Posted on 04/11/2006 12:07:23 PM PDT by qam1
A few weeks ago, U.S. champion skier Bode Miller turned in a stunningly poor performance at the Olympics, with two non-medal finishes, a disqualification and two incomplete races.
Unabashed, he told the Associated Press: "I just did it my way. I'm not a martyr, and I'm not a do-gooder. I just want to go out and rock. And man, I rocked here."
Mr. Miller's exuberant self-assessment makes him "a poster child" for "Generation Me," says San Diego State University psychology professor Jean Twenge.
Americans born after 1970 -- including the so-called Generation X and Millennial Generation -- have become "an army of little narcissists," says Mrs. Twenge, who explains her views in her new book, "Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled and More Miserable Than Ever Before."
Unlike their parents and grandparents, "GenMes" have "never known a world that put duty before self," she says. Instead, they were raised in a culture obsessed with self-esteem and feel-good mantras such as "Believe in yourself, and you can be anything" and "Never give up on your dreams."
The result is a generation of youths who are tolerant, confident, open-minded, ambitious -- and have wildly unreasonable expectations about how they fit into the adult world.
"They expect to go to college, to make lots of money, and perhaps even to be famous," Mrs. Twenge says. But when reality hits, and they don't get the coveted college placement or high-paying job, or they discover the high costs of housing and health care, many members of Generation Me crash emotionally, she says.......
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
No doubt it would do him a world of good.
The time to party is AFTER the job is done.
This turd spent his time partying and never once had the brains to remind himself of all the good parties he would have had if he had done his job. he could have been a hero and gotten laid a thousand times, Now he is a dunce and might find a woman who likes losers.
Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Puh-leese. So all the people fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, and else-where are narcissists? Silly op-ed journalist.
You might be right. I didn't read whether or not he bothered showing up for practice. If he really did party and not prepare, then it is an example of wasted potential.
An assessment of military volunteerism comparing the Baby Boomers to younger generations would strongly refute this article. The most nihilistic overall generation is the Boomers, the second most are Gen Y, whom they raised wrong.
Actually, I enjoyed reading her cv, which I think is useful:
http://www.psychology.sdsu.edu/new-web/news/JeanTwenge.jpg
She's likely no boomer, having gotten her undergrad in 1993.
However, conclusions may be intentionally skewed to sell books (bearing in mind book sales to Gen X are probably lower than sales to the Oprah-book-club-reading Boomers) or please superiors (since she's working at San Diego State, and a UChicago/UMich grad, she probably has ambitions to grander things). She has a few studies that lead one to think perhaps her bent may be typical psychological babble, but I think she's done some interesting research. Nonetheless, if I bother at all with it, I'll read the book on the shelf instead of buying it.
What's funny is that she has on the SDSU site a q&a about this that will lead everyone here to realize what a psych major she is. Her theory is that Gen X was built to high self esteem and when Gen Xers don't meet their own expectations, they lash out against attackers. This is particularly funny, because anyone who disagrees with her conclusions from Gen X will be in her eyes a typical Gen Xer. So this whole thread would 'confirm' her theory.
Doesn't that sound like some of the circular logic other psychobabblers have thrown at us? We're slackers...so we're bitter...so we're cynical...so we're slackers...
Never could stand psych majors.
...agreed. Many of the psych. and soc. majors and instructors at my university had a reputation for being nutty. It's no wonder, as much as people from those departments told others about themselves (and about their disfunctional families, etc.).
the Clinton Generation comes of age.
when I was a young man, a pussy like this wouldn't have lasted a week at my school.
I'd rather be an Xer than boomertrash anyday. Boomertrash ruined this country. What your generation needed was a few more Kent States.
I call you the "Clinton Generation." Nothing personal.
I call you the "Clinton Generation." Nothing personal.
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