Generation Yupster and the dawning of the age of antithesis

As an expatriate Tuftonian stationed in Washington, D.C. on the eve of an election, I have had ample time to reflect on the relationship between politics and my generation. Washington is abuzz with such a case of election fever that even young people, with their traditionally low voter turnout, are not exempt from the symptoms. It is customary to discuss politics at a rally, in the workplace, at a dinner party, in a convenience store, out at a crowded bar, with your cab driver, in whispers at the movie theater or while you are being mugged. Politics is the subject of greetings, pick-up lines, coffee breaks and pillow talk.

During my time thus far in Washington, I have happened upon an interesting voting demographic. After careful observation, I have come to several conclusions about the life and habits of these members of the “echo boomer” or “millennial” generation. A bizarre combination of hipster common men and yuppie elitists has morphed many “Generation Y-ers” into Generation Yupsters. The first element of the Generation Yupster dichotomy is a desire to distance oneself from a privileged upbringing and be considered a common man (or, shall I say, “person”). But the Yupster also strives to be an elitist and exclusivist with regard to technology, environmental ethos, politics, etc. It is this conflict of values, the everyman versus the elitist, which causes a clash of identity and aptly characterizes Generation Yupster.

Housing location is crucial to a Yupster. After finishing their expensive private-college education, Yupsters tend to promptly move into lower-income areas. This is not only because the Yupsters’ parents have stopped funding them, but also because they derive great pleasure in referring to themselves as “gentrification pioneers.” While visiting a friend’s apartment in a higher-income area, Yupsters may refer to the apartment as “bourgie” (for bourgeois) or swanky, always with the slightest hint of derisiveness. When asked if they ever attend town hall meetings or community events in their neighborhoods, however, Yupsters will most likely look away and mumble something resembling, “Totally would … real down-to-earth people, you know … not like from [insert wealthy part of town here] … but you know … Heroes is always on at that time … ”

It is obligatory for all Yupsters to not only care about the environment and lead eco-friendly lives, but also to condemn others for being “part of the problem and not the solution.” Yupsters tote canvas bags for groceries, eco-friendly water bottles and organic clothing, often purchased at substantially higher prices than the environmentally unfriendly alternatives. If you ask Yupsters why they are sitting in near-darkness in their houses, they will probably look all the way down their nose to tell you that energy-saving light bulbs may take a while to actually light a room, but they are certainly the way of the future.

Yupsters enjoy the feeling of moral superiority they get from making eco-friendly purchases. In the frozen yogurt shop where I work nights and weekends, we receive lavish praise for our eco-friendly policies. We proudly advertise our use of corn-based biodegradable spoons and cups. We do not, however, mention that they are available only upon request because they cost eleven times as much as regular, planet-killing cups and spoons. This does not seem to bother our Yupster clientele, as Yupsters rarely remember to ask for them anyway.

Yupsters also thrive off knowing things before you do. For Yupsters, products of the Information Age, knowing is being, and knowing first is being the best. Be it a new phone, bar, Web site or musician, Yupsters love the sounds of their own incredulous voices as they tell you all about something they cannot believe you have lived this long without. Be it Pandora, Zipcar or Netflix, there are certain services of which all Yupsters must be aware. Ignorance of the latest “it” thing is a severe faux pas.

So how do Yupsters, with their strong yet oft-antithetical value system, view the upcoming election? They see Obama as a striking, Kennedyesque figure and welcome his platform with open arms. They shiver with disgust when McCain supporters chant, “Drill, baby, drill,” and they are utterly horrified at the notion that McCain does not understand how to use a computer. The fact that they are going to vote overwhelmingly Democratic is a surprise to no one.

The real shock for Yupsters will be when the results are in and the election is over. As almost every reputable poll states, Obama is predicted to win in November. His victory will automatically cause great divides in Generation Yupster. Yupsters are a generation whose political consciousness matured almost entirely under one president. Yupsters have gotten so accustomed to decrying their leadership that they cannot imagine the presidency as anything less than despicable. They do not flinch at the depiction of Bush with a Hitler mustache on T-shirts, and they never fail to laugh at a joke about his intelligence (or lack thereof).

Now, they have spent the last 20 months rooting for the dark-horse candidate. Obama is seen as a demigod among Yupsters, who proudly wear Che Guevara-style silhouettes of his face splashed across their chests. Where will their allegiances fall if Obama becomes the next commander in chief? Do they love Obama more than they hate the presidency? Can one man reverse the eight years that Yupsters have spent hating the presidency, scoffing at signs of patriotism and cementing their negative image of America?

Hold on a sec, I’ll have to look that one up on my iPhone.

--

Cory Siskind is a junior majoring in international relations and minoring in history. She is currently taking the semester off to intern in Washington, D.C.

Comments

3 comments

Alex Steed

Sun Oct 19 2008 14:15

Addendum - With regard to my comments, I do understand that you are referring to a particular "type" within the generation, but the criticism comes entirely without context of an explanation of the larger generation as a whole. It is that subtly I am referring to in the latter two responses.

Alex Steed

Sun Oct 19 2008 13:59

I was happy to come across your piece this morning. Below, I've attached a few observations:

1) I wholly agree with the last comment re: the op-ed's flawed logic regarding the generational attitude. I understand the impulse to pose the question, "How will we react / work with a president if we're required to engage on a level deeper than [often fashionable] repulsion or hatred?" However, credit should be given to the fact that the Millennial generation is much more optimistic in the wake of a largely-agreed-upon disaster presidency than was the immediate post-Nixon generation.

What I worry about with regard to Millennials and Obama is that if he gets elected into office, many might think that the mission has been accomplished, so to speak, and that engagement will shrink back down to next-to-zero. What I am optimistic about is that our collective experience with the Bush Administration leads us all, Democrat and Republican, to remember the importance of keeping our leadership in-line. The every-4-year drop off in participation is a famous one, but buy-in to seeing change occur, be it via an NPO, an advocacy group, a political campaign, or whatever, has never been lower and more convenient. We'll have to wait and see how that plays out over time.

2) As pointed out in Morley Winograd's and Michael Hais's book Millennial Makeover, it is, in fact, somewhat surprising that so many young people are turning out for a Democrat. In the context of all of the "Boo hoo - If this generation is so engaged, why aren't they fighting in the streets like kids were back in the 60s banter," one would think that people have forgotten that twice as many young people identified as conservative in the 60s as they do today.

3) Perhaps your perception of Millennial-as-yuppie has more to do with the fact that a) you work in the Beltway, b) attend an affluent private university and c) work in a frozen yogurt shop than it does this yupster factor you outline here. Having attended the University of Southern Maine, a school with a commuter-heavy population, I had an entirely different experience with the sampling of Millennials I studied and worked with. My peers were, for the most part, hard working and humble young people who just-so-happened to be raised during an information boom, a terrorist attack on US soil, and unpopular Presidency. I've worked at hipster coffee scenes and worked with yuppies while working on political campaigns myself, and those experiences have turned me off from those communities and the behaviors within those communities that I recognized in myself. That cross-section, however, is not representative of even a small fraction of the people my age I've been in regular contact with.

Your contention with the affluent-post-grad-slums-it-for-the-sake-of-authenticity is one that is much older than this generation (rent The Landlord, Hal Ashby's much more entertaining, 37-year-old criticism of this pattern). Hipsters will be hipsters, and yuppies will be yuppies, but based on my experiences growing up and talking with Millennials from across the country, your somewhat privileged experience surely invokes a reaction, but it surely isn't representative of the 80 million Millennials that live in this country.

--
Alex Steed
Millennials Changing America
(207) 939 - 6188
Site: http://www.millennialschangingamerica.com
Blog: http://millennials.change.org

C

Sun Oct 19 2008 01:39

I was not aware that Generation Yupster hated the presidency. Most of them vaguely remember President Clinton as not as bad as Bush, so they can't possibly think it's the presidency's fault. Plus, most of them are smart enough (as well as members of the Information Age) enough to know that Bush does not equal what the American presidency stands for. Why do you think they're rallying around someone to be president, rather than being anarchists or moving to Canada?

If it's a Kennedyesque figure they're seeking, they're quite aware that Kennedy, in fact, was a president as well. The only reason Generation Yupster (and many others) scoff at signs of patriotism is that, when used by the wrong people, it's a cover-up for bad policy. I don't identify with most of your description of Generation Yupster, though I am at the low end of the age range for it. But while I dislike patriotism when misused, I proudly framed the post-9/11 Newsweek cover (with the firefighters raising the flag), I bought a Patriot Bond (even if it was just a series EE bond that says "Patriot Bond" on it), and while I can't find the American flag that I kept in my dorm all last year, I have my Uncle Sam-esque hat that I've had since I was 6. And yet I shiver in disgust at "Drill, baby, drill" if it means a singlemindedness on oil production and not diversifying energy resources.

The majority of your op-ed is a reality check for those who embrace certain causes because it's the hip thing to do -- as if "being socially responsible" has turned into a clique for some people, with all the negative connotations that cliques bring. But when you try to argue (without antecedent) that Generation Yupster in its entirety hates the presidency and America -- it doesn't make any sense to me. In fact, the one thing that this generation, whether Yupsterite or not, was raised to believe in was how great the U.S. Constitution is, and part of that Constitution contains the presidency -- the executive branch that keeps America led and enforces the laws and the Constitution. That's even better than sweet apple pie.

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