Millennials: history's greatest monsters?
Spend enough time reading articles on the internet, and it may seem that way. Putting some variety of "millennials are killing X" in your headline or top paragraphs is a big click driver. Vacations are just the latest on a very long docket of murder charges that a plethora of publishers have been compiling in recent years. The last time anyone was accused of killing as many things as we have been, there were war crimes tribunals.
Most of the arguments come down to the changing tastes of a new generation, which is hardly something new. There wasn't a massive electronic publishing medium available to sound off on how the fashion tastes of the new generation killed bell-bottom pants or how young people's arcane buying habits caused the end of the Gimbels department store chain.
As a millennial, I don't think these accusations have much weight behind them, but before I waive my Fifth Amendment rights and testify against myself, I'd like to make sure the indictment is properly presented.
So here is a list of stuff I found that millennials are accused of killing, with supporting links to articles and essays where the charges are leveled — 47 counts of homicide to varying degrees.
- Vacations
- Gen X retirement savings
- Retailers
- Macy's
- Travel marketing
- Trees
- Car culture and the automotive industry
- Class (as in manners, not as in economics)
- The McWrap
- McDonalds
- Golf
- The movie business
- Their bosses
- The wine cork (almost)
- Wine
- Home Depot (maybe)
- Call center productivity
- The 9-to-5 workday
- Entrepreneurship
- Bad advertising
- Costco (maybe)
- Relationships
- Credit
- The email
- The EU
- The focus group
- The suit
- The running trend (maybe)
- Crowdfunding
- Scion (the car company)
- The American Dream
- The San Francisco music scene
- The hangout sitcom
- The napkin industry
- Cereal
- Annual performance reviews
- Parisians
- The inbox
- Email marketing (maybe)
- The concept of a corner office (maybe)
- The art of conversation
- Malls
- The sex game
- The religious right
- It
- Time
- Themselves
If you know or have personally witnessed millennials killing a person, place, or vague concept, please email me so I can update this list. Justice will be served, soon enough.