The Hyper-Sensitivity of Society (1 Viewer)

[renegadewa]

I don’t agree with you on everything you listed, as some of it pertains to adults and millennials alike. However, there is a lot of truth in this post.

The fact that you don't agree with me on everything is fine. It's what discussion is all about isn't it?

I'm not perfect.......none of us are.

In my line of work I deal with customers and clients and have had to eat way more than one crap sandwich because of it......................meaning that the huge majority of those customers and clients are adults.

Some people just feel a sense of entitlement and can't handle it if they can't or don't have everything their way. Contrary to popular belief the customer is not always right.

 

[N.O.Bronco]

I understand the point you are making and it is a very valid point. I truly respect that but I'm not whining about anything.

I don't care about millenials one way or the other and I have very little empathy for them because in truth they're about as worrisome to me as a cloudy day. They don't affect me in the least but they are the ones that have displayed a very exaggerated amount of the hyper sensitivity that is the topic of conversation here.

I own the company that I work for and I've been sued twice over what was called wrongful termination because a couple of guys couldn't go 5 minutes without checking their text messages or what someone posted on Facebook or Twitter whatever other social venue they happened to be tuned into at the time.

Everyone is offended by something and I get that but some of it borders ridiculous but that is just my opinion on things.

I'm the guy who would rather stand back and watch the train wreck than be involved in it.

The kids that are coming up these days are in for a hard life lesson if they don't grow a sack and thicker skin.

The fact is that they won't only face opposition from my generation but from their own as well.

I mean this is a country that used to regularly confront minor social slights by demanding that person engage them in a duel to the death or would routinely whip up lynch mobs on out-group members for the smallest perceived or manufactured slights. I'm not sure you can get more thin-skinned than that lol.

Sensitivity is not a new phenomenon is the point. Where those cleavages are and how they are dealt with does change though. And whether your biases or sympathies identify with the complainers in question tends to correlate to whether you view something as whining or hyper sensitive or justifiable outrage and concern. As a topical(and hopefully not too political) example see the way people frame Kavanaugh's recent outbursts during congressional hearings juxtaposed with how those same people framed the female activists that confronted Flake on an elevator.

As to millennials, I'm not sure the facts would fully agree with the common perception. Despite a far harder economic environment they graduated into, and far greater costs, millennials are putting a greater emphasis and value on education than older generations, enduring far tougher curriculum, and putting more emphasis on career orientated degrees, more likely to be working multiple jobs or going to school and working, and in surveys and research take less time off and feel less justified in taking vacations than their older counterparts. I also get a bit tickled when Boomers talk about entitlement, personal responsibility, and thick skin when they are arguably the most selfish generation in a millennium(not presuming you are a boomer but you are certainly articulating a lot of boomer talking points, which is what prompted this rant). The only recent generation that has taken more than given and seems to perpetually live in a state of demanding their own set of entitlements paid for by denying everyone else the same benefits their own elder generation made sure they would get.

 

[renegadewa]

I mean this is a country that used to regularly confront minor social slights by demanding that person engage them in a duel to the death. I'm not sure you can get more thin-skinned than that lol.

Sensitivity is not a new phenomenon is the point. Where those cleavages are and how they are dealt with does change though. And whether your biases or sympathies identify with the complainers in question tends to correlate to whether you view something as whining or hyper sensitive or justifiable outrage and concern.

As to millennials, I'm not sure the facts would fully agree with the common perception. Despite a far harder economic environment they graduated into, and far greater costs, millennials are putting a greater emphasis and value on education than older generations, enduring far tougher curriculum, and putting more emphasis on career orientated degrees, more likely to be working multiple jobs or going to school and working, and in surveys and research take less time off and feel less justified in taking vacations than their older counterparts. I also get a bit tickled when Boomers talk about entitlement, personal responsibility, and thick skin when they are arguably the most selfish generation in a millennium(not presuming you are a boomer but you are certainly articulating a lot of boomer talking points). The only recent generation that has taken more than given and seems to perpetually live in a state of demanding their own set of entitlements paid for by denying everyone else the same benefits their own elder generation made sure they would get.

Have you ever thought that maybe some of the boomers that you are calling selfish and entitled actually worked hard their whole lives for what they have?

I certainly did because no one ever gave me a thing!!

That's a damn sight better than some of the kids that are graduating from college these days with a degree that is worthless but yet they still demand a top salary on an entry level without spending 5 minutes in the work force?

We can bat this back and forth till the next generation of little darlings steps up to the plate and demands that someone give them something just because!!

Trust me when I say that they're already out there. I have a friend who has 5 kids and even his youngest (a 2 year old) throws a screaming tantrum if he has to put his tablet down long enough to sit at a table to eat a meal.

I used to hear my father say that he was happy that he wouldn't be around to see what the world would be like 20 or 30 years down the road and I never understood why he would say that.

Now I know why.

 

[N.O.Bronco]

Have you ever thought that maybe some of the boomers that you are calling selfish and entitled actually worked hard their whole lives for what they have?

I certainly did because no one ever gave me a thing!!

That's a damn sight better than some of the kids that are graduating from college these days with a degree that is worthless but yet they still demand a top salary on an entry level without spending 5 minutes in the work force?

We can bat this back and forth till the next generation of little darlings steps up to the plate and demands that someone give them something just because!!

Trust me when I say that they're already out there. I have a friend who has 5 kids and even his youngest (a 2 year old) throws a screaming tantrum if he has to put his tablet down long enough to sit at a table to eat a meal.

I used to hear my father say that he was happy that he wouldn't be around to see what the world would be like 20 or 30 years down the road and I never understood why he would say that.

Now I know why.

You are basically getting to what I hoped you would get at with that bit of bait(sorry).

That same argument could be made about millennials. That they work hard, they did all the right things their parents told them to, they are more and more pursuing STEM and career orientated degrees than their predecessor generations, and they feel deserving of things in the same way the generation that raised them did. How many boomers for instance think they should have their own Medicare and Social Security taken away so that millennials tax dollars don't have to fund them? So some money can go to their education and their healthcare. Survey after survey will say very few. But ask those same Boomers how they feel about Millennials more and more wanting their college costs and debts to be brought down in line with the relative cost burden their parents faced and you can almost hear the collective scoff. How you or my biases manifest themselves, how you choose or not choose not to apply empathy will tend to temper how we perceive another group.

You are applying empathy to one group and by your own admission consciously refusing to apply it to another. The result is the dichotomy and juxtaposed framing we are seeing here. Despite both groups engaging in very similar behaviors of the human condition, just manifesting and displaying them in different ways and around different inflection points.

 

[renegadewa]

You are basically getting to what I hoped you would get at with that bit of bait(sorry).

That same argument could be made about millennials. That they work hard, they did all the right things their parents told them to, they are more and more pursuing STEM and career orientated degrees than their predecessor generations, and they feel deserving of things in the same way the generation that raised them did. How many boomers for instance think they should have their own Medicare and Social Security taken away so that millennials tax dollars don't have to fund them? So some money can go to their education and their healthcare. Survey after survey will say very few. But ask those same Boomers how they feel about Millennials more and more wanting their college costs and debts to be brought down in line with the relative cost burden their parents faced and you can almost hear the collective scoff. How you or my biases manifest themselves, how you choose or not choose not to apply empathy will tend to temper how we perceive another group.

You are applying empathy to one group and by your own admission consciously refusing to apply it to another. The result is the dichotomy and juxtaposed framing we are seeing here. Despite both groups engaging in very similar behaviors of the human condition, just manifesting and displaying them in different ways and around different inflection points.

Well as I said we can bat this back and forth till the end of time and you'll have your opinion and I'll still have mine.

It's a good discussion though.

 

[brandon8283]

Have you ever thought that maybe some of the boomers that you are calling selfish and entitled actually worked hard their whole lives for what they have?

I certainly did because no one ever gave me a thing!!

That's a damn sight better than some of the kids that are graduating from college these days with a degree that is worthless but yet they still demand a top salary on an entry level without spending 5 minutes in the work force?

We can bat this back and forth till the next generation of little darlings steps up to the plate and demands that someone give them something just because!!

Trust me when I say that they're already out there. I have a friend who has 5 kids and even his youngest (a 2 year old) throws a screaming tantrum if he has to put his tablet down long enough to sit at a table to eat a meal.

I used to hear my father say that he was happy that he wouldn't be around to see what the world would be like 20 or 30 years down the road and I never understood why he would say that.

Now I know why.

The prevalence of exclamations in your post suggests that you are particularly sensitive to the subject of millennial entitlement.

Some might even say...hyper-sensitive.

 

[Madmarsha]

Why? What have you heard about me? I had a lot of coffee that day.

 

[Zack Lee]

I think society could do with a bit more empathy.

In that particular regard, I think we are hypo-sensitive.

I think the first priority should be "be real" We have a tendency toward hyper sensitivity on the surface with nothing to back it up. Life is hard. We need empathy but not fake smiles and outrage over words.

 

[Krodwhodat]

This comes to mind.

https://people.com/parents/scott-disick-date-penelope-debate-racist-gesture/

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

I understand the point you are making and it is a very valid point. I truly respect that but I'm not whining about anything.

I don't care about millenials one way or the other and I have very little empathy for them because in truth they're about as worrisome to me as a cloudy day. They don't affect me in the least but they are the ones that have displayed a very exaggerated amount of the hyper sensitivity that is the topic of conversation here.

I own the company that I work for and I've been sued twice over what was called wrongful termination because a couple of guys couldn't go 5 minutes without checking their text messages or what someone posted on Facebook or Twitter whatever other social venue they happened to be tuned into at the time.

Everyone is offended by something and I get that but some of it borders ridiculous but that is just my opinion on things.

I'm the guy who would rather stand back and watch the train wreck than be involved in it.

The kids that are coming up these days are in for a hard life lesson if they don't grow a sack and thicker skin.

The fact is that they won't only face opposition from my generation but from their own as well.

You do realize that -aside from the specifics of technology- this statement could have been made/has been made by every older generation ever?

 

[FLIPPY]

Oddly no one I know is sensitive or easily offended

That’s because the media gravitates to the few crazies on social media... It’s what seems to make the news today..

Example, the Baby it’s Cold Outside radio play thing... It was probably one person who complained to the radio station....

 

[saintmdterps]

This just makes me hypertensive

No, it doesn't "make" you hypertensive. You have made a conscious choice to react to an event in a way that has led to a hypertensive feeling, so you are being hypersensitive. Stop being a snowflake and toughen up.

See how easy that is??

I can tease him because I know he's not really hypersensitive

 

[Bill]

Why? What have you heard about me? I had a lot of coffee that day.

Awwwww... I know that you're not bothered by what people say about you.
A few things I've heard is surprisingly good.

But I always say nice things about you no matter what anyone else says.

 

[saintmdterps]

For me it's the generation of society who have raised and are raising children who can't function without some sort of hand held screen device in their faces their every waking moment.

The participation trophy..............the game over generation...............the entitled generation who have been told all their lives how special and great they are. They are the instant gratification tribe.

The "there are no losers" generation who find out the hard way that there ARE losers and they can't deal with it when they do lose at something. They have a very difficult time coming to terms with real life not having a restart button that they can push every time something doesn't go their way.

There is a reason why someone coined the phrase "survival of the fittest" because when it comes down to it the strong will usually win and the weak will usually be weak.

Whether we like it or not we live in a very competitive and cut throat world and all the whining and tantrums will never change that. People strive to send their kids to the best schools and colleges but never face the fact that not every kid is college material.

There is nothing wrong with people having dreams of being a rock star or a professional athlete but the world needs dishwashers and plumbers and people who drive trucks that service port-o-lets at those concerts or sporting events as well.

IMO politically correct is one of the worst things that has ever happened in our society. You can't say or do anything without someone getting offended or getting their feelings hurt anymore!!

Now don't get me wrong..................I am all for equality for everyone but it can and does come at a price and some people are not willing to pay that price and it's usually the hyper sensitive people that the OP was talking about.

Safe spaces, coloring books, and puppies??.....................seriously???

I raised my kids the same way my parents raised me in the "rub some dirt on it" fashion and I am very proud of the adults that they have grown up to be. They have worked hard and continue to do so for their lot in life. When something knocks them down they pick themselves up and keep going without all the whining or dramatics that is festering in our current society.

With all that said...........Am I perfect?...............Not even close. But I don't get offended if someone votes differently than I do or says something that I don't agree with or has different beliefs than I do.

that's just my 2 cents.

I agree with some of your post. however the participation trophies are not for kids, who really don't give a crap; they're for the parents who can't handle the fact that little Billy Joe and Bobby Sue aren't going to make a fortune in soccer or baseball, and in reality can't even get out of their own way on an athletic field

I'm also going to make an assumption that you are an older white Christian male with an intact mind and body, and so are part of the demographic who is most likely to tell everyone else to "toughen up" when the reality is that compared to many other demographics in the US, your road has not been as difficult.

I'm part of that exact same group. The rules were laid out by people who took pains to ensure our success even if it came at the expense of all others. If we haven't done well, we really have none to blame but ourselves.

Political correctness has gone too far, but is an outgrowth of a time when it was OK for our group to use words, jokes, and actions to degrade other groups who thought, looked, and behaved differently from us.

It's time to find a common ground upon which we can all stand and make this country into a better place for everyone, and not just the privileged few.

 

[N.O.Bronco]

That’s because the media gravitates to the few crazies on social media... It’s what seems to make the news today..

Example, the Baby it’s Cold Outside radio play thing... It was probably one person who complained to the radio station....

There an interesting observation that I think has some merit as well.

Twitter's platform and constraints naturally gravitate conversations toward the sensational and the extremes, the word limit and the nature of social media means the shocking, the funny, the extremes get disproportionate amounts of attention. It's like a fun house mirror of real life. It's not necessarily a fake representation of reality. but it is a highly distorted one.

Concurrently Twitter is also an important vessel for journalists, its a far reaching platform that allows for minute to minute updates and an enormous audience, as a consequence a lot of journalists spend a lot of time on Twitter. To which their is all this low hanging fruit to look at and through that lens of society things can quickly get distorted when you take a niche issue with a passionate base and apply an enormous amplifier to it by throwing that pet cause into the media cycle.

Partisan and clickbait outlets seem to actually chase and use these distortions to their advantage and the problems come in when the more mainstream outlets follow down their rabbit holes or get caught up themselves.