by Maurice Y. Michaud (he/him)
[Young people] have exalted notions, because they have not yet been humbled by life or learnt its necessary limitations; moreover, their hopeful disposition makes them think themselves equal to great things — and that means having exalted notions. They would always rather do noble deeds than useful ones: their lives are regulated more by moral feeling than by reasoning; and whereas reasoning leads us to choose what is useful, moral goodness leads us to choose what is noble. They are fonder of their friends, intimates, and companions than older men are, because they like spending their days in the company of others, and have not yet come to value either their friends or anything else by their usefulness to themselves. All their mistakes are in the direction of doing things excessively and vehemently. They [...] overdo everything, they love too much and hate too much, and the same thing with everything else. They think they know everything, and are always quite sure about it; this, in fact, is why they overdo everything.— Aristotle, Book II · Chapter XII
— FreepikIt would seem that even the Ancient Greeks held a dim view of the younger generations, so Baby Boomers or Gen X-ers like me who think they’ve put their finger on a brand new insight can’t brag that they’re being original. Our parents likely thought of us like that: yours might have been vocal about it; mine were more subtle, but we got the gist. How many times did my beloved mother start her sentence with, “I don’t mean to pry into your business, but...”
In 1944, Alberta was the first province to lower the voting age to 19. The next year, Saskatchewan lowered it to 18, and other provinces followed suit in the following decades. The federal Parliament was one of the last to do so in 1970. Given that someone who can vote is also qualified for membership to the body for which they are voting, that means one could have been born in 2007 to vote or run for federal or provincial office in 2025, which might be shocking for some of you reading this article.
Aristotle seemed to have been decrying that the younger generations were more “liberal” (to use a modern term) and superficial. Because the tendency in the 20th century has been towards younger generations becoming more “permissive” and “liberal,” Boomers and Gen X-ers like me have assumed the same of Millennials and Zoomers. But if, like me, a person born in 2007 became politically aware around 13 years old, that would bring us to 2020. The only prime minister they’ve really known was Justin Trudeau, in the years of the COVID-19 pandemic, its lockdowns, and the economic upheaval that followed. So, regardless of whether his government had a hand in creating these conditions, or that these conditions are a larger phenomenon that no government could have controlled, why are we, aunties and grandpas, so surprised to see how the younger generations are tempted to buck the trend of 100 years and look in the other direction?
The notion of social generations is not without criticism, such as labelling and stereotyping based on age, not accounting for those born at the extremities of a generational slice, or generalizations at the expense of economic or social factors affecting individuals. I, personally, understand those criticisms very well. My siblings are definitely Baby Boomers but fluke has it that I was born in what’s considered the first year of Generation X. Similarly, with only three years difference, my father was considered being from the Greatest Generation (he, a WWII veteran who was very understated), but my mother from the Silent Generation (she, who was anything but silent). And while small-c conservative for its era, mine was a loving and devoutly Catholic family, which affected how I had to come to terms with my sexual identity as a teenager. Yet, in spite of or because of my personal differences, I do sense that what I experienced while coming of age in the 1980s, given what was happening socially, culturally, and politically at the time, has given me a different outlook than my siblings’. They’re from the Vietnam and Cold War generation; I’m from the generation of the fall of Berlin Wall.
So, that being said, there is still some value to this notion in PoliCan for understanding politicians’ thoughts and beliefs. They were or are “people of their generation,” and that would have coloured their world view and their politics, no matter their allegiance. So, as most historians would say, it’s a notion that can provide some context. The reference points are completely different for someone raised by someone who lived through the Depression of the 1930s versus someone who has always had computers as part of their daily life — just as I discovered at work a while back when my paraphrasing of the Borg from Star Trek fell completely flat. Someone from my generational cohort might say to me, “Oh my gosh, he sounds like a broken record!” and I would immediately understand the allusion, but would a Zoomer get it?
At any rate, let’s start by defining the generations.
