The book and phrase became popular when Bannon was promoting it and tried to make doofus their prophetic leader.
If Millennials are smart they’ll just wait a few years till all the boomers are in the ground or soft in the head. No “war” required.
The great fight of hiding assets before we put you in the nursing home will not be considered a "war."
Generational struggles are inevitable but I don't know about an 80 year struggle. If we project 80 years ago that would be 1941 and while WWII was a major struggle I don't think that was because of a generational clash.
The article greatly over simplifies Strauss and Howes theme. To put it in perspective, Strauss and Howe coined the term 'millennial' back in the early 90's while creating the Strauss-Howe generational theory. The Fourth Turning was written after an expansive research while writing the book Generations. If you delve into the theory, its more about the Fourth Turning putting to rest First Turning's solutions to problems...so really, its Zoomers vs Boomers. The idea is Fourth Turning generations are faced with a great crisis and often use socialistic approaches to solve the problems. They put together a great framework and hand it off to the next First Turning who own and (mis)manage the framework throughout their lives. Currently Boomers still own and manage in our country, hence why we have old fossils like Hillary, Trump, Biden, Sanders, Yellen, Pelosi, Schumer, McConnell and RBG(of course RBG is gone now, but the debate of age has come into question). Obama was an exception yet we can see how popular he was compared to the last several presidents. Fourth Turnings seemed to be marked by massive conflicts like Revolutionary War, Civil War, and WWI/WWII. If the politics are removed and instead focus on what is going on during these era's, you can see a very different picture. The Revolutionary War marked an era where a newly discovered wealthy frontier revolted and become its own sovereign nation, keeping its wealth instead of shipping it back off to Europe. Even back then people had little idea of how abundant in resources the American continents truly contained. In the early 1800's, slavery was becoming unpopular in the world. Just as we see child labor exploitations as evil now and putting pressure on companies to give livable wages to everyone who produces American goods, the same sentiment was found in Europe. America was being put under pressure to end slavery. In the 1920's and 1930's, Europe was an absolute mess and you absolutely could find the generational clashes that eventually lead to the chaos of the 1940's. There is a saying the history doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme. War is very unpopular now, however you dont need tanks and bombs and guns to ruin great nations. 2020 was a very weird year and exposed that as a country, and even as a species, we are not addressing many of our problems as well as we could. 2021 will be a year where global governments and economies will do whatever it takes to bring stability (band aid). Regardless, you dont need the Fourth Turning theory to know we are heading into some uncertain times that will require significant sacrafice.
Seems like a strange book for Trumpers to embrace. Doesn't that just cast them as the losers in a great historic struggle?
Which is probably why conservatives are really trying to appeal to young males. I’m 34 and grew up on the internet but it’s never been angrier, especially with the young cohorts.
Bannon's Breitbart, with its ties to the alt-right, was mostly a play to flip that angry un(der)employed male cohort by doubling down on their target's self interest rather than the generational stereotype of promoting overall equity. Instead of generational themes, they framed it as an argument of personal agency vs. communal urgency (with a socialistic authoritarian endgame). I wish we had the "best" of both, but the verdict's still out on the "hero" generation pinning their hopes on heroes (comic books...Obama) or being heroes themselves (holding the boomers collective colostomy bag while rolling up their sleaves...)
Maybe, maybe not as I think Bannons/Mercers/McConnells types play the long game. I think the point was to win the election as much as getting the large, younger generations acclimated to this new, nationalist, protectionist conservatism.
This is most likely the biggest factor in any sort of generational cold war. The outcome will be decided by attrition. After all, This is the fattest America has ever been and heart disease is the number one killer of Americans. If you look at your typical Trump rally, they're all fat and/or chain smokers. I'd like to keep the rest of the Boomers though. I tend to like the non-radicals.
I think you’re right. We’re reaching (or have reached) an inflection point of the path the country will tread for the next generation(s). And the wars are being fought on multiple fronts. Some cold, some not so much. But we’re a terribly unhealthy country both physically and mentally. Yet rather than unite behind a health crisis, and I don’t mean COVID but the general health of our country, we’re tearing each other apart for ratings, dollars and votes (more dollars).
I began to see more references to this as financial analysts are speculating what happens when the Fed and the dollar system breaks down from the stress of printing fiat. We're at a critical stage where interest rates can't rise because corporate debt and growth is only viable at current levels. This might foreshadow the government assuming all of it (as it did last year, but on a decades long basis) to preserve whatever jobs it has left. Coupled with how the global economic system now parallels what was going on a hundred years ago, this "turning" becomes a nice and easy "pattern" to predict and discuss. Boomer excesses with the 30 year equity boom coupled with the fact that millennials start from much less will cause stress. I've seen some predict our future will be like Italy's, where three generations live inside the same house. Those who scoff or readily want to point blame might shift towards more aggressive wealth distribution since the old will suck everyone else bone dry from their dragon's nest and the compound interest (think unrealistic returns from pension/retirement funds) it generates.
