Rhetorical Analysis Of Why Millennials Will Save Us All

“Why Millennials Will Save Us All” Analytical Essay It is self-evident that society sees those born into the large generation of millennials as self-centered, lazy, and shallow. In the article, “Why Millennials Will Save Us All,” Joel Stein establishes this sentiment using a mix of logos and ethos, before cleverly defending the millennials by conveying his argument through a conversational tone and ethos. His initial use of statistics paints a biased picture of the typical millennial, a person on their smartphone, who lacks important social skills, the ability to make intelligent decisions, and is narcissistic to an unimaginable degree. This picture captures the millennials in the perspective of the generations before them, luring the target

A mixture of logos and ethos results in a sensible tone and case that the target audience, older adults, will find credible and worth reading. He states statistics, studies, surveys, and other sources that all affirm society’s view on the millennials, a generation consisting of 80 million people, is factually sound. Those older than the millennials were validated because their generalization of these human beings were true. In their perspective, all millennials are narcissistic, fame-obsessed, and incapable of becoming mature, self-sustaining adults. By quoting esteemed professors, authors, and experts using ethos, Stein explains that the narcissism is a result of technology and parenting techniques from the 1970s and proceeds to say that an effect of narcissism, entitlement, is another famous negative aspect of millennials. Stein

To offer more perspective on the subject of narcissism, Stein ridicules his own faulty characteristics, “... I'm aware that I started this piece--in which I complain about millennials' narcissism--with the word I… [and] it was impossible not to remember, the whole time I was accusing millennials of being lazy, that I was supposed to finish this article nearly a year ago” (30). These personal accounts of his own traits introduce the fact that the characteristics attributed to millennials can be seen throughout history. It also forces the readers to acknowledge their own flaws. He shows the credibility of his statements by providing an example from the Reformation when people decided that they did not need the church to talk to God. After emphasizing this idea, Stein establishes his view, writing that millennials are, “not a new species; they've just mutated to adapt to their environment” (31). To defend his point, Stein demonstrates that every aforementioned flaw is also a positive aspect, citing professors and other experts. For example, Stein proves that entitlement is an adaptation to an abundant world. Millennials are better-connected people with more options, so their sense of entitlement helps them reach goals and do new, innovative things. Furthermore, millennials seem narcissistic because they have