The Entitled Generation?

UntitledBy Josh Chambers

I will laugh in the face of the next person I hear call my generation “the entitled generation”. I see it all too often. The gratuitous I’m-an-asshole-baby-boomer-who-worked-harder-than-you meme on Facebook with a picture of a crying baby saying something to the effect of how we want everything handed to us for little to no effort. We are so lazy. We just want to live with our parents forever and think we will be instant millionaires. Here’s the problem, baby boomers: You’re fucking brainwashed by Fox News and you believe everything you read on the internet. YOU ARE TO BLAME FOR MY GENERATION’S SITUATION.

First of all, we were born into your households, under your rules. You raised us. So I guess sticking us in front of the TV, video game console, or computer for a cheap babysitter didn’t work out so well, did it? The amazing thing is that you haven’t figured out that simple fact. You raised this generation and you put blame on our shoulders. That’s really introspective and responsible of you. Yes, I’m the entitled one.

Secondly, when my generation made it to the age of figuring out what to do with our lives, the congress that YOU elected, along with the president YOU elected approved trade agreements such as NAFTA that pulled jobs out from under our feet before we ever had a chance to have a say. Your generation of hippies turned yuppies got greedy in the 80’s and 90’s and spent what you didn’t have. You bought houses and cars you couldn’t afford. Maxed out credit cards. And when the bill collector came you asked for a bailout that my children’s children will be paying off. Yes, I’m the entitled one.

Personally, after I had served an enlistment, fought a war, and reenlisted in the Marines, tried to follow the “American Dream” and bought a house; YOU crashed the economy so that my dream was crushed at the ripe old age of 28. I took a $20,000 per year pay cut to leave the military and within a year was back up to the normal wage I made before. But not before losing my house to the banks that you let run wild for 25 years prior to. But yes, I have no work ethic or go-get-em attitude. Thanks.

After 9/11, the president YOU elected started two wars (one with Iraq while having zero evidence of involvement in the attack) and you asked us to go fight those wars. You spent trillions of dollars on that war and guess who has to foot the bill? Yes, the entitled ones.

Those of us who didn’t serve in the wars looked at our other options for beginning our lives. We could go to college. You know, that place that literally costs 10 times more than it cost you to attend because, once again, the congress you elected allowed for-profit schools to gouge our bank accounts to the point that we would start life out instantly in debt by $100,000. Yes, I guess we’re SO entitled, aren’t we.

The rest, who decided they either couldn’t afford college or simply didn’t want to go, were left with jobs in retail, service, landscaping, or the like. Making minimum wage or a little above that and trying to survive. The congress YOU elected not wanting to raise it to a livable wage that coincides with inflation rates. Yes, I’m the entitled one.

While you sit and read this, probably collecting Social Security and pensions, which are being gutted and will be non-existent by the time I’m old enough to collect those ENTITLEMENTS (which I too pay into), you’re probably furious that I’m calling you out for your bullshit and won’t admit that you are wrong. Why? Because your generation has been trained to be selfish.

You don’t care about preventing climate change. You don’t care about over farming or over fishing, or nuclear waste being dumped in the ocean, or other countries, societies, or races. You don’t care what becomes of our generation because we are the entitled ones. Studies have shown that our generation is the most educated ever, more involved in civics than yours, and you can’t make the connection. And we are the entitled ones?