So. Your Humble Blogger went to another march and political rally this weekend. I have written before about my resentment at having to protest. I don’t participate in the competitive-placard business, but I suppose if I were to make a sign, it would say in big letters I hate marches and then underneath something like so pass some g-ddamn’ legislation so I can go home to my comfortable chair already. You know? As someone said on Saturday, this is not what we had planned for our middle age.
Mostly, I just wonder what this generation of Young Persons is growing up to be, politically. Obviously, like all generational generalizations, it’s silly and reductive to talk about a few tens of millions of people as if they were one person with one set of experiences. But there will be some shared context and vocabulary, at least. And one thing they will share, I’m guessing, is this experience of the Spring of 2018: massive public demonstrations, largely led and even organized by Young Persons, with the approval and support and encouragement of a large portion of The Establishment. That’s… not something I experienced as a teenager. I don’t think that’s something that the Gen X folk experienced. I don’t know that that’s really something that the Baby Boomers experienced—my impression is that the people who were born in the 50s who protested the Vietnam War did not, on the whole, feel that they were supported by any substantial faction of The Establishment, George McGovern notwithstanding. I have no idea whether today’s Young Persons feel supported, it’s true, although in Blue Connecticut, I have to think they must. When my Perfect Non-Reader participated in the Walkout, not only did the Principal of the school and many teachers join the students, but the local dignitaries who showed up in solidarity included several clergy, the Superintendent of Schools, the Mayor of Hartford, and the Governor of Connecticut (our Senators sent supporting messages but were at the walkout in DC). I know that’s not the experience everyone had, but it was the experience of her school. And the organizers of the March for our Lives were supported (miraculously not co-opted) by pretty much the entirety of My Party at the federal level and much of the state level in many states. Not every state, not every March, but a significant amount of The Establishment.
Digression: Jonathan Bernstein used to say that the use of the word establishment made everybody stupider. He was right, of course—the odds are excellent that anybody referring to the establishment has only the vaguest idea what they mean by that, and that anybody reading or listening to the person will have only the vaguest idea, and that those two ideas may well be entirely non-overlapping sets. I personally consider Bernie Sanders to be part of The Establishment and can’t really understand any definition of The Establishment that would not include every Senator—though Senator Sanders’ support for a policy or organization does not by itself indicate Establishment support. At any rate, some of y’all Gentle Readers may be inclined to disagree that a large portion of The Establishment is supporting and encouraging these Young Persons. If you do, it’s likely that we are disagreeing on the use of the term, rather than on the facts on the ground last weekend. It’s also possible that we disagree on the history I’m comparing it to, in which case you are more likely to simply disagree with my take. In other words, probably I am making you stupider by using the term establishment and I should probably stop. End Digression.
What will it be like, this generation that is growing up being encouraged to protest? The ones whose parents are driving them to the marches? The ones whose Senators are tweeting their pictures? The ones whose Principals are walking out with them? And as well the ones who don’t have that support from local grupps but see that other teenagers do—and expect to?
Tolerabimus quod tolerare debemus,
-Vardibidian.
I grew up being trained to advocate for change in school and in the government. I had logistical support and encouragement from my parents in that. Our high school environmental group had a brilliant faculty advisor and support from the school in lobbying the state government. I had multiple teachers and professors who spoke frequently of the importance of civic engagement, of protest movements, of court cases, of pressing for social change.
So to me it felt absolutely natural that we would check David out of kindergarten in solidarity with the middle school and high school walkouts. It is groundwork for raising him to be an engaged citizen, just like bringing him to rallies or marches would be if we could stand going to more of those.
I guess I see an oddly significant difference between the idea of a generation growing up being encouraged to protest vs a generation growing up being encouraged to advocate. Protest can be a tool of advocacy, but a movement limited to just protesting feels powerless to me. The current anti-gun-massacre movement is using rallies/marches and internal dialogue and lobbying and media engagement and participating in public conversation. I see big differences from my generation, but the differences I see are related to ideas that everyone is reachable, or that memetic communication is fast and frictionless and effective. Parental and adult support from (some) parents and adults does not feel like the difference.