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560 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2023
"Whites accepted racial segregation as normal, while today it is considered morally repugnant."Ummm, schools today in the US are still quite segregated. One of the biggest acts of public fraud is the selling of the idea that Brown vs the Board of education desegregated public schools in the US. There is a standing record of atrociousness in this regard. There are tons of statistics to support this fact, but you won't find it in this book. So, while whites may find racial segregation morally repugnant, they are finding it repugnant from their overwhelmingly white public schools.
"The disorientation and suffering of war veterans once called “shell shock” we now know as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is linked to mental distress, depression, and suicide. Although some writers have lamented that the Silent generation missed out on the glory of World War II heroism, they also missed out on its horrors."I don't know what the heck Twenge is trying to do here but what about Korea and Vietnam wars? As the daughter of a Vietnam veteran, I can tell you that the horrors of war were very much experienced.
"As the popular saying predicts, “If you are not a liberal at 25, you have no heart. If you are not a conservative at 35, you have no brain.”Not attributed but comes from conservative circles. Purported to be (in more modern times) Benjamin Disraeli.
"Over the same time, though, White adults’ happiness declined. Is happiness a racial zero-sum game, with Whites less happy because they felt they were losing out to Blacks? That seems unlikely based on timing: Black adults’ happiness rose the most between the 1990s and the 2000s, but White adults’ happiness fell the fastest after 2000, when Blacks’ happiness also fell slightly."Wow, there are some mathematical gymnastics going on here, but basically the ratio of white happiness compared to black happiness during the same period as a stand-alone statistic doesn't prove or disprove anything. While it may be interesting, it's just weird to present it as evidence that it isn't a zero-sum game. Without knowing what else was going on during this period that might have affected the happiness index of white people and black people, it's representative of nothing. Feels like fan-waving and dismissive.
"Thus, those born in the 1980s—the first two-thirds of Millennials—were more narcissistic on average than Gen X’ers and Boomers. However, Millennials born in the 1990s were not more narcissistic than most Gen X’ers.Umm what!?! And WHAT!! My lived experience does not validate these findings. Nor do the presented statistics here. Especially the last statement. Cater to the target reading audience much?
"Narcissism tends to decline with age"
"However, it’s a far cry from the narrative that Black and Hispanic Millennials are falling behind previous generations. Instead, for the most part, they are surging ahead."A tremendous amount of gaslighting and faulty logic here. Depends on the types of statistics you choose to apply. High school/college graduation stats is one thing. Adequate employment commisserate with the level of education, raising a family is quite another. Not to much mention of those types of statistics. The ones presented were not compelling. Twenge is getting iffy.
"Well, in the Boomers’ day the University of California was tuition-free for state residents."Only true for the beginning of the boomer set, by the 1980s, free college was long gone, but yes still much more affordable than the insane current costs.
"Instead, mental health struggles increased over the years in both California and Texas [sic]. And again, the rise began before Trump was elected, around 2014 or 2015."Another bit of whitewashing here where Twenge decides to frame on Trump rather than the political environment. Attempts to absolve folks who didn't support Trump but contributed to the environment that fomented the increased mental health struggles. Again, a catering to the reading audience and directing the way you should consume the statistics.
"Chris Harrison (b. 1971), longtime host of The Bachelor, lost his job after defending a contestant who attended an antebellum-themed party as a college student."This is incredibly dismissive of the issue at hand. Needless to say, this wasn't near as frivolous as Twenge makes it sound. It is charitable to say there is significant omission. It is fair to say, it was an out and out lie. Why was this even in the book? I have my suspicions.
"Still, anonymous surveys also generally show that liberals are less happy and more anxious than conservatives. Thus, it appears there is a mental health gap based on political views, particularly among young people."This didn't age well and the book was first published this year. Again, with the vagueness of statistics and findings. I could just as easily say that liberals were more honest about their happiness than conservatives and probably use the same stats she used to back up that assessment.
"Managers now have the difficult task of preserving an atmosphere in which people can freely and respectfully discuss issues with each other without risking someone being effectively “canceled.”And towards the end of the book, Twenge finally gives away her personal political leaning, though frankly it wasn't well masked throughout the book. It's been my experience that people who use the following terms casually are generally conservative: "woke", "CRT", and/or "canceled". The language of the entitled and embittered. And yes, I am fully aware that all three terms can be and often are used in ways that are not intended to be derisive or dismissive. That's not what Twenge did here.
In addition, the number of adults 55 to 64 who had never been married doubled between 1990 (Silents) and 2020 (Boomers). Only 1 out of 22 middle-aged women in 1990 had never been married, compared to 1 out of 10 in 2020. One out of 18 middle-aged men had never married in 1990, compared to 1 out of 9 in 2020.
Boomers were the first generation to grow up with TV, and from early on they saw a wider world
Instead of Boomers pulling the ladder up after them, leaving Millennials fighting for scraps, a large portion of Boomers never climbed the ladder in the first place.
By 1993, it was 1 in 3, and the average age of a woman giving birth to her first child dipped below the age of first marriage for the first time.
The divorce rate fell after the 1980s, with the divorce rate in 2019 about half of that in 1981—partially because Gen X’ers married later, and those who marry later are less likely to divorce.
Millennials are the most educated generation in American history.
In 1992��1993, when Gen X’ers were in college, only 1 out of 3 college students took out loans; by 2015–2016, when the last class of traditional-age Millennial college students graduated, more than 1 out of 2 did.
The average amount of student loans has doubled since the 1990s even after correcting for inflation
Gen Z teens are less likely to fight with their parents than Gen X’ers were at the same age, and less likely to try to run away from home.
The 2020 Census found that the number of multiracial Americans nearly quadrupled from 2010 to 2020, from 9 million people to 33.8 million.
*They were the real drivers of the civil rights, women’s rights, and sexual revolutions, as they were in their 20s and 30s when these movements were blossoming, while Boomers were too young to effect such changes
*Many “Silents” are still shaping our world — Warren Buffett, John Kerry, Bernie Sanders, due to their strong cultural emphasis on community action and participation.
Our liberty has increased along with our misery. Our lives have gotten longer but much of the meaning has been stripped away.
"Most tragic of all, the suicide rate for young people skyrocketed after 2007, exceeding the previous highs of the 1990s. The teen suicide rate nearly doubled between 2007 and 2019. . . . Perhaps even more shocking, the suicide rate of 10- to 14-year-olds—most of whom are elementary and middle school students—tripled overall, and nearly quadrupled for girls."