Millennials: Downtrodden or Just Dumb?

Unfortunately, it's a pretty common pattern to label an economically disadvantaged, politically disenfranchised group as dumb.
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"The landscape is changing before our eyes. Younger voters struggling with the enormous costs of a college education, or trying to raise families in a bleak employment environment, or using their credit cards to cover everyday expenses like food or energy costs are not much interested in hearing that the government to which they pay taxes can do little or nothing to help them."

Research shows that this is the most progressive generation in decades. We want nothing less than a new New Deal--and along with rebuilding the middle class, we're going to need a new WPA to rebuild our transportation and energy infrastructure in a post-fossil fuel world.

On the other hand, maybe a wholesale transformation of government and American seems too difficult or out of reach. Instead, you can indulge in a nice round of Blame the Victim.

"The ignorance is hard to believe ... It isn't enough to say that these young people are uninterested in world realities. They are actively cut off from them."

Would that it were true! Many of the young people I talk to would love to be cut off from realities like the war in Iraq (who do you think is fighting over there, John McCain?), student loan and credit card debt, low-wage jobs, lack of access to health care, & high housing costs.

Unfortunately, it's a pretty common pattern to label an economically disadvantaged, politically disenfranchised group as dumb. You can see it in racism, sexism, and this time, ageism.

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