Our friends at Fraters Libertas provide some insights on the narcissism of the Baby Boomers and Generation Y.
Here are some of my favorites…
The referenced article cites a 2010 Pew Research study “found that while baby boomers—generally born between 1946 and 1964—cited work ethic, respectfulness, and morals as their defining qualities… ”
FL’s response was classic: Yup. That’s what I think of when I think of boomers. Work ethic, respectfulness, and…(sorry it’s hard to type this without chortling)….morals. Yes, the generation that came of age in the Sixties and spawned the nihilistic hedonism of the Seventies and the decline of societal and cultural values that continues to this day is all about MORALS. Good one guys.
The same generation that celebrated the drug and screwfest known as Woodstock, rioted at campuses, and cheered for Ho Chi Minh…ranking themselves as respectful and moral? You gotta be freakin’ kidding me!
They clearly have an arrogated sense of their own virtue.
I’m a Gen-Xer myself. We are the doubly-screwed generation, and it is largely our own fault. We inherited the sins of the Boomers, and passed them on–in spades–to the Gen-Ys, who are now sticking it back to us.
Rather than renounce the idiocy of the previous generation and call out the so-called “Greatest Generation” for being way too permissive with the Boomers, we continued the cycle. Shame on us.
Here’s another one. Addressing the “milennials”, the Pew folks have this to say: “…millennials chose technology, music and pop culture, and liberal leanings—followed by superior intelligence and clothing as their defining qualities. Millennials are also likely to prioritize lifestyle over salary, and to foresee changing careers. ”
FL opines: Are the millennial kids smarter than your average bear? Sure they are, just ask them. I suppose this inflated sense of self shouldn’t be a surprise given that since birth the millenials have been told have everything they do is great and how special they are. When your grades are inflated, your sports competitions end with “everyone’s a winner” and trophies, awards, and certificates are presented for almost every conceivable mundane accomplishment, of course you’re going think that you’re wonderful. Your music sounds better. Your clothes look better. And damnit, you are smarter than everyone else.
FL is correct herem, as the milennials are grossly overrated. Right now, we have a huge need for developers who can design IT systems in Microsoft .NET. If you can design a database, create an application that interfaces with that database–given a set of specification–we can get you a job.
Here’s the problem: WE CAN’T GET ANYONE WHO IS QUALIFIED!!!
We have four universities within 50 miles, each of which puts out graduates with Computer Science degrees. Can any of them come into our organization and–given a set of specs–design a system? Nope. We’ve had interns before; they were disasters.
So those excellent grades they are pulling in C programming and related classes? It’s not worth a roll of used toilet paper.
Most of our candidates are from India.
