Victor Davis Hanson
American Greatness
The current generation “Z”—those now roughly between 13 and 28 years old—is becoming our 21st-century version of the “Lost Generation.” Members of Gen Z are often nicknamed “Zoomers,” a term used to describe young adults who came of age in the era of smartphones, social media, and rapid cultural upheaval.
Males in their teens and twenties are prolonging their adolescence—rarely marrying, not buying a home, not having children, and often not working full-time.
The negative stereotype of a Zoomer is a shiftless man who plays too many video games. He is too coddled by parents and too afraid to strike out on his own.
Zoomers rarely date, supposedly out of fear that they would have to grow up, take charge, and head a household.
Yet the opposite, sympathetic generalization of Gen Z seems more accurate.
All through K-12, young men, particularly white males, have been demonized for their “toxic masculinity” that draws accusations of sexism, racism, and homophobia.
In college, the majority of students are female. In contrast, white males—9-10 percent of admittees in recent years at elite schools like Stanford and the Ivy League—are of no interest to college admission officers.
So they are tagged not as unique individuals but as superfluous losers of the “wrong” race, gender, or sexual orientation.
Gen Z men saw themselves scapegoated by professors and society for the sins of past generations—and on the wrong side of the preposterous reductionist binary of oppressors and the oppressed.
Traditional pathways to adulthood—affordable homes, upwardly mobile and secure jobs, and safe and secure city and suburban living—had mostly vanished amid overregulation, overtaxation, and underpolicing.
Orthodox and loud student advocacies on campus—climate change, DEI, the Palestinians—had little to do with getting a job, raising a family, or buying a house.
During the Biden years, white males mostly stopped enlisting in the military in their accustomed overrepresented numbers.
In Iraq and Afghanistan, they had died in frontline combat units at twice their percentages for the demographic. No matter—prior Pentagon DEI commissars still slandered them as suspects likely to form racist cabals.
Gen Z males seemed bewildered by women and sex—and often withdrew from dating.
Never has popular culture so promoted sexually provocative fashions, semi-nudity, and freewheeling lifestyles, and careers of supposedly empowered single women.
And never had the rules of dating and sexuality become more retrograde Victorian.
Casual consensual sex was flashed as cool everywhere on social media. And when it naturally proved in the real world to be selfish, callous, and empty, males were almost always exclusively blamed as if they were not proper Edwardian gentlemen.
Soon, young men feared sexual hookups and promiscuity as avenues to post facto and one-sided charges of harassment—or worse.
For the half of Generation Z who went to college, tuition had soared, rising faster than the rate of inflation. Administrators were often more numerous than faculty. Obsessive fixations with race determined everything from dorm selections to graduation ceremonies.
Zoomers were mired in enormous student debt.
Yet they soon learned that their gut social science and “studies” degrees proved nearly worthless. Employers saw such certificates as neither proof of traditional knowledge nor of any needed specialized skill set.
Unemployed or half-employed Zoomers then ended up with unsustainable five-figure student loans and the insidious interest on them. Their affluent, left-wing, tenured profs, who had once demonized them as oppressors, could have cared less about their dismal fates.
Add it all up, and Zoomers puzzled their parents. And they found scant guidance from the campus.
Instead, they sought needed spiritual inspiration from a Jordan Peterson, entertainment and pragmatic advice from a Joe Rogan—but sometimes toxic venting from a demagogic, anti-Semitic Nick Fuentes.
What would shock the lost generation back into the mainstream, barring a war, depression, or natural catastrophe?
One, an end to DEI hectoring and blame-gaming, and a return to class rather than race determining “privilege.”
Two, some sanity in the war between the sexes. When women represent nearly 60 percent of undergraduates, why does gender still assure an advantage in admissions and hiring?
Three, the federal government needs to stop funding $1.7 trillion in student debt, often for worthless degrees, and wasting away one’s prime twenties and thirties.
Let universities pledge their endowments to guarantee their own loans. They should graduate students in four years. And they must slash the parasitical class of toxic administrative busybodies who cannot teach but can hector and bully.
Four, society needs to stop granting status on the basis of increasingly meaningless letters and titles after a name.
Skilled tradesmen like electricians and mechanics are noble professionals. And their status and compensation should reflect their value to society—far more so than a bachelor’s degree in a studies major or years vaporized in off-and-on college.
Finally, incentivize building homes, rather than overregulating and zoning them into unaffordability.
If the lost Gen Z is not found soon, the result for everyone will not be pretty.
Victor, this article had many very short paragraphs. A rare error of yours figuratively jumped out at me in the 22nd paragraph. In it you wrote, “Their affluent, left-wing, tenured profs, who had once demonized them as oppressors, could have cared less about their dismal fates.”
Of course this should be “… could not have cared less …”.
Jim Reynolds,
Your essay nailed it. Bravo 👏
Harry, that was funny….if VDH has women figured out. On a serious note, and it is no surprise to anyone that the problems of our nation are primarily spiritual before they are political, cultural, educational, financial or psychological. We need to turn our wandering hearts back to our Creator and pray for His solution to the mess that has been made from turning away from Him. He is well able and willing to make things better for the present and the future.
All your comments are true, Professor, but there is an aspect to Zoomers that is overlooked. And that is the fact that they have been sheltered and loved by their parents. When the world is ready to give them those values, the noble things from the past, then they will venture out from their parents’ shelter.
There is a softness and a caring that is hidden from recognition in those Zoomers who have stayed at home. Your writings certainly point them to a strong, thoughtful place where they can come back and stand up and be the people they deserve to be.
That’s the day we are trusting for in the future.
My advice to Zoomers is “Sometimes in life all you can do is to square your shoulders and take a half a step forward.”
I was born in 1953. I had a very simple rule when dating. It was “ I will defer to your
femininity or treat you as my generic equal. I’m good with either. Pick 1 and stay with it” .
It was plain as day that by the late 1960s we had a generation of neurotic males who sure if being a man was a good idea & a generation of women who were trying to ignore thousands of years of biological programming. It’s only gotten worse. The CCP is laughing as their citizens are dropping infant girls down the well.
Happy Leftovers Day to you, Sami and Jack! They should change the name from Black Friday to Made in China Friday! Maybe POTUS is drafting an EO for this as we speak as another negotiation tool with Xi. Just my two cents. I have two ‘zoomers’ that are happily married, own a home, two with a Portuguese Water Dog and the other two with two cats. All four are blessed with decent paying employment; three in sales Mgmt. and my son, a USCG veteran used his time in the military to learn the electronics trade and was offered a very nice position with the govt. repairing military electronic equipment. I guess my ‘zoomers’ are the exception and not the rule which I am forever grateful and blessed. Not blowing my own parental horn, but I would like to take a modicum of credit for passing Parenting 101. Growing up in a Naval family, I was taught at a very early age what the principles of right v wrong were. I followed in my fathers footsteps and made sure my kids understood the importance of integrity, empathy and faith in God. My kids are not cell phone or social media ‘junkies’. They laugh, enjoy good times together and find contentment with the simple things in life. At least they have the common sense to embrace your podcasts Victor. I consider that a small victory for me as a parent. Hope all of you had a fantastic Thanksgiving and best of luck if you go shopping today; use your best efforts to find something Made in the good ole’ US of A!
I understand the lines were drawn and insults leveled (not in your direction) but this is what your ex pal Tucker was talking about and the subject of his show with Nial Harris. Yes, shock pundit Fuentes is a bridge too far but zoomers get his distasteful “act” and as Megyn said, you get nowhere in an interview leveling accusations. I’m pleased you agree on these points. Hope to move on together this Thanksgiving.
I did not get my first “real” job until I was 24. That was a teaching job in northern CA making < 10K/yr . It was enough for my wife and I to afford (rent) a really old farmhouse on the Arcata bottoms. With the low rent and a steady income, I was able to put my wife through graduate school at Humboldt State. I never thought about how my gen was viewed by society. I just put my nose to wheel and pushed forward. That’s all most of us did. We certainly did not hang around the folk’s house for another 10 years. Who the hell would do that? We had a life to live and it was not going to be particularly easy. So you needed to have some type of “plan” and you had to be consistent. Did not buy my first house until I was 28. By then, we both had full-time jobs. Nobody handed us anything. We did not take out stupid college loans. I think most people in our generation had similar trajectories. This game plan would still work for most if they had the fortitude to stick with it. They obviously don’t. Boo-hoo.
When we return to traditional values and treat everyone with respect, young men will find their way. They need affirmation and encouragement – encouragement to go out and make a place for themselves in a world willing to value them for their contribution not reward them for their sloth.
Well, there is lost- ‘forever’ and lost- ‘misplaced’. Maybe, Generation Z is only lost- ‘misplaced’ and will return to society’s productive fold. But time is a cruel and unforgiving master and life’s ‘Memory Hole’ only gets bigger with time. Unfortunately, modern-day human predators (such as Far-Left anarchists and drug dealers) predate on misplaced members of Generation Z in a manner similar to wildebeest toddlers on the Serengeti Plains that lag so far behind the herd’s protection that they get eaten by lions. Smart phones (most of which are now too smart for most people), the Covid 19 shutdown, and texting (rather than face-to face conversations) have turned many members of Generation Z into mindless Zombies who think that TikTok videos and Hollywood films portray real life. More often than not, those videos and films do not. Like an expanding sinkhole in Florida’s karst terrane, life’s Memory Hole eventually engulfs all those who stray too far from Fate’s thread of life. Too little time, too many victims, and no good advice on TikTok. Is the Church just sitting in the audience watching all this while it happens?
Here is a 1500-character version (including spaces).
Tight, clear, complete — and within your limit.
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Gen Z didn’t become a “Lost Generation” by accident. Five forces hit them all at once. First, the traditional path to adulthood collapsed. Housing, marriage, family, home-buying, stable work — all became financially unrealistic, delayed, or unreachable. Second, young men were told for years that their masculinity was dangerous, outdated, or oppressive. When a society shames its sons, they withdraw. Third, every major institution lost credibility. Schools pushed ideology, universities bloated with administrators, public health reversed itself, media fractured, and the military openly distrusted its own recruitment base. Young people stopped believing any of it. Fourth, sex and dating became a paradox: hyper-sexualized culture combined with hyper-regulated consequences. Everything is on display, but everyone is afraid of each other. Finally, the college bubble betrayed them. Tuition soared, degrees weakened, soft majors offered no skills, and debt became permanent. A generation cannot thrive when the markers of adulthood vanish, institutions mislead them, and culture treats them as a problem to be managed rather than young adults to be raised. That’s how the Lost Generation formed.
Victor, great article! I sent you an email because a channel was putting out tons of content using your your voice AI synced with your lips. There were thousands of comments. I turned the channel is to YouTube and they refused to do anything. The content is now down but your face is still the face of the channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSiDcA30HyMbnkD7yXU6FwQ
Every bit of the content was fabricated pretending to be you. Tons of comments. I knew it was bogus but apparently many were fooled. I was beyond appalled. Here’s the disclaimer that supposedly absolves them of guilt. It terrifies me with how much of this impersonating content is on YouTube. It’s epidemic.
“Disclaimer: This is a fan-made channel, and its content is not affiliated with Victor Davis Hanson or his organizations. The videos are inspired by Victor Davis Hanson’s public statements, writings, and ideas for educational and informational purposes only, using a synthesized voice that does not belong to Victor Davis Hanson. We use visual lip-syncing and dubbed narration to match the spoken words with on-screen footage, purely to enhance clarity and make engaging for viewers.
Our aim is to amplify the original message by making it easier to understand for the end consumer, helping us reach and educate more people with Victor Davis Hanson’s valuable perspectives on history, culture, and current affairs. We also make the messages of Victor Davis Hanson more accessible to people who are deaf or hard of…”
Gen Z males seemed bewildered by women….
Hmmm. I’m within weeks of VDH’s age, and been married for 40 years, but if Dr Hanson has women figured out, please write a column on that.
The so called ‘Zoomers’ are well into their 40s and possibly their 50s as we saw ‘pajama boy’ back in the Obama era. Men well into their 40’s have been characterized as still single, living in their parents basement, playing video games rather than job seeking or productively employed. Such is the reason for the decline in rate of natural increase (RNI) which was 0.1% in 2024 mainly due to the 1.6 birth rate/woman. Population growth in 2024 of 0.98% in the USA was fueled by immigration.
For statistical comparison, the RNI was 1.0% back in 1965; has fallen continually since.