Looking where wrote:
Looking with clear eyes wrote:I do not think these ideas will simply die out. In fact, I think we will see a strong return to more traditional views with the millennials as they age. It may seem far-fetched at the moment, but we are seeing peak liberal at the moment. Things such as the "Yes Means Yes" and "Black Lives Matter" movements and the constant demand for "trigger warnings" are going to end up exhausting the demographics they target.
I'd disagree with that premise as I don't think the real reason for the trend left is that we have more young millenials, that millenials are more motivated or influential, or even that millenials are the squeekier wheel.
Rather I believe the main factor in the shift is the advent of the internet where our source of information is suddenly much more global, or at the very least you are much more likely to be exposed to fully informed viewpoints from every side of a given issue. This really is a big difference from when you mostly relied on your parents, teachers/coach/church leaders, the 2-3 major media news sources, or pop culture icons.
I agree that the "trigger warning" and "politically correct" (and backlash) phenomena will get old. As well as public temper tantrum "movements" like Occupy or Tea Party will get old but there have always been those on each side who think that if they shout the loudest they get to control public discourse. Right now it just happens to be the smaller subgroups that are getting their 15 minutes of fame.
Look at the drastic 180 that the Boomers underwent. Who would have thought that the hippies would be responsible for growing the military industrial complex by 1,000x...?
I tend to think that underlying core of hippies was hedonism and not liberalism. Under that light it isn't at all surprising that they've grabbed as much for themselves as they can, rest of the world be damned.
You may be right about the Boomers, but honestly how can you be sure that we aren't seeing the same thing right now? Hedonism can be attributed to a lot of the social battles we are currently fighting, with the possible exception of environmentalism.
I think you present a very convincing argument overall, but I think you're presuming that the internet is free of arguments against the Liberal status quo. In fact, I would argue that the past few years have yielded a sharp increase in right-wing online activity. I think this is evident on many of the more Mainstream social media communities. We are always going to see a left bent on the emerging social media platforms due to the user base being young and progressive, but as the platforms become more Mainstream, we will see them shift to a more centrist bent.
Being 36, I have seen this happen in my own little (admittedly anecdotal) microcosm. I work in the advertising industry - albeit in research - and I have been active in Social Media since the turn of the century. I was in grad school as Facebook hit the shelves and came into the working world as it became open to everyone. I witnessed firsthand the blogosphere bubble and I have seen various trends come and go. I have had very high numbers of "friends" - both real and digital - go through years of online activism only to get married, have kids and start sharing blog posts from Momastery.
I don't think either one of us really knows, but it'll be interesting to see it play out in the coming years. Whichever way it goes, I hope it is for the better.