Media

Royal Oak State Senator to New York Times Columnist: 'Quit Yelling at Clouds '

May 18, 2019, 5:33 PM by  Alan Stamm

As public roasts go, Mallory McMorrow's six-tweet blast at a New York Times columnist is mighty spicy, flavored with "lazy," "pompous" and "insult."

The Michigan state senator puts New York Times opinion writer Stephen on blast for a Saturday column headlined "Dear Millennials: The Feeling Is Mutual."


Sen. Mallory McMorrow and columnist Bret Stephens are East Coast natives with dissimilar backgrounds.

Here's a sampling of what the 45-year-old journalist writes that makes the 32-year-old Royal Oak legislator, a Democrat, suggest he "quit yelling at clouds:"

In this election cycle, no faction on the Democratic side more richly deserves rebuking than the one [Joe] Biden singled out [recently] — which is not, of course, anywhere close to the entire millennial generation . . . or their younger siblings in Gen Z. But it is that part of these younger generations that specializes in histrionic self-pity and moral self-righteousness, usually communicated via social media with maximum snark. . . .

Gawker spawn and HuffPo twerps: This especially means you.

It also means all those who recklessly participate in the search-and-destroy missions of the call-out culture.

Though Stephens is just 13 years older than Morrow -- not even a generation -- they react differently to a freshly circulating video of Biden speaking last year about having "no empathy" for "the younger generation" that "tells me how tough things are."

The columnist promotes his piece on Twitter:  

The first-term state senator pushes back in a half-dozen tweets, presented here in text form:

Hi @BretStephensNYT. I'm a literal "Gawker spawn" and youngest member of the Michigan Senate. This "Millennials are lazy/entitled" narrative is as lazy as they come.

Many of us launched our careers right in the depths of the recession: with student loan debt, no healthcare, and no job prospects. We'll face the realities of climate change and erosion of social safety nets head-on.

And the reality is that if our generation can't afford to have kids or buy houses, the Boomer generation - who has their equity tied up in 3 or 4 bedroom houses - won't be able to sell those homes and retire.

Any candidate who doesn't see the connection, or doesn't care to, is missing the forest through the trees. We speak up to sound the alarm. If Millennials can't participate in the economy the same way our parents did, the economy will collapse.

So we're stepping up. We're running for office. We're legislating. The issues we face are very different but no less real, and our future -- for all generations -- is incumbent on that understanding. Dismiss those challenges and we all fail.

It's an insult that a Presidential candidate and the @nytimes would be so pompous as to write off Millennials as the "ungreatest generation" just because our challenges may not be your challenges. Truth is: they are. Quit yelling at clouds and put in the work. Millennials are.

In a follow-up tweet to a voter who supports her, McMorrow adds:

We need to end generational stereotyping, lead with empathy and realize all of our issues are connected -- generations depend on one another. It's unacceptable against Millennials and Boomers alike!

Behind the sharply divergent views are dissimilar backgrounds, each with East Coast roots.


This column provokes a pointed response.

McMorrow grew up in New Jersey and earned a Notre Dame University degree ('08) in industrial and graphic design. Her career began as a Mazda intern, Mattel toy designer, Gawker Media creative director and contributing editor for Road & Track magazine. She has worked since mid-2017 as a branding and strategy consultant. 

The political newcomer unseated a Republican state senator, Marty Knollenberg, last November by a 5,348-vote margin (3.8 percentage points). She's now part of her party's Senate leadership as assistant minority floor leader.


Mallory McMarrow and Ray Wert with Detroit, their rescue dog.

McMorrow lives in Royal Oak with her husband of two years, General Motors communications executive Ray Wert, and a rescue dog named Detroit.

Stephens was born in New York and attended a prep school in Concord, Mass., before graduating from the University of Chicago and London School of Economics. He entered journalism at The Wall Street Journal as an op-ed editor in New York and later wrote editorials in Brussels for the paper's European edition. From 2002-04, he was editor in chief of The Jerusalem Post.

Stephens returned to Manhattan in 2009 as deputy editorial page editor for the Journal, where he won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary four years later. He joined The Times in April 2017.

Hat tip to Michigan Advance publisher Susan J. Demas, who retweeted the senator's thread about an hour after she posted it.



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