Do you think some youth are more selfish and emotionless today?

[Kievan Rus]

This thread is my question response to a few current events, most notably the South Hadley bullying case in which Phoebe Prince killed herself, plus a recent incident outside New York City where a young driver that was high on drugs killed somebody in an accident and showed absolutely no remorse. In the thread about the New York incident, plus the plethora of ones about the South Hadley case.

I myself am a member of the Millenial generation, and am just as disgusted by the selfish, emotionless behavior shown by some of the less scrupulous of my generation. Most members of this generation aren't like this; however, maybe it is just me, but it does seem to be that more members of my generation are like this than ones past, and those that are selfish/without any empathy seem to be more extreme than those in generations past.

Members of my generation, often (though not always) the high school "in crowd" and "mean girl" types, seem to have a real tendency to be extremely selfish, emotionless, and remorseless. Upon hearing the reaction of those responsible for Phoebe Prince hanging herself, it was very chilling...in fact, it almost kind of reminded me of what Timothy McVeigh's completely emotionless response to 168 people being killed by his bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma. Upon being led out of the courtroom, one of the defendants in the South Hadley case showed absolutely no emotion; and lest we forget, immediate following Phoebe Prince's tragic suicide, those responsible openly made fun of her.

While I saw nothing that was even close to the callousness and heartlessness of what happened at South Hadley when I was in high school, the "mean girls" and "in crowd" types of my high school, for the most part, had little room for empathy or caring. I was in high school when the 9/11 attacks happened; and by and large, it seemed as if some (but not all) the "mean girl" and "in crowd" types couldn't have cared less about what was going on in New York and Washington. They honestly cared more about ridiculous high school gossip than the fact that two of the world's tallest buildings had collapsed and killed thousands of innocent people. On these boards, somebody mentioned a similar anecdote. A high school history teacher showed a documentary about the Auschwitz concentration camp and the Nazi genocide of millions of Jews, Poles, Soviet POWs, gays, so forth and so on. Said poster (I don't remember who it was) stated that one member of the class openly stated when it was over that they were not moved by what they saw and couldn't have cared less about it. For people like that, they have little (if any) empathy or caring.

I also saw and still see that some of these types tend to be rather selfish, materialstic, and had a pretty strong anti-intellectualism to them, in addition to a strong disdain for anything that was different from them or the shallow ideals they held to.

What do you think? Do you think some members of the current generation of young people are more selfish, sociopathic and emotionless than members of past generations?

[texastoast]

1. Oh, I think

they are just young and self-centered. Happens to humans.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. Of course not.

[Taverner]

3. No - I think they are like my generation was when we were 20-something

WHAT THE FUCK????

YOU MEAN WE DID THAT MUCH DAMAGE????

AND THE COLD WAR ISN'T EVEN OVER????

FUCK....MANNNNNNN

[paulsby]

4. no

and i see no evidence to back up the assertion that they are

the difference between now and then is that we now have a 24 hr news cycle, far more entertainment-news shows and something called the internet

[BrklynLiberal]

5. Mostly, yes.

[Toucano]

6. Their electronic babysitters have done them some harm.

But that's about all I am prepared to conclude at this point.

[REP]

7. OMG yes, like did you hear about Leopold and Loeb? Starkweather?

Oh wait that was 1924 and 1958.

[Warpy]

8. Old folks always view young folks with alarm

but we're the same species so we're likely to be very much alike, although as they grow up their life experience will make them quite different from us.

And so it goes.

[seabeyond]

9. yes. i think the desensitization, conditioning, lack of adult guidance and direction

expectation, has effected our youth. i think there is a great experiment with our youth, not giving them all the things they need for a strong foundation and throwing the into the adult world at a younger and younger age without the tools to coup and succeed.

we live in a world today where adults are a lot more willing to be ugly to one another. tolerance is short and we have taught our children well. then we ask what is wrong with our children when they are simply following the examples set

dishonesty is rampant. integrity, decency, honor are words not used let alone valued.

ya,

i think the kids are in a world of hurt....

[Odin2005]

10. Absolutely not. in fact i think the OPPOSITE is true.

[VespertineIconoclast]

11. At times it feels that way, especially when

you see cases like the Dnepropetrovsk maniacs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dnepropetrovsk_maniacs I won't mention the crimes here because they were so disheartening and disgusting.

Then, I think of the good kids out there like 10 year old Will Phillips, who refuses to say the pledge of allegiance because he feels that there's currently no liberty and justice for all especially for gay people in this nation. If you want a good read it's here http://www.arktimes.com/articles/articleviewer.aspx?ArticleID=2f5d7a3b-c72a-446b-8d20-3823aa79c021

The media and people in general, tend to waste there time and energy focusing on the negatives. If we as a people spent more time highlighting those individuals and causes that have positive effects in this world, maybe not so many of us would be as cynical and skeptical as we are of so many things. This is not to say that we should bury our heads in the sand when we see or hear something bad, but we should make equal effort to demonstrate the good that is being done as well. For example, I have not heard in the MSM or really anywhere, that Katie Washington is about to become Notre Dame's first black valedictorian ever! http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/article_6b8c6788-c2a2-56f8-9f2d-d3cc185033be.html

[SmokingJacket]

12. Some, of course, but some are kinder and more empathetic

than ANY kids I remember from my school days. My son's a middle schooler, and I'm really stunned by how tolerant and thoughtful his classmates are. I didn't expect it. There's a kid in his group who's very odd -- would have been beaten up EVERY day back when I was in school -- but they just accept him, and all the kids seem to relish their own individuality.

Whenever I think "kids these days," I remind myself of the Hitler Youth.

[Libertyfirst]

13. They are better than we ever were.

[flvegan]

14. Why just level this at youth? I think mankind, as a whole, is FAR more selfish

and less empathetic (not using "emotionless" ever) today.

BUT, that said, I think that there is a great number, proportionately, both youth and adult, that are MORE empathetic and selfless today. I blame the internet for this positive change.