Millennials
From Gamergate to “Ghostbusters” to Suicide Squad: The Problem of Fan Entitlement
Aug 9, 2016 | Animals and Animal Rights, Gender and Sexism, Internet Culture, mic, Millennials, Race and Racism
Published: Salon (August 9, 2016) It’s easy to roll your eyes at the “Suicide Squad” petition. In case you’ve been lucky enough to miss the news, fans of the new movie “Suicide Squad” have created an online movement to shut down aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes for posting predominantly negative reviews of their beloved film. Cue the inevitable jokes about how nerds need to get a life. Is it...
The troubling and counterproductive trend of liberals policing free speech: We cannot silence those we disagree with
Aug 5, 2016 | Civil Liberties, mic, Millennials
Published: Salon (August 5, 2016) co-authored with Mark Schierbecker When Donald Trump was asked last November to give his opinion on the student-led protests at the University of Missouri, he called them “disgusting,” adding to Fox Business News that “I think the two people that resigned are weak, ineffective people. […] Trump should have been the chancellor of that University. Believe me....
Campus protests can go viral in no time–so can the backlash
Nov 27, 2015 | Autobiographical, Civil Liberties, Education, Internet Culture, Millennials
Published: The Daily Dot (November 27, 2015) It’s hard to follow the recent flurry of college protests without being reminded of President Harry S. Truman, who famously said that “there is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know.” As the media continues to fete attention on high-profile student demonstrations at Yale, Wesleyan, Princeton, and the University of Missouri, one...
Hillary Clinton, unpaid internships, and the culture of exploiting young workers
Jul 9, 2015 | Class Issues, Education, Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), mic, Millennials
Published: Daily Dot (July 9, 2015) Although Hillary Clinton has proposed a series of programs for reducing youth unemployment, she has also come under fire on the Internet for staffing her presidential campaign with unpaid interns. In response, Clinton announced on Tuesday that she was hiring 20 paid staffers in Iowa (the first state to hold a presidential primary or caucus next year). But, as...
What 9 World Leaders Were Doing In Their 20s
Jun 2, 2015 | Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), General Advice, History, mic, Millennials, World Affairs
Published: Question of the Day (June 2, 2015) These were really formative years. The 20-something years are often as sharply defined by the “something” aspect of that term than by their numerical designation. This is the decade in which so many of us struggle to find ourselves in our careers; for some, the path lies clearly in front of us, while for others it wind around and is covered in...
The Plight of the Basement Dweller
Apr 21, 2015 | Autobiographical, Class Issues, Gender and Sexism, Mental Illness, mic, Millennials
Published: Good Men Project (April 21, 2015) Basement dwellers. Trolls. We’re all familiar with this personality type: Matthew Rozsa offers an explanation as to why they exist in the first place. ___ “Cellar dwellers.” That was the expression that my friend’s husband used when referring to the trolls who posted misogynistic comments under her latest article. After laughing at the generation gap...
Why I’ve Never Thrown Myself A Birthday Party
Apr 4, 2015 | Autobiographical, Holiday Season, Millennials
Published: Good Men Project (April 4, 2015) Like so many Millennials, Matthew Rozsa isn’t sure he sees the point in throwing birthday parties. — It recently occurred to me that, in less than five weeks, I will be turning thirty years old. May 8th, to be exact – I was born on the same day that New Coke was released into the global marketplace with infamously lackluster results. It was also the...
In Defense of Being Opinionated
Apr 2, 2015 | General Advice, Internet Culture, mic, Millennials
Published: Good Men Project (April 2, 2015), Daily Dot (April 6, 2015) Is it entitled for millennials to believe their opinions matter? Matthew Rozsa argues: No. ___ Writers tend to be argumentative creatures (it’s part of our opinionated personality type), and consequently some of my most memorable debates have been with other practitioners of my craft. Such was the case a couple months ago...
Why teens are joining ISIS
Mar 3, 2015 | mic, Millennials, Religion and Religious Issues, Terrorism
Published: Daily Dot (March 3, 2015) A New York Times article published last week drew attention to the growing trend among affluent, intelligent, and socially well-adjusted young women joining ISIS or other Islamic terrorist organizations. This phenomenon struck the Grey Lady as particularly curious because, as a lawyer for the families of one of the girls put it: “It is those young people who...