Generational Conflict On The Apple River

A mass stabbing highlights conservatives' antipathy toward the young

Editor’s note: Nicolae Miu was found guilty of one count of first-degree reckless homicide and four counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety shortly after this post was published.

A mass stabbing in Wisconsin captures America’s growing generational conflict. 

Nicolae Miu, a 54-year-old Romanian immigrant, stabbed five youths tubing down the Apple River in 2022. One of the victims died. Miu was charged with one count of first-degree murder and four counts of first-degree intentional homicide. (Jurors are allowed to consider lesser charges against Miu.) If convicted, the assailant could face life in prison.

His trial has captured the nation’s attention, particularly among conservatives, due to his claims of self-defense. Miu claims he only used his pocketknife after he was swarmed and attacked by a mob of young adults. It’s a complicated case that sharply divides people.

Here’s what happened, according to court testimony. Miu was tubing with friends down the river. (Curiously, his group was entirely Hispanic and nearly all of them required an interpreter in court). One of his friends accidentally dropped his phone in the river. Miu offered to find it. His friend told him not to worry about it, but Miu insisted on searching for it. He separated from his group with his snorkel and goggles to find it. Miu told police he was drunk at this time. While searching for the phone, he came upon a group of youngsters whose members were in their late teens and early twenties. The older man rushed at them in an odd manner, which the group perceived as an intrusion into their space. Miu had tripped in the river and dropped his snorkel gear near the group’s tubes. It appears this wasn’t clear to the youth, who then wrongly perceived that Miu was taking pics of “little girls” with his phone. The young adults, like Miu, were drunk. They then began clowning on the older man, surrounding him, and chanting he was pedo. They yelled at him to walk away. Miu did not.

As this was going on, Miu pulled out his pocket knife and brandished it. He got aggressive with one of the girls in the group. Some of the guys then pushed him down into the shallow water and slapped him. After another girl shoved him, he stabbed her. Other members of the group then charged at him, and he began stabbing away. Two of those he stabbed weren’t involved in the fight and were just standing in the way. Miu then ditched the knife and walked back to his own group without telling them what happened. 

Miu wasn’t honest with police when first questioned. He claimed he was unarmed when he approached the youths, and he got a knife after disarming one of his victims. He insisted that the teens brandished knives at him. He later changed his story to claim he brought the knife but only pulled it out after he was attacked. Neither story is true. All of the youths were unarmed during the melee. Miu had the knife out prior to being touched.

This is a tragic story that could have easily been avoided had the parties been sober. But like many brawls, the parties were drunk and failed to properly communicate with each other.  This led to a fight.

Miu is overcharged, but is guilty of lesser offenses. His behavior was more than self-defense. You cannot stab five people just because you were mocked and shoved. Both sides acted stupidly in this case, but only one side wielded a knife. Miu should’ve been the mature adult and walked away. It’s never smart to confront a dozen drunken youths while you’re also plastered. I trust the jury to decide on a just verdict in this case.

My opinion is a minority position among right-wing commentators. Several conservatives have become emotionally invested in this case. Much of that is due to the perception that Miu acted in self-defense. Conservatives rightly understand that this principle is being undermined by our legal system. It’s necessary for the Right to defend it, but this isn’t a good case for self-defense. We don’t want to establish a precedent that an older man can legally stab teens who clown on him. 

However, many conservatives would welcome that precedent. Along with the self-defense element, this story presents a protagonist they can identify with and antagonists they absolutely hate. Conservatives see themselves in Miu as he, like many of them, is a middle-aged guy who got fed up with young ruffians. The stabbing victims are seen as enemies by these Gen X conservatives. This group absolutely despises Zoomers. As evidenced by the large quantity of bloodthirsty replies I received to a tweet on the subject, these guys got off seeing a middle-aged man stab them. One even remarked that the stabbing represents his politics. Unfortunately, this is a lot of conservative politics at the moment.

Recent self-defense cases that conservative media embraced tap into concerns that matter to their audience. Kyle Rittenouse was a gun owner who Antifa attacked in the midst of the 2020 riots and used his weapon to protect himself. It was natural that he became a hero for our side. He was a good guy with a gun–his “victims” were violent leftists with criminal records. Daniel Penny was a Marine vet who took down an aggressive vagrant with a long rap sheet who menaced passengers on a New York subway last year. After his arrest, Penny became a cause celebre for good reason. His story highlighted urban crime, how criminals are allowed to do as they please, and how no one does anything about their predations. Penny was a Good Samaritan who stepped up and protected his fellow citizens. For that reason, he was charged with manslaughter.

These are cases where the heroes and villains fit with conservative beliefs. It’s a no-brainer why conservatives were heavily engaged with them. The Nicolae Miu case doesn’t present obvious heroes and villains unless you understand the generational conflict at the heart of modern conservatism. Conservatives see themselves in Miu, who, like themselves, is a middle-aged guy. They see the young generation as an enemy due to their libtard politics and misguided ways. 

It’s not new for conservatives to view the young with alarm. Generational conflict defined the 60s, with baby boomer anti-war protesters rejecting the world of their parents and their parents cheering on cops and workers who busted their heads in. Ten years ago, conservative media was rife with attacks on millennials in an appeal to its boomer audience. The elderly saw the rising generation as a bunch of snowflakes. In turn, the Left played into millennial antipathy toward boomers. 

The new generational conflict is primarily one between Gen Xers and Zoomers. Conservative media is even more reliant on whipping up fury against the young than back in the old days of millennial-skewering. Some of this is warranted. Gen Z is gayer (literally), more left-wing, more diverse, and performing worse in the workplace than any past generation. Many of the current trends conservatives lament emanate from Zoomers. At the same time, these are their children, and they are the future of this country. They’re not all purple-haired and non-binary. Many of them can still grow up to be good Americans.

An example of this are the youths who brawled with Miu. Nobody in this situation acted wisely, but the teens have a better excuse in being young and dumb. These are not the dregs of Zoomerdom. They were not getting groomed in a trans discord. These were jocks getting drunk out the river. Gen Xers are lying when they say past generations of teens would not try to fight random strangers who get in their space. In fact, boomers and Gen Xers insist the newest generation are a bunch of “pussies.” Yet, when a number of them decide to fight a knife-wielding man who stabbed a girl, they’re deemed thugs who got what they deserved. I guess youths in the 80s only got into fights after exchanging dueling invites.

The American Right has a massive youth problem. Young Americans, including Zoomers and Millennials, overwhelmingly vote Democrat. Millennials aren’t becoming conservative as they age. This problem will likely be worse with Zoomers. Conservative media worsens this problem by indulging the resentment of their Gen X audience. Eventually, Boomers and Gen Xers will be no more. Millennials and Zoomers will occupy their positions. If our country is to have any chance of survival, we will need a substantial number of them to become right-wing. We don’t accomplish that through the celebration of guys who stabbed five Zoomers. 

The Apple River stabbings is a tale of stupidity and tragedy. It doesn’t present clear heroes or villains. People made some very bad decisions and it cost the life of a 17 year old. Reasonable people can discuss whether it was a case of self-defense, but Miu is not a man to rally behind. Turning him into a hero exposes the Right’s self-defeating hatred for the next generation. That resentment makes for good engagement bait, but it won’t help us make America great again.

It’s better for smart people on our side to work to overcome generational conflict and focus on the real dangers to our country. Conservatives are quick to blame the parents for the problems of the young. If Gen Xers want someone to blame for Zoomer abnormality, they should look at themselves. They raised them, after all.