i first read the title wrong and assumed we were talking about people born after 2000. i'd like to do a sidenote about the youngest of us. most of the time when i meet them, i'm baffled at their political awareness. they're both very smart and involved (and frustrated). don't let the internet's stupidity fool you. they have a lot of potential. (in denmark at least, when i meet them.)
their means to change, i'm more unsure about. fast fashion is up. the mode of their embracement of multiculture is more consumption than ever. (diversity is good, sweatshops aren't.) social media is powerful, but it also works within corporate power. but it's all power structures that can't be done much about, and have been both challenged and consolidated during the millenial generation. the young understand, generally, that they have to do something. so they do what they can with their horsehockey options.
i had a long talk with a random 16 year old at a lake once (he approached me and my friend late at night, he was on the way home from a party - we get drunk that young in denmark). we asked him what he wanted to work with when he grew older. then this drunk kid casually laid out problems of poverty and city planning, in clear nonpatronizing arguments and incredible detail founded in empiricism. over a course of 5 minutes, and he clearly knew more. he wanted to work with social/city planning solutions to urban poverty. it floored me. when i was 16 i just liked emo chicks. what the hell is happening
millenials are generally the same as them, but i bluntly find millenials like... not as sharp. we weren't as clearly informed about things when i grew up. we were vaguely marxist while not knowing what marx believed. stuff like that. millenials have done a lot of protests and marches and stuff, but i just see more potential in the next generation. because, honestly, they're just more informed.
where generalizations and cognitive distortions meet conflict theory
