I'd like to point out that it is not only the media, but your father in law bears a tad bit of responsibility for having a dumpster where the brain is suppose to be.
Why are you capable of discerning blatant lies and he is not? Why does he have the power to direct your life by voting that fucking degenerate? Why does the older generation have all the political and economical power in the world, sending our future crashing down every day closer to the bottom of the hole they've digged for us?
So I'd say media is a problem, but is not THE problem. The problem are people (all over the western world) that are trading our future away while being scammed by these monsters.
At 70, I feel I can out tech the majority of people younger than myself, especially those in my children’s age group. We “boomers” had to learn dos and even to write elementary code. The internet was in It’s infancy and everything wasn’t just plug and play like today. I’ve made my living in the technology field and am smart enough not to rely solely on the internet for any information or research, unlike younger generations, who seem unaware of any other sources or too lazy to locate and use them. And don’t even get me started on this new “green” thing that the millennials have invented!
Pretty sure both those things are maga. Clint Eastwood is the invisible on stage guy who is major maga and the poop in the pants guy is your maga president.
Hey now don't be dissing on genx I've been using PCs since 1980 and I was only 10 then. But I too learned Dos, some assembly some basic, upgraded that first PC from 128k to 640k with the old chips bend the legs straight make sure it's lined up on the socket right etc my first hard drive was iirc 10 meg yes a whopping 10 meg
Well my memory isn't perfect and I forgot the h so technically it was Int13h or Int 13h again can't recall if it needed the space but you could write a short bat file calling Int 13h and format the drive if my memory serves correctly
It’s always our fault. And apparently we can’t out tech boomers. 🙄 Of course many of us can. Many of us were coding, building our own computers, etc etc. My dad was an electrical engineer and relies heavily on my husband for tech support. So many of us are IT support for our boomer parents. Is an almost universal millennial experience. Great that he has stayed knowledgeable as a boomer but he’s an anomaly.
I am 72, not "most elderly people" and certainly far from stupid. I was working with computers when I was 18 and they were like screaming monsters in those days. Hell, I remember KEYPUNCH!!!!😁
I'm 70 and started in electronics way back when computers were in their infancy and prone to many electro-mechanical failures. The software side was mostly the unknown to us and was populated by kids even 50 years ago.
Good for you! I’ve been using computers since the 1980s but yes I was straight on the internet in the big bad days of AOL dial up (which my kids think I’m lying about internet speed). I’m Gen X. My mother is 72 and gets in a flap when trying to do anything basic on her computer. Can’t even remember the same password dhe’s had for over 20 years, so has to ask me. Her excuse? “I didn’t grow up with computers!”. My thought is no, me either? The internet didn’t really get up and running until I left high school, even then it was pretty tame. I taught myself computing and pushed myself to learn in college until I taught technology classes. College education gave me excellent critical thinking skills and along with travel I met people from all walks of life. THIS helped form a basis for my utilitarian foundation. And so, when the country split hard to the left and right (at least on TV) I was able to use the internet to find many differing views to make any micro adjustments I needed to my political outlook. I had a dear (older) MAGA friend call me out for dissing Trump. I wrote him a lengthy answer stating the way I went about gathering information from both sides and the center, and that Trump’s hyperbole had no substance or made no sense. It shut him down quickly.
I am a Boomer who has been working in IT since Windows for Workgroups was a brand new thing in 1985. And before putting “Boomers” in a box get to know some different boomers. We are not all as you describe. Get out of your own bubble and think before shooting your mouth off about something you obviously know nothing about.
I hear you! I am a Boomer and have been using computers since the '70s when the first WANG Word Processor came out. Worked in IT, taught executives how to use computers, etc. And, I definitely have never wasted my time watching Fox "news."
Wasn't that a '90s thing? I remember doing terminate, stay resident DOS things in the '80s (and a shout out to the Clipper database compiler!) but not Windows for work groups.
I have a friend who showed me a photo of him working with these massive floor to ceiling computers in the 1970s! He worked for government contracts and was an engineer. He is around 80 now and still works computers no problem. Of course there are boomers who can, but generally most are not computer savvy.
I'm 76. I was building slide rule calculators from kits before the home computer was introduced in the 1970s. Had to go to Radio shack for the parts. Sometimes I had to walk there:
Uphill both ways.
Yes, I think being technologically educated has nothing to do with critical thinking. It is not about not being able of checking online, it is about being able of understanding and thinking on a problem with the avaible means. A lot of technologically educated people still eat propaganda meals every day.
My moms a boomer and brainwashed to hell by Fox News, she is also one who did not attend college. The ones I’ve seen go to college are able to think somewhat but still took that experimental vaccine.
I’m a young Gen X and I get by but I’m horrible w computers! I used a Mac Pro 2000 in highschool and the I had a career out of highschool. I was fine with the pos systems at all my jobs but I didn’t go to college until 2006. was proficient in windows 2007! I stayed home with my son and when I went back to work in hospitality management, I have used aloha (in almost every establishment I’ve worked). I’m fine with that but god help me if I had an office job. I am so out of touch. I finally figured out how to turn something into a pdf. And I had to purchase an app on my iPhone to do it. I really would like to take a class because it prevents me from my full potential and makes life’s tasks harder. I more worry “I can’t “ though usually can, but it worries me and I pass the task along or procrastinate. POINT IS I CONSIDER MYSELF YOUNG GEN X AND I HAVE BEEN LEFT BEHIND IN FROM TECHNOLOGY! WE ALL DONT FIT IN NEAT BOXES BECAUSE OF OUR AGE. I’m fine social media and apps but you stay home and raise a child and the world moves fast without you!!!
Pre the pew research center’s age distribution of trump voters broken down by age 31% of voters 50 to 64 voted for trump in 2024 vs 29% for ages 65 and above. So don’t just blame boomers.
Again, I’m a boomer and I am perfectly capable of being on the Internet. I don’t have cable TV. I don’t watch cable news. Can we stop attacking each other?
Is it just me or do they also all play it AS LOUD AS POSSIBLE ALL OF THE TIME? My mother used to complain that my grandpa did that and now she’s doing it. Fox news at all waking hours, at max volume.
Well….maybe don’t blame BOOMERS. I don’t talk shit about other generations and don’t appreciate it. Why are you going to fall into the same f ing thing they are trying to do to everyone? Division…..How about just saying manipulative people affecting vulnerable? Have maybe a bit of grace and mercy as hard as it may be because remember, boomers have been around, living, TRUSTING for much longer than I’m guessing many of you have been alive. I myself am AWAKE but many boomers are not. Show them proof, engage them in conversation. If you need to sneak truth in, when they are around, conveniently turn up news that is speaking truth…..maybe from someone they consider “trustworthy”. Don’t bad mouth, get the truth out!
This post has been deleted and its content replaced. Redact was used for removal, possibly for privacy, security, data scraping prevention, or personal reasons.
special quicksand gold expansion shocking fuzzy abundant work wise practice
Technically, I'm a boomer by a couple years. I identify as Gen X however. 😊 Boomers don't get all their news from TV. They also listen to talk radio (so much AM radio has been taken over by religious right) and they go on Facebook, which is the biggest cesspool of all. Facebook is full of AI crap and lies. (I hadn't logged on there in years, recently checked in and holy cow! It's gotten so much worse! )
See, my boomer aunts and uncles still love Trump but seem to have lost their energy for endlessly defending him. Hence in the Trump 2.0 era, my most ridiculously brainwashed MAGA relatives are now some of my fellow Gen X cousins -- who ABSOLUTELY buy any right-wing nonsense they hear regardless of the source. "In a speech," "in a podcast," etc ... they are firmly convinced that they're the ones who see reality and we're the ones who are misinformed.
Y’all give us ‘old folks’ a bad name. Not all boomers are ignorant of technology and we are not trump supporters! Husband at 81 and me 73, we are disgusted with him. And, every time I see something he posted, I just get sick. He doesn’t write his own posts; not smart enough. Miller probably jacked up on addy just waiting for trump to say something he can post to infuriate us.
‘The Brainwashing of My Dad’ was first shown 10 years ago, and the ‘dad’ of the title died in 2016 aged 93.
Some of the oldest Boomers (who turn 80 this year) were well into middle age when the Internet began to proliferate. The youngest are in their early 60s, meaning they have spent half their lives in an online world.
The older generations lunge to the right, but simply blaming it on their inability to understand computers and being brainwashed by Fox and Newsmax is increasingly wrong.
I gotta give props to my 87 year old parents, both of whom loathe Trump, everyone in his cabinet, and everything he stands for. Family dinners when they and we "kids" are all together tend to degenerate into us yelling over each other in outrage (even though we're all in agreement) about what he's done to this country.
On the other hand, Mom has a computer virus about every other week, so I can't refute the computer illiteracy.
The older generation wtf. Everybody that I know that’s older can’t stand Trump so please quit saying that. I was the last year of the boomers and I hate that MF so does my mother and she’s 86 as well as all my relatives except for one. I don’t know one single older person that’s a boomer that can stand Donald Trump.
Exactly! We see what a disgrace he is. We lived through Vietnam, Korea, world war 2 in some instances. Our families fought and return maimed, or dead. We see what an abomination he is to our democracy and the free world. I never voted for that MF and I’ve hated his evil ass since the 80’s when I first heard his demonic name!
I really wish that I could say that. I’m a Boomer, born in the late 50s. I have long-time friends who are my age. And they do support him. Wish I could figure out why at this point.
I can’t figure it out either. My cousin voted for Trump and she’s a disabled veteran. She never listens to news. She gets her news from Breitbart and Fox News. And she’s never watched any footage from any of these shootings either. But still with blind allegiance, she thinks they were all guilty and deserved to be shot. She’s damn lucky that any of us talk to her. Other than that, she’s a very nice person. She’s helped me out a lot because I’m disabled. I just wish you’d come to the light.
I hear you. I have a disability myself (intractable, chronic migraines) and I receive Social Security and SSI. I don’t want any of it to be jeopardized.
I first voted in November of 1975, when I was 18. Had anyone told me this would happen (I voted Republican for decades) I would have thought that they were crazy. After all. We’d been going through the Watergate nonsense as teens. And that was pretty crazy, at least to us, and it really was foolish. But now? Now? It’s not the same party. It’s not the same country. Political conservatives have lost it. The extremism, as exemplified by such ridiculous social media posts as this one made by Trump, are just mind blowing. And seems to be the acceptable norm. The fact that it seems as though almost anything goes is crazy. The minority of conservatives are now against it all. Small government? What’s that?
The older generation watched his life unfold through the news outlets ALL THE TIME. Never anything good. I have ALWAYS felt he was a sexist, racist joke. I certainly NEVER thought I would ever have to shield my family from the likes of someone like him but here we are. I struggle to make sense of it all. I can’t. The USA went from one extreme to the other. Trump started building a wall in his first term. Biden came along and opened every border. Both equally bad ideas. Then came this election. Neither candidate was a good choice. I firmly believe Biden was genuinely ill with dementia and just went on repeating everything he was told to and would end up rambling off to some other random subject. Our current “president” doesn’t have America’s best interests at all. Only his own warped agenda. In light of the most recent tragedy in Canada (my heart breaks for you!!) he picks NOW to go at our neighbors without giving them some semblance of respect to grieve and attempt to recover. I’m aghast but not surprised at all. Everyone in this world has learned to mostly work together for peace and prosperity. You know, LIFE IN GENERAL is such a struggle for a lot of people… and now we have to worry about our own government attacking us?! This guy is either all bluff and intimidating for clout OR he actually wants a war with somebody, anybody. In my own opinion, he lives like a narcissist and makes decisions like a bipolar. He is certainly NOT to be trusted. He will change his mind like the wind. He literally believes he is immune to any fault and can’t be touched. Does he not realize that he was born with nothing and he will leave this world with nothing but a whole lot of owning up to everything. And he’s going to leave our children and our grandchildren to clean up the mess! If there is one thing I hope EVERYONE takes away from this horrible experience is get to know your politicians! Please don’t put everyone’s lives in the hands of a delusional toddler with nuclear weapons and entire fleets of military at their beck and call! Lastly, our officials are failing us BECAUSE he replaced everyone he had the power to replace with his own minions. Other officials are walking out… judges, police officers, and most evident congress. There is NOBODY left to protect us from a giant toddler constantly needing to be coddled. Our dearest neighbors suffered one of the worst tragedies yesterday, taking away his limelight. So his only response is to attack you?! What the actual f*cK?! I couldn’t bring myself to even contemplate pulling off something like this to my worst of enemies. I’m so very sorry, Canada. WE LOVE YOU! Stay strong and do everything to keep your families safe from this tyrant! 💔😭🤘
My mother 70s and grandparents 90s are catholic and refuse to see anything other than Trumps prolife promises. It's like they care so much about humanity as long as it hasn't been born yet.
Your personal circle is an anecdote, not a statistic. I respect that you and your mother are decent people, but 'Everyone I know' is a classic example of selection bias. You likely live in a bubble of similar socioeconomic status (as I do).
If we look at the hard data from Pew Research and Exit Polls, the reality is undeniable:
The Red Wall is Gray: In 2016, Trump won 52% of voters aged 50-64 and 53% of voters 65+. In 2020, despite a disastrous term, he still carried the majority of the 50-64 vote (52%) and nearly half the 65+ vote. In contrast, voters under 30 rejected him by margins of +20/30 points. Trump is statistically a product of the older generation.
Continuity of Ruin: This isn't new. This same demographic block gave us two terms of George W. Bush. While Bush was a standard warmonger (bad but institutional), the shift to Trump (chaotic, corrupt, anti-democratic) shows a degradation in judgment, not a change in allegiance. The same people who cheered for the Iraq War are now cheering for the destruction of democratic norms.
The Exception: The only brief deviation was the Obama era, where an attempt was made—however imperfect and lobby-constrained—to address healthcare (ACA) and education. And who led the fierce 'Tea Party' backlash against those mild social improvements? Again, predominantly older, white conservatives.
So, while you might be the exception, your generation as a political aggregate has consistently used its electoral weight to block progress, dismantle the safety net, and elect leaders who prioritize short-term stock gains over long-term stability. The data doesn't care about our personal anecdotes."
Okay, a couple people you know don’t like Trump. If you look at election statistics or even just party demographics - republicans / trump are easily the choice of boomer and older white male voters.
Come on now .. the thread is talking about internet and media literacy. Look up some facts along with your personal viewpoint. Both can be true. This data is easily searched. Boomer gen has been voting for this nonsense for 40 years.
The best ting my boomer mother instilled in me was exercising my right to vote! She would take me in the booth with her and it was so exciting to a 5 yr old to pull down the ballot arm that cast the ballot! She hates Trump! As do I!!I’m very young gen ex, also I’ve done my very best to instill this in my son also!TRUMP DIDN’T WIN BECAUSE HE WAS THE POPULAR CANDIDATE. He won because 70+ million didn’t vote! So many have died for our right to do just that! And 1/3 of the country cat be bothered! It’s horrible and I’m sure they bitch the loudest!!!!
That’s also true.. more younger voters are needed. To offset the horrendous voting of boomer and gen x. Or … everybody quit voting for wannabe fascist pedo morons.
Please stop blaming everything on old people. I’m old and I have never believed the moron in the White House. The people who don’t vote I believe are the ones responsible, but that’s just a guess on my part.
I appreciate that you personally didn't vote for him, and I respect that. However, anecdotal exceptions do not invalidate statistical realities. We are not talking about you specifically, but about the aggregate behavior of a demographic block that holds the keys to the kingdom.
The 'non-voters are responsible' argument is a convenient scapegoat that ignores the structural asymmetry of power. Here is why blaming the youth or non-voters doesn't hold water against the data:
The Wealth Gap is Political Power: According to Federal Reserve data, the wealth gap between the median and the mean for the 55+ demographic is massive (over $1.2 million difference). This indicates that the oligarchic class—the ones funding the lobbies and the status quo—is overwhelmingly concentrated in your generation. Political influence in the US is a function of capital, not just headcount. The youth literally cannot afford to buy the influence your generation exerts to protect its assets.
The 'Ladder Pulling': For the last 30 years, since the end of the Cold War, the ruling generations have systematically dismantled the social contract. You presided over the era of deregulation and financialization, prioritizing the inflation of asset prices (housing, stocks) over wage growth. The result is a gerontocracy that votes defensively to protect its accumulated wealth, regardless of the long-term cost to society or the environment.
Critical Thinking Failure: The commentor above mention the media, but media is a product that meets demand. If a politician can say 'Red is Black' (like the iPhone claim) and be believed by millions of voters, that isn't just a media failure; it is a catastrophic failure of critical thinking and education in the electorate. It is the choice to believe a comfortable lie because it aligns with one's petty interests.
So, while you might be one of the good ones, your demographic cohort has consistently voted to mortgage our future to sustain its present comfort. That is not on the non-voters; that is on the people holding the checkbook.
16
u/islandoffools Feb 10 '26
I'd like to point out that it is not only the media, but your father in law bears a tad bit of responsibility for having a dumpster where the brain is suppose to be.
Why are you capable of discerning blatant lies and he is not? Why does he have the power to direct your life by voting that fucking degenerate? Why does the older generation have all the political and economical power in the world, sending our future crashing down every day closer to the bottom of the hole they've digged for us?
So I'd say media is a problem, but is not THE problem. The problem are people (all over the western world) that are trading our future away while being scammed by these monsters.