As for deaths:
WWII: ~405,000
WWI: ~116,500
Vietnam: ~58,000
Korea: ~36,500
Iraq/Afghanistan: ~4,400
Here’s the thing- for nearly every one of those things you mention, we’re at the best position that we’ve ever been in, even if there’s a lot further to go, or that what we have is not perfect. In a lot of ways, this is a golden age relative to the past.
Just because twenty-somethings don’t realize this doesn’t make it not so, and hearing them Eeyore about it and talk about how bad things are is baffling and not a little bit irritating- it’s like they are ungrateful and/or ignorant, and vocal about it.
I mean, here in Texas, we’ve convicted two cops of murder in the past year or so, and are likely to convict a third in short order. That’s monumental. It sucks that people keep getting shot, but at least now it’s major news and gets the cops on trial, as opposed to say… 1985, when it wouldn’t be news, and the cop would just get off the hook without an issue.
And I agree that the wage stagnation issue is huge; that’s also affected most of the working age people in the country- people don’t get large raises anymore (when was the last time you heard of a 5% raise for a moderate performer?) and in a lot of cases, what they do get is smaller than inflation, so despite getting more pay, they take a de-facto pay cut.
Maybe it’s because I spent so much time at Gma and Gpa’s house as a kid and that influences how I view things. Yep I have no qualms telling younger folks in essence to shut up and quit whining.
The Baby Boom generation was either a historical abberation, or the pinnacle of social and economic progress towards equality. Imagine growing up being told “I had this and this and that, you will have even more” and when you get to adulthood your generation is told “weeelllll maybe, if you work extra hard and extra smart, oh yeah by the way, now you have to also support a lot of us even though we out number you, have a nice day”.
All that aside, Multigenerational households and what all are the norm historically, not the exception. So, all I see is a return to the historic norm.
As far as pollution and running out of resources, well, yeah that happens when you have billions living on a planet, a significant portion world wide of which are living at a higher standard than ever before in history.
Who was it that said millenials lump boomers and genxers together? Helena is this really true of millennials over all, or just some subset of them? Perhaps it’s a regional thing? I ask, in part, because I don’t encounter that in my interactions with the millenials I interact with, and I deal with them a lot in my job, and because if it is true, in a way it’s kind of sad and disheartening to know that all those civil rights activists and gay rights activists and everyone who has ever done anything to eliminate inequality just had all their efforts flushed down the crapper. That nothing has changed at all except the focus of prejudice and hate and that millenials don’t seem to have the perspective or thoughtfulness to understand or accept that. I really hope you’re wrong on that.