Forget Millennials. A new generation is coming of age: Generation-Z.
It’s being heralded as the most conservative generation since 1945.
One reason, according to Charlie Peters, a member of that generation in Great Britain, is their love of freedom. Not long ago, that impulse led young people to embrace the causes of the Left. But now the Left is associated with suppressing freedom.
Now that Generation-Zs are entering the university, they are chafing against the Leftist establishment’s rejection of free speech. These young people, Peters observes, grew up on the internet and social media where people can hold any position and say whatever they want. So when they come to the university with its speech codes and taboo ideas, they don’t like it. So they are becoming conservatives.
From Charlie Peters, The student Left’s culture of intolerance is creating a new generation of conservatives, London Telegraph:
Analysis from market research firm, The Gild, shows that ‘Gen Z’ is the most conservative generation since 1945. The research reveals that ‘Gen Z’ Britons are more likely to favour conservative spending, dislike tattoos and body-piercings, and oppose marijuana legislation.
The youth and student members of the British Left have given up trying to win arguments on principle, preferring to shut down the views of those they opponents. But ‘Gen Z’ live in the time of mass media where anyone’s political views can be shared worldwide at ease. By pushing a “you can’t say that” attitude, the young Left in the UK and the US are reducing their opportunity to respond to conservative ideas, and, as a result of this, conservatism is on the rise.
Nowadays, the only thing that is stopping a student from accessing a new idea is a censorious gag from a student union or NUS apparatchik. Whilst the student Left have historically campaigned in support of causes that the West’s youth have been favourable towards, such as the anti-war and anti-austerity movements, they are now picking on something that is dear to us: freedom of information.
Students of my generation have grown up in an era of mass-communication. Each year has brought new tools for the flow of ideas, conversation and media. The rapid expansion of affordable technology has been matched by the growth of the social media market. When it is common for students to be able to easily interact with anyone in the world via a portable computer that fits in their pocket, nothing seems more silly to us than cliquey calls for censorship.
That is why young people and students are becoming conservatives – they’re the only people making the case for a freedom that they love.
This is the article’s conclusion, but you really need to read the whole thing. Note especially the quotation from Mario Silva’s speech at Berkeley, sparking the Free Speech Movement. In contrast, Berkeley students today riot, destroy property, and commit arson in order to prevent a gay conservative from saying what’s on his mind.
Illustration by Ron Mader, “Buzzword Bingo,” Flickr, Creative Commons License
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