I couldn't resist. As the election approached, I found myself increasingly engaged in the Harper vs. Us debates and like so many other educated Canadians, horrified at the things this man has gotten away with. So, I went against my own advice and commented on a Globe & Mail article about the powerful grassroots ad campaign led by shitharperdid.ca, in reply to all the baby boomers patronizing us and thinking we are a pampered, useless generation.
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Hey baby boomers, why don't you take a look in the mirror and see who is really to blame for "youth of today"?
It's your selfish and money hungry generation that has made our world uninhabitable and unaffordable. It's YOU who raised us this way, apathetic and unable to buy property or start families. Check out this article from Macleans last year "Are we raising our boys to be underachieving men?":
http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/10/18/raising-our-boys
We are criticized for not caring and not doing anything so finally we pulled together and decided that we aren't going to be talked down to anymore, and all you can do is make fun of us? Patronize us? What does combed hair have to do with anything? The people in the videos are just regular, normal people who want to make a difference. We aren't selling you with sex or celebrities - is that what you want? What would you have to say if you had only heard the videos and not seen them? You are jumping to so many illogical conclusions and it doesn't make any sense. Do you actually think that "hipsters" would do all this work just to be cool? What is wrong with you? Seriously?
Typical of the older generation, you fear the loss of control. No matter who you support, conservative or otherwise, you should be proud that youth are finally standing up for themselves, it shouldn't matter what they look like. Rock the Vote is an unsuccessful campaign because they still seem to be out of touch with the younger generation; it's founder, Jeff Ayeroff, is 64 years old. Get a bunch of bands and famous people to tell us to vote? This campaign is genius because it's not just telling us what to do, it's telling us why and it's 100% from our peers; it's not Ryan Gosling telling us to vote. It is informing us in a way that is easily accessible and relevant to our lifestyle. And you may not like it but that's too bad because the world is changing.
I'm a 29 year old female, university educated and with a successful career and yet I have been paying off my student loans for the last 7 years, making any further advances in life next to impossible. The older generations have made it very, very hard to become established in society nowadays - it's not the same as when the baby boomer generation was twenty-something and that's exactly why we need to get the right people in office who see this.
We are a lot smarter than we are given credit for. This whole debate feels like that time in your life when your parents have a hard time accepting that you're an "adult" and not a teenager anymore.
You've belittled us, made fun of us, disrespected us, and most of all, you've underestimated us. Time to wake up because we aren't going anywhere.
