A Tribute to Gen Z – the Coconut Head Generation

Over the course of the past decade, there has been among young Nigerians — and to a large extent, this is a reflection of what obtains in the world at large — an increasing sense of intolerance towards long-held ideals, norms and behavioral codes which previous generations had hitherto left unchallenged. For example — and this is particularly prevalent in southwest Nigeria — there is an unspoken rule that elderly people do not tell lies and should therefore not be challenged by younger people, even if the veracity of what they say is in doubt. Alluding to the fact that what an elderly person says might actually be false is usually considered disrespectful. Growing up, I remember being asked on a number of occasions, ‘Are you accusing an elderly person of lying?’ Much as I would have loved to, verbalizing a response to that question was a risk I — and many other millennials like myself — did not have the courage to take. Not so with Gen Z. Many of them would simply say yes.

Some years ago, just before elections were scheduled to hold in Nigeria, I had a chat with a friend from whose village the incumbent President at the time hailed. Most Nigerians considered this President to be inept and incompetent and there was a massive move to vote him out of office. ‘Are you going to vote for your kinsman?’ I asked her jokingly.

‘Everyone knows he is incompetent,’ she responded. ‘He did not even fix the road that leads to his own village. But I would most likely still vote for him.’

‘Why would you?’ I asked.

‘My dad said something,’ She responded with a smile on her face. ‘We know he is a goat but he is our goat. So let us still cast our votes for him.’

In that statement — he is our goat — is an ideology rooted in deep tribalistic and nepotistic sentiments which have coloured the view the older generation have on important issues. This ideology also informs the decisions they are willing to make and compromises they are wont to allow — even at the expense of the greater good. The thinking is, ‘A thief who hails from my village is a special thief. So let’s cut him some slack.’ Not so with Gen Z. A thief is a thief — even if the thief gave birth to them. They tend to be a lot more pragmatic and logical.

Gen Z is the first generation to not only refuse to be moved by aspire to inspire to require. They actually speak out against it. Substance is more important to them than needless bombast and useless rhetoric. What a generation!

Admittedly, these are sweeping generalizations. I would in fact say that the major resistance to these age-long norms began with millennials. For example, I remember a fellow millennial from the Eastern part of Nigeria telling me how he was not sure he would honour his parents’ desire for him not to marry a person from another tribe. Yet, it appears that a good number of millennials are cut from the same cloth as previous generations — placing reverence over reason and unwilling to severe the cords of ideological complacency that bind them to a history they are not proud of.

Personally, I am all for newness, innovation and positive disruption. I believe that Gen Z — and status quo-challenging millennials like myself — will cause unprecedented change in the world. As we take steps to make the world better however, we should realize that certain things are basic, fundamental and cardinal. We would do ourselves a lot of good by identifying these things. That way, we can be anchored on positive ideals rather than shackled by traditional beliefs. Think about it this way: Through many cycles of hypothesizing and experimentation, we can challenge — and indeed, change — some previously discovered and currently agreed upon concepts in Physics. However, if we do not recognize the basic and fundamental rules of Physics, or if we attempt to do away with Physics as a discipline, we can quickly go from positive to catastrophic disruption. We must therefore place the highest premium on deep thinking and circumspection. We should be willing to ask questions and rely on evidence rather conjecture in making decisions. In doing this, we should not lose our sense of humanity, humility and compassion. That way, we will create new trails to destinations of greatness for generations coming after us to follow.

Written by Oluwatotan