Conservative New York Times opinion columnist David Brooks has never been known for his relatable hot takes, and several times a year it seems he'll publish a piece that provides Twitter a day's worth of mockery.

Today, Brooks published an op-ed titled "The Age Of Coddling Is Over", which, by most readers, was deemed pretty bad. Brooks' piece, a relatively standard Boomer diatribe about how parents have been overprotective of children and caused them to be unprepared for the real world, ticked off enough people that his name trended on Twitter.

Though Brooks' piece doesn't specifically mention Millennials, all the hallmarks of a "These Dang Kids"-style post are there. There's an absurd anecdote about overprotective parenting:

"…parents are now more likely to accommodate their child’s fears: accompanying a 9-year-old to the toilet because he’s afraid to be alone, preparing different food for a child because she won’t eat what everyone else eats."

There are rosy-eyed callbacks to "the way things were":

"I’m reminded of Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s 1931 memoir. When hiring doctors for his hospital in the African jungle, he wrote, he never hired anyone who thought he was doing something grand and heroic. The only doctors who would last are those who thought what they were doing was as ordinary and necessary as doing the dishes."

Unsourced complaints about schools banning contact sports and boosting grades:

"Meanwhile, schools ban dodge ball and inflate grades. Since 2005 the average G.P.A. in affluent high schools has risen from about 2.75 to 3.0 so everybody can feel affirmed."

Twitter found Brooks' opinion amidst a global pandemic that has forced unemployment in America to skyrocket to over 22 million people a bit, shall we say, ill-timed.






On behalf of all millennials, thank you David Brooks, not for your piece, but for providing a day's worth of entertainment.


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Comments 6 total

tman105

Millennial fought on the front lines of two wars, are currently the generation fighting on the front lines of this pandemic, have lived through three recessions, multiple major terrorist attacks, countless shootings, paid more than any other generation ever simply to give ourselves a chance later in life, and i personally have had a job since i was 16. and both the stopping of dodgeball or any perceived helping in school we got were because of the baby boomers crying about both of those things.

coddling? when have we ever been coddled? Far as i can tell we have spent our whole lives being fucked by boomers in one way or another.

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tman105

Seriously, you know who didnt want dodgeball to go away? you know what group was the MOST against that when it happened?

THE FUCKING MILLENNIALS!

they took it away from PE Classes, said it was for our own good, made our lives worse, and now they use it against us as if we had any fucking say in the matter.

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Panuru

> If David Brooks hates millennials so much then why did he marry one?

4

Raji_Lev

Water is wet, fire is hot, and boomers are full of shit.

8

Phhase

"Coddling". If this was coddling, I don't want to see normal life.

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