Cynicism and Cadets

MombaBomba

MombaBomba

5-Year Member
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Jan 13, 2014
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I was not sure where to start this thread, so I started it here.

Are cadets more cynical today than they were years ago?
If this is the case, why?
 
Probably the same amount of cynicism. The advent of social media on which to share it just makes it seem like it has multiplied.
 
kp2001 said:
I would agree with this sentiment.
Click to expand...

There is a recent effort to combat cynicism at the USAFA.

Could the perception of greater cynicism (due to social media) be driving this effort? Or dose social media assist in the growth of cynicism?
 
scoutpilot said:
This is what happens when parents discover YikYak.
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I hope my mom never looks at the yak. :redface:


And to any future mids/cadets, don't worry about what you see in social media or on the yak, its just a place for us to vent. The vast majority of people, myself included, don't mean what we post on there.
 
scoutpilot said:
This is what happens when parents discover YikYak.
Click to expand...

The thing is, the general negative mood displayed on yikyak also effects cadets and other students. DS's mood has definitely changed this year from one of intense passion for his senior military college experience to one of trying to rise above the general negativity and vulgarity, the LACK of passion for anything except finding a drink or someone to "cuddle." Maybe that's how college always was, but you could avoid the negative people more easily in the past just by choosing your friends wisely. Now it's more like you almost have to go on yikyak because SOMEbody has to counter all the negativity with positive messages.

It kills me, for example, when a cadet is named on yikyak. It's never for something nice or good.

This sort of thing would never happen at my place of business where adults work. So why are our "adult" kids still bullying, still saying stupid stuff about parties, underage drinking, drunk driving, buying alcohol for underage people, and naming people who "cuddle"? Because it's anonymous, and they think they can get away with saying anything. Wrong. Just so you know, yikyak knows who you are. They keep your IP address and location on file.

Don't be stupid.
 
I just found it interesting to see what they either a) were excited about and/or b) what they all thought was the most terrible thing ever for the week
 
payitforward said:
The thing is, the general negative mood displayed on yikyak also effects cadets and other students. DS's mood has definitely changed this year from one of intense passion for his senior military college experience to one of trying to rise above the general negativity and vulgarity, the LACK of passion for anything except finding a drink or someone to "cuddle." Maybe that's how college always was, but you could avoid the negative people more easily in the past just by choosing your friends wisely. Now it's more like you almost have to go on yikyak because SOMEbody has to counter all the negativity with positive messages.

It kills me, for example, when a cadet is named on yikyak. It's never for something nice or good.

This sort of thing would never happen at my place of business where adults work. So why are our "adult" kids still bullying, still saying stupid stuff about parties, underage drinking, drunk driving, buying alcohol for underage people, and naming people who "cuddle"? Because it's anonymous, and they think they can get away with saying anything. Wrong. Just so you know, yikyak knows who you are. They keep your IP address and location on file.

Don't be stupid.
Click to expand...

I was surprised at the amount of vulgarity as well. I think some can take venting to a whole new level. I wonder how much of that is "just because I can" and "I'm so stressed out my humor hasn't gone beyond the 6th grade."

The naming of specific people is wrong. It can cause so many problems. I don't know if some of these cadets are "thinking" before they post. Cell phone apps make it too easy to share thoughts before thinking them through.

I would hope these cadets are old enough to figure out that nothing is secrete on the internet, and if someone wants to find out who posted what, it can be done.

But aside from the nastiness, there can be fun there. Like anything else, anything open to the public and anonymous can be abused.

But the sad thing is the academies are tame compared to the main stream colleges. They are more restrained. What does that say about our youth?
 
MombaBomba said:
I don't know if some of these cadets are "thinking" before they post.
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And there in lies the problem.

Personally I have never seen this, I try and avoid anything that includes the names "Yik", "Yak", or "Tweet"

I tend to agree with one of the above posters, I think the feelings have always been present, there are just so many new ways to get your feelings out there.

One would hope people would have enough class not to post names, but I think for some that ship has sailed.
 
MombaBomba said:
But the sad thing is the academies are tame compared to the main stream colleges. They are more restrained. What does that say about our youth?
Click to expand...

I would venture to say that the things we do today are not much different than the things college kids have always done. We just have more ways to record and share those things.

I apologize if this derails the thread, but I would advise some in this thread, especially those that are not old grads, to accept that a bunch of high performing young adults locked in a granite prison and constantly told they aren't doing well enough are not going to recreate Shakespeare when given an outlet to vent through.

Seriously parents, you will not understand what you see on Yik Yak and should leave it alone for us.
 
There is cynicism because the reality of an academy does not match the idea of what it will be. Maybe applicants have a better understanding of what an academy SHOULD be, so they're more cynical, but I don't think many past alumni ENJOYED their time any more than current students.

How do you combat it? You don't. You say "the reality is, no one here is perfect and some people are bad. Some people will not make it here and that's OK."

Cadets and midshipmen are cynical and graduates get grumpy. That's life. :thumb:
 
BigBear said:
Seriously parents, you will not understand what you see on Yik Yak and should leave it alone for us.
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I have no idea what Yik Yak is, but there are things for students and things for parents, and when parents feel the need to see cadet things… it can be shocking.
 
scoutpilot said:
This is what happens when parents discover YikYak.
Click to expand...

The only thing that surprised me about Yik Yak was that the cadets think they can't be tied to their posts. I don't worry about the cynicism or the "inappropriate" (by Army or SHARP standards) posts. I just worry that someone's going to get hung out to dry one day.
 
MombaBomba said:
There is a recent effort to combat cynicism at the USAFA.

Could the perception of greater cynicism (due to social media) be driving this effort? Or dose social media assist in the growth of cynicism?
Click to expand...

"the USAFA"

Cadet cynicism has not appreciably changed. The only difference is that you couldn't see it 10 years ago, because we used an archaic thing called AOL IM, emails, and general ****-talking at drill and other gatherings.
 
USAFA has a long and distinguished tradition of cynicism. Whether that be the Dodo, eDodo, MLIC, or others, cadets find creative ways to express their opinions.
 
raimius said:
USAFA has a long and distinguished tradition of cynicism. Whether that be the Dodo, eDodo, MLIC, or others, cadets find creative ways to express their opinions.
Click to expand...

Perhaps the academies need to have a "creative expression" competition.

During my first job, an office mate served in the navy. I certainly got a lesson in creative expressionism from listening to him. His creativity was in direct proportion to the extent of the problem that he encountered. Never realized some words could be used as verbs, adverbs, adjectives, nouns, etc. all in the same sentence. :shake:
 
I have no problem with grousing and grumbling... and then the stern reminder that they are at the "Greatest Leadership Institution" in the world, and are paid to be there.

I always let my kids know that local U would usually take them should they wish to transfer, and then graduate owing many thousands of dollars, with a fine chance to flip burgers until their real jobs arrive.
 
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