I read and rec'ed this diary because as a twenty something I believe this is a problem worthy of our attention. But it got me thinking of a different NYtimes article from earlier this summer. Anyone else recall American Dream Is Elusive for New Generation about the unemployed college graduate who turned down the 40k job because it wasn't the perfect one we he had in mind?
We need to confront this mindset in a blame-free way, and we need to confront the too common political apathy of millennials in a blame-free way. How do we do this? Some ideas below.
1. Communicate with people age 18-30 about politics. Do it on their level.
How this is executed depends on whether you are in your 20s or the parent / sibling of someone in their 20s. Don't assume just because someone seems more interested in reality-TV that they cannot possibly be engaged in politics. Think about what topic you want to discuss, make it one that is relevant to them and put it in jargon-free terms. A lot of otherwise smart people don't get into political discussion because they think they cannot grasp the language of politics. Show them that they can.
Use facebook, text, twitter, or whatever other medium you know this young person uses. I'll post political links or musings on my FB feed and am surprised to get a like or comment from someone with whom I've never discussed politics. I'll get friends telling me the only way they follow political issues is reading the stuff that scrolls by on their facebook feed.
Use Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert clips.
Maybe this seems obvious to some of you, if so great. I do, however, get the sense that some people would rather write off gen Y(or whatever we're called this week) than engage them. If you're a 18-30 peer maybe you are reluctant to engage your friends about politics because you don't want to nag or bore them. Screw that. I haven't lost any friends (yet) from doing this.
2. Confront the misperceptions of the 18-30 crowd without blaming them.
I feel bad for that guy in the NYtimes article who turned down the 40k job, but I didn't have the revulsion reaction some people did. I thought part of the liberal mindset was acknowledging the ways in which people are the products of their environments. We were raised in (mostly) good economic times to think we're extra special and deserve the best. That's not inherently bad, but recent economic times are showing us that some of these expectations need to be tempered and re-thought. If you can do this without coming off holier-than-thou, then go for it.
3. Be realistic about Democrats.
Uh-oh, I'm about to wade into The 2010 Pie-Fight. Part of the vibe I got from the other diary/comments went something like this:
If the Democrats could just suck less, we'd have no problem with young people.
This sounds silly to me. Lately it seems like arguing about Democrats on this site involves one side posting a list of what we've accomplished, and the other side posting a list of what we haven't yet done or how the accomplishments are unfinished/hollow. I've been generally supporive of Obama, but it seems evident that both sides in this debate have merit. When talking about Democrats with young people who may be jaded on them, acknowledge both their accomplishments and shortcomings. In kos terms, we need young people to push for more and better Democrats. Validate their ambivalence. Democrats often dissapoint us, but they've also been the major legislative force for improving people's lives over the past 70 years. Vilifying Democrats or making them out to be heroes; both foster more apathy. We should be doing the hard work to show people that we operate in a flawed system that can still work for people if we engage in it.
If you have been supremely frustrated with Democrats and only find yourself posting critical comments about them then all I can say is inherent in this post is the assumption that, flawed as they are, Democrats are still worthy of young people's support. These are my ideas on how to reach them. Cheers.