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as you get older you'll become more conservative (quokk.au)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/mop
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[–] 54 points 9 months ago (5 children)

This didn't work for me, either. I'm in my 50's, and keep moving leftward.

I think what happens is:

  1. As people age, they tend to get richer.
  2. As people get richer, they tend to lose empathy.
  3. As people lose empathy, they tend to become more conservative.
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  • [–] 22 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    I suspect it's even simpler than that. If you simply assume that people don't change at all once they grow up, everything can be explained.

    People are generally more selfish than we think and people lie more to fit in than we think.

    Selfish people like social programs when they are young and might theoretically need help, but don't care about taxes because they earn little.

    And they dislike taxes when they are old and have salaries and resources, but don't care about social programs because they don't qualify.

    They don't care about politics or political parties because they really only care about themselves. They never really cared.

    Others pretend to be left leaning to match their peers when they're young and right leaning to match when they're older. They don't care about politics as much as fitting in.

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  • [–] 19 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    I'm convinced that public services would be a lot less controversial amongst that segment of the population if the services were utterly universal. Buses? Make em free, the fintech bros might use them on their lunch break. WIC? Give it to everyone, y'all get a free tub of peanut butter every month. Healthcare? You know that big G be paying for it.

    Would it magically convert everyone into public service supporters? Nope. Would it move the needle? I can't see how it wouldn't.

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  • [–] 11 points 9 months ago

    as a bonus, it would often be significantly more effective, since you don't need to spend effort on systems to ensure only certain people have access.

    Most obviously with public transport, you don't need to maintain ticketing systems and enforcement.

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  • [–] 10 points 9 months ago

    Learning and growth occur towards tribalism all the time. Rich people still freak out when other rich people face consequences. Since they can't relate to the problems of the lower class they lose empathy over time. They turn to other well-off people because they can relate. Under capitalism having less empathy makes it easier to accrue wealth. So that's likely to be more common.

    The very plasticity of our brain is susceptible to the disease of wealth. They don't need to always have been bad to explain it. Unexamined maybe but everyone's brain is learning all the time.

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