Rod Dreher

View From Your Table

Get Over Yourselves, Millennials

By Rod Dreher • June 13, 2012, 11:06 PM

Hoo boy, David McCullough Jr. gave some recent graduates hell in his commencement address. Excerpts:

Contrary to what your u9 soccer trophy suggests, your glowing seventh grade report card, despite every assurance of a certain corpulent purple dinosaur, that nice Mister Rogers and your batty Aunt Sylvia, no matter how often your maternal caped crusader has swooped in to save you… you’re nothing special.

Yes, you’ve been pampered, cosseted, doted upon, helmeted, bubble-wrapped. Yes, capable adults with other things to do have held you, kissed you, fed you, wiped your mouth, wiped your bottom, trained you, taught you, tutored you, coached you, listened to you, counseled you, encouraged you, consoled you and encouraged you again. You’ve been nudged, cajoled, wheedled and implored. You’ve been feted and fawned over and called sweetie pie. Yes, you have. And, certainly, we’ve been to your games, your plays, your recitals, your science fairs. Absolutely, smiles ignite when you walk into a room, and hundreds gasp with delight at your every tweet. Why, maybe you’ve even had your picture in the Townsman! And now you’ve conquered high school… and, indisputably, here we all have gathered for you, the pride and joy of this fine community, the first to emerge from that magnificent new building…

But do not get the idea you’re anything special. Because you’re not.

And:

The fulfilling life, the distinctive life, the relevant life, is an achievement, not something that will fall into your lap because you’re a nice person or mommy ordered it from the caterer. You’ll note the founding fathers took pains to secure your inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness–quite an active verb, “pursuit”–which leaves, I should think, little time for lying around watching parrots rollerskate on Youtube. The first President Roosevelt, the old rough rider, advocated the strenuous life. Mr. Thoreau wanted to drive life into a corner, to live deep and suck out all the marrow. The poet Mary Oliver tells us to row, row into the swirl and roil. Locally, someone… I forget who… from time to time encourages young scholars to carpe the heck out of the diem. The point is the same: get busy, have at it. Don’t wait for inspiration or passion to find you. Get up, get out, explore, find it yourself, and grab hold with both hands.

Posted in Ideas. Tagged david mccullough, millennials.

51 Responses to Get Over Yourselves, Millennials

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TTT says:

June 13, 2012 at 11:26 pm

McCullough’s speech was an intellectually lazy paint-by-numbers rehash of generational bigotries that had already become hackneyed a decade ago, except for those that became hackneyed a millennium ago.

It is the height of un-selfconscious hypocrisy for a Boomer Baby to accuse any other age cohort of being destructively spoiled and undeservedly entitled. What is the entire political pandering to the “average” voter, to the “undecideds”, to people who want a president they “can just have a beer with,” except for a celebration of mediocrity and a handing out of blue ribbons to everybody who showed up?

The bitter projectionism within McCullough’s speech suggests an underlying insecurity. It’s like he can already read the textbook excerpts that will doubtless explore how the Boomer Babies destroyed America’s economic, military, and environmental policies, so he’s trying to get his licks in in advance by sneering at how the authors will have had awkward pictures on Facebook.
Charlieford says:

June 13, 2012 at 11:33 pm

Parrots are rollerskating on Youtube, and we don’t even get a hotlink?
MH - Secular Misanthropist says:

June 13, 2012 at 11:42 pm

I heard that excerpt on the radio a day or so ago. Frankly it was only mildly less awful than the usual bad commencement address. Where did this practice originate and why must the media encourage it?

If I was king of the planet I would ban the practice and give everyone those precious moments of their lives back. I imagine there would be public grumbling with private rejoicing.
Chuck Ross says:

June 13, 2012 at 11:43 pm

The speech is a gem, but, Rod, your title? “Get over yourselves”? If these millenials are full of themselves I don’t think they’re completely on the hook for it.
Dave Dutcher says:

June 13, 2012 at 11:58 pm

Man, we just beating the Millenials when they are down eh? Not enough we screwed the economy for them and made them grow up in broken homes, we can’t even give them the decency of a positive high school graduation speech. We have to hammer it in they aren’t special before we dole out the advice they will ignore just like every high school generation ignores their commencement speaker.

Never mind the fact that Boomers thought of themselves twenty times more special than any Millenial ever did. Sigh.
Elizabeth Anne says:

June 14, 2012 at 12:33 am

Wow, what an ass. Does he go to funerals and talk about how the deceased was a jerk too?

Time and place, people. And way to cash in on a pile of stereotypes. I’ve taught this generation as students, and most of them are hard working, committed kids who are working 20 hours a week (at least) in addition to attending classes full time.
Matthew says:

June 14, 2012 at 3:18 am

We were raised by Boomers and Gen Xers. So if you don’t like what you see you can add it to the long list of things you all bollixed up.
David Taylor says:

June 14, 2012 at 4:40 am

This is good. The kind of honesty that is rarely heard in commencement addresses.
Justin St. Giles Payne says:

June 14, 2012 at 7:05 am

It’s a little rich for oldsters like David McCullough Jr. to claim that Millennials are being “babied.” Is there a single public institution that the Baby Boomers haven’t pillaged and left in ruin behind them? From public education, to our college and universities, to our flagship industries and employment sectors, Baby Boomers have descended like locusts and left only denuded fields behind them. Babied? We’ve sacrificed Millennials to the children of the “Greatest Generation.”

Frankly, being pampered, fed, and bottom-wiped is a far better description of a Baby Boomer’s government-funded retirement years than it is of the environment our young people are maturing in to. David McCullough Jr. and the rest of the “Kids on my lawn” crowd should revisit their notions of “entitlement.”
Nate says:

June 14, 2012 at 8:05 am

Wow.

Rod, you definitely have, in addition some brilliant and thought-provoking folks, some of the most delicate, overly sensitive, and easily-offended readers of any blog I check.

The title of this blog post is more than a little ironic.
JohnE_o says:

June 14, 2012 at 8:11 am

I liked the “Wear Sunscreen” one better.
MJS says:

June 14, 2012 at 8:14 am

That was considered appropriate for high school? What a jerk.
I wonder if Mr. McCullough would rather teach in a school where no one has been “trained…taught… tutored… coached?” If so, come on down to DISD, where we can show you schools full of people whose parents never cosseted them or went to their recitals. He might want to duck when he hears gunshots, though.
Floridan says:

June 14, 2012 at 8:25 am

I believe this has already been said, and better, by Dana Carvey’s Grumpy Old Man:
I’m oooooold! And I’m not happy! And I don’t like things now compared to the way they used to be. All this progress — phooey! In my day, we didn’t have these cash machines that would give you money when you needed it. There was only one bank in each state — it was open only one hour a year. And you’d get in line, seventeen miles long, and the line became an angry mob of people — fornicators and thieves, mutant children and circus freaks — and you waited for years and by the time you got to the teller, you were senile and arthritic and you couldn’t remember your own name. You were born, got in line, and ya died! And that’s the way it was and we liked it!
Heatherer says:

June 14, 2012 at 8:25 am

I think other commenters covered the problems with this quite well so I’ll just leave it at this: What’s with all the unnecessary vitreol between the generations?
jaybird says:

June 14, 2012 at 8:26 am

If I was king of the planet I would ban the practice and give everyone those precious moments of their lives back.

You would have my unwavering fealty.
Joshua says:

June 14, 2012 at 8:37 am

The valedictorian of the class of 2012 gave the best speech I’ve heard since I began teaching at my school five years ago. She challenged the notion that her generation was lazy and selfish by recounting various community service projects completed during her academic career, but also challenged her peers to overcome the technology addiction that characterizes their interactions with each other and with the world. It was a good blend of inspiration and rebuke.

I’d give her any position of political power in the federal executive or legislative branches currently occupied by a Baby Boomer with the expectation that, within a year, she’d be doing a far superior job.

I put a modest amount of faith in my own generation; I put no faith in the Boomers. Look at what they’ve done to us.
Andrea says:

June 14, 2012 at 8:54 am

It’s a variation of the speech my father is fond of giving whenever he is annoyed, to both his children and to his students. I didn’t think there was anything particularly remarkable about it. Surely these kids have heard these sentiments before.
YpsiTuckyBoy says:

June 14, 2012 at 8:57 am

This is pretty rich coming from a Boomer. The Boomers lived through the most prosperous time the world has ever known, yet spent frivilously and selfishly, didn’t save, and now refuse to retire to make room for the next generation because they’ve spent all their money on prostitutes and wine.

Boomers are quite possibly the worst generation of the past 400 years.
Mont D. Law says:

June 14, 2012 at 9:09 am

It seems inevitable that time turns us all into our fathers – aggressively baffled by youth and overly concerned about our lawns.
Sam Hamilton says:

June 14, 2012 at 9:20 am

“The point is the same: get busy, have at it. Don’t wait for inspiration or passion to find you. Get up, get out, explore, find it yourself, and grab hold with both hands.”

I feel like I’ve heard this in every…single…graduation…speech……ever.
elizabeth says:

June 14, 2012 at 9:28 am

There was a time when conservatives argued for public discourse that elevated and enlightened. This just reopens the inter-generational insults one has become used to finding on this blog since BeliefNet days.

There’s nothing in this talk that this kids can’t find anywhere else, probably in their personal lives: “Dear kids whose crime was the year(s) of your birth, you aren’t special,” sneers an embittered elder.

I have worked with Xers and MIllennials. I’ll take the latter hands down. As Elizabeth Anne noted, most are hard working and want to contribute their efforts. Just show them how their part fits into a whole, something they believe in, and they are incredible engines of creativity and energy.

A more useful (college) address, one that should be repeated every year, came from the late David Foster Wallace. Send it to every new graduate you know. It’s on the net.
MBrown says:

June 14, 2012 at 9:43 am

Seems to me that he could’ve made the same points but done better by saying something to the effect of: “You can sacrifice, risk, build, and do something that matters. Or you can claim what you feel is your by right, then squander it on things that you think you desire, but will leave you living an unfulfilled, alienated, insignificant life. You can be like my parents’ generation, or you can be like my generation. I do hope that you choose the former, and reject the latter.”
Leapold says:

June 14, 2012 at 9:48 am

Oh, Charlieford. Thanks for giving me a good morning belly laugh.

You know, McCullough was merely trying to goad these graduates into not being complacent. Of course he had to generalize. That’s the nature of this sort of speech. It was far better than the one I had to listen to at my stepson’s commencement. The speaker said “Embrace the Moment” so many times, I was about ready to embrace the nearest rollerskating parrot.
Tyro says:

June 14, 2012 at 10:03 am

Wait, let me guess.. McCullough is a boomer?

There is a gem buried in here– the meaningful life comes from a lot of hard work and focus invested in over time. And if you clawed your way into an elite college, you probably already get that– they don’t hand out admission for free, but rather to those who spent a lot of weekends investing in intellectual and academic development.

I don’t quite get the millennial hate, though. I mean, I highly doubt that these graduates were any different than my graduating class was– a bunch of people with top educations and big dreams, touting admission to top grad schools and/or entrepreneurial plans.

Of course, the country was a more optimistic place at the time, and such ambitions weren’t considered inappropriate, and older generations didn’t had the same amount of insecurity, both frustrated at how the economy messed with their own lives as well as facing the hostility of younger generations who blamed them for creating the present predicament.

But in general, it does seem that millenials are a trendy “target”, right now, and I don’t quite fully understand why. I do seem to recognize that Rod has a penchant for looking around for who he thinks is an acceptable “target” to his audience (millenials, Trayvon Martin supporters, the family of that guy killed by police in France) and riding that horse hard.
Kinan says:

June 14, 2012 at 10:29 am

I’m not a Millenial, but if I have to read one more blog post or article about how bad the Mellenials are, I think I’m going to vomit.

These poor souls are just graduating, only to find themselves right in the middle of the worst job market in decades. Meanwhile, their parents and grandparents, those “responsible” people, have spent the last 3 decades voting in politicians who have absolutely wrecked the financial outlook of the US, not to mention its international reputation and prestige. Most developed nations around the world are sinking money into their infrastructure and educational systems, and it’s evident from the trends in test scores and achievement of international students. Here, we cut taxes and sink the majority of our taxpayer funds into entitlement spending for the elderly and national defense.

We don’t need to be lecturing the Millenials. We need to tell everyone over the age of 40 to grow up.
MBunge says:

June 14, 2012 at 10:32 am

“The first President Roosevelt, the old rough rider, advocated the strenuous life.”

What the heck has been so strenuous about McCullogh’s life?
reflectionephemeral says:

June 14, 2012 at 10:52 am

Elizabeth Anne has it: “Time and place, people.”

The idea that the fulfilling life requires work can be conveyed without acting like a jerk. See this David Foster Wallace speech. Very brief excerpt:

It’s the automatic way that I experience the boring, frustrating, crowded parts of adult life when I’m operating on the automatic, unconscious belief that I am the centre of the world, and that my immediate needs and feelings are what should determine the world’s priorities. The thing is that, of course, there are totally different ways to think about these kinds of situations. … The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day. That is real freedom. That is being educated, and understanding how to think. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default setting, the rat race, the constant gnawing sense of having had, and lost, some infinite thing.

As is Wallace’s wont, he articulates a whole series of possible first- and second-order objections to his own thesis during the speech. McCullough… maybe less so.
MH - Secular Misanthropist says:

June 14, 2012 at 11:30 am

I agree with the criticism that when read as text the speech has a nasty “kick ‘em while they’re down” vibe. However, when I heard the excerpt on the radio he was trying for a different vibe, but it fell flat. He got some nervous laughter, but after the third “you’re not special” it sounded like he lost his audience.

Also, the reason people watch “dramatic gopher” or “roller skating parrot” on YouTube is it is a heck of a lot more interesting than the dross on TV.
James Q. says:

June 14, 2012 at 12:05 pm

I think the responses to this are very telling of political sensitivies. If you find yourself somewhat offended because it’s mean and out of touch, and then you desire to expose the hypocrisy of the speaker, well… you know what you are.

I wasn’t nodding my head at every pithy example, but I did find the tone generally agreeable. It was of a biting realism similar to the English childrens’ stories of yesteryear. You know, Squirrel Nutkin loses his tail because the little bugger needed to learn some respect. What’s wrong with it? I don’t think that any of those students had cause to be personally offended. As a teacher, I know that they know what the man is talking about. Anything that values making a point above being “nice” and “celebrating” people, is okay in my book.
cka2nd says:

June 14, 2012 at 12:18 pm

Enough with the generational carping from both sides! The Baby Boomers didn’t muck up America, the Ruling Class did, and is.

Conservative, centrist or liberal, the Big Bourgeoisie has happily deregulated industry and finance, driven wages down, off-shored jobs and manufacturing, broken unions, re-built monopolies, cut pensions and wiped out billions of dollars of wealth by engaging in financial speculation and “creative accounting.” And accepted corporate welfare and demanded bailouts for themselves.

Greetings from Am Con’s (only?) Trotskyist subscriber!
Jack Ross says:

June 14, 2012 at 12:29 pm

I think the first commenter and others who have identified a degree of projection are definitely on to something, however noble these sentiments in the abstract. As one (today is my 27th birthday) I detest the word “millennial” and all the presumption that it implies from the boomers and X-ers. I suffer from a lot of entitlement and related issues being of a relatively privileged background, but I was never showered with vacuous awards and praise either. But yes, the boomers f—ed up and they f—ed up bad.
Nick says:

June 14, 2012 at 12:41 pm

First, he was speaking an audience of extraordinarily privileged kids. Context matters.

Second, the Boomers have spent our entire lives (I’m an X-er, I guess) telling us how special we are because if we’re special, and we’re theirs, they’re special, and Boomers are convinced they are gods among men. Somebody needs to start disabusing us of this deceipt so that we can deal with the fact that our standard of living is only going down from here due to the profligacy of our parents (and theirs).

But admittedly, this would have been better if coupled with a mea culpa on behalf of the Greediest Generation. Don’t just tell us “life’s gonna suck when you grow up” without saying “and it’s all the Boomers’ fault.”
Flarghlet says:

June 14, 2012 at 1:02 pm

I don’t mind the speech. If he’s tearing the graduates down in the first half, he’s at least building them up in the second half, telling them to work hard, do what they love, and do things for their own sake – good advice for anyone.

Though I wonder how much “carpe diem” advice comes from people looking back on their lives and wishing they hadn’t compromised or taken the safe course twenty or thirty years ago …

Flarghlet
Paul G. says:

June 14, 2012 at 1:05 pm

Maybe he’s using a little satire to make the point that at “commencement” the class is marking a beginning and not an end, and to accomplish great things and not become complacent? After skimming through the whole thing, I don’t get that he is picking on Millennials in particular, just that he is playing his role of the wise elder pushing the eager young minds forward. How well he does that is debatable, certainly, but it seems to me the reaction of some folks just demonstrates their desire to seize anything that buttresses whatever narrative they are obsessed with proving. I have no idea who David McCullough, Jr. is, but I suspect the students and families who heard his address and do know him, probably weren’t surprised at anything he said. Maybe they even laughed it they think of him as decent man and teacher.
matt says:

June 14, 2012 at 1:30 pm

He has the smarts– and the guts– to offer the definitive take-down of Barney.
thehova83 says:

June 14, 2012 at 1:32 pm

You want my generation and I to “get over myself”. What you don’t realize is that I’m a pretty big deal.

In all honesty, there’s nothing wrong with a little entitlement. I’m thankful for having it. I’ve lived quite a nice life due to my entitlement. High expectations are a good thing.

Don’t understand the grumpiness from McCullough.
Jon S says:

June 14, 2012 at 2:05 pm

While the criticisms posted here are certainly valid, this address would have at least kept me awake. That’s more than I can say for any other graduation address I’ve ever heard.
J says:

June 14, 2012 at 2:38 pm

Shorter David McCullough: you youngsters are going to be losers and time servers too, look at all the stuff we oldsters parents did for you ingrates, the world is pretty screwed up (let’s not get into whose fault that is) and the numbers are against you, the lawn is nice but you kids are stepping on it…but okay, try to live a real life anyway.

A wise man would cut all but the last point. The Boston Herald headline should have been Annoyed Old Man Rambles At Commencement, Kids Get Off His Lawn.

For what it’s worth, Wellesley is a nouveau riche-y Republican suburb of Boston. It’s a major chunk of the state Senate district in which now-U.S. Senator Scott Brown got elected and represented for a couple of terms and he’s typical for the locale in various respects. Most of the kids this speech was given to will fairly inevitably wind up in cubicles and small offices in corporate office buildings like their parents. I’ll guess that McCullough was asked to shake them up a bit. The manner in which he tried to do it was probably not the most effective.
What says:

June 14, 2012 at 3:59 pm

“Get Over Yourselves, Millenials.”

Wow, what an original headline, bro! Nearly as original as what’s-his-name’s speech about the Kids These Days. High five!
Laser says:

June 14, 2012 at 4:05 pm

As a GenXer I find enough contempt to spread between both boomer and millenials. They are both not up to the tasks history has placed before them. Boomers have no ability to sacrifice and think of anyone other than themselves at a time when the nation needs sacrifice and altruism. Millenials don’t have the toughness or moral reserves to face what is coming down the pike.
Woody Weaver says:

June 14, 2012 at 6:15 pm

Our local newspaper in Rhinelander WI ran a story about four teachers being laid off from their jobs because of cuts made by our “Nazi” Governor Scott Walker. Many of the teachers in our local school district have used their classrooms as political propaganda centers instead teaching our young people to think for themselves. Some of the letters to the editor of the local people contain the talking points of the state democratic party and the state teacher’s union WEAC. Other letters contained the usual inane tripe about how hardworking and sacrificial these public employees are toward their students. While I’m not entirely familiar with the workings with our local schools, The natives tell me that is not unusual for a few teachers to be laid off at the end of a school year only to be hired back when a few others retire. When our graduating “young adults” show they can actually think for themselves, maybe I will display a modicum of appreciation for their achievements. I believe that Mr McCollough could have been more tactful with his comments but in the main I agree with him.

Woody Weaver
Tyro says:

June 14, 2012 at 6:18 pm

Man, we just beating the Millenials when they are down eh?

It is a relatively well known and useful social strategy learned in high school that the best way to avoid being bullied yourself is to seek out someone less socially favored and start bullying that person. It both unites everyone against that person, distracting from you, as well as demonstrating that you have the social awareness of who is “in” and who is “out.” Also, by attacking the disfavored group, you argue implicitly thAt you are part of the “favored” group. It is a basic social survival skill. It is actually challenging because you have to be in a constant state of awareness to figure out who is the “disfavored” group, because if you’re not quick enough on the uptake, the attention might be turned on you.
J says:

June 14, 2012 at 6:33 pm

But in general, it does seem that Millenials are a trendy “target”, right now, and I don’t quite fully understand why.

The Eisenhower-to-Reagan America that conservatives consider desirable and normative is truly outside the experience, and completely passé, to Millenials. This is infuriating to some.
stef says:

June 14, 2012 at 6:51 pm

On the other hand, did anyone give him a big raspberry and walk out?

Of course, everybody wants the younger generations to “grab hold of something,” unless the something happens to be that which the oldsters don’t want the youngsters to touch.
o.h. says:

June 14, 2012 at 9:08 pm

Oh, please. Hey Mc Cullough, 1994 just called, it wants its generational contempt back.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/1994/06/05/generalizations-x.html

My mother is a Boomer; I’m a GenXer; my just-graduated daughter is, I suppose, a Millennial. Yeah, we get married early and have our babies quick so we can hit all the generational stereotypes.

When the Washington Post was sneering at my generation, I had just finished college, gotten married, had a job, and was soon to have my first child. My Boomer mom, who supposedly wrecked everything good, worked twelve-hour days to feed and shelter her kids and hasn’t stopped yet. My pampered, cossetted Millennial daughter worked her butt off to graduate early and get into a strong state university in their honors math/science program.

My littlest is a preschooler. I wonder what her generation will be criticized for? I expect she’ll be too busy to care.
cka2nd says:

June 14, 2012 at 11:58 pm

Laser says: “Boomers have no ability to sacrifice and think of anyone other than themselves at a time when the nation needs sacrifice and altruism.”

Which Boomers are we talking about? The developmental aides who will be lucky to retire on a pension of $20,000/year, if they can retire at all? The manufacturing workers who have seen their jobs off-shored? The former meatpackers whose wages were cut while injury rates skyrocketed? The Boomers working forced overtime or multiple jobs to make ends meet?

It’s the bankers and the brokers folks, Boomer, Gen X or Millenial. The CEO’s serving on each other’s boards and approving one another’s obscene compensation and severance packages. The sports team owners who’d rather squeeze millions out of the taxpayers than put up much, if any, of their own money to build new profit-centric stadiums and arenas.

It’s a class war, not a generational one.
IanH says:

June 15, 2012 at 12:56 am

I’m getting a hoot out of all the complaining about being unfair to Millennials, as if they’ve ever done anything to be proud of.

Keep up the good work Rod.
M.Z. says:

June 15, 2012 at 10:45 am

I’m getting a hoot out of all the complaining about being unfair to Millennials, as if they’ve ever done anything to be proud of.

Many of them have fought and died in two wars on our behalf. I think that is something.

Considering these kids came of age in a post 9/11 world, the desciption of them having a naive optimism seems like poor analysis. Most of them in college do feel they are entitled to a middle class lifestyle if they work hard and make the right choices. Those not in college don’t expect a lot of life, but they aren’t the focus of these things. It should come as little shock though that those who desire to be the elite of tomorrow act entitled. Who was the last leader you met who didn’t act that?
Mitchell Young says:

June 15, 2012 at 1:37 pm

What’s interesting to me is that a more serious contempt (and that’s not what McCollaugh was expressing) towards young Americans is widespread. Just yesterday I was reading about the lack of summer jobs for teens — 7 in 10 who either want to work and can’t find a job, or want to work more hours than they are currently getting. The comments section to the article was mostly a bunch of complaints about how lazy, foul mouthed, unpleasant, young teens are, despite the fact that the article made clear –with, you know, social science — that the problem is largely due to competition from older immigrant workers, recent college grads who can’t get real jobs, and older American workers ‘downshifting’ into what were previously ‘youth’ jobs.
James Kabala says:

June 15, 2012 at 6:34 pm

How many eighteen-year-olds really think they’re special? I don’t disagree that many young people (and older people) are lazy and entitled, but I think it’s more because most people don’t want to have work hard if they don’t have to, not because they do or don’t have any intrinsic feelings of self-worth. Selfishness may be a problem, but I don’t think that necessarily always correlates with high self-esteem – some people are selfish precisely because they know they’re on the bottom rung and need to claw their way up ruthlessly. I know this is an affluent suburb (64 degrees and cloudy? – if you get that allusion you must be Generation X), but I still am skeptical as to whether McCullough Jr. had diagnosed the real problem.