Break the Cycle of Generational Hypocrisy
On a Friday evening, Tom Murphy was returning home from a long week of travel and made a routine pitstop up in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains.
As he entered the gas station, the only occupant was an elderly woman (perhaps 60-70) behind the counter. She was sitting at her computer, one earbud in.
Tom leaned over and asked, “Uh, excuse me, is there a bathroom?”
The older woman pointed to the back.
When Tom returned, she was still in the same spot, plugging away at her keyboard.
Across the street, Tom spotted a big building.
“Woah, what’s that place over there?” he asked her.
“Oh, the old Frontier Park,” she said, barely looking up.
“Didn’t make it, eh?”
“Nope. Didn’t make it. When I was a kid, they used to have rodeos and wagon rides all the time. It was a ton of fun. But kids today just want to sit on their phones. It’s sad.”
Tom chuckled.
“Well, yeah, but who do you think put the phone in their hands?”
Generational Awareness
In his 2018 book The Laws of Human Nature, Robert Greene explores a concept he calls Generational Narcissism. He explains that each generation tends to see itself as uniquely virtuous, enlightened, or victimized while viewing those before and after it as misguided or inferior. This phenomenon stems from a collective ego shaped by shared experiences, cultural shifts, and historical events that define a generation’s identity. Greene argues that this self-centered perspective can create blind spots, fostering division and a lack of historical awareness.
At Sweethearts & Heroes, we take a strength-based approach to our problems. Instead of focusing on the deficit (Generational Narcissism), we term this Generational Awareness. If you don’t pay attention, your generation will lock you into specific values and beliefs of the past. Understanding and awareness of the cyclical nature of hiding behind our generational shields is essential.
We (the Gen Xers) created Gen Z.
We put phones in their hands and took away their interest in and ability to play in the physical world. And yet, just as we look at Frontier Park, grieving over its death, we blame the kids today for everything. The very individuals complaining about kids absorbed in their electronics are the same ones sitting behind a counter at work with their earbuds in and pecking away at their computers.
Each generation sees itself as the pinnacle of progress while failing to recognize its contradictions. Older generations criticize the younger for behaviors they helped normalize. It’s easy to judge retrospectively and say, “Well, when I was a kid, we were outside all day playing.”
Sure, but look at you now!
Our kids are watching. They see the hypocrisy clear as day. We must look at ourselves and realize that our children are simply following our lead. So, instead of blaming and judging the children we raised, shouldn’t we be out there trying to fix the problem? Instead of complaining and hiding behind our past (our generational shield), shouldn’t we be modeling what it is we want our children to emulate?
Or will we continue to repeat the hypocrisy of the past?
Repeating the Past: Miss Polly Baker
This concept of generational hypocrisy isn’t new.
Benjamin Franklin explored it in his famous satirical piece, The Speech of Miss Polly Baker (1747).
In the speech, Polly Baker stands trial for having children out of wedlock. She argues that instead of being punished, she should be praised for contributing to the population. She points out the hypocrisy of a system that punishes women while allowing men to avoid responsibility.
To make matters worse, the very magistrate judging her case was a man who had fathered children with her but escaped punishment entirely and induced Polly to marry him the next day. Franklin uses Polly’s voice to mock the hypocrisy and rigidity of colonial laws and societal norms, particularly around gender and morality. Her speech exposes the double standards of her time, making a powerful case for gender equality long before it was widely recognized.
While Franklin’s personal views on women’s rights are debated, he undoubtedly played a role in reshaping societal expectations. He supported women’s education and recognized their importance in shaping the New Republic.
Fast forward to today, and meet Corporal Claudia Harnisch, a first-generation Marine Corps veteran.
At 18, Claudia came home and told her family she had joined the infantry Marines, much to her father’s shock. She served for four intense years, exceeding standards and becoming the first woman in American history to graduate from the West Coast Advanced Mortarman Infantry School.
Listen to Claudia’s recognitions.
Claudia brings a fresh, modern voice to Franklin’s message.
Polly Baker Standing 10 Toes on Business
Claudia’s take on Miss Polly Baker transforms the original speech into a Gen Z battle cry against the hypocrisy of these older generations laying down the rules.
JUDGE: All right Polly, you're back again. What's the tea this time?
POLLY: Bestie, I am down bad. No lawyer, no cash, just pure struggle. Everyone keeps dragging me back here like I'm the villain when I'm really just trying to survive. Can we just, like, let this one slide?
JUDGE: Sounds like a skill issue?
POLLY: No, it's giving oppression, but go off. Okay, let's yap. You are really trying to enforce this dusty, crusty law like it's the Ten Commandments? Be so for real, it's time to switch up.
JUDGE: The law is the law, period.
POLLY: And you rewrite them when it gives you the ‘Benny's.’ This one — it should have been deleted ages ago. I got five kids, raised them all myself, no handouts, and you're still tripping? Like, you want a thriving population or not? Pick a lane.
Just as Franklin's Polly Baker exposed hypocrisy in the 18th century, Claudia’s version highlights the contradictions in modern culture. Like our conflation with children having technology problems, Polly expresses the hypocrisy of a system with double standards and systemic unfairness.
Polly’s not just a victim pleading her case; she’s pointing fingers at the real culprits. “You rewrite them when it gives you the Benny’s,” she says. The judge and society (Gen X) often seek to punish the youth (Polly) under an outdated mindset that benefits the people enforcing them and completely ignores how they are contributing to the very problems they punish.
Here, Polly isn’t just echoing Franklin’s critique of gendered double standards; she amplifies it into a generational showdown.
Polly demands that the older generation, represented by the judge, stop clutching outdated rules and start listening. The judge clings to “the law is the law,” much like older generations hide behind traditions or systems they’ve built, unwilling to see how they’ve shaped the conditions they now criticize.
This tension mirrors the generational disconnect we see today.
The older generation mourns the loss of places like Frontier Park, blaming kids for their phone obsession yet failing to acknowledge their role in handing them the screens. Claudia’s Polly flips the script.
She’s not the problem; she’s the solution. Her defiance is a call to action for Gen Z, who are tired of being scapegoated for societal shifts they didn’t start.
The story of Polly Baker — whether in Franklin’s satire or Claudia’s Gen Z remix — reminds us that generational hypocrisy is an old habit we’ve yet to break. Instead of asking, “What’s wrong with kids today?” we should ask, “What can we learn from them?” The younger generation isn’t blind to our failings. They see us, the architects of their world, scrolling at work, earbuds in, while we lament their screen time.
We give them phones and then judge them for using them. The irony isn’t lost on them; it shouldn’t be lost on us. They’re following our lead, and if we don’t like the direction, it’s on us to change course.
A Hopeful Awakening
In our Circle work at Sweethearts & Heroes, we ask a seemingly simple but profound question, “If you had a time machine, where would you go?”
So often, when kids answer, they say they’d escape to a pre-tech era. Not because they hate progress but because they’re exhausted by it. They crave the connection, the simplicity, and the realness we’ve let slip away.
Like Polly, they’re not the problem but the solution.
To build a future better than the past, we must stop blaming them and start listening. Franklin’s Polly was one voice among many across history calling out hypocrisy. Today’s youth are doing the same, and it’s time we transcend our generational biases, suspend our judgment, and bridge the gap.
Only then can we model the world we want them to inherit.