CBC Sneers at Youth

Last night, Tuesday, 01 February 2011, I attempted to watch the National, a program that I once thoroughly enjoyed, but of late have not been overly partial to. I was intending to watch it, not out of a sense that it is particularly impartial, nor more likely to be more intellectually stimulating. Nor do I feel that it is the most likely program to give the “Canadian Impression,” though at one time all of these were true. I watched it out of a certain deep-seated nationalistic pride, the likes of which seethes just below the surface in many of the proud Canadians of my generation. The CBC is OUR national television network, after all.  

Early on, I realised that I had made a mistake, when during a segment on the current situation in Egypt, Susan Ormiston began speaking of Egypt’s National Television network. The words “government run television” dripped with distain, as she attempted to spit them out, the taste of them too much for her. The reek of hypocrisy was overpowering, coming from a respected reporter from a long time Crown Corporation. However, I swallowed my guile, in the hopes that the program would be able to redeem itself in my eyes. I wish I could say I was not disappointed, however, I make a point of being truthful, and disappointment would be an understatement.  

As soon as the segment on a recent and contentious CRTC ruling over the institution of Bandwidth fees by Internet Service Providers (from here on, ISP) began, I became so insulted that I was forced to turn the program off altogether.

The pious commentary, oozing with derision, over a generation “who cannot imagine existing offline.” The arrogance and hypocrisy of this statement caused my stomach to churn, and only demonstrates why the CBC’s main audience is made up of octogenarians. Such pomposity is not only inappropriate, but insulting to those of us viewers of the generation raised to rely on computers.   It is indeed true, of course, that the youth of today are more reliant upon technology than in previous generations. This is not a negative thing. However, if it were, lets examine the causes. For many years now, there have been a section of society who seem to believe Nintendo or Play-Station to be an easy alternative to parenting skills. Teachers and professors for many years now have refused to accept hand written assignments, because that it is easier to make even the under-privileged who perhaps cannot afford a computer, rather than teach proper grammar, spelling, or printing skills.

Moreover, many employers refuse to accept hard copies of CVs (Resumes if you prefer) and covering letters, because they find it inconvenient to actually read through all of the applications, when there is a program which will screen applicants based on a keyword search, even if that means penalizing applicants with a broader vocabulary. So, I ask you, who is to blame for our reliance upon technology?

The very generation now sneering at us on what was once a respectable national News program.   At Twenty-seven, I have for several years now been the youngest member of staff in my office. As a result, when an older colleague is under the impression that their computer is not working properly, they almost invariably turn to me (likely because the technical support staff have told them to stop calling so frequently). As a result, when ‘Jane’ discovers her computer is frozen, I go and show her how to plug her mouse back in. When ‘Bill’ thinks his computer will not turn on, I show him the power button on the monitor. Yet, in apparent agreement with the team at the CBC, once we ‘youngsters’ are finished setting up their email, or programming their teleprompters, etcetera, we become an unwanted nuisance.

Not only the CBC, but Canadian television in general, has a reputation for being somewhat akin to visual elevator music, bland and unexciting. Why? Because they target a shrinking and aging segment of the population, which is distrustful and disdainful of youth, they exclude all others. And yet that segment is increasingly reliant on those same youth.   As the “Baby-Boomers” retire, it is the CPP deductions being paid by those still in the workforce, not the payments that they themselves made thirty years ago, which they are relying upon for their pension payments each month.

Yet, as any recent university graduate can tell you, we are all too often rejected from jobs, because we are “too young, too ambitious, too inexperienced, and too full of new ideas and methods” to be a good fit for the job. As a result, we are forced to work low level jobs, well below our training level, if we can find even those without being rejected as “over-qualified.” The fact that this age discrimination is adhered too so widely is part of the reason that retirement ages are going up around the world; there is no one left to fill the positions, because when they applied they were rejected, and denied the experience needed to step up.

The younger generation are increasingly relegated to lower-paying jobs, which means those CPP deductions they are making, which the older generations will be living on, are becoming less and less. The consequences of this rejection and discrimination towards youth are many and far reaching.  

Currently, the global economy is still trying to recover. Here in Canada, jobs are indeed still being lost. Many who have been working for decades, are out of work and collecting EI for the first time in their lives. This is in part due to the fact that those young ambitious types, full of new ideas and innovation are being marginalized here. As a result, Canadian industry stagnates and becomes outpaced by foreign markets. This discriminatory death-spiral is a self induced alienation of a large part of society from its future in an impotent attempt to justify the errors and neglect of its past.

Clearly this is a problem which needs to be rectified, not reinforced by (arguably unintended) bigoted remarks by our national news agency.   I am young, educated, and yes heavily reliant on my computer. That is the reality of the Twenty-first Century. Do not scoff or sneer at my generation because out of a variety of motivations, including laziness or misplaced priorities, previous generations have thrust this need upon us.

While unintended, the tone of the segment, and the narrow-minded attitude represented by comments about my generation’s ability to “imagine existence” without our laptops, or our MP3 players are insulting; particularly coming from a generation who already turns to us to show them how to use their mobile-phones, replace the ink or toner in their printers, and generally how to work anything electronic. The younger generations will one day be running this country, whether the older generations like it or not. With that in mind, please attempt to show us a little more respect.