The Generational Divide; Age Diversity!

 

When we were growing up, the difficult teen years and maybe early stages at work were testing periods. In a generation where communicating with older people was generally cautious, sometimes stilted and distant, it was always put down to the generation gap. But the good thing was that everyone involved could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Times uncountable, one heard how this problem will be over post teens, or for young employees as soon they settle down.   

 

Push forward thirty years and something has changed. Today the generational gap has expanded dramatically and really come home to roost. It is no more about a few years. All of us are engulfed in it all the time. Its more like a generational war between old and new. We saw it in action in 2016. Both the Brexit and Trump votes showed the age divide in the segments vote.   

Older people generally are less concerned about the materiality of things. It's more about culture, nationality, independence, the feeling of isolation and being disenfranchised. "We do not belong; no one listens to us; we simply do not exist. It's as if we have fallen off the back of a truck and no one has noticed". The older generation is feeling left out, perhaps technology and social media making them less relevant. Hence their is a reaction, against economics, more about culture, more about race and nationalism.  
    

The younger ones are concerned about the future shape of things. They have grown up in a networked environment and are at home in this global village. They are less worried about migration and how society is being homogenised. It's about eco systems, environment, interlinkages and how to make a prosperous future. Make the global village work together. And at the backend, how best to deal with rampant technology, use it and drive it further. There is a further change in Millennials (early 80s to late 90s birth) thinking. Research is showing that ideas about prosperity are changing. Millennials are opting for valuable personal experiences than necessarily outright ownership of property. This is part of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. As Millennials have grown up in a more secure environment, they do not necessarily feel property ownership is a purpose in life and would much rather go on a holiday and value that experience more. 

Partially this generational gap is laid on the door of demographics. In many developing countries the youth bulge is giving the under 30s a very large and dynamic say in society. This leads to a face off, between the conservative and liberal agendas. Quite the opposite, in developed societies with birth rates dropping and population ageing, it is the older population which has a significant vote bank, and it is this population which is driving a nationalistic agenda. You see that with Brexit and Trump votes.

   

What is coming is a more scary generational scenario. As the world population growth declines and comes to a standstill somewhere around 2045, the older population will become bigger in numbers. However, technology and the operations of the world, will be more readily handled by the youth. Simultaneously, the older population will start retiring in big numbers. The responsibility to run the world and provide for a growing old age population will fall squarely on the youth. As the retired population increases, it will be fewer younger people providing for more and more older people. One can actually see an 'inverse responsibility pyramid', leading to a generational conflict developing and chaos prevailing. This is all the more likely, as the then youths will not attach much value to wealth accumulation. So looking after the workings of an aging world will become a huge bind for them.

Since this eventuality of generational conflict is so obviously apparent today, governments and world organisations need to come together to carve a plan which shall stop this terrible situation developing. Part of the solution may be to reverse declining birth rates, but also will include a big increase in the retirement age and further utilisation of retired people in society (perhaps volunteer work). Also legislation to enhance inter-generational mixing and teams. Age diversity! Without such reforms and actions to stop this generational divide, it can tear us apart and cause endless harm and destruction.

*picture is from Shutterstock 

Modern Day Pillars of Ambition

In the old days, power through authority was the biggest pillar of desire and ambition. Kings could change the world. The Pharaoh even had the arrogance to think he could reach for divinity. He was rudely corrected and put in his place, but in the end Kings dominated the world. Power told! Alexander climbed mountains to conquer, Hannibal crossed seas to challenge Rome and Muhammad Fateh dragged ships across land to subjugate. 

Along came Magna Carta in 1216 and the authority of Kings was fenced. You can influence, but you cannot make rules without 'Us' (Us can be various segments of society at different times). The French Revolution in 1789 dealt a fatal and final blow to Kings and the future definition of power changed totally. From a throne, to a series of chairs debating in a hall. In various forms, for the last century this has been a constant. Though there are recent signs that a change is coming soon, in the power of authority, but for the moment 'Power is exercised via cliques and interest groups, while individual authority has receded'.   

Throughout history, money also had its place in individual ambitions. In earlier times, money could be substituted by land, or gold or flocks of livestock. In the Industrial Age it became factories, stocks of goods or commodities, plus paper. Paper which could translate into gold, shares or money. Today it need not be in any physical shape at all. Simply, a digital entry may be worth billions. Facebook, Uber, Google are just such examples. But money always had its limitation. It need not translate into power. Hence, Shylock had to concede to a judge and Qarun (in the Quran) was shown his real place, though he was richer than rich. And hence, China can shut out Facebook.

Nevertheless, ambition for money is a constant drive through history. For some it could be greed and for others it is that elevation of status which is another part of man's ego. We love to be admired and unfortunately this world admires money. So despite its limitation money attracts. I hear someone saying what about comfort and luxury? Comfort and luxury can be achieved with reasonable amounts of money and does not need billions of dollars. That extra bit of money ambition is placed at the door of ego. 

Modernity is shaping out in a different direction. Fame seems to have overtaken money and power. I have no research to justify this statement, but it is what I observe. People are dying to be famous. It can be through stardom, but it can be as big through social media. It need not translate into money, but it definitely translates into power.  

The Twitterati, Facebookers, Instagramers, Whatsappers, Bloggers can move governments and societies today. Remember back to the Arab Spring and see the devastation it caused. And then there was Obama, moving opinions and grabbing the biggest job in the world. It was all done through the power of connectivity and social media. Lately, so much of Brexit and Trumps power and success have come via online connectivity fame. 

This fame and power equation has been further accentuated by the use of 'fake news'. Just a decade ago, it would have been inconceivable that non-existent events could drive power. Today, if I am clever enough and skilled enough, I can create a false event on the net and get it accepted as truth. Based on this acceptance, I can then drive public opinion, my own popularity and eventually acquire the power to influence. Unfortunately, presently there is no defence against such an eventuality. We see that regularly, when totally false and illogical facts are being retweeted a dime a dozen.

We are entering a new age of power. More than anything else, ambition in our children will be connectivity and its trappings of power. The consequences of such a social change is mind boggling. More than ever, the up-bringing and value system of our children is an imperative. With no boundaries to truth, only values deeply set in the mind can keep this world on a fair and decent road.

*from the 1939 movie Gulliver's Travel

Reality or Entertainment ?

                                                       

                                          *The picture is from Wylio a free picture site

I have never been a fan of wrestling. It does not feel like sport. Humongous people, obviously very fit and primed, put up an act. This entertains huge numbers worldwide with nuances of an entertainment industry act.        

When you step into a WWE arena, all the facets of entertainment are visible. There is a theme targeted at an audience. The bulls eye has been well researched and the organisers know what makes their audience (in the arena and at home) tick. Typically there will be a villain (or villains); he will be vocal and obvious. No one can miss this villain and some direct their hate at him. There will be a good guy also. He will be a softer personality. Some people will love him. Interestingly, a fair portion of the audience will identify with the villain.    

It does not stop there. The referee will be a put up job.  Whenever the villain will do something  wrong (which is quite frequently) the referee will not be able to catch him at it. So the establishment and regulator will fail at their job. All this will create the story of the downtrodden good guy; nothing is going for him, in fact everyone and everything seem to be against them. They have created an 'alternative reality' scenario. You just have to look around in the arena or at home at the television audience. The intensity on their faces, the anger and the vocal nature of their reactions tell a different story. This is real for them!  Their reactions might be frustrations from real life or maybe a getaway cocoon, but it is 'real' for them.  

If you go onto forums which discuss Star Trek, Star Wars, X-Men or the Avengers, there is the same intense anger and arguments. The facts of the movie and what has happened are different for audiences and they are fighting over them. You want to say 'Hey, this is fiction, it's not the real world'. But you dare not, because in that environment you will be trolled out of the forum.   

Now does that not look like the 'alternative facts', 'the fake news' loaded elections of the USA or the Brexit referendum in UK and in recent days the French elections? Fillon is now facing alternative facts and his popularity is dropping in France (Marie le Pen is waiting in the wings).   

In 1931, Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World and spoke about just such a scenario in democracies. Huxley wrote that freedom will become so extreme, that trivia will prevail over reality, truth will be drowned out in a scream of trivial facts, too much information will make people passive to information, narcissism shall prevail, people will stop reading books due to a lack of depth and actors will act out life in a caricature. 

I recently read this article on Huxley in the Guardian, comparing it to George Orwell's 1984. The apocalyptic forecast of Huxley fitted our present scenario better than Orwell.  

That started me thinking on how the population ripened into this mindset in the first place? I think we have been conditioned over half a century of more and more extreme fiction enacted by our entertainment industry. Somewhere the shades of reality and fiction have overlapped and we get this present day scenario. Play acting fitting into the realty of life and so, alternative facts for different people. Once you get to believe what you want, despite facts proving another scenario, then it is all real. You can belong to your own world, construct it and let the like-minded live in it. Then, there are no limitations to this world and all I can say is 'Allah help us humans'.