Former third-party candidate Ralph Nader came out swinging against the millennial tendency to silence unpopular ideas in an interview with Lydia DePillis of Pacific Standard.
He had some harsh words about the politically correct culture, where “you can’t say this about that, and you can’t say that about this” and people “tell you to hush.”
Nader believes “Trump has a point about political correctness:”
He’s not the only one of an older generation to criticize students. Liberal and Democratic Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz has spoken out against the campus culture.
While many in the media defend the actions of students who “repress people,” their efforts silence and stifle — rather than encourage — debate. President Barack Obama has also spoken out against this kind of behavior.
Nader called out “crazed conservative[s] like Senator Ted Cruz and the rest of them,” but said “Trump is extremely clever with the use of language.” America has “a culture extremely vulnerable to rhetoric,” and Trump has used it to his advantage.
Nader explained how phones are pulling young people apart:
You get petitions — but now they’re totally drowning in petitions, you know, over at Change.org. You can’t even get crowdsourcing much anymore, because the clutter defeats its original utility, so it devours itself.
“Those people don’t get on the talk shows anymore,” Nader said about young movement leaders, whom he also said are unknown “except [in] their own community.” In the light of media attention (or lack thereof) and sensitivity, Nader had words for Black Lives Matter:
Black Lives Matter activists are “sensitive to injustice” because universities give into them. Dartmouth University failed to punish activists who disrupted and harassed students studying in the library, and permitted them to deface a Blue Lives Matter display for National Police Week. That’s why they “don’t see any response to their work,” because getting away with bad behavior is not any kind of a productive response.
Throughout the interview, Nader discussed younger generations in how they don’t listen and don’t pay attention. He says it best with “America, you are asleep.”
Similar points have been made by millennial Alexis Boomer, whose video calling out her generation went viral. Without more like her, however, older generations may continue to write off millennials.
