to the not-so-fine whine. Manners don't permit me to laugh in their faces.

We've convinced them, through a massive corporate marketing effort to reach them and politicians pandering to them, that they're the most important and precious generation ever. And that their opinion, no matter how incomplete and poorly informed, is pure gold.

Damn those corporations!

Damn those politicians!

Parents?

Uh...

They're doing the best they can! They have THE HARDEST JOB IN THE WORLD!

Actually Kevin most of this comes from the public schools. I couldn't give a damn about corporate influence. And the vast majority of politicians only show up at the end. But you send your kids off for eight hours a day to be educated/indoctrinated and it has an effect.

Yes, most parents are fairly incompetent. So what? It's been that way for thousands of years. What changed was the schools.

Which is why I have only minor empathy for Amy's friend. If he still has a job teaching at a university and isn't in the hard sciences then he is part of the problem. They ran off everyone else decades ago.

Actually Kevin most of this comes from the public schools. I couldn't give a damn about corporate influence. And the vast majority of politicians only show up at the end. But you send your kids off for eight hours a day to be educated/indoctrinated and it has an effect.

Sorry, Ben, but I don't buy that. My morals, common sense and general "adulthood" were shaped by my parents far more than by anything I learned in public school.

And if kids are being told elsewhere that they're "the most important and precious generation ever," it's doubly up to the parents to say "Bullshit. You're just a kid."

Damn those corporations!

Damn those politicians!

Kevin at May 4, 2016 8:41 AM

I used to work for a major clothing label and our focus was almost entirely on what products and messages worked best on the 16-24 crowd.

We changed the fits of legacy styles to better appeal to that demographic. And we weren't alone in laser-focusing our marketing efforts on that demographic.

We changed marketing tactics to reach out to that demographic and advertising language to reach it. We switched media and message to prostitute ourselves to the upcoming generation of consumers. We had to.

A multi-billion dollar corporation was dedicated almost entirely to making clothing that teenagers and college students wanted, to the exclusion of anyone else who purchased clothing.

The television show, Longmire was cancelled because, despite respectable ratings, its average audience age was 50+. Advertisers didn't want to sponsor a program that didn't include a large segment of 16-24s in its audience.

That kind of stuff is gonna have an effect on the perceptions of the people who are 16-24. They're going to see that they're the most important customer for these companies. They're gonna see that older customers don't matter.

Sorry, Ben, but I don't buy that. My morals, common sense and general "adulthood" were shaped by my parents far more than by anything I learned in public school.

Kevin at May 4, 2016 9:59 AM
__________________________________________

Same here.

And that's why I've said that sex ed teachers who only teach abstinence should not get paid - at least, not by the government. If you're a parent and you can't convince your kid to abstain from intercourse, why would a stranger in the classroom do any better at teaching that lesson?

@Conan: "Advertisers didn't want to sponsor a program that didn't include a large segment of 16-24s in its audience.

That kind of stuff is gonna have an effect on the perceptions of the people who are 16-24. They're going to see that they're the most important customer for these companies. They're gonna see that older customers don't matter."

Same thing as with the all-powerful female consumer.

"Sorry, Ben, but I don't buy that. My morals, common sense and general "adulthood" were shaped by my parents far more than by anything I learned in public school."

Bully for you. You got lucky and had decent parents. But there is a key letter there, the s in parents. Only 46% of US kids live with two married parents. Most really only have a working mother as an authority figure. When you have to work a job and then try to take care of your kids after hours you mostly end up with neglect. Yes, some great parents make it all work. But that isn't the majority. Instead schools are filling that role. And a major part of any public school curriculum is narcissism tarted up as self esteem.

It would be great if people resisted the direction things are going, but all evidence points otherwise. So bitch and moan about bad parents all you like, it won't change a damn thing.

I think these entitled princesses (who exist in both genders -- and yes, there are only two genders) are the reason Donald Trump is so successful. He is now doing the Republican primaries unopposed, as Kasich dropped out today and Cruz went yesterday.

I think the older generation is getting fed up with these pampered princesses and their ongoing campaign to invent things to whine about.

Cultural appropriation is not a thing. In the United States, we are all governed by the same set of laws that oppresses no one. You may wear your hair, whatever clothing, perform any genre of music you like, without regard to the person's race you saw it on.

The United States protects freedom of expression more vigorously than any nation on the earth. In a country where different ethnicities and races meet and mingle, expressions of individuality are going to overlap. Fuck your cultural purity. You're in the very worst nation on earth for that.

The older generation is the one that fought and protested for the rights the special snowflakes now enjoy. These ingrates can bitch about how fucked up the country is all they like, but the fact of the matter is, it's better (as far as equality is concerned) than any preceding generation has had it.

And I think it's hysterical to see university students, probably on minority scholarships, whine about how oppressed they are. They have no idea.

So, is it any wonder that Trump, with his "I'll say whatever the fuck I want" attitude has so much appeal? He's bringing to the fore what so many of us are feeling. Fuck your microaggressions, fuck your safe spaces, fuck your culture appropriation, fuck your triggered, spoiled selves.

Obama was elected to be a uniter, not that anyone thought he would be one, but he's probably the reason this nation has become more divided than ever. And if Trump wins, well, maybe he's what these pampered crybullies need to wake them the fuck up. Someone who just doesn't give a good God damn about their tender feelings.

Patrick, I'm with you most of the way - I neither agree nor disagree about Obama - but the only way the POTUS should have any affect on whiners is by making infrastructure decisions that trigger them. If he or she even talks about the citizenry's feelings, we've already lost. IOW, we don't need a babysitter-in-chief.

The Title IX debacle is a perfect example.

I lost a lot of respect for Obama the other day when he released that "loyalty" proclamation. Knee-jerk jingoism.

DaveG, I agree with everything you said. I was going to mention Title IX, but I got so wrapped up, I closed before I remembered I wanted to include it.

Glad you mentioned it. It is a perfect example.

Amy, what word(s) did the professor use? I'm just curious.