The New Greatest Generation: Why Millennials Will Save Us All

Strategic Persuasion
In “The New Greatest Generation: Why Millennials Will Save Us All,” of Time magazine, author Joel Stein, argues that the new generation of millennials is “not a new species; they’ve just mutated to adapt to their environment” (33). Stein supports this argument by first appealing to the trust of his audience, and then by introducing a new idea that he backs up with evidence using the rhetorical device, ethos; the author’s purpose for using these writing strategies is to convince the audience that the benefits of millennials outweighs the disadvantages. Stein begins his article by agreeing with the stereotypic opinion of many older generations, that millennials are “lazy, entitled, selfish, and shallow” (28). Stein’s confirmation

Stein places the idea in the middle of the article, and not the beginning, because he has gained the trust of the audience and grabs their attention by contradicting their ideas. Because the author is opposing the audience's initial beliefs, he proves his point by using the rhetorical device, ethos. When Stein speaks about millennials and the issue of over-entitlement, he explains how unfulfilling jobs from the past have evolved into modern day jobs and shaped millennials into believing they reserve the right to certain freedoms, using a source from a psychology professor from Clark University. Stein concludes that because millennials have prolonged “emerging adulthood[s]” they tend to feel that they have a longer period of time to gain entitlements, such as receiving a better job or getting married (31). By applying ideas from a knowledgeable source to his argument, Stein convinces his audience because they are more willing to listen to the ideas of a well-educated professor than a magazine journalist. Both Stein’s structuration of ideas and use of ethos assist him in persuading the audience that millennials have more advantages than