Other countries with an upside-down demographic, take note!

[SoCalDem]

Young people will always rise up. Things are different now because of the "connectedness", and the fact that so many young people all over the world actually speak a common language.

Young people all over the world have been learning English for a very long time. They have access to English speaking television/radio/internet etc.

I'm sure they are more comfortable with their own languages, but they can communicate with the English-speaking world as well, and they can fire up support for their causes.

Young people all over have risen up before, but this was successful, and nothing is more powerful than success.

Most Middle Eastern countries have populations that are overwhelmingly young, and this is but the beginning. Tunisia's uprising came out of the blue, but Egypt's is spectacular, and will be mimicked.

It's ironic too, because the fundamentalist Islamic parents who have 10+ children, do not seem to understand that by having all those children, they are guaranteeing that in not-that-many years those children may all get together and decide that THEY do not want the lifestyle they were born into...and they will have the numbers to change it.

Our own unrest in the 60's & 70's was more focused on the War and Civil Rights, but it was started as a young people's "rebellion", and those young people were from an unusually large population of young people, finally grown up enough to say NO!..and mean it!.

Old, hard-line rulers around the area must be shaking in their boots....for good reason.

[Jennicut]

1. And in America, we have the reverse happening. Baby boomers outnumber

gen X. They are getting older. They are the ones that voted in the midterms. I will not say all baby boomers are very conservative but a lot of them are. Hopefully Gen Y keeps staying involved.

[Skidmore]

3. I think there are lots of boomers who would be more than

happy to join young people. Don't underestimate us.

[Jennicut]

5. True, and I would welcome it. I am just very disappointed in my Reagan-loving parents.

They are both 63. Love Faux news, Glenn Beck, etc.
I am Gen Xer. My generation has pretty much tuned out everyone.

[SoCalDem]

8. Unfortunately , that is always a problem in a large generation

there are often "more" odd ducks too.

Your parents may have achieved more success than others, and have bought into the nonsense, thinking they are trying to protect it:(

[SoCalDem]

4. Yep..it cycles

The sad thing is that "our" rebellion more or less fizzled because we had to buckle down & face a very competitive job market because of our size, and just at our beginning-adulthood, we got 8 years of Reagan & multiple recessions ate us up.

We are large in numbers still, but our power has never been much:(

[FredStembottom]

2. Very, very interesting, SoCal.

Useful and insightful.
That one generation just might "birth" their own opposition is something not thought about much.
Size matters.

[SoCalDem]

6. Especially if those large families are raised in poverty

Some of those kids may grow up to be dangerous radicals, but many of the rest will just want a better life, and may embrace a whole new philosophy of life.

The other day a news person told of an Egyptian woman who was in love with a Jewish man, and that this revolution had given her courage to tell her family. I gathered from the conversation, that she was a young professional woman and did not live at home. This group of young people seem less interested in the harness of religious stereotypes, so there is hope for them..

[FredStembottom]

7. Beautiful story.

Thanks.