There has been an interesting study conducted by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University making the rounds lately. The general theme for concern, as the Catholic League recently noted, is that the Millennial Generation shows a lack of traditionally Christian-based morality, with 43% flatly stating that they “don’t know, care, or believe that God exists.” That is about twice the percentage of the WW2 Generation. The survey defines Millennials as those born between 1984 and 2005. Only 48% agreed with the Golden Rule as a ideal of human relationships. The Golden Rule has always been a traditionally American moral point, as evidenced by the fact that 90% of the WW2 Generation ascribes to it, an even higher number than those among them who identify as Christians.
The survey had a few flaws in my opinion, but there are some interesting facts which can be gleaned from it. I think that few would deny at this point that both the Millennial and the so-called 'Generation Z' (the next group about to become legal adults) are problematic. There has been a cultural shift in the United States---a dramatic one---which has spanned only a few decades.
Personally, I fall somewhat in the middle of the generational spectrum, somewhere on the older cusp of Gen X. The generations most connected with my upbringing were the older batch of Boomers (the Vietnam War Era) and the WW2 Generation. I interacted with a few of the now-extinct WW1 Generation as well. A lot of today's elderly have remarked that the culture today is unrecognizable from their younger days, and I wholeheartedly agree: it's even different from the 1980s and 90s when I came of age.
We aren't talking here about the usual inter-generational topics. This shift is about more than technological advances, the length of men's hair or women's skirts; or modern tastes in music. What we've seen is a fundamental shift in core values and certain attitudes which are non-negotiable if we are to survive as a Constitutional Republic. Religious Faith is but aspect of this. There is a wholesale rejection of Science in favor of Scientism; Philosophy in favor of Ideology; History and Rule of Law in favor of Emotionalism---even gender, justice, and human rights are considered debatable issues. George Barna, who oversaw the CRC Study remarked that,
"For example, Millennials champion the concept of tolerating different points of view. Yet we see in the research that their behaviors—such as promoting getting even, situational treatment of other people, or censoring specific viewpoints or policies—conflicts with their alleged embrace of tolerance and diversity. In fact, Millennials are twice as likely as older adults to specify that the people they respect are those who hold the same religious and political views as they do. The attitudinal and behavioral evidence related to a variety of beliefs and related behaviors suggests that they are not a tolerant generation despite their self-image and public promotion as such."
Not surprisingly, the Millennials have a low opinion of traditional families, as evidenced by the fact that the U.S. Birth Rate has been declining ever since they became roughly of child-bearing age. The study also found that the majority of them "consider an abortion performed to reduce personal economic or emotional discomfort to be morally acceptable," although the number of actual abortions has declined along with the birthrate. An independent poll found that 18% of the Millennial and Gen Z generations identify with the so-called 'LGBTQ' Lifestyle. The U.S. currently ranks 33rd of 36 developed countries in Infant Mortality.
The reason these numbers shouldn't surprise anybody is because about 20% of young American men can't produce testosterone levels sufficient to sire children; while 12% of young women are clinically infertile. But be sure to wear a mask in public because a flu outbreak with a 99% survival rate---that's a national crisis.
Now in addressing the causes of the decline in Millennial attitudes, Barna makes this astounding statement:
"The family unit and traditional family practices have been reshaped, with some long-term, fundamental family ideals and practices outlawed. The responsibilities of government have been significantly broadened and transformed. The influence of the Christian church has diminished while the influence of arts, entertainment, and news media has exploded. As millions of parents discovered during the pandemic, public schools have become indoctrination farms rather than places for teaching basic life skills."
Let's pause briefly and let what he just said sink in.
So, according to Barna's criteria, those of the Millennial Generation started being born around 1984. This means that they would have started hitting the public school system around 1990-91. Recall that this was a time when the Left really began its hostile takeover of the schools: introducing Political Correctness, Speech Codes, radical race and gender theories (i.e. Neo-Marxism), etc. Hillary Clinton introduced her It Takes a Village ideology about 1994. There were outright purges of Academia at all levels of Conservative instructors, texts, and educational paradigms all along the way.
But: "as millions of parents discovered during the pandemic, public schools have become indoctrination farms rather than places for teaching basic life skills." This is something that these 'millions of parents' didn't discover until just last year? Where in the H--l have they been? We're talking here about a generation who largely have gone from Kindergarten through College and their parents never noticed what they were being taught? Drag Queen Story Hours have been going on for five years.
I'm sorry if I've run out of patience with the Political Right. I've grown tired of listening to Conservatives carry on as if "The family unit and traditional family practices have been reshaped," and "The responsibilities of government have been significantly broadened and transformed," as if none of this existed before their children turned 18. The Xers and Boomers who raised the Millennials apparently didn't notice that "the influence of the Christian church has diminished while the influence of arts, entertainment, and news media has exploded."
None of these parents evidently noticed that their offspring were growing up anti-religious, anti-democratic, and asexual. Where were they this whole time?
All of this fake outrage is just denial: denial for the responsibility that Conservative apathy, cowardice, indifference played in all of this. Boomers didn't earn the nickname 'The Me Generation' and Xers weren't called 'The Slacker Generation' for no reason. The Snowflake Generation was the result. The Millennials (mostly) and Generation Z (completely) have never lived during a time where Political Correctness, militarized police, dysfunctional families, and rampant drug abuse weren't normative. They've grown up in a world where surveillance cameras, metal detectors, corporate cronyism, and going-with-the-flow are the way that things have always been. "Safety First instead of Duty First," "Go Along to Get Along," "The Rights of Man are Discriminatory," "Always Believe the Children," are what they were taught, and now who's really shocked that they live by such dicta? All that they were given for guidance was whatever 'narrative' that Madison Avenue developed from week to week.
What last year did prove however, is that we're not only a nation of sheep: we've become a mixed herd of sheep, jackals, hogs, asses, and sloths. Then, was a time like no other in recent history where Conservatives had an opportunity to take a stand for their values; to show the younger generations that principles meant something and that some things were worth fighting for. And what happened? People stuck rags on their faces, bowed down to street savages, and did nothing when police forces put padlocks on churches and private businesses. Then they rolled over and acquiesced when a small group of putschists stole the Government without raising a finger in protest.
I believe that, for many Millennials and Z's, 2020 confirmed what most had grown up suspecting: that our "shared American values" were nothing but a load of hypocritical blather that not even their advocates were willing to stand up and defend. Into to the vacuum stepped the Cultural Marxist: "See" their teachers said, "it really was about protecting class privilege all along! They won't even defend what they supposedly believed in as eternal truths! Suspend their constitutions, burn their books and monuments, close their churches, insult them, and they scatter like chaff and are willing to sell their souls to the highest bidder! Wasn't Marx correct when he showed that family, faith, and democracy were all illusions?" And knowing nothing to the contrary, the younger generations couldn't discern between the benefits of real American Democracy and the counterfeit of it that our generation presented to them.
Can we turn this situation around? At this point, I don't believe that we can at a national level. We may be able to build some enclaves out of the rubble, but nothing is happen as long as the political Right persists in its policy of denying the reality of the situation; or worse, trying to pretend that nothing has fundamentally changed. The reality is that we failed the younger generations, and we have a failed nation and society to show for it.
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