A part of the Harvey reading that stuck with me was the comparison of “Where are we going?” and “How will we get there?”. For me they’ve always been part of the same question, because I’m just a person who worries about the details of everything for no reason. But I see now that putting in the effort to also answer “How will we get there?” shows an additional level of responsibility that one would want in a leader. Applying these two questions to political issues, environmental issues, etc. is important, because at the end of the day you’re going to want to support the person that can actually follow through in what they’re promising.
The second to last paragraph in Bezio’s article stuck out to me because of its discussion on identity. I hadn’t considered the factors that she mentioned, like more access to the internet, international travel, and general exposure to cultural diversity, that would separate the generations under and over 45. Even living on a college campus for a long time (except not right now, sad times) makes me forget that some opinions and views that my peers and I don’t even look twice at might not be so accepted by my parents. My parents aren’t nationalists by any means, but sometimes I do need to take a step back and remember that they weren’t exposed to the same things I was growing up.
I also thought that part of the Bezio reading was really interesting. Viewpoints definitely vary generationally, which I think a lot is due to what stage people are in their lives and how change affects that. I am very curious to see the long term effects of Brexit, seeing how the youth voted to stay a part of the EU.
I really liked that paragraph in Bezio’s article, as well. This doesn’t apply to the generational observation, but one of my favorite parts of UR was that I could surround myself with people who are form different backgrounds than me. I knew this would force myself to expand my beliefs/ views on certain topics and also teach me about other cultures. Each person has their own history and experiences that shaped who they are and I think the last section in the article highlighted various examples of that.
I think that the generational differences that Bezio brought up are really important is considered how people react to different situations. With the jokes that happen now directed at boomers, millennials, or gen z, I think that it is important to consider that there are events that actually happen to make the different generations have different beliefs–older people (across the years) don’t always think one thing, nor do younger people. Each generation has things that shaped their beliefs. For example, looking at the 2008 recession, that occurred right when many millennials were entering the job force for the first time but it also happened during gen z’s childhood. These generations are going to view the economy differently because of the way this recession affected their early lives. There are just so many things that go into why a person has the opinions they have and I think timing reasons are such an interesting one to look at.