{"id":2000,"date":"2018-02-25T16:03:19","date_gmt":"2018-02-25T21:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introamgov-mcgowen\/?p=2000"},"modified":"2018-02-25T16:03:19","modified_gmt":"2018-02-25T21:03:19","slug":"the-post-parkland-generation-who-are-we-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introamgov-mcgowen\/2018\/02\/25\/the-post-parkland-generation-who-are-we-now\/","title":{"rendered":"The Post-Parkland Generation: Who Are We Now?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout history, major events have shaped the American psyche.\u00a0 This has held true from the early years of the Great Depression, to and through the numerous terrorist events of the 21st<\/sup> century.\u00a0 Today, it appears that perhaps more than ever, the lasting effect of these horrific events are shaping the political opinions at an ever-younger age, giving an entirely new meaning to the notion of \u201ccoming of age.\u201d<\/p>\n

In my lifetime, I\u2019ve never had the luxury of feeling totally safe while going to school. Since 2001, when I first entered kindergarten at age 5, there have been 50 mass school shootings in the U.S.. (ABC News) This averages over three school shootings every year, and totals 141 student deaths. It can be said that no other generation has had to confront the issue of life or death in quite the same way, and no other generation has had the volume of violent shootings and horrific imagery to influence their political views.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Political scientists agree that the younger a person is when they experience a tragic event, the more likely he\/she is to be influenced politically by such events; this aspect of political socialization is referred to as \u201cthe generation effect.\u201d (Pearson) Today\u2019s generation of youth, (persons aged 18-34) – also known as \u201cthe millennials\u201d – are at the onset of developing political opinion.\u00a0 These same millennials are also confronting a uniquely American phenomenon with school shootings, such as those which have occurred at Columbine, Sandy Hook, and now, Parkland.<\/p>\n

The question remains:\u00a0Do these catastrophic shootings turn millennials into liberal or conservative adults on the issue of gun control?<\/p>\n

Amongst millennials, the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School seem to have risen as the new faces of gun reform. Students have put their energy and determination into voice and action.\u00a0 As millennials reach political maturity, their concern for public morality and school safety with respect to gun reform is rapidly taking shape.\u00a0 \u201cThe only reason that we\u2019ve gotten so far is that we are not afraid of losing money, we\u2019re not afraid of getting re-elected, we have nothing to lose. The only thing we have to gain at this point is our safety,\u201d says Delaney Tarr, a senior at the MSD high school. (Quartz Media)<\/p>\n

The actions of the MSD students offer a lens into the future political persuasions of this collective group. Since the aftermath of the Parkland shooting, MSD students have protested the Florida State legislative offices by the hundreds, participated in one-on-one open discussions with President Trump, engaged State legislature from both sides of the table – republican and democrat – at a nationally-televised \u201cTown Hall\u201d discussion on gun reform.\u00a0 And, it doesn\u2019t stop there – on March 24th, students and gun reform supporters from around the country will demonstrate in Washington to bring their message to the doorstep of the White House.\u00a0 These actions have led many to believe that now, quite literally, the future of safer schools is\u00a0in the hands of the millennials.<\/p>\n

Sources Links:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/qz.com\/1212712\/florida-shooting-stoneman-douglas-student-quotes-after-the-high-school-attack\/<\/p>\n

http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/US\/school-shootings-columbine-numbers\/story?id=36833245<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.crimetraveller.org\/2015\/10\/columbine-effect\/<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throughout history, major events have shaped the American psyche.\u00a0 This has held true from the early years of the Great Depression, to and through the numerous terrorist events of the 21st century.\u00a0 Today, it appears that perhaps more than ever, the lasting effect of these horrific events are shaping the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3791,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40542,40533,68425],"tags":[68430,68425],"class_list":["post-2000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1030am-section","category-assessing-the-public-mood","category-spring-2018","tag-1030-section","tag-spring-2018","column","twocol"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introamgov-mcgowen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introamgov-mcgowen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introamgov-mcgowen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introamgov-mcgowen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3791"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introamgov-mcgowen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introamgov-mcgowen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introamgov-mcgowen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introamgov-mcgowen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introamgov-mcgowen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}