The days of total liberal hegemonic rule are fast coming to an end, as it seems like the dissident, mischievous, fresh youths will be the ones to spearhead the battle against the continually faltering leftist establishment. Indeed, Generation Z will continue driving the revolt against the liberal elitism that dominates academia, civic society, pop culture, entertainment and certain corners of politics.
But what is Generation Z or iGen (internet generation)? It is the demographic cohort that follows millennials and represents those people born between the mid-1990s and 2010. This means that for better or worse, this will be the first generation in history whose majority does not know of life without the internet. Their being constantly surrounded by electronic devices and smartphones earns them the badge of “digital natives”, a title that will undoubtedly have consequences.
Being in an environment of constant interconnectivity and online access, iGeners have never needed to ask another human being for instructions and have no interest in relying on one form of media, since the world of limitless information is completely open to them. However, one can see how this is a double-edged sword, as they may be the least prepared when disaster strikes and the lights go out.
They are driven thinkers, attracted to fast-paced data, and willing to sift through the clutter to find evidence backing their own claims and beliefs – which could be construed as both negative, in that they may have a high susceptibility to confirmation bias (as do we all), or positive, due to their evidence-based approach. Most likely, it’s some combination of both.
Another noteworthy point is that iGen’s early years were forged right in the middle of the September 11 attacks and the ensuing political landscape, and have therefore never known life without the constant threat posed by radical Islamic terrorism.
According to recent research, published by The Gild (UK), a global brand consultancy, Generation Z will be even more conservative than post-war baby-boomers. The study reveals that on same-sex marriage, transgender rights and marijuana legalisation, 59 per cent of Gen Z respondents described their attitudes as being between ‘conservative’ and ‘moderate’, in sharp contrast from the 80 per cent plus of millenials and Generation X-ers, who instead responded as ‘quite’ or ‘very liberal’.
Having grown up post-financial crisis, iGen seems to be a generation of savers, with 25 per cent saying they would rather save for the future than spend money they don’t have, and 22 per cent saying they never spend on “unnecessary, frivolous things” because saving is a top priority. Such attitudes were shared with the silent generation (1920s-40s), with 43 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.
At a glance, it appears that Generation Z is the most conservative generation in 70 years, with data compiled by Goldman Sachs detailing the figures that “will make the millennials shudder”.
iGeners are financially conservative, staunchly supportive of personal freedoms, and strong on national security, including counterterrorism and cyber-security, with a hint of isolationism. They are issue-based, meritocratic and trending towards individualism vs collectivism, while still motivated to affect social change.
iGeners are financially conservative, staunchly supportive of personal freedoms, and strong on national security
What’s certainly clear is that Gen Z does not fit the typical mould offered by traditional media and politics, which is perhaps the reason behind their strong support for Donald Trump. Polling data collected by the Hispanic Heritage Foundation (US) just before the election found that students aged 14 to18 showed a 46 per cent-31 per cent split in favour of the Republican candidate.
While this research was conducted in the UK and the US, it seems reasonable to intuit that the universal interconnectivity provided by the internet and social media has weighed in on diluting the normal national barriers between countries and their people.
Consequently, it seems only natural that the overlap in mindset, which is already apparent across countries in millennials, will only continue to become more pronounced with this next generation. Some have even said that the internet could even be considered a ‘digital nation’ due to the cross-country underlying core values of giant user bases on a number of online platforms.
That said, there is no question that Generation Z will bring with them a great amount of social and economic upheaval in the coming years – with their desire for smaller government, border controls, sensible fiscal policies and nationalism being central values. One could say that this next cohort is a product of prior generation’s liberal extremism, and a reactionary response to today’s ‘anything goes’ cultural and moral decadence.
It remains to be seen whether these sentiments alone will be strong enough to undo the damage caused by post-modern liberal ideals that have permeated even the foundational structures of the west.
Nevertheless, the tide is turning, and what was only a kindling of such a movement some few years ago, has now turned into a force to be reckoned with – and it will not go away. Since political correctness and social justice are no longer seen as cool and trendy social movements, and their influence becoming more tyrannical and authoritarian over the years, Generation Z sees them as the establishmentarians to rebel against.
This is the generation that grew up in a society rife with liberalism and a left-wing dominated political landscape, with conservative voices being silenced and pushed to the sidelines.
In truth, the current perceptual shift comes as no surprise, as there is a natural cyclical tendency for new generations to swing back towards a conventional mindset following a warped era of liberal oversaturation, whose peak and subsequent decline became overtly apparent in 2016.
In tandem with this generational shift in attitudes is the change in mediums of conversation. Indeed, there is no denying that the internet has become the main platform for political discourse, with Malta’s system reliably playing catch-up with modernity, yet still moving in the same direction.
However, one can already see an impending problem, which is that Gen Z is maturing in a time of increasing censorship and content filtering algorithms that are becoming more sophisticated, inadvertently driving online echo chambers of thought to a whole new level.
In fact, iGen finds itself in a ready-made habitat that is mediated and controlled by systems specifically designed to bring up content that agrees with their point of view, thus necessarily shielding them front differing opinions. Since these systems have been in effect for at least half a decade, it is conceivable that they played their part in exacerbating the mass hysteria characterised by left wing ideologues, who couldn’t deal with the fact that they lost the argument on every front the minute they decided to censor dissenting opinions.
Despite the fact that conservatives are now winning the culture war (perhaps not to the same extent in Malta as yet), the problem of having to deal with the repercussions of leftist indoctrination for several more years to come is a boring reality – one that reasonable people must face soberly.
On the bright side, leftist hellspawns like feminism and social justice are dying faster than the residual cells of a decaying carcass. But their latent effects in politics, academia and the media, which seem like the only sectors still insufficiently red-pilled, can still be felt and must be dealt with head on.
The question that I leave you with is, if this new conservative renaissance continues, does this not at the very least suggest that the powers that be have overstayed, and overstepped their welcome and provisional authority? We can only change the negatives if we highlight the negatives, and the left-wing establishment has made it clear that it will not allow this to happen while it holds the reigns. Perhaps it is time for it to let go, and allow others to venture where it has failed.
In the end, all we have is conversation, and anything that preserves it must be defended, while that which threatens it – replaced. All things considered, hope for a balanced, rational, sensible and pragmatic political transition is kindled, and one can only assist this inevitable changing of the guard through public discourse and debate.
Christopher Attard is a staunch advocate for free and open inquiry.