The Gen Zer had an epiphany after three shifts at the pub: “It’s not us who suck; it’s you Gen Xers.” Delighted that my mentoring of him to get a part-time job had resulted in such astute political analysis, I asked him to continue.
“There are grown men who ask for their vegetables not to touch their meat… who wear grey hoodies for lunch in the pub with their elderly parents who are always turned out smart, the old men always wear ties… and then there are these dud parents who sit on their phones letting their children ignore everyone on their rubber iPads. Honestly, I can tell now just by looking at someone if they’re gluten free. What a bunch of losers.” (Or words to that effect.)
I’d been encouraging this particular Gen Zer out of what I lazily assumed was a typical Gen Z funk. I tutted along with everyone else at the recent survey that said only 11% of them could be bothered to fight for their country. But his insights made me fully appreciate that it is not Gen Z at fault, but we feeble folk who have raised them.
He had not finished: “And now I see these useless grown Gen Xers everywhere… I saw one the other day wearing one of those fluorescent safety dog walking harness things in broad daylight. What was he frightened of? No wonder you lot went along with all that trans bullshit, you’d all lost your bottle.” (Or words to that effect.)
Of course he’s right. Kemi said as much on her recent Triggernometry podcast appearance. She explained how a whole generation of politicians had lost their courage, and as a result a whole lot of nonsense engulfed our country. I think it began with Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband in 2014 when they looked entirely ashamed of themselves in those dreary beige ‘This is what a feminist looks like’ t-shirts. Pathetic, was the general muttered response.
“I wonder where they are now, those t-shirts?” asks my husband. He’s loading the dishwasher wearing a particularly threadbare ‘Farmers’ Weekly’ t-shirt from the early 2000s. “Do you think they’ve still got them in the bottom drawer and wear them when they’re slopping around on a Sunday night? Or maybe their wives have nicked them for pyjamas…”
This spirit of hopeless surrender to whatever was the popular cause of the time trickled down from the dispiriting heights of the Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition, to ordinary school teachers, corporate bods and cowed folk trying to earn a living. They all donned figurative t-shirts of submission: “Yes,” they agreed wearily, living in fear of HR or their teenage daughters, “I’ll teach the gender stuff from Mermaids in life skills… I’m happy to head up the ‘Bring Your Whole Self to Work Week’… I’ll attend the unconscious bias training course… Yes, I’ll get myself tested for adult ADHD.” The Gen Zer had accurately identified these types in the pub as they continue to shuffle around defeated and fearful, unable to dress or eat properly.
The vast majority of Generation X did not believe that anyone could change sex, that the world is ‘burning’, that bad mental health is something worth exploring as a lifestyle option, that they’re racist, that masculinity is toxic, and so on. And yet we could not find the courage to stand up to those who did and, as a result, we did a grave injustice to our undeserving children – and ourselves. In our capitulation to this nonsense, we Gen Xers are certainly responsible for significant damage to the millennials and a significant portion of Gen Zers. It is truly appalling that almost an estimated 13.2% (946,000) of all people aged 16 to 24 years in the UK were not in education, employment or training (NEET) in July to September 2024.
However, the vast majority of Gen Zers have somehow survived the education system and culture that inflicted these reductive and diminishing ideologies on them. The vast majority of Gen Zers are in work or studying. The majority of Gen Zers I know and work with are thriving. The boys study furiously but also do weights, martial arts, gardening, fishing and other wholesome activities, the girls also study furiously, go to the gym, dance, volunteer. Both sexes work part-time when they can and are socialising: the sauna scene in London is particularly encouraging. They are eating meat and investigating emigrating to Poland.
Whichever party can apologise and appeal to these promising young people is the one that will win the next election.
Joanna Gray is a writer and confidence mentor.
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