[New Word Dictionary] Nenejok - The 2030 Generation Who Lost Hope

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] Alvarus Pelagius, a conservative Spanish priest, fiercely criticized the behavior of contemporary university students in his book. “These days, university students really make me sigh. They want to stand above their teachers and challenge their teachings not with logic but with misguided thoughts. They attend lectures but have no will to learn anything. They pay more attention to issues that can be ignored?things like love and superstition. They rely solely on their own judgment with flawed logic and apply that standard to areas where they are ignorant. In doing so, they become embodiments of error. Because of their foolish pride, they are ashamed to ask questions about what they do not know.” At first glance, this seems like a criticism of today’s youth, but Alvarus was a 14th-century Spanish Franciscan priest, and these remarks were lamentations directed at the students of the University of Bologna in Italy, the world’s first established university. The older generation’s lament toward youth has historically repeated across East and West. Han Feizi, a philosopher from China’s Warring States period, criticized the youth of his time, saying, “There are young people who, even when their parents scold them, do not change; even when the villagers curse them, they remain unmoved; even when their teachers instruct them, they do not alter their ways. Despite the three aids of ‘parental love,’ ‘the conduct of the villagers,’ and ‘the wisdom of the teachers,’ they do not budge, and not even a single hair on their backbone changes.”

The term Nenejok (Nene tribe) originates from the Italian phrase ‘ne ne,’ meaning neither A nor B, and sarcastically refers to young people aged 15 to 35 who neither work nor study. Following the 2008 economic crisis, Italy faced a growing number of young people who, overwhelmed by unemployment and anxiety about the future, fell into despair or gave up. The country soon confronted youth unemployment as a social issue. Despite the flood of university graduates, the job market was dominated by internships or irregular jobs paying less than 1,000 euros per month. Unable to endure the difficulties of job hunting and low wages, young people took refuge in their parents’ homes and gradually gave up on social integration and independence. Was their life of neither A nor B a choice, or was it determined by society and environment? American novelist George Orwell pointed out, “Every generation believes it knows more and is wiser than the previous one and the next,” but as social change outpaces youthful arrogance, generational conflicts blaming each other are expected to continue historically as before.

Example

A: What are you looking for so diligently?
B: The company my younger sibling was preparing for isn’t hiring through open recruitment this time. They said they need to work part-time to save up for job hunting expenses, so I’m helping them look.
A: I heard the job market froze because of COVID-19, but even our lazy one just plays games at home without doing anything. Parents are really worried.
B: They call the young generation who are neither this nor that the Nenejok, but it’s not really their fault. The increasingly harsh times are the problem.
A: Come to think of it, maybe it’s lucky we were born earlier. As we get older, we tend to be more biased toward the good old days.