Vol. 4 No. 3 (July 2005)

Uncommon Denominator

The Newsletter of the Commonweal Institute
www.commonwealinstitute.org

"Nothing is more important to the integrity of the universities than a rigorously enforced
divorce from war-oriented research and all connected enterprises."
-- Hannah Arendt

Talking Points: Talking 'bout my generation
Wit and Wisdom: Oppressed white Christian males
Check It Out: Election bill tracker
Eye on the Right: The great greenwash
Quoted! Benny Hinn on early childhood
Featured Article: "Tory Stories: Neo-Con Novels"
Happenings: Monthly round-up
Endorsements: Joan Blades
Get Involved: Spread the word; become a contributor

TALKING POINTS

Stop telling me that I am out of my element! Stop telling me that I am morally corrupt! Stop telling me that I am the problem!

If it sounds like I have an attitude problem, I do. This Generation Y'er has a beef with his elders. Call me naïve, or call me crazy, but I believe that my Generation (those born between 1977 and 1994) is becoming the generation of the future. Right now, it is the older generations that are holding this country back, not the younger ones.

Over the past fifteen to twenty years, there has been a steady drumbeat of criticism directed against American youth. While the youth are becoming more socially conscious and politically active every year, they are not being embraced by older generations. Year after year, we are berated for our "awful" attitudes, taken to task for our political "apathy," and - above all - told that our popular culture is ruining our lives. Only one of these claims holds some truth: youth political participation. In 1996, youth turnout was at an all-time low of 32%. But in 2004, youth accounted for the largest increase in voting among all age groups - a 10% increase over voting in 1996 and 2000, doubling that of the next closest group. Despite pop culture, Gen Y seems to be "fighting" through it.

It's been over 20 years since Tipper Gore co-founded the "Parents Music Resource Center" (PMRC), which claimed that music by Frank Zappa, Prince, and Cyndi Lauper (just to name a few) was corrupting the "nuclear family" in America because such music was exposing the youth to violence and sex way too early in their lives. If these were the worries back in 1984, imagine the type of sex-loving, gun-shooting, fist-punching teenage monsters we have created in a culture where 50 Cent, Britney, and Marilyn Manson make Prince seem like a choir boy.

Just as with music, adults have been claiming that movies, TV, and video games are too violent and that they "are sending children the wrong messages." Take the case of 18-year-old Devin Moore, who last month allegedly gunned down three men (two police officers and a 911 dispatcher) in Fayette, Alabama. Moore's own lawyers are claiming that Moore was inspired by the violent video game Grand Theft Auto, in which the player drives around a city picking up prostitutes and shooting anyone in sight. A tempting argument - but if Moore's lawyer is right, how do we explain the fact that there have not been 11,999,999 more cop shootings over the past 18 months, the period in which "Grand Theft Auto" sold more than 12 million copies? (Read CBS's story about the case).

No one will deny, not even me, that video games and films have definitely become more violent, more real, and more interactive. While this might scare the bejesus out of parents, young generations, more than ever, seem able to comprehend and decipher what is real, and what is fantasy. If there was such a monkey-see-monkey-do attitude among the youth, why then with all of this crazy culture around us is the homicide rate among teens 15-19 at record lows, down 45% from 1993? Why are high school physical fights down nine percent since 1991 (when the statistic was first recorded)? Why are teen pregnancies at their lowest point ever, down 18% from 1990? (See The Child Trends DataBank.)

The fact is, youth performance over the past 15 years has been phenomenal. Unfortunately for many adults, the statistics directly contradict their rhetoric. For insight into this problem, we can turn to Margaret Mead, the famous American anthropologist, who argues that such criticism of youth arises when older generations feel lost in our new society of rapid social change. In "Culture and Commitment" (1978), Mead wrote that "we have now entered a new phase, in which adults all over the world have to recognize that all children's experience is different from their own." Mead maintains that up until the late '60s, we lived in a postfigurative society "where change is so slow…that grandparents…cannot conceive of any other future for the children than their own past lives." Because change in a postfigurative society was so slow, adults were better able to understand what the younger generations were going through.

Modern society is now a place of exceedingly rapid social change. This is not just a matter of technological advance, but also one of increasing diversity in each new generation. Generation Y is the most diverse generation that has ever existed in the United States. Only 61% of Generation Y is white, compared to 80% of Americans born between 1930 and 1945, and this trend is only going to accelerate in the decades to come. Generation Y is also much more religiously diverse than older generations (except for Gen X, which is exactly the same as Gen Y). 34% of both Generation Y & Gen X identify as non-Christian: up 15% from the Baby-Boomers, and up 20% from those born between 1930 and 1945. (see Chris Bowers, "The Future of the Electorate"). Mead describes this new culture as a prefigurative society: "In this new culture, it is the child - not the parent or grandparent - who represents what is to come." Mead goes on to claim that "There are now no elders who know more than the young themselves about what the young are experiencing." Today, adults "do not know how to teach these children who are so different from what they themselves once were, and most children are unable to learn from parents and elders they will never resemble."

Generation Y also enjoys a remarkable diversity of experience. By virtue of ethnic and religious diversity, combined with new technology that makes the whole world accessible, Generation Y has been brought into contact with many more cultures than have past generations - and they are embracing this experience.

The generational gap Mead describes is what has created such a backlash against youth. Older Americans do not always appreciate modern diversity because they themselves never experienced it. The "breakdown of 'traditional' families", "teen pregnancy run amok", and "the dangerous pop culture" are all examples of adults projecting their own insecurities about today's society because it is just so damn foreign to them.

What both sides of the generational gap must understand is that we are now in a new era. Young generations must recognize that adults are truly trying to look out for them, but they must also realize that they are the culture and that they are truly the only ones that know exactly what is going on around them. On the flip side, modern adults must learn to accept that the youth actually know more than they do in certain situations. It has to be humiliating for parents every time they have to ask their nine-year-old how to check the email. Unfortunately for parents, this process isn't going to stop. Nevertheless, this does not mean adults are becoming obsolete; rather, it means that adult-youth relationships are not going to be able to exist in the same form as in the past. There is going to have to be more communication and understanding on both sides of the equation if today's prefigurative society is going to work.

Because young people in America are becoming more autonomous and independent with each new generation, their demands are going to have to be taken more seriously. If recent trends in voting continue, the youth influence over elections will be something that no politician can ignore. Generation Y's diversity of experience seems to be influencing their policy positions: for instance, 72 percent of those between 18 and 24 support civil unions for gay and lesbian couples. "Almost 70 percent of voters under 30 support bigger government over smaller government, and nearly two-thirds of young people between 15 and 25 years of age think that government should do more to solve people's problems" ("New Generation, New Politics," The American Prospect, 14:9, Oct. 1, 2003) These statistics are only going to grow stronger in the future as each succeeding generation becomes more diverse.

Crucially, Generation Y's willingness not only to tolerate but to embrace other cultures gibes well with progressive values. The diversity among new generations, in combination with their generally progressive voting record in 2004, matches up with what blogger Chris Bowers of mydd.com (who also happens to be a CI Fellow) calls the "Clash of Civilizations." Bowers claims that the best predictors for voting in the 2004 election were race and religion; specifically, he found that 72% of voters who were not white voted for Kerry, and 71% of voters who were not Christian also voted for Kerry. Be it progressivism's push for a pluralistic society or a backlash against conservatism's sexual and racial exclusiveness, non-white and/or non-Christian voters are lining up in the progressive corner.

The youth movement of today thrives on the diversity of our culture - on the exposure and experience it provides. In the long term, if patterns stay roughly the same, progressivism will grow by default because its pluralism is more reflective of the diversified youth generation than that of conservatism. But conservatives have known this all along, and have accordingly invested millions of dollars in think-tanks promoting their conservative ideology. More directly, they are pursuing a range of strategies to "conservatize" American high school and university campuses, which they see as havens of liberalism. It would be unwise, however, to count on the natural progressivism of youth to resist conservative infiltration; a similarly active effort to cultivate younger generations must arise on the Left.

Generation Y's emergence as an independent and socially responsible group, despite the negative attitudes toward us, must be taken seriously and embraced in American society - especially in the world of politics. Gen Y's politics seem to match up in the same corner as progressives, and this could signal a long-term advantage for the Left. If progressivism wants to grow, it should be looking not just at how to incorporate those with a different worldview, but at investing in and embracing a generation that already shares its values.

-- Ian Campbell

Ian Campbell, 22, is a writer, web developer, and surfer currently living in Santa Cruz, California. He recently received his B.A. in Sociology from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

WIT AND WISDOM

Court Pick Seen as Victory for
Oppressed White Christian Male

By nominating U.S. Appeals Court Judge John G. Roberts Jr., President Bush disappointed those who hoped he would add diversity to the Supreme Court by picking the nation's first openly gay Mexican-Chinese transvestite albino jurist.

However, the conservative Roberts does meet the most important test for any nominee; he does not appear to have an illegal nanny or sexual harassment fetish.

Roberts' agent was able to negotiate a lifetime contract worth an estimated $200,000 a year for the 50-year-old legal superstar, who also receives an unlimited supply of free robes and imported rosewood gavels.

President Bush has said repeatedly he would apply no "litmus test" in evaluating the candidates as long as they oppose Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision guaranteeing all fetuses the right to own a gun.

Supporters are hailing the choice as an important victory for the oppressed white Christian male. Legal analysts say Roberts should be confirmed by the Senate, but only after intense grilling by Democratic senators regarding his view on the death penalty for satirists.

-- John Breneman, The Humor Gazette

CHECK IT OUT

The electoral system in the world's oldest democracy is, to use probably the most charitable possible metaphor, a patchwork. It is a patchwork consisting of many, many state laws and country procedures that are supposed to make sure that the people's voice, whether in voting for President or for Commissioner of Sewers, is fairly and accurately heard. Since there's some question about whether that actually always happens, it is also a patchwork that is under continual legislative renovation, a process which has acquired additional urgency since the controversial 2000 and 2004 elections.

Now, there is a convenient way of following what's happening on that front. Common Cause, the advocacy organization dedicated to reinvigorating the American political system, has created an online interactive database called the "Election Bill Tracker." The EBT, in their words, "allows you to search for election-related bills in a particular state legislature, link to the bills' web sites for their exact language, and also find out the current status of the bills. Or, if you are interested in a particular election issue, you can find out about bills focusing on that issue all across the country, again with links to the bills' web sites and information about their current status." From the voting rights of felons to poll worker training to recount procedures to voter-verified paper trails, the Election Bill Tracker makes it easy to keep tabs on what our legislatures are doing - or not doing - in the interest of a smoothly functioning democratic system.

Check it out.

EYE ON THE RIGHT

If you've noticed conservative politicians sounding strangely pro-environment lately, it's not a coincidence. Rather, it's a campaign designed to reduce the political liability of right-wing candidates on environmental issues. Unfortunately, the campaign is strictly rhetorical - it's not about changing policies but about changing language.

And that's where Frank Luntz comes in. Luntz, the boyish Svengali of conservative politics, made his name as a pollster who concentrated on identifying the words that would prove most resonant with the American public. Now, in his message book "Straight Talk," Luntz brings his dark arts to the task of helping Republicans package themselves as concerned about the environment without actually having to be concerned.

The basic Luntzian strategies are the following. First, use words and phrases that are proven crowd-pleasers, rather than those that express the truth. He recommends the term "climate change," for instance, because it is "less frightening" than "global warming." Second, assure the public that you really do care, by framing all your comments on environmental policy with a green-sounding principle, such as "The environment is precious to all of us." Third, portray government as the real problem, since it hinders a "sensible" approach to "managing" the environment, and hold up technological and corporate "solutions" to environmental problems. Fourth, stick to your guns: deregulation, devolution, deforestation.

A good example of the Luntz approach: "You must explain how it is possible to pursue a common sense or sensible environmental policy that 'preserves all the gains of the past two decades' without going to extremes, and allows for new science and technologies to carry us even further. Give citizens the idea that progress is being frustrated by over-reaching Government, and you will hit a very strong strain in the American psyche." (For a serio-comic send-up of the whole Luntz operation, go to LuntzSpeak.com.)

Now, the Uncommon Denominator does not pretend to be shocked that a political consultant would advocate particular kinds of language use and political marketing. What distinguishes the "Luntz memo," however, is the depth of cynicism it reveals, particularly on an issue of such vital importance to so many people.

Consider. In discussing global warming and the Kyoto Treaty, Luntz admits that "the scientific debate is closing against us, but not yet closed. There is still a window of opportunity to challenge the science." Then, lower on the page, he offers the following "Language That Works": "We must not rush to judgment before all the facts are in. We need to ask more questions. We deserve more answers. And until we learn more, we should not commit America to any international document that handcuffs us either now or into the future."

Such perverse disregard for an issue where millions of lives are involved is truly malignant. To dispute the science sincerely is one thing. But to acknowledge the science and then suggest ways of talking around it plumbs the depths of self-interested opportunism.

Luntz makes another telling admission: "When we talk about 'rolling back regulations' involving the environment, we are sending a signal Americans don't support. If we suggest that the choice is between environmental protection and deregulation, the environment will win consistently."

There's a reason for that, Frank. And let's hope the environment continues to win consistently!

QUOTED!

"A fortune teller cannot tell the future of a believer, because demons plan the life of an unbeliever. See, every unbeliever, when born, his life was planned by the demonic or by demons. There is a demon that is given charge over every born baby on planet earth, 'til redemption. When that baby is born again, when the child is given to God, that demon loses control and can no longer predict that person's future." -- Televangelist Benny Hinn, on "Praise the Lord," Trinity Broadcasting Network, May 13, 1999

FEATURED ARTICLE

The following is an excerpt from Jeet Heers's "Tory Stories: Neo-Con Novels," which appeared in the May 2005 issue of Toro.

"George W. Bush has been called many things, but he's rarely described as a literary maven. Quite the reverse: The U.S. president has carefully cultivated the image of a non-intellectual everyman, someone whose untutored common sense makes him more reliable than eggheads who spend too much time in the library. Given his populist persona, Bush often seems ill at ease with simple literacy, let alone literature. Not surprisingly, when Slate magazine surveyed the political views of thirty-one leading novelists in the run-up to the last election, Bush garnered only four bookish endorsements.

"Yet, despite the disdain of the literati and his own linguistic difficulties, Bush presides over an administration chock full of novelists, particularly among the neo-conservative faction surrounding vice-president Dick Cheney. Lynne Cheney, the vice-president's wife, has written three novels, as well as several children's books. Before becoming the vice-president's chief of staff, Lewis Libby made his literary debut with a historical romance set in early twentieth-century Japan. And, Richard Perle, who has been a formidable advocate for an aggressive foreign policy as the erstwhile chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board (DPB), is the author of a Cold War thriller. At the DPB, Perle shares the table with Newt Gingrich, who also has a thriller to his credit, an alternative history novel set during World War II. When the Bush administration sought the Pope's blessing for the Iraq war, they sent over a special diplomatic delegation to the Vatican headed by Michael Novak, a prolific Catholic political philosopher and author of two autobiographical novels about his religious experiences.

"The presence of so many novelists in the corridors of power raises all sorts of questions. For starters, is there some hidden link between a powerful imagination and real-world power politics? And, what do these novels tell us about how political decision-makers really see the world?"

Click here to read the whole article.

HAPPENINGS

New Advisory Board Member -- The Commonweal Institute is proud to welcome Van Jones and Ted Nordhuas as the latest members of its advisory board.

Mr. Jones is founder and national executive director of the Ella Baker Center (EBC) For Human Rights, where he is helping to lead a national fight for alternatives to the U.S. incarceration industry. Launched in 1996, the EBC now houses Bay Area Policewatch (a police misconduct legal hotline, combined with social and legal services); Books Not Bars (which campaigns for a modern juvenile justice system in California, has a network for parents of incarcerated youth, and a youth development program); Freedom Fighter Music (record label for performers resisting the punishment industry and the war in Iraq); and Reclaim the Future (a think tank and advocacy group working to create ecologically sound, clean-energy jobs in high-incarceration-rate urban environments). Prior to founding EBC, Mr. Jones was a Thurgood Marshall Fellow at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, where he worked on issues such as environmental, employment discrimination, educational equity, and homelessness. Mr. Jones is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including: the 1998 Reebok International Human Rights Award; the 1997-99 Rockefeller Foundation's Next Generation Leadership Fellowship; the Echoing Green Fellowship; and the 2001 Ashoka Fellowship. He was named a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in 2002 and is a member of the National Steering Committee of the Apollo Alliance. Mr. Jones received his undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee at Martin and is a graduate of Yale Law School.

Mr. Nordhaus is Vice President of Evans/McDonough, Inc., an opinion research and strategic consulting firm in Oakland, California. As a specialist in environmental, transportation, and land use issues, he has been involved with a variety of projects in which his qualitative and quantitative research skills mix with public relations work and strategic consulting for public persuasion efforts. Mr. Nordhaus works with a diverse client base of political, corporate, governmental and non-profit agencies, including the Apollo Alliance, a national effort to initiate a crash program to transition the United States to a clean energy economy. He is also the co-founder and director of Strategic Values Science Project, a joint venture of Evans/McDonough, the Canadian market research firm Environics, and Lumina Strategies, a political strategy firm. Strategic Values has been commissioned to use corporate marketing research to create a Values Road Map for creating a progressive majority around core values, not political issues. Mr. Nordhaus and public relations consultant Michael Shellenberger are currently working together in a joint market research venture, American Environics, Inc. Prior to joining Evans/McDonough, Mr. Nordhaus was a principal at Next Generation, where he developed winning campaigns for Environmental Defense; the California Futures Network; and Clean Water Action. He was formerly Executive Director of the Headwaters Sanctuary Project, campaign director for Share the Water, and state campaign director for the California Public Interest Research Group, and has worked with organizations ranging from the Sierra Club to the California Democratic Party. Mr. Nordhaus has a BA in history from the University of California, Berkeley.

CI on TV -- Early this year, Commonweal Institute co-founder Dr. Katherine Forrest participated in an hour-long panel discussion about electoral system problems that called into question the results of the November 2004 election. The "Fast Forward" program was rebroadcast several times in July on cable TV in the San Francisco Bay Area.

ENDORSEMENTS

"Quality information is the basis on which all good policy must be built. Commonweal Institute's mission, to research, educate and communicate on issues of importance, is key for policymakers and activists alike." -- Joan Blades, Co-Founder, Moveon.org

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Uncommon Denominator

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