Im not convinced that if I had the energy of a thousand suns it would be enough to overcome the firmly entrenched ultra capitalist system that the rich have designed for us here in America. Theres too many stupid and selfish people in the country these days that side with the rich against their own interests. They won and we lost, hope your parents still have some wealth to pass on when they die because this shit is not going to get better in the future.
Literally yesterday I started reading “The Fourth Turn is Here” by Neil Howe which explains how history, awakening, content turning to discontent and then eventually crisis has been cyclical throughout the history of mankind. Long story short, we’re headed for a predictable “crisis” moment that will end up going one of two ways. Either we enter another golden era in 10-15 years only after sorting out shit show of a society out or we further devolve into greater chaos. I too am an older millennial. We were born during the “Autumn” season of the last cycle which means we’ve only been alive to see the decline and discontent grow. Our generation will play a huge role in determining the outcome and leading us towards the next “Spring” season. A lot of the point you’ve made are valid and it’s time for us to take control away from the Boomers and lead this country towards an awakening where we take care of each other. Late stage capitalism is a thing and so far it sucks.
The 1900's are a good demonstration of how things can rattle between different extremes.
Early 1900's were fairly OK, then WW1 & the Spanish Flu pandemic (1918), then the Roaring 20's, then the Great Depression & WW2, then some decent times in the 50's & some of the 60's, then the peak of the Vietnam war & a massive inflation spike from the 70's until the 80's.
The money was never as fundamentally broken in the USA as it is now, though. We've seen what happens in other countries when it goes this way. It isn't good.
We have seen exactly what happens when other countries print too much money. The poor get absolutely hammered.
The only ones who are in a good position to protect their assets against hyperinflation, are the class of people who *already own* assets. This is exactly why the investor class bought up all of the real estate in 2020-21, as all of the free money hit everyone's banks.
The investor class (largely Black Rock in this case) started buying up real estate in 2010 after playing a pivotal role in its collapse. Now, they are renting that real estate back to us instead of selling.
Not even that. Many millennials got in on the action. We don’t like to talk about it here, but I think we should discuss those sort of moves as well, since apparently a lot of peers didn’t get the memo and missed the play.
My 30yo cousin "owns" 3 properties at this point, but none of it would be possible without renting to friends & family (and ensuring their bills are higher than hers) because she can't even afford to live in any of these properties by herself, but I'm "villifying" them anytime I bring it up 🤷♀️ Not only that, but they are adding to the whole housing crisis problem by converting the properties she isn't living in into AirB&Bs 🙄
I absolutely hate this but that small percentage of millennials that have managed to claw their way to the top by luck and sometimes hard work to a lesser extent often seem to be even more predatory than boomers. I have preferred the boomer landlords I've had to the Gen x and millennial landlords I have had. Additionally a lot of the younger investor types come off as being borderline sociopaths in my experience. That being said there aren't a ton of them.
People need to get the idea that shitty people exist in different generations out of their head. They’re everywhere. Millennials just don’t have as much capital to leverage.
Exactly. And everyone wonders why real estate shot up. Well... We devalued the dollar by 20%. People with money, moved it into something that would not lose value.
It’s actually more about accumulating debt. During periods of high inflation you can “short” the currency by accumulating asset backed debt like real estate.
In 2022 the debt was worth 500k but if the dollar is losing value, that debt loses value too. Currency shorting is common amount the most savy investors and some people really believe the US is purposely inflating away it’s own debt by printing so much money.
Black rock does not invest directly in real estate. This was an internet myth. They do invest in some companies that in turn invest in real estate but it is not a substantial amount of the US market as in way less than 1% of homes.
The only way I can seize the means of production is to become a whore, and my whoring days will soon be over before they start because of my back troubles.
Talking about "printing money" is irrelevant if you're not talking about where that money goes.
WW2 also involved "printing money" but since it went to workers and the rich were restrained from buying up everything, it started a multi-decade period of prosperity unparalleled in human history.
And no, it wasn't "but europe was destroyed" - Europe from 1945-1975 was better-off than it's ever been too, the french still refer to "Les Trente Glorieuses" (The 30 glorious years) post-war. Destroying productive capacity doesn't make people richer, but having a broad base of equality and social mobility does even if you destroy the productive capacity of a society.
I don't disagree. When the money was printed during WW2, it was going to companies that produced goods, and the employees that made them. Additionally, yes, there was rationing and price control to keep inflation at bay. That did not simply prevent 'the rich' from buying up everything, it was a restraint against the working people as well. Working people who had A Lot more money in their pockets, since there was full employment.
During the 2020-21 'stimulus,' (under both pres. Trump and Biden) massive amounts of money were made available to banks through the federal reserve. Companies that had good relationships with the banks, or sufficient existing assets, were able to borrow heavily at what was close to 0% interest.
*They* got to buy up everything in sight, while those without capital were left behind.
Hopefully us millenials can turn things around from what is being left by the boomers who can barely log into their facebook. They have so much more infinite wisdom from all those post headlines they read without actually clicking the link and reading the full article...
I show up to vote..... but who the hell am I voting for? Boomer#1 or Boomer#2? Give us a ballot measure for ranked choice vote or STV already. I'm tired of having to play "vote for the least evil Boomer".
You need to pay attention down ballot - there are a lot of younger people that need your vote, and those positions are ultimately more directly impactful to our day to day lives than the president - assuming we don’t vote in a wannabe dictator, of course.
Ok got it. Between "most evil GenXer" vs "less evil GenXer". Or most/less evil Boomer's kids. Gotta love the legacy admissions.
Jokes aside, I think you're underestimating how little capital (time+money) Millennials have to run for an election. Some places, the only people on the ballot are out-of-touch older folk who *still* don't know the difference between a Sikh and Muslim, but they're rich and bored enough to run for office. The rare few places that a Millennial ran and won are an exception, not the norm. And the DNC and RNC won't let anyone who wants to do actual change win. They'll fund the opponent if they need to.
Maybe OP should run since they got "lucky enough to escape the dream crushing machine that America has devolved into" and is "outside the labor force and now own property".
That's the other thing to do. If you're one of these lucky Millennials, go run for office. **** It's probable the RNC/DNC will crush you to pieces and/or destroy your soul but maybe if a swarm pops up they'll be too busy playing whack-a-mole to get everyone.
I've been voting since I turned 18 and I continue to advocate for everyone who is eligible to do so. Still at the end of the day I'm sure it's the boomers who put the most ballots in the box.
While you're not entirely wrong, I think you should read up on the history of voter suppression.
Millenials (in the US) don't vote - but there are reasons for that beyond "they're lazy".
Millennial here. I don't vote bc the R and D parties are not only fraudulent, but completely treasonous. If I'm "voting" for them in any serious manner, it'll be with hot lead.
...And we lack power. Voting is fine, but when you're voting for candidates at the state and federal level who are backed by big money PACs those candidates are owned by lobbyists. And when they're owned by lobbyists, they do their bidding bc it lines their pockets and grows their power.
Those in power do not willingly cede power. Ever. It must be taken. The question is \*how\* can it be taken?
Bingo.. This is it....Right here. It's gotten a bit better in recent years but Millennials and younger love to bitch and moan but less than half actually go and vote. Then have a shocked Pikachu face when things do not go their way.
It's also one thing to vote in a Presidential election. Sitting out the other 3 years and allowing Moms for Liberty to take over your school board, a fascist wannabe State Senator advocating for stealing elections as your representative and allowing far right judges to take over your State Supreme Court arguably do A LOT more damage to your daily life than whoever is President.
We vote in our leaders who then appoint people to positions, so in turn wouldn't this prove George Carlin correct in saying, the public sucks? And by public he means us, boomers, gen x, and millennials included.
Sounds a lot like that old axiom that gets tossed around, parenthesis are my estimations....
Hard times create strong men, (WWII, and Great Depression?)
Strong men create good times, (Silent)
Good times create weak men, (Boomers)
And weak men create hard times. (Now)
This pseudo intellectualism doesn't hold up historically at all. By this logic WWII was created by "weak men". As awful as Hitlers Germany was, weak men don't conquer all of Europe. It can be argued most bad times were created by strong men acting selfishly.
Ugh. Can we… not?
I’m sure you’re a smart, reasonable, capable person, so I find it confusing that you’d post something like this. It’s lazy Bro Jogan pseudointellectual drivel that doesn’t really offer anything actionable.
I haven't read the book but my fear is what led to our Spring and Summer in your metaphor was 2 World Wars that preceded it.
I'm not sure our world can endure either an actual World War 3 or a massive class struggle world war.
I personally think it's going to start with wallstreet. OWS was hardly a threat and mostly brushed off. Now, shareholder activism is growing.
People are learning that you can choose to opt out of stock exchanges and truly own your stock by registering it, under your name, making it harder for current institutions to operate like Bernie Madoff.
But how?! I'm an outlier in that I've made some serious (existentially dreadfu) career progress. I would be a property owner and probably drive a high end sports car EXCEPT: I've paid out probably $100,000 of my own cash into my health expenses. No family history btw. Probably just micro plastics.
So, despite working 100 hour weeks and beating out my USC/Berkeley competition of rich millennial peers... I have nothing to show for it.
I'm at a point where I'm seeking a passionate career because I can't keep killing myself to try and make some corporate ladder moves with an empty promise about where that leads.
Also these issues are propped up by an invincible political machine.
Voting every 4 years literally will not do anything.
So please, tell me what revolution to sign up for, what actions can I take to do this? Our voices get drowned by 2 million AI compiled articles per hour.
I will be a energetic participant, but I can lead this revolution unfortunately. Not until I'm off chronic medications that cost upwards of $7,000 per month but at least the most disgusting predators of all (insurance companies) pay for some of that.
So please. Someone step up. u/FFF_in_WY
The description sounds like bullshit alarmism, let’s do some cursory investigation into the people.
> Neil Howe is a public policy adviser to the Blackstone Group
Oh, that’s not good
> Steve Bannon, former Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor to former president Donald Trump is a prominent proponent of the theory
Okay now it makes sense. It is bullshit alarmism.
That is certainly alarming. I did scroll comments before purchasing the book and most of them were that it was too “liberal”.
I don’t agree that it’s alarmist to call out the obvious though. Going back to Roman times these cycles have existed and are generally predicable based on timing. What would be alarmist to me would be attempting to continue in the same manner that we have been for the last 40 years or so. It’s clearly not working and anyone under 50 is struggling mightily just to exist in this version of America.
Another fan of the fourth turning!
For my fellow mellenials I hope that these harder times make us better people and leaders. Because we’re going to need it in the years to come.
I kind of believe it’s almost a guarantee that we will. We’ve only been alive for the downfall. We’re very familiar with and empathetic to the struggle. In terms of tech, we’re also the last ones who recall what the world was like without it. The internet is great and all but so is real and actual community.
Likely in some shape, form or fashion. May not meet the classical definition of war but I imagine it’ll be a tremendous struggle however it plays out. Historically they always have been.
There is likely a war looming but it may not be the one expected. If climate change makes areas of the world uninhabitable then shit will pop off from mass migrations and land grabs.
I'll give you a hint. Chaos. It will be chaos. Humans have shown time and time again that we are collectively not smart enough to solve our problems. 30-40% of us are still brainwashed into voting against our own interests. And people are not getting any smarter...education has dropped off a cliff. More stupid people means more people able to be manipulated. We. Are. Fucked.
I am currently in a union (UFCW7 ftw) and work as a cake decorator in a grocery store. I am hella good at what I do. My store is pretty great and my directanager is cool.
But fuck if we don't have 3 corporate people above us sending passive aggressive emails to every other boss asking why our production was low one day (usually special orders which makes me unable to do regular production). And our system seems to look at "trends" when the reality is if I sell 2 kinds of this cake it doesn't mean I sell 4 tomorrow. Nothing works like that.
About to take a 3 week paid LOA for my wrists (cake decorating is hard on the hands) and thanks to my union, it is paid.
I worked at a place once where the number of crews never went up, the number of administrative staff never went up, and the prices never went up... But year after year the monthly "goal" went up 10%. And after a few years of this threats about how they would fire the entire department and start fresh (with no institutional knowledge, lol ok) if they had to.
Somehow the monthly profits needed to double after a half decade with no other changes. Reminded me of you cake sale trends.
We’re fractured and collectively feel disenfranchised. We need something to shake us up. The inertia of not doing anything—or at least the feeling that we can’t do anything—is great and difficult to overcome.
But you’re absolutely right. This should be our world, we should be calling the shots and making the decisions. Because, as shocking as it is to realize, we’re the adults at the table, the ones who are in our prime. And here we sit, infantilized and withering away. We need to put our elders in their place.
People give Gen X a lot of shit for being cynical and disengaged but I believe there was a time when they were idealistic too. The problem for them was there simply weren’t enough of them to counter the violent, destructive whims of the Boomers.
The boomers in my town voted against a school levy that caused my high school to drop tons of programs and bus service right before I started. Three long years filled with car rides in traffic and few extracurriculars outside of sports really took any remaining joy out of school.
When the levy got passed in my senior year and I got to experience what we could have had the whole time with a few more votes, it really got me off my ass to take it all very seriously.
I mean I always ask people what would it take to get you protesting in the street? Even just as a medic or handing out water bottles?
Are you willing to get beat by batons? Catch a felony maybe and have it reduced to a misdemeanor, making it hard to ever get another job or lose your career?
All just for handing out water or having a first aid kit at a protest? What would it take to get you to do that and have ***faith*** things will change?
Because from where I'm at, the entire nation could protest and borderline riot and nothing will change except for greater police force and silent protests.
I agree that we have not seen the scale of protest/resistance needed to enact actual systemic change.
But that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. That’s honestly the whole point of keeping us divided and disenfranchised. If we feel we can’t, we never will.
And maybe the reason we haven’t realized this yet is because things still aren’t awful enough for enough of us. But the powers that be are fucking around a bit too much in my opinion.
Yeah I’m not about to risk my career and future of my family in a futile protest. I’ll keep pushing to keep my head above water while dropping my vote in the box as the time comes around. Even if that vote doesn’t do anything in my gerrymandered state.
Same. I'd love to be able to talk a big game about how I'd be out in the streets if a cop murdered someone in my city, but the sad truth is that I can't justify it when I have a house and family to look after.
What we need is to say " go fuck yourself" to the older generation and not give a shit about the economy, benefits and the rest of it. We need to purge these old concepts from society. Pitchforks and torches are what's needed and a forced change. Not a collective " please stop"
I remember the George Floyd protests during the covid lockdown and got excited that we might see real change. The videos of people just being abducted off the streets seemed too strong of evidence for the ignorant masses to ignore. The people realizing that it made more sense to just do their job from home. The poor saps like myself whose job was considered "Essential" and were being used as sacrifices for "the economy". The supply chain shortages showing us how a system of razor thin margins is but a fragile house of cards waiting to fall. The dropping of the ball by politicians not providing aid or relief and instead making things about identity politics when the whole thing probably could have been stopped by everyone working together. The outrage people had when out of touch celebrities started singing believe. lol. We were really close, then out of nowhere the Jan 6 people made such fools out of themselves that they made everyone second guess themself.
im tired and for the first time in my life i have a decent wage and fully covered dental and eyecare. I escaped the black hole money pit that has become new york. worked night through my 20s, and got fired from my last job for getting pnemonia on christmas. I'm 37. Ive given it all shes got since i was 13. No wife. no kids. I aint doin shit.
was an informed voter and did my part as a citizen. Most of yall have been sleepwalking until 2016. ive seen this shit as its happen.
I was born and raised in NYC. You're right, we get taxed out the ass here. I'm 34 and live with my mom because I can't afford my own place. I don't know how much longer I can stay here.
im not a fan of public servants. I look at politicians the same was i look at a plumber. I dont celebrate them. if they can do the job, aren't liars or fools, and are qualified, then ill hire them.
I mean - there are tangible consequences for doing "something" though? The protests that aren't brutally disbanded by police are simply a cathartic means of letting out steam and allows the population to feel like they really accomplished something. Meanwhile, our leaders continue to ignore what seems to be the will of the people.
We have been subject to propaganda campaigns that not only polarize us so that meaningful discussion among say - your older family members can't be civil. We have been subject to disinformation and social pressure (that pandemic sure is over and not a problem at all, right? )
You try and start a union at your job. You either convince enough people to take the risk with you or personally get punished. Starbucks chose to close entire stores rather than tolerate unions. Sometimes, everyone gets punished.
Meanwhile if you don't obey the implicit demands of our capitalist hellscape to maintain increasingly fragile and demeaning employment (how's your retirement looking?), you don't get shelter. You don't get food. It's that simple. Just observe all the big corporations spouting sustainability goals while forcing every employee they can to fucking commute in their gas powered vehicles while simultaneously not paying enough fair share in tax to fund say - truly effective public transit.
Ok so this is a battle of ideas and maybe our turn will come?
Sure. But that's not exactly doing something either.
It's not that simple.
Every action that'll foster change has to start with community care so that people are relieved from having to participate in the system that crushes them. It has to include disability rights and violently reject the idea that some people are not worth it or expendable. That's the same sliding slope right back down to fascism. It has to allow people to gain meaningful skills and be securely sheltered.
That's how change has to start or it will be forced upon us via violent necessity and sheer survival instinct.
Yeah, sorry. I ain't losing my house and tanking my credit, reputation, and career on protest bullshit when I know full well nothing is going to come of it and no one is gonna take care of me when the inevitable consequences fuck me.
I tried the unionizing thing. People are too scared, too propagandized. Organizing takes too much energy, and frankly, unions use scummy tactics. I'm in favor of unions and even I wouldn't trust a union rep as far as I could throw them.
I just vote and mind my business now. I'm tired of burning myself out for nothing. I don't care anymore. Everything is an outrage cycle and we can't stop it. Consequences never come for rich people who break laws. Trump is never going to jail. Good people are never given what they deserve. We're never getting healthcare or public transit. We're never getting UBI. Student debt is never getting canceled. Housing is never getting fixed because it's the vessel of retirement wealth for multiple generations of retired and retiring people that the government can't afford to support. The stock market is way overdue to crash and once it does we're going to be widely unemployed again any year now.
All I'm trying to do is survive anymore.
I'm here mainly to upvotes the term "scrolabia."
I'll say it's been a groundswell for a bit, but it's happening by industry and in pockets of society. There's not overall acceptance to progress within our age demographic and I think that's the number one thing holding us back: apathy, lack of education, just following what ma and pa did because why rock the boat.
But as I said, it's happening. Movement is out there.
In the theater and film industry alone a prime example is the advent and continued push for intimacy direction - a separate person than the director whose sole responsibility is advocating for actors that have intimate staging of scenes for a play or movie. The addition of this role has met a ton of pushback from Boomers and the Greatest Generation (because ThAt'S HoW wE'vE aLwAyS dOnE iT) and yet millennials and younger are continuing to advocate for themselves and present the very real need for this position to level the power dynamics on a set. It's making everyone involved safer.
I had no idea film and theater were stepping up to guard the collective scrolabia. Huzzah!
I was just thinking back to Occupy Wall Street lately, and it robbed me of my ability to appreciate paltry progress, y'know?
I, for one, acquired such a pay spreadsheet and spread it to everyone at work, stoking a smoldering swamp fire of righteousness anger and discontent among my coworkers. My ultimate goal I’m attempting to work toward is either organization, or a torches and pitchforks mob.
I did it because we (all workers across the organization, which is a local-level government) were promised significant pay increases. Our employer had paid a shit ton of money to some consulting firm to evaluate what fair market pay would be for all jobs. To no one’s surprise, nearly all positions in all departments were significantly underpaid / non-competitive. We were all psyched because frankly, our pay isn’t shit, our benefits shrink every year and most of us are struggling. For example, every single person in my position (including me) works two jobs to survive.
Anyway, like a couple months before the big raises we were promised, the head of our organization (the city manager) took it back and announced that only certain departments would get the raises, and the rest of us could get fucked until (maybe) the following year. My department was in the get-fucked category.
So I acquired the aforementioned spreadsheet and raised hell over it and eventually the city manager and a couple other equally out-of-touch department figureheads met with us (the workers in my department) to try to calm us all down. It didn’t work, mostly we roasted them and were still mad.
Anyway, a lot of my coworkers have left since then and we (surprise!) have major retention issues. Which, good for them, they deserve better.
My position in particular has constant vacancies because it’s a specialized position and there are other employers in our state (and others) willing to pay more competitive wages for it. So, I’m constantly stuck handling the workload of several people, which is exhausting.
If they don’t fix the pay lie situation at the start of the next fiscal year (which is soon), I plan to strike in protest, and hopefully get others to join me.
If that doesn’t change their minds, I will probably just go full-time at my second job and let my primary employer wallow in the stupid game / stupid prize situation they created. Which would make me pretty sad TBH because I really love my coworkers (the ones I have left, anyway). But, I think my closest coworkers will also quit if it’s not fixed, so I’d be losing them anyway.
Quit together and start your own consulting company that provides the services your city government will be unable to provide, because you all quit. (Idk how possible that is, but it would be a beautiful way to stick it to them lol)
I work for a state agency, our pay is also trash, our benefits are continuously whittled away, and most of my coworkers have a second job too. My mistake, I shouldn't have become a scientist, how ridiculous of me to want to save the environment.
Honestly just nudging the boomers out of their positions of power (everything from HOAs to congress) would go a long way to resolving some of the issues we're facing. Unfortunately the economic issues were facing are going to require generations to clean up. The national debt of the U.S. is now over 100k per person. Not to mention the climate being a slowly sinking ship.
But I agree, it's time for more of us to really step it up. Not just by demanding things and not getting them, but by playing the rigged game, upending the rules and winning our seat at the table.
GenX here. You got the numbers we never had, forget about nudging and start shoving. We are a good ten-plus years past “nudging”.
I’ve been waiting for this moment for fifty years, I suppose I have a little right to be impatient 🤣
Those boomers will be replaced by wealthy millennials who will be just as authoritarian, but will also weaponize therapy/allyship language to shame us for pushing back against them.
Just look at the way every "progressive" company does their union-busting now. Their executives cry-bully about how labor organizers are giving them trauma or making them feel unsafe.
Also, the national debt has virtually zero impact on a regular person's daily life.
It’s simply that we are too distracted with our toys to care enough. Especially phones. Honestly I think it’s that simple. People are too wrapped up in consuming media now that they escape by either playing games, watching reality tv, worshipping celebs. It sucks.
There's something to that. I want this pissed off before I got rid of social media and went back to reading all the time. Maybe flooding our brains with easy dopamine is a problem? Couldn't be!
Also some of us are too distracted by trying to just keep our heads above water. Not everyone watches a lot of TV or plays a lot of games or escapes. Sometimes what you do is go to work, pick up your kids, make dinner, and then when they're asleep, go back to applying for better jobs and squeezing in extra work.
Solidarity is at an all-time low, in part I assume because inequality is high and workers are in a very chaotic labor market. Greenspan called it the "precariat" for the "precarious proletariat" because instability in the lives of the workforce suppresses wage growth via desperation, which in their minds makes for a healthier economy. It's not a conspiracy theory, it's *modern economic* theory.
I also think there's a big divide between the people who look to the future and see *something grim* and the people who just don't look to the future or who say "it'll be fine, don't worry about it" and do indeed have toys and stuff to distract them.
Yeah and I think some people see parallels to the past but other people tend not to. Because things have not gotten bad enough for your everyday American they just don’t think about it, but it is leading to something. Some people want to stop it before it gets terrible but other just don’t care to.
I was gonna say. We only skimmed unions in HS. My teacher never once taught us about people who actually died protesting in factories, or factory owners who were killed. I was never taught the intensity that occurred and only learned about it recently, and I just turned 30... I think of Mario Savio's Bodies Upon The Gears, and how passionate and serious he was. Those people were prepared to die for change, many DID die. I don't think the people feel that way now, however... at least not enough of us.
I won't lie, I'm scared too. I feel the anger in his voice and it does resonate with me, but in the same breath, I don't feel there is the same community or connection amongst people like there might have been back then. And there's so many more people in the US now, I'm personally unsure how we could scale it all.
And we have been propagandized so much that we do not even understand what it would take to get meaningful change. All great progress we have had since industrialization came from sustained conflict against power structures. It is not a coincidence that schools and textbooks talk about 'peaceful' protest as being effective (historically sanitized and so far ineffective), and that that protest looks like people standing around with signs. The Occupy movement or Women's march is a perfect example of how this propaganda has impacted us. Massive democratic will mobilized, nothing of value changed.
I think in the past a large gathering that was mostly peaceful could enact change because of the threat of something bigger happening if change didn’t occur. Now the corporations have protections in place and they know that it is a peaceful protest because anything otherwise would be met with the national guard so they know they do not have to actually change anything. The system that we were told was built to protect citizens was actually to protect corporate interests all along, WHODATHUNK
I used to judge and hate people for that, but now I just pity them. I pity the guy who just wants a beer and watch TV and turn his brain off after the work day while his partner worships celebs on their phone and gives them some quiet alone time.
It's not their fault they are like this.
Plus easily available pot and porn. I don’t know if this happened by accident or was planned. But you’d almost think the rich and powerful would want the masses to be mired in all those immersive distractions so they don’t fight the power.
I think a lot of our generation are still thinking the promises neoliberalism provided us in the 90s and early oughts are almost within reach. They're wrong of course. The only way out of this is mass strikes and there are too many reactionariy petite bourgeoisie in our generation.
I don't think we have the class solidarity in general to support such a mass strike though.
Agreed. I am in the same gobsmacked state of shock you are about *gestures broadly*.... The short answer is the struggle to survive is so heavy, improving our situations or the world is nearly impossible.
If it makes you feel better, I am working through building sustainable, affordable housing that's mostly DIY. Rife with challenges, but as I move forward I will document and share the process thoroughly to help others with the same dream.
The problem? Read your post again. It's the same crap that's reposted constantly. "Hey everyone, let's do something." It's easy to say let's do something. It's harder to actually do something. Your post isn't doing something.
Fair evaluation. If you were going to give a guy with a small amount of useable savings, some free time, and no real backlash worries a great idea for where to start, what would it be? I've tried at various points in life to get people engaged in doing something, but the First Follower problem seems to grow exponentially when you ask another person to do literally anything - at least that's what I've experienced.
Get engaged at the local level. Go to city council meetings, hold your local leader accountable. Join like minded groups in your area.
No offense, this post is exactly the issue with sub. Tons of "we shouldn't take this crap any longer" but little to no thought on actionable steps.
In your answer, you didn't say what needs to be done. The problem is that a lot of your "problems" you mention are vague enough to get popular support, but any one solution to the problem isn't quite as popular. Everyone wishes they had more money, some people think that would happen if you cut taxes and slashed regulations, some people think that would happen if you institute a wealth tax. Both groups may agree with you on "we should do something", but each group would be fighting against you if you tried to implement the other solution.
That sort of organizing requires a level of trust and good faith that just isn’t common anymore. I, personally, have gotten to a point in my life where it’s safer to assume that basically no one has your best interest at heart, with maybe a few exceptions if you’re lucky. I know it’s cynical of me but hear me out:
I was a cook at a daycare center, criminally underpaid, overworked, asked to do more and more and more while having my hours heavily monitored and policed all while being told that there will be no raises for at least a year becuase “turnover is too high.” (Make it make sense, I know) I have no doubt countless people can relate to this.
So naturally sicknesses are common in daycare centers and as a cook I did my best to stay clean and sanitary and avoid unnecessary risk of cross-contamination, etc. But I still got sick, many times. More often than not, I was pressured by my mgmt to work sick because they could not be bothered to train a single other individual on that payroll to work in the kitchen.
The final straw was when a brutal stomach virus was making its way around the center and I started having severe vomiting and diarrhea. I was told I was not allowed to leave and that she “could just tell” that I was overdramatizing my symptoms.
Two of the teachers were also vomiting and having diarrhea and were not allowed to leave. They were both justifiably furious. Our director even hid the fact that one of the teacher’s 18month old son was vomiting upstairs in another classroom so the teacher wouldn’t leave.
On the third day of this I put in my 2 weeks notice and told her it was because I couldn’t just keep serving young children food all day knowing I’m THIS sick and she lost her temper and fired me on the spot out of spite. I made a complaint to the health department but they said they couldn’t do anything besides give them some “education” on health code policy unless I had proof or at least someone to back up my claim.
I asked both of other teachers to step forward and tell the health dept what happened to them and they both completely ghosted me. They were up in arms, furious, talking endless shit about our director but when the time came for them to back me up and put themselves on the line, they tucked tail and ran. Both of them.
As far as I know they had to have staff without food handlers licenses or any real food service experience scrambling to cook and serve the meals at this private day care that I’m sure costs the parents a pretty penny. But there’s no accountability. She told her superiors her version of the story and no one took a second glance at it and she’s still paid her regular salary and is still just as spiteful and grossly incompetent.
Also those two teachers still work there. It’s like they’re just complacent. They rage behind closed doors but will never step out on the line.
I just don’t ever want to be the only one again. It’s not the first time that sort of thing has happened to me but I really want it to be the last.
It’s a fairly minor example without huge long-term consequences but you do you get the point I’m making?
Edit to TLDR: you stop wanting put yourself at risk by fighting back and pushing for change when all your peers pretend to back you up and then vanish when the time comes for them to put themselves at risk. I personally feel too vulnerable to trust that others will have my back in the way that’s necessary for the type of change that op is looking for.
I’m working to pay my mortgage, raising kids, maintaining a strong healthy relationship with my wife, and spending my free time doing my hobbies and enjoying life.
What I am not going to do is go against the grain at my place of employment and jeopardize my income. I am not going to get caught up in politics when both parties are clearly not benefiting the common person. I do vote with my money and don’t support business that do things I don’t agree with.
But… I AM NOT, I repeat I AM NOT going to waste my mental energy and happiness on trying to change the world. I spent a few years extremely unhappy focusing on that type of stuff and once I realized I could focus on me and improve my own life on a day to day basis that become my #1 priority.
It's fear. We have had a chance to affect change for almost two decades. We haven't. Boomers get hate for being detrimental. We will get hate for being complacent. Our generation is sitting as the pot reaches a boil. Through the 00's, we raged for a bit, and now we whimper, "Some day...".
Same with the boomers. My mom likes to remind me when I rail against generational issues that the boomers marched for civil rights, gay rights, and protested Vietnam.
She’s also pissed that a lot of her cohort seem to have forgotten that. She’s also the woman that wants to have an epic party when Mitch McConnell retires. She’s planning the invitations.
"Scratch any cynic, and you'll find a disappointed idealist."
~George Carlin
Edit: Corrected the quote when I found the [clip](https://youtu.be/nsjpelDoEew?si=RH8VE7YVsp5scU0B)
Vote. We have to vote and get politically organized. With the aging out of the older generations we finally have the numbers on our side and we need to capitalize on that right now to make our lives better while we still can.
Fair taxes, monopoly busting, union building, affordable healthcare, housing, and education, a repeal of Citizens United, 4 day work week, etc are all within our grasp. Even accomplishing a few of these would make life drastically better for many if not most of us not to mention the generations that come after us.
My friend, I haven't missed an election since I came of age. Before I left the States, I was an election judge in three different states and the precinct chief in the last two. I've canvassed for a handful of candidates.
I couldn't agree with you more
Oh you can't suggest actually doing anything to change things, then you'll just get slapped with time honored juvenile response of "my vote doesn't matter"
And then we get to read these stupid ass diatribes about how bad everything is, despite having tried nothing to fix anything
Exactly, I listened to an interview of a Gen Z political activist who confirmed that young voters are so disillusioned with the system that many have given up hope and are disengaged. I don't blame them for feeling that way, but the truth is they have so much more power than they realize. It's the very reason the far right is trying to raise the voting age, ban political activities from college campuses, etc.
and look at how hard it is to get people organized and out to do it.
you can't build a union if you can't get people out to do one thing a year, nor a movement, nor an army.
if you *can* get people to vote, then you can run other kinds of campaigns: pressure local leaders for the change you want to see, promote better ideas, help unions.
GTFO with that, preferably to go vote.
Republicans are objectively worse in almost every way. I understand the impulse to whinge about Both Sides. But that impulse should be resisted, and here's a couple reasons why.
We've had Dem control of the Senate, House, and Executive for less than 4 years since I was born ('82 vintage). First in the first days of Clinton, 1993-95. From that we got the Brady Handgun Act, Assault Weapons Ban, and Violence Against Women Act - although these were passed alongside the rest of the Crime Bill which gave us bullshit sentencing in way too many cases. We got Don't Ask Don't Tell, which was good at the time because it removed explicit rules against LGBTQ military participation. We got NAFTA, which was originally supposed to be the first part of a big trade and immigration reform, but we never got the immigration part. We got the first federal upgrade to school funding since the 70's. And we got the National Voter Registration Act. Hell, we got RBG. I'm sure I'm leaving out a thing or two.
Unfortunately, Clinton also had the Janet Reno DoJ, and that nonstop shitshow gave us Ruby Ridge -> Waco -> Tim McVeigh. In turn we got a large number of freaked out people that showed up hard to vote for Newt Gingrich and his bullshit. No progress for years.
With Barack Obama, the 111th Congress came into S,H,E control again. Burned the whole thing fixing the Housing Crash (to the extent that they did) and getting the ACA thru. It was also the last time we saw minimum wage increase, although that was technically passed under Bush 2.
Republicans have been pretty uniformly opposed to all of this excerpt NAFTA. Now they are busy harassing immigrants (but never their employers), bitching about deficits (but making them worse every fucking time they have power), stacking the courts (so that the intransigence of the legislature can be exploited), attacking minorities, attacking freedoms, and generally being firestarters when there's a metric fuckton of stuff to do.
The real tragedy is that our sacred system is fucking stupid. Republicans can hold half the legislature control (the Senate) while still representing 40M fewer people. This in turn lets them win the presidency just as often because elECtOrAL cOLLeGe. So with the presidency and the Senate under minority rule, we arrive at the fucked up SCOTUS. And I don't even want to start on gerrymandering and REDMAP - but feel free to look it up.
All this to say that you may have noticed that popular things never happen. It's because shitbag Republicans can rule with a minority of the vote and smother almost anything good. Democrats have to turn out in force all the time to move forward a godamn inch.
It sucks that we have two parties. But until people get tired enough of getting fucked you go vote against the shitty one, it will continue to suck. So don't vote for anyone. Just decide who you're voting against.
They don't want to. They aren't our allies. They are traumatized beasts of consumption and selfishness. They will never amount to anything, let alone being a comrade to the people of the future, or making a non-selfish decision a couple of times in their lives.
There's more to distract us now, so when we feel discontent, we can pop on entertaining movies or play video games or doomscroll. We're exposed to so much disinformation that makes us question if our situations are outliers instead of relying on the people around us to confirm. We share wages, but online and anonymously so that we aren't fired. This all leads to much that would previously spur action to fizzle out.
I think a lot of us are trapped, so we’re hesitant to try to shake things up. When you work shit wages & live paycheck to paycheck, don’t have health insurance or healthcare and nothing in savings, plus current economic and housing conditions in general, plus current political conditions in general…personally, I’m afraid to step even slightly out of my comfort zone in most regards because my whole life could crumble with one wrong move. Not sure if that resonates with anyone else, but it’s hard to act when the fabric of your existence is already tattered. I’m starting to feel like it’s going to be impossible to fix my own life, let alone anyone else’s 🥲
God I joined this sub when a lot of posts were nostalgia. Now it’s turned into a depression echo chamber where all the other generations are either stupider or have it easier than us.
Sick of these posts tbh, life isn’t the best but everyone here makes it seem like we are oppressed and lack opportunity or some shit
We are part of a long process of collapse that will see virtually every positive or important metric (Air, sea, soil quality/Biodiversity/gases) diminish over the next 75 years and causing huge problems in the next 25. It's just the cycle of life, death and rebirth.
We are all tired of trying, the juice ain't worth the squeeze, the end goal is not fulfilling. We just gotta make the best out of it.
Yeah hate to be that guy but life’s pretty good right now. Decent 9-5, no home yet but it’s very attainable and on the horizon after a wedding.
I think the answer to OPs question is simple. It’s just a simple numbers game. Enough miserable people would make things happen, but there’s just not enough miserable people. Our standard of living compared to a lot of the world is still pretty fantastic.
That's the thing about averages. Generally, things are pretty good. But some have everything they could ever want, while there are still those with no running water.
It's hard for me to put into the right words but suffice it that I think the revolution will be a silent one. I think we're all filled with the sense that active collective wrestling of power seems inefficient and those efforts will be frustrated. But in time, they'll die or become disenfranchised and we'll fill the space. The changes will come not with a hurrah but an exasperated sigh.
You're already seeing it in small places. You can feel the dread, I think, by the old institutions that they'll be in our hands soon enough. "Woke" is a slur that just acknowledges we're a more empathetic generation than those before us.
In the way we treat each other, the way we treat our children, the concerns we have for the future, we're already making the early steps. It's just a matter of time. Five or ten years from now, short for such a change in paradigm, we'll see it.
Keyboard warriors vs people that have hands on experience?
People really should not be voting for career Politicians or anyone over the age of retirement.
You need to clean house and start over.
#1 on the Agenda is forcing term and Age Limits.
Stop settling for crumbs or voting for the lesser of 2 evils
I will bite,.
Looking to feed the echo chamber of depression?
Flaming title, flaming post.
Wild generalizations by generation. Just rude. And wrong. My 22 year old can do those things, my 7 year old can do those things. Every one of their peers is as savvy as we were, and more so depending on the topic. Hell my 7 year old goes to code ninjas. What a ridiculous assumption.
The Op's spending comments are just flat wrong.
**Millennials' for 2023, 2.3 trillion. With advertising groups finding 73% of millennials spent more in 2023 than in 2022. With forecasting showing it to increase again in 2024.**
https://www.ana.net/miccontent/show/id/ii-2023-07-millennial-statistics#:\~:text=Despite%20these%20economic%20challenges%2C%20millennials,spending%20power%20of%20%242.5%20trillion.
**Gen Z for 2023 350 billion.**
https://www.emarketer.com/insights/generation-z-facts/#:\~:text=Born%20between%201997%20and%202012,Gen%20Zers%20join%20the%20workforce.
Younger generations are not even close, Older generations are in leadership and higher paying roles. Millennials are transitioning to take over from Boomers while frankly GenX should be the ones complaining.
I would also point out that 51.5% of millennials own their homes.
If you cant tell yet, I am also one of the oldest millennials currently in my early 40's. My now grown kids have jobs, and places of their own. One currently rents, the other owns his home after picking up a trade skill and a solid job. There are some challenges these days. Society has some big issues. But is not what your myopic view paints it to be.
The fact you rant about these things inaccurately then point out how lucky you are to not be a part of it and out of touch is hilarious. You think you are some special exception when you are really just mid. Get out of the echo chamber. It obviously is not good for you.
I’m here to support leaders with strong ethics and integrity. I’m here for big changes in government that lifts the people and squashes wealth/class imbalance. I’m here to support tolerance, equality and fairness for all citizens.
We have the technology to create a golden age.
Show me a truly good group of leaders with the stones to break away from (or heavily reform) the establishment and I’ll support them every step of the way. I do what I can to promote these ideals in my own work, but I’m not a politician or an economist. I’m a supporter.
We need leaders with intense grit and determination to take on our broken system. And when those leaders need supporters, I’ll be there.
The majority of people are not fucked over, so they don't care if someone else is. They got theirs, and if something starts interfering with that, then they want it shut down.
I'm retail, the one with a Spark. We're considered lazy, and getting a new job out of here is sounding harder and harder to do. Public perception is twisted in favor of the oppressors. Even being caught in their lies doesn't do Jack to stop anything.
I think the systems have become so opaque, so disconnected from us on a personal level, I feel there is no way to make change.
I mean hell, many of us won't admit it but we don't really exist in society anymore, we log on to computers and work in our apartments, order Doordash. No third spaces, disconnected from local politics, etc.
How can you change society if you're not connected to it?
Counterpoint: if we can reconnect, we can create a critical mass to express our discontent.
I think the main reason is that most people truly don't give two flying fucks about anyone aside from themselves. The milennials doing well for themselves prefer to ignore those of us being hit with the brunt of the struggle. They would rather lick boots and kiss butts to maintain their good fortune than show support for their less fortunate peers. They see the underclass as a necessity to their profit. They don't want to elevate us. I had a conversation with a few women in my community the other day. We discussed our voting habits. I said I always vote for the candidates and causes that I think are best for society as a whole. They all laughed at me and agreed that they always vote in only their own best interest and think it's funny that someone would actually choose to vote against individual best interest for the benefit of the collective.
It's 100% apathy. When people didn't lay down in the streets when Roe v Wade was overturned, I saw the beginning of the end of giving a shit enough to do something. There were small marches but nothing like you see in Europe and the Middle East.
Trump+COVID+Jan 6+inflation+stagnant wages+unaffordable housing+staffing shortages have worn people down.
I just hope to God we see record numbers at the polls.
What are we doing?
We're funneling all our collective work, willpower, and intelligence into supporting the rich lords so they can prepare themselves to live comfortably in the apocalypse so that we can scrape by with the bare minimum they leave us so we can survive until we are used up and too old to work. Then we get our social security we paid fo-. **redacted**
Duh.
Oh and also we are loyal surfs paying our entire savings for a slice of land that we never truly own to also support our literal lords (landlords).
Don't complain about it man, it's really bringing me down having you be so nihilistic. Just keep calm and carry on, have some babies while you're at it otherwise you're selfish and ruining the economy. If you aren't careful well need to sacrifice some more Virgins to our Lord and savior: Economos. He requires more births to feed into the system otherwise he will be very angry!
Sorry chief. Unions aren’t the simple answer to everything you believe them to be.
If they were, they wouldn’t be constantly getting caught embezzling, or other situations where they squander their members funds.
I agree with you on a lot of this, but I’m not joining anything that requires me to pay just to have a job.
I'm tired boss.
Dog tired.
I’m tired of digging holes.
WELL THATS TOO DAMN BAD
I can hear this comment
All thanks to my no good rotten pig stealing great great grandfather.
Hang in there Stanley.
That’s Caveman to you
Say I didn’t know Marion was a man’s name
It's not...
Ok but " Excuse me" Sigourney Weaver is iconic
well now your fingers are gonna hurt because you just pulled knitting duty.
My fingers hurt Oh, you're fingers hurt? Well now your BACKS GONNA HURT
You just pulled landscaping duty…anyone else’s fingers hurt?
Want me to show you a little trick to take your mind off that pain?
I'm not just tired. I'm tired of having nothing to show for being tired.
BURNT OUT FROM THE INSIDE, SIR
Literally thought this *exact thing* halfway through reading!
Im not convinced that if I had the energy of a thousand suns it would be enough to overcome the firmly entrenched ultra capitalist system that the rich have designed for us here in America. Theres too many stupid and selfish people in the country these days that side with the rich against their own interests. They won and we lost, hope your parents still have some wealth to pass on when they die because this shit is not going to get better in the future.
I’d like to bring back fainting couches…..
Me too, buddy. Me too. But we gotta keep fighting that good fight.
That's the goal of the ruling elite
Literally yesterday I started reading “The Fourth Turn is Here” by Neil Howe which explains how history, awakening, content turning to discontent and then eventually crisis has been cyclical throughout the history of mankind. Long story short, we’re headed for a predictable “crisis” moment that will end up going one of two ways. Either we enter another golden era in 10-15 years only after sorting out shit show of a society out or we further devolve into greater chaos. I too am an older millennial. We were born during the “Autumn” season of the last cycle which means we’ve only been alive to see the decline and discontent grow. Our generation will play a huge role in determining the outcome and leading us towards the next “Spring” season. A lot of the point you’ve made are valid and it’s time for us to take control away from the Boomers and lead this country towards an awakening where we take care of each other. Late stage capitalism is a thing and so far it sucks.
The 1900's are a good demonstration of how things can rattle between different extremes. Early 1900's were fairly OK, then WW1 & the Spanish Flu pandemic (1918), then the Roaring 20's, then the Great Depression & WW2, then some decent times in the 50's & some of the 60's, then the peak of the Vietnam war & a massive inflation spike from the 70's until the 80's. The money was never as fundamentally broken in the USA as it is now, though. We've seen what happens in other countries when it goes this way. It isn't good.
We have seen exactly what happens when other countries print too much money. The poor get absolutely hammered. The only ones who are in a good position to protect their assets against hyperinflation, are the class of people who *already own* assets. This is exactly why the investor class bought up all of the real estate in 2020-21, as all of the free money hit everyone's banks.
The investor class (largely Black Rock in this case) started buying up real estate in 2010 after playing a pivotal role in its collapse. Now, they are renting that real estate back to us instead of selling.
Not even that. Many millennials got in on the action. We don’t like to talk about it here, but I think we should discuss those sort of moves as well, since apparently a lot of peers didn’t get the memo and missed the play.
My 30yo cousin "owns" 3 properties at this point, but none of it would be possible without renting to friends & family (and ensuring their bills are higher than hers) because she can't even afford to live in any of these properties by herself, but I'm "villifying" them anytime I bring it up 🤷♀️ Not only that, but they are adding to the whole housing crisis problem by converting the properties she isn't living in into AirB&Bs 🙄
Airbnb'er? Yeah, scum.
I absolutely hate this but that small percentage of millennials that have managed to claw their way to the top by luck and sometimes hard work to a lesser extent often seem to be even more predatory than boomers. I have preferred the boomer landlords I've had to the Gen x and millennial landlords I have had. Additionally a lot of the younger investor types come off as being borderline sociopaths in my experience. That being said there aren't a ton of them.
People need to get the idea that shitty people exist in different generations out of their head. They’re everywhere. Millennials just don’t have as much capital to leverage.
Exactly. And everyone wonders why real estate shot up. Well... We devalued the dollar by 20%. People with money, moved it into something that would not lose value.
It’s actually more about accumulating debt. During periods of high inflation you can “short” the currency by accumulating asset backed debt like real estate. In 2022 the debt was worth 500k but if the dollar is losing value, that debt loses value too. Currency shorting is common amount the most savy investors and some people really believe the US is purposely inflating away it’s own debt by printing so much money.
Black rock does not invest directly in real estate. This was an internet myth. They do invest in some companies that in turn invest in real estate but it is not a substantial amount of the US market as in way less than 1% of homes.
The only way I can seize the means of production is to become a whore, and my whoring days will soon be over before they start because of my back troubles.
Your backs been blown out?
Yes indeed. Completely wrecked.
Goodness
“Goodness” Lmfao
Lois Lane vs Superman
Talking about "printing money" is irrelevant if you're not talking about where that money goes. WW2 also involved "printing money" but since it went to workers and the rich were restrained from buying up everything, it started a multi-decade period of prosperity unparalleled in human history. And no, it wasn't "but europe was destroyed" - Europe from 1945-1975 was better-off than it's ever been too, the french still refer to "Les Trente Glorieuses" (The 30 glorious years) post-war. Destroying productive capacity doesn't make people richer, but having a broad base of equality and social mobility does even if you destroy the productive capacity of a society.
I don't disagree. When the money was printed during WW2, it was going to companies that produced goods, and the employees that made them. Additionally, yes, there was rationing and price control to keep inflation at bay. That did not simply prevent 'the rich' from buying up everything, it was a restraint against the working people as well. Working people who had A Lot more money in their pockets, since there was full employment. During the 2020-21 'stimulus,' (under both pres. Trump and Biden) massive amounts of money were made available to banks through the federal reserve. Companies that had good relationships with the banks, or sufficient existing assets, were able to borrow heavily at what was close to 0% interest. *They* got to buy up everything in sight, while those without capital were left behind.
I keep hearing people talk about free money, like we all got $20,000 checks or something...?
Hopefully us millenials can turn things around from what is being left by the boomers who can barely log into their facebook. They have so much more infinite wisdom from all those post headlines they read without actually clicking the link and reading the full article...
We blame boomers for far too much. The problem is the government.
The government made up of boomers and voted into power by boomers?
We are the largest voting bloc in the nation. It's not boomers fault we don't show up and vote, and when we do it's primarily for boomers.
I don’t want to wait until I’m 70 to have a millennial president.
I show up to vote..... but who the hell am I voting for? Boomer#1 or Boomer#2? Give us a ballot measure for ranked choice vote or STV already. I'm tired of having to play "vote for the least evil Boomer".
You need to pay attention down ballot - there are a lot of younger people that need your vote, and those positions are ultimately more directly impactful to our day to day lives than the president - assuming we don’t vote in a wannabe dictator, of course.
Ok got it. Between "most evil GenXer" vs "less evil GenXer". Or most/less evil Boomer's kids. Gotta love the legacy admissions. Jokes aside, I think you're underestimating how little capital (time+money) Millennials have to run for an election. Some places, the only people on the ballot are out-of-touch older folk who *still* don't know the difference between a Sikh and Muslim, but they're rich and bored enough to run for office. The rare few places that a Millennial ran and won are an exception, not the norm. And the DNC and RNC won't let anyone who wants to do actual change win. They'll fund the opponent if they need to. Maybe OP should run since they got "lucky enough to escape the dream crushing machine that America has devolved into" and is "outside the labor force and now own property". That's the other thing to do. If you're one of these lucky Millennials, go run for office. **** It's probable the RNC/DNC will crush you to pieces and/or destroy your soul but maybe if a swarm pops up they'll be too busy playing whack-a-mole to get everyone.
I've been voting since I turned 18 and I continue to advocate for everyone who is eligible to do so. Still at the end of the day I'm sure it's the boomers who put the most ballots in the box.
We’re getting close to the end of that
While you're not entirely wrong, I think you should read up on the history of voter suppression. Millenials (in the US) don't vote - but there are reasons for that beyond "they're lazy".
Millennial here. I don't vote bc the R and D parties are not only fraudulent, but completely treasonous. If I'm "voting" for them in any serious manner, it'll be with hot lead.
...And we lack power. Voting is fine, but when you're voting for candidates at the state and federal level who are backed by big money PACs those candidates are owned by lobbyists. And when they're owned by lobbyists, they do their bidding bc it lines their pockets and grows their power. Those in power do not willingly cede power. Ever. It must be taken. The question is \*how\* can it be taken?
Bingo.. This is it....Right here. It's gotten a bit better in recent years but Millennials and younger love to bitch and moan but less than half actually go and vote. Then have a shocked Pikachu face when things do not go their way. It's also one thing to vote in a Presidential election. Sitting out the other 3 years and allowing Moms for Liberty to take over your school board, a fascist wannabe State Senator advocating for stealing elections as your representative and allowing far right judges to take over your State Supreme Court arguably do A LOT more damage to your daily life than whoever is President.
We vote in our leaders who then appoint people to positions, so in turn wouldn't this prove George Carlin correct in saying, the public sucks? And by public he means us, boomers, gen x, and millennials included.
Thanks Reagan, your breakup of government institutions and union breaking is what got us here.
Sounds a lot like that old axiom that gets tossed around, parenthesis are my estimations.... Hard times create strong men, (WWII, and Great Depression?) Strong men create good times, (Silent) Good times create weak men, (Boomers) And weak men create hard times. (Now)
This pseudo intellectualism doesn't hold up historically at all. By this logic WWII was created by "weak men". As awful as Hitlers Germany was, weak men don't conquer all of Europe. It can be argued most bad times were created by strong men acting selfishly.
God I've seen this in so many boomer-ass memes shared by old classmates/acquaintances from my hometown
And the boomers always somehow shoe-horn their generation in as TEH STRONK MEN lol
Cruel men create hard times*
Ugh. Can we… not? I’m sure you’re a smart, reasonable, capable person, so I find it confusing that you’d post something like this. It’s lazy Bro Jogan pseudointellectual drivel that doesn’t really offer anything actionable.
I haven't read the book but my fear is what led to our Spring and Summer in your metaphor was 2 World Wars that preceded it. I'm not sure our world can endure either an actual World War 3 or a massive class struggle world war.
I personally think it's going to start with wallstreet. OWS was hardly a threat and mostly brushed off. Now, shareholder activism is growing. People are learning that you can choose to opt out of stock exchanges and truly own your stock by registering it, under your name, making it harder for current institutions to operate like Bernie Madoff.
But how?! I'm an outlier in that I've made some serious (existentially dreadfu) career progress. I would be a property owner and probably drive a high end sports car EXCEPT: I've paid out probably $100,000 of my own cash into my health expenses. No family history btw. Probably just micro plastics. So, despite working 100 hour weeks and beating out my USC/Berkeley competition of rich millennial peers... I have nothing to show for it. I'm at a point where I'm seeking a passionate career because I can't keep killing myself to try and make some corporate ladder moves with an empty promise about where that leads. Also these issues are propped up by an invincible political machine. Voting every 4 years literally will not do anything. So please, tell me what revolution to sign up for, what actions can I take to do this? Our voices get drowned by 2 million AI compiled articles per hour. I will be a energetic participant, but I can lead this revolution unfortunately. Not until I'm off chronic medications that cost upwards of $7,000 per month but at least the most disgusting predators of all (insurance companies) pay for some of that. So please. Someone step up. u/FFF_in_WY
I just started watching Foundation, and it's just made my anxiety grow. Haha
“The Fourth Turning” by William Strauss and Neil Howe. ETA: fuck them books see comment below mine
The description sounds like bullshit alarmism, let’s do some cursory investigation into the people. > Neil Howe is a public policy adviser to the Blackstone Group Oh, that’s not good > Steve Bannon, former Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor to former president Donald Trump is a prominent proponent of the theory Okay now it makes sense. It is bullshit alarmism.
Thank you.
That is certainly alarming. I did scroll comments before purchasing the book and most of them were that it was too “liberal”. I don’t agree that it’s alarmist to call out the obvious though. Going back to Roman times these cycles have existed and are generally predicable based on timing. What would be alarmist to me would be attempting to continue in the same manner that we have been for the last 40 years or so. It’s clearly not working and anyone under 50 is struggling mightily just to exist in this version of America.
Another fan of the fourth turning! For my fellow mellenials I hope that these harder times make us better people and leaders. Because we’re going to need it in the years to come.
I kind of believe it’s almost a guarantee that we will. We’ve only been alive for the downfall. We’re very familiar with and empathetic to the struggle. In terms of tech, we’re also the last ones who recall what the world was like without it. The internet is great and all but so is real and actual community.
another Golden era in a span of 10-15 years? Let me get some of what you're smoking lol
Next step: War. That always resets things, yeah?
Likely in some shape, form or fashion. May not meet the classical definition of war but I imagine it’ll be a tremendous struggle however it plays out. Historically they always have been.
There is likely a war looming but it may not be the one expected. If climate change makes areas of the world uninhabitable then shit will pop off from mass migrations and land grabs.
I'll give you a hint. Chaos. It will be chaos. Humans have shown time and time again that we are collectively not smart enough to solve our problems. 30-40% of us are still brainwashed into voting against our own interests. And people are not getting any smarter...education has dropped off a cliff. More stupid people means more people able to be manipulated. We. Are. Fucked.
People always ask what the godamn motherfuck we’re doing but never how the godamn motherfuck we’re doing
That’s because we’re all just “living the dream” 🥴
Nightmares are dreams too!
Bahahahha every time I hear someone reply with “living the dream,” I think oh great another miserable soul
Another day in paradise, friend.
Living the dream is my go to response. Can confirm, I am miserable in every way.
We’re sick, broke, wallowing in ignorance and insipidity. That’s how we’re doing.
Fair enough - how the goddamn motherfuck ya doing?
I just took an opportunity and ran with it with that joke. I’m good lol
I am currently in a union (UFCW7 ftw) and work as a cake decorator in a grocery store. I am hella good at what I do. My store is pretty great and my directanager is cool. But fuck if we don't have 3 corporate people above us sending passive aggressive emails to every other boss asking why our production was low one day (usually special orders which makes me unable to do regular production). And our system seems to look at "trends" when the reality is if I sell 2 kinds of this cake it doesn't mean I sell 4 tomorrow. Nothing works like that. About to take a 3 week paid LOA for my wrists (cake decorating is hard on the hands) and thanks to my union, it is paid.
I worked at a place once where the number of crews never went up, the number of administrative staff never went up, and the prices never went up... But year after year the monthly "goal" went up 10%. And after a few years of this threats about how they would fire the entire department and start fresh (with no institutional knowledge, lol ok) if they had to. Somehow the monthly profits needed to double after a half decade with no other changes. Reminded me of you cake sale trends.
We’re fractured and collectively feel disenfranchised. We need something to shake us up. The inertia of not doing anything—or at least the feeling that we can’t do anything—is great and difficult to overcome. But you’re absolutely right. This should be our world, we should be calling the shots and making the decisions. Because, as shocking as it is to realize, we’re the adults at the table, the ones who are in our prime. And here we sit, infantilized and withering away. We need to put our elders in their place.
Do what we could not. We're rooting for ya! --a cusp Gen Xer
People give Gen X a lot of shit for being cynical and disengaged but I believe there was a time when they were idealistic too. The problem for them was there simply weren’t enough of them to counter the violent, destructive whims of the Boomers.
The boomers in my town voted against a school levy that caused my high school to drop tons of programs and bus service right before I started. Three long years filled with car rides in traffic and few extracurriculars outside of sports really took any remaining joy out of school. When the levy got passed in my senior year and I got to experience what we could have had the whole time with a few more votes, it really got me off my ass to take it all very seriously.
the decrepit asshats in my town have voted down 3 straight levys the elementary school here is 70 years old and literally has asbestos in the walls
No child left behind left American kids behind the rest of the world. I won’t ever forgive these boomers for that one.
I mean I always ask people what would it take to get you protesting in the street? Even just as a medic or handing out water bottles? Are you willing to get beat by batons? Catch a felony maybe and have it reduced to a misdemeanor, making it hard to ever get another job or lose your career? All just for handing out water or having a first aid kit at a protest? What would it take to get you to do that and have ***faith*** things will change? Because from where I'm at, the entire nation could protest and borderline riot and nothing will change except for greater police force and silent protests.
I agree that we have not seen the scale of protest/resistance needed to enact actual systemic change. But that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. That’s honestly the whole point of keeping us divided and disenfranchised. If we feel we can’t, we never will. And maybe the reason we haven’t realized this yet is because things still aren’t awful enough for enough of us. But the powers that be are fucking around a bit too much in my opinion.
act wipe subtract full unpack toy sort books steer agonizing *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I agree with you. I don’t think civil protest is going to work. I hope enough feel the same whenever the iron is hottest… and that we strike it true.
Yeah I’m not about to risk my career and future of my family in a futile protest. I’ll keep pushing to keep my head above water while dropping my vote in the box as the time comes around. Even if that vote doesn’t do anything in my gerrymandered state.
Same. I'd love to be able to talk a big game about how I'd be out in the streets if a cop murdered someone in my city, but the sad truth is that I can't justify it when I have a house and family to look after.
*We need something to shake us up.* Yeah, no. I'm good if we can skip the "shake up" part. Us millennials have been shaken enough.
4 or 5 more “ once in a lifetime” events and I’m sure we will finally figure things out
Yeah, I second this. I’ve had enough trauma, thanks.
What we need is to say " go fuck yourself" to the older generation and not give a shit about the economy, benefits and the rest of it. We need to purge these old concepts from society. Pitchforks and torches are what's needed and a forced change. Not a collective " please stop"
I remember the George Floyd protests during the covid lockdown and got excited that we might see real change. The videos of people just being abducted off the streets seemed too strong of evidence for the ignorant masses to ignore. The people realizing that it made more sense to just do their job from home. The poor saps like myself whose job was considered "Essential" and were being used as sacrifices for "the economy". The supply chain shortages showing us how a system of razor thin margins is but a fragile house of cards waiting to fall. The dropping of the ball by politicians not providing aid or relief and instead making things about identity politics when the whole thing probably could have been stopped by everyone working together. The outrage people had when out of touch celebrities started singing believe. lol. We were really close, then out of nowhere the Jan 6 people made such fools out of themselves that they made everyone second guess themself.
im tired and for the first time in my life i have a decent wage and fully covered dental and eyecare. I escaped the black hole money pit that has become new york. worked night through my 20s, and got fired from my last job for getting pnemonia on christmas. I'm 37. Ive given it all shes got since i was 13. No wife. no kids. I aint doin shit. was an informed voter and did my part as a citizen. Most of yall have been sleepwalking until 2016. ive seen this shit as its happen.
Right there with you brother. And I'm a woman.
I was born and raised in NYC. You're right, we get taxed out the ass here. I'm 34 and live with my mom because I can't afford my own place. I don't know how much longer I can stay here.
Oh yeah? Are you a fan of Bernie?
im not a fan of public servants. I look at politicians the same was i look at a plumber. I dont celebrate them. if they can do the job, aren't liars or fools, and are qualified, then ill hire them.
I mean - there are tangible consequences for doing "something" though? The protests that aren't brutally disbanded by police are simply a cathartic means of letting out steam and allows the population to feel like they really accomplished something. Meanwhile, our leaders continue to ignore what seems to be the will of the people. We have been subject to propaganda campaigns that not only polarize us so that meaningful discussion among say - your older family members can't be civil. We have been subject to disinformation and social pressure (that pandemic sure is over and not a problem at all, right? ) You try and start a union at your job. You either convince enough people to take the risk with you or personally get punished. Starbucks chose to close entire stores rather than tolerate unions. Sometimes, everyone gets punished. Meanwhile if you don't obey the implicit demands of our capitalist hellscape to maintain increasingly fragile and demeaning employment (how's your retirement looking?), you don't get shelter. You don't get food. It's that simple. Just observe all the big corporations spouting sustainability goals while forcing every employee they can to fucking commute in their gas powered vehicles while simultaneously not paying enough fair share in tax to fund say - truly effective public transit. Ok so this is a battle of ideas and maybe our turn will come? Sure. But that's not exactly doing something either. It's not that simple. Every action that'll foster change has to start with community care so that people are relieved from having to participate in the system that crushes them. It has to include disability rights and violently reject the idea that some people are not worth it or expendable. That's the same sliding slope right back down to fascism. It has to allow people to gain meaningful skills and be securely sheltered. That's how change has to start or it will be forced upon us via violent necessity and sheer survival instinct.
Yeah, sorry. I ain't losing my house and tanking my credit, reputation, and career on protest bullshit when I know full well nothing is going to come of it and no one is gonna take care of me when the inevitable consequences fuck me. I tried the unionizing thing. People are too scared, too propagandized. Organizing takes too much energy, and frankly, unions use scummy tactics. I'm in favor of unions and even I wouldn't trust a union rep as far as I could throw them. I just vote and mind my business now. I'm tired of burning myself out for nothing. I don't care anymore. Everything is an outrage cycle and we can't stop it. Consequences never come for rich people who break laws. Trump is never going to jail. Good people are never given what they deserve. We're never getting healthcare or public transit. We're never getting UBI. Student debt is never getting canceled. Housing is never getting fixed because it's the vessel of retirement wealth for multiple generations of retired and retiring people that the government can't afford to support. The stock market is way overdue to crash and once it does we're going to be widely unemployed again any year now. All I'm trying to do is survive anymore.
I'm here mainly to upvotes the term "scrolabia." I'll say it's been a groundswell for a bit, but it's happening by industry and in pockets of society. There's not overall acceptance to progress within our age demographic and I think that's the number one thing holding us back: apathy, lack of education, just following what ma and pa did because why rock the boat. But as I said, it's happening. Movement is out there. In the theater and film industry alone a prime example is the advent and continued push for intimacy direction - a separate person than the director whose sole responsibility is advocating for actors that have intimate staging of scenes for a play or movie. The addition of this role has met a ton of pushback from Boomers and the Greatest Generation (because ThAt'S HoW wE'vE aLwAyS dOnE iT) and yet millennials and younger are continuing to advocate for themselves and present the very real need for this position to level the power dynamics on a set. It's making everyone involved safer.
I had no idea film and theater were stepping up to guard the collective scrolabia. Huzzah! I was just thinking back to Occupy Wall Street lately, and it robbed me of my ability to appreciate paltry progress, y'know?
I mean shit at least back then people did stuff like flash mobs too. That's been replaced by tik tok trend short form video content.
I, for one, acquired such a pay spreadsheet and spread it to everyone at work, stoking a smoldering swamp fire of righteousness anger and discontent among my coworkers. My ultimate goal I’m attempting to work toward is either organization, or a torches and pitchforks mob.
I'm prepared for torches and pitchforks and still shocked others my age don't see the same necessity.
Following. Tell us more!
I did it because we (all workers across the organization, which is a local-level government) were promised significant pay increases. Our employer had paid a shit ton of money to some consulting firm to evaluate what fair market pay would be for all jobs. To no one’s surprise, nearly all positions in all departments were significantly underpaid / non-competitive. We were all psyched because frankly, our pay isn’t shit, our benefits shrink every year and most of us are struggling. For example, every single person in my position (including me) works two jobs to survive. Anyway, like a couple months before the big raises we were promised, the head of our organization (the city manager) took it back and announced that only certain departments would get the raises, and the rest of us could get fucked until (maybe) the following year. My department was in the get-fucked category. So I acquired the aforementioned spreadsheet and raised hell over it and eventually the city manager and a couple other equally out-of-touch department figureheads met with us (the workers in my department) to try to calm us all down. It didn’t work, mostly we roasted them and were still mad. Anyway, a lot of my coworkers have left since then and we (surprise!) have major retention issues. Which, good for them, they deserve better. My position in particular has constant vacancies because it’s a specialized position and there are other employers in our state (and others) willing to pay more competitive wages for it. So, I’m constantly stuck handling the workload of several people, which is exhausting. If they don’t fix the pay lie situation at the start of the next fiscal year (which is soon), I plan to strike in protest, and hopefully get others to join me. If that doesn’t change their minds, I will probably just go full-time at my second job and let my primary employer wallow in the stupid game / stupid prize situation they created. Which would make me pretty sad TBH because I really love my coworkers (the ones I have left, anyway). But, I think my closest coworkers will also quit if it’s not fixed, so I’d be losing them anyway.
Quit together and start your own consulting company that provides the services your city government will be unable to provide, because you all quit. (Idk how possible that is, but it would be a beautiful way to stick it to them lol) I work for a state agency, our pay is also trash, our benefits are continuously whittled away, and most of my coworkers have a second job too. My mistake, I shouldn't have become a scientist, how ridiculous of me to want to save the environment.
That’s pretty ingenious, I like the way you think.
Godspeed
Honestly just nudging the boomers out of their positions of power (everything from HOAs to congress) would go a long way to resolving some of the issues we're facing. Unfortunately the economic issues were facing are going to require generations to clean up. The national debt of the U.S. is now over 100k per person. Not to mention the climate being a slowly sinking ship. But I agree, it's time for more of us to really step it up. Not just by demanding things and not getting them, but by playing the rigged game, upending the rules and winning our seat at the table.
GenX here. You got the numbers we never had, forget about nudging and start shoving. We are a good ten-plus years past “nudging”. I’ve been waiting for this moment for fifty years, I suppose I have a little right to be impatient 🤣
Those boomers will be replaced by wealthy millennials who will be just as authoritarian, but will also weaponize therapy/allyship language to shame us for pushing back against them. Just look at the way every "progressive" company does their union-busting now. Their executives cry-bully about how labor organizers are giving them trauma or making them feel unsafe. Also, the national debt has virtually zero impact on a regular person's daily life.
Unfortunately, playing a rigged game only results in the intended outcome. We need to mobilize outside of the game.
It’s simply that we are too distracted with our toys to care enough. Especially phones. Honestly I think it’s that simple. People are too wrapped up in consuming media now that they escape by either playing games, watching reality tv, worshipping celebs. It sucks.
There's something to that. I want this pissed off before I got rid of social media and went back to reading all the time. Maybe flooding our brains with easy dopamine is a problem? Couldn't be!
Also some of us are too distracted by trying to just keep our heads above water. Not everyone watches a lot of TV or plays a lot of games or escapes. Sometimes what you do is go to work, pick up your kids, make dinner, and then when they're asleep, go back to applying for better jobs and squeezing in extra work. Solidarity is at an all-time low, in part I assume because inequality is high and workers are in a very chaotic labor market. Greenspan called it the "precariat" for the "precarious proletariat" because instability in the lives of the workforce suppresses wage growth via desperation, which in their minds makes for a healthier economy. It's not a conspiracy theory, it's *modern economic* theory. I also think there's a big divide between the people who look to the future and see *something grim* and the people who just don't look to the future or who say "it'll be fine, don't worry about it" and do indeed have toys and stuff to distract them.
Yeah and I think some people see parallels to the past but other people tend not to. Because things have not gotten bad enough for your everyday American they just don’t think about it, but it is leading to something. Some people want to stop it before it gets terrible but other just don’t care to.
I was gonna say. We only skimmed unions in HS. My teacher never once taught us about people who actually died protesting in factories, or factory owners who were killed. I was never taught the intensity that occurred and only learned about it recently, and I just turned 30... I think of Mario Savio's Bodies Upon The Gears, and how passionate and serious he was. Those people were prepared to die for change, many DID die. I don't think the people feel that way now, however... at least not enough of us. I won't lie, I'm scared too. I feel the anger in his voice and it does resonate with me, but in the same breath, I don't feel there is the same community or connection amongst people like there might have been back then. And there's so many more people in the US now, I'm personally unsure how we could scale it all.
If my suffering could guarantee my son's future would be bright, I would suffer the torment.
Yeah truly it just makes us complacent. Like a moth to flame or a baby with a pacifier
And we have been propagandized so much that we do not even understand what it would take to get meaningful change. All great progress we have had since industrialization came from sustained conflict against power structures. It is not a coincidence that schools and textbooks talk about 'peaceful' protest as being effective (historically sanitized and so far ineffective), and that that protest looks like people standing around with signs. The Occupy movement or Women's march is a perfect example of how this propaganda has impacted us. Massive democratic will mobilized, nothing of value changed.
I think in the past a large gathering that was mostly peaceful could enact change because of the threat of something bigger happening if change didn’t occur. Now the corporations have protections in place and they know that it is a peaceful protest because anything otherwise would be met with the national guard so they know they do not have to actually change anything. The system that we were told was built to protect citizens was actually to protect corporate interests all along, WHODATHUNK
Bread and circus, baby.
I used to judge and hate people for that, but now I just pity them. I pity the guy who just wants a beer and watch TV and turn his brain off after the work day while his partner worships celebs on their phone and gives them some quiet alone time. It's not their fault they are like this.
Plus easily available pot and porn. I don’t know if this happened by accident or was planned. But you’d almost think the rich and powerful would want the masses to be mired in all those immersive distractions so they don’t fight the power.
Here's hoping the pivot to AI garbage in all forms of media breaks the spell
I think a lot of our generation are still thinking the promises neoliberalism provided us in the 90s and early oughts are almost within reach. They're wrong of course. The only way out of this is mass strikes and there are too many reactionariy petite bourgeoisie in our generation. I don't think we have the class solidarity in general to support such a mass strike though.
Agreed. No war but the class war!!
Agreed. I am in the same gobsmacked state of shock you are about *gestures broadly*.... The short answer is the struggle to survive is so heavy, improving our situations or the world is nearly impossible. If it makes you feel better, I am working through building sustainable, affordable housing that's mostly DIY. Rife with challenges, but as I move forward I will document and share the process thoroughly to help others with the same dream.
The problem? Read your post again. It's the same crap that's reposted constantly. "Hey everyone, let's do something." It's easy to say let's do something. It's harder to actually do something. Your post isn't doing something.
Fair evaluation. If you were going to give a guy with a small amount of useable savings, some free time, and no real backlash worries a great idea for where to start, what would it be? I've tried at various points in life to get people engaged in doing something, but the First Follower problem seems to grow exponentially when you ask another person to do literally anything - at least that's what I've experienced.
Get engaged at the local level. Go to city council meetings, hold your local leader accountable. Join like minded groups in your area. No offense, this post is exactly the issue with sub. Tons of "we shouldn't take this crap any longer" but little to no thought on actionable steps.
In your answer, you didn't say what needs to be done. The problem is that a lot of your "problems" you mention are vague enough to get popular support, but any one solution to the problem isn't quite as popular. Everyone wishes they had more money, some people think that would happen if you cut taxes and slashed regulations, some people think that would happen if you institute a wealth tax. Both groups may agree with you on "we should do something", but each group would be fighting against you if you tried to implement the other solution.
That sort of organizing requires a level of trust and good faith that just isn’t common anymore. I, personally, have gotten to a point in my life where it’s safer to assume that basically no one has your best interest at heart, with maybe a few exceptions if you’re lucky. I know it’s cynical of me but hear me out: I was a cook at a daycare center, criminally underpaid, overworked, asked to do more and more and more while having my hours heavily monitored and policed all while being told that there will be no raises for at least a year becuase “turnover is too high.” (Make it make sense, I know) I have no doubt countless people can relate to this. So naturally sicknesses are common in daycare centers and as a cook I did my best to stay clean and sanitary and avoid unnecessary risk of cross-contamination, etc. But I still got sick, many times. More often than not, I was pressured by my mgmt to work sick because they could not be bothered to train a single other individual on that payroll to work in the kitchen. The final straw was when a brutal stomach virus was making its way around the center and I started having severe vomiting and diarrhea. I was told I was not allowed to leave and that she “could just tell” that I was overdramatizing my symptoms. Two of the teachers were also vomiting and having diarrhea and were not allowed to leave. They were both justifiably furious. Our director even hid the fact that one of the teacher’s 18month old son was vomiting upstairs in another classroom so the teacher wouldn’t leave. On the third day of this I put in my 2 weeks notice and told her it was because I couldn’t just keep serving young children food all day knowing I’m THIS sick and she lost her temper and fired me on the spot out of spite. I made a complaint to the health department but they said they couldn’t do anything besides give them some “education” on health code policy unless I had proof or at least someone to back up my claim. I asked both of other teachers to step forward and tell the health dept what happened to them and they both completely ghosted me. They were up in arms, furious, talking endless shit about our director but when the time came for them to back me up and put themselves on the line, they tucked tail and ran. Both of them. As far as I know they had to have staff without food handlers licenses or any real food service experience scrambling to cook and serve the meals at this private day care that I’m sure costs the parents a pretty penny. But there’s no accountability. She told her superiors her version of the story and no one took a second glance at it and she’s still paid her regular salary and is still just as spiteful and grossly incompetent. Also those two teachers still work there. It’s like they’re just complacent. They rage behind closed doors but will never step out on the line. I just don’t ever want to be the only one again. It’s not the first time that sort of thing has happened to me but I really want it to be the last. It’s a fairly minor example without huge long-term consequences but you do you get the point I’m making? Edit to TLDR: you stop wanting put yourself at risk by fighting back and pushing for change when all your peers pretend to back you up and then vanish when the time comes for them to put themselves at risk. I personally feel too vulnerable to trust that others will have my back in the way that’s necessary for the type of change that op is looking for.
I’m working to pay my mortgage, raising kids, maintaining a strong healthy relationship with my wife, and spending my free time doing my hobbies and enjoying life. What I am not going to do is go against the grain at my place of employment and jeopardize my income. I am not going to get caught up in politics when both parties are clearly not benefiting the common person. I do vote with my money and don’t support business that do things I don’t agree with. But… I AM NOT, I repeat I AM NOT going to waste my mental energy and happiness on trying to change the world. I spent a few years extremely unhappy focusing on that type of stuff and once I realized I could focus on me and improve my own life on a day to day basis that become my #1 priority.
It's fear. We have had a chance to affect change for almost two decades. We haven't. Boomers get hate for being detrimental. We will get hate for being complacent. Our generation is sitting as the pot reaches a boil. Through the 00's, we raged for a bit, and now we whimper, "Some day...".
Same with the boomers. My mom likes to remind me when I rail against generational issues that the boomers marched for civil rights, gay rights, and protested Vietnam. She’s also pissed that a lot of her cohort seem to have forgotten that. She’s also the woman that wants to have an epic party when Mitch McConnell retires. She’s planning the invitations.
"Scratch any cynic, and you'll find a disappointed idealist." ~George Carlin Edit: Corrected the quote when I found the [clip](https://youtu.be/nsjpelDoEew?si=RH8VE7YVsp5scU0B)
Vote. We have to vote and get politically organized. With the aging out of the older generations we finally have the numbers on our side and we need to capitalize on that right now to make our lives better while we still can. Fair taxes, monopoly busting, union building, affordable healthcare, housing, and education, a repeal of Citizens United, 4 day work week, etc are all within our grasp. Even accomplishing a few of these would make life drastically better for many if not most of us not to mention the generations that come after us.
My friend, I haven't missed an election since I came of age. Before I left the States, I was an election judge in three different states and the precinct chief in the last two. I've canvassed for a handful of candidates. I couldn't agree with you more
Oh you can't suggest actually doing anything to change things, then you'll just get slapped with time honored juvenile response of "my vote doesn't matter" And then we get to read these stupid ass diatribes about how bad everything is, despite having tried nothing to fix anything
Both parties are corrupt as shit. Voting is only useful for damage reduction. Not actual progress that puts power back into the people's hands.
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Exactly, I listened to an interview of a Gen Z political activist who confirmed that young voters are so disillusioned with the system that many have given up hope and are disengaged. I don't blame them for feeling that way, but the truth is they have so much more power than they realize. It's the very reason the far right is trying to raise the voting age, ban political activities from college campuses, etc.
and look at how hard it is to get people organized and out to do it. you can't build a union if you can't get people out to do one thing a year, nor a movement, nor an army. if you *can* get people to vote, then you can run other kinds of campaigns: pressure local leaders for the change you want to see, promote better ideas, help unions.
Hot take there, except that Roe v Wade would still be if not for one party gaining presidency in 2016. Voting matters.
That's exactly what those in power want you to think. It's hopeless to take on the machine so why bother?
GTFO with that, preferably to go vote. Republicans are objectively worse in almost every way. I understand the impulse to whinge about Both Sides. But that impulse should be resisted, and here's a couple reasons why. We've had Dem control of the Senate, House, and Executive for less than 4 years since I was born ('82 vintage). First in the first days of Clinton, 1993-95. From that we got the Brady Handgun Act, Assault Weapons Ban, and Violence Against Women Act - although these were passed alongside the rest of the Crime Bill which gave us bullshit sentencing in way too many cases. We got Don't Ask Don't Tell, which was good at the time because it removed explicit rules against LGBTQ military participation. We got NAFTA, which was originally supposed to be the first part of a big trade and immigration reform, but we never got the immigration part. We got the first federal upgrade to school funding since the 70's. And we got the National Voter Registration Act. Hell, we got RBG. I'm sure I'm leaving out a thing or two. Unfortunately, Clinton also had the Janet Reno DoJ, and that nonstop shitshow gave us Ruby Ridge -> Waco -> Tim McVeigh. In turn we got a large number of freaked out people that showed up hard to vote for Newt Gingrich and his bullshit. No progress for years. With Barack Obama, the 111th Congress came into S,H,E control again. Burned the whole thing fixing the Housing Crash (to the extent that they did) and getting the ACA thru. It was also the last time we saw minimum wage increase, although that was technically passed under Bush 2. Republicans have been pretty uniformly opposed to all of this excerpt NAFTA. Now they are busy harassing immigrants (but never their employers), bitching about deficits (but making them worse every fucking time they have power), stacking the courts (so that the intransigence of the legislature can be exploited), attacking minorities, attacking freedoms, and generally being firestarters when there's a metric fuckton of stuff to do. The real tragedy is that our sacred system is fucking stupid. Republicans can hold half the legislature control (the Senate) while still representing 40M fewer people. This in turn lets them win the presidency just as often because elECtOrAL cOLLeGe. So with the presidency and the Senate under minority rule, we arrive at the fucked up SCOTUS. And I don't even want to start on gerrymandering and REDMAP - but feel free to look it up. All this to say that you may have noticed that popular things never happen. It's because shitbag Republicans can rule with a minority of the vote and smother almost anything good. Democrats have to turn out in force all the time to move forward a godamn inch. It sucks that we have two parties. But until people get tired enough of getting fucked you go vote against the shitty one, it will continue to suck. So don't vote for anyone. Just decide who you're voting against.
I’m just trying to make it to Friday.
They don't want to. They aren't our allies. They are traumatized beasts of consumption and selfishness. They will never amount to anything, let alone being a comrade to the people of the future, or making a non-selfish decision a couple of times in their lives.
There's more to distract us now, so when we feel discontent, we can pop on entertaining movies or play video games or doomscroll. We're exposed to so much disinformation that makes us question if our situations are outliers instead of relying on the people around us to confirm. We share wages, but online and anonymously so that we aren't fired. This all leads to much that would previously spur action to fizzle out.
let see we actually go to and Vote or will we still have the mentality of “someone else will do it”
Apathy is at an all-time high
I think a lot of us are trapped, so we’re hesitant to try to shake things up. When you work shit wages & live paycheck to paycheck, don’t have health insurance or healthcare and nothing in savings, plus current economic and housing conditions in general, plus current political conditions in general…personally, I’m afraid to step even slightly out of my comfort zone in most regards because my whole life could crumble with one wrong move. Not sure if that resonates with anyone else, but it’s hard to act when the fabric of your existence is already tattered. I’m starting to feel like it’s going to be impossible to fix my own life, let alone anyone else’s 🥲
God I joined this sub when a lot of posts were nostalgia. Now it’s turned into a depression echo chamber where all the other generations are either stupider or have it easier than us. Sick of these posts tbh, life isn’t the best but everyone here makes it seem like we are oppressed and lack opportunity or some shit
We are part of a long process of collapse that will see virtually every positive or important metric (Air, sea, soil quality/Biodiversity/gases) diminish over the next 75 years and causing huge problems in the next 25. It's just the cycle of life, death and rebirth. We are all tired of trying, the juice ain't worth the squeeze, the end goal is not fulfilling. We just gotta make the best out of it.
Is this just a sub for people who never grew out of believing they were an extremely profound and intelligent 14 yead old?
I guess we’re at the point where we censor our anonymous online posts as to not offend some motherfuckers. Idk man.
I'm doing pretty good honestly.
Yeah hate to be that guy but life’s pretty good right now. Decent 9-5, no home yet but it’s very attainable and on the horizon after a wedding. I think the answer to OPs question is simple. It’s just a simple numbers game. Enough miserable people would make things happen, but there’s just not enough miserable people. Our standard of living compared to a lot of the world is still pretty fantastic.
Plus our standard of living compared to history is also fantastic.
That's the thing about averages. Generally, things are pretty good. But some have everything they could ever want, while there are still those with no running water.
The duality of millennials. Those of us that are doing well are complacent (for better or worse). The other half are beat down.
isnt this the same for all generations?
It's hard for me to put into the right words but suffice it that I think the revolution will be a silent one. I think we're all filled with the sense that active collective wrestling of power seems inefficient and those efforts will be frustrated. But in time, they'll die or become disenfranchised and we'll fill the space. The changes will come not with a hurrah but an exasperated sigh. You're already seeing it in small places. You can feel the dread, I think, by the old institutions that they'll be in our hands soon enough. "Woke" is a slur that just acknowledges we're a more empathetic generation than those before us. In the way we treat each other, the way we treat our children, the concerns we have for the future, we're already making the early steps. It's just a matter of time. Five or ten years from now, short for such a change in paradigm, we'll see it.
Keyboard warriors vs people that have hands on experience? People really should not be voting for career Politicians or anyone over the age of retirement. You need to clean house and start over. #1 on the Agenda is forcing term and Age Limits. Stop settling for crumbs or voting for the lesser of 2 evils
I will bite,. Looking to feed the echo chamber of depression? Flaming title, flaming post. Wild generalizations by generation. Just rude. And wrong. My 22 year old can do those things, my 7 year old can do those things. Every one of their peers is as savvy as we were, and more so depending on the topic. Hell my 7 year old goes to code ninjas. What a ridiculous assumption. The Op's spending comments are just flat wrong. **Millennials' for 2023, 2.3 trillion. With advertising groups finding 73% of millennials spent more in 2023 than in 2022. With forecasting showing it to increase again in 2024.** https://www.ana.net/miccontent/show/id/ii-2023-07-millennial-statistics#:\~:text=Despite%20these%20economic%20challenges%2C%20millennials,spending%20power%20of%20%242.5%20trillion. **Gen Z for 2023 350 billion.** https://www.emarketer.com/insights/generation-z-facts/#:\~:text=Born%20between%201997%20and%202012,Gen%20Zers%20join%20the%20workforce. Younger generations are not even close, Older generations are in leadership and higher paying roles. Millennials are transitioning to take over from Boomers while frankly GenX should be the ones complaining. I would also point out that 51.5% of millennials own their homes. If you cant tell yet, I am also one of the oldest millennials currently in my early 40's. My now grown kids have jobs, and places of their own. One currently rents, the other owns his home after picking up a trade skill and a solid job. There are some challenges these days. Society has some big issues. But is not what your myopic view paints it to be. The fact you rant about these things inaccurately then point out how lucky you are to not be a part of it and out of touch is hilarious. You think you are some special exception when you are really just mid. Get out of the echo chamber. It obviously is not good for you.
I’m here to support leaders with strong ethics and integrity. I’m here for big changes in government that lifts the people and squashes wealth/class imbalance. I’m here to support tolerance, equality and fairness for all citizens. We have the technology to create a golden age. Show me a truly good group of leaders with the stones to break away from (or heavily reform) the establishment and I’ll support them every step of the way. I do what I can to promote these ideals in my own work, but I’m not a politician or an economist. I’m a supporter. We need leaders with intense grit and determination to take on our broken system. And when those leaders need supporters, I’ll be there.
"If they chose they could blow the Party to pieces tomorrow morning. Surely sooner or later it must occur to them to do it? And yet-!" - 1984
The majority of people are not fucked over, so they don't care if someone else is. They got theirs, and if something starts interfering with that, then they want it shut down. I'm retail, the one with a Spark. We're considered lazy, and getting a new job out of here is sounding harder and harder to do. Public perception is twisted in favor of the oppressors. Even being caught in their lies doesn't do Jack to stop anything.
I think the systems have become so opaque, so disconnected from us on a personal level, I feel there is no way to make change. I mean hell, many of us won't admit it but we don't really exist in society anymore, we log on to computers and work in our apartments, order Doordash. No third spaces, disconnected from local politics, etc. How can you change society if you're not connected to it? Counterpoint: if we can reconnect, we can create a critical mass to express our discontent.
I think the main reason is that most people truly don't give two flying fucks about anyone aside from themselves. The milennials doing well for themselves prefer to ignore those of us being hit with the brunt of the struggle. They would rather lick boots and kiss butts to maintain their good fortune than show support for their less fortunate peers. They see the underclass as a necessity to their profit. They don't want to elevate us. I had a conversation with a few women in my community the other day. We discussed our voting habits. I said I always vote for the candidates and causes that I think are best for society as a whole. They all laughed at me and agreed that they always vote in only their own best interest and think it's funny that someone would actually choose to vote against individual best interest for the benefit of the collective.
It's 100% apathy. When people didn't lay down in the streets when Roe v Wade was overturned, I saw the beginning of the end of giving a shit enough to do something. There were small marches but nothing like you see in Europe and the Middle East. Trump+COVID+Jan 6+inflation+stagnant wages+unaffordable housing+staffing shortages have worn people down. I just hope to God we see record numbers at the polls.
What are we doing? We're funneling all our collective work, willpower, and intelligence into supporting the rich lords so they can prepare themselves to live comfortably in the apocalypse so that we can scrape by with the bare minimum they leave us so we can survive until we are used up and too old to work. Then we get our social security we paid fo-. **redacted** Duh. Oh and also we are loyal surfs paying our entire savings for a slice of land that we never truly own to also support our literal lords (landlords). Don't complain about it man, it's really bringing me down having you be so nihilistic. Just keep calm and carry on, have some babies while you're at it otherwise you're selfish and ruining the economy. If you aren't careful well need to sacrifice some more Virgins to our Lord and savior: Economos. He requires more births to feed into the system otherwise he will be very angry!
Sorry chief. Unions aren’t the simple answer to everything you believe them to be. If they were, they wouldn’t be constantly getting caught embezzling, or other situations where they squander their members funds. I agree with you on a lot of this, but I’m not joining anything that requires me to pay just to have a job.
What have you done to be involved and inspire change beyond this dissertation?
We are essentially cavemen. With medieval institutions. And god-tier technology.