Rhetorical Analysis Of The New Greatest Generation By Joel Stein

In the article “A Generation of Slackers? Not So Much”, by Catherine Rampell, the author analyzes and challenges the popular stigma that Millennials are the laziest generation to have ever existed. Rampell begins her article with a staggering fact: “The unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds is a whopping 17.6 percent” (Rampell 388). And according to seventy-five percent of Americans, “Today’s youth are less virtuous and industrious than their elders” (Rampell 388). This may seem like an incredibly high percentage of Americans, but you might be astonished to learn that even “Two-thirds of millennials said older adults were superior to the younger generation when it came

After covering facts about millennials and their imperfections, Stein turns his article around by recognizing their good qualities. The purpose of Stein’s article is revealed when he changes sides of opinion. He praises their admirable characteristics saying, “They are probusiness. They’re financially responsible; although student loans have hit record highs, they have less household and credit-card debt than any previous generation on record.” (Stein 33), proving that millennials are more capable and intelligent at managing money although in more debt than previous generations. Stein uses logos to further establish his credibility.

He develops his claim with the help of many sources. For instance, one of Stein’s examples was Tom Brokaw, who describes them as alert people that rapidly create new technology and boosts the economy (par. 26). Brokaw dubbed the millennials as the Wary Generation, but they’re keen of their environment and adapt rapidly to the change. This quote leads perfectly into Stein’s view of millennials, which he characterizes as “earnest[,] optimistic… pragmatic idealists…want[ing] constant approval… informed… [and] probusiness” (par. 27). He finally reveals his own opinion about the millennials, allowing readers to consider the gist of his rebuttal. This allows people to compare their own opinion with his and rethink their opinion of the

As a newly elected senator, Barack Obama shares a speech with the people of the United States that John Kerry demonstrates the best possible choice for the nation’s next president. While he is giving his speech, he is able to connect with his audience when he uses rhetorical strategies, such as ethos and anaphora. By using these specific devices, he is able to build an argument revolving around the idea of Kerry becoming America’s next president.

In “Why They’ll Save us all” published in Time magazine on May 20, 2013, the author, 41-year-old Joel Stein informs readers on the behavior, lifestyle, and mentality of millennials. He fabricates his article around the concept of contradiction and information that is both reliable, yet meticulously placed, in order to successfully persuade and inform the audience that although the newest generation can be entitled, lazy, and self-absorbed, they are also capable of positively changing the world.

joseph Flores writes “From tackling the greed of the top 1 percent to minimizing student debt by enacting free tuition and providing health care and paid family leave as a right, Sanders exhibits experience, courage and sincere consideration for the common man.” (1) Unlike some politicians Bernie sanders actually believes in global warming and wants to help fix the problem, not pretend like it doesn’t exist. He wants to withdraw support from fossil fuel companies and start supporting renewable energies like wind, solar, and geothermal. Many millennials also want to protect the environment and move toward renewable energies. Bernie sanders also believe that having so few controlling so much of america's money is abhorrent when we have one of the highest rates of child poverty of any country. Perhaps one of Bernie sanders ideas that is most alluring to millennials revolves around cheap or free college. Bernie sanders believes that America can not compete globally with citizens who are uneducated, and so many americans do not go to college because they can not afford it and too many of those that do leave with an enormous amount of debt that stays with them most of their lives. Bernie sanders believes that if every american should have access to the best education regardless of wealth. Bernie sanders is a voice of the millennial generation because of his stance on these

The study mentions that, “Unlike sitting down and watching the evening news, Twitter and Facebook provide users with the ability to pick and choose what information they see…” which shows how Millennials have the freedom to choose what they prefer to read, and how what they prefer to read may not always be the right information. If Millennials are consistently misinforming themselves, that will contribute to them being unaware of what truly is happening in the world around them. The study also brings up how, “... does social media keep Millennials as informed [?] … it does allow people to become more informed if they choose to use it that way” which represents how depending on the person, any given Millennial could be more informed or less informed, yet the majority of Millennials choose to be less informed. If the current generation had less freedom on what news they could read, perhaps they would be as informed as the generations of the

Millennials are growing up in the information age and have many advantages that previous generations did not possess. Unfortunately, there are skills that these kids lack that are essential for today’s world called social responsibility. This can have the traits of perseverance through tasks, dependability, and work ethic. In the article, “Experts Zero In on Nonacademic Skills Needed for Success” by Sarah Sparks she explains in great detail of the faults in our generation.

(CQ Researcher, page 553). Millennials are considered to be the “most diverse generation in American history, more than 40 percent of individuals are nonwhite” (CQ Researcher, page 553). You would think that some of the facts that I have stated prior to this would be a positive thing, but recently debates have been occurring regarding millennials such as, if they are able to reshape society/ the country in a positive way.

Pointing out that much of the volunteering that is done by millennials is not coming from within, but is mostly attributed to the fact that colleges take community service into consideration for admission and more high schools are making it a requirement for graduation. This is taking a small sample of the millennial population and not looking at the whole. According to William Strauss and Neil Howe, authors of “Will the Real Gen Y Please Stand Up”, “A healthy civic indicator is the boom in youth volunteering, a finding the “Egos” study discounts because so many high schools require community service. But other indicators point to the same positive trend. Voting rates for Americans 25 and younger have surged since the late 1990’s. According to the UCLA College Freshman survey, 76% of new college arrivals, a record high, now say that “raising a family” is a very important goal—and a record low, only 27%, agree that “realistically, there is little an individual can do to change society.” Therefore argument can be made that millennials are far more civic minded than previous generations which has been evident in the last two presidential elections. The fact is millennials are a generation who believe that they can change the world and are actively trying to do

The millennial generation or generation y has been a generation under heavy scrutiny. Many of their critics consider them entitled, self absorbed, and lazy at best. However, the subjective narrative that seems to be often painted by their predecessors always seemed a bit iffy. Are millennials really a generation full of narcissistic and disengaged persons, with a sprinkle of hedonism served as their philosophical backdrop? Or is the tension felt amongst the differing age groups another classic case of my generation did it better? “Us Vs Them”, if you will. Nevertheless, there has been a multitude of controversial articles spawned out of debate and attempts to validate these widespread claims. For instance, when Joel Stein wrote about the Millennials supposedly narcissistic traits in his contentious article “The New Greatest

This is a reply to the article ”Im a millennial and my generation sucks” by Johnny Oleksinski

Last week, I took a familiar train ride to Princeton Junction. Adjacent to me sat a group of suit-clad men on their way to work, and a teenage brother sister duo. The older men were reading their papers and the siblings were on their iPhones. The two groups shared complete silence. The older gents were reading up on their worldly news while the duo was social networking with the entire world. Gen-Y critics would argue that my train experience perfectly exemplifies the anti-social nature of Millennials, however, the Millennials were engaging in social activities, while the older gents were not. Millennials communicate in a more technological-dependent way because of recent advancements in science. Preceding generations can find this form of communication very foreign, so naturally they resist the vast change and (jump to conclusions). Technology of the 21st century allows us to communicate with those all around the world in a matter of seconds. My friend in London can share live protests on her street with me with a click of a button. A plethora of articles pop up on my feed talking about current controversial issues all over the world, making me more cosmopolitan with each scroll. Technology allows us to be put in touch with the entire world. Because we can so easily share each other’s stances, we develop into more compassionate people. I can easily come across first hand accounts of people’s hardships, and through the internet, I can trigger change. In my hometown of Sea Girt, many homes were destroyed by Hurriccane Sandy. Local victims shared their heart wrenching stories via Facebook, and their friends started online fundraisers to rebuild their homes. Critics easily deem us antisocial, but, in actuality, we are

In Joel Stein’s article “Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation,” Stein tries to convince his audience that the younger generation, ranging between people born from 1980 to 2000, are somehow “...lazy, entitled, selfish and shallow.” He uses these exact adjectives in his thesis to describe the people of this era, while he also tries to convince the reader with his abundance of proof towards it. As Stein reveals strong beliefs about millennials, he also credits another, more positive perspective on the issue as well. He discusses that social media and other technology present major problems that result in this so called “narcissistic personality” of millennials. Stein creates an effective argument with his discussions, using ethos and logos closely

Across the nation, people are talking about the Millennial generation and how different they are compared to others, but are they really that different? Millennials are lazy, entitled, and selfish, or as you may have heard may be essential to the modern workplace, either way, they are being talked about whether it is good or bad. To put it in other words, past generations are concerned for what the future will look like with this technology-dependent generation, but is that a bad thing if the technology is only going to advance from here on out? The older generation is being too harsh or are they just genuinely concerned about the future? Joel Stein (2013) has written an article about the Millennials, it is titled Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation he argues for them being a selfish generation but by saying that it is not a bad thing. The second article is by Liz Zarka (2017) Generation Me: The Millennial Generation’s obsession with being unique, she argues that they are the generation that needs to be concerned for. After reading both of these articles I agree with some of the points that both of these authors make, however, there are also some sections that I disagree with. My perception of the situation is that millennials may have all these negative characteristics but use them to an advantage that no other generation can has; along with the advancement of technology and the use of social media may have increased the narcissistic trait in them, but they use these traits to get what they want, however, being narcissistic isn’t always good there can certainly be some disadvantages.