Boomers started out progressive then sold out. They project this onto everyone else as if it’s the natural order of things.
Same with the whole “social experiment” thing they accuse everyone of.
In fact, their childhoods were the biggest social experiment ever. Suburbs, nuclear families with mothers who needed uppers to do everything expected of them, easy access to free and cheap education and loans, etc. They act like it’s the way things always were, and that it’s the only way things should ever be.
It was all a fluke of the post war economy. Not normal, not sustainable, and trying to appease their fantasy is killing the world.
If you want to dive into the utter failure that is/was the suburban experiment, I highly recommend the book Strong Towns published by the nonprofit of the same name. Not Just Bikes has a good overview series on it, which how I found it.
The very, very oversimplified tldr is that suburbia is a giant ponzi scheme that’s on the verge (relatively speaking, within the next couple decades) of collapsing in on itself.
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There’s data on this: https://d6c748xw2pzm8.cloudfront.net/prod/42800fa0-876c-11ed-b4ef-3dee38a55a6d-standard.png
Millenials, and presumably gen z, are getting less conservative with age, a complete reversal of the traditional trend. We’re also the first generation that’s poorer than our parents.
They kept the money flowing in the post-war economy, and kept propping it up with increasing globalisation, pushing the poverty onto poorer nations, but it looks like that’s stopped working and now the economy is cannibalising its own young.
I hope this sparks revolution, and I see our job right now as building the structures that will make a better world afterwards.
I think it’s less that people get more conservative as they age and more that they get more conservative as they get wealthier. Previous generations typically could get wealthier as they get older, but younger generations are being screwed over, hence the reversal.
I had more money in my savings account at 18 and made more money per hour than I have in savings and make per hour now in my 30s. I’m also driving the same car, the car I bought with my own money from working when I was 17, now that I think about it, because I can’t afford a nicer one. I literally have nothing to conserve, I own nothing, nothing was ever given to me, and it’s all being taken from me.
I can’t tell you how dismaying it is to see Gen X trending conservative even faster than previous generations.
They got to be lazy and still had enough scraps from the boomers to not have to worry about too much. They have been apathetic to most issues as a voting block and hidden under the answer of their parents and older peers wouldn’t let them do anything. And now a group of them are poorer than ever and will happily and lazily blame whoever they are told to and the other side are finally getting the positions and wealth they were locked out of and either way it leads to a conservative shit group.
You can actually see some of that angry hard swing conservativism in a group of gen Z that either got transitioned unimaginable wealth or poverty early and have turned to fascism as well to protect or try to claim that wealth.
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AI is going to fuck it all up and I can’t wait.
I used to be conservative up to my mid 20s because I didn’t know enough about the world and all I had was my parents’ influence.
Now in my mid 40s I’m as progressive as they come, and I believe there are absolutely no redeeming qualities of being a “conservative” and it’s ruining society.
Conservative isn’t even the right word for today’s GOP. It’s regressive.
That’s pretty much what conservatism is. Conservativism tries to conserve something a country has and when that country males.progress they must regress to go back to what the country has.
Yeah, conservatism means protecting a society’s institutions and allowing only slow and gradual change to prevent disruption.
The Democratic Party is conservative.
Progressivism means embracing the possibilities of change and working powerfully to change society for the better.
We don’t have a progressive party.
The Republican Party isn’t even “regressive” - what it wants to “regress” to never even existed.
The Republican Party are refounders. Revolutionaries. They want to tear down American institutions to remake them in the image of an imaginary ultralibertarian “American golden age” that will eliminate democracy and ensconce themselves and their descendants as a new American robber baron oligarchy. And they don’t care what they destroy in the process.
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Boomers to me in my teens: “Don’t believe anything on the internet, find actual trust worthy verifiable sources.”
Boomers to me in my 30’s: “Don’t trust the LameStream media! I found this guy on Facebook who made a real compelling video about how all Hollywood stars are transgender!”
A real compelling video about how all Hollywood stars are transgender!
Well, that’s news to me.
I know this is probably exaggerated for comedic purposes, but I’d like to see a video that actually argues that because it sounds really funny. In a completely unhinged way, of course.
I actually used that example because some old guy at a thrift store said it to me. There are actually videos of people comparing unflattering photos of celebrities saying they have an Adam’s apple, or “too broad of shoulders to be a woman”. I didn’t believe it either, but it was a big thing in small circles called transvestigation. I don’t know if it’s still being spread anymore though.
Yeah there was a whole movement back in 2008 that tried really hard to prove that Michelle Obama is a man. It’s really weird even by conspiracy standards.
It’s not so weird, it’s just that right-wingers have no imagination, and so many of their smears are of the I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I variety. (ETA: See also, the “Joe Biden has dementia” thing.) The “Michelle Obama is a man” thing came about because a lot of people used to joke that Ann Coulter is a trans-woman because of her prominent Adam’s apple. (Which she really does have.)
I’m pretty sure they were just being homophobic.
They certainly were, and it’s possible the Michelle Obama thing came from nowhere, but it came about so soon after the Ann Coulter thing, I think it was reaction. Especially since right-wing talking points have so often echoed criticism and jokes about them.
People who know the truth already know that Hollywood stars can’t be trans, because they’re not real. Hollywood stars don’t exist, they’re actually all just crises actors pretending to be Hollywood stars.
Hollywood stars are all… actors? And their job is to pretend to be someone else?
I think you might be onto something here.
It’s actors all the way down.
You could be talking to one of these “actors” right now!
(≖_≖ )
It’s because they don’t have the skills to assess content critically enough to avoid being taken in by nonsense and projected that onto younger people. From their perspective somehow it’s just ok now to expose yourself to media you can’t safely navigate. From the younger perspective we were being told we mustn’t consume media we had the skillset to safely navigate.
It also needs to be noted that a lot of “conservatism” is straight up fascism, mask on and mask off. If you undermine social programs while shouting about how you are protecting kids and families, you are conserving jack shit.
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Right? There is a lack of values held dearly by most conservativesband just the ideas of morality they end up selling without putting in effort for it.
I actually agree we probably need a limit to imported items and imported labor because Democrats actually use both as a way to undercut the American lower working classes and keep wages low but I don’t see a Republican ever running on actually that without secretly under the table also hiring immigrant labor and not doing anything real in office.
Politics has become about grandstanding and then changing nothing to protect an economic system that made both sides rich except one side enjoys hitting people they view as “not the good ones” which means not white Christian Male.
we probably need a limit to imported items and imported labor because Democrats actually use both as a way to undercut the American lower working classes and keep wages low
Democrats favor increasing the minimum wage and are supported by most unions, so your statement doesn’t make sense. Democrats passed the “Inflation Reduction Act” added funds for the IRS to tax rich people and allows Medicare to reduce costs for expensive drugs.
Reducing America’s access to international markets will probably cause a minor recession. Just raising the minimum wage will help more directly.
Raising the minimum wage does nothing to bring back labor to the country where we see large amounts of service sector jobs we deemed as good work just a decade ago being moved overseas to areas like panama, South Africa, and Philippines.
The transportation of goods such long distances as well also causes huge pollution and cost issues with transportation costs and logistics being a nightmare to touch.
Yes I understand that a shoring up of global economics would likely cause issues but it doesn’t mean I’m wrong.
Democrats are the better party for sure but the neo-liberalism and focus on imported labor and goods is absolutely directly hurting the lower class Americans. So unless we can generate a huge increase in service jobs while increasing the pay and the amount the ultra wealthy pay towards it without impacting the lower and middle classes we need to have some push to labor as a backup.
My brother (staunch conservative) once paraphrased Churchill to me: “Anyone who is a conservative when they’re young is heartless; anyone who’s a liberal when they’re old is brainless.”
Now that 50 is just over the horizon for me, I say that someone who voted for Donald Trump thinking I’m brainless is a compliment. Also, forgive student debt, give us universal healthcare and a universal basic income, fuck the rich, and come the revolution, may each of you reading this get to throw a Molotov at someone who owns a private jet. 💙
Fuck yeah
And may you also have the privilege to throw a flaming bottle of petrol at the wealthy
Thank you! I hope you have a wonderful weekend, friend.
In my 20s, I always pointed out that the empirical evidence shows that, as people get older, their political positions generally just… become harder-line versions of the positions they held in their 20s.
As time has passed, that’s born out. I’m still a leftie, just a franker and more ticked off one.
Ditto. I’ve become far more liberal as I age. I attribute this to the fact I’d like the world to be slightly better for everyone else when my generation starts dieing off. At this rate I have little hope that will be the case.
This resonates with me a lot as someone that’s been left of center in FL for the past 27 years. I feel really defeated actually. I’ve typically identified as politically active, but I just feel run-over at this point. I am working on getting approval from my job to leave this state, and I’m 2 out of 3 hurdles done. I can’t fight fascism my entire life, and I feel like I have. I’m tired.
Not to bum you out or anything but fascism really doesn’t respect borders
I hear you, it’s just getting really bad in central FL.
LoL same… I already fled Florida without my work’s approval because they don’t ever really mean it when they ask me to come into office but mostly cause I’m a contractor and they just don’t care as long as they can fire me next economic downturn for them.
I’ve been so beaten down again and again and kept getting back up to show up to protests and political activism since high school and never have I found a community that lasts as a community and neither does it feel like any movement keeps momentum before dying out having done nothing.
We have gone so long without any reasonable transition of power and no real repercussions for ignoring the will of the people and not helping them and I’m tired of people saying it’s pointless to even try.
Sorry. Yeah burnt out too.
Just because the world is shitty the way it is, it doesn’t mean that it has to stay that way.
And just because you personally benefits from the injustice of the broken system, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t oppose it.
That’s the part of the movie’s message I feel that people tend to miss.
Most people just don’t care enough to do anything about injustice, or don’t think about it at all. It’s infuriating to see how apathetic and irresponsible people can be. Just look at the meat industry. People could stop, but they don’t. They only care that their virtue is signalled and that the suffering is far enough detached and out of sight so that they don’t have to face it and actually self-reflect on their cognitive dissonance or flaws. What’s worse is that eating meat is often culturally engrained, and so similar to religious indoctrination, even harder to quit. All this, done by years of lobbying of the meat industry and other unethical practices. These problems of injustice are deep-rooted in our society, and entitlement/lack of empathy. The arguments used for factory farming these days are the same slavers used in the past, and even now it is just transferred elsewhere so that people can be exploited all for a cheaper product to consume.
Things get even sadder when you realise that all the injustice in the world is for nothing but ego or extreme selfishness. I honestly think it’s a large reason people still believe in religion. When you face the injustice in the world and become aware of it, you either have to ignore it/find a way to cope or actually do something. As long as people remain ignorant, uneducated and don’t have empathy for others, this will continue.
The problem here is that you’re attributing to apathy what should be attributed to the shit show people are dealing with already. Life is so grand, that we need 2 full-time working parents to get by, and barely keep head above the water. People aren’t apathetic, they’re drowning. That’s the whole purpose behind it. If people are too busy trying to just stay alive, how are they supposed to also fight for justice?
That’s why the only people who are generally fighting for this justice are those that are middle to upper class with plenty of free time. Because nobody else has the god damn time. They could lose everything they worked for just by joining the fight. The system has been set up that way.
Fight for yourself? Or is that also impossible? People don’t know the power they have together, and the elites won’t give up peacefully. Most western people could do something, they just don’t want to or are ignorant of how they could act. The only real problem is that capitalists who control everything will try to stomp out any organisation of things (such as unions or protests), which is why force and/or non-cooperation is needed.
Did you even read what I said…People can’t fight because they can barely fucking survive.
Just not true though. Anything to not be accountable or responsible, I guess. You would only need max 1% of the population anyway. Most people won’t stand in your way, and if you have food + a place to live you are good enough for the downtime.
Oh you sweet summer child…
Suck me.
What movie?
The one that’s playing in theater right now that I can’t promote because of the strike.
Oh hey, I missed your name. I liked the movie but was disappointed that the Kens were treated with dismissal at the end, told they don’t get representation in the new government, which felt like a squandered opportunity to convey a message of true equality and inclusion. It seemed to me that the message was that inequality is okay, as long as it’s your group benefitting from it. But you’re saying the movie’s message is the exact opposite. Can you clarify why for me please?
It’s more realistic to show that “systematic inequality cannot be overturned overnight even if slight improvements have been made.” Not a fantasy happily-ever-after ending, because that’s how the real world works.
Also, our protagonist actively choosing to refuse to participate in the unfair system at the end despite benefiting from it should have been a clear message that it wasn’t something to be accepted.
I hadn’t considered her refusal to participate as part of the message before, but you’re right! Thanks for sharing that perspective. I had a nagging feeling that I was missing something, and that was it. Excellent job taking such a silly idea and using it to share a serious message, all wrapped up in goofy antics and fun.
Barbie
My dad gave me that “if you’re not liberal in your youth you have no heart, if you’re not conservative as you age then you have no brain” nonsense and here I am, brainless.
In your dad’s defense: being that conservatism is maintaining the status quo, I’d probably be conservative as fuck if I got to reap the benefits of the old economy and ride into the sunset with a pension. I mean, shit: I wouldn’t want to change anything
What we’ve inherited fucking sucks. Also, it’s kind of gross how racist our parents were
Wtf does this even mean
Remember that there are exceptions, just like in anything! My mother who’s close to retiring and her friend (a 70 y.o. pothead that worked as a teacher and then managed a theater) are still left of center and are much more open to all things LGBTQ+ then a lot of people my age!
My opinions essentially haven’t changed since i was 16: be kind, recognize that everyone is just trying their best to make sense of reality, seek the truth, be optimistic, and reach for the stars. In practice, that makes me pretty far left in the current political climate. I don’t understand why people’s opinions would change as they get older. The only thing that’s changed for me is I’m more confident in having my own opinions and not trying to conform.
The way I’ve heard it described is the boomers were always out for self-interest. They voted for progressive policies when they were young because it benefitted them. They then voted for conservative policies when they got older because it benefitted them. The world they created was made for them and no one else, so now they vote to keep it that way. It just looks like they got more conservative as they got older because conservatives on the whole want things to stay the same forever, or at most go back to some ideal past where everything was in their favor, which is just more self enrichment. They pulled up the latter because others having more means them having less. It doesn’t help that they lived through an era where we pumped lead into the air.
