If ever a comment piece applied to this place, this must be it.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/22/kids-striking-climate-change-adults-infantile-teacher-pupils

the average 15 year old in the UK barely knows who the prime minister is

Hmmmm, has someone hacked your account today?

When they stop buying so much stuff, wanting the latest phones, foreign holidays etc I might take more notice of them.
The girl in Scotland who ‘strikes’ every Friday for a whole hour, can’t even be bothered to strike for the length of the school day.
I liked Rod Liddle’s piece asking if the school/teachers would be quite so happy about the strikes if they were off supporting brexit

Thank you both for proving the point of the article.

When they stop buying so much stuff, wanting the latest phones, foreign holidays etc I might take more notice of them.

How do you know the ones that are like this were the ones striking?

When they stop buying so much stuff, wanting the latest phones, foreign holidays etc I might take more notice of them.

Yeah, how dare they, imagine anyone wanting a holiday and other nice things. They should be happy with a day trip to Blackpool and a slide rule.

The biggest problem with the youth of today is the adults of yesterday perpetually telling the youth of today how worthless they are and how privileged and entitled they are, this coming from people who had access to free University education, affordable housing, big fat pensions and no trace of irony whatsoever.

Still, after years of looking at the Millennials with barely concealed envy from our holiday homes in the South of France we’ve finally got our own back at last, haven’t we. Brexit will really stick it to the little bastards. Our lasting legacy to the future generation, a spot of rationing and a dearth of medicines will no doubt do the world of good to the ones that survive.

**** me gently with a chainsaw. Have a word with yourselves.

The biggest problem with the youth of today is the adults of yesterday perpetually telling the youth of today how worthless they are and how privileged and entitled they are, this coming from people who had access to free University education, affordable housing, big fat pensions and no trace of irony whatsoever.

Spot On

There maybe a point, and I tend to agree social media/outrage culture has sucked us all in, when adults should be setting an example. We should be more focused on what unites us, rather than our differences – and kids fall into this trap too as evidenced in the article.
But, let’s keep it in perspective. Kids have it harder now for sure (bless ’em), but they haven’t lived yet. We haven’t spawned a generation of super kids out to save the world and us adults. It’s always been this way with the next generation helpfully pointing out the failures of the generation ahead of them, it’s now much more prominent thanks to online echo chambers.

I remember being 19, I thought my elders were dicks, had **** everything up, you couldn’t tell me I was wrong, and I also was going to change everything for the better. then life happened and I gained a bit of perspective.
These kids also have yet to go through the life grinder, they can point and shout (and will), but actually we should all stop naval gazing and squabbling online and unite. Otherwise it’s just another **** argument, which doesn’t solve anything.

because I know some that are striking and whilst pontificating about climate change (which I agree with) they talk about their next iPhone and the three week holiday in America and fail to see the connection.
I have empathy with them and the cards they’ve been dealt, doesn’t mean they get a free pass on everything though 🙂

@barkm Well said.

From climate change to brexit, massive inequality/poverty and the transparently corrupt and self-interested political system, kids can see that the older generation is failing them. And yet we have the cheek to tell them how to behave, that they should work hard etc. They’re perfectly within their rights to tell us to **** off. Until we start practising what we preach, nothing will change.

It can be all summed with the following tweet (which is a sarcastic piss take btw, before someone replies with something daft).

https://twitter.com/actpsy/status/1096541696891019266

I have empathy with them and the cards they’ve been dealt, doesn’t mean they get a free pass on everything though

So long as all those judging them are prepared to be judged to the same standard that is great.

@Mikewsmith I am, you?? Is that a selfie you posted??

because I know some

But not all, or even a small majority.. seems like an excellent basis on which to criticise.

works for me

imagine anyone wanting a holiday and other nice things

I thought it was us all wanting those that was part of the problem they were protesting about?

works for me

Which says more about you than them

this coming from people who had access to free University education, affordable housing, big fat pensions

I was born in 1977 and had access to precisely zero of those things. Can I go on strike too?

they talk about their next iPhone and the three week holiday in America and fail to see the connection.

And whose example are they following?

I was born in 1977 and had access to precisely zero of those things. Can I go on strike too?

Feel free to, born in ’79 and I got free Uni education at 18, so unless you deferred quite a few years or had some exclusions you should have. Housing was also more affordable when you entered the housing market.

I was born in 1977 and had access to precisely zero of those things. Can I go on strike too?

Damn that’s unlucky I was born in the 70s and had access to all those.

Depends on how you were brought up I suppose. That’s the thing, individual circumstances are different. Just the same as they are now and have always been.

What’s affordable or accessible for one person isn’t for the next. I was pretty much made homeless at sixteen so getting a job, any job, was the priority and had pretty much been ever since. Labelling whole generations and blaming something on them is just lazy

From dazh’s link – I’ve always liked James Purefoy as an actor (mark Antony in Rome, Blackbeard), but I like him even more now

I’m with cougar here.

I remember being 19,

so do I. I remember free college and university, before which I bounced from one job to another with periods of easy unemployment in between. Bored with being unemployed? Get a job, there’s plenty of them. Then when it came time to settle and act vaguely grown up, buy a flat – they were affordable and mortgages easy to come by.
Don’t think I could cope with being young today and where I might envy the lack of aches, pains and creaking bones, I don’t envy the world they’ll be living in

They are just the same mix of good guys and ****s as any generation before them and any future generations to come. They might not have access to the same things as older generations did and took for granted, but in turn they will have opportunity no one had previously. Some will make the most of those opportunities, some won’t. Just like everyone else that’s ever lived.

but in turn they will have opportunity no one had previously

Yes you’re right. The opportunity to live in a world without the Amazon rainforest, where oligarchs hole up in their gated communities and private islands while the rest of the world deals with the chaos and violence which will result from millions migrating away from places which have become uninhabitable. And the opportunity to become a truly independent worker, who has to hawk themselves to cut throat employers who treat them as nothing more than a resource. And lets not forget the opportunity to live in a uniform and insular society, where anyone who disagrees or doesn’t conform is shouted down and insulted. They are very lucky aren’t they.

anyone who disagrees or doesn’t conform is shouted down and insulted. They are very lucky aren’t they.

You already have a thread on the pupils climate strike, this is just an excuse for you to smugly label everyone as “infantile”. You are doing a great job of proving your own point.

#schoolsstrike4climate

It is a debating technique that is growing in use, pretend to have the moral high ground while doing exactly what you accuse others of. You are trying to use debating tricks instead of actually debating the issues. It is especially popular amongst the populist Trumps, Shapiros and Petersons of this world.

This wasn’t a thread about the school climate strike (although given the importance of the issue more than one is entirely justified), more about how we interact with each other on here. But I can see I’m in the minority in being interested in actually discussing things in a vaguely adult manner (and I’m not pretending I’m perfect either). I’m not expecting Oxford Union levels, but something a bit better than accusing others of being nazi sympathisers might be a small improvement.

I was born in 1977 and had access to precisely zero of those things. Can I go on strike too?

I was born in ’82. Whilst none of those things were free for me, they were a darn sight cheaper than it is or will be for kids going forward. I’ll be debt free sans mortgage within the next couple of years, that includes my student loan. My nieces and nephews will never have that luxury if they go to uni

my latest cry of ragehttps://t.co/ii3MCalVHK pic.twitter.com/EKaQRq1jvw

— Jonn Elledge (@JonnElledge) February 20, 2019

[ sorry for the (amusing) fake news ]

This wasn’t a thread about the school climate strike (although given the importance of the issue more than one is entirely justified), more about how we interact with each other on here. But I can see I’m in the minority in being interested in actually discussing things in a vaguely adult manner (and I’m not pretending I’m perfect either). I’m not expecting Oxford Union levels, but something a bit better than accusing others of being nazi sympathisers might be a small improvement.

You are one of the worst dazh, maybe lead by example instead of starting a thread labeling everyone as infantile.

I’m with cougar here.

I kinda am too.

But I do think successive generations are always going to blame the previous generations for most of the **** up world we live in.

But if you step back from the internet and a few whiny kids, it’s all bad down here on the ground.

But I do think successive generations are always going to blame the previous generations for most of the **** up world we live in.

It is hard to lay the blame at the feet of those not born yet…

I can see I’m in the minority in being interested in actually discussing things in a vaguely adult manner

Discussing things in a vaguely adult manner involves having to listen to people who disagree with you. Sorry. If you’d prefer an echo chamber there’s probably a Facebook group for that.