Generation Me Post

In writing Generation Me, Jean Twenge’s description of the generation’s viewpoint on religion seems to make sense as to why she leaves no room for discussion on the subject- though the distaste for a subject that could possibly unravel her entire thesis aids her choice in the matter. Within the two-page description on religious paradigms found within the book, slowly trailing off into a ramble about semi-related subjects, Twenge asserts that “GenMe is not very religious” and that very few are “conservative believers” (34). This allows her to further her claim of the individualism and acceptance of others’ views as confirmed by her statistics noting that “GenMe is twice as likely to agree with the statement ‘There is no single right way to live’” (19). As she understands it, this conclusively proves that she has no need to discuss religion any further because; first, there is no one way to discuss the concept and generalize as she is prone to do and, second, it is not a central tenet of our lives. A key flaw emerges when she admits that there are increasing members of “fundamentalist Christian denominations that do require more strict adherence” (35). While she tries to exempt this by asserting that they are more individualistic than ever, she forgets to address the fact that fundamentalists are overwhelmingly under the impression that there IS one single right way to live and that they are, by definition, “conservative believers” (which she claims to be few in number). She leaves off a large room for error by not even addressing a point that completely contradicts everything she had said about Generation Me up to that point. Fundamentalism and religious tension have remained fairly consistent in recent years and they show no signs of decreasing by dramatic numbers. Religion leaves a hole in Twenge’s theory- a hole that she attempted to cover by lack of discussion on the subject. From her perspective, she made the right decision. I cannot fathom to explain how I would have addressed religion within her book because there seems to be no right direction to take religion considering that generalizations on such a subject would be unwise and foolish.