Their Mighty Brains Will Save Us
From Monday the Guardian is handing over control of its features content to 10 young trainee journalists… Here they describe the topics they want to explore and debate – the media, sex, food, employment, globalisation and more.
Thrilling, isn’t it? All that exploring and debating by the titans of tomorrow as they probe “the issues that matter to us and why.” They have a mission statement and everything:
We are all members of Generation Y – those born between the early 80s and early 00s.
And this, in itself, is somehow fascinating and a basis for applause.
Like every generation, we think we see things differently from the ones that came before us. Also like every generation, we face rapid change that we don’t fully understand – for instance, are we really digital natives, or just magpies collecting shiny things? Are we doomed? Is our future a dystopian IRL news feed of being screwed over by landlords/elected officials/ill-judged sexts?
With such pressing questions in mind,
For one week, we will share our perspectives on the media, globalisation, sex and pop culture,
Media, globalisation, sex and pop culture. Wooh, yeah. Can the system cope with this avalanche of intellectual boldness?
These are some of the pieces we will be bringing you:
Buzzfeed’s Beastmaster explains the cat thing.
Everything you wanted to know about trans sex lives and were rude enough to ask.
And obviously,
Why Clueless defines Gen Y better than any other single cultural artefact.
As you can see, it’s “a week for everyone,” brought to you by an “eclectic mix of voices that have yet to be heard.” And so let’s meet some of these eclectic debaters and explorers, this hot and sassy new Guardian team.
There’s Emma Howard, 26, who studied English in Leicester and Strasbourg and lists her credentials as “community organising” and “having fun with other social activists,” which, we learn, “can mean standing on the street with placards.” “I think about power a lot,” says she. Podcast enthusiast Fred McConnell, 27, is the sole male in a group of ten and tells us that, “After university I headed to Afghanistan to produce multimedia for a skateboard charity.” As one does. And there’s Hannah Jane Parkinson, 24, who “performs poetry” and whose areas of expertise are “lifestyle and pop culture.” Ms Parkinson is “from Liverpool, but moved to Russia to drink vodka and play at being Lara from Dr Zhivago.” She moved again, to London, “for a great job,” one in which she “got to look at cat gifs.” “I couldn’t be happier at the Guardian,” says Ms Parkinson. “It’s where I always wanted to work.”
Meanwhile, Leila Haddou, 26, is “really concerned that we are the first generation to be poorer than our parents, despite being the most educated.” Some readers may wonder if there’s a clue in that sentence. But let’s not linger on that. Instead, we have to brace ourselves for the cutting insights of Erica Buist, 29, a “recovering stand-up comedian” who “studied philosophy at Durham, moved to Mexico for two years,” and now runs “a blog called How to Be Jobless,” which “looks at the disappointment and despair that comes with realising that, when it comes to getting a job, nothing you’ve done is good enough.” Apparently running up huge debts studying philosophy and then fleeing to Mexico somehow didn’t cut it in today’s job market. Chief among Ms Buist’s journalistic offerings is an extended critique of drop-crotch meggings.
Yes, from the intellectual hotbed of campus life (non-maths division) to spells in Mexico, Strasbourg and Russia, while fretting about “social justice” and producing multimedia for Afghan skateboard charities. A snapshot of the nation and its everyday concerns.
Can I please just add my sincere appreciation for Steve 2: Steveageddon’s comments.
Even if they do cause me to burst out laughing in the Office.
Adding “eclectic” to the list of words redefined by the Left to mean its exact opposite
Ha.
Yes they haven’t murdered “diversity” enough, have they? A new word was needed, to make vacuity convey the impression of perspicuity. To give exceptional narrowness of mind the veneer of knowing more than other people.
When they don’t. At all.
However I’m moved to compassion by the way these enthusiastic young things are trying to engage with the barrage of cynical negativity* in the comments, the audible snorts of derision from the only people who could be bothered to comment.
* or “negative cynicism”? couldn’t decide
Generation Y?–They are so for up their own rectums they need help from Arne Saknussemm to find their way out again.
“I think about power a lot,”
[Shudder] I bet you do, Emma. I just bet you do.
Brain: Noreiga, Ghengis Khan, Sadham Hussein, and me, The Brain
Brain: We all have this one thing in common, we are into world domination
Pinky: It’s a new sensation, try it and you’ll feel elation
Brain: It’s the gift to give the guy, who wants everything
Pinky: Military takeovers
Brain: Governmental makeovers
Pinky: Coup d’etat and ??
Narf!
Nik,
‘In CiF did anyone else see the response from a Guardian staffer as to why there were 9 women but only 1 man in the line up?’
It seems the ‘one man’ is actually a transsexual:
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/mar/19/trans-people-rude-questions-sex-lives
Sample quote:
‘Usually I’d engage but he wasn’t trying to initiate a conversation. I defriended him.’
(Incidentally, I thoroughly recommend a scan through the comments in the above article. There’s a great discussion in which ‘cis’ people take offence at being called ‘cis’ and ‘none-cis’ people tell them off for thinking they have a right to choose their own label. And there’s an argument about how to go about interacting with people in one’s daily life without making any assumptions whatsoever about them in case you say something that might offend them. Fantastic stuff – almost unbelievable, I would have said. But this Generation Y thing seems to be The Guardian turned up to 11, so nothing surprises.)
There’s a great discussion in which ‘cis’ people take offence at being called ‘cis’ and ‘none-cis’ people tell them off for thinking they have a right to choose their own label
Policing people’s attitudes for a change! Based, no doubt, on good science…or maybe just the meaningless witterings of someone like Judith Butler
* * *
When questioned about the 9-1 (and the 1 is N/A) gender balance, the very keen-on-quotas Guardian innocently say that these were simply the best candidates for the job.
I once worked in an office where this happened, some very feminist bosses kept accidentally recruiting and promoting more women. They too talked about “choosing the best candidate”.
If you really questioned them about it, they might start to admit that they do want to ‘address’ a perceived ‘imbalance’. At which point you’re fairly sure that you’re dealing with people who lie, routinely, about their motivations.
Not that I’d accuse Rudsbridger et al of this, of course. Um.
It seems the ‘one man’ is actually a transsexual
I really didn’t see that coming. Apparently this sociologically vital snapshot of “Generation Y” didn’t require a male perspective. I mean, from someone who is actually, technically male and not preoccupied with much more exotic baggage. Which may explain why the article mentioned above – “Everything you wanted to know about trans sex lives and were rude enough to ask” – turned out to be the opposite of what was so breathlessly advertised.
But then the whole thing seems rather mis-sold. I spotted several articles telling me how uniquely difficult it is to be a member of “Generation Y.” Or rather, how difficult it is to belong to a certain, rather presumptuous subset of said generation. For instance,
But the nearest thing to realism I could find was an admission that “Today’s youth has spent years chasing qualifications no one ever asks us about.” Though inevitably the blame for such decisions is laid as far away as possible. “We’ve done what you asked, society. Release the jobs!” A recurrent theme seemed to be that if people have chosen to spend years studying for a degree in English literature, journalism, media, etc., then there just ought to be relevant jobs there waiting to be taken. The demand for people with degrees in English literature, journalism and media somehow just ought to exist.
‘I mean, from someone who is actually, technically male and not preoccupied with much more exotic baggage.’
Some nice transphobia there. Fucker.
n,
Some nice transphobia there.
It isn’t transphobia at all. I’ve no particular ill-feeling towards people who are transsexual, transgendered or alienated from their physiology. But it is worth noting, briefly, that the sole male contributor chosen by the quota-conscious Guardian isn’t, strictly speaking, what they appear, and is most animated by concerns that aren’t exactly typical of the male population. Much as the other participants aren’t exactly representative of an entire generation. Or even a generation of Guardian readers.
I don’t regard the gender make-up of this supposed generational snapshot as a major point, and less so the contents of Mr McConnell’s trousers; but it is worth noting as a minor aside. Or possibly, as a cherry on the cake.
Some nice transphobia there. Fucker.
It was the ‘fucker’ that persuaded me. I denounce your hate speech, David. ;-D
It was the ‘fucker’ that persuaded me.
I’m guessing n’s assumption is that a transgendered person’s subjective experience of their gender, or claims of such, should always override all other considerations. And so not deferring to that person’s preferred gender identity at all times, including in conversations to which they aren’t a party, is itself “transphobic,” or “hatred” of some kind.
It’s a conversation I’ve had before, though without the epithets.
[ Added: ]
Incidentally, it seems the trainee Guardianistas aren’t at all troubled by the lack of male perspective in their supposedly representative generational project for a paper fixated by gender quotas and “equality.” In fact they’re practically triumphal. Because feeling righteous and self-satisfied about the absence of male contributors will somehow make things less sexist and narrow.
It’s Guardian logic.
Some nice transphobia there …
n,
This isn’t Twitter.
Assuming you are capable of doing so, you can use more than 140 characters (and you could even include some verbs).
You would of course actually need to have some kind of idea to express, some form of argument to put forward, first.
It’s Guardian logic.
They’re fighting sexism with, er… sexism. Then feeling good about themselves.
They’re fighting sexism with, er… sexism. Then feeling good about themselves.
And blocking anyone who criticizes them on twitter.
They’re fighting sexism with, er… sexism. Then feeling good about themselves.
So it would seem. The “Gen Y” titans told the rest of us to “challenge [our] stereotypes” while seeming quite committed to stereotypes of their own. And so these supposed exemplars of a new generation are whining middle-class lefties, much like the whining middle-class lefties who hired them. It’s almost a caste thing. People who use the term “social justice” to signal their righteousness and superiority – without pausing to define it or unpack its practicalities. And they evidently feel that glamorous and fascinating jobs for people like themselves simply ought to exist regardless of demand and massive oversupply. “We’ve done what you asked, society. Release the jobs!” But how many arts and media graduates does the country need?
In terms of their unrealism and self-flattery, they are of course ideal candidates for a career at the Guardian. And I suppose you can never have too many articles about students’ bedrooms and such pressing questions as “which 90s film character are you?”