SWM

Once it became clear just how dead the millennial socialist project really was, he gradually faded into the damp Rebecca Solnitty vocabulary of a defeated left, Believing in Hope and Hoping for Belief. (There but for the grace of God.) But back in 2010, writing stupid tweets about killing all white people was part of that package. This is not ideal... See more

In industry after industry, gatekeepers promised extra consideration to anyone who wasn’t a white man—and then provided just that. “With every announcement of promotions, there was a desire to put extra emphasis on gender [or race],” a former management consultant recalled. “And when you don’t fall into those groups, that message gets louder and... See more

You can’t call for something for years and then complain why people say it exists: A shot at the left

I’m an equal opportunity sort (ha!), so let’s take a few shots at the left. You can’t A) demand for years that institutions make balancing the race and gender of their staff compositions a priority, and B) then express disbelief when people... See more

By the end of his article, Savage admits “I’m not some extraordinary talent who was passed over; I’m an ordinary talent—and in ordinary times that would have been enough”3 and in this post-2017 landscape, it just won’t do for a straight white male millennial to be mediocre. They have to be exceptional. I admit that this is true but as material... See more

So, bully for me trying to get a tenure-track job in an English department while also attempting to sell a pilot (or feature or whatever) while also attempting to publish a novel. Yet it’s not because I’m a white dude that’s the problem. This is only a symptom of a much, much larger issue. The trap that Savage falls into is that the ruling class... See more

What I’m getting at is the major blind spot in Savage’s article: the pie isn’t just getting smaller for Da Boys, it’s getting smaller for fucking everybody.

Have I occasionally felt aggrieved by this or that thing that has occurred to me over the course a decade-plus of attempting to publish a book, sell a screenplay and/or get a tenure-track job? Sure. Who hasn’t? Trying to turn blood into a diamond can feel like a soul-sucking pursuit regardless of your race, age or sexual orientation.

Is it optimism that’s the distinguishing factor between Millennials and Zoomers? The mindset I associate most with my generation is “do what you love.” When I was an adolescent, many of us truly had it ingrained into us that we deserved to make a living—no, a lucrative living—by fulfilling our passion. Anything else made you a failure, or worse, an... See more

By 2021, there was not one white male millennial on the “Notable Fiction” list. There were none again in 2022, and just one apiece in 2023 and 2024 (since 2021, just 2 of 72 millennials featured were white American men).There were no white male millennials featured in Vulture ’s 2024 year-end fiction list, none in Vanity Fair’s , none in The... See more