#NotAUnicorn

It’s no secret that the millennial generation is currently a hot topic on almost every news and social media forum in existence. For whatever reason, people are currently obsessing over my generation, and it’s almost impossible to visit a news site without seeing at least one or two mentions of those of us born between the 1980s and mid-1990s. What I’m interested in is not just why my generation seems to be so fascinating, but why reporters seem to be obsessed with completely trashing us.

The latest in the #WeHateMillennials trend comes from Kyle Smith, a reporter from the New York post. Now, Smith does seem to have a trend of writing articles that bash whichever gender, political affiliation, or celebrity he decides to hate on a specific day, but his recent article about millennials should really be filed under “Hate Speech” rather than “Office Etiquette”.

I’ll admit even I was applauding Kyle Smith a few weeks ago when he called out Talia Jane, the Yelp employee who posted a whiney letter about her employer online and was then fired (big shock there). I agreed with his points and was glad to see one of the “stereotypical” millennials called out for their behavior.

But here’s the thing y’all, the “stereotypical millennial” is not an accurate representation of the 20 – 30 year olds who are in the work force. Of course, this isn’t that surprising, since it would be pretty difficult to sum up a group of more than 20 million people, with one personality type.  

If you took Kyle Smith’s article “Millennials need to put away the juice boxes and grow up” and replaced the word millennial with another hot button topic like “Muslims” or “African Americans” the country would be in a uproar over cultural stereotyping and his lackluster article would be torn to shreds. So why is it okay for someone to libelously attack my generation, my character, and my work ethic, simply because I was born in 1993?

Take myself, and my three closest millennial friends for example. We are all employed, two of us with full time positions in offices, one with an RA position, and one with a part time job in a senior position within the University. Two of us are full time college students, and all of us have had some type of job since we were between 15 and 18 years old. We rely on our paychecks to cover the majority, if not all, of our personal expenses, and we all understand and embrace the value of hard work, and respect.

I could easily name off a dozen if not more millennials I know who work, are pursuing an education they pay for themselves, and who understand the value of a dollar, and the importance of respecting others. They fight for social justice, pursue their passions, and do so with no interest in dropping out or leaving work to “build treehouses” which Mr. Smith assumes we all do. (In his defense Twenty One Pilots do sing about treehouses, and their song “Stressed Out” seems to be his primary source of inaccurate assumptions about us millennials.)

So once again I ask you two questions. Where did this misguided stereotype come from about millennials? And if it isn’t okay to stereotype genders, religions, or ethnicities, why is it okay to embrace ageism and attack myself, and millions of hard working people just like me? Maybe Kyle Smith should meet some actual millennials and talk to them, instead of relying on Twenty One Pilots’ lyrics to support his judgmental and bigoted bias. And of course, if he hasn’t figured out what Google or iPhones are yet (He belongs to Generation X and they’re of course stereotyped as being inept with most technology), I’m sure there’s a millennial or two at the New York Post who would be more than happy to assist him.