Today's Youth Thankfully not "Born in the 50s"

Thomas Friedman laments that the younger generation isn't as radical as his generation was. I guess that inexplicable preachy arrogance that his generation displayed in the 1960s hasn't mellowed with age. I for one am thankful that 20 year olds these days are more humble, perhaps because they understand just how little experience and knowledge of the world they have. This to me is preferable to Friedman’s arrogant and presumptuous generation that thought they knew better than their elders and blindly sought to wreck institutions that had grown up over decades of thoughtful trial and error. Friedman's generation were just like any other generation in their 20s, essentially ignorant and blind to world, just a bunch of curious minds on the cusp of participation in society. What was different about Friedman's generation is that they took their greenness in stride and assumed a level of importance and entitlement anyway. Their mentality is captured in the song by The Police, "Born in the 50s":

We were the class they couldn't teach
'Cos we knew better...

You don't understand us
So don't reprimand us
We're taking the future
We don't need no teacher

Sting had it pretty right, that generation felt it didn't need to learn, didn't need to observe and cultivate some seasoned understanding, they just knew. So, based on the evidence of Friedman's collegiate tours and his assessment, I am thoroughly relieved, elated even, at the political posture of today's youth.

Aside: I feel bad for Friedman's daughter. Apparently nobody taught her not to believe everything she reads in the paper.