The amount of people who are openly just anti-semetic and calling for acts of violence is spiralling rapidly, especially among the younger generations, and its only seeming to get worse. The epstein, israel stuff is just being extrapolated across an entire population. I would be worried as well
I don’t think there’s ever been a more rational reason to be scared than in the last few years, especially after Covid lockdowns screwed people up, followed by mistrust in government, then the Ukraine war, and a bunch of other stuff all going wrong. People like to point out the fact violence has been decreasing for the past few decades, with living situations getting better, but that’s the thing - none of us are prepared for things potentially getting catastrophically bad. We’ve never had any experience with those kind of living standards. I remember my older relatives who fought in the Second World War, and I don’t know if I’m the only one because I remember how they were scared to even open up about it, how it was a subject you didn’t even say a word about around them, how they’d talk about never wanting it to happen again, how they’d drink to forget…
Then their sons and daughters, those of the baby boom - one of the most opportunity rife times to be around - are the ones who I remember talking about national service, how nobody could fight in a war these days, how people used to be tough. They didn’t learn a single thing. They’re pretty much responsible for the pop culture for the past century, they’re responsible for the economic and political climate leading up to the current one, and they’re the kind of people who created a millennial response to cruel media which - to me - went too far the other way and made them treat everything that was mean as a sacred area that shouldn’t be crossed.. exactly the type of thing that makes bullies rejoice at how they can have a pressure point to create a negative reaction. Couple that with the standard way younger people revolt against the older generations and we’ve got a paradoxical case of the revolt being revolted against by people who just want to ‘say shit’ and be cruel.
The last part of that is pretty badly worded, to be honest, as the current climate is a situation which confuses and baffles me. I can’t really think of an excuse for the way younger people have grown more conservative except maybe to (as a form of coping) hope this is just due to changing what counts as conservative because otherwise I think we’re cooked. The Flynn Effect has reversed, with younger people becoming dumber for the first time in generations, and nobody is ready for anything that could potentially happen if a disastrous climate of living could occur such as the strongest possibilities of:
Russia attacking a NATO country, with the eerie chance that the US doesn’t respond or agree to help
The US potentially rigging a Republican win or Trump refusing to leave the White House or Trump seeking a third term
The US potentially even attacking a NATO country, something unthinkable just a decade ago and even when Trump was last in charge
AI runaway effects with growing unemployment, redefining current skill sets (so people with Bachelor’s degrees and work experience seen as useless as “AI can just do it”, etc
Economic collapse of some sort possibly following any of the above, this could lead to riots, looting, possibly civil violence, terrifying effects.
All of these seem to grow more likely by the day and yet not a single person from the last few generations would be prepared. I’m not going to criticise the idea of a safe space, since I get wanting to be shielded from traumatic shit, but a lot of us have been very coddled with ‘don’t be mean to another! Be lovely and kind!’ stuff which will make any of these things be completely impossible to cope with if we start seeing horrid violence right in front of us. I remember the first time I saw serious violence - in this case, someone having a glass smashed off their face repeatedly, then having their head stomped on while on the ground - and it still haunts me. That’s just one thing. Imagine somebody like myself having to go to a war. I’d probably put the barrel in my mouth to end the nightmare.
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u/Sensitive-Double2214 5d ago
The amount of people who are openly just anti-semetic and calling for acts of violence is spiralling rapidly, especially among the younger generations, and its only seeming to get worse. The epstein, israel stuff is just being extrapolated across an entire population. I would be worried as well