Since President Trump took office, his administration has called up National Guard members and sent them into U.S. cities, conducted airstrikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, emphasized a new “warrior” ethos and changed the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War. These developments come at a time of continued conflict in Europe and the Middle East, rising tensions in Asia and ongoing worries about the military’s ability to recruit young people.

What do American Gen Z civilians think about the military, America’s place in the world and how their generation might differ from others?

For the latest installment of the America in Focus project, we spoke with 11 young Americans who considered joining the military but did not do so, hadn’t themselves considered joining the military but knew people who did join or, in one case, had already served. This focus group was conducted before Thanksgiving, prior to the tragic shooting of two National Guard members and the heightened scrutiny of the Trump administration’s boat strikes in recent weeks.

Many of the participants who had considered the military had been especially drawn to the educational benefits the military offers, but personal beliefs and concerns about both military culture and conflicts abroad ultimately kept them from joining. The conversation is another reminder that TikTok and other social media are shaping young people’s perceptions of institutions and America’s place in the world to a great extent, particularly around the conflict in Gaza. The group also had opinions on the idea of the American dream and on what distinguishes their generation from others.

If you had to describe how the U.S. is doing right now in terms of a weather report, what would you say?

Thunderstorming.

Hurricane.

Tornado.

Cloudy, chance of thunder.

Level 5 hurricane making its way through the country.

Cloudy.

Pouring rain.

Sunny with a chance of rain.

Gloomy.

A hurricane.

Partly cloudy with a chance of tornadoes.

Why?

Partly cloudy because I don’t think that we’re in as much turmoil as the news leads us to believe. There’s a chance of citizens becoming more hostile to one another.

I said sunny with a chance of rain. To bounce off of that, I think we are fearmongered and divided. And I’ve seen a much larger divide. Still, at the end of the day, I feel like living in our country is a privilege.

It feels like a hurricane to me, very tumultuous. It feels like something unexpected comes up every other day.

I said gloomy because it sucks to wake up and hear more negative news than good news.

The United States will celebrate the 250th anniversary of its independence next year.

I didn’t vote because I don’t know for sure that I won’t feel patriotic next year. But there have been times that I’ve felt prouder of this country. In this period that we’re living through, I’m not feeling particularly patriotic.

I come from a very poor family. There are a lot of things that are happening that are going to really negatively impact my family and my friends’ families, my Hispanic friends. I am concerned.

I guess I don’t feel patriotic. Part of it may be even the media’s fault, like a lot of it just has a negative spin on stuff recently. I don’t strongly feel one way or the other, but I definitely don’t feel patriotic.

Yeah, I am proud to be American. I come from a family of a lot of immigrants, and they fought really hard to come here and succeed in our country. And seeing that makes me so happy, and I carry that with a lot of pride.

I raised my hand, but I want to be clear that I don’t necessarily have hope in our politicians or in our government. That’s not what I’ll be patriotic about. But I hope it brings all of the citizens together in remembrance that our country was founded by citizens that became revolutionaries, who kind of gave the middle finger to the government that they found was oppressing them. I hope everyone remembers why this country was founded and that we can get back to the roots of everyone being created equal.

What does it mean to be a patriotic person?

It’s someone who lives up to the idea of America. We’re the land of the free, where everyone can be equal. In a moment where there’s so much hatred against everyone, you lose that sense of community. We were built on fighting against an oppressive government. And now it seems to be the opposite, where we’re not really doing anything with an oppressive government.

I think it means having the country’s best interest in mind. The founding fathers had a vision for this country. Upholding that is patriotic.

I guess I would say someone who’s patriotic is someone who’s very proud of most parts of what their country does or what it stands for.

These days, being patriotic would mean having a flag outside your home and talking good about this country. But I think a true patriotic person would hold their country accountable when it’s doing wrong and not just blindly follow whatever the president says.

You are all technically members of Gen Z. What’s one word that describes Gen Z to you?

Wild.

Aware.

Passionate.

Influence.

Meme.

Online.

Passionate.

Fast.

Malleable.

Empathetic.

Nonchalant. Not in a bad way.

Gabriella, tell me a little more about “empathetic.”

People attribute wokeness to Gen Z, but in a way, to me, that feels positive. I feel like we care a lot about the rights of all types of people, and we do our best to address the needs of those people. So the empathy is pretty strong amongst our generation as maybe compared to other, older ones.

I guess older people, boomers, would call us sensitive, or kind of like we’re cherry-picking issues to be passionate about. We’re more passionate about certain things, especially rights and issues.

Hung, why did you say “meme”?

I feel as if our generation as a whole doesn’t have a voice in our government as much. So we divert that communication into meme format. Sometimes it’s funny, but sometimes it applies to more serious notes, like inequality in our life or society.

We often hear Gen Z is kind of pessimistic about America’s future. Do you think that’s accurate or inaccurate?

It’s accurate, but I also think it’s realistic. A lot of older people are delusional, which can be a good way to cope. It’s better to be optimistic, but that’s delusional if you’re not ultimately realistic.

Do you have something specific in mind?

On the economy and how America is in general, what’s going on across the world.

I’m 21, and I feel like people around my age kind of grew up with Obama when he was president. I think he was a very bipartisan president. So you were seeing a lot more peace in the country. I assumed that I would also be living through a president like that as I got older. But as we’re seeing, the current administration is like hellbent on dividing people. Cost of living is going up. They’re cutting food stamps. I don’t speak for all Gen Z, but we’ve been let down.

I think the pessimism from Gen Z stems from failing to look at things from a realistic point of view. Gen Z really thinks that we’re in a utopia where everything could just be perfect. Why can’t everyone in the world just move here and live like Americans should? Why can’t we all have free health care? Why can’t we all have a stipend every month for food? Why can’t we all have free education? Not that I don’t want those things, either, but there is a price to pay sometimes.

But with social media, Gen Z is exposed to other parts of the world. We see other countries doing the universal health care thing and the free education thing, so it’s not crazy to see that and think that the greatest country in the world could also do that for ourselves as well. We want better for our country.

In that vein, what does a good standard of living look........

© The New York Times