When Millennials Rule: The Reshaping of America, by Jack and David Cahn

The Voice of America

On their best days, Millennials have been called narcissists, fame-obsessed and lazy. And "apparently" there's nothing we can do to make people think otherwise -they have data to prove that. (*)

When I was researching for Millennials: Are You One of Us?  what I found out about my generation was -to be honest- even worse. In 2015 the Pew Research Center released a report -Generations in a Mirror: How They See Themselves- showing that Millennials had by far the lowest regard for their own cohort. In fact, 59% of Millennials describe the members of their generation as self-absorbed, wasteful (49%) and greedy (43%).

Looking at the figures, I wrote:

Statistics show that Millennials are the best educated generation of history but -apparently- our political views don't make any sense, our ideas are unrealistic and we will never reach higher political positions.

If generational identity is strongest among the Boomers (60% of millennials don’t even want to be identified as such), Millennials are definitely more critical of their own generation than baby boomers are of theirs: only 12% of millennials said they were patriotic; 24% said they were responsible; while 36% said they were hard-working.

In Why are the baby boomers desperate to make millennials hate ourselves? Eleanor Roberston -columnist for the Guardian Australia- blamed the boomers for shafted us with their mentality. Robertson writes:

The boomer mentality goes like this: get a good education. Get a well-paying full-time job. Find a stable partner. Buy a house and a car. Preferably, have a child. Failing any stage of this process is a reflection of your self-worth and indicates a lack of moral fibre.

It shouldn't surprise you if Millennials don’t think much of their own generation. Millennials believe what the baby boomers have told them, and they have just mutated to adapt to the environment. But whilst a number of them is busy turning into brands like the Kardashians, or "inflating themselves like balloons on Facebook" -says W. Keith Campbell, psychology professor at the University of Georgia- I believe that there are Millennials which are idealists, dreamers and fantastic entrepreneurs with strong opinions and smart ideas.

I have proof too! And it's called When Millennials Rule: The Reshaping of America by Jack and David Cahn. An extraordinary first-person portrait of what millennials stand for and why.

Five years ago, David and Jack Cahn – competitive debaters, and New York Magazine’s “Twin Titans” – travelled across the country and talked with more than 10,000 young Americans about everything from campaign finance reform to nuclear proliferation, trying to uncover their generation’s political identity. When Millennials Rule is the story of their journey.

China has swallowed our jobs. Social security is going bankrupt. Radical Islamic  terrorists threaten our safety. Our planet is on the brink of environmental disaster. Meanwhile, politicians pound their chests in ideological wars that enrich lobbyists and special interest groups at the expense of the American voter. 

If America today is at a crossroads, it is the millennial generation – long ridiculed as selfish egotists and narcissistic Twitter drones – that will face the momentous task of restoring the promise of a better future. 

But where are millennials leading America? How will this generation shape our nation’s future? These are questions everyone is asking – in newspapers, in books, on television and on Twitter. And they’re baffled. 

When Millennials Rule: the Reshaping of America is a terrific book written by Millennials for Millennials, that will show you how this long time snubbed generation could be a great force for positive change; a generation of optimistic with a strong idealism and community engagement.

When Millennials Rule by David and Jack Cahn is the voice of America I want to hear...loud and clear! 

What is your opinion? Do you think Millennials are just narcissistic personalities characterized by a damaged sense of self or this is just what society want us to believe?  What's keeping Millennials out of the big game? and why society doesn't give them credit? Feel free to share your thoughts down in the comment!

Happy reading!

- Scila -

- Read more content from The Serial Reader on TheSerialReaderBlog.com -

(*) Sources:  In a May 2013 article in Time, entitled, “Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation” Joel Stein lays out the cold hard data:

• the incidence of narcissistic personality disorder is nearly three times as high for people in their 20s as for the generation that's now 65 or older, according to the National Institutes of Health; 58% more college students scored higher on a narcissism scale in 2009 than in 1982;
• 40% believe they should be promoted every two years, regardless of performance;
• three times as many middle school girls want to grow up to be a personal assistant to a famous person as want to be a Senator, according to a 2007 survey; four times as many would pick the assistant job over CEO of a major corporation;
• the National Study of Youth and Religion found the guiding morality of 60% of Millennials in any situation is that they'll just be able to feel what's right.