In pondering what Gen-Z can expect from the future, I’ve been looking back at previous generations that faced similar cultural, economic, and political struggles. Though being the Lost or Greatest Generation reborn would be the most poetic, it’s the Silent Generation that caught my eye.
Like Gen-Z, the Silents were far more educated, saw our parents suffer in economic downswings, and preceded the rise of international protests and the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
In the Soviet Union, they were called ‘Sixtiers’, intelligent and forward-thinking young Russians notable for their anti-totalitarian views. The Sixtiers expressed their love for communism through art, split between the ‘lyricists’, the ‘artists’, and the ‘physicists’, the scientists. In Australia, Silents are known as ‘the Builders,’ “who literally and metaphorically built [the] nation after the austerity years post-Depression and World War II.”
I submit that the world’s changes en masse will make Gen-Z, in 50 years when we look back, as impactful as the Silents, Sixtiers, and Builders.
We live in a time where the world is changing faster and faster, from political movements and schools of thought that resist realpolitik and ‘civility’ in the name of uplifting marginalised voices, speaking for the speechless, and screaming for our elders to understand. We tried playing by their rules, but where did that get us?
A new culture
Breaking down traditional social and cultural barriers in favour of a new, internationalist culture won’t be easy, but it is possible. Not to tout childhood naivety, but the years of growing up in Al Ain, where there was prejudice but far more openness between children of every origin and background imaginable, tell me that it is not possible for us to exist in peace without the bounds of race or religion to divide us all while respecting ethnic, cultural, and religious differences, for no other reason than it is the right thing to do.
The resistance to the changing structures of power, however, comes from the top, bloated and dense, that has sacrificed the foundations for selfish gain. Protest movements around the world are pointing this out right now, from scandals over unfair hiring practices in Bangladesh to the suffering of Palestinians, and climate protests in Paris during the Olympics revealing the West’s hypocrisy.
It was the historical fantasy novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, or rather the film adaptation, that said ‘history prefers soaring speeches to quiet deeds.’ Since young people have traditionally been held out of power, one can understand why we choose to scream at protests rather than sit and wait for our turn in power (waiting for ‘my turn’ seems to come up a lot).
Apathy, however, is boring. I’m ready to bear down and march on, both for my own satisfaction and because I believe some of the older generations coasted. When they could buy a house with half a year’s pay or get a job in any number of fields that would see them paid well, from engineer to teacher to doctor to journalist. When they were raised being told to go to university, and actually had it pay off.
As I put this week’s rambling to bed, I hope we might move forward with a little less grace, but far more effective, as we find ourselves pushing the world forward as we know it can be pushed. In next week’s column, I’ll talk more about the Silent Generation, how Gen-Z is the end and Gen-Alpha a new beginning, and unlike our elders, we need to have Gen-Alpha’s back.