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Senate rejects extension of health care subsidies as costs are set to rise for millions of Americans (apnews.com)
submitted 11 months ago by to c/politics@lemmy.world
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[–] 1 point 11 months ago* (5 children)

Exactly. These people are probably producing lots and lots of mini-mes. Cons may rebrand out of being "maga" into something else, just like they tried to make "tea party" a thing, but it is the same old shit in a different box - the oligarchs will whip up division - the old favorite is of course along racial lines, but lately, there has been a big helping of anti-trans rhetoric, and also a huge addition of inter-generational conflict, and I see lots of the so-called "left" buying into that, and... holy shit is that stupid. But I digress. Anyway, the oligarchs whip up this division, get a lot of idiots voting for Republicans so they can "hurt the right people" or lots of tankie type morons sitting out or lodging protest votes for the unelectable because "gerontocracy" or whatever the fuck, and then, of course, get lots of policies that funnel more money and power upwards...

People keep thinking the younger generations will save us and I want to believe it, but just don't see the evidence. If anything, I see them getting sucked into a vortex of red-pill bullshit on the various platforms at very impressionable ages and with very little life experience or wisdom to counter it. At least when boomers or gen-xers or older Gen Y were/are getting exposed to things like this as well as Faux, they had experience prior to encountering it...

I definitely think many have even less media literacy and less critical thinking skills than prior generations, since conservatives have been doing everything possible to chip away at anything like that in public schools. Texas Republicans even had opposition to critical thinking in their platform...

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago* (4 children)

    As a Gen Z who has gone to great lengths to ensure I have the education needed to engage with these issues honestly, and who is surrounded by colleagues of a similar level of understanding in my state (California), I heavily dispute your statement.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago (2 children)

    That's great, but that's anecdotal. Please show me how education has improved in the areas of critical thinking and media literacy in the aggregate. I'd love to be wrong about this.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago (1 child)

    I probably would be unable to present anything substantial due to the lack of data available under both Trump administration's Department of Education, and the lack of relevant census data.

    The point I'm trying to make is describing us as a monolith of AI slop consumers and social media addicts doesn't make your calls for change any more heard, nor is an accurate portrayal for how we think for ourselves.

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago

    This is not aimed at you and those you know personally. It's about the broader picture and how I keep hearing copium from some on the left about how once older people die off, everything will be miraculous because the younger people have figured shit out in a way that no one older than them has.

    It feels like I've heard this one before.

    Hell, I can watch old media that has the boomers saying this. People my age (Gen X) said this same kind of stupid shit when I was a kid and an adolescent. I thought it was stupid then and I think it's stupid now (I still hear Gen X grumbling about how boomers took all the air out of the culture. Yes, they did and still do. Yes, Gen X is the forgotten step child of generations. As my generation was fond of saying, cry me a river, build a bridge and get the fuck over it.). Boomers and the Silent Generation could all disappear tomorrow and we'd still have the same problems. This intergenerational bullshit has been more weaponized now than it has in the past - before it was just movies/TV telling an age bracket that tends towards deep narcissism that they are the special anointed ones, now instead of broadcast, that is narrowcasted with algorithms to match.

    The fact is, the conservative project of dismantling public education and making it even worse and generally trying to make people even more idiotic (but compliant) has been decades in the making. So, it's not quite clear to me what is going to cause a sudden illumination of millions of minds that are drowning in a sea of nonsense.

    Like I said, I would love be wrong about not believing that any generation (Z, alpha, beta) have it all figured out. I'd love to live in a world where humans all got increasingly more intelligent and more capable of wrestling with big problems and having more empathy, human decency, etc. Maybe transhumanist breakthroughs will make something like that actually happen, I don't know. Something like that might be the real game changer.

    But while Republicans are actively breaking education and completely taking over all media platforms, I don't see how some great awakening is going to happen. People don't tend to suddenly gain critical thinking skills on their own.

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  • [–] 0 points 11 months ago*

    Its OK to dispute it, but you understand that you're basically describing a filter bubble, right? You're well educated and surround yourself with well educated people, but that's not something that will describe the average person. Its a bit naive to assume that because you understand these topics and surround yourself with others of your ilk, your peers are doing the same.

    Millennials had plenty of people who were well educated and could engage openly and honestly about hard topics. But they're outnumbered by those that choose not to think too deeply. Just like Gen X, Boomers, etc. And unfortunately, without any evidence of the contrary, its a safe assumption that your generation will run along the same lines. I really hope I'm wrong. But as they say, hope in one hand....

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