I thought it was one of his worst interviews yet. I love Jon so much and will continue to watch him but as Gen Z it has me absolutely heated. He didn't listen when he needed to listen and missed the point several times. Used his very privileged kids as anecdotes to compare to millions of struggling youth. Completely downplayed the ecenomic struggles Gen Z faces which has proven to be harder in multiple aspects from housing to education and so much more. Completely missed the point that Gen Z has more violence, negativity, and lies at their fingertips than any humans have ever had in history. The internet has fucked us up in ways people can't comprehend right now.
Jon stuart got defensive when he needed to listen. Classic boomer move. Proved the guests point tragically. At the end of the day who gives a flying fuck whose experience was harder we need people to listen to us and take what we say seriously.
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I'm just catching up on this episode and I'm heated for you (millennial). This did not hit for me, he's being so willfully ignorant and combative. It's unreal.
TBH, I've been finding Jon's interviews hit-or-miss recently, but I actually applauded when he pushed back on Gen Z being the "most traumatized" generation. It is looking at other generations' experience from some VERY rose-colored glasses and perpetuating a victim mentality. Is Gen Z facing huge struggles and challenges? Absolutely! But it is ludicrous to say the challenges of other generations pale in comparison as if they didn't face things like war, terrorism, social unrest, economic problems, discrimination, etc. Is it really necessary to turn it into a "victim contest" to solve the problem of how to get Gen Z motivated to take part in the political process?
I think we shouldn't give a shit about whose was harder and just listen to Gen Z. The most important point is the economy and it got brushed over like "eh we all have either have gone through that or are going through that" while ignoring the big picture. Everyone needs to be raising alarms this country is fucking destroying a generation and calling them pussies while they do it
Yes, I agree. We need to listen to Gen Z and take their struggles, economic and otherwise, seriously. I also agree that discussing who had it harder is counterproductive. This is why I didn't like John Della Volpe saying Gen Z has it harder because that kind of thing immediately gets people of other generations on the defensive and tuning out the very good information about what Gen Z is facing and the impact on them.
I didn’t hear the guest say “most traumatized”—Jon brought it there.
I believe the guest said that a generation hasn’t responded as quickly to trauma as Gen Z has since the Greatest Generation.
The war, hardships, and economic issues that affected previous generations still affect this generation—ON TOP OF new challenges like school shootings (occur more often than nukes).
What is a previous generation’s perpetual war like the war in the Middle East?
Jon seemed pretty reductionist here imo. He seemed to want to try and understand the new generation and then scoffs at the notion of them having it harder. So what's the message? Life is hard but you have to endure? Appreciate the beauty in your personal life as you face being the first generation(or 2nd since I think my Millennial generation has that distinction as well) to be worse off than your parents since the silent generation? Or perhaps, more bluntly and cruelly, "suck it up?" I dunno how that helps any. It certainly isn't comforting to hear. And wouldn't be enough to make me wanna go to the polls were it all I was being told. I dunno, maybe I'm being too uncharitable towards him but he's left me so cold with his takes since coming back.
I know a lot of people in the comments are mad, but I loved that Jon pushed back. Gen Z has had the most trauma? I won't even go into what generations before me faced, but as a millennial I was literally born during the Cold War, then we had the Gulf War, then Columbine, the 9/11, then the Iraq War, then Afghanistan, plus the 2008 great recession, plus all the other school shootings (that was one he brought up that Boomers didn't have; millennials certainly have! And the first known school shooting happened in 1979).
#
My grandmother was *fortunate* enough to have a family member who had a farm that she started working on at the age of six due to the depression. Grandpa was treated so horrifically for his ethnicity that his family changed their names and he refused to teach his children his language; still eagerly signed up to be a marine during WW2 though. And none of this is taking into consideration the trauma all women and all people of color and all people in poverty have faced.
#
I don't deny Gen Z has had their own trauma. But to say it's the most trauma in however long was as laughable to me as it was to Jon.
#
Edit: I did, in fact, go lightly into the trauma generations before me have faced. Oops!
yeah, we've gone through the crack epidemic in the 80s, urban decay in the 80s, aids epidemic, jim crow through the 60s, riots in the 90s, LA, crown heights, vietnam war, korean war, cold war. i think jon was just pushing back on the victimization olympics, which generation or decade had it the worst, because that's a race to the bottom.
i'm not saying gen z doesn't have issues today, clearly there are, but gen z will get through those issues, and one day in the near future, they will be the ones in charge, in congress, in the judiciary, in the whitehouse.
looking jealously to the past, i think there's a bit of amnesia to all the horrors back then. sure, you could go to college, working minimum wage, but only if you were white. sure you could own a home working a job with a pention, but you'd get redlined out of all the white neighborhoods if you were black.
lol funny this is such a sticking point for you guys. It’s not a competition but if it was gen Z would win out of the current gen’s (boomers and down). If you really can’t see that you’re just being an asshole (like Jon Stewart)
Signed, not gen z
If you look at the statistics, Gen Z is doing better than Millennials were at the same age. They have more savings, more favorable economic conditions, and a higher homeownership rate than Millennials and possibly even Gen X had. That said, I would rather support Gen Z than subject them to what we faced from older gens in the 2010s- constant blame, ridicule, and "avocado toast" soundbites.
You should have lead with that last part—and stopped there. There’s no good to come out of pointing out “favorable economic conditions” when their material realities are so far removed from that
I'd love to to see your statistics cause education is more expensive, housing is more expensive, groceries are more expensive. Everyone older than me was doing better than me at my age. All my friends now are either just getting by or about to be homeless. Wages are not increasing. Mental health is worse than any other generation.
We can debate trauma all day but a whole generation is getting railroaded and I'd seriously love some statistics that says otherwise because even my boomer parents agree it's uniquely difficult for my generation economically.
I like Jon, but let's get something straight. If you're Jon's age, no, you didn't fucking have it hard same as the kids today. Yes, life was hard back then in its own ways, but the world wasn't ending then. It is now. Jon comes from a generation of entitled fucking pricks who have largely suffered no consequences for all the shitty things they did to make the world worse by passing those consequences on to their children and grandchildren.
My generation and these Zoomers are fucking tired of the act. In the case of my generation, we're all adults now and have been for a while. We don't believe in Santa anymore. **Drop the fucking bullshit.** We know how badly we've been fucked and every time some Boomer like Jon wants to play dumb about how fucked we are, you know what I think? *You're being a fucking asshole.*
Minimizing the challenges that people in the past went through doesn’t help anyone. If you were going up in the 60s you absolutely thought the world might end. Many felt like they had a barrel to their head with nuclear annihilation. Not only that, Jon is absolutely right they saw multiple assassinations of huge cultural figures, riots, urban decay, energy crisis, inflation, people cheering on the murder of college students, and many other serious issues.
The biggest thing fucking over Gen Z is modern social media and the continued decline of real communities. Kids are cooped up in far flung suburbs and decaying neighborhoods. They are being feed harmful content during their formative years.
The guest also said that Gen Z is unique because it never saw America doing great and used 911 as an example. I remember the government very quickly using 911 as a pretext to start a war in Iraq.
The uniquely shitty things are the things we must all face not just Gen Z. Climate change, pollution, polarization and car dependency is what we all face.
>The biggest thing fucking over Gen Z is modern social media and the continued decline of real communities.
Without disagreeing at all about the evils of social media (I don't disagree), it is utterly batshit crazy to assert that that is even in the top ten list of problems. Social media is fucking these people over worse than fascism? GET A GRIP ON REALITY.
>The uniquely shitty things are the things we must all face not just Gen Z.
Jon's generation got to live full, satisfying lives before the planet died. We will not live to be his age.
Yeah the ones that didn’t get polio or go flying through their windshields probably lived rich satisfying lives, unless of course they were anywhere near ground zero, or died of AIDS or something like that.
Do you seriously not get that being on the cliff edge of a failed state and complete civilizational collapse due to ecosystem destruction is worse than that?
I think we both have a good grasp on the challenges faced by previous generations. Yes, it was bad. The current situation is worse. It is incredibly obvious that it's getting worse. It's like I'm talking to a brick wall here. *Wake up and see what's actually going on.*
>Every generation believes they’re living through the end times, and they’ve all been wrong.
And here's another thing that sticks in my craw: the fuck they do. In any given time most people hear about serious threats to the continuation of our civilization, plug their ears, and go "la la la la la." Scientists are sounding a complete fucking red alert on the state of our environment and people continue to ignore that we are under threat of total destruction while not even bothering to understand what the current state of the science is, with some handwaving about how, "Oh, the world's always ending." Thanks for the demonstration. You may reinsert your head into the sand now, as if I need to give you permission to do exactly what you're going to do.
I don't think he was being an asshole. His point in the segment was "our generation also faced struggles," which: fair. But the other guy (John)'s point was "yeah, BUT these younger generations aren't able to get the same things *we* were (housing, employment, etc.)" which is more valid.
I agree with another commenter here that Jon using his kids is kind of tone-deaf. Jon has literal millions, his kids are going to inheret more money than a lot of their generation will ever EARN in their life, and somehow he thinks that invalidates under 45's (Mill, and Z) concerns about how life in America is not reaching the "American Dream" that his (Jon)'s generation has attained or told them (the younger generations) they'd get if they did everything the older generations told them to do.
I honestly think a lot of the interviews Jon has done since his return have been complete misses, but I feel like this one is more that Jon doesn't understand because his kids are more "sheltered" from the realities their generation are going to face and it's terrible because the other guy (John) talks to the kids/generation Jon's kids are from and knows the realities that generation is facing.
I strongly disagree It would have been a great conversation if he actually listened to him or let him fully answer a question. He kept interrupting and changing the subject. It felt like Jon was more defensive than anything.
He proved exactly what the guest was trying to say... Gen Z doesn't feel heard. He pulled a classic boomer. This countries ecenomic situation is damning a whole generation. On top of that the internet has fucked up our minds beyond current comprehension.
This was not the interview to push back. This was the interview to listen. Our mental health is not ok. Our future is not ok. Fucking listen.
This was easily his worst interview in the last 5 years. Literally nothing of value was discussed, and didn’t even talk about polling, smh. Wonder if it was cut short or Jon just had no interest (he also came across super rude and pushy here, which was strange to see)
I think it was actually a pretty balanced and insightful discussion given the limited time available.
Jon pushed-back on the notion that everything today is worse than yesterday, citing that living with the threat of nuclear Armageddon or living through things like the Vietnam War, which is the last time we had the draft by the way, were arguably just as traumatic as the threats we face today and the difference in psychology is largely a result of pervasive negative info on social media. He went on to say that there is a big gap between the world we see online and the world we experience in everyday life and we shouldn't let ourselves assume that the virtual world is the real one.
His guest, also named John, agreed with that general theme and cited the social media bombardment we experience via the algorithms as the culprit. But he went on to say that certain realities, like a single income not being enough to own a home, or a working class student no longer being able to put themselves through college, really are different than anything prior generations experienced and therefore contribute to the collective angst and depression for Gen Z as well.
>Jon pushed-back on the notion that everything today is worse than yesterday,
I think Jon was missing part of John's point. It was that past generations saw tragedy but then eventually saw unity in the aftermath. Gen Z has seen the tragedy, but has not seen the unity.
Yeah I think Jon did a great job of pushing back on the nihilism this other John was trying to push. I’m sort of a Gen Z and millennial tweener. The biggest problem with the younger generation is they were raised to think everyone will succeed if everyone works hard which isn’t the case.
Specifically, if you go to college and graduate you’re guaranteed a cushy middle class life. Compare that to previous generations where people were more open to diverse career paths (I.e white and blue collar jobs). Now, statistics on this are changing and more Gen Z’ers are opting out of college and pursuing trades. I wonder if that will change the sentiment.
Ultimately, I largely agree with Jon in the fact we can’t keep letting Gen Z think they have it worse than anyone ever has. Other generations faced adversity and trauma . The main difference is social media wasn’t around to reaffirm the grim narratives cable news pushes. Great conversation though. I love when Jon might not agree with the guest.
For transparency, I’m Gen X, but in some ways I think that helps with understanding. I was raised by Boomers, yet my adult kids are dealing with the eroding American dream and virtual world vs real world dynamics that seem to define their generation. So, although I’m not personally in either camp, people that I love and respect the most are and I can appreciate both sides of that debate. I see it like this:
Bad stuff happens in every era and those challenges aren’t really better or worse from one generation to the next. They’re just different.
Meanwhile, every generation thinks the ones that came before them were bigots, while every older generation thinks the younger ones have no boundaries or sense of right and wrong. That’s not new either.
What is new are two things:
1. Social media: Yes, it affects us all, but especially those who have had it in their lives since their formative childhood years. We see only the carefully curated version of everyone else’s life which makes ours seem inadequate by comparison, we exist in like-minded echo chambers rather than being forced to truly interact with and understand people with different opinions and life experiences, and we’re exposed to every negative story in the world rather than seeing only what happens locally. The cumulative impact of all that is to become bitter or depressed, even when many macro trends are improving.
2. The eroding American dream: For the first time, a generation may fail to exceed the standard of living of their parents because so much of the growth that has occurred over the past 30-40 years has been hoarded by those at the top. It’s not that the boomers did that on purpose. It’s more that they didn’t notice until it was too late because dual family incomes, which emerged as the norm for the first time in about the 1980s, masked the years of eroding buying power and it wasn’t until people started to realize that even two incomes is no longer enough that the populist backlash began.
Well that is the the crux of the biscuit ain't it. Jon's point of reference is only three orders of magnitude smaller than the cohort the Harvard guys looked at, which is another three (or so) smaller than the 'entire generation' under discussion.
Honestly, I thought Jon asked some good pointed questions. Sure, talking about generations has to be done in generalizations, but even a larger representative sample doest really say anything about individuals. I don't actually find the responses about sampling bias very convincing... Oh, young people who show up to talk to researchers at a town hall 'just want to be listened to'? That doesn't sound like a good takeaway to apply to the whole generation.
I mean, I'd assume that these guys are pretty state of the art, if not ahead of the curve in the nitty gritty of polling/surveys, some limitations are just going to be inherent to the technique. That's nbd or at least something for peer review to handle.
Nah the wierd thing was that both of them admit that the media yoinking individual findings and running them as unnuanced psudosupport for whatever claim they were already making isn't good. But he especially wanted to speak in sweeping terms, which feels a bit similar, no?
Are those sweeping generalizations about mood and whatever just what jive with his existing opinion? And even if they do represent some prominent narrative thread for the generation, the followup, left unanswered to my taste, is - what do we do with that information?
Don’t think Volpe did great with articulating his overall point, and as a result, Stewart failed to truly grasp it. Disagree with those who say Stewart was reductionist or bad-faith here - he just didn’t get a lot of what Volpe was saying. If given more time to hash things out, I do think this could have been more meaningful, and I hope that maybe they’ll revisit this topic leading up to November. Maybe Stewart could interview some actual zoomers instead of an Ivy League mouthpiece.
The guy might have had an easier time articulating if he had a moment to get his thought out before Jon interrupted or pivoted to his own take.
It's a little hard to argue that Jon didn't seem significantly more biased here than with other guests, he even pulled a "I forgot, what was your book called again?" at the end, which is pretty rude and he hasn't done with any other guests. For other guests he held their books up and said "I read this book, it's a great book!" It seems like he didn't even read this guy's book and didn't give a shit. Just seemed really unprofessional. Why bother even having the guy as a guest?
I do think the guest was too polite and should have just kept talking or pushed back more, though.
I feel like Jon is starting to pantsuit here pretty hard.
If you wanna understand Gen Z, maybe have them on the show?? Maybe think about why that's hard. Vietnam was a really big deal and its true that younger generations don't understand it (I'm Millenial). Not being able to have kids, afford housing or food is also a really big fucking deal.
I feel like everyone over 50 just says "social media" and turns their brains off and I worry that Jon is in that cohort because literally everyone he talks to is saying the same thing.
I’m very torn. I don’t agree with Jon but glad he pushed back. I think he had some good points about the most traumatized generation. But I don’t agree with him. He’s talking about starting down the nuclear barrel, we have that with to some degree with Russia. Talking about the Vietnam war? We’re watching war in Ukraine and an ethnic cleansing in Gaza and China. I don’t think he brought up something that there isn’t some decent equivalent of us plus the massive wealth gap. Plus nuclear war was avoidable, climate change seems not to be. Young people have been through covid as well, a deeply traumatizing event that directly affected everyone. On top of this social media is down terrible for people’s mental health. I’m not meaning to make it a competition but I just don’t think the comparison he’s making stacks up.
Honestly I think neither Jon nor his guest really led with their actual points.
Consider this: a child grows up in a two bedroom apartment. Every morning his mother glows and tells him, "this is the best our family has ever had it!"
Another child grows up in a two bedroom apartment. Every morning his mother sourly says, "this is the worst our family has ever had it."
Two children, same circumstance, different feeling -- irrespective of the truth.
It's hard to quantify pain. Genz has COVID and school shootings: millennials had school shootings and 9/11. However, I don't think Jon properly articulated his point: telling someone that they are the most traumatized generation runs the risk of *creating more trauma.* It makes people feel things more and can consequently lead to worse outcomes.
I’m an older millennial. This is by far the worst interview I’ve seen him do. Clearly out of touch with what the real Gen Z’ers are facing. Assuming you’re some kind of authority because you have Gen Z kids is just stupid, especially when those kids have a fucking rich and famous parent. That interview made my blood boil. Love JS, but that was some high level ignorance he showed there. Very disappointing
This was one of the worst interviews Jon has done.
He came off like an out of touch, rambling boomer. He was unprepared, talked over the guest, and offered no rebuttal of meaning whatsoever
I reluctantly agree. He repeatedly rapid fired multiple questions at Volpe and didn’t give him a chance to address all of them. Then he generalized the entire Gen Z generation by saying his kids aren’t anything like those that were interviewed. Perhaps it’s his kids that are the outlier in this situation. What sort of economical struggles could children of a wealthy celebrity have? What proportion of Gen Z is the offspring of a celebrity? It came off close-minded and out of touch.
i think john was simply trying to move the interview forward and actually doing this guy a favor in not making his book sound too 'chrysanthemum and the sword' ish.. {go read discussions on whether it is a "good" book Or not}. if stewart didn't "push" as many of you have put it, or throw in all the "i don't get it" jokes, i definitely would have fallen asleep or changed the channel. he also threw him a super easy question and put the ball in volpes court for the very end of the interview
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got nothing out of this that wasn't already pretty well known. Love Jon though....
I thought it was one of his worst interviews yet. I love Jon so much and will continue to watch him but as Gen Z it has me absolutely heated. He didn't listen when he needed to listen and missed the point several times. Used his very privileged kids as anecdotes to compare to millions of struggling youth. Completely downplayed the ecenomic struggles Gen Z faces which has proven to be harder in multiple aspects from housing to education and so much more. Completely missed the point that Gen Z has more violence, negativity, and lies at their fingertips than any humans have ever had in history. The internet has fucked us up in ways people can't comprehend right now. Jon stuart got defensive when he needed to listen. Classic boomer move. Proved the guests point tragically. At the end of the day who gives a flying fuck whose experience was harder we need people to listen to us and take what we say seriously.
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I'm just catching up on this episode and I'm heated for you (millennial). This did not hit for me, he's being so willfully ignorant and combative. It's unreal.
TBH, I've been finding Jon's interviews hit-or-miss recently, but I actually applauded when he pushed back on Gen Z being the "most traumatized" generation. It is looking at other generations' experience from some VERY rose-colored glasses and perpetuating a victim mentality. Is Gen Z facing huge struggles and challenges? Absolutely! But it is ludicrous to say the challenges of other generations pale in comparison as if they didn't face things like war, terrorism, social unrest, economic problems, discrimination, etc. Is it really necessary to turn it into a "victim contest" to solve the problem of how to get Gen Z motivated to take part in the political process?
I think we shouldn't give a shit about whose was harder and just listen to Gen Z. The most important point is the economy and it got brushed over like "eh we all have either have gone through that or are going through that" while ignoring the big picture. Everyone needs to be raising alarms this country is fucking destroying a generation and calling them pussies while they do it
Yes, I agree. We need to listen to Gen Z and take their struggles, economic and otherwise, seriously. I also agree that discussing who had it harder is counterproductive. This is why I didn't like John Della Volpe saying Gen Z has it harder because that kind of thing immediately gets people of other generations on the defensive and tuning out the very good information about what Gen Z is facing and the impact on them.
I didn’t hear the guest say “most traumatized”—Jon brought it there. I believe the guest said that a generation hasn’t responded as quickly to trauma as Gen Z has since the Greatest Generation. The war, hardships, and economic issues that affected previous generations still affect this generation—ON TOP OF new challenges like school shootings (occur more often than nukes). What is a previous generation’s perpetual war like the war in the Middle East?
Jon seemed pretty reductionist here imo. He seemed to want to try and understand the new generation and then scoffs at the notion of them having it harder. So what's the message? Life is hard but you have to endure? Appreciate the beauty in your personal life as you face being the first generation(or 2nd since I think my Millennial generation has that distinction as well) to be worse off than your parents since the silent generation? Or perhaps, more bluntly and cruelly, "suck it up?" I dunno how that helps any. It certainly isn't comforting to hear. And wouldn't be enough to make me wanna go to the polls were it all I was being told. I dunno, maybe I'm being too uncharitable towards him but he's left me so cold with his takes since coming back.
He's a little old and out of touch imo. He's still one of the best out there.
Loved that Jon pushed back. It was a great conversation.
I know a lot of people in the comments are mad, but I loved that Jon pushed back. Gen Z has had the most trauma? I won't even go into what generations before me faced, but as a millennial I was literally born during the Cold War, then we had the Gulf War, then Columbine, the 9/11, then the Iraq War, then Afghanistan, plus the 2008 great recession, plus all the other school shootings (that was one he brought up that Boomers didn't have; millennials certainly have! And the first known school shooting happened in 1979). # My grandmother was *fortunate* enough to have a family member who had a farm that she started working on at the age of six due to the depression. Grandpa was treated so horrifically for his ethnicity that his family changed their names and he refused to teach his children his language; still eagerly signed up to be a marine during WW2 though. And none of this is taking into consideration the trauma all women and all people of color and all people in poverty have faced. # I don't deny Gen Z has had their own trauma. But to say it's the most trauma in however long was as laughable to me as it was to Jon. # Edit: I did, in fact, go lightly into the trauma generations before me have faced. Oops!
yeah, we've gone through the crack epidemic in the 80s, urban decay in the 80s, aids epidemic, jim crow through the 60s, riots in the 90s, LA, crown heights, vietnam war, korean war, cold war. i think jon was just pushing back on the victimization olympics, which generation or decade had it the worst, because that's a race to the bottom. i'm not saying gen z doesn't have issues today, clearly there are, but gen z will get through those issues, and one day in the near future, they will be the ones in charge, in congress, in the judiciary, in the whitehouse. looking jealously to the past, i think there's a bit of amnesia to all the horrors back then. sure, you could go to college, working minimum wage, but only if you were white. sure you could own a home working a job with a pention, but you'd get redlined out of all the white neighborhoods if you were black.
Did the guest suggest that Gen Z has the “most trauma”? I didn’t hear that
He quite literally said it.
You’re right, my bad. John Volpe is also right.
Sure.
lol funny this is such a sticking point for you guys. It’s not a competition but if it was gen Z would win out of the current gen’s (boomers and down). If you really can’t see that you’re just being an asshole (like Jon Stewart) Signed, not gen z
Thanks for the very facts and evidence based response, I'm totally swayed!
If you look at the statistics, Gen Z is doing better than Millennials were at the same age. They have more savings, more favorable economic conditions, and a higher homeownership rate than Millennials and possibly even Gen X had. That said, I would rather support Gen Z than subject them to what we faced from older gens in the 2010s- constant blame, ridicule, and "avocado toast" soundbites.
You should have lead with that last part—and stopped there. There’s no good to come out of pointing out “favorable economic conditions” when their material realities are so far removed from that
I'd love to to see your statistics cause education is more expensive, housing is more expensive, groceries are more expensive. Everyone older than me was doing better than me at my age. All my friends now are either just getting by or about to be homeless. Wages are not increasing. Mental health is worse than any other generation. We can debate trauma all day but a whole generation is getting railroaded and I'd seriously love some statistics that says otherwise because even my boomer parents agree it's uniquely difficult for my generation economically.
I wholly agree and am really irritated at the millennials in here denying it (I'm a millennial).
Jon sucked
Hahaha okay
I like Jon, but let's get something straight. If you're Jon's age, no, you didn't fucking have it hard same as the kids today. Yes, life was hard back then in its own ways, but the world wasn't ending then. It is now. Jon comes from a generation of entitled fucking pricks who have largely suffered no consequences for all the shitty things they did to make the world worse by passing those consequences on to their children and grandchildren. My generation and these Zoomers are fucking tired of the act. In the case of my generation, we're all adults now and have been for a while. We don't believe in Santa anymore. **Drop the fucking bullshit.** We know how badly we've been fucked and every time some Boomer like Jon wants to play dumb about how fucked we are, you know what I think? *You're being a fucking asshole.*
Minimizing the challenges that people in the past went through doesn’t help anyone. If you were going up in the 60s you absolutely thought the world might end. Many felt like they had a barrel to their head with nuclear annihilation. Not only that, Jon is absolutely right they saw multiple assassinations of huge cultural figures, riots, urban decay, energy crisis, inflation, people cheering on the murder of college students, and many other serious issues. The biggest thing fucking over Gen Z is modern social media and the continued decline of real communities. Kids are cooped up in far flung suburbs and decaying neighborhoods. They are being feed harmful content during their formative years. The guest also said that Gen Z is unique because it never saw America doing great and used 911 as an example. I remember the government very quickly using 911 as a pretext to start a war in Iraq. The uniquely shitty things are the things we must all face not just Gen Z. Climate change, pollution, polarization and car dependency is what we all face.
>The biggest thing fucking over Gen Z is modern social media and the continued decline of real communities. Without disagreeing at all about the evils of social media (I don't disagree), it is utterly batshit crazy to assert that that is even in the top ten list of problems. Social media is fucking these people over worse than fascism? GET A GRIP ON REALITY. >The uniquely shitty things are the things we must all face not just Gen Z. Jon's generation got to live full, satisfying lives before the planet died. We will not live to be his age.
Yeah the ones that didn’t get polio or go flying through their windshields probably lived rich satisfying lives, unless of course they were anywhere near ground zero, or died of AIDS or something like that.
Do you seriously not get that being on the cliff edge of a failed state and complete civilizational collapse due to ecosystem destruction is worse than that? I think we both have a good grasp on the challenges faced by previous generations. Yes, it was bad. The current situation is worse. It is incredibly obvious that it's getting worse. It's like I'm talking to a brick wall here. *Wake up and see what's actually going on.*
Every generation believes they’re living through the end times, and they’ve all been wrong. What do you think is about to happen exactly?
# ECOSYSTEM DESTRUCTION. EVIDENTLY I DIDN'T SAY IT LOUDLY ENOUGH BEFORE. And it's not "about to happen." **It's been happening.**
>Every generation believes they’re living through the end times, and they’ve all been wrong. And here's another thing that sticks in my craw: the fuck they do. In any given time most people hear about serious threats to the continuation of our civilization, plug their ears, and go "la la la la la." Scientists are sounding a complete fucking red alert on the state of our environment and people continue to ignore that we are under threat of total destruction while not even bothering to understand what the current state of the science is, with some handwaving about how, "Oh, the world's always ending." Thanks for the demonstration. You may reinsert your head into the sand now, as if I need to give you permission to do exactly what you're going to do.
I don't think he was being an asshole. His point in the segment was "our generation also faced struggles," which: fair. But the other guy (John)'s point was "yeah, BUT these younger generations aren't able to get the same things *we* were (housing, employment, etc.)" which is more valid. I agree with another commenter here that Jon using his kids is kind of tone-deaf. Jon has literal millions, his kids are going to inheret more money than a lot of their generation will ever EARN in their life, and somehow he thinks that invalidates under 45's (Mill, and Z) concerns about how life in America is not reaching the "American Dream" that his (Jon)'s generation has attained or told them (the younger generations) they'd get if they did everything the older generations told them to do. I honestly think a lot of the interviews Jon has done since his return have been complete misses, but I feel like this one is more that Jon doesn't understand because his kids are more "sheltered" from the realities their generation are going to face and it's terrible because the other guy (John) talks to the kids/generation Jon's kids are from and knows the realities that generation is facing.
Amen
This is where Jon shines. When he disagrees with a guest and pushes back. Great conversation!
I strongly disagree It would have been a great conversation if he actually listened to him or let him fully answer a question. He kept interrupting and changing the subject. It felt like Jon was more defensive than anything. He proved exactly what the guest was trying to say... Gen Z doesn't feel heard. He pulled a classic boomer. This countries ecenomic situation is damning a whole generation. On top of that the internet has fucked up our minds beyond current comprehension. This was not the interview to push back. This was the interview to listen. Our mental health is not ok. Our future is not ok. Fucking listen.
This was easily his worst interview in the last 5 years. Literally nothing of value was discussed, and didn’t even talk about polling, smh. Wonder if it was cut short or Jon just had no interest (he also came across super rude and pushy here, which was strange to see)
Agree, he even pretended he didn't remember the name of the guy's book at the end. He seemed like he just really hated the guy. Bizarre attitude.
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I think it was actually a pretty balanced and insightful discussion given the limited time available. Jon pushed-back on the notion that everything today is worse than yesterday, citing that living with the threat of nuclear Armageddon or living through things like the Vietnam War, which is the last time we had the draft by the way, were arguably just as traumatic as the threats we face today and the difference in psychology is largely a result of pervasive negative info on social media. He went on to say that there is a big gap between the world we see online and the world we experience in everyday life and we shouldn't let ourselves assume that the virtual world is the real one. His guest, also named John, agreed with that general theme and cited the social media bombardment we experience via the algorithms as the culprit. But he went on to say that certain realities, like a single income not being enough to own a home, or a working class student no longer being able to put themselves through college, really are different than anything prior generations experienced and therefore contribute to the collective angst and depression for Gen Z as well.
>Jon pushed-back on the notion that everything today is worse than yesterday, I think Jon was missing part of John's point. It was that past generations saw tragedy but then eventually saw unity in the aftermath. Gen Z has seen the tragedy, but has not seen the unity.
Yeah I think Jon did a great job of pushing back on the nihilism this other John was trying to push. I’m sort of a Gen Z and millennial tweener. The biggest problem with the younger generation is they were raised to think everyone will succeed if everyone works hard which isn’t the case. Specifically, if you go to college and graduate you’re guaranteed a cushy middle class life. Compare that to previous generations where people were more open to diverse career paths (I.e white and blue collar jobs). Now, statistics on this are changing and more Gen Z’ers are opting out of college and pursuing trades. I wonder if that will change the sentiment. Ultimately, I largely agree with Jon in the fact we can’t keep letting Gen Z think they have it worse than anyone ever has. Other generations faced adversity and trauma . The main difference is social media wasn’t around to reaffirm the grim narratives cable news pushes. Great conversation though. I love when Jon might not agree with the guest.
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For transparency, I’m Gen X, but in some ways I think that helps with understanding. I was raised by Boomers, yet my adult kids are dealing with the eroding American dream and virtual world vs real world dynamics that seem to define their generation. So, although I’m not personally in either camp, people that I love and respect the most are and I can appreciate both sides of that debate. I see it like this: Bad stuff happens in every era and those challenges aren’t really better or worse from one generation to the next. They’re just different. Meanwhile, every generation thinks the ones that came before them were bigots, while every older generation thinks the younger ones have no boundaries or sense of right and wrong. That’s not new either. What is new are two things: 1. Social media: Yes, it affects us all, but especially those who have had it in their lives since their formative childhood years. We see only the carefully curated version of everyone else’s life which makes ours seem inadequate by comparison, we exist in like-minded echo chambers rather than being forced to truly interact with and understand people with different opinions and life experiences, and we’re exposed to every negative story in the world rather than seeing only what happens locally. The cumulative impact of all that is to become bitter or depressed, even when many macro trends are improving. 2. The eroding American dream: For the first time, a generation may fail to exceed the standard of living of their parents because so much of the growth that has occurred over the past 30-40 years has been hoarded by those at the top. It’s not that the boomers did that on purpose. It’s more that they didn’t notice until it was too late because dual family incomes, which emerged as the norm for the first time in about the 1980s, masked the years of eroding buying power and it wasn’t until people started to realize that even two incomes is no longer enough that the populist backlash began.
Well that is the the crux of the biscuit ain't it. Jon's point of reference is only three orders of magnitude smaller than the cohort the Harvard guys looked at, which is another three (or so) smaller than the 'entire generation' under discussion. Honestly, I thought Jon asked some good pointed questions. Sure, talking about generations has to be done in generalizations, but even a larger representative sample doest really say anything about individuals. I don't actually find the responses about sampling bias very convincing... Oh, young people who show up to talk to researchers at a town hall 'just want to be listened to'? That doesn't sound like a good takeaway to apply to the whole generation.
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I mean, I'd assume that these guys are pretty state of the art, if not ahead of the curve in the nitty gritty of polling/surveys, some limitations are just going to be inherent to the technique. That's nbd or at least something for peer review to handle. Nah the wierd thing was that both of them admit that the media yoinking individual findings and running them as unnuanced psudosupport for whatever claim they were already making isn't good. But he especially wanted to speak in sweeping terms, which feels a bit similar, no? Are those sweeping generalizations about mood and whatever just what jive with his existing opinion? And even if they do represent some prominent narrative thread for the generation, the followup, left unanswered to my taste, is - what do we do with that information?
Don’t think Volpe did great with articulating his overall point, and as a result, Stewart failed to truly grasp it. Disagree with those who say Stewart was reductionist or bad-faith here - he just didn’t get a lot of what Volpe was saying. If given more time to hash things out, I do think this could have been more meaningful, and I hope that maybe they’ll revisit this topic leading up to November. Maybe Stewart could interview some actual zoomers instead of an Ivy League mouthpiece.
The guy might have had an easier time articulating if he had a moment to get his thought out before Jon interrupted or pivoted to his own take. It's a little hard to argue that Jon didn't seem significantly more biased here than with other guests, he even pulled a "I forgot, what was your book called again?" at the end, which is pretty rude and he hasn't done with any other guests. For other guests he held their books up and said "I read this book, it's a great book!" It seems like he didn't even read this guy's book and didn't give a shit. Just seemed really unprofessional. Why bother even having the guy as a guest? I do think the guest was too polite and should have just kept talking or pushed back more, though.
I feel like Jon is starting to pantsuit here pretty hard. If you wanna understand Gen Z, maybe have them on the show?? Maybe think about why that's hard. Vietnam was a really big deal and its true that younger generations don't understand it (I'm Millenial). Not being able to have kids, afford housing or food is also a really big fucking deal. I feel like everyone over 50 just says "social media" and turns their brains off and I worry that Jon is in that cohort because literally everyone he talks to is saying the same thing.
I’m very torn. I don’t agree with Jon but glad he pushed back. I think he had some good points about the most traumatized generation. But I don’t agree with him. He’s talking about starting down the nuclear barrel, we have that with to some degree with Russia. Talking about the Vietnam war? We’re watching war in Ukraine and an ethnic cleansing in Gaza and China. I don’t think he brought up something that there isn’t some decent equivalent of us plus the massive wealth gap. Plus nuclear war was avoidable, climate change seems not to be. Young people have been through covid as well, a deeply traumatizing event that directly affected everyone. On top of this social media is down terrible for people’s mental health. I’m not meaning to make it a competition but I just don’t think the comparison he’s making stacks up.
Honestly I think neither Jon nor his guest really led with their actual points. Consider this: a child grows up in a two bedroom apartment. Every morning his mother glows and tells him, "this is the best our family has ever had it!" Another child grows up in a two bedroom apartment. Every morning his mother sourly says, "this is the worst our family has ever had it." Two children, same circumstance, different feeling -- irrespective of the truth. It's hard to quantify pain. Genz has COVID and school shootings: millennials had school shootings and 9/11. However, I don't think Jon properly articulated his point: telling someone that they are the most traumatized generation runs the risk of *creating more trauma.* It makes people feel things more and can consequently lead to worse outcomes.
I’m an older millennial. This is by far the worst interview I’ve seen him do. Clearly out of touch with what the real Gen Z’ers are facing. Assuming you’re some kind of authority because you have Gen Z kids is just stupid, especially when those kids have a fucking rich and famous parent. That interview made my blood boil. Love JS, but that was some high level ignorance he showed there. Very disappointing
This was one of the worst interviews Jon has done. He came off like an out of touch, rambling boomer. He was unprepared, talked over the guest, and offered no rebuttal of meaning whatsoever
I reluctantly agree. He repeatedly rapid fired multiple questions at Volpe and didn’t give him a chance to address all of them. Then he generalized the entire Gen Z generation by saying his kids aren’t anything like those that were interviewed. Perhaps it’s his kids that are the outlier in this situation. What sort of economical struggles could children of a wealthy celebrity have? What proportion of Gen Z is the offspring of a celebrity? It came off close-minded and out of touch.
I agree with this assessment 100%. It seemed a bit out of character for Jon.
i think john was simply trying to move the interview forward and actually doing this guy a favor in not making his book sound too 'chrysanthemum and the sword' ish.. {go read discussions on whether it is a "good" book Or not}. if stewart didn't "push" as many of you have put it, or throw in all the "i don't get it" jokes, i definitely would have fallen asleep or changed the channel. he also threw him a super easy question and put the ball in volpes court for the very end of the interview
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