It's a Facebook World

I was at first only going to link this article because it mentions Mason in the introduction, but there is more to be said.

I didn’t know that our generation has a new name. I’ve heard us referred to as Generation Y, Generation M, Generation Einstein, the Google Generation, (Tom Friendman’s label) Generation Q…according to this article, we are Millennials. For the record, that’s the worst name of the lot.

The article, while not claiming explicitly that a membership in an Obama Facebook group translates into an Obama vote, begins to suggest such a notion. I’m a member of a Facebook group that is collectively excited for a zombie apocalypse; another that claims that Natalie Portman is my girlfriend. Facebook groups are not meant to be taken seriously; sorry, not even political ones. Also, joining a Facebook group is a lot different than going to a polling place or, worse, painstakingly filling out an absentee ballot, god forbid! The media playing up the presence of Facebook is fine, but let’s not get unrealistic here. If that’s possible.

Overall the article paints a pretty picture of the current coming-of-age generation and projects a sunny future for our level of political involvement. It’s a nice idea, but they use statistics that I’m afraid, as usual, are little more than extrapolations of small sample sizes. Basically, the message is bordering on making me hopeful, which worries me.

It also paints most of “us” as being liberal even though it makes a politically correct point of saying that we are unable to be typecast, as a generation. As a friend recently related to me: he was liberal too, once; and then he grew up.

Speaking of political correctness, I hope that that is a fad that our generation casts by the wayside. I hope our generation has a sense of humor when we grow up: that will solve or at least clear the path to solve many problems, in the political realm and the media, and, in turn, their effects on one another, which at the moment are largely detrimental. And that’s something I think we can all agree upon, regardless of political personal views.

Good news: In a few months, SportsCenter will go live in the mornings. This is good news because I watch the 6 and 7 am editions and, often, the 11 pm or midnight ones as well and I’d like to not see repeats in the mornings.

Tasty: Watch LeBron James eat NBA Defensive Player of the Year Kevin Garnett for lunch at the end of this clip.