Those Poor Delicate Dandelions

Back in 2007 Diana West wrote an important volume entitled The Death of the Grownup. In it she lamented the fact that an entire generation of adults are stuck in adolescence. They have refused to grow up, to take personal responsibility for their lives, and they expect the state to look after them from cradle to grave. This is the entitlement generation gone ballistic.

She begins her book with these words:

Once there was a world without teenagers. Literally. “Teenager,” the word itself, doesn’t pop into the lexicon much before 1941. This speaks volumes about the last few millennia. In all those many centuries, nobody thought to mention ‘teenagers’ because there was nothing, apparently, to think of mentioning.
In considering what I like to call ‘the death of the grown-up,’ it’s important to keep a fix on this fact: that for all but this most recent episode of human history, there were children and there were adults. Children in their teen years aspired to adulthood; significantly, they didn’t aspire to adolescence. Certainly, adults didn’t aspire to remain teenagers.

Now we have a mega-teen culture which the entire world orbits around, and we have millions of adults who are stuck in perpetual adolescence, seeking to remain teens. Coupled with all this is the out-of-control offence industry which says we have a fundamental right to never be offended, never to feel bad, and never to have our feelings hurt.

That has resulted in a generation of wilted dandelions and precious pansies. A bunch of spoiled brats in other words. Writing in The Times, Helen Rumbelow speaks about “generation snowflake,” a term now widely used for the coddled, spoiled narcissists of today. She comments:

The term “generation snowflake” started in America. Parents cherished their offspring as “precious little snowflakes”, each alike but unique, or “everyone is special” as they sing in the cartoon South Park. When those smothered infants grew into adults they were lampooned by the same parental generation for melting at any small amount of difficulty. “Snowflake” is just a fancy word for “drip”.

And this has led to a host of zany new ideas, complete with zany new titles: “They have spawned a new lexicon. Generation snowflake was one of Collins Dictionary’s 2016 words of the year, but with it came the phrases ‘check your privilege’, ‘safe spaces’ and ‘trigger warnings’.”

We see this everywhere in action, especially with the recent election of Trump. Teens, millennials, college kids and even adults are all acting like delicate dandelions, throwing hissing fits, carrying on like cry-babies, and refusing to act as adults. College campuses have been among the worst, with “cry-ins” and other pathetic displays of infantile behaviour.

The College Fix describes some of the more outrageous examples of this:

The Cornell Daily Sun reports that students hosted a “Cry In” on the quad Wednesday in the wake of the presidential election results…. As the event took place, students — roughly 20 or so, according to the Sun’s video — wrote their reactions and emotions on poster boards with colored markers, or with chalk on the ground. A chilly day on the Ithaca campus, at one point the demonstrators huddled together as what appeared to be a barista brought them warm drinks.

A dorm at the University of Pennsylvania on Wednesday hosted a post-election “Breathing Space” for students stressed out by election results that included cuddling with cats and a puppy, coloring and crafting, and snacks such as tea and chocolate. The event at the Ivy League institution was hosted by the faculty director of Fisher Hassenfeld College House.
“There were actual cats and a puppy there,” Penn student Daniel Tancredi told The College Fix via email. “There were sheets of paper available with black and white printed designs on them for students to color in. Essentially they looked like pages from a coloring book that were printed from a computer. They all had positive feel-good messages on them. Students colored them in with colored pencils.”

Another write-up is equally depressing to read:

So it begins: American college campuses are currently experiencing a collective freak-out over the impending Trump presidency. Professors and administrators have cancelled exams and sent messages of support to students feeling traumatized by the election results.
A University of Michigan psychology professor delayed an exam until next week and wished students good fortune during this “tumultuous time.” Some Columbia University professors postponed midterms as well. A University of Connecticut professor excused students from attending class. And at Yale University, one professor decided to make an upcoming exam optional. Administrators were quick to reassure students that universities offer myriad counseling options.

At least one Iowa lawmaker has had enough of all this moonbattery on our campuses, and is seeking to do something about it:

Following Donald Trump’s win in Tuesday’s presidential election, many high school and college students were having a tough time dealing with the reality of the results. There were reports of mass walkouts, protests and students gathering on campuses to mourn Hillary Clinton’s loss in what were termed, “cry-ins.”
In some cases, schools accommodated student requests to delay exams, cancelled classes and reportedly provided grief counseling to distraught members of the staff and student body. After hearing about state schools in Iowa coddling students, creating safe zones, cancelling exams, etc., Bobby Kaufmann, a member of the Iowa State house, decided he had seen enough.
Kaufmann, Chairman of the Iowa House Oversight Committee, has announced he is going to open an investigation into the state schools, hoping to learn just how many taxpayer dollars were wasted on the “cry baby” reactions to Trump’s victory over Clinton.
Speaking with WHO Radio’s Simon Conway, Kaufman explained his plan to co-sponsor the “Suck It Up, Buttercup” Bill. The proposed legislation would identify the monies spent by state schools on activities deemed to be a waste of money. The state would then penalize those schools by cutting triple the amount of money wasted from the 2017 budget.

And we have all seen the riots on the streets of America. Protestors are telling us that hate and rage is unacceptable, as they go about smashing windows, burning flags and acting like neo-Nazis in fits of hate and rage. They shout about the need for an America free of fear and violence, as they engage in acts of fearsome violence.

All because we have an entire generation of adults who refuse to act and think like adults. So this narcissistic and infantile culture is spreading and getting worse. It is not just the millennials who are guilty of all this: much of the blame lies with their parents.

And this atrocious behaviour of adults who refuse to grow up and take responsibility for their lives is now being manifest on the national level as well, with governments refusing to excise mature leadership. West concludes her book with these words:

What to do? It’s not enough to yell “stop,” or even “grow up.” It’s a start, though, if, in the process, we withstand the likely excruciating growing pains to undertake a serious, candid reexamination of the human condition, circa twenty-first century: as parents who need to guide children to maturity; as individuals who need to reimpose boundaries on personal behaviour; and as nation states that need to reassert border control and enforce immigration policies that preserve, rather than transform, this uniquely Western culture. Such an undertaking begins by breaking our silence. And breaking our silence begins by conquering our fears. Which is also a part of growing up. We have nothing to lose. It should now be clear that the civilization that forever dodges maturity will never live to a ripe old age.

Yes quite so. Whether we can reverse this destructive trend remains to be seen. But let me conclude with a brief but humourous video clip which may better convey the point I am trying to make here. It nicely highlights the delicate state of not just so many millennials but so many adults as well. You will laugh at it, but also likely cry, since it cuts so close to the bone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGvrmltfMrA

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/the-times/generation-snowflake-why-millenials-are-mocked-for-being-too-delicate/news-story/2f885d016af1a881bff92b69282fd88e
http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/29856/
http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/29898/
http://reason.com/blog/2016/11/10/colleges-cancelled-exams-for-students-tr
http://ussanews.com/News1/2016/11/12/suck-it-up-buttercup-iowa-lawmaker-proposes-bill-punishing-schools-coddling-anti-trump-students/

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