Puerta del sol - The Undignified

Generation Generation III


Mommy-Bird comes back to the nest and all the tiny, little baby birds chirp with their beaks wide open. Mommy-Bird puts a worm into the bright yellow, wide open beaks … and all the little baby birds … they still chirp, they cry, they twitter.

They don´t work, they don´t study. They crowd the places, they live in tents. Of course they discuss politics, and they have banners that say: “Feed me! Feed me! Feed me!” They call themselves “The indignant”. We used to call them what they are in fact: Bums. But, bums at least have the dignity not to own a MacBook or iPhone paid by their parents.

Funny thing actually, all around the Mediterranean the twenty-somethings gather on places, crowd them, stuff them and call “protest” what – only months before – was known as “Siesta”. Fighting the evil system in a gandhi-esque way, neatly avoiding an actual job.

The protests of the “indignant” in Israel were started by a 25-year-old “movie-editor” by the name of Daphne Leev. Twenty-Five, an editor. Right. “I work in media” not. Her landlord raised the rent, and she went to live in a tent. (Hey, that rhymes, and what rhymes is good. Seems I am the Tupac of sloth-criticism.) Now they crowd the boulevards and discuss – politics of course. If it might get louder, no that´s not partying, that´s hardest networking and the people forming the future of society, dude!

The – despicable as always – German news-magazine “Zeit” had a badly headlined text about the “uproar” in Israel, featuring a 35-year old, who, as the paper puts it, is going to be one of the faces of the protests. Regev Contes “works” as a freelancer, he does movies. In fact he spends most of his time with facebook. “Since then [his camping trip to Tel Aviv], he hardly sleeps, doesn´t work and built up 35.000 Shekel (7000 Euro) in debts.”

Am I missing something?

I remember a time, when in Spain everything was about real estate. A huge bubble. It must have been a common place back then, to make money with unskilled labor at construction sites rather than attend university. The real estate market crashed. And now they are literally out on the streets. “We are not going to take it anymore!” “Give us money!” I am sure, they will take that.

A fine youth we have there: Raised on Starbucks-“Coffee” and bank-loans. For them everything was always free. The only expenses they´ve ever had were for some gay ass cortado or chai-soy-latte in a crappy, fancy hipster hangout. Life is free, but I still wanna get paid.

They are a wasted generation. Literally, figuratively, actually and some more …ly.

Don´t get me wrong, I have nothing against protest. But I can´t see their point. Despite of all the discussing, there is no outcome. It´s just some hippie-communist-liberal dick-suck. It sounds bold, but who wants to work, will find a job. Maybe not in media, maybe not near the puta del sol, maybe not even in spain. But there is plenty of work out there. There are many problems in the world that are in urgent need to get solved. And you sit there in the sun, discussing, wasting your potentials?

I mean come on, seriously. When did mankind ever encounter protests like this? The young generation, at the highpoint of their capability, goes out on the street and claims more money from the state, from the government, the society? The ones who are supposed to put the money in the system sit on the streets waiting for grants. Expecting mommy-bird to feed them. The government shall create jobs?

Good things come to those, who wait. Not.

Open your eyes! It´s your turn. You have to take the initiative. Nothing is free out there. Wealth needs effort in the first place. And you do not make a fortune out on the street (unless you are a prostitute, of course). Maybe you are not able to work as designer or become a famous DJ. Maybe it´s not a fulfilling job you take. Fulfillment is something for your spare time. Get your ass in line, work it off and stop bitching. You want change? Then change!
Or, as French philosopher Diderot once put it: You are the yeast of the world.

Only those who have something to provide to the society, are in the place to demand something back.

Shit, I clean tables for pocket money. But my dealer wants to get paid promptly. I am not sitting on the street with a sign saying: “Need money for drugs”. That´s my retirement plan.