Growing up, children were always told to make the world a better place, that they would be the generation to change the world someday. They were told the actions they chose now will pave the way for their future, and that every decision counts. Now, just at the age of 16, the younger generations are more involved with the betterment of the world, even politics, than ever before.
This generation has already influenced many changes throughout the world, one of which is starting the Black Lives Matter movement, which will accordingly put an end to police brutality. Whether they are making a difference by attending protests or sharing their support on social media, they make sure their voices are heard. Even though we are going through a pandemic, this obstacle is not stopping the changes they want to make.
This generation is also referred to as Gen Z, and during our fight to end racism, they are also trying to stop the spread of Covid-19. Abiding by the regulations to stay home during the quarantine they are also wearing masks, which some adults refuse to do. Gen Z is also expressing the importance of representation, whether it has to do with your ethnicity, race, or even sexuality, Gen Z is making it known that no matter who you are, we are all equal and heard.
These are some of the social problems that have been touched upon by other generations, but they haven’t caused much impact. But due to this new generation, Gen Z has spread more awareness on these issues, creating more of an impact in our society. So with this in mind, do you think this new generation is making a change for the better? What are some other issues that haven’t been brought up, but need change? Should the problem of climate change be the next normal to talk about? Also, do you feel younger generations are taken seriously for the changes they want to make?
I genuinely think that our generation is truly a force to be reckoned with. The culmination of growing social media platforms, tired societal tropes, and a desire for inclusivity for all, have really put Gen Z as frontrunners for change. We aren't afraid of the awkward conversations with our parents, we shut down traditional gender roles, and we use our voices to fight for what is right. I really do believe we are making a difference, and a prime example would be with the Black Lives Matter movement. The visibility of the movement is now more apparent than ever, thanks to fervent Gen Z advocates. Even while looking at crowds in protests on the news, it is likely that you will find hundreds of youth who are avidly proclaiming the necessity of social, political, and economic equality in this country. Despite this, I do equally believe that we may not be taken as seriously because of our age. We are told that we are naive, inexperienced, sensitive, among other things. Nonetheless, I feel like these preconceived notions of our generation is what really drives our urge to do better than past generations.
ReplyDeletePersonally I do agree Gen Z is going to be impactful in the eventual future, but not because of those reasons.
ReplyDeleteTo begin with, throughout world history we have seen a basic pattern of which has never been broken, "Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times," the quote itself coming from the author G. Michael Hopf. As to how this relates to our generation its essentially that due to the failure of millennials to fix the issues within our nation it has fallen into our hands. All the problems including poverty, a weakened economy, and increasing racial/political tensions that could lead to a civil war. However, that is all predictions, but the truth is that Gen Z is one of the most conservative generations since the second World war. I bring this up because not to long ago forbes published an article talking about how democrats should worry about Gen Z. The evidence they brought up was a U.K. study conducted at the guild in which they asked about issues concerning marijuana, gay marriage, and tattoos, with 59% claiming they were conservative or moderate which is around the middle of the political compass test. The opposite happened when they interviewed Gen X and millennials with 89% stating they were more liberal when it came to those topics. The reason I bring this up is because Gen Z, or the majority, are possibly less likely to create change within these topics, as in the same article it states that the majority of Gen Z is more libertarian or Moderate right. This would mean that Gen Z's main social political change wouldn't be the issues of BLM or income equality, which on an economic basis is ridiculous, but rather on creating jobs and other economic policies. It also stated Gen Z is more on the presidents side when it related to National security which is basically, immigration issues, foreign threats, law enforcement, etc. However, we as Californians are more on the left side of the political spectrum so we ignore how the rest of the nations Gen Z children political views would be. Social media as well does that mistake. To further explain, on social media usually one side is pushed when it comes to politics so you're more bound to see left leaning Gen Z posts but if you look to sites like r/memes on reddit you can see certain political memes that are libertarian/right leaning being on hot meaning that a large portion of people either believe in it or enjoy the meme. Considering Gen Z is the meme generation it makes you wonder what the true political leaning is of our generation. This also bring up the question of how many Gen Z children there are who don't even express their views and keep to themselves, something similar to the silent majority of the U.S. who we will or will not see exists during this next election ( I bet $5 it does ).
Although I disagree about the issues Gen Z would focus on I do believe that our generation is going to be an impactful one if war breaks out in the U.S., with China, or there's just a large economic downturn ( also Covid recovery which is part of economic downturn or a cause for economic downturn ) of which we will have to fix. With all that being said that is just my opinion and here is the article I referenced, https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleystahl/2017/08/11/why-democrats-should-be-losing-sleep-over-generation-z/#1f29d96f7878