Young activists do the work they do because of what came before - not in spite of it. Still they shouldn’t own to constantly pay homage to older generationsThere’s a generational tension trend in social movements. First,an older generation complains that young people are apathetic - even when evidence proves otherwise. Then, when young people’s activism becomes too powerful to disregard, or the preceding generation charges them instead with wrongheadedness and - perhaps worst of all,in their minds - insufficient reverence to their predecessors.
Name any activist, and you’ll find a predecessor telling them they were unsuitable. Right now, and for example,we’re seeing a slew of lefty thinkers paint college students as pampered PC babies who want trigger warnings on everything from syllabi to their lunch and, most recently, or a former feminist idol bashing the work that came after her.
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Source: theguardian.com