government is the thing where people older than your grandparents sit on their hands and forget what day it is

The average age of the Soviet Politburo in 1984 was 69, when the US widely proclaimed that the USSR was done because it was run by a bunch of old people. The average age of the senate right now is 64 1/2, Nancy Pelosi is 82, Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Grassley are 88 but hey Amy Coney Barrett is 50 so we've got that to look forward to forever.

mass media is the thing that shows people your parents' age things from their childhood so they can clap their hands when they recognize darth vader

and the only outlet and place you can be free is the internet, which is 90 percent corporate-made skinner box shit at this point

It's funny - online advertising is worthless so to make it profitable you need ALL OF IT and you need to make sure nobody can step outside of your silo or else you'll be able to avoid it.

and also the only thing you've heard from birth is that the world is gonna end in 20 years if we don't do something, and it's 20 years later and nobody seems to have done much

To be fair this has been true for at least the last 100 years. Virginia Woolf committed suicide because the outbreak of WWII demonstrated the boundless cruelty of man towards man. HOWEVER there's a profound difference in the level of helplessness and disinterest espoused by everyone who's had the right to vote for more than a few years.

“A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.” - Max Planck

I think we're at a tipping point. I think "OK Boomer" was the start of the avalanche. This is the annoying thing about Strauss-Howe generational theory - they posit that every four generations the prevailing cohort is just fucking awful and the next cohort rises up and straightens shit out (for broad definitions of "straightens shit out", just ask Steve Bannon). Strauss and Howe, of course, are hard-core boomers so of course they don't paint their generation as one that fucks shit up but uhh... their theory sure does.

I think the kids growing up worried about getting shot in elementary school will have a different attitude about guns. I think the kids growing up with everything around them dying from heat will have a different attitude about global warming. I think the kids growing up with killer pandemics and no insurance will have a different attitude about healthcare.

But it's gonna be rough while we transition.