A letter to today’s young people

https://marco.org/2016/11/11/letter-to-young-people

by Shank • 10 years ago

21 16 10 years ago

vtange• 10 years ago

Not the best message to young people: that puts people on either "the good, progressive side" or the "bad, conservative side". This is what creates the divisive, no-compromise society we see today. In addition, for some folks, it will seem like someone is telling them how to think.

The world is often more mixed than you'd think. For example, it's not like Trump supporters all absolutely reject progressive ideals. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-voters-climate-cha...

flowersoldier2• 10 years ago

I'm in agreement vtange. This paragraph stuck out the most to me: "In the meantime, do everything you can to help, support, and stand up for the millions of people whose country just let them down, many of whom live in homes and communities that have just become unwelcoming or unsafe."

We live in a democracy - what about the millions of other people who feel like Trump will vocalize what they've been feeling for a long time? I'm not saying any one is right or wrong, but this article does seem to imply that there are millions of people who were just made victims by the outcome of the election. It does nothing to start a meaningful dialogue. I think it's important that we Help, Support, and Stand Up...but not because the country let anyone down. We should do that for everyone, everyday because they are Human Beings and they deserve it. Categorizing people into groups is exactly what landed this country in this polarizing situation. We need to start treating all people decently, not just the ones we're in agreement with. Kindness is the International Currency.

maxxxxx• 10 years ago

Americans need to stop dividing themselves into liberal and conservative. People are much more complex. This way of thinking is the best recipe for an eventual civil war and in the meantime it stops any reasonable political discourse.

rrrrsss992• 10 years ago

Not really. Most of the population is near the middle and doesn't care how you label them. People on the fringes are loud. That's all you're hearing.

xupybd3• 10 years ago

If being liberal is right, why do a lot of people switch camps when they get older. You get less correct with age? Or maybe it's a little more complex than that?

jdale273• 10 years ago

I think in general people just want more stability as they get older, including protecting the wealth and status they've accumulated. Rightly or wrongly, this might encourage them to support the "conservative" side, which purports to want to protect the status quo and the way things were in "the good old days".

xupybd3• 10 years ago

When dealing with the conservative, liberal divide I don't think right or wrong are the correct way to look at things. I myself have shifted from liberal to conservative. I don't think patting my self on the back saying I'm correct and congratulating everyone who agrees with me is productive. I want a better society for myself, my family and for everyone else. My view on the way to get there has changed, that doesn't make me better or worse than someone that wants to try a different way.

chrisco255• 10 years ago

Some of the best, kindest, most giving people I know are conservative. They're your firefighters, your nurses, your doctors, your mechanics, your teachers... Many, many people that are deep and complex and everything they believe is not wrong. This author would do well to acquaint himself with the side he demonizes and get to know people outside his bubble and the lens of propaganda.

gravypod• 10 years ago

Obama didn’t (and couldn’t) fix everything Bush broke. But we did fix most of it, and made a lot of progress in major new areas as well. Overall, we came out way ahead.

The Drone and Stuxnet programs are far from a step forward. Every president seems to bring us to a worse state then before. It's not a political line that needs to be drawn but instead one of corruption.

superbatfish• 10 years ago

This piece isn't great. Sure, I agree that the election outcome was bad. In fact, I think it was an utter disaster. This piece tells young people (presumably, "millenials") not to worry, it'll be okay in the end. But it's too easily interpreted as "don't take action, it all works out in the end anyway".

A TON of millenials didn't vote in this election, and that's why the values they cherish (or will soon realize they cherish) will be trampled over. Marco's message isn't a call to action; instead it's placating. I hope someday we can look back and say "well, that was just a wrong turn." But goshdarnit, 3 days after the election is too early for that!

PS -- Like other commenters, I agree that this piece is a little too simplistic in its view of young=liberal=good and old=conservative=bad. I don't agree with that, and besides, it's a little tasteless to imply "don't worry, those people that disagree with you will die soon enough."

xiaoma• 10 years ago

This piece is disturbingly ageist and naive in parts:

"That’s not because you’re inexperienced — it’s because you’re right. Your generation is, by definition, further ahead on the march of progress than everyone else. It is literally you who cause the progress as older people die and you rise into power."

The exact same thing was claimed by the young generations who grew into adulthood along with the rise of multiple fascist and communist regimes. Sometimes change is progress and sometimes it's not. Assuming that new beliefs are correct because they are new is dangerous and wrong.

rrrrsss992• 10 years ago

"we suffered through that horrific administration"

Thousands of Americans died and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi's and Afgani's died. You obviously weren't one of them. Your weren't part of that. You went to college and lived your life in peace, but somehow you suffered as much as the people who watched their families die and their countries fall apart because your "conscience hurt".

A letter to today’s young people

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