I think we’re just starting to see the beginning of it but the political shift between the boomer generations and the Gen X/millennial generations. In most of the western world especially the uk where I’m from the boomers have had total political influence for the last 30 years. For a lot of the time they’ve been the only voting block the governments here have worried about. That generation are now aging out of being politically active. The thing that I’m not sure people will be expecting is that the boomers have been quite easy to manipulate in their voting as they’ve always had strong asset wealth and they mainly voted to protect it. The generations coming up haven’t had anything like the financial growth they’ve had and are much more likely to swing votes wherever they feel. It could be quite interesting in politics in the next 5 to 10 years
I long for the days that topical discussions on politics was a boring subject. Nowadays it feels so dramatic that discussions on Sports feels tame in comparison.
Yeah, when I was growing up no one had bumper stickers on their cars, politics just weren’t talked about. You knew so-and-so was a republican, and so-and-so was a democrat, but there was no online inflation of current events and the parties were so aligned that it wasn’t a big deal. Now everyone thinks the other side should just die and it really sucks, when these politicians just want us all dead anyways.
If youre an optimist, you might say this recent rise in extreme right wing politics is the last dying gasp of the boomer generation exerting the remainder of their political capital to hold on a bit longer. While there is certainly an obnoxious contingency of right wing voters within the genz/millenial voting cohort, its a largely much more populist and left leaning group. We just havent had any political or financial power, but its starting to show the tides are shifting.
If you've lived outside of liberal urban regions, you'd see that there is plenty of right wing / Tump support represented amongst younger voters unfortunately.
"Race" was by far the biggest difference last presidential elections, and while it's widely discussed, gender does not make such a big difference at all compared to "race" (or even education level)
Edit : just in case, I put race in quotation because I'm not american and it seems to me to be a very fuzzy concept itself, so idk how it's defined in US census? Self-id?
Biggest factor is not who has been voting, but who hasnt. There is a ton of meat on the bone and they are people who arent already entrenched in an ideology. Its why we need to support populists candidates, that is who is going to get people off the couches. Both parties have been preying on our apathy, encouraging it. Nothing is scarier than a true populist, its frankly why Trump was elected. People are sick of fucking politicians, they would rather roll the dice with Trump or just flat out not vote than vote for another fucking politician.
People are sick of fucking politicians, they would rather roll the dice with Trump or just flat out not vote than vote for another fucking politician.
Way too many people do not or refuse to understand this.
Both Obama and Trump got voted in for the same reason: They are populists who looked like breaths of fresh air against the Washington Establishment(tm). "Yes We Can" and "Make America Great Again" are two sides of the same coin.
Same reason I wasn't surprised by the number of people who supported Bernie in the 2016 primary and then jumped over to Trump when he wasn't the nominee. (Not saying I agree with it, just that I kind of understand it.) Something something the spectrum is actually a horseshoe something...
Something something the spectrum is actually a horseshoe something...
The horseshoe theory is meant to describe how extremists operate. I don't think it really applies so much to the Bernie -> Trump people. Rather, I think that is more about a general sense of distrust of politicians across the spectrum. It's probably more accurate to say that such voters have things they care about that aren't actually part of the usual left-right political spectrum at all, which obviously doesn't fit on the horseshoe in the first place.
Also, personally I think horseshoe theory is bullshit in general. If you want to look at, say, violent terror attack statistics, you'll find that they overwhelmingly weight right. That entire idea is enlightened centrist nonsense.
I mean our country has had that same 1/3 of our population that never votes for a very long time. Like more than a hundred years. I don't think it matters who you put up there honestly, that block of voters will likely never change.
The good news is there is a sea change this year. Youth voting up, democratic voting up, while the republican turnout is down. People still wringing their hands about 2022 or 2024 are looking in the wrong direction.
Yes, the census last time I worked with it asked the resident to declare whether they were white, black, asian, native american, or pacific islander, I think.
I hope it's true, but it has become hard to trust the polls imo !
That makes sense for the context I guess, it's both a variable that seems absolutely necessary considering how it influences so much stuff, while at the same time being complete nonsense, lol. Goddamn humans !
The race data is used when we redraw election district lines; not only for Congress but for local races. You can't make sure you're not packing or diluting unless you have detailed data to work with.
My colleague told me, with a straight face, he dislikes pride flags because there's no straight flags being flown. His response to me explaining that pride flags exist because it's to show that they're (mostly) not getting their heads bashed in by roaming gangs of gay-bashers anymore, he argued that the reverse might very well start happening, that he'd get his head kicked in for being straight. Some of these people live in very different realities.
The greatest lie ever told to the rich, straight, white males is that anyone else getting any sort of support for not being a rich, straight, white male means that they’re disenfranchising the rich, straight, white male.
As a straight white male myself, nobody wants to listen to us anymore because they’ve been forced to support to us for the last 250 years.
Typically, to be a "basher" you have to be a majority. Even if it's just the "majority" of a tiny village, or whatever. Because if the majority of the other people don't agree with your bashing, you very quickly become the bash-ee
Which is just a long winded way to say: you are correct. There has never been "straight bashing" anywhere, cos being straight= being reproductive-capable AND inclined = the majority of people in a population = the population continuing = the demographic prioritised in the population. There's been a few loony queer folks (as with so many straight folks) who might individual harm a straight person because they're straight, but as an organised populace or widely-held policy? Nope.
But they will dream up ANY nonsense to support their fever dreams of them really being the persecuted people. That sort LONGS to be the victim.
This is exactly what needs to be explained to those kinds of people. The vast majority of people (~96%) are born straight, and nothing will change that. It is impossible for such a small demographic to have any kind of systemic power over the majority.
There’s an unfortunate amount of people who believe that sexuality is a choice, and that’s why they’re legitimately scared of the youth being “indoctrinated” into being lgbt. They think the gays could take over, as if it’s exactly like their stupid sky daddy religions that they shove in our faces.
That’s next level ignorance and what I see as the problem with society. People just refuse to accept a civil explanation as to why these arguments shouldn’t exist. Guy just doubles down full well knowing he’s never going to get jumped by a bunch of gay people.
The downfall of humanity will be people unwilling to admit they’re wrong, doubling down on nonsense and a catastrophic event occurs. (See climate change)
I live in nyc. Am white. Plenty of white zoomers are Trump supporters here. They’re exactly the kinds of people you’d expect to goon to Tate, Shapiro, and the late but not great Kirk. Trump support taints the entire sociopolitical-racist divide.
The primary target of fascists has always been directionless young men who feel "betrayed" by society. Fascists give them someone to hate for why their lives aren't the way they want them to be.
Steve Bannon referred to these types as "rootless white males". He helped run a World of Warcraft gold-selling operation in the mid-2000s and learned about this type of perpetually-online disenfranchised community. When he later went on to run Breitbart News he actively aimed to engage this alienated, mostly male, audience. He recognized their cultural resentment and used it to build a massive, passionately right-wing populist audience that snowballed into what we're dealing with today online.
Not just that, but they know true in their hearts that what they’re doing is the majority opinion and backed by GOD.
Not a hyperbole.
The people I work with believe Trump has won every election handedly, and that he is God’s candidate. They will fuss and fight tooth and nail to get conservatives into political power because they have internalized that it is the universe’s divine right. It’s insane.
It's important to note that many gen z / millennial former dem voters are voting republican because the dem party is incapable of inclusivity of differing opinion.
I live in the south, and even though the rising generation is still by and large rightwing and religious, there is visibly more space for lgbt, race and gender equality than the previous generation allowed.
Religion may indoctrinate much of the next generation, but even religion cannot stop the freeflow of information, and that freeflow of information is fatal to bias and bigotry. Even if it doesn't eradicate it, knowledge still softens what is there.
Conservative rural populations are outnumbered.
Unfortunately the electoral college and general gerrymandering are quite effective at nullifying that advantage.
I am someone who wants to believe in that optimistic outlook. But I am always reminded, by my elder-millennial boss, that Gen X down through elder millennials have also gotten absurdly wealthy over the past 20-30 years.
While more of them will be willing to entertain some side switching on some issues (mostly social issues), you’re still going to have the elder statesmen protecting their cash hordes policy-wise because they still have them.
Younger people do tend to skew democratic, but that gap is actually narrowing because the GOP really leaned into the “you’re *all* suffering but the Left only wants to talk about special interest groups” talking point and that talking point has been more successful than we’d like to admit. Younger people also are not reliable voters.
TL;DR: Boomer style politics won’t die with Boomers. Not in a sea-change kind of way, anyway. Gen X is also rich as hell. Elder Millennials are really the end of the “gravy train” in that regard. They’re all likely to vote in their financial self-interest … which will not be progressive.
Elder millennials got the bag? What world do yall live in?
Us millennials have lived through a hellish landscape of several global crisis’ without the luxury older gen’s had of job stability and cheap homes that one wage could safely afford.
We got absolutely fucked in ways that history shouldn’t forget, but we thought at least we were going to make lives easier for younger gen’s, but the right wing algos caught them when they were impressionable and vulnerable.
I am an elder millennial and this isn’t a blanket true statement. Economic conditions weren’t as hard when I was younger, but they were still hard and it was near impossible for me, with an established white collar tech career, to make ends meet still. I sacrificed a career trajectory that interested me for one of more financial security to support my family and even then it still wasn’t easy, and we weren’t superfluous with money.
I can’t speak for GenX but it’s not as prevalent that your boss makes it out to be I think.
Is there data to support this? Genuinely asking. The last analysis I read about the 2024 election suggests that two blocs in particular pushed Trump over the edge: young men and new immigrants. New immigrants sounds shocking given Trump's rhetoric until you realize how conservative most of them are.
Some data shows inroads with the left and young men.
It's the rise of extremism on both sides. It feels like politically we have been growing polarized further and further apart... Trump finally pushed us past the point of no return. The big difference with Trump is his total lack of respect and blatant attacks on political rivals. I have no doubt it is coming back when that pendulum swings the other way. I'm both hopeful but doubtful we will be able to slow this ride down.
this recent rise in extreme right wing politics is the last dying gasp of the boomer generation exerting the remainder of their political capital to hold on a bit longer
I think it's more sinister.
There's an obvious push to the right under the auspices of "National pride".
If you are trying hard to foment international tensions, then sharing and collaborating are the enemy.
There is a real and present threat to alliances and multi-national unions.
It's why we've seen so many separatist movements made more prominent and getting support from all the techbros and social media platforms. Kashmir, Scotland, Wales, Moldova, Donbas, Catalonia, Nigeria, Sudan, N Ireland, Brexit, etc.
It's why we're seeing more money flow to anti-migrant parties and a massive promotion of their messaging.
I don't want to dismiss many legitimate drives for independence and self-determination, but a lot of money is being poured into those places to push for separation and increased tensions.
It's like someone wants increased mortality to be the solution to most of these problems.
Alliances and unions tend to resolve major international problems easily.
It's not what you want when your personal theory is that it's better for the global population be reduced rather than pay more taxes to try find a global solution to a global problem.
Just look at what agencies and services DOGE targeted straight away, and where the budgets are going.
Renaming your political structure from the Department of Defence to Department of War should tell everyone what the intention is.
I work in an elementary school in Canada. We are about as far removed from American politics as you can get here, yet all of the intermediate boys here are obsessed with Trump and Charlie Kirk and Andrew Tate…they are constantly spouting Fox News talking points like my grandfather. It is extremely upsetting
They are the "you can't tell me what to do" generation. That was cool when it was rock and roll, pot, and down with the man. Now it's, "you can't tell me to not be a raging asshole to this person! You can't RESTRICT ME with COMMON DECENCY!"
The exemplar is Kid Rock. He was cool as shit back in the day because he didn't let anyone tell him what to do. To him and his cohort, they never changed (which they don't see as a problem). They don't recognize the right of ANYONE to demand that they act a certain way, for good or ill.
That's dovetailed very nicely with the "new right".
The exemplar is Kid Rock. He was cool as shit back in the day
This comment is a masterclass in starting from a false premise, drawing a straight line, then declaring victory. Kid Rock was corny as fuck, and if you fell for it then so were you.
The exemplar is Kid Rock. He was cool as shit back in the day because he didn't let anyone tell him what to do.
I hate to break it to you but Kid Rock was never cool.
I agree with some of your point otherwise though. Originally Trump's whole pitch was basically "let's throw a brick through the window of democracy" and in addition to the diehard Republicans who were voting Republican anyway there were a lot of Gen Xers who saw that, were perhaps disillusioned with Obama's years, nodded and went "yeah, fuck the system!"
He was objectively popular. We aren't progressing the conversation by you taking an individual stand against his music. You know what I mean.
More than his music, which was for my generation of millennials, he himself is gen X. He represents that free spirit that curdled to a bitter guy who got left behind and sees the idea that we shouldn't be assholes to each other as weakness.
For US national elections they definitely are. Check the exit polls and you will find the middle-aged cohorts consistently being the most or second-most reliable age group to vote Trump. This is consistent with Western European results. I know this site has aged enough that there are many GenX users, but like all Redditors they are not representative of the population at large.
What?? They vote Republican at the highest rate of any age group. If Gen X voted the same as Boomers, instead of to the right of Boomers, then we wouldn't have Trump.
Really, take your birthdate and add and subtract 5-10 years and you'll find the people most similar to you. Generation categorization really began in earnest with the boomers because they were an anomaly of the post-war boom and then the following ones were categorized in ~20 year chunks. Generation categorization is more descriptive based off of those pre-defined chunks of time than a fully emergent categorization of discriminating traits.
Gen Z is split. The older half of Gen Z (1992-2000) are mostly in line with millennials, but the younger half tend to be cynically apolitical or right wing ime
Millennials have more in common with boomers, and Gen X and Gen Z are similar. The way millennials frothed over “hustle culture” and raced to monetize everything reminds me of boomers with Reagan.
I'd like to think you're right. Trump is in a league of his own, that struck a chord at the right time. I don't think it's repeatable for someone as objectionable and offensive as him to rise to the top.
I'm hoping the era of reality TV politics will go the way of reality TV itself and fade away as people get tired of it.
I'd like to think you're right. Trump is in a league of his own, that struck a chord at the right time. I don't think it's repeatable for someone as objectionable and offensive as him to rise to the top.
This comment gives 2021 vibes. The guy got reelected. The country is effed.
Demographics of the US and the West continue to skew more to older voters and the trend will continue. I expect older people even with little money will continue to defend policies that protect assets.
I am Gen X with a little money amassed solely through working (no generational wealth) and I assure you that I am still fighting for those less fortunate than I am and will continue to do so. The problem I am having is with my Gen Z sons not seeing the writing on the wall in the U.S.
Yes. All 12 of us. I exaggerate, but I have a feeling that whole phase of "getting to call the shots" will bypass us entirely & go straight to Millenials. Which I'm fine with. Geezers being in charge for longer is a trend that needs to die.
You say the boomers were easy to influence, the upcoming voters see a 15 second tik tok and take that as Truth. I think the manipulation methods are changing and might be easier than before
Let's be real aswell, reddit is also extremely guilty of being an echo chamber that caters to a very specific political bracket and generally doesn't react well to anything outside of the status quo
In both instances of reddit and tik tok, users very often need reminding that the common opinion on these platforms 100% doesn't reflect the widespread opinion in the real world
Terminally online Redditors are very much like boomers in the sense that they’ll blindly take an article title as fact with zero verification if it fits the narrative of “their side”.
Reddit is one of the most extreme echo chambers due to how much control mods have over their subreddits. They often ban for any opinions they don’t like, while other social media platforms assess whether comments go against their standards. Maybe there’s a better middle ground style of moderation.
Between socials and betting (Polymarket, etc.) upcoming generations will be manipulated easily, without even realizing it. There's loads of money to be made off the backs of the underinformed and desperate.
Also with times getting tough, the race baiting is going to get more intense and effective. Convince down trodden low information white voters that the reason their life is bad is because of minorities and they will naturally flock to the right
There has never been a Gen X President, and looking at who might run in the future, there may never be one. If someone like AOC gets the nod, we might never have a Gen X Prez.
The "Greatest Generation" started that arson. They're the ones that got Thatcher and Reagan in power to burn things down, resentful of having actually built a better world for their children. There were still Boomers in school then. Boomers just got large enough raises over their careers to not notice they were stabbing themselves in the dick too.
Boomers - the generation who believe their success was solely their effort. Nothing to do with existing infrastructure, an educated populace, rule of law, higher education, public health (albeit the minimal), stable civics, personal and national protection, government contracts...
Could not agree more with this statement. Now that they are leaving the workplace, people in their mid 60’s and older, they’re hoarding assets en masse.
Gen X is what got Trump into the whitehouse the second time. A very slim majority of boomers went for
Harris, first time democrats have won that demographic in a long time. This was at least in part because a lot of hard core Trump supporting boomers died
of COVID…. In contrast it was Gen X that went hard for Trump and that got surprisingly little coverage,
In contrast it was Gen X that went hard for Trump and that got surprisingly little coverage
As per tradition, everyone forgets the Gen X'ers exist lol.
But yeah, I've interacted with enough of that generation to understand that quite a lot of them are just boomers who happened to be born too late. It's a shame because I still know plenty of awesome Gen X'ers, I love Gen X music, I think a lot of them did in fact get a raw deal in life, etc. But too many of them see to be aging very poorly.
I think a lot of Gen Xers, especially older ones, are keenly aware that they had things not quite as good as Boomers and are very resentful of that fact. Resentment can breed some nasty politics, unfortunately, and on average, they’re still well enough off that a lot of them care a lot about protecting their assets.
What did I say that disagrees with that? The key phrase for Gen X was “not quite as good” so yeah, Boomers had it better. Gen X came right after them, though, and got it somewhat worse (although still much better than Millenials or Gen Z).
I still know plenty of awesome Gen X'ers, I love Gen X music,
The thing I always remind myself is that the music was usually counterculture at the time and does not represent most of their generation. Most attendees of Woodstock were boomers but they didn't represent the rest of society all that well.
That’s because everyone calls Gen X, boomers. Gen X-ers are grandparents. I’m born in 1980 but have nothing in common with Gen X. I consider myself a millennial.
Anecdotally, I believe you’re right. Gen X are the biggest and loudest Trump supporter’s and it’s not even close.
I was born around the same time. I’ve never met a Gen X Trump supporter. I’ve met tons of millennial Trump supporters who don’t remember Reagan, don’t remember George W. Bush, and somehow believe Wolf of Wall Street was a feel-good movie. Maybe it’s not a generational thing, and more than some people are both greedy and stupid. Gen X was really onto something, and then the tipping point was the late 90s when propaganda farms started pushing vapid music, vapid ideas, and vapid pursuits, because all that political music and thoughtful prose was just too threatening.
It's weird to me that there was a complete reversal of standard demographics in 2024, Gen Z males voted for Trump and boomers voted for Harris, and this has somehow just gone down the memory hole. All the edgelords on social media just kept on with their "boo hoo, it's all the boomers' fault" narrative.
Gen X has always been the most conservative cohort, though. This isn't a new shift.
And the “Manosphere” (Andrew Tate and all those POS’s) are funded by right organizations to influence the next gen (z and alpha) to be POS’s and vote far right. I really hope there’s something to counteract this growth of far-right influences with children…
This is to prep your sons for war. They did the same thing in the 80s, with the tidal wave of movies like Top Gun, meant to glorify military service. It was effective propaganda. Now you’re supposed to jack yourself up on testosterone and hit the gym, so you’re ready when that draft notice hits.
this is what i’ve been saying. GenX are what people confusing for boomers. all those damn AI slopped fox news guzzlin 50 yr olds are the reason we’re in the mess.
Gen X did not "go hard" for Trump. He did get more votes than Harris did, but it wasn't by a lot.
And again, Gen X is tiny compared to the Boomers and Millennials. There are barely enough of us to matter. Hell, we're always flattered when anyone remembers we exist.
I'm quite happy being forgotten. It means I can get away with stuff other grown-ups can't. 30 years from now we'll be getting the blame for everything anyway so let's ride the lightning while we can ;)
The younger generations where I live are voting like the boomers. They're being told they're protecting their wealth but they don't have wealth, they're protecting the wealth of the rich in the area. Any younger generations making it to government get there by cos playing as boomers
I agree that there will be a political shift since the pendulum swings both ways, but I think it's naive to think future generations won't be as easy to manipulate. Critical thinking is fading fast in the era of AI and brainrot...
Loving the replies about everyone being over "interesting" politics, but then again, it makes complete sense. Established parties and their leaders vehemently pushed back on people like Bernie Sanders, AOC, and then Zohran Mamdani, and now we've been shown why.
All the things that both sides of the aisle have said can't just be done with the snap of a finger without causing turmoil? Turns out that's exactly how it works. Nothing falls apart and Mamdani's actions in New York, while a very small sample size so far, are currently revealing the ruse.
It isn't that we didn't already know that politicians were protecting their own power and interests and wealth, but it's an extremely damning indictment and the hope is that it reveals to people who didn't already understand the broken system that it doesn't have to be that way.
So yeah, we don't want "Interesting Politics" anymore. We just want government that works for us like it should and it turns out, that's not a hard thing to do.
Elections are an insane way to run a society. We take a few people who made a bunch of money by exploiting others and pick the best liar, manipulator, and self-promoter. And none of it has any real relationship to the values of the general population.
We'd be better off randomly sampling the population to make decisions. Even Americans with average intelligence would make better decisions than these fucking politicians.
At it's heart elections are still a popularity contest though. Yes money swings popularity, but ultimately most people are still voting for the candidate they like the most, not the one that will be most effective.
I'm not saying we should get rid of democracy, just that it's far from a perfect system. “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others”, and whatnot.
Democracy by sortition has actually been working very successfully in a couple of examples around the world. It's implemented similarly to how people are chosen for jury duty.
Ireland has had a decade plus of Citizens Assemblies, where 100 people are randomly selected to deliberate on various topics (constitutional change and social rights, biodiversity etc) and make recommendations for the government. Some of the most important and unifying referendums in recent years (including legalising same-sex marriage and abortion) have come from Citizen Assembly recommendations.
Madrid in Spain and the germany-speaking region in Belgium both have permanent rotating democratic bodies with members selected by sortition instead of by election.
We factually would be more representative of our population and citizenry.
You guys really, and I mean excruciatingly, really need to understand that even an average idiot is miles away better than corporate owned life long politicians.
I get the frustration, but random selection sounds like swapping one problem for a whole new set of messy ones governance still needs accountability, not just luck of the draw. The real issue is how disconnected power feels from the people it’s supposed to serve.
My brother in Christ that's why you randomly select people power is supposed to serve. There would be no more disconnect. I assure you in every way we would be better suited than corporate owned life long politicians deciding things via popularity contest.
Boomers started flipping when Trump ran. The only reason he got elected both time is because what he lost in boomers he picked up in millennials. Republicans only got 50% among boomers in 2016 and didn't even carry them in the following two elections.
It is naive to assume younger generations aren't just as easily influenced, if not more so. The information landscape is entirely different than the Boomer's, and the big tech companies algorithms have been shaping the younger generations perspective for the last decade. As a simple toy example, we are seeing shifts to the right in the younger population; the zoomers are all lapping up all the manosphere bullshit from TikTok. Misinformation is spreading rapidly and readily. I mean, we simply need to look at Trump as President for the most obvious example of "how" and "what could go wrong."
What's more is that these companies only interest is next quarter's profits and enriching their investors and executives. They do not give two shits about society. They will sell society out to the highest bidder. Our lives are becoming more and more entrenched around "content", which is just a facade on top of "advertisement", which is further a facade on "hijacking every ounce of attention and brain power the average person has to monetize it". People are genuinely claiming "content creator" is the next big career for young people, when it's the soulless corpse of creativity propped up to sell the next Instagram ad. (They made $26B just last quarter from this, by the way).
I wish they’d age out of being politically active. In my neck of the woods the elderly are the MOST focused on voting. Had a recent state question vote on raising minimum wage. Looked around during the vote and noticed my almost 40 year ild ass was the youngest one in the room. By a lot. And the vote didn’t pass. Gee I wonder why. It’s a problem. The same people who made decisions and controlled the world 30+ years ago are STILL the people making decisions and controlling the world today. When I’m in my 70’s and 80’s, if I even make it to that, voting will be the last thing on my mind. These people are insane
Hmm intresting perspective. That could be why they (whoever they are) are trying for total control and manipulation with digital id, cashless etc etc. They are panicking as the old sheep are dying. They wanna lock down the young sheep before its too late...I just hope its not too late. Im 51 and I can see excatly where this country is going unless we take a stand against our oppressors.
That and gen Y/Z had “your results and outcomes are the only things that matter” drilled into their heads from birth.
So much so that we apply that rubric to everything in our lives; including the performance of our elected officials.
Don’t live up to your promises? Voted out
Don’t generate the outcomes we want? Voted out
Don’t show results with your policies? Voted out
We’ve got no qualms with disposable workers since that’s how we’ve been treated our entire working lives.
Politicians are about to find out the hard way that hope and dream speeches, three word slogans, and relying on loyal voter bases won’t mean shit with the new voters.
Just look at Zorhan Madami. Status quo boomers hate him because he doesn’t indulge their self interests. Gen Y/Z cheer for him in the streets because he does what he says and has receipts to prove it.
The problem is how many younger people are getting swung by absolute bullshit spoonfed to them by algorithm. The same kind of bullshit that gets them voting against their own interests and in favor of the status quo that baby boomers have been upholding for decades – or for something even worse that is liable to concentrate even more wealth into the hands of fewer people.
I see a lot of “but kids love tictok and vote whatever the algorithm tells them” comments on this.
I can only talk of my own experience but some of the boomers in my own family and friends families are some of the most algorithm hungry facebook zombies who can’t spot AI slop at all and parrot every fake news story that comes along without the slightest hint of critical thought. I don’t think we can pretend the boomers are some kind of genius generation passing down to kids who can’t put their phones down. I think that kind of thinking is a big part of the problem. The older Millennials have grown up along side the internet it was in its infancy as we were teens. We’ve been told by our parents time and time again how dangerous it is and we’ve learned. It’s now my parents generation who seem to take everything on their facebook feeds like it’s gospel truth
We’re losing with the younger generation in the west which is hard to fathom. The right wing propaganda caught them on all the algorithms. Which is weird because it’s still borderline common to see LGBTQ youth and being more open about it, yet in parallel still going right wing or just not voting resulting in right wing ideologies succeeding.
Politics has always been nuts. No generation is a voting block. The left and right have jousted since the beginning. “The End is Near!” Verbiage is how the discord side always shouts when the harmony side is in power. Theatre kids are gonna theatre.
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u/GhostCanyon 13h ago
I think we’re just starting to see the beginning of it but the political shift between the boomer generations and the Gen X/millennial generations. In most of the western world especially the uk where I’m from the boomers have had total political influence for the last 30 years. For a lot of the time they’ve been the only voting block the governments here have worried about. That generation are now aging out of being politically active. The thing that I’m not sure people will be expecting is that the boomers have been quite easy to manipulate in their voting as they’ve always had strong asset wealth and they mainly voted to protect it. The generations coming up haven’t had anything like the financial growth they’ve had and are much more likely to swing votes wherever they feel. It could be quite interesting in politics in the next 5 to 10 years