After we discussed the different generations, the lecturer made a key point: Baby Boomer’s will think that Millennials are just like them (Appearance of sharing core values). He reiterated that generations are not the same as previous generations, they react to generations.He provided the following example, to ‘Demonstrate’ differences:In the 60s, the Boomers organized civil war and anti-war protests. The students organized with mimeograph machines, were deliberately confrontational and disruptive, and their sit ins occupied seats of power and ‘taught truth”. Think of the violence and upheaval, public disobedience, ‘fight the man’, break down the establishment.

A good representation of the generations view of authority (love/hate) and their optimistic view of the future:  Recently, the Millennials held a pro immigration protest. The student leader asked her mom if she could do it first (because they would have to skip school), organized using SMS and MySpace, were deliberately law abiding and respectful (The organizers brought garbage bags) and when they were told that they needed to ‘sit in’, they sat on the steps of the government building. The mayor came out, they had a nice conversation and then they all got back on their buses and left. A good representation of the generations view of authority (respectful) and their view on life (realistic).

The room was full of Gen Xers (including myself). What was our reaction to the Millennial protest? After we stopped laughing, we all said ‘Why waste your time?’. A good representation of our generation’s view of authority (unimpressed) and outlook on life (sceptical).Fascinating. I like the Oakley goggles that the guy with the really big gun is sporting in the below picture.