It is true that the workplace has changed since I got went to college so many years ago. But it seems like the millennial generation is adding to its own challenges in the workplace by creating unnecessary drama over ordinary adult life.
If you have a thin résumé, but want to prove that you can thrive in a competitive environment, then you'll have to take up a tough internship. Part of work is doing things that you don't like, such as serving coffee to a supervisor or a haymaker punch to a fellow intern. Life is not like TV. Life is hard and complaining about a couple lost teeth or a broken nose on the job will hold you back. All of us who have succeeded in the workplace started out with blood on our faces and knuckles.
The people in this video from The Onion who want to ban unpaid intern fights are acting out of good intentions. But they're not paying attention to the incentive structures that they're creating. If you prohibit intern fights, you diminish the incentive to take on interns. Practically speaking, banning intern fights means banning internships. The people who wil suffer the most from that outcome are the interns themselves.