Friday, October 18, 2002

Andrew Sullivan observes that support for the war is stronger amongst the younger generation than the older one.

I'm fascinated by the generation-gap. The big difference between the anti-war movement during Vietnam and now is that this time, the young are pro-war. Or rather today's anti-war movement is essentially your father's: it's the same boomer peaceniks, unable to let go. I've long believed that 9/11 could reshape an entire generation's attitude toward foreign policy. Slowly, the polls are supporting that possibility.

I think he is absolutely right. I also think the reason for this is actually pretty obvious. People of the younger generation in the west are much more widely travelled, much more likely to have friends and partners with different cultural backgrounds, much more globally minded and much more cosmopolitan than are the older generation. Our parents generation spent a lot of time talking about cultural pluralism, but ours is the generation that has actually got on with living it. It isn't theoretical for us. This war is being waged against us by people who almost above everything want to destroy that pluralism. This is why we have to fight.

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