A Generation Gap Over Immigration

[groovedaddy]

MIAMI — Meaghan Patrick, a junior at New College of Florida, a tiny liberal arts college in Sarasota, says discussing immigration with her older relatives is like “hitting your head against a brick wall.”

Cathleen McCarthy, a senior at the University of Arizona, says immigration is the rare, radioactive topic that sparks arguments with her liberal mother and her grandmother.

“Many older Americans feel threatened by the change that immigration presents,” Ms. McCarthy said. “Young people today have simply been exposed to a more accepting worldview.”

Forget sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll; immigration is a new generational fault line.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/us/18divide.html?th&emc=th

[Recursion]

1. Press 1 for English

There's a line somewhere in middle age after which that telephone prompt makes people flip out.

[wcast]

2. I was just talking to my history class about this yesterday

"That very different makeup of the young and the old can lead t0 tensions. Demographers say it has the potential to produce public policy that alienates the young because older people are more likely to vote and less likely to be connected to the perspectives of youth — especially the perspectives of young people of different races and national origins. "

We were talking in class about culture clashes,and the civil rights movement, and discussing how most of it is a generational shift. Younger people have a lot less difficulty with a variety of issues, i.e. immigration, gay marriage, etc. But since the country is primarily run by rich, white, older men, change comes slowly.