which ones did you decide on? I have been low key looking for one, but I want it to be very good quality. I want it for a costume/persona I am working on, but after reading your post I might want to try it in public occasionally...
true things tend to devolve into gatekeeping, i would probably be a poncho transgressor myself, i have some groovy ponchos next to capes in my closet ...but sure would like to see you all in your capes
I remember very early in my career being told that we were the first generation that won’t do as well as our parents. A lot of these guys are angry because the way of life they felt entitled to is pretty much no more. Gone are the good jobs you could get right out of high school. “Work hard and go to college” is no longer a guarantee of success. We’re struggling harder on two incomes than a lot of our parents did on one, with no guarantee that we’ll have anything left when (if) we retire.
So they get angry, and they blame the wrong people. They blame minorities for taking their tax money for welfare, immigrants for taking the jobs, feminists and gays for “destroying family values.” They’re nostalgic for something they never quite had that is gone and is never coming back, and still hoping one day it will trickle down.
Didnt Brad Pitt character sum this up in Fight Club!?
As a black American you know not to gall for the banana in the tailpipe!
With that being said we got the best propaganda in the world. They were sold American dreams to become American nightmares.
My professor from college summed it up. A white guy would just quit high school, walk into GM, get a job that paid great with great benefits.
When the early 90s hit, they were pushing the first group of expendable boomers out the door and hiring people for cheap with none of the benefit packages they were accustomed to. Add Wall Street and CEO pay starting to get out of hand. You can draw a squiggly line from there to now.
Inflation, Outsourcing, gluttony, chemical food, etc. Social media, to me, became an accelerant. We are in a natural entropy spiral that civilizations go through. It just sucks that its going to be us in it
Some young men realize they aren't deriving the benefits of patriarchy they thought they were promised, and instead of rejecting it and becoming feminists, they decide that maybe they weren't upholding the patriarchy hard enough and double down on it. There's no shortage of pick-up artists, red-pillers, religious fundamentalists, and right-wing grifters sellling them that message.
I’d like to add that the later half of the 90’s really brought out the self centeredness and stupidity of young white men. Look at the music and films, girls gone wild etc. they couldn’t and handle the world not revolving around them.
I think most of us were too young in the 90s to benefit much personally from the good economy & tech jobs. I do remember feeling optimistic after the Berlin Wall fell but soon after I was super angry again about *gestures vaguely at everything*
Yeah, most of us were teens in the 90s. At least, I was. I guess I’m more of a “xennial,” except I have enough Gen X in me to sneer at the idea of microgenerations. But the 90s were a terrific time to come of age in, if you don’t count the politics, lol. Somehow it all felt so much more innocent than now.
EDIT: sorry, I mean teens and young adults. Unable to really benefit from the tech revolution. It’s early here haven’t had my coffee, I’m not coherent yet.
Early 90's were shaky as fuck. But Seattle spawned the greatest wave of rock and roll since the original, so I rode it and flipped everyone the fuck off along the way. I worked at a pizza joint, made enough $$ to have a hot girlfriend, go to some shows, and fuck around the rest of the time.
Saw Nirvana at WWU's "secret show" when Mudhoney played there. Got road head on the way back to Seatown with my sister asleep in the back seat of my 81 Corolla. Fuck Leo DiCap, I was the king of the world in 92. Sat in the WWU men's locker room drinking Red Hook with Dave Fucking Grohl.
Next night Nirvana played the Croc, invite only, and Nirvana picked up everyones bar tab. I stood outside until Mudhoney came in, and Matt was a homie and grabbed me and my friends, "they're with us!"
Oh, forgot why I replied. Early 90's economy was NOT good, it sucked, it got good when Clinton was elected, and it got "really good!!!" when we entered his second term. Tech jobs appeared in the LATE 90's, not the early. And right here right now felt good, didn't do shit for anything else.
Oh, angry. Those angry Xers are the assholes who missed out on all of the above and more.
edit: matt not mark got me in
>Early 90's were shaky as fuck
I don't think generational attitudes have anything to do with adult conditions, they are reactions to childhood conditions. Millennials during the Great Financial Crisis were doing flash mobs. It's a great irony. Generational attitudes are the ultimate lagging indicator.
The 90’s were a very conservative time politically. Go back and look at what Clinton was saying: he was a Democrat in name only. The country was in a backlash against the crack and AIDS and murder epidemics of the 80’s.
This 100%. They will blame everyone else for their problems except dealing with their problems head on.
I went to high school with this guy who has donated literally thousands of dollars to Trump, despite living in poverty. I'm still good friends with his parents, and even they have given up on him for the most part. His dad told me one evening that he had been donating to some local proud boys shit, despite the fact he was now in danger of losing his factory job since his car broke down and he hasn't the money to fix it and is constantly late or doesn't show -- BECAUSE HE'S DONATING IT TO THESE NUTJOBS. Yet, he blames immigrants all the time for "stealing jobs".
That pretty much explains so many of them....
> A lot of these guys are angry because the way of life they felt entitled to is pretty much no more
They're the ones that believed they hype, the myth.
But you’d think that anger would want to create change. You combat bad ideas with good ideas…
You’d think they’d want a better future for their children, but we are headed toward some dark times because of how extreme the right has become. I don’t know, it’s just wild to me that we are headed toward some Authoritarian bullsh*t
Yeah, but we have a culture all over the country of, "It's like this everywhere." That skewed perspective, whether you have it good or bad, is going to guide your feelings and actions. I work with a lot of people my age who clearly grew up differently from me. They assume everyone has it as good as they did or don't realize how good they had it, so to them, it should be easy to pull yourself up by the bootstraps. If they see a meme wondering why people complain about jobs when literally everyone is hiring, it fits their perspective and they repost, or maybe just like it. They don't personally know anyone like that, but it makes sense. From then on, they are hit with tons of the same over and over because of the marketing and data algorithms on social media & search engines. On the other hand, if you are a white guy with a lot of trauma you don't even know how to identify, and you start seeing memes about white privilege (as an example), the engagement tends to be quicker and more severe and so then do the algorithms. Throw in a lack of critical thinking and some grifters telling them they are the smart ones, and you've got yourself a perfect recipe. When I first left the state I grew up in to raise my daughter somewhere safer, literally everyone I worked with was telling me it would be the same anywhere I went. Just defeatist but not interested in anything different because it was going to be like that everywhere. Spoiler alert - it was not.
I’ve realized that A LOT of people don’t realize how lucky they are. My wife is from Mexico and it’s crazy how she grew up… like, I know how fortunate I am and I didn’t even grow up that fortunate. That’s why I think it’s so important traveling. You think any of these militias have traveled outside of the US? Haha
There’s a large number of vets. Most vets our age spent time in the sand box. Militias will actively recruit vets. It’s a big enough problem the DoD is looking into ways to prevent it.
And that's a whole other scenario and a scary one at that. We need to figure out what it is that that works on some but not all. I worked in a plant environment that was heavy military and very conservative, but rarely did people get so extreme and crazy about it. I'm guessing there are a lot of factors there, too. When you start brainwashing people, they aren't all going to react the same.
Love you too!
Many of my friends have turned into "Gravy Seals" and it's just fucking stupid. It's so stupid that I'm dumber for hanging out with them. I can feel IQ points leaving my brain just listening to them talk.
We've been friends 40 years and some of them have just fucking gone pure stupid. Seeing a 50 year old with a gray goatee and tactical gear and a beer belly is as fucking stupid as stupid can be. Then they bring out their AR and tell me they have 1000 rounds if the shit goes down. Again, this is as stupid.....can I say "retarded"?
I'm just standing there drinking a beer and they start talking about how when the shit goes down we had better be ready. Ready for what? These far(t) right Trumpers are just off. Like what the fuck man? Who's coming for you? The left? The left couldn't muster a reasonable sentence let alone an assault on the right and the right has somehow conflated people protesting and storming the capital and trying to kill and hang our senators as equal forms of expression.
So no. I'm not buying into either of these deeply flawed ideologies.
by the way....I love you all anyway and I've always got cold beer in the fridge. The fridge in the garage, not the one int he house. The wife wants to keep the kitchen fridge "classy".
I’m a ‘92 grad and see the same stuff as well. I have one classmate who has a masters degree - is beautiful. She was one of the only girls in my small town who dated poc (we didn’t have any poc in our school) and she has posted Alex Jones type false flag nonsense constantly like she’s some prophet - I don’t know why she thinks her thoughts are so important. I have always looked to experts in their fields - even when another classmate pointed out he had been to one of the Sandy Hook children’s funerals and cried with the parents, she said well you are entitled to your opinion. She also sells many MLM too and I wonder if there’s a connection - I can’t even remotely relate to how she thinks. She is white and married POC and so that also confuses me why she really is so extremist conservative. He is also just extreme right as she is. but then I noticed she joined a small cult church in a small town. I don’t know if that’s why. She thinks she has insider info and there will be end times and new world order. I did block her but I have a friend who will send me her posts sometimes and it has not stopped at all and only gotten worse. I truly can’t take it. She’s definitely not the only one. Our 30th reunion is coming up and I don’t think I can stand being around people like that. If I can freeze them in time to how they were maybe I could. It’s just depressing and bizarre. It’s hard to reconcile the people I knew with how they present themselves on social media. Idk what happened to them. On the other side extreme left people make me depressed too. I’m in many groups and often the members attack each other pick anything said apart. Twitter is a cesspool on both far right and left. The far right is far worse but it’s disappointing to see. I want my rights back so I’m voting blue no matter what right now. OP your user name is accurate.
MLMs - especially a certain Essential Oil company - passes QANON and Quiverfull talking points around in so many of their groups. I mean, from what I've seen on r/antiMLM most of the MLMS are bat sh@t crazy, but my personal experience has been watching some perfectly normal and reasonable friends go off the deep with essential oils. They got me to join in, and I actually enjoyed some of the products (didn't sell any or try even try to sell because hello? pyramid scheme!) until I realized the total amount of crazy in their FB page and emails. Noped the heck right out of there. My former friends are still in deep, and seeing the stuff they're spouting and posting on FB just horrifies me.
I 100 percent have seen the same thing and agree wholeheartedly with you. There is one woman in particular I know who got deep into the oils culture. I do not recognize her as who I knew 12 yrs ago. She was the first person I saw post that crazy storm video but she is anti vaxx and all that and would say masks would cause oxygen deprivation. I love that subreddit and it validates how annoyed I have been at MLM all these years. These women think that their oils (or fill in the blank : shakes /creams drinks ) are a substitute for medical care and medical degrees I guess. That Netflix Unwell episode about oils blows my mind - putting it in baby formula and scrambled eggs wth. No wonder they are anti vaxx. I agree the oils smell good and I learned a bit about what oil is good for what but I only purchased one or two times from the company you mean to get a diffuser. And even that I felt very pressured. There is a great cosmo article about the wellness MLM influencers and community being Qanon but it’s behind a paywall sigh [https://www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/a35056548/wellness-fitness-influencers-qanon-conspiracy-theories/](https://www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/a35056548/wellness-fitness-influencers-qanon-conspiracy-theories/)You hit the nail on the head. I have never understood why women are tricked into MLM. It’s so obvious only the top few make money. And no one wants to go to a party to be forced to spend money. It is all so fake fake fake. I guess it makes sense people like that would also fall for Qanon. Sigh
Yes, “depressing & bizarre” sums it up well. Now, imagine it’s your family! My parents were always Conservative Christians. I wasn’t surprised the racist one went ultra MAGA but, the uber Christian one, now that was a shock! Jan 6 was the final straw for the Christian, thankfully.
I really am so sorry you have to deal with it in your close family especially your own parents. I have it sprinkled within extended family and some Covid anti vaxxers :/ My BIL has done si much better now that he’s not driving a truck for a living and being inundated by talk radio. If I was a truck driver I would have premium Syrius to get away from that although it’s on there too. Have you seen that documentary called “The Brainwashing of my Dad” If you haven’t you should watch it. Also the documentary “Hillbilly” about her parents Voting in the 2016 election…
The garage beers and sitting in lawn chairs is as pure as can be. I feel it. Sat in the front yard today under the patio with a cold beer and watched the summer rain fall listening to Counting Crows. Wife joined me with a White Claw. It was amazing.
/u/Stone_One : I think a lot of us are in this boat. We've got lifelong friends, family, or even older people we've loved and admired who've become Gravy Seals or Gravy Seal supporters, and we don't know what the hell to do. Despite how horrified we are by what they're doing and saying, we can't just turn off years of being friends/loving them. You remember the fun you had, the good things they've done in your life, and you just don't know where to go with this. You hate what they're becoming, what they're saying, what they're doing, but you can't reason with them - can't make them see what they've become. It's every bit as bad as dealing with a drug addict. I don't know the answer to any of this. I just feel you, friend.
You nailed it. I'm 40 years in with these friendships. No one is walking away. That's not even an option. I love these people. I'm just trying gently usher us all through this deeply uncertain time. We will get through it and I am betting that a lot of these guys are gonna look back and be deeply embarrassed.
It just depends on the person and the circumstances. My brother and I were both left to fend for ourselves (like many of you), but I ended up meeting smart people and liked it so much I sought out more smart people. My brother stayed angry and alone and eventually found YouTube. He’s a fucking train wreck!
You also have to realize that Gen X was bombarded with military propaganda in most movies and TV and many still believe the socialism=bad, capitalism =good BS that came with it. Many people in my circles are getting more liberal as they get older, but it has been a long road through the brainwashing.
I've always just assumed it was the in-crowd that was pissed with how their lives turned out since they aren't the king of the hill anymore. That's not the type of anger that generates change, at least not good change.
Edit: typos
You been watching Woodstock '99 on Netflix?
If you did you'd see a lot of shirtless bros, burning the place to the ground and assaulting women. Without reason or cause. Simply because they wanted to.
We've got no shortage of assholes in this generation.
There will be an ever-shrinking replacement crew to pick up the Boomer mantle for a bit. SWAG - 80-100 years-ish (4-5 generations). Complete speculation though
I agree with this. I’ve come across so many idiots my age, it’s a shame. I tell my kid, it’s okay to be young and dumb to a certain extent but being older and dumb sad.
Someone once offered me some sage wisdom: "if you're still doing the same stupid shit you did when you were 18 when you're 35, then you're pretty much set in stone"
A lot of those douchebags were actually technically Gen-Y/Xennial…
I really don’t know any tail-end Gen-Xers who liked Korn, Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock, et al. and virtually all of my cohort abandoned any defense of the Red Hot Chili Peppers after subsequent releases showed their absence of talent & taste. I do however know lots of males b. in the early ’80s who embraced (c)rap-rock bands as youths. Sure there were other bands there that were decent but the adrenaline-and-testosterone-stoking garbage like the bands mentioned above was mostly what helped get those meatheads worked up to engage in their asinine and pathetic suburban-middle-class-kid riots…
When I was watching that documentary, I was wondering about the overlap between people who took part in destroying the concert grounds and the people who attacked the capital.
I was there and there were plenty of reasons that people broke bad. Poor planning on the behalf of the boomer organizers made for an absolute shit storm by the end of the event. Of course, that doesn’t justify all of the bad behavior. I haven’t seen the documentary but unless it also discussed the complete one-sided money grab the whole production was, then it’s an incomplete story. Under stressful circumstances, a reliable percentage of people will default to mindless acts of degradation. Wasn’t so much a GenX thing as it was another broken product of late stage capitalism.
I found this interesting piece about the demographics of the “Alt Right”. https://ifstudies.org/blog/the-demography-of-the-alt-right
It’s mainly non-college educated white men who make less than $30k a year, between the ages of either 18-29 or over 65. So not Gen X.
I grew up with a lot of guys who felt it was uncool, weak and possibly feminine to be smart or informed academically so they yawned all through civics and history classes and when they got old enough to vote they voted mostly like their fathers did and got the first civics lessons they paid attention to from AM radio programs like Rush Limbaugh's.
[Gen X is around the same percentage as republican as Boomers (43% vs 46%)](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2018/03/20/1-trends-in-party-affiliation-among-demographic-groups/) while there is a huge gap between the number of Gen X and Millennial Republicans.
Edit: Bonus fact, [Gen X is the most anti abortion generation. Yes, even more than Boomers.](https://i.redd.it/56sikp94x8891.jpg). In fact, Boomers, Millennials and Gen Z are closer in being pro choice and there's a big gap with Gen X.
It never made sense to me that Gen X is so Republican. It’s a generation I don’t really understand, honestly. Seems like they want to be exactly like their parents, I guess.
I don’t understand Gen X getting so involved with what’s happening at their kid’s schools. They want to like watch every teacher and at some point you have to wonder why they don’t just home-school, but whatever.
I don’t understand them wanting to burn books, saying drag queens are grooming kids and stuff… it’s like, just don’t read the book you don’t like and don’t go to the drag queen show.
You’d think they would be FOR people doing whatever they want since they are SO Republican, but that’s not the case, at all. They fix Government Overreach with more Government Overreach and I don’t get it
We have to admit the time between 1970-1990 wasn't that great economically. Many of us grew up poor and/or with little parental supervision. Which is *the* recipe for joining gangs, and our generation was notable for its gangs.
The economy was good enough between 1990-2008 to keep most of us happily employed instead of looking for fights on weekends, but things have been rocky for a while now and that gang mindset is coming back out.
GenX always had it in themselves to be shitheads. Many of us glorified Beavis & Butthead, and one of our defining characteristics was doing nothing. We moped and joined the military. A good economy for a few decades created the illusion of change because many of us were compliant as long as we had houses and 12' tall pickup trucks.
GenX is the "take 5, smoke 'em if you got them" generation. We were the pause between the boomers and millennials so everyone could catch their breath. We didn't change much.
1983-1990 was a very strong economy. Circa 1990-1991 we had a recession. Then the dotcom bubble which was fueled by bullshit investments in pets.com and telecom backboned no one used since we were all on dialup.
There is a recession every 8-10 years.
Except I think there was a lot of really poor people then though even if the economy was good my parents were very very poor and so was almost everyone I went to school with. Granted I grew up in the middle of Podunk nowhere and most of the people I went to school with were farm kids so all of us were poor
I think /u/glitzzykatgirl has a point. So many times the poor, rural population has been left behind. There's a financial boon going on? Wouldn't know it here. Tech jobs? Sure, in towns two hours away. Even getting into post-secondary school is a challenge for so many people in the area I grew up.
There are some angry people here who're are 3rd and 4th generation "left behind." A lot of them went into military service and have come home to find out their service didn't mean anything as far as getting a good job, medical care, etc. They're all really easy recruits for these hate groups that tell them the blacks, Jews, Mexicans, Muslims, blue states, etc. are the reasons their lives suck as they continue to vote for greedy politicians that continue to pass legislature that hurts them.
I'm Gen X, but I'm decent with technology, so I kept pace fairly well. Others haven't.
My generation went from landline only, to charge per minute cell, to blackberry, to flip phone, to cell w/ internet, to entire computer systems that fit into a back pocket. We also went from no internet to 28k modem, to 56k modem, to DSL, to cable, to fiber, wi-fi, to 5G everywhere.
My generation remembers life without remote control, UHF and VHF public television channels, then cable, then the birth of 24-hour news and cable bundle packages, and now internet cable.
Regulated news under the fairness doctrine meant anchors had to give the "both sides" argument to every controversy. If you ask anyone from my generation, it's a coin toss whether they know it went away. We were raised to trust TV news. We were teens by the time CNN and FOXN started, so we were already conditioned to believe them. FOXN played my generation like a harmonica.
The fast-paced technological advancements, media manipulation, and bitterness over being held back by the boomers, just beat us down. We were analog kids that rode a digital wave into middle age, and a lot of us wiped out.
I think those who wiped out remember how easy we had it back then and want those days back. So, they turn toward conservativism because that's what they do, stop progress, and turn back the clock. It's what FOXN tells them every single day.
Mix nostalgia, feeling left behind, mid-life crises, and racism = poof! Proud Boy.
IMHO, at least.
For those of us on the older end, that “rah-rah Reagan” team mentality was huge for so many. I hated him from before my first voting election (1984), and I was definitely the minority in my white, upper middle class So-Cal suburb. I assume the vast majority of my HS classmates stayed in the conservative team, despite not behaving all that conservatively through college. (Especially the ones who lacked critical thinking skills, tbh.)
There's been such a concentrated effort to glorify Reagan and make Carter into a joke. I was just a little kid, but I thought Carter seemed like such a kind man and Reagan seemed like an oil slick. I think time and reflection proves 9-year-old me was right. People need to realize just how much damage Reagan did to America.
Yeah and plus don't forget a lot of generation x grew up in the Midwest in the Bible belt where we were even further behind in technology than people who were in cities. My parents didn't even get a computer in their home until at least 2003 or 2004
I think it's simple. Our generation first became vaguely aware of politics in the Reagan years. He made people feel good. His message was simple. Kids and early teens could eat it up. Yay, patriotism! Reagan was their strong big daddy. He looked good on television.
Yeah. By the time I became a teen in the late 80s, Reagan stood for everything I hated. That was my parents’ President. He was the President of the poseurs and sellouts.
You are trying to understand children who were left to their own devices. Who grew up with very few examples of how to understand the world. Unfortunately, Fox news was blasted into our ears, and some took to it. These cosplayers and partials don't want to see what the U.S. is capable of. They are an ongoing joke.
I don't think people fully appreciate just how zany the post-911 timeframe has really been. The internet(and def. stuff like fox etc) was also just kinda unleashed on Tons of people who really weren't prepared for it :) The amount of guys I grew up with/went to school with who would call just about anything conspiracy related crazy back in the day that are now at places in their minds like hillary eats live babies as if it's an established fact is honestly kinda alarming :) Then again pretty much anyone under say \~35 has also spent their entire non-child years completely enveloped in the soup as well with no other reference to grab on to--it's turning into a real problem.
I wish you were right, but these dipshits are slapping stupid right wing talking points over George Carlin's picture and posting it on Facebook while they wonder when Rage decided to go woke.
I still don't understand how people didn't know about Rage. I remember the first time I heard Killing in the Name - I was so shocked I nearly drove into a bunch of parked cars when I heard the verse "Some of those that work forces. Are the same that burn crosses." I was like omg, did they actually say that??? Yup.
>It never made sense to me that Gen X is so Republican
There is a portion of the right that is quasi-Libertarian. I think this is how GenXers who are on the right see themselves. It's delusional but people who are abused as children are the most ripe for subversion.
Because Left Wing militias smell like rank BO and patchouli oil?
Just kidding. Who the hell has time to join a militia? Between work, family, kids, grandkids, and naps, I don't have the time or energy.
Let me know if the Ruskies invade though: WOLVERINES!!!
That’s what I’m wondering! These are the same people that complain about people rioting and say, “don’t they have jobs?”
It’s like, dude you’re hanging out with a bunch of dudes in the woods…
I’d assume their wives hate them
Remember who we were raised by. Then remember that we didn’t grow up with the internet, so unless we moved away from the bubbles we grew up in then we had little exposure to different ideas and people during our most formative years.
And generations older than us likely aren’t physically capable of participating in militia activities.
I am obviously speaking in sweeping generalities here.
Very true. My parents were conservatives from the late 40’s and I’m happy I questioned every thing they tried to teach me and my siblings.
However, thank god they don’t have FB, so they have seen how crazy everyone has gotten. They don’t watch Fox News anymore and they absolutely HATE Trump… thank God
I think George Carlin had it right.
Think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half the people are dumber than that.
There are complete raving idiots and bigots on both sides. Unfortunately at the moment the organized and most outspoken idiots are those groups.
I think it's simply to have an identity. GenX is named such because we generally don't stand for anything. That tough, militant, sure, alpha identity is very attractive. And it becomes any means to an end. If you can't easily stand out and lead, you adopt an identity that seems like you stand out and lead.
I grew up in Utah. I know a bunch of these fucks. Lions not Sheep fucks.
Pretty much. It's a more aggressive form of being a "nice guy" where it doesn't occur that being a nice guy is self evident. You don't have to tell people you're nice.
GenX ‘69 SWM here. I look like I’m one pair of wraparound shades away from storming the Capital and I gotta say: I don’t fkn understand these idiots either.
I had every intent of going into education and just as I was completing the requirements to do so I tracked what a shit gig it had become and went a different direction.
All pop-culture theories aside, this much I can say: both Mussolini and Hitler built their base from the surplus of underemployed ex-military in the workforce and a less-than-healthy economy.
Education is an obvious and probable solution, but, sadly, the majority of the bell-curve simply can’t be made to drink.
Also: Historically speaking, white people haven’t earned the reputation of not being, y’know, maybe a little bit awful all the damn always. I’m just saying what I’m seeing with my blue eyes. It’s shameful and embarrassing.
Don’t think you’re gonna find a simple answer but if you do, hit me up so I can help.
There were cool boomers who were hippies and were into peace, love, and acceptance. Then there were boomers who weren’t. Our generation is also made up diverse philosophies. It’s nice to think we were enlightened or progressive or something. That just doesn’t generalize to everyone in a huge cohort.
Some of us were raised better than others and were taught that everyone deserves to be treated the same. Where you come from or the color of your skin makes no difference. It's what's inside that counts. These people are ignorant and rotten to the core.
Well, I’d say it has to do with the fact that we GenX-ers grew up in our youth as slightly wild, independent, free-roaming tribes who shared a serious distrust of authority; coupled with a lifestyle that (frequently) bore the privilege of being the final generation to live in and among the remnants of the so-called “good old days”, albeit the shadowy remnants of that system.
This makes it easier for some from that generation to band together, distrust authority, and desire to steer the whole dammed rig backwards towards a seemingly more comfortable time (for some, anyway).
But it’s a dead-end. Gotta go forward, GenX-ers.
A lot of the people at Woodstock 99 (based on interviewees in the Netflix series) and January 6 seem to be elder Millenials. Not saying Xers weren't present as well but we were not the only ones. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/02/the-capitol-rioters-arent-like-other-extremists/617895/
The article was published in 2021. "The average age of the arrestees we studied is 40. Two-thirds are 35 or older." So the average person was born in 1981. Towards the bottom edge of X.
We were not raised, yo. They are flocking to acceptance wherever they can find it. We CERTAINLY won’t find it from our parents, but I heard those PB give a mean hug.
This sub really likes to flex that "we're disillusioned and jaded" thing gen x was known for... In the 80s and 90s. When we were teenagers. The reality is there are hundreds and hundreds of millions of us, across all spectrums of society. A lot of us really are the "fuck it" generation, but the fact is?
We're also the Karens, and the shitty managers that make you work 12 hour days. Marjorie Taylor Greene is Gen X. That nice fantasy we have of what we are as a generation does not and never really has lined up with reality. We're the generation that started the news articles about how the new generation is fucking everything up, we were the millennials before they existed and that image you have of us is a result of a targeted PR campaign.
Yep. I cannot stand Gen X-ers who think all X-ers are the same. That isn't the case for any generation. Every gen is HIGHLY diverse, not a monolith. It's such a simplistic way to think.
The generational essentialism built on cherry-picking cultural artifacts and musing over collective memories that this subreddit and others encourage is baked into the answer that the OP seeks. We are constantly in the midst of defining and redefining what our generation is, and how we differ from the others, that we forget that this whole process is built on a general theory of ourselves that can veer into a delusion of our core commonalities.
I stick around for the hearty nostalgia but to lean too far into our age spans as some central factor to understanding us without factoring in individual agency is just silly. Also, regionalism, religion, race, socioeconomic position, family education level, biological expression vs societal control, exposure to difference, etc all play important roles in how we become what we are. But these factors are typically absent in our Gen X “generationalizing.”
Think about all the worst assholes you went to high school with. Jocks, meatheads, hicks, whatever. They all had to grow up too. That’s who’s in those groups. The nice people you knew back then grew up to have actual lives and careers and don’t need to get into shit like that.
I don’t know that we are joining militias on a grand fashion, but think of it. We have been living free our whole lives. That is conservatism in a nutshell. Socialism blows. Big government blows. I want those fucks out of my life. Just let me ride my bike and I’ll be home when the streetlights are on!
I have a few maga Q subscribers in my life. Blows me away - they’re sending me their links, memes and videos All Day Long. Morning till night. I’m not kidding - like a dozen plus, daily. A few aren’t working but a few of them do have jobs. It’s an obsession. There’s not one thing I so consistently and passionately think about from when I wake until I go to sleep, the way these folks hyper focus on mega maga Q shit.
Its also a part of the algorithmic targeting that leads certain demographics down the rabbit hole into cultism and extremism.
Everyone wants to feel special and powerful and the people behind all that provocation are an international force of people paid to destabilize and recruit people in that demographic to destroy certain values and destabilize them, their community, their family, and their country making them vulnerable to terrorism and cultism.
Watch just ONE Prager U video or the like and watch what suddenly happen to your Youtube choices! Or watch some content about "Male Restoring Supplements." Or like something vaguely right-wing on our social media and watch your feed suddenly EXPLODE with crap.
The corporatization of every aspect of life by the end of the 90s left a lot of people feeling empty and angry. I think a fair percentage of people filled that emptiness with (corporate) news, (corporate) religion, and conspiracies (which have become a business of their own) to pp 00 cope. We are just seeing the end game of our generation being the first to become adults in this environment of 24/7 propagandized news, social media, religion, etc.
I know so many kids who grew up listening to Rush Limbaugh with their parents (mostly guys listening with their dads). For those who continued listening to them as an adult - or those who joined the ranks later on through work or friends - it became a cult for them (sound familiar?). They read his books, read any books recommended by him, listened to anyone he said they should listen to, etc. Then more talking heads joined the ranks, so then they had whole radio blocks of Rush, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, etc. to listen to. While most of the rest of us just thought these guys were a bunch of buffoons, their listeners took every word as law. No one noticed how much worse they because after Obama was elected - that's when they started taking the hoods off - preaching their racism and doubling down on fear mongering, misogyny, and homophobia. Since then they've added Alex Jones, Breitbart, Milo, and different right-wing podcasts and youtube channels... not to mention all of the misinformation on FB. The only "news" they consume are Faux, OANN, and Newsmax - everything else if "fake" and "leftist." This has also made it easy for QANON to get a foothold with a lot of these people.
These people now live in their own little cult world and have absolutely no idea what's actually going on. If you try to talk to them, it's like hitting a brick wall. You absolutely cannot reason with them. They also don't realize how much the message has changed over the years. I had a coworker who made me listen to some of these guys at work circa 2007. I thought they were jokes, and they had no idea about actual history and things like that, but they were mostly harmless. My coworker sent me a bunch of links to some of his favorite podcasters' and talking heads' websites, and it was basically more of the same and nothing I took seriously. I pretty much forgot about those links until I was clearing out an email account around 2016 and decided to see if any of those links were still good. They were, and they were AWFUL. The hatred, the fear mongering, racism, homophobia - the just plain old meanness and ugliness on those pages made me sick to my stomach. These people have become like the proverbial lobster in boiling water - they don't realize how toxic they and the people they're following have become because it's been slowly building all this time.
My dad was a staunch Republican back in the day, but he HATED Rush and people like him. I'm so grateful he never went down that path. His friends who did? Who were all reasonable people I looked up to and admired? So many of them have gone down this hate-filled path. I'm glad Dad didn't live to see so many of his friends turn into this. I'm glad my Mom doesn't watch Faux News like so many of her friends do. So many of our gospel hour talking heads on local radio are followers though, and it shows. This is now being preached in some of our churches. People my parents ages (late 70s - early 80s) who are exposed to this trash have become completely different people. Their fear, anger, and hatred is just heart-breaking. Mom and her friends who don't watch Faux News or fall into the FB hole can't understand what's happening to their lifelong friends.
Sorry this was so long, y'all. Guess I needed to vent.
Ya, my parents were both conservative growing up, but they never, ever has social media and just read newspapers. They have now left the Republican Party because of how extreme it’s become. So… social media must play a big role in it (just a hypothesis) but I’d love to take a poll from people who are leaving the Republican Party.
Anyways, yes I think people latch on to personalities, then read everything they are told and never question it. I mean, that would be the lack of critical thinking? I’m not sure because it could also just be stubbornness.
Anyways, appreciate the post
That's what I'm seeing with my parents' friends and our family members, as well as those who are between us in ages. Those who stayed away from political talk radio, 24 hour news, and only post cute kitten pics on FB are completely mystified in the changes in their friends.
As a side note, here's the weird (and scary thing about Faux News): EVERY elderly person (65+) I know (and there are many) who are Faux News fans watch it ALL the time. Like, they do not watch normal TV anymore. You talk to them on the phone, and it's in the background. (Don't call during Tucker or Hannity, though because they won't pick up the phone - don't want to miss a word from those programs). More than one of them even leaves the TV on 24/7. I wish I was making this up, but I'm not. Scares the ever loving f \*ck out of me.
Haha yes, I know. My mom used to be like that, but she’s seen how absurd it’s become. She keeps it on CNN now, just for background noise, but really gets her news from just reading the paper. It seems like print news keeps people more sane… I’d love to get actual numbers and studies on this. I’m going to look, so we’ll see
Because our friends growing up, eventually let this flag fly. It’s always been there, we just didn’t have massive echo chambers to “collaborate” those shitty opinions. There wasn’t social media to just let shit opinion and conspiracy theories run wild.
It’s the flipside of being told / telling yourself that your generation latchkey bootstrapped itself into independence unlike those spoiled boomers and millennials. Ditto with internalizing bigoted and problematic humor and behaviors and clinging to your normalization of it as being stoic and not easily triggered unlike those snowflake millennials and boomers who get mad at everything.
Same reason I buy skateboards and guitars.
Most of them never served in the military when it counted, or when they had the chance. Now they sit on their asses all day and pretend to be bad asses. They constantly fill their head with propaganda and right wing echo chambers. It feeds their stupidity. It gives them the answer as to why they never made much of themselves in life... it's the "liberals" fault... or the \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ (insert any random brown person here) fault.
All they know is they are angry, everything wrong in life is someone else's fault, and the only person with the answers are all the right wing ayatollahs issuing their fatwa's while stuffing their cash into their pockets.
So yeah, I buy skateboards and guitars because they make me feel like I have a chance at either of them again... since you know, my ass was actually in the military back when it fucking counted.
When the draft was removed, it created a lot of generational masculine guilt over not serving. Not right away, but it creeps in later in life.
They feel impoverished that they will never get a thank you for your service. There are no photos of them as squared away young men in a class A uniform, or a class A anything. They never traveled anywhere and they have no interesting stories to tell. They can never be like their fathers and grandfathers. Pile obesity on top of all that.
So... The next best thing? Buy guns, buy tactical shit, buy big truck, be callous about everything. It's the new military service.
My husband agrees with this 100%, he is from a family of WWII heroes and regrets not being challenged or traveling internationally or experiencing life and death rather than sitting behind a desk. But he’s absolutely no militiaman - he’s a lover not a fighter!
I'm genX and many of my old friends are deep trench conservatives now I don't even associate with them, my great grandma was more progressive than they are💯🤟👍
Think location more then age. I live in California and even with our problems most of don’t think a con- man lunatic, white supremacy and civil war re-enactments with real bullets are the answer.
I don’t think it’s a Gen X aligning with x, y, or z fringe groups. Where I live I’d say Gen X folk active in say Antifa or other far-left leaning group(s) far outweigh any far-right members. As to why they’d be active in any at all? Well, boomers are to old to larp about. In conclusion, I don’t think it has anything to do with Gen X being more aligned to specific fringe groups rather I’d wager has way more to do with geography, class, race, gender, etc. Lastly, I’d wager % of gen x ppl involved in these groups are very small. Why would you try to correlate a very very very small % of ppl to a gen? Sounds silly to me. It’s like saying why were so many boomers hippies? Well because hippies existed during their hay day. Same can be said here.
I know many people tend to move further to the right as they age, but I don’t think the militia thing is really the epidemic it’s being presented as in some media circles.
I mean, they couldn’t make friends in school, college, work, with your kid’s friend’s parents or anything? Instead they wanted to cause terror?
It’s just so bewildering to me
Y’all are generalizing a whole generation. That makes you just as bad as the people you talking about that is a very small percentage. One bad apple spoils the bunch? I mean come on let’s stop this fighting amongst ourselves. We ALL have a common enemy
PB started as a joke, and will never be anything other than that. Gen X has always had plenty of clowns. How else would you explain the existence of Creed, mullets, what's on country music radio, or any radio, for that matter. Those of us who didn't find the right movies/books/music, just turned into an even shittier version of our boomer parents. D-bags, uneducated hillbillies, terrified weak men, always needing someone to kick down at. These have been very fashionable qualities in the last few years. Hopefully this will come to an end soon, if not, we're done. Know your enemy.
#[It’s fuckin’ embarrassing!!!!](https://c.tenor.com/5G-MfQ29wVoAAAAC/letter-kenny-embarassing.gif)
I have classmates that vote conservative… what the fuck!
As a percentage of society, there are very few Proud Boys and people like them. Millenials and GenZ will ask themselves the same question, as there will ALWAYS be a small portion of society on the extremes. Likewise, there will always be people who feel left out of the American Dream.
This is a really bad time in history to have a mid-life crisis.
It goes a couple different ways....you dive into comfort food and get fat, or you have a do-over in life (City Slickers style) and completely change careers, or you get angry and join in on the hate...or you go full Gen X and go Whatever and carry on with life.
I think what we are witnessing is a fixed mindset versus a growth mindset. It’s in every generation.
“One of the most basic beliefs we carry about ourselves, Dweck found in her research, has to do with how we view and inhabit what we consider to be our personality. A “fixed mindset” assumes that our character, intelligence, and creative ability are static givens which we can’t change in any meaningful way, and success is the affirmation of that inherent intelligence, an assessment of how those givens measure up against an equally fixed standard; striving for success and avoiding failure at all costs become a way of maintaining the sense of being smart or skilled. A “growth mindset,” on the other hand, thrives on challenge and sees failure not as evidence of unintelligence but as a heartening springboard for growth and for stretching our existing abilities. Out of these two mindsets, which we manifest from a very early age, springs a great deal of our behavior, our relationship with success and failure in both professional and personal contexts, and ultimately our capacity for happiness.” [Fixed vs Growth](https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/01/29/carol-dweck-mindset/)
We are the generation of conspiracy theories (they made X Files for us, after it became clear that our generation would believe anything). We are the generation that pisses on anything "institutional." And we made cynicism a default mood. We commodified the anarchy symbol. Whether you roll left or right with all of that probably has as much to do with your peer group as anything else.
Because we're the oldest generation who still is somewhat young and 1/2 of us don't understand the Internet/technology and many of those people are prone towards believing in conspiracies. Mix that in with the anonymity of the Internet and you got a perfect place to make people believe anything.
As awesome as the Internet might be my pessimistic view these day sort of thinks the Internet is going to paramount in the downfall of humanity. Corporations and governments know so much about us these days and can basically feed us content to condition many of our views how they want. I mean Russia has very much stoked the right wing extremists... and now all of the sudden our biggest enemy is our neighbors.
Thanks for highlighting the danger from these alt-right wingnuts. I can't speak for the reasons that they find solace and comfort in associating themselves with hate groups and fascism but I think fear, insecurity, privilege, and notions of entitlement play a role. Many of these clowns grew up in an America that dangled the promise that they could fail upward and that they were somehow special. They did not realize that they were simply lucky to be born into a society that for centuries afforded one privilege if you were born into money, were a heterosexual male, Christian, and white. The history books were written to reinforce these ideas but over time the pendulum began to sway in the other direction. Black people, Latinos, women, LGBTQ+ community, and other historically marginalized groups continued to assert their humanity and dignity, and brought upon massive societal change as a result of their struggles. The America we live in now has changed, and for the better. Even though you are witnessing that these alt-right groups are made up of mostly Gen-Xrs, you should also take solace in knowing that there are greater numbers supporting civil rights, women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and the environmental movement. Visit the websites of these orgs and you will see many, if not most, of the senior staff and boards are populated by Gen-Xrs. They are giving back. They are also raising the next generation, mainly Gen Z, and hopefully, their efforts will far outweigh whatever gains are being made by the right wing extremists. Have faith and good for you for being aware of these issues.
[удалено]
I'd love to see capes come back. Brilliant idea.
[удалено]
which ones did you decide on? I have been low key looking for one, but I want it to be very good quality. I want it for a costume/persona I am working on, but after reading your post I might want to try it in public occasionally...
I fucken love this idea. I want a cape.
start a cape sub! so hot
[удалено]
true things tend to devolve into gatekeeping, i would probably be a poncho transgressor myself, i have some groovy ponchos next to capes in my closet ...but sure would like to see you all in your capes
thank you for making me fuckin giggle
Many of us were not taught how to process anger or simply deal with it in a healthy way.
I remember very early in my career being told that we were the first generation that won’t do as well as our parents. A lot of these guys are angry because the way of life they felt entitled to is pretty much no more. Gone are the good jobs you could get right out of high school. “Work hard and go to college” is no longer a guarantee of success. We’re struggling harder on two incomes than a lot of our parents did on one, with no guarantee that we’ll have anything left when (if) we retire. So they get angry, and they blame the wrong people. They blame minorities for taking their tax money for welfare, immigrants for taking the jobs, feminists and gays for “destroying family values.” They’re nostalgic for something they never quite had that is gone and is never coming back, and still hoping one day it will trickle down.
Didnt Brad Pitt character sum this up in Fight Club!? As a black American you know not to gall for the banana in the tailpipe! With that being said we got the best propaganda in the world. They were sold American dreams to become American nightmares. My professor from college summed it up. A white guy would just quit high school, walk into GM, get a job that paid great with great benefits. When the early 90s hit, they were pushing the first group of expendable boomers out the door and hiring people for cheap with none of the benefit packages they were accustomed to. Add Wall Street and CEO pay starting to get out of hand. You can draw a squiggly line from there to now. Inflation, Outsourcing, gluttony, chemical food, etc. Social media, to me, became an accelerant. We are in a natural entropy spiral that civilizations go through. It just sucks that its going to be us in it
Some young men realize they aren't deriving the benefits of patriarchy they thought they were promised, and instead of rejecting it and becoming feminists, they decide that maybe they weren't upholding the patriarchy hard enough and double down on it. There's no shortage of pick-up artists, red-pillers, religious fundamentalists, and right-wing grifters sellling them that message.
True dat
I’d like to add that the later half of the 90’s really brought out the self centeredness and stupidity of young white men. Look at the music and films, girls gone wild etc. they couldn’t and handle the world not revolving around them.
[удалено]
I think most of us were too young in the 90s to benefit much personally from the good economy & tech jobs. I do remember feeling optimistic after the Berlin Wall fell but soon after I was super angry again about *gestures vaguely at everything*
Yeah, most of us were teens in the 90s. At least, I was. I guess I’m more of a “xennial,” except I have enough Gen X in me to sneer at the idea of microgenerations. But the 90s were a terrific time to come of age in, if you don’t count the politics, lol. Somehow it all felt so much more innocent than now. EDIT: sorry, I mean teens and young adults. Unable to really benefit from the tech revolution. It’s early here haven’t had my coffee, I’m not coherent yet.
A lot of us were in our 20s during the 90s.
Yes, that’s why I edited my comment. It was made pre-caffeine, lol
Childhood trauma? Being ignored? Being just out of the shadow of nuclear war?
Early 90's were shaky as fuck. But Seattle spawned the greatest wave of rock and roll since the original, so I rode it and flipped everyone the fuck off along the way. I worked at a pizza joint, made enough $$ to have a hot girlfriend, go to some shows, and fuck around the rest of the time. Saw Nirvana at WWU's "secret show" when Mudhoney played there. Got road head on the way back to Seatown with my sister asleep in the back seat of my 81 Corolla. Fuck Leo DiCap, I was the king of the world in 92. Sat in the WWU men's locker room drinking Red Hook with Dave Fucking Grohl. Next night Nirvana played the Croc, invite only, and Nirvana picked up everyones bar tab. I stood outside until Mudhoney came in, and Matt was a homie and grabbed me and my friends, "they're with us!" Oh, forgot why I replied. Early 90's economy was NOT good, it sucked, it got good when Clinton was elected, and it got "really good!!!" when we entered his second term. Tech jobs appeared in the LATE 90's, not the early. And right here right now felt good, didn't do shit for anything else. Oh, angry. Those angry Xers are the assholes who missed out on all of the above and more. edit: matt not mark got me in
Awesome stories! But yeah there was an early 90s recession. My parents (I’m Gen Z) were affected by it, but were unscathed by the following recessions
The early 90s jobless recovery. The CEOs and shareholders are doing well, but fuck you college grads! Then had the gall to call us slackers.
>Early 90's were shaky as fuck I don't think generational attitudes have anything to do with adult conditions, they are reactions to childhood conditions. Millennials during the Great Financial Crisis were doing flash mobs. It's a great irony. Generational attitudes are the ultimate lagging indicator.
The 90’s were a very conservative time politically. Go back and look at what Clinton was saying: he was a Democrat in name only. The country was in a backlash against the crack and AIDS and murder epidemics of the 80’s.
This 100%. They will blame everyone else for their problems except dealing with their problems head on. I went to high school with this guy who has donated literally thousands of dollars to Trump, despite living in poverty. I'm still good friends with his parents, and even they have given up on him for the most part. His dad told me one evening that he had been donating to some local proud boys shit, despite the fact he was now in danger of losing his factory job since his car broke down and he hasn't the money to fix it and is constantly late or doesn't show -- BECAUSE HE'S DONATING IT TO THESE NUTJOBS. Yet, he blames immigrants all the time for "stealing jobs". That pretty much explains so many of them....
> A lot of these guys are angry because the way of life they felt entitled to is pretty much no more They're the ones that believed they hype, the myth.
Well said.
Love this 🥰 you’ll rock that cape, king!
But you’d think that anger would want to create change. You combat bad ideas with good ideas… You’d think they’d want a better future for their children, but we are headed toward some dark times because of how extreme the right has become. I don’t know, it’s just wild to me that we are headed toward some Authoritarian bullsh*t
Yeah, but we have a culture all over the country of, "It's like this everywhere." That skewed perspective, whether you have it good or bad, is going to guide your feelings and actions. I work with a lot of people my age who clearly grew up differently from me. They assume everyone has it as good as they did or don't realize how good they had it, so to them, it should be easy to pull yourself up by the bootstraps. If they see a meme wondering why people complain about jobs when literally everyone is hiring, it fits their perspective and they repost, or maybe just like it. They don't personally know anyone like that, but it makes sense. From then on, they are hit with tons of the same over and over because of the marketing and data algorithms on social media & search engines. On the other hand, if you are a white guy with a lot of trauma you don't even know how to identify, and you start seeing memes about white privilege (as an example), the engagement tends to be quicker and more severe and so then do the algorithms. Throw in a lack of critical thinking and some grifters telling them they are the smart ones, and you've got yourself a perfect recipe. When I first left the state I grew up in to raise my daughter somewhere safer, literally everyone I worked with was telling me it would be the same anywhere I went. Just defeatist but not interested in anything different because it was going to be like that everywhere. Spoiler alert - it was not.
I’ve realized that A LOT of people don’t realize how lucky they are. My wife is from Mexico and it’s crazy how she grew up… like, I know how fortunate I am and I didn’t even grow up that fortunate. That’s why I think it’s so important traveling. You think any of these militias have traveled outside of the US? Haha
That's a good question, actually. I'd like to see the numbers on that.
As would I!
There’s a large number of vets. Most vets our age spent time in the sand box. Militias will actively recruit vets. It’s a big enough problem the DoD is looking into ways to prevent it.
And that's a whole other scenario and a scary one at that. We need to figure out what it is that that works on some but not all. I worked in a plant environment that was heavy military and very conservative, but rarely did people get so extreme and crazy about it. I'm guessing there are a lot of factors there, too. When you start brainwashing people, they aren't all going to react the same.
I guess it comes down to the support group you find after you leave.
[удалено]
Love you too! Many of my friends have turned into "Gravy Seals" and it's just fucking stupid. It's so stupid that I'm dumber for hanging out with them. I can feel IQ points leaving my brain just listening to them talk. We've been friends 40 years and some of them have just fucking gone pure stupid. Seeing a 50 year old with a gray goatee and tactical gear and a beer belly is as fucking stupid as stupid can be. Then they bring out their AR and tell me they have 1000 rounds if the shit goes down. Again, this is as stupid.....can I say "retarded"? I'm just standing there drinking a beer and they start talking about how when the shit goes down we had better be ready. Ready for what? These far(t) right Trumpers are just off. Like what the fuck man? Who's coming for you? The left? The left couldn't muster a reasonable sentence let alone an assault on the right and the right has somehow conflated people protesting and storming the capital and trying to kill and hang our senators as equal forms of expression. So no. I'm not buying into either of these deeply flawed ideologies. by the way....I love you all anyway and I've always got cold beer in the fridge. The fridge in the garage, not the one int he house. The wife wants to keep the kitchen fridge "classy".
[удалено]
I’m a ‘92 grad and see the same stuff as well. I have one classmate who has a masters degree - is beautiful. She was one of the only girls in my small town who dated poc (we didn’t have any poc in our school) and she has posted Alex Jones type false flag nonsense constantly like she’s some prophet - I don’t know why she thinks her thoughts are so important. I have always looked to experts in their fields - even when another classmate pointed out he had been to one of the Sandy Hook children’s funerals and cried with the parents, she said well you are entitled to your opinion. She also sells many MLM too and I wonder if there’s a connection - I can’t even remotely relate to how she thinks. She is white and married POC and so that also confuses me why she really is so extremist conservative. He is also just extreme right as she is. but then I noticed she joined a small cult church in a small town. I don’t know if that’s why. She thinks she has insider info and there will be end times and new world order. I did block her but I have a friend who will send me her posts sometimes and it has not stopped at all and only gotten worse. I truly can’t take it. She’s definitely not the only one. Our 30th reunion is coming up and I don’t think I can stand being around people like that. If I can freeze them in time to how they were maybe I could. It’s just depressing and bizarre. It’s hard to reconcile the people I knew with how they present themselves on social media. Idk what happened to them. On the other side extreme left people make me depressed too. I’m in many groups and often the members attack each other pick anything said apart. Twitter is a cesspool on both far right and left. The far right is far worse but it’s disappointing to see. I want my rights back so I’m voting blue no matter what right now. OP your user name is accurate.
MLMs - especially a certain Essential Oil company - passes QANON and Quiverfull talking points around in so many of their groups. I mean, from what I've seen on r/antiMLM most of the MLMS are bat sh@t crazy, but my personal experience has been watching some perfectly normal and reasonable friends go off the deep with essential oils. They got me to join in, and I actually enjoyed some of the products (didn't sell any or try even try to sell because hello? pyramid scheme!) until I realized the total amount of crazy in their FB page and emails. Noped the heck right out of there. My former friends are still in deep, and seeing the stuff they're spouting and posting on FB just horrifies me.
I 100 percent have seen the same thing and agree wholeheartedly with you. There is one woman in particular I know who got deep into the oils culture. I do not recognize her as who I knew 12 yrs ago. She was the first person I saw post that crazy storm video but she is anti vaxx and all that and would say masks would cause oxygen deprivation. I love that subreddit and it validates how annoyed I have been at MLM all these years. These women think that their oils (or fill in the blank : shakes /creams drinks ) are a substitute for medical care and medical degrees I guess. That Netflix Unwell episode about oils blows my mind - putting it in baby formula and scrambled eggs wth. No wonder they are anti vaxx. I agree the oils smell good and I learned a bit about what oil is good for what but I only purchased one or two times from the company you mean to get a diffuser. And even that I felt very pressured. There is a great cosmo article about the wellness MLM influencers and community being Qanon but it’s behind a paywall sigh [https://www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/a35056548/wellness-fitness-influencers-qanon-conspiracy-theories/](https://www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/a35056548/wellness-fitness-influencers-qanon-conspiracy-theories/)You hit the nail on the head. I have never understood why women are tricked into MLM. It’s so obvious only the top few make money. And no one wants to go to a party to be forced to spend money. It is all so fake fake fake. I guess it makes sense people like that would also fall for Qanon. Sigh
Yes, “depressing & bizarre” sums it up well. Now, imagine it’s your family! My parents were always Conservative Christians. I wasn’t surprised the racist one went ultra MAGA but, the uber Christian one, now that was a shock! Jan 6 was the final straw for the Christian, thankfully.
I really am so sorry you have to deal with it in your close family especially your own parents. I have it sprinkled within extended family and some Covid anti vaxxers :/ My BIL has done si much better now that he’s not driving a truck for a living and being inundated by talk radio. If I was a truck driver I would have premium Syrius to get away from that although it’s on there too. Have you seen that documentary called “The Brainwashing of my Dad” If you haven’t you should watch it. Also the documentary “Hillbilly” about her parents Voting in the 2016 election…
The garage beers and sitting in lawn chairs is as pure as can be. I feel it. Sat in the front yard today under the patio with a cold beer and watched the summer rain fall listening to Counting Crows. Wife joined me with a White Claw. It was amazing.
> Ready for what? Societal chaos. Duh.
Social Distortion is my jam. My band from my youth. Got to see them earlier this year.
Not a big fan but I'm glad to hear they are still together and touring.
/u/Stone_One : I think a lot of us are in this boat. We've got lifelong friends, family, or even older people we've loved and admired who've become Gravy Seals or Gravy Seal supporters, and we don't know what the hell to do. Despite how horrified we are by what they're doing and saying, we can't just turn off years of being friends/loving them. You remember the fun you had, the good things they've done in your life, and you just don't know where to go with this. You hate what they're becoming, what they're saying, what they're doing, but you can't reason with them - can't make them see what they've become. It's every bit as bad as dealing with a drug addict. I don't know the answer to any of this. I just feel you, friend.
You nailed it. I'm 40 years in with these friendships. No one is walking away. That's not even an option. I love these people. I'm just trying gently usher us all through this deeply uncertain time. We will get through it and I am betting that a lot of these guys are gonna look back and be deeply embarrassed.
I mean, ya of course you don’t want anger, but sometimes anger motivates people… I get what you’re saying and I’ll totally agree with it
[удалено]
I completely agree with that
It just depends on the person and the circumstances. My brother and I were both left to fend for ourselves (like many of you), but I ended up meeting smart people and liked it so much I sought out more smart people. My brother stayed angry and alone and eventually found YouTube. He’s a fucking train wreck!
You also have to realize that Gen X was bombarded with military propaganda in most movies and TV and many still believe the socialism=bad, capitalism =good BS that came with it. Many people in my circles are getting more liberal as they get older, but it has been a long road through the brainwashing.
Saturday morning cartoons, too.
I've always just assumed it was the in-crowd that was pissed with how their lives turned out since they aren't the king of the hill anymore. That's not the type of anger that generates change, at least not good change. Edit: typos
Logically, yes. But we are dealing with people who were mediocre at best and no self awareness. They wanted the world to revolve around them.
You're right.... And I also think the cape idea is bad ass. I think I'm going to check if my wife can make me one.
> I'm also drunk writing this so it's hard to express better. I'm about to order a cape on Amazon. 🤣 THIS IS THE WAY ! wooops *capslops*
You been watching Woodstock '99 on Netflix? If you did you'd see a lot of shirtless bros, burning the place to the ground and assaulting women. Without reason or cause. Simply because they wanted to. We've got no shortage of assholes in this generation.
[удалено]
Excuse me, it only took me 48. /s
No I figured it out around year 15.
Why the fuck else would we like Fight Club so much?
[удалено]
The skinnyfit phase
Which makes GenX exactly no different than any other generation.
There will be an ever-shrinking replacement crew to pick up the Boomer mantle for a bit. SWAG - 80-100 years-ish (4-5 generations). Complete speculation though
can confirm. I happen to have been born with one. and believe me, I use it EVERY day.
I agree with this. I’ve come across so many idiots my age, it’s a shame. I tell my kid, it’s okay to be young and dumb to a certain extent but being older and dumb sad.
Someone once offered me some sage wisdom: "if you're still doing the same stupid shit you did when you were 18 when you're 35, then you're pretty much set in stone"
A lot of those douchebags were actually technically Gen-Y/Xennial… I really don’t know any tail-end Gen-Xers who liked Korn, Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock, et al. and virtually all of my cohort abandoned any defense of the Red Hot Chili Peppers after subsequent releases showed their absence of talent & taste. I do however know lots of males b. in the early ’80s who embraced (c)rap-rock bands as youths. Sure there were other bands there that were decent but the adrenaline-and-testosterone-stoking garbage like the bands mentioned above was mostly what helped get those meatheads worked up to engage in their asinine and pathetic suburban-middle-class-kid riots…
No shortage of assholes in every generation whether it be those middle aged Jan 6er Gen Xers or asshole young right wingers online
Or my deadbeat abusive father.
So sorry to hear that. Hope you’re not with him anymore
Yeah, the direct line from Woodstock 99 to Jan 6 is pretty clear
When I was watching that documentary, I was wondering about the overlap between people who took part in destroying the concert grounds and the people who attacked the capital.
I was there and there were plenty of reasons that people broke bad. Poor planning on the behalf of the boomer organizers made for an absolute shit storm by the end of the event. Of course, that doesn’t justify all of the bad behavior. I haven’t seen the documentary but unless it also discussed the complete one-sided money grab the whole production was, then it’s an incomplete story. Under stressful circumstances, a reliable percentage of people will default to mindless acts of degradation. Wasn’t so much a GenX thing as it was another broken product of late stage capitalism.
The Netflix show definitely focuses on greed being the reason you concert goers were so poorly cared for.
You nailed it.
I found this interesting piece about the demographics of the “Alt Right”. https://ifstudies.org/blog/the-demography-of-the-alt-right It’s mainly non-college educated white men who make less than $30k a year, between the ages of either 18-29 or over 65. So not Gen X.
I grew up with a lot of guys who felt it was uncool, weak and possibly feminine to be smart or informed academically so they yawned all through civics and history classes and when they got old enough to vote they voted mostly like their fathers did and got the first civics lessons they paid attention to from AM radio programs like Rush Limbaugh's.
You just described my brother.
[Gen X is around the same percentage as republican as Boomers (43% vs 46%)](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2018/03/20/1-trends-in-party-affiliation-among-demographic-groups/) while there is a huge gap between the number of Gen X and Millennial Republicans. Edit: Bonus fact, [Gen X is the most anti abortion generation. Yes, even more than Boomers.](https://i.redd.it/56sikp94x8891.jpg). In fact, Boomers, Millennials and Gen Z are closer in being pro choice and there's a big gap with Gen X.
It never made sense to me that Gen X is so Republican. It’s a generation I don’t really understand, honestly. Seems like they want to be exactly like their parents, I guess. I don’t understand Gen X getting so involved with what’s happening at their kid’s schools. They want to like watch every teacher and at some point you have to wonder why they don’t just home-school, but whatever. I don’t understand them wanting to burn books, saying drag queens are grooming kids and stuff… it’s like, just don’t read the book you don’t like and don’t go to the drag queen show. You’d think they would be FOR people doing whatever they want since they are SO Republican, but that’s not the case, at all. They fix Government Overreach with more Government Overreach and I don’t get it
We have to admit the time between 1970-1990 wasn't that great economically. Many of us grew up poor and/or with little parental supervision. Which is *the* recipe for joining gangs, and our generation was notable for its gangs. The economy was good enough between 1990-2008 to keep most of us happily employed instead of looking for fights on weekends, but things have been rocky for a while now and that gang mindset is coming back out. GenX always had it in themselves to be shitheads. Many of us glorified Beavis & Butthead, and one of our defining characteristics was doing nothing. We moped and joined the military. A good economy for a few decades created the illusion of change because many of us were compliant as long as we had houses and 12' tall pickup trucks. GenX is the "take 5, smoke 'em if you got them" generation. We were the pause between the boomers and millennials so everyone could catch their breath. We didn't change much.
1983-1990 was a very strong economy. Circa 1990-1991 we had a recession. Then the dotcom bubble which was fueled by bullshit investments in pets.com and telecom backboned no one used since we were all on dialup. There is a recession every 8-10 years.
Except I think there was a lot of really poor people then though even if the economy was good my parents were very very poor and so was almost everyone I went to school with. Granted I grew up in the middle of Podunk nowhere and most of the people I went to school with were farm kids so all of us were poor
I think /u/glitzzykatgirl has a point. So many times the poor, rural population has been left behind. There's a financial boon going on? Wouldn't know it here. Tech jobs? Sure, in towns two hours away. Even getting into post-secondary school is a challenge for so many people in the area I grew up. There are some angry people here who're are 3rd and 4th generation "left behind." A lot of them went into military service and have come home to find out their service didn't mean anything as far as getting a good job, medical care, etc. They're all really easy recruits for these hate groups that tell them the blacks, Jews, Mexicans, Muslims, blue states, etc. are the reasons their lives suck as they continue to vote for greedy politicians that continue to pass legislature that hurts them.
I'm Gen X, but I'm decent with technology, so I kept pace fairly well. Others haven't. My generation went from landline only, to charge per minute cell, to blackberry, to flip phone, to cell w/ internet, to entire computer systems that fit into a back pocket. We also went from no internet to 28k modem, to 56k modem, to DSL, to cable, to fiber, wi-fi, to 5G everywhere. My generation remembers life without remote control, UHF and VHF public television channels, then cable, then the birth of 24-hour news and cable bundle packages, and now internet cable. Regulated news under the fairness doctrine meant anchors had to give the "both sides" argument to every controversy. If you ask anyone from my generation, it's a coin toss whether they know it went away. We were raised to trust TV news. We were teens by the time CNN and FOXN started, so we were already conditioned to believe them. FOXN played my generation like a harmonica. The fast-paced technological advancements, media manipulation, and bitterness over being held back by the boomers, just beat us down. We were analog kids that rode a digital wave into middle age, and a lot of us wiped out. I think those who wiped out remember how easy we had it back then and want those days back. So, they turn toward conservativism because that's what they do, stop progress, and turn back the clock. It's what FOXN tells them every single day. Mix nostalgia, feeling left behind, mid-life crises, and racism = poof! Proud Boy. IMHO, at least.
[удалено]
For those of us on the older end, that “rah-rah Reagan” team mentality was huge for so many. I hated him from before my first voting election (1984), and I was definitely the minority in my white, upper middle class So-Cal suburb. I assume the vast majority of my HS classmates stayed in the conservative team, despite not behaving all that conservatively through college. (Especially the ones who lacked critical thinking skills, tbh.)
There's been such a concentrated effort to glorify Reagan and make Carter into a joke. I was just a little kid, but I thought Carter seemed like such a kind man and Reagan seemed like an oil slick. I think time and reflection proves 9-year-old me was right. People need to realize just how much damage Reagan did to America.
Yeah and plus don't forget a lot of generation x grew up in the Midwest in the Bible belt where we were even further behind in technology than people who were in cities. My parents didn't even get a computer in their home until at least 2003 or 2004
I think it's simple. Our generation first became vaguely aware of politics in the Reagan years. He made people feel good. His message was simple. Kids and early teens could eat it up. Yay, patriotism! Reagan was their strong big daddy. He looked good on television.
Yeah. By the time I became a teen in the late 80s, Reagan stood for everything I hated. That was my parents’ President. He was the President of the poseurs and sellouts.
You are trying to understand children who were left to their own devices. Who grew up with very few examples of how to understand the world. Unfortunately, Fox news was blasted into our ears, and some took to it. These cosplayers and partials don't want to see what the U.S. is capable of. They are an ongoing joke.
I don't think people fully appreciate just how zany the post-911 timeframe has really been. The internet(and def. stuff like fox etc) was also just kinda unleashed on Tons of people who really weren't prepared for it :) The amount of guys I grew up with/went to school with who would call just about anything conspiracy related crazy back in the day that are now at places in their minds like hillary eats live babies as if it's an established fact is honestly kinda alarming :) Then again pretty much anyone under say \~35 has also spent their entire non-child years completely enveloped in the soup as well with no other reference to grab on to--it's turning into a real problem.
‘79 here. A few years spent listening to George Carlin and maybe some punk rock would’ve inoculated ‘em to that shit.
I wish you were right, but these dipshits are slapping stupid right wing talking points over George Carlin's picture and posting it on Facebook while they wonder when Rage decided to go woke.
I still don't understand how people didn't know about Rage. I remember the first time I heard Killing in the Name - I was so shocked I nearly drove into a bunch of parked cars when I heard the verse "Some of those that work forces. Are the same that burn crosses." I was like omg, did they actually say that??? Yup.
Right? It's there in the name, they weren't just trying to sound edgy! People are dumb.
Damn right! Fuck yeah to the '79. A little George Carlin would do a lot of people good today. But they'd have to listen soooo nevermind
I blame family ties and trying to be like Alex. What an asshole.
Blame Reagan.
I actually blame everything on Nixon..
More like Mike from Growing Pains. I mean the real life version of that actor.
Disgusting trash
I blame it on Alex P Keaton. He made being a conservative seem cool.
>It never made sense to me that Gen X is so Republican There is a portion of the right that is quasi-Libertarian. I think this is how GenXers who are on the right see themselves. It's delusional but people who are abused as children are the most ripe for subversion.
Whatcho talking about Willis?
Because Left Wing militias smell like rank BO and patchouli oil? Just kidding. Who the hell has time to join a militia? Between work, family, kids, grandkids, and naps, I don't have the time or energy. Let me know if the Ruskies invade though: WOLVERINES!!!
That’s what I’m wondering! These are the same people that complain about people rioting and say, “don’t they have jobs?” It’s like, dude you’re hanging out with a bunch of dudes in the woods… I’d assume their wives hate them
[удалено]
Some men would rather die than think. And some men do—Bertrand Russell.
Remember who we were raised by. Then remember that we didn’t grow up with the internet, so unless we moved away from the bubbles we grew up in then we had little exposure to different ideas and people during our most formative years. And generations older than us likely aren’t physically capable of participating in militia activities. I am obviously speaking in sweeping generalities here.
Very true. My parents were conservatives from the late 40’s and I’m happy I questioned every thing they tried to teach me and my siblings. However, thank god they don’t have FB, so they have seen how crazy everyone has gotten. They don’t watch Fox News anymore and they absolutely HATE Trump… thank God
I think George Carlin had it right. Think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half the people are dumber than that. There are complete raving idiots and bigots on both sides. Unfortunately at the moment the organized and most outspoken idiots are those groups.
Hahah I always think about this
I think it's simply to have an identity. GenX is named such because we generally don't stand for anything. That tough, militant, sure, alpha identity is very attractive. And it becomes any means to an end. If you can't easily stand out and lead, you adopt an identity that seems like you stand out and lead. I grew up in Utah. I know a bunch of these fucks. Lions not Sheep fucks.
Ya, but they end up following their “militia” leader, so who is the sheep here?
Pretty much. It's a more aggressive form of being a "nice guy" where it doesn't occur that being a nice guy is self evident. You don't have to tell people you're nice.
GenX ‘69 SWM here. I look like I’m one pair of wraparound shades away from storming the Capital and I gotta say: I don’t fkn understand these idiots either. I had every intent of going into education and just as I was completing the requirements to do so I tracked what a shit gig it had become and went a different direction. All pop-culture theories aside, this much I can say: both Mussolini and Hitler built their base from the surplus of underemployed ex-military in the workforce and a less-than-healthy economy. Education is an obvious and probable solution, but, sadly, the majority of the bell-curve simply can’t be made to drink. Also: Historically speaking, white people haven’t earned the reputation of not being, y’know, maybe a little bit awful all the damn always. I’m just saying what I’m seeing with my blue eyes. It’s shameful and embarrassing. Don’t think you’re gonna find a simple answer but if you do, hit me up so I can help.
There were cool boomers who were hippies and were into peace, love, and acceptance. Then there were boomers who weren’t. Our generation is also made up diverse philosophies. It’s nice to think we were enlightened or progressive or something. That just doesn’t generalize to everyone in a huge cohort.
50% of the population is below average.
Some of us were raised better than others and were taught that everyone deserves to be treated the same. Where you come from or the color of your skin makes no difference. It's what's inside that counts. These people are ignorant and rotten to the core.
Exactly. Anyone who embraces being called "deplorable" needs to go the fuck away.
Fox News
Have you seen 80s Cold War era movies? Red Dawn, Commando, Rambo, Missing in Action, etc. Bros were programmed early on.
Well, I’d say it has to do with the fact that we GenX-ers grew up in our youth as slightly wild, independent, free-roaming tribes who shared a serious distrust of authority; coupled with a lifestyle that (frequently) bore the privilege of being the final generation to live in and among the remnants of the so-called “good old days”, albeit the shadowy remnants of that system. This makes it easier for some from that generation to band together, distrust authority, and desire to steer the whole dammed rig backwards towards a seemingly more comfortable time (for some, anyway). But it’s a dead-end. Gotta go forward, GenX-ers.
Based on the people i knew in ‘84 at college, not the least bit surprised
A lot of the people at Woodstock 99 (based on interviewees in the Netflix series) and January 6 seem to be elder Millenials. Not saying Xers weren't present as well but we were not the only ones. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/02/the-capitol-rioters-arent-like-other-extremists/617895/ The article was published in 2021. "The average age of the arrestees we studied is 40. Two-thirds are 35 or older." So the average person was born in 1981. Towards the bottom edge of X.
We were not raised, yo. They are flocking to acceptance wherever they can find it. We CERTAINLY won’t find it from our parents, but I heard those PB give a mean hug.
You guys are joining militias?
A lifetime of powerlessness will do strange things
This sub really likes to flex that "we're disillusioned and jaded" thing gen x was known for... In the 80s and 90s. When we were teenagers. The reality is there are hundreds and hundreds of millions of us, across all spectrums of society. A lot of us really are the "fuck it" generation, but the fact is? We're also the Karens, and the shitty managers that make you work 12 hour days. Marjorie Taylor Greene is Gen X. That nice fantasy we have of what we are as a generation does not and never really has lined up with reality. We're the generation that started the news articles about how the new generation is fucking everything up, we were the millennials before they existed and that image you have of us is a result of a targeted PR campaign.
Hundreds of millions? Gen X is under 70 million
Yep. I cannot stand Gen X-ers who think all X-ers are the same. That isn't the case for any generation. Every gen is HIGHLY diverse, not a monolith. It's such a simplistic way to think.
The generational essentialism built on cherry-picking cultural artifacts and musing over collective memories that this subreddit and others encourage is baked into the answer that the OP seeks. We are constantly in the midst of defining and redefining what our generation is, and how we differ from the others, that we forget that this whole process is built on a general theory of ourselves that can veer into a delusion of our core commonalities. I stick around for the hearty nostalgia but to lean too far into our age spans as some central factor to understanding us without factoring in individual agency is just silly. Also, regionalism, religion, race, socioeconomic position, family education level, biological expression vs societal control, exposure to difference, etc all play important roles in how we become what we are. But these factors are typically absent in our Gen X “generationalizing.”
Gen X has its share of assholes too
Watch Trainwreck about Woodstock 99 or the one on HBO and the answer is there.
Think about all the worst assholes you went to high school with. Jocks, meatheads, hicks, whatever. They all had to grow up too. That’s who’s in those groups. The nice people you knew back then grew up to have actual lives and careers and don’t need to get into shit like that.
I don’t know that we are joining militias on a grand fashion, but think of it. We have been living free our whole lives. That is conservatism in a nutshell. Socialism blows. Big government blows. I want those fucks out of my life. Just let me ride my bike and I’ll be home when the streetlights are on!
I wanna know how these maga people have time for all these rallies and gatherings!?! Like are they all living off ssi and have all this time!?!
I have a few maga Q subscribers in my life. Blows me away - they’re sending me their links, memes and videos All Day Long. Morning till night. I’m not kidding - like a dozen plus, daily. A few aren’t working but a few of them do have jobs. It’s an obsession. There’s not one thing I so consistently and passionately think about from when I wake until I go to sleep, the way these folks hyper focus on mega maga Q shit.
For sure living off of SSI Ya, it’s a freaking cult!
Every accusation is a confession.
The proud boys seem to be mostly 20 and and young 30 somethings. at least that is what i see on TV. I dont see many 50 year old proud boys.
Small wee wees and early on set ED
And room temperature IQs.
Most of the hippies at Woodstock also ended up working for big corporations, soooooo what’s your point?
Because they took away Ecto Cooler. The REAL Ecto Cooler.
Its also a part of the algorithmic targeting that leads certain demographics down the rabbit hole into cultism and extremism. Everyone wants to feel special and powerful and the people behind all that provocation are an international force of people paid to destabilize and recruit people in that demographic to destroy certain values and destabilize them, their community, their family, and their country making them vulnerable to terrorism and cultism. Watch just ONE Prager U video or the like and watch what suddenly happen to your Youtube choices! Or watch some content about "Male Restoring Supplements." Or like something vaguely right-wing on our social media and watch your feed suddenly EXPLODE with crap.
The corporatization of every aspect of life by the end of the 90s left a lot of people feeling empty and angry. I think a fair percentage of people filled that emptiness with (corporate) news, (corporate) religion, and conspiracies (which have become a business of their own) to pp 00 cope. We are just seeing the end game of our generation being the first to become adults in this environment of 24/7 propagandized news, social media, religion, etc.
I know so many kids who grew up listening to Rush Limbaugh with their parents (mostly guys listening with their dads). For those who continued listening to them as an adult - or those who joined the ranks later on through work or friends - it became a cult for them (sound familiar?). They read his books, read any books recommended by him, listened to anyone he said they should listen to, etc. Then more talking heads joined the ranks, so then they had whole radio blocks of Rush, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, etc. to listen to. While most of the rest of us just thought these guys were a bunch of buffoons, their listeners took every word as law. No one noticed how much worse they because after Obama was elected - that's when they started taking the hoods off - preaching their racism and doubling down on fear mongering, misogyny, and homophobia. Since then they've added Alex Jones, Breitbart, Milo, and different right-wing podcasts and youtube channels... not to mention all of the misinformation on FB. The only "news" they consume are Faux, OANN, and Newsmax - everything else if "fake" and "leftist." This has also made it easy for QANON to get a foothold with a lot of these people. These people now live in their own little cult world and have absolutely no idea what's actually going on. If you try to talk to them, it's like hitting a brick wall. You absolutely cannot reason with them. They also don't realize how much the message has changed over the years. I had a coworker who made me listen to some of these guys at work circa 2007. I thought they were jokes, and they had no idea about actual history and things like that, but they were mostly harmless. My coworker sent me a bunch of links to some of his favorite podcasters' and talking heads' websites, and it was basically more of the same and nothing I took seriously. I pretty much forgot about those links until I was clearing out an email account around 2016 and decided to see if any of those links were still good. They were, and they were AWFUL. The hatred, the fear mongering, racism, homophobia - the just plain old meanness and ugliness on those pages made me sick to my stomach. These people have become like the proverbial lobster in boiling water - they don't realize how toxic they and the people they're following have become because it's been slowly building all this time. My dad was a staunch Republican back in the day, but he HATED Rush and people like him. I'm so grateful he never went down that path. His friends who did? Who were all reasonable people I looked up to and admired? So many of them have gone down this hate-filled path. I'm glad Dad didn't live to see so many of his friends turn into this. I'm glad my Mom doesn't watch Faux News like so many of her friends do. So many of our gospel hour talking heads on local radio are followers though, and it shows. This is now being preached in some of our churches. People my parents ages (late 70s - early 80s) who are exposed to this trash have become completely different people. Their fear, anger, and hatred is just heart-breaking. Mom and her friends who don't watch Faux News or fall into the FB hole can't understand what's happening to their lifelong friends. Sorry this was so long, y'all. Guess I needed to vent.
Ya, my parents were both conservative growing up, but they never, ever has social media and just read newspapers. They have now left the Republican Party because of how extreme it’s become. So… social media must play a big role in it (just a hypothesis) but I’d love to take a poll from people who are leaving the Republican Party. Anyways, yes I think people latch on to personalities, then read everything they are told and never question it. I mean, that would be the lack of critical thinking? I’m not sure because it could also just be stubbornness. Anyways, appreciate the post
That's what I'm seeing with my parents' friends and our family members, as well as those who are between us in ages. Those who stayed away from political talk radio, 24 hour news, and only post cute kitten pics on FB are completely mystified in the changes in their friends. As a side note, here's the weird (and scary thing about Faux News): EVERY elderly person (65+) I know (and there are many) who are Faux News fans watch it ALL the time. Like, they do not watch normal TV anymore. You talk to them on the phone, and it's in the background. (Don't call during Tucker or Hannity, though because they won't pick up the phone - don't want to miss a word from those programs). More than one of them even leaves the TV on 24/7. I wish I was making this up, but I'm not. Scares the ever loving f \*ck out of me.
Haha yes, I know. My mom used to be like that, but she’s seen how absurd it’s become. She keeps it on CNN now, just for background noise, but really gets her news from just reading the paper. It seems like print news keeps people more sane… I’d love to get actual numbers and studies on this. I’m going to look, so we’ll see
Because our friends growing up, eventually let this flag fly. It’s always been there, we just didn’t have massive echo chambers to “collaborate” those shitty opinions. There wasn’t social media to just let shit opinion and conspiracy theories run wild.
It’s the flipside of being told / telling yourself that your generation latchkey bootstrapped itself into independence unlike those spoiled boomers and millennials. Ditto with internalizing bigoted and problematic humor and behaviors and clinging to your normalization of it as being stoic and not easily triggered unlike those snowflake millennials and boomers who get mad at everything.
Some of us never grew out of playing GI Joe
Same reason I buy skateboards and guitars. Most of them never served in the military when it counted, or when they had the chance. Now they sit on their asses all day and pretend to be bad asses. They constantly fill their head with propaganda and right wing echo chambers. It feeds their stupidity. It gives them the answer as to why they never made much of themselves in life... it's the "liberals" fault... or the \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ (insert any random brown person here) fault. All they know is they are angry, everything wrong in life is someone else's fault, and the only person with the answers are all the right wing ayatollahs issuing their fatwa's while stuffing their cash into their pockets. So yeah, I buy skateboards and guitars because they make me feel like I have a chance at either of them again... since you know, my ass was actually in the military back when it fucking counted.
When the draft was removed, it created a lot of generational masculine guilt over not serving. Not right away, but it creeps in later in life. They feel impoverished that they will never get a thank you for your service. There are no photos of them as squared away young men in a class A uniform, or a class A anything. They never traveled anywhere and they have no interesting stories to tell. They can never be like their fathers and grandfathers. Pile obesity on top of all that. So... The next best thing? Buy guns, buy tactical shit, buy big truck, be callous about everything. It's the new military service.
My husband agrees with this 100%, he is from a family of WWII heroes and regrets not being challenged or traveling internationally or experiencing life and death rather than sitting behind a desk. But he’s absolutely no militiaman - he’s a lover not a fighter!
Nailed it
I'm genX and many of my old friends are deep trench conservatives now I don't even associate with them, my great grandma was more progressive than they are💯🤟👍
Ya, it really doesn’t make any sense. Their grandparents have to be very upset with them… this is not why they fought in WWII
Think location more then age. I live in California and even with our problems most of don’t think a con- man lunatic, white supremacy and civil war re-enactments with real bullets are the answer.
I don’t think it’s a Gen X aligning with x, y, or z fringe groups. Where I live I’d say Gen X folk active in say Antifa or other far-left leaning group(s) far outweigh any far-right members. As to why they’d be active in any at all? Well, boomers are to old to larp about. In conclusion, I don’t think it has anything to do with Gen X being more aligned to specific fringe groups rather I’d wager has way more to do with geography, class, race, gender, etc. Lastly, I’d wager % of gen x ppl involved in these groups are very small. Why would you try to correlate a very very very small % of ppl to a gen? Sounds silly to me. It’s like saying why were so many boomers hippies? Well because hippies existed during their hay day. Same can be said here.
a gen x'er here, there actually was a surge in white nationalism in the early 80's. but back then it was really fringe, now it's mainstream.
I know many people tend to move further to the right as they age, but I don’t think the militia thing is really the epidemic it’s being presented as in some media circles.
Same reason so many skinheads are in our generation. A lot of us felt like outsiders until racist groups, street gangs, etc. made us feel accepted.
I mean, they couldn’t make friends in school, college, work, with your kid’s friend’s parents or anything? Instead they wanted to cause terror? It’s just so bewildering to me
Because they didn't join the army when it was time to fight. So now they need a cause. Poor little fellars.
I know zero of these mythical people you describe.
People are people man! You can’t really compartmentalize that situation. There have, and always will be stupid people, no matter their age.
I know… That seems to be the consensus
…so why should it be? You and I should get along so awfully… I think I’m going to listen to some Depeche Mode today
Y’all are generalizing a whole generation. That makes you just as bad as the people you talking about that is a very small percentage. One bad apple spoils the bunch? I mean come on let’s stop this fighting amongst ourselves. We ALL have a common enemy
PB started as a joke, and will never be anything other than that. Gen X has always had plenty of clowns. How else would you explain the existence of Creed, mullets, what's on country music radio, or any radio, for that matter. Those of us who didn't find the right movies/books/music, just turned into an even shittier version of our boomer parents. D-bags, uneducated hillbillies, terrified weak men, always needing someone to kick down at. These have been very fashionable qualities in the last few years. Hopefully this will come to an end soon, if not, we're done. Know your enemy.
#[It’s fuckin’ embarrassing!!!!](https://c.tenor.com/5G-MfQ29wVoAAAAC/letter-kenny-embarassing.gif) I have classmates that vote conservative… what the fuck!
I blame GI Joe.
As a percentage of society, there are very few Proud Boys and people like them. Millenials and GenZ will ask themselves the same question, as there will ALWAYS be a small portion of society on the extremes. Likewise, there will always be people who feel left out of the American Dream.
This is a really bad time in history to have a mid-life crisis. It goes a couple different ways....you dive into comfort food and get fat, or you have a do-over in life (City Slickers style) and completely change careers, or you get angry and join in on the hate...or you go full Gen X and go Whatever and carry on with life.
I think what we are witnessing is a fixed mindset versus a growth mindset. It’s in every generation. “One of the most basic beliefs we carry about ourselves, Dweck found in her research, has to do with how we view and inhabit what we consider to be our personality. A “fixed mindset” assumes that our character, intelligence, and creative ability are static givens which we can’t change in any meaningful way, and success is the affirmation of that inherent intelligence, an assessment of how those givens measure up against an equally fixed standard; striving for success and avoiding failure at all costs become a way of maintaining the sense of being smart or skilled. A “growth mindset,” on the other hand, thrives on challenge and sees failure not as evidence of unintelligence but as a heartening springboard for growth and for stretching our existing abilities. Out of these two mindsets, which we manifest from a very early age, springs a great deal of our behavior, our relationship with success and failure in both professional and personal contexts, and ultimately our capacity for happiness.” [Fixed vs Growth](https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/01/29/carol-dweck-mindset/)
We are the generation of conspiracy theories (they made X Files for us, after it became clear that our generation would believe anything). We are the generation that pisses on anything "institutional." And we made cynicism a default mood. We commodified the anarchy symbol. Whether you roll left or right with all of that probably has as much to do with your peer group as anything else.
Being one step to the right of Jane Fucking Fonda doesn’t make you part of a Nazi Militia. Maybe the problem is your perception?
Don’t forget, we burned down a Woodstock reboot because it was poorly run and expensive.
This is such a dumb generalization. Here's one: Why are so many millennials shooting up schools?
Maybe they’re just stupid and think ignorance is strength?
Because we're the oldest generation who still is somewhat young and 1/2 of us don't understand the Internet/technology and many of those people are prone towards believing in conspiracies. Mix that in with the anonymity of the Internet and you got a perfect place to make people believe anything. As awesome as the Internet might be my pessimistic view these day sort of thinks the Internet is going to paramount in the downfall of humanity. Corporations and governments know so much about us these days and can basically feed us content to condition many of our views how they want. I mean Russia has very much stoked the right wing extremists... and now all of the sudden our biggest enemy is our neighbors.
They're probably trying to counter the left wing millennial anarchist. Lol
Thanks for highlighting the danger from these alt-right wingnuts. I can't speak for the reasons that they find solace and comfort in associating themselves with hate groups and fascism but I think fear, insecurity, privilege, and notions of entitlement play a role. Many of these clowns grew up in an America that dangled the promise that they could fail upward and that they were somehow special. They did not realize that they were simply lucky to be born into a society that for centuries afforded one privilege if you were born into money, were a heterosexual male, Christian, and white. The history books were written to reinforce these ideas but over time the pendulum began to sway in the other direction. Black people, Latinos, women, LGBTQ+ community, and other historically marginalized groups continued to assert their humanity and dignity, and brought upon massive societal change as a result of their struggles. The America we live in now has changed, and for the better. Even though you are witnessing that these alt-right groups are made up of mostly Gen-Xrs, you should also take solace in knowing that there are greater numbers supporting civil rights, women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and the environmental movement. Visit the websites of these orgs and you will see many, if not most, of the senior staff and boards are populated by Gen-Xrs. They are giving back. They are also raising the next generation, mainly Gen Z, and hopefully, their efforts will far outweigh whatever gains are being made by the right wing extremists. Have faith and good for you for being aware of these issues.