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Generation O?

Nov 12th 2008

By: tom cottar

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Has it only been a week since the election? Maybe it’s me, but it feels like a month. People form all sides are still talking about what the election of Barack Obama means. So I thought I’d pass along some interesting links I’ve run across in the past few days.

Younger Voters. Good or bad. Informed on the issues or driven by image. Either way, president-elect Obama’s reach to younger voters seemed to work to his favor. Catholics overall favored Obama (which is surprising, given his stance on the abortion issue–the Catholic church has historically supported pro-life candidates.). Protestants and evangelicals overall favored McCain. Obama made significant inroads among young Christians, as reported here and here.

The Cosbys? Another very interesting article argues that Bill Cosby’s popular show paved the way for Obama’s presidency. Evidently Karl Rove agrees that the Cliff Huxtable sitting in our living room each week helped pave the way for Barack and Michelle.

Fear. Some obviously fear this is the beginning of the end. What about the "President-Elect Antichrist"? Check out YWJ columnist Walt Mueller’s thoughts.

Of course, some are starting to refer to Generation O.

*special thanks to YouthWorker eJournal..

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- scott
  
  November 12th, 2008 at 11:49
  
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  Younger voters? Or is this more another revelation of the cultural shift in Western culture in general? Yes, that means it is tied in large part to those who are younger. But if you approach it through the lens of age, I think it might impair your view of the larger picture. After listening to several of her talks and interviews, I ordered Phyllis Tickle’s newest book, The Great Emergence. I don’t think I entirely agree with the particular sociological view off which she riffs for faith in general and Christianity in particular. I sense some significant shortcomings in it. Nevertheless, it definitely has merit. We are in the midst of a broad sociological cultural shift the likes of which does not occur very often.
  
  Here I find myself in a somewhat odd place. Technically I’m on the leading edge of ‘Gen X’ (or whatever you want to label it). However, when viewed through the lens of cultural change I have been culturally shaped in a way that looks much more like those younger than me than the majority of my peers. I’ve found that most around my age seem to view the world through a lens that is much more like the lens of those from the preceding several hundred years. Since I’ve spent about a decade and a half in an evangelical setting, I will say that’s particularly true, for whatever reason, in that cultural environment. Even where we have shared life experiences, we don’t perceive them through the same lens.
  
  It’s odd. And difficult to express in words. Everyone is shaped by a culture. It’s not something you can avoid or even choose. I think many of the differences that are tagged as ‘age-related’ are more accurately tagged to this cultural shift. And when you look at the election through that lens, I think things make more sense.
  
  The cultural forces which are emerging are deeply and thoroughly pluralistic. Many who stand on the other side of that cultural divide tend to view that as a negative. In truth, as with most things cultural, it has its positives and its negatives. I do think that force played into this election on multiple levels, not just the obvious one of race.
  
  You also saw culturally relativistic forces at play. Again, that’s something that tends to be viewed as entirely negative from the other side of the cultural gap. But it’s not. Culturally relative forces bring with them a tendency to try to view things in context, to weigh the impacts and the potential for relative gain, and a tendency against reductionism. I would call all of those good things. But then, it’s how I view the world.
  
  Did The Cosby Show shape perception or was it on the leading edge of changing perceptions? To be honest, I think it was some of both. It certainly didn’t hurt.
  
  I’ll steer clear of the fear-mongering issue. My one tweet on the topic said all I care to say. I see nothing positive or helpful in this area at all. Nor do I see anything that looks even vaguely like Jesus or like Christianity when it looks like Jesus. I find it all abhorrent.
  
  Generation O? Why not? It’s as useful as any other label.
- scott
  
  November 12th, 2008 at 11:52
  
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  Oh, and the shift in the Catholic vote owes as much to the increasing percentage of American Catholics who are Hispanic as anything else. If Barack had not significantly won the Hispanic vote, it’s like the Catholic vote would have tilted the other way. Still, Catholics have generally been more 50/50 in their voting habits than the evangelical subculture.
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