Covid-19: "The health crisis catalyzes intergenerational conflict"

The current health crisis is giving a boost to a conflict between generations that has already started for several years, warns Bruno Falissard, child psychiatrist and director of research at Inserm.

Guest from Europe 1 on Thursday, he explains that the youngest have a legitimate resentment towards their elders. 

INTERVIEW

Two confinements, a curfew, distance lessons and evenings that are only distant memories.

Young people are suffering the full brunt of this pandemic which is dragging on, warns Bruno Falissard, research director at Inserm.

A child psychiatrist, he fears that this health crisis will accelerate a generational war.

"We decided that it was necessary to protect the oldest and that the young would pay the price. It is an injustice, it must be said," he said Thursday on Europe 1.

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This generational shock is nothing new, however, explains Bruno Falissard.

"We can take the example of pensions: the young pay for the old by asking who can pay for them."

But according to him, health restrictions have further widened the chasm that already separated the generations.

"At the start of the school year, they were accused of having spread the virus during the summer. The virus does not do much to them, we lock them in their homes, then we tell them that it is their fault. This health crisis catalyzes intergenerational conflict ", he summarizes. 

Global warming is the "elephant in the room"

In addition, global warming is, according to him, "the elephant in the room" in terms of generational shock.

"Young people are not hateful, but they are left with a planet in disarray. There is clearly resentment."

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Bruno Falissard believes that the first thing to do to defuse this conflict would be to put the terms of the debate on the table.

"We are in a democracy, we have to debate. We need young people to be able to express themselves and ask the right questions. When you are a civil servant, the older you are, the richer you are. makes sense? It's not within my purview, but we can think about it. "