Sunday, March 29, 2015

"The defining photos of the Millennials"

My husband found this appalling photo of seven women taking a "selfie" in front of an explosion and fire in Manhattan's East Village this past week. So far two people are confirmed dead from that tragic incident.


Yet these giggling women are taking a selfie. They even had a "selfie stick" to assist in their memento. Little did they know they'd end up on the front cover of the New York Post.


My husband saw the photo and was appalled by the implications. He called it "the defining photo of the Millennials."

You know how certain events or demographics are defined by epic photos? The end of World War II saw the sailor kissing a nurse. The Vietnam War was tragically personified by the child running naked away from napalm.

And here we have Millennials -- who, if this photo is anything to go by, are shaping up to be shallow, thoughtless, and oblivious to what's going on around them.

Please don't think I'm condemning the entire demographic (our daughters, for example, are considered Millennials) -- it's just that this photo personifies the shallow, thoughtless, and oblivious members of the generation. Death, destruction, and mayhem are taking place behind them... and yet these women are saying “Let’s take a selfie!” and even have a selfie-stick for that very purpose. Then they post their self-absorption on social media. Wheeee.


The defining photo of the Millennials? Lord in heaven, I hope not.

20 comments:

  1. I don't know if it is really fair to judge them because of that picture though. Some young people have always been a bit aloof to disasters like that when it didn't effect them directly even when I was young. That was back when things like that were right there to see too, these days with the bloated police and fire departments in cities like New York people are kept so far back from these things it is like it isn't real anyway or in another country.

    I suspect that had all these little hand held cameras on phones been around when we were kids plenty of our generation would have done the same thing. I can remember space shuttle jokes already starting around campus after that one blew up the next day and those were all Gen X'rs then.


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    1. Ah, 60 years of moral relativism, and the fruit it bears...

      Before Gen X's America had the spoiled, ungrateful, self-absorbed, ever-consumingm ever more secular Baby Boomers. It took the decline of 3 generations to fall to the pathetic level of these 7 dumb-down idiots and to where PC-compliant folks are willing to make excuses for this outrageous behavior.

      It was refreshing to see a member of the media have the conviction to call idiots 'idiots'.

      Montana Guy

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    2. Well I am certainly NOT defending them. Not saying you were accusing me of it either. I am just pointing out in all fairness I know some people of my own generation were just as shallow.

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  2. These millennials think everything is a joke and treat everything as a joke. They have a cushion of never having had to deal with reality. They are ill prepared for real life , and not adults only bearing adult appearing bodies. God help them.

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  3. I have to agree with Pioneer Preppy - I don't think this should define a generation. For all they knew the city was demolishing a building and they didn't find out it was a tragedy until later.

    Anonymous, maybe your millennial children act as if everything is a joke, but mine don't. They work, they support themselves and they contribute to their families and their communities.

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    1. You have got to be kidding. There are ambulances, fire trucks and policemen active in the background and you're claiming the city may have just been 'demolishing a building' -- you're kidding right?

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  4. I think the whole phenomenon of the selfie really shows how shallow society is becoming, it is the ultimate mark of self absorption.

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  5. They acted that way because it wasn't happening to them! Our society is so self-absorbed that if it isn't affecting them personally, what's happening is a comedy. But let it touch their lives and it's a living nightmare! We are so self-consumed that compassion is a fact-of-life few even know anymore!

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  6. Gee. Their parents must be so proud.

    Kudos to the headline editor who so succinctly nailed it with the header of "Village Idiots."

    Idiots indeed.

    A. McSp

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  7. Appalling. I can't think of any other word for it.

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  8. Sadly this group of (cough) ladies weren't the only folks guilty. http://nypost.com/2015/03/29/heartless-jerks-snap-selfies-at-east-village-blast-site/

    [One of the perpetrators was Christina] "Freundlich, who worked on both of President Obama’s White House campaigns and served as communications director for the Iowa Democratic Party, was among several people who used the disaster as a photo backdrop."

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  9. Wow -- we're you born that stupid or do you just work at it everyday?

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  10. Hey will you contact the SPLC for me? I been trying to get on their hate group list for years now.

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  11. Hey Anonymous! Thanks - a new blog to check out! I do have to say that the BEST local hardware clerk we ever had in a store in a small rural Ag town was a platinum blonde high school girl. She knew that store and everything in it forward and backward. Kicked butt on the guys they had then (20 years ago) and have had since. So - you deal with it. Of course she moved on as she was worth more than they would pay. Still - what everyone seems to have forgotten is that the First Amendment gives us (supposedly) the right to free speech and does NOT grant you the right to not be offended. You do have the right to go elsewhere and read what you want. Our PC society regularly prevents people from speaking their own opinion - or sometimes the real TRUTH for fear of offending someone else. I have met immigrants who do not understand that I, as a white person, cannot say on a college campus what they do - I am the "wrong color". Those same immigrants are hard working, do not take things for granted, are shocked by the attitudes of many of their young classmates and are good people - never mind their color - they are good people. That is the way the I treat them and that is the treatment I get in return. I deal with a lot of young people in the age group of those in the photo. Some are really terrific - they give you hope. Others - well - they elevate the girls in the "selfie" to "rocket scientist" status....seriously! Natokadn

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  12. As a Millennial I find this revolting. No not the photo this blog post. The photo is in bad taste but this post is in worse taste. I do not understand many boomers need to point at Millennials and constantly try and make fun of them. Yes we have some members who we may not be proud of but I think a quick google search would reveal many pictures of youth in your generation behaving abohorently as well. Most of my generation is extremely hard working and desperately trying to get by after launching in a horrible economy. How is this post any different from the girls in the photo. Both demonstrate narsisistic behaviour. Both say look as us arent we better than they are. At least we Millennials can blame our indiscretion on our youth. What is your excuse?

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    1. Mercy, calm down Ms. Millennial. I am a Baby Boomer and was also critical of that generation in my previous post. I hate to admit it but I believe America's decline started with the Boomers. Your generation is 2 generations further down the slippery slope.

      If you think this blog is revolting you better toughen up because a real revolt may be at the end of the slope. It is blogs such as this which may help you and your loved ones to survive.

      Montana Guy

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    2. Ms. Millennial, I too am a Boomer (about the last year counted as a boomer), and I would say "some" of your generation - not most - are hard working. In my environment I see student parking lots full of vehicles that are much newer than those in faculty lots and see students more worried about their beer budget than their book budget (spoiled by their boomer parents). Showing up for class is NOT a priority. That said - the problem started with the generation that raised them (mine) and the "boob tube" (as my folks called TV when they put it in a cold, unfinished cinder block basement room). When children watch "crap" on TV (and that is a polite expression) because their parent(s) are too busy doing their own thing, that is all the kids know. You do need to keep in mind that most of the readers here have a different view of "responsible parenting" and more than likely have raised or are raising their children to understand the "responsible for your actions" concept. Our kids didn't dare do something "stupid" - to heck with the law - DAD and MOM would be the ones they would have to face!!! The fact that you RECOGNIZE that what these girls have done is in poor taste and that you read blogs such as this speaks volumes. Look around you - you can see many examples in your generation of what was posted above and we (the Boomers) can see many in our generation who Darwin should have weeded out before they became unfit parents.......Natokadn

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  13. I've been in a few millennials' homes and been disconcerted to see only pictures of themselves and their children (if they have them) on their walls -- tens and tens and tens of photos of themselves. No books. One unemployed couple plays video games nonstop, they go from bed to their gaming centre and eat every meal there, breaking off only to register for EI and go to WalMart to plump out their pantry of pizza pockets/convenience foods of every description ($), finally to fall into bed, exhausted from their exhaustive 16-hour gaming days -- no income, but every electronic entertainment gizmo available, a small jellybean-coloured fridge next to the wall of electronics so they don't have to interrupt the incessant titillation, maxed out credit. They even play Japanese games, in Japanese, of which language they understand not one word! One couple has a clothes washer that they just put the clothes in and push start. It has reservoirs to portion out the washing products; and electronically sets the water level so the user is not overtaxed with the complex decision of small/normal/large. And the worst thing is that if you talk to them, under their eight-year-old truncated emotional development level, they seem to be indeed terrified eight-year-olds who know something bad is coming. Is this truly the level of Everyman given his/her free choice!?

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  14. I've had a pet peeve since I was young myself. It's a horrid practice that has been passed down from one generation to the next, (and getting worse with every decade since ). Television turns death and mayhem into entertainment, I recall watching the first Gulf War unfold on CNN complete with 'exciting' music and a fancy banner. We beheld the Scud Stud as he described the bombs falling. We saw terrified enemy soldiers surrendering for quick few seconds, then on to absurdly happy commercials selling foot powder, coffee and make up. I worried even before then, that there would be generations growing up in front of TV, unable to tell fact from fiction, and unable to discern the sanctity of human life. A child watching the Gulf War on TV would not be able to tell the difference between that, and 'Murder She Wrote" These silly girls are a product/victim of that television phenomenon, not the creator of it. That's my 2 cents!

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  15. "Shallow, thoughtless, and oblivious to what's going on around them." Yep! That pretty much covers it. But I've been seeing this sort of thing from the "younger generation" for a good many years, now. Many young people (most, but not all) show very little courtesy toward others. They are foul-mouthed and defiant to their parents and any sort of authority. There was a time when children were spanked on their little fannies, but thanks to the demands of the "politically correct" liberal-progressives of today, we can only "reason" with our children, never spank them. How do you reason with a toddler? Especially a toddler who says "f**k you" to you? (Yes, this has happened to me and my wife!) I'm talking about spanking them on their behinds, NOT beating them with fists, sticks, etc. Our children were all spanked when they were old enough (around 2-1/2 years) to defy us. It only took one or two times and they were rarely ever spanked again. None of them ever got in trouble in school, either. Quite the contrary. They all received special commendations at one time or another. Some children rarely if ever need a spanking, others need one a bit more often. But all the trouble we're having today, such as a lack of consideration for others (respect, courtesy, etc.) can be blamed entirely on the misguided "good intentions" of liberal-progressives! They ignore the teachings of the Word of God as told to us in the Bible (see Proverbs 13:24, 22:15, 23:13-14), and use their own flawed form of "discipline," which isn't discipline at all! And when we refuse to go along with their demands, they create laws that force us to do so! Gee, I wonder why children of today are so screwed up... NOT! --Fred in AZ

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