words will never hurt me
two Millennials that isn’t a dash of the
past because words they matter they hold
weight and they hold meaning and while
awards and the way that we use them are
both significant that’s only a portion
of what I’m going to be talking about
today today I aim to tackle a somewhat
touchy subject are millenials
oversensitive so you might be wondering
to yourselves what tomorrow are
millenials
good question Millennials or Generation
Y encompasses anyone born between the
early 1980s to early 2000s as a
millennial myself my friends and I are
often told that we are too sensitive to
politically correct but we are delicate
little snowflakes that can’t handle
anything I felt like that was the
general sentiment towards my generation
in order to really confirm that I of
course went to consult Google so when
they looked up Millennials are – on
Google this is what the four things that
popped up we are apparently too lazy to
eat cereal we’re too PC or politically
correct we are too soft and we’re too
sensitive and aside from the cereal
comment which I don’t really know what
that’s what they see online mentions of
Jerry Seinfeld’s saying that we are
winning comedy because we can’t take a
joke and countless of others calling us
social justice warriors so with that I
want to acknowledge a couple of things
first of all culture is organic it is a
set of shared and learned attitudes
ideas behaviors feelings and experiences
that I shared and are shaped and change
over time and in space that means that
culture will become different and
secondly I am a student in a university
where we encourage this kind of
discussion that opens minds and debate
so with that I would like to indulge you
in a quick game I made for you and I
will of course need your participation
so what I’ll be doing is I’ll be showing
an image up on the screen and if you
believe that image is acceptable and
appropriate today please put your hand
up got it very good here’s the first
image so I’m not seeing hands but that’s
okay I was ready for this I have another
I don’t know if you just don’t want to
participate or if you really feel like
this is not great um but maybe maybe
it’s because of the latter one and maybe
because these images they’re about half
a century old or more and yes these are
ads and we can say that’s just that
that’s just media and marketing but I
think that that would be a mistake
because marketing and media have a huge
influence on how we see the world and
therefore how we act within it
we’ve changed right we’ve gotten better
let’s do another round
okay so again please put your hand up if
you feel like the image in its message
is appropriate and acceptable today
let’s go it gets me too so I’m not
seeing a lot of hands either but last
image let’s go but here’s the thing
about these images they are younger than
my sisters who attend high school so
have things really gotten better I would
say no what I would say has changed is
that Millennials are much more
comfortable calling out these
problematic messages and ideologies but
for that know we get called
oversensitive see I think that calling
each other’s oversensitive is
problematic on its own I know
typical millennial but I’ll explain why
calling someone oversensitive talks
about a person’s characteristic not
their argument and therefore we’re not
actually advancing the base and
discussion we are just kind of insulting
someone secondly saying that someone is
oversensitive also implies that there is
something wrong with being sensitive and
I think that’s a mistake because
sensitivity and emotion are powerful
there are youth influencers and
motivators for why we do things and who
we choose to be
with so under estimating the power of
emotion would be a mistake and thirdly I
want you to consider this scenario so I
did this myself and now I’m the girl
entirely here and say this person was
like oh my gosh a traffic today was so
gay or maybe they were saying deck exam
today absolutely right for me and I was
like they’re saying maybe you should
rethink how you’re saying these things
maybe there is a problem maybe maybe you
should I know that it was hard and you
might have been late but think about how
your wording things and they said sheer
just get over I didn’t know what I mean
you’re just too sensitive aren’t they
oversensitive also because they didn’t
even take into account my criticism and
think about how they are saying
something aren’t they
oversensitive because they didn’t take a
moment and just right away criticize me
see I don’t think that calling each
other’s names is helpful well I would
say that that goes back to kindergarten
but I don’t think that’s productive
instead we should have actual
conversations where we are intentionally
listening to one another so with that I
would like to propose a new outlook on
the Millennial to me Millennials they’re
sensitive and they’re empathic they’re
also aware and educated and finally
Millennials are critical and they’re
vocal and I know maybe you’re thinking
okay sure cool
but why do they have to comment so much
on everything
just gets too much I get it it can look
like that I think that there is a couple
of things that are happening
first of all Millennials are embracing
the idea of shared responsibility and
that means that we care about a lot
secondly we must remember that
Millennials grew up with the rise of the
Internet and therefore we have greater
access to a lot of information as well
as a greater audience it does get
overwhelming but I think that this is
better than being bystanders could not
rise up to help a victim when they need
their help I don’t think that we’re so
so different because for one then people
protest the Vietnam War when they found
out about it from television greater
access to information people like my
parents baby boomers are known for that
activism for peace gender equality and
environmental issues they care to me
that sounds the same to me it even looks
the same heck I’ll even put a black and
white filter on it
and what that to me means is that there
is this immense opportunity for
discussion and collaboration and working
collectively to make a difference in
this world and we should take this
opportunity well I think we’re lacking
here is this communication bit we should
learn how to participate with one
another better see freedom of speech and
freedom of expression are integral to
debate and discussion and advancing
knowledge yes but they cannot be trumped
by evidence and respect for one another
in your next interactions perhaps with
the people in this room I urge you to go
in with an open mind and an open heart
ready to listen to learn to truly engage
to not assume but clarify because I
believe that we can work together if we
just started there to be honest I’m
pretty okay with being a snowflake
because to me being a snowflake means
that I realized that we are all unique
and therefore we have our own
contribution into this world but we also
all come in the same way to this world
so we’re all snowflakes and the cool
thing about snow is that collectively
so let’s use that to our advantage as
well and let’s create a storm
let’s create a movement thank you
[Music]
[Applause] [Music]