One of the unusual aspects of the millennial generation has been the vehement hatred towards them, both openly and implicitly.
First, take Jonah Goldberg's recent rant about how young people are "so frickin stupid."
While it's rightly dismissed as bitter ranting over the next generation, one thing is usually taken to be a legitimate point:
We all want to be younger. We all want to look younger. Men trade in their wives for younger wives. I meant there’s all sorts of stuff going on out there in the culture that makes youth culture more powerful today than I think it’s ever been and I think that’s unhealthy for a society.’
Indeed it seems like the idea that "youth culture" is heralded as everyone just adores those that are young.
The idea that youth is worshiped might be true on the surface, yes shows like Pretty Little Liars, 16 and Pregnant and Degrassi might fill the air waves but the idea that these amount to portrayals of worship seems unlikely.
In all the shows, the youth are stupid, irresponsible, prone to crime and greedy. And obviously there is some of this with youth in general but the point is that the youth are almost exclusively portrayed like this. This reached ridiculous levels in the tear-jerker The Descendents where the kids are egregiously stupid and the George Clooney character would openly complain about kids not "respect[ing] authority" (also probably worth mentioning that the film ends with the kids accepting their father's authority).
Of particular interest is 16 and Pregnant, what's odd is the show, which gives the impression of a promiscuous and irresponsible youth, exists at a time when teen pregnancies are at an all time historic low.
This hatred of youth isn't hard to understand, as the Harvard Business Review points out there's a big mistake they make in the workplace:
Most if not all of the digital communities where Gen Y has spent time are highly egalitarian. They're indifferent to pre-existing hierarchies and credentials, and sometimes even hostile to them....
...many people in the organization's existing hierarchy are kind of fond of it. They're fond, in fact, of the entire notion of hierarchy, and of the related idea that employees should respect their places within it. These people don't really desire more egalitarianism.
Indeed, much of the youth presents an existential threat to the establishment, which is why it is vilified by it.