How Young White Men Got Screwed, with Jacob Savage

Описание: Was an entire generation quietly sidelined?

In December, “The Lost Generation”—an essay published in Compact—went unexpectedly viral, turning its author into one of digital media’s most debated figures of the moment. Meghan interviewed Jacob Savage on December 26 for a special episode originally released to paying subscribers. This is that conversation—now available outside the paywall.

In “The Lost Generation,” Jacob argues that beginning around 2014, the push to diversify hiring in elite institutions—particularly academia, journalism and book publishing, and entertainment—fell hardest on millennial white men. Despite talent, hard work, and even elite credentials, many found themselves quietly sidelined, denied opportunities less because of merit than identity.

In this conversation, Jacob traces his path after graduating from Princeton in 2006, moving through several professional worlds before attempting to break into television writing in Hollywood. Spoiler alert: it didn’t go well.

Was his mistake, as he writes, insisting that “the world treat me fairly, when the world was loudly telling me it had no intention of doing so”? Or was his experience part of a broader structural shift—one whose downstream consequences may shape culture, institutions, and careers for decades to come?

Guest Bio
Jacob Savage writes from Los Angeles.

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