A Shout-Out to Generation Q — The Quiet Generation

The Quiet Generation was newly christened by Tom Friedman in this morning’s New York Times. These college-age young adults are quietly rebuilding New Orleans, staffing “Teach for America”, and going abroad to combat AIDS and poverty. They represent the best of American ideals. But they are making a difference far too quietly. As Friedman notes:

“I am impressed because they are so much more optimistic and idealistic than they should be. I am baffled because they are so much less radical and politically engaged than they need to be.”

“… Generation Q may be too quiet, too online, for its own good, and for the country’s own good. When I think of the huge budget deficit, Social Security deficit and ecological deficit that our generation is leaving this generation, if they are not spitting mad, well, then they’re just not paying attention. And we’ll just keep piling it on them.”

We of the Greediest Generation — Generation G— are desperate for you to funnel your energy and rage against the machine. We fiftysomethings …and up …whose hearts beat progressive tunes…are behind you with money and whatever power we’ve accumulated. But no matter how energetic and well-intended we might be, there is no substitute for the fire and endurance of youth.

Friedman pleads:

“America needs a jolt of the idealism, activism and outrage (it must be in there) of Generation Q. That’s what twentysomethings are for — to light a fire under the country. But they can’t e-mail it in, and an online petition or a mouse click for carbon neutrality won’t cut it. They have to get organized in a way that will force politicians to pay attention rather than just patronize them.

Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy didn’t change the world by asking people to join their Facebook crusades or to download their platforms. Activism can only be uploaded, the old-fashioned way — by young voters speaking truth to power, face to face, in big numbers, on campuses or the Washington Mall. Virtual politics is just that — virtual.”

Soon, some of us will be retirees and hopefully, refugees from the Greediest Generation, reclaiming what we once stood for — change, responsibility, a rejection of the religion of corporatization and consumerism. Retirees are notorious for their willingness to embrace activism to achieve goals that matter to them ...they have the time and the money to kick some ass and they care a lot less about who they offend. But they still don’t have the physical advantages of youth and the natural organizing environment that a college or university provides.

Maybe Generation G needs to set up recruiting tables at local colleges, natural organizing hubs. We can enlist all those students into a cross-generational militia. A merger of AARP and Facebook could be a formidable community both online and off. I love it! The young and the not-so-young, raising hell together!