Will the Brexit Referendum Lead to a Generational War?

As you know I was not happy with result of the so-called Brexit referendum

I thought it was a reckless move, that amounted to throwing out the baby, and the future, with the bath water.

I hate the way it has triggered an explosion of racism.

And I also hate the way it has driven a wedge between the young and the old in Britain.



Because many young people were very disappointed that although most of them backed the REMAIN side, the LEAVE side still won.

And more than a few, like this 21-year-old writer, feel betrayed by the older generation. 

I am broken by this result. As a young person, I cannot help but feel betrayed. In fact, it’s somewhat hard not to take it a little bit personally.

Despite young people having to live with the decision of the referendum for an average of 69 years, it has been decided for them by people who will only have to live with it for an average of 16 years. Put simply: The long-term effects of Brexit will not be felt by those who overwhelmingly voted for it. Because they will be dead.

And are really angry. 

This is a final middle-fingered salute to the young from the baby boomer generation. Not content with racking up insurmountable debt, not content with destroying any hopes of sustainable property prices or stable career paths, not content with enjoying the benefits of free education and generous pension schemes before burning down the ladder they climbed up, the baby boomers have left one last turd on the doorstep of the younger generation.

But although I can understand that bitter disappointment, because the EU does offer young people greater economic opportunities than they might find at home. 



My generation will not enjoy the free movement to 27 different countries and the workers’ rights that rescued Britain from the "sick man of Europe" era of the 1970s. For us, there will be no golden age of economic hope and glory.

A better chance to find a job, as well as a chance to expand their horizons, be introduced to different cultures, and make new friends.

And it does pay for projects in areas that Con governments are notoriously reluctant to subsidize. 

In the University of Oxford’s official statement, it acknowledged that it received £66 million a year from the European Union. Not only will Oxford lose this money, potentially, but it will also risk losing out on pan-European collaboration on research, an invaluable asset when forming ambitious research projects.

I find all the stories about a coming generational war to be somewhat exaggerated.

For when I spoke to some of my younger relatives and friends in Britain Little England, I didn't pick up any trace of bitterness, or desire to smother their parents in their sleep.

Just despair, and a tendency to blame the result on things like the incidence of mad cow disease or BSE...



Which sadly turned out NOT to be true.

And when my parents voted NO in the Scottish referendum, despite all my efforts to convince them to vote YES, like so many others I was horribly disappointed by the result.

But it never crossed my mind to blame them, or any other older people...



I just sulked for days, and vowed to work even harder to persuade them to vote YES next time.

So I figure the young will get over it, there won't be any lasting bitterness. And I'm glad somebody agrees with me. 

There is a growing generation gap but it has more to do with the speed of technological change. 



Generation expert Jason Dorsey from The Centre for Generational Kinetics argued in his 2015 Tedx talk, that there is some truth to the idea that the gaps between generational experience are widening. Due to the rapid pace of change, Dorsey suggests generations will in short order go from being 20-year spans of identities rooted in common experience to 5-year spans. 

The rate of change is speeding up, and a child today raised with an Ipad in their hands will likely have a significantly different experience than a one born five years from now who comes of age in an era when virtual reality is omnipresent.

And the young are unlikely to hate their elders for long, because they like them too much.

Having grown up in households that involved more democracy than hierarchy when it comes to child and parent relationships, kids these days have more of a say than children did in past generations. And this means that they actually really like their parents and grandparents. 

Economics may be a driving factor behind why 42 per cent of Canadians in their 20s still live with mom and dad but Taylor would also argue that the option of staying in the family now is more likely because young people these days like their parents and see no reason to break up a good arrangement.

Which is what I like to hear. For as you know on this blog I fight for the rights of Canadians of all ages. 

From trying to stop children from being bullied in our schools, to trying to stop seniors from dying of loneliness...



I have no time for those who would divide us.

And as I like to point out when the young and the old finally joined forces in the last election.

We did give the Cons a real generational problem...



So let's just keep on doing that. Let's learn from each other, march on together.

And finish the job we started...

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