Sam Houston State University alumna, Alexis Bloomer, has gone viral for a video she posted entitled “Dear Elders, I’m Sorry.” The Dan Rather Journalism School graduate from SHSU claims that she posted the anti-millennial rant after witnessing a young man fail to hold the door open for an elder. The video consists of Bloomer listing off what is, in my opinion, heavily generalized and unsupported claims regarding “lazy” millennials.

Prior to the video, Bloomer had over 11,000 followers on Facebook. Since the video, however, the Texan journalist has acquired over 180,000 followers. The young woman has a quickly growing fan base and tons of supporters. I cannot agree with almost any of the claims that she makes in her video, though.

Bloomer begins her video by saying:

“We’re [millennials] just existing, we’re not really contributing anything to society.”

First of all, as Stephanie Tanner would say, “How rude!” I would like to think that I am doing a little more than just existing. Not to mention -- stating that every American that was born between 1982 and 2004 has contributed nothing to society is a little far fetched, don’t you think?

Let’s take a look at some cold hard facts:

--The Center for American Progress reports that 58 percent of Millennials support marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples, 66 percent support a pathway to citizenship for residents who are in violation of federal immigration law, and 94 percent support interracial dating and marriage. We celebrate diversity and stick up for those we feel are being wronged. We fight for the rights of all minorities and strive to give rights to those whose freedom is being compromised.

-A 2012 survey announced that 3/4 of Millennials gave to a charity, and 63 percent of them volunteered for a cause. More than half said they would be interested in making monthly charitable contributions. We care about our communities and environment — and yes we do more than just post about it on Facebook.

I could bore you with a hundred more numbers and statistics, but I think you get the point. We are actively working to better our country and society, yet even our own peers are now cutting us down and telling us we are “just existing.”

Bloomer continues with:

“Our generation doesn’t have the basic manners that include 'no ma’am' and 'yes ma’am.' We don’t even hold the door open for ladies, much less our elders anymore.”

I call B.S. I walk across a college campus almost every day, surrounded by Millennials, and the door is almost always being opened/held open for me. By both males and females. In fact, when a door is getting slammed in my face, it’s almost always someone who is significantly older than me—I’m just saying. I don’t know if it’s just because I am from the south, but "yes ma’am" and "no ma’am" are still used by pretty much everyone I know, too.

“We listen to really obscene music that degrades women and pretty much glorifies drugs and crime.”

Wasn’t the 60’s the era of “Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll?” This is not a new concept. As sad as it is, sex sells. As unfortunate as it is, drugs are addictive and have made their way into our communities for decades. These things have been sung about by artists since before my great grandparents were even conceived. So, this is irrelevant.

“We idolize people like Kim Kardashian and then we shame people like Tim Tebow.”

I have never heard a single person criticize Tim Tebow. Ever. Plus, Millennials enjoy watching the Kardashian drama and love seeing them make fools of themselves. They always look fabulous while doing it, too. I don’t know a single person who “idolizes” them though. Millennials are not stupid. We don’t follow Kylie Jenner on Snapchat because we think she’s honorable. We don’t follow Kim Kardashian-West on Twitter because we want to be like her. We do those things for entertainment purposes only—because we like their style, humor, or enjoy making fun of them. These aren’t the girls we strive to be. These aren’t the women we idolize or look up to as role models.

“We’re lazy, we’re really entitled, and we wanna make a lot of money and have free education, but we’re not really willing to put in the work.”

A new report by New York City comptroller Scott Stinger found that when it comes to the Big Apple, millennials make about 20 percent less than the generation before them. Meaning that Millennials are making less money for the exact same jobs our elders had. The Guardian also did an analysis of millennial income in various countries; they found that, for the first time ever, the average millennial in America has less income than Americans aged 65-79. So my generation’s working class is earning less money than those who are retired. Just think about that for a second.

The price of education has also increased significantly for us. The cost of college nearly doubled between 1982 and 2012, inflation calculations included. It is no longer possible for someone to work their way through college unless they come out with substantial amount of debt. Yet, we are still going anyway! My generation has attended college in the masses. My generation has made holding a Bachelor’s Degree a norm. We’ve attended college at higher rates than any other generation. So someone seriously needs to explain to me how that makes us lazy and means we don’t want to put in any work?

“We are more divided as a country than ever before, and I think our generation actually has a lot to do with that.”

I guess her history professors failed to teach her about that violent time in America's history where we were fighting each other and killing each other over slavery? When our country literally divided into two…

Bloomer closed her video with:

“To all of our elders, I’m sorry and I do know that we were raised better. Thank you, from this millennial, for putting up with those and those who do not see wrong in their actions. I hope we start pulling our pants up and actually contributing to the society that we love and maybe make a difference in 2016 so that we can make a difference in the future.”

So I will close my article like this:

To all of our elders, I’m sorry that you don’t understand us Millennials. I know that it can be hard to understand why we do things so differently. I know it’s hard to accept change -- just stop blaming us. We may have grown up with the internet. It may have changed us and all of the generations that follow us, but you created it. It’s not our fault. We were raised this way. Know that even though we are different, we still care. We care about each other, about our families, about our communities, and about our country. Our generation is trying—whether it’s the way you would do things or not—we are trying.

We strive to do better, and be better. We dream of providing more inclusive communities and to be educated as a country. We are forward thinkers and innovators. We are not these horrible and lazy creatures that you paint us out to be. So elders, I am not sorry for being me. I am not sorry for simply being born when I was, and I will not apologize for being different than you. I’m sorry, but elders, I’m not sorry!

I will however, respect you; the way I always have. I will try to remind myself that you only feel the way you do because of your fears—your fears of change and your fears for the future. Lastly, I will do everything I can to prove your fears wrong.

Watch Alexis Bloomer’s “Dear Elders, I’m Sorry” video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wLmtuhuyhA