Greatest

Every once in a while one of these articles comes up that, although it doesn’t mention Strauss & Howe, appears to have taken their books as source material. Yesterday’s Los Angeles Times has Chris Erskine’s weekly column suggesting that Millennials will be comparable to what Tom Brokaw called "The Greatest Generation." That the Millennials will be comparable to the generation that beat the Nazis should be no surprise: The first Generations book predicted that in 1991. A follow-up in 2000 bubbled it up to the title: “Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation.” (Note that this was still when the oldest Millennial was only 18.) Granted that it’s not clear how a coddled, self-obsessed, protected generation can possibly up being so great, which makes it a real man-bites-dog sort of story. Still, if you’ve been following this, it’s pretty old news.

Until last year, perhaps. Here’s a selection of recent news articles concerning Millennials and “greatest generation.”

• Millennials: The Next Great Generation (Time, May 2013)
• Millennials: The greatest generation or the most narcissistic? (The Atlantic, May 2012 - Does not agree with Strauss & Howe...at all.)
• Millennials savings habits mirror those of the GI Generation (CNBC April 2013)
• Millennial identity (and identification) (TED/NPR, September 2013)
• A millennial takes on the Greatest Generation prediction (Medium.com, December 2013)

Plus - no surprise - copious reactions to the Time story. Which is to say: One article promulgating the concept, one strongly opposing it, a couple noting potential (and correlated) data points, and many responses to these 3 or 4 original sources. 

And now Mr. Erskine’s column. Which references some other data but doesn’t directly reference the above.

It’s not, therefore, common knowledge. Some people believe it, some expect it will probably come to pass, some consider it various sorts of ridiculous nonsense. WIth the author of this blog, of course, being in that first class. If there is going to be a Crisis peaking in the next 10 years, naturally it’s successful resolution will depend on those young enough to do something about it. (And whatever effective guidance and leadership is provided by those slightly older.)

Mr. Eskine, if you happen to run into this, it would be good to know if you are inspired more by personal interactions, by the Time article and associated coverage, or by Strauss & Howe’s work.