This is the midweek edition of Culture Study — the newsletter from Anne Helen Petersen, which you can read about here. If you like it and want more like it in your inbox, consider subscribing. Last night, I watched the first episode of the Hulu/National Geographic documentary on 9/11. It’s made in collaboration with the 9/11 Museum, which has allowed the filmmakers to recreate the day using hours of donated footage — from tourists, from firefighters, from others on the ground. It’s astonishing, truly heart-stopping. I don’t think I moved once during the entire hour.
"Yes, they are stressed — and some really struggle with mental health issues, and many are pissed off at older generations for the messed up state of the world they’ve been handed — but in my view, those reactions aren’t signs of fragility or entitlement, but very rational responses to the reality of their incredibly complicated and often threatening world. If anything, we should be applauding their resilience and drive."
I'm holding onto this quote to reread on days when I feel like such a failure. Living in neverending societal stress is really, really hard.
One of the things that has frustrated me is the constant seemingly warm sentiment that non-younger people express when asked what gives them hope: "The young people today are so smart/savvy/insightful/hard-working/etc. that they'll be able to figure it out. That gives me hope." It's all true! I volunteer at the high school and am consistently blown away by the teens there, especially their self-knowledge. But it's frustrating that it often feels like older generations' (including mine; I was born 1976) main hope is what younger people will bring to the table. What about what we can bring for them? Shouldn't we fight at least as hard for their futures as we expect them to fight? It's not just burdening them with saving the planet, or at least keeping it habitable for humans, but burdening them with everyone else's hope, too, which seems extra unfair.
That's a bit rambly. Thanks for sharing this! Wonderful interview; I always like to read smart pushback against whatever version of "kids these days" is popular at the moment.
I am a little old for "Generation Disaster" having graduated college a year before 9/11 and my kids born in the middle 00s are bit younger than what the author is talking about but these descriptions of "societal stress" are spot on. The cycle that I find them most exhausting is: something huge and terrible happens, everyone says this will change everything, then the only changes that stick are ones that don't help resolve the reasons the terrible thing happened in the first place so we're right back where we started except maybe a little worse.
And oh wow that quote from the mom born in 1975 really resonated with me! My kids are in high school and I want to be hopeful and exited about their futures - they're such great kids; smart and thoughtful, brave and kind, better people all around than I was at their ages - but I just feel so so sad when I think about all that they've had to deal with and all the problems they'll be facing. Sometimes they talk about hypothetically having their own children someday and I don't think I should say it to them, but I honestly hope they choose not to - even though they'd probably be great parents if they wanted to. I struggle with whether I should try to keep them on the traditional path towards college, etc. or if there is a better way to prepare themselves for the world in this time.
Fully acknowledging her right to define the generation how she wants, as an "elder millenial" (born in 1984), I'd like to join Gen. Disaster, because my high school years were bookended by Columbine my freshman year and 9/11 my senior year. Hurricane Katrina was the weekend I started senior year of college. I have just started to take it easier on myself and not blame myself for having anxiety and all its symptoms because WTF I have had adrenaline in my veins non stop for 25 years.
I confess to being frustrated by the elision of Gen X in this interview. (Stipulating that I was born in 1976, which makes this perhaps a predictable and narcissistic objection!) Particularly in the final answer, Vermeulen talks about the " between emerging adults and Boomers – for the young because of all of the dismissiveness and hostility some have internalized, and for the old because they’re depriving themselves of the opportunity to learn from these tenacious and thoughtful emerging adults." As an academic, I work with students (both undergraduate and graduate) who fit squarely within Generation Disaster, both chronologically and characteristically. Most writers who embrace such generational descriptions--which I don't love in general, I confess--elide the existence of Gen X, and my students follow suit, making assumptions about my financial circumstances, my political commitments, and my worldview that are ahistorical and inaccurate. I was 14 when H.W. Bush's military invaded Kuwait, and I was arrested protesting the second Gulf War in graduate school. I'm not objecting to Vermeule's focusing on the particular experiences of this younger cohort, but rather pointing out that her narrative has to generalize--and overlook--a lot in order to make its claims.
I'm an elder millenial (born in 82, definitely prefer the "oregon trail generation" designation) and my brother is the oldest of this "generation disaster" being born in 89. I didn't realize the impact of 9/11 on his, and his peers' psyche, until the assassination of Osama Bin Laden. For me and most of the people I knew it was the closing of a long chapter which had been sort of in the background for a while, lost in the midst of wars which we thought were unjust, the great recession, an election in which the loser ended up with the presidency, among other things. But for him and for his peers, it was so significant -- it was the death of the boogey man who had shattered their innocence. I could not relate. Columbine or the Oklahoma city bombing would be the only events of this scale, but as they were internal threats which could be explained away with "mental illness" and they didn't have the same foundational impact. But for him the threat was so existential that even though we shared the same upper middle class, left leaning upbringing (his in many ways more secure than mine as my parents were older and more financially secure), I was so struck that we had such different experiences. That's all to say that this "generation disaster" designations resonates a lot with how I understand my brother!
I have been really struggling with how to talk with my (university) students about 9/11 this year. I don't always because I'm not always teaching on the day and because of the subject matter I am teaching. I'm also acutely aware of how regular these memorials and discussions have been for them.
but since this marks 20 years, I really wanted to discuss it in some way. this is perfect in so many ways & I'm going to share the online version of this interview and open some discussion with them about it. I deeply appreciated the interview and this way of thinking
This interview touched on so many things that have been weighing heavily on me lately. I was born in 91, so I’m on the older end of the cohort. I’m a parent with two really young kids, and I’m worried about the world they are growing up in and the world they will become adults in. The most recent report on climate change really shifted a lot of things for me. I want to feel hopeful, and sometimes I am. But any hope I feel is also kind of muted by our current political reality and how impossible it feels to make meaningful change happen…
Wow, this is me and my siblings! I was five when 9/11 happened, and we used to have a memorial for it every year in school. That line about "the nation being involved in distant wars for complicated and confusing reasons is just the norm for them" really resonated with me. I appreciate the idea that we're resilient and realistic about the dangers of the world - I really do think/hope that's true.
My husband (bless him!) planted almost 200 bulbs last fall, and the thing that made it possible was a garden augur drill bit. You put it on an electric drill and use it to dig the hole for each bulb, which saves your hands the labor of digging over 100 holes with a spade.
"Yes, they are stressed — and some really struggle with mental health issues, and many are pissed off at older generations for the messed up state of the world they’ve been handed — but in my view, those reactions aren’t signs of fragility or entitlement, but very rational responses to the reality of their incredibly complicated and often threatening world. If anything, we should be applauding their resilience and drive."
I'm holding onto this quote to reread on days when I feel like such a failure. Living in neverending societal stress is really, really hard.
One of the things that has frustrated me is the constant seemingly warm sentiment that non-younger people express when asked what gives them hope: "The young people today are so smart/savvy/insightful/hard-working/etc. that they'll be able to figure it out. That gives me hope." It's all true! I volunteer at the high school and am consistently blown away by the teens there, especially their self-knowledge. But it's frustrating that it often feels like older generations' (including mine; I was born 1976) main hope is what younger people will bring to the table. What about what we can bring for them? Shouldn't we fight at least as hard for their futures as we expect them to fight? It's not just burdening them with saving the planet, or at least keeping it habitable for humans, but burdening them with everyone else's hope, too, which seems extra unfair.
That's a bit rambly. Thanks for sharing this! Wonderful interview; I always like to read smart pushback against whatever version of "kids these days" is popular at the moment.
I am a little old for "Generation Disaster" having graduated college a year before 9/11 and my kids born in the middle 00s are bit younger than what the author is talking about but these descriptions of "societal stress" are spot on. The cycle that I find them most exhausting is: something huge and terrible happens, everyone says this will change everything, then the only changes that stick are ones that don't help resolve the reasons the terrible thing happened in the first place so we're right back where we started except maybe a little worse.
And oh wow that quote from the mom born in 1975 really resonated with me! My kids are in high school and I want to be hopeful and exited about their futures - they're such great kids; smart and thoughtful, brave and kind, better people all around than I was at their ages - but I just feel so so sad when I think about all that they've had to deal with and all the problems they'll be facing. Sometimes they talk about hypothetically having their own children someday and I don't think I should say it to them, but I honestly hope they choose not to - even though they'd probably be great parents if they wanted to. I struggle with whether I should try to keep them on the traditional path towards college, etc. or if there is a better way to prepare themselves for the world in this time.
Fully acknowledging her right to define the generation how she wants, as an "elder millenial" (born in 1984), I'd like to join Gen. Disaster, because my high school years were bookended by Columbine my freshman year and 9/11 my senior year. Hurricane Katrina was the weekend I started senior year of college. I have just started to take it easier on myself and not blame myself for having anxiety and all its symptoms because WTF I have had adrenaline in my veins non stop for 25 years.
I confess to being frustrated by the elision of Gen X in this interview. (Stipulating that I was born in 1976, which makes this perhaps a predictable and narcissistic objection!) Particularly in the final answer, Vermeulen talks about the " between emerging adults and Boomers – for the young because of all of the dismissiveness and hostility some have internalized, and for the old because they’re depriving themselves of the opportunity to learn from these tenacious and thoughtful emerging adults." As an academic, I work with students (both undergraduate and graduate) who fit squarely within Generation Disaster, both chronologically and characteristically. Most writers who embrace such generational descriptions--which I don't love in general, I confess--elide the existence of Gen X, and my students follow suit, making assumptions about my financial circumstances, my political commitments, and my worldview that are ahistorical and inaccurate. I was 14 when H.W. Bush's military invaded Kuwait, and I was arrested protesting the second Gulf War in graduate school. I'm not objecting to Vermeule's focusing on the particular experiences of this younger cohort, but rather pointing out that her narrative has to generalize--and overlook--a lot in order to make its claims.
I'm an elder millenial (born in 82, definitely prefer the "oregon trail generation" designation) and my brother is the oldest of this "generation disaster" being born in 89. I didn't realize the impact of 9/11 on his, and his peers' psyche, until the assassination of Osama Bin Laden. For me and most of the people I knew it was the closing of a long chapter which had been sort of in the background for a while, lost in the midst of wars which we thought were unjust, the great recession, an election in which the loser ended up with the presidency, among other things. But for him and for his peers, it was so significant -- it was the death of the boogey man who had shattered their innocence. I could not relate. Columbine or the Oklahoma city bombing would be the only events of this scale, but as they were internal threats which could be explained away with "mental illness" and they didn't have the same foundational impact. But for him the threat was so existential that even though we shared the same upper middle class, left leaning upbringing (his in many ways more secure than mine as my parents were older and more financially secure), I was so struck that we had such different experiences. That's all to say that this "generation disaster" designations resonates a lot with how I understand my brother!
I have been really struggling with how to talk with my (university) students about 9/11 this year. I don't always because I'm not always teaching on the day and because of the subject matter I am teaching. I'm also acutely aware of how regular these memorials and discussions have been for them.
but since this marks 20 years, I really wanted to discuss it in some way. this is perfect in so many ways & I'm going to share the online version of this interview and open some discussion with them about it. I deeply appreciated the interview and this way of thinking
This interview touched on so many things that have been weighing heavily on me lately. I was born in 91, so I’m on the older end of the cohort. I’m a parent with two really young kids, and I’m worried about the world they are growing up in and the world they will become adults in. The most recent report on climate change really shifted a lot of things for me. I want to feel hopeful, and sometimes I am. But any hope I feel is also kind of muted by our current political reality and how impossible it feels to make meaningful change happen…
Wow, this is me and my siblings! I was five when 9/11 happened, and we used to have a memorial for it every year in school. That line about "the nation being involved in distant wars for complicated and confusing reasons is just the norm for them" really resonated with me. I appreciate the idea that we're resilient and realistic about the dangers of the world - I really do think/hope that's true.
And now we're working on Generation Covid. Or when we look back will it be Generation Climate-Disaster?
My husband (bless him!) planted almost 200 bulbs last fall, and the thing that made it possible was a garden augur drill bit. You put it on an electric drill and use it to dig the hole for each bulb, which saves your hands the labor of digging over 100 holes with a spade.
I'm Gen x (born in '75) and it's been curious time to figure out how to "adult" in a post 9/11 world. More so, how quickly we were expected to adapt.