Last week, Los Angeles Times columnist Chris Erskine published a piece that generated a ferocious backlash throughout social media.
The column, titled, “Millennials, you literally cannot call yourselves adults until you take this pledge,” is a mock pledge that duals as a call to action. Erskine writes that millennials shouldn”t consider themselves adults until they pledge things like, “I am entitled to nothing” and “I will force myself to finally make a phone call.”
While Erskine is considered a humor columnist, the aggressive condescension of the column mitigates any attempt at satire. Rather than serving as a legitimate critique of today”s youth, Erskine over-generalizes an entire population and defines the generation through the use of extreme stereotyping.
My immediate reaction was a visceral one – I wanted to take to a keyboard and bust out a Baby Boomer pledge, some pseudo-satirical but distinctly aggressive play on all of the stereotypes I have ever heard about the generations that preceded mine.
Corrin Bond
However, I realized doing so would make me just as bad as the columnist with whom I had a bone to pick.
It would be unfair to stereotype Baby Boomers, because it”s unfair to stereotype anyone.
My goal is not to defend millennials. My goal is to call out the nonsense that is radically criticizing one generation while operating under the perception that your own is some flawless gift to the Earth.
In the response column to the backlash of his millennial pledge piece Erskine writes, “It was meant more as a gentle nudge toward adulthood than a call to arms.”
While this column might have been written as an attempt to constructively criticize millennials through satire, Erskine sets the wrong tone from the get-go with an opening line like, “I adore and admire millennials. Obviously, it”s because I am one.” This, coming from the columnist with a graying mustache and a receding hairline, seems just a touch ironic and not at all genuine.
Humor or not, the problem is that Erskine isn”t a millennial. He isn”t “in the loop.” He doesn”t know the culture of today”s youth. He doesn”t know our fears or hopes or what it was like growing up in the 21st century because he never actually did.
Some parts of Erskine”s pledge, like, “I will not use pepper spray to season a burrito,” just don”t make sense, while others like, “When I finally move out of my parents” home, I will not take all of their vodka and half their towels,” just aren”t relatable.
Many of them, such as, “If I can”t afford car insurance, I won”t spend $20 a day on coffee,” aren”t bad behaviors exclusive to millennials either.
These aren”t just problems millennials have, they”re problems that a lot of people have. Some people do feel they”re entitled to the oxygen in their lungs and the ground they walk on.
Some people don”t know when to pick their battles and some people carelessly text while driving. My 53-year-old Baby Boomer father is singlehandedly the worst offender of texting and driving I have ever seen.
At the end of the day, no one is perfect and no one is ever going to be. Do people have bad behaviors and make mistakes? Yes. Is it OK to over-generalize and aggressively stereotype any population? No.
If Chris Erskine, or any overtly critical member of any generation wants a pledge, here”s one to try: pledge to be kind, considerate and socially-aware. Pledge to give others a break every once in a while, to steer clear of generalizations and to stop scrutinizing a generation who, like every other generation before them, are just trying to navigate this crazy mess of a world in which we all live.
Corrin Bond can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @CorrBond