Civility and the Generational Cycle

In a piece this week, Winograd and Hais put forth an interesting examination of civility in political rhetoric and how it connects to the larger generational cycle Howe and Strauss coined.

As generational theorists, William Strauss and Neil Howe pointed out, an idealist generation animated by moral beliefs, such as today's Baby Boomers, have, in their youth, regularly shaken American society by confronting the cultural values of older generations. Such generations have always been followed by an alienated, individualistic generational archetype, which tends to be rude and disrespectful, especially toward its elders. The most recent historical examples of this archetype are the Lost Generation who came of age in the 1920s and Generation X, born 1965-1981. As members of these two types of generations mature and assume positions of leadership, society coarsens and rhetoric escalates from being merely confrontational to speech that is deliberately designed to provoke and incite. It's the difference between Boomer rock n' roll and Gen X rap--or between Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin.

But inevitably, this harsh cultural style engenders a backlash from an emerging civic-oriented generation. The most recent civic generations are Millennials (born 1982-2003) and, in the 1930s and 1940s, the GI Generation. Historically, the type of generational alignment we see now is associated with the most traumatic and significant crises in American history: the American Revolution and adoption of the Constitution, the Civil War, and the Great Depression and World War II. The way this generational confrontation has been resolved in American history should give pause to those who encourage incivility, either by their silence or their direct involvement.

With Boomers and Xers holding most of the traditional societal power today, the no-holds-barred style of politics surrounding us shouldn't be much of a surprise. Because most institutions in America - the media, Congress, the parties, lobbying organizations, even the president -- are led by people in these generations, each institution is able to lean on each other to reinforce the brash/crude rhetoric. Thus, the hostile approach to political opponents continues, led by the opinionated and the alienated.

Meanwhile, another kind of alienation is taking place. Millennials, labeled the "Young Invincibles" because we apparently aren't afraid of our futures enough to care about health care (even though it's our generation's most important issue according to polls), can't win these days. We watch our elders mindlessly debate each other on toxic cable news shows, we see swastikas and pictures of Hitler on placards, and this summer we observed the media actually treat the manufactured anger at town hall meetings seriously. The issue -- health care reform -- is important to us, but an unproductive, hateful way of grappling with it is repulsive to us. But these institutions can't implicate themselves as being part of the problem, so, since the label's there, ready to slap on these youngsters - why not? Apathetic. Privileged. Entitled. Invincible.

The testimony of Matt Segal, at yesterday's House Education and Labor Committee hearing, though, covered by Karlo here, says we're far from invincible. The death of Kimi Young, the recent college grad from southwestern Ohio, from pneumonia (rumored to be H1N1, but those reports are false according to the Ohio Health Department) is another example - Kimi didn't pursue care immediately after falling ill because she didn't have health insurance.

So I think the question Millennials have is - when are we as a country going to grow up and make a good-faith effort to solve the problem? Until it happens, we'll be on a collision course with something I fear will be much worse, as Winograd and Hais indicate.