Kids? Different from adults.
You don't generally need government-sponsored reports to help you arrive at this kind of dangerous, outside-the-box conculsion... unless you're the Navy, which reveals this and more! in an unintentionally hilarious recruitment presentation picked up by Wired, Boing Boing, and other arbiters of online taste and culture. The report reveals that, among other things, kids are opting out of military service for what, at least according to the Navy, are either selfish or misguided reasons. Other pearls of wisdom include:
- Kids love the following: Green Day, Napoleon Dynamite, and defunct social networking sites.
- "His buddy list spans the globe. Best friend may be Chinese."
Could be this guy. Probably isn't.
- When you take a generation of American kids, couple them with motivated, involved parents, and add in a few dashes of relative peace, domestic economic stability, and, oh, I dunno, a lack of forced conscription, what do you think you get? Anyone. Navy, go ahead. Yes, that's right. "Narcissistic praise junkies". Very go-... wait, what?
Still your father's Navy.
Aside from being blessedly out-of-touch, this presentation also reveals the military's willingness to at least consider the effects of social technology on their future recruits. Though still generally dismissive of most "new-fangled" trends like online social networks, media integration, and the private sector, whoever put this presentation together obviously realizes that something big is coming as this new generation prepares to reach vote-n-kill age. Whether or not they can assemble a crack team of culture vultures who can really "rap" believeably with today's, or tomorrow's, youth is anyone's guess.
Oh, who am I kidding? The Navy is critically boned. Goddamned MySpace.
Curiously, just as I was about to post this, I noticed a related article on Salon.com's politics page. So that's what this sudden preoccupation with MySpace is about! Pretty sneaky, sis.
2 comments:
"Remember how the previous generation misunderstood you?
Try not to do it to them"
Honestly, this isn't a bad powerpoint for prospective recruiters. The problem is that culture and technology move so quickly now that half of our own generation has given up on it. People with terrible facebook and myspace pages are seen as incomplete to the tech-"haves".
And that kind of term already feels outdated.
There's a thousand things to say about that powerpoint. The biggest problem is that the focus group there is younger than us... so it won't make sense to our "generation".
You act like the lack of forced conscription is a bad thing!
Would you be willing to spread the word about www.draftresistance.org? It's a site dedicated to shattering the myths surrounding the selective slavery system and building mass civil disobedience to stop the draft before it starts!
Our banner on a website, printing and posting the anti-draft flyer or just telling friends would help.
Thanks!
Scott Kohlhaas
PS. When it comes to conscription, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
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