It's clear that a significant number, perhaps a majority, of users here are older millennials. The references to pop culture like movies or tv shows is always things from the 90s and early 2000s. Like referencing 90s Simpsons episodes or posting about video games for the original playstation or sega saturn or whatever. In fact a lot of the music and gaming posts I see are just callbacks to games from childhood.
I know we're all leftists here but I would be very wary of slipping into nostalgia. It's this same sentiment that leads the right wing chuds to say "things were better back in the good old days" and we're not immune to that sentiment either (though I think we have a better ability to self reflect and resist that urge).
It makes sense now why even the existence of someone like Andrew Tate completely blindsided a ton of ppl here. I'm not saying you should try to "act young" but maybe it'll help to try/watch/listen to new things once in a while. That way you won't seem out of touch to the younger generations.
UPDATE: I noticed a comment asking how to start exploring new stuff. I don't really know where to start, but try checking out this chart (https://i.imgur.com/Z43zfn9.jpg) and notice where you started to lose touch. It's more of a childhood shows/movies chart but it could be used as a stepping stone to relate to different gens. This could also apply backwards in time as well and you could notice where you stopped being able to connect with older generations as well. If there's some kind of chart showcasing adult media from different generations please let me know.
This is the second meta-post today about something that is like barely a thing here
That's just eating lotus flowers, which can easily also take the form of the latest and greatest slop. Virtual reality slop! Ultimate pop culture crossover slop! It's all slop. :biggus-piggus: :grillman:
This is only true if pop culture is the major source of change in your life
not me man, I'm gonna keep on shitposting forever (forever forever forever)
Ha love the simpsons. 90's ruled.
in all seriousness though, this thread is good. I guess I should watch or at least be familiar with modern stuff.
I mean I post this as a member of the millennial generation who's seen a lot of my fellow generation retreat into nostalgia. Whether IRL or online, most of what I see is just reminiscing and tbh it's kinda sad. I mean I guess we all have those thoughts from time to time but I see it as a problem when people really fall deep into that memory lane shit.
I agree, and my severe ADHD is something of a blessing in that regard. I constantly crave new shit I haven't seen yet and quickly get bored revisiting stuff. My favorite games and books I'll revisit every so often, but for sheer love of the media. Not because I'm trying to recapture my youth. My youth was painful and confusing and lonely. Fuck that.
True, comrade, which is why I purge all memories older than 5 years from my brain using a secret MKULTRA technique. I live in a floating void of short-term experiences, untethered from my past. I was born yesterday, and I will not live tomorrow. There is only the now. :no-i-in-pezza:
People were blindsided by Tate? He's nothing new? Same "alpha" grifting shit that's always been going on.
pick up artists aren't new they're really simple they just get guys to run a numbers game. If ask every woman you see to have sex with you one will eventually say yes. They then rainmake by pretending all failures are due to not paying them enough money for lessons and all success is their influence.
self help is from the 1920's as well and it's just the same shit repackaged and resold
It makes sense now why even the existence of someone like Andrew Tate completely blindsided a ton of ppl here. I’m not saying you should try to “act young” but maybe it’ll help to try/watch/listen to new things once in a while. That way you won’t seem out of touch to the younger generations.
is this trying to say I should have been watching Andrew Tate? or reaction videos about Andrew Tate? because what a fucking waste of time
okay, so hanging out at my local high school and asking kids what they're into? who'll post my bail
As long as we're talking about old culture, it used to be acceptable for children and adults to hang out with each other without being fucking arrested or beaten until hospitalized. There were these childless neighbors that had a video game system at their house, and I'd go over there to play it with them. My parents let me, and they never even had the thought of doing anything untoward. If I said this on reddit, I'd get a flurry of posts accusing me of repressing memories of sexual abuse. No, believe it or not adults and kids used to be able to be friends.
is this trying to say I should have been watching Andrew Tate? or reaction videos about Andrew Tate? because what a fucking waste of time
I mean I guess it's kinda like Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly. Did any of us watch or listen to them? Probably not, but we still knew who they were and that they had an influence and that it was an issue to be dealt with.
I mean I guess it’s kinda like Rush Limbaugh or Bill O’Reilly. Did any of us watch or listen to them? Probably not, but we still knew who they were and that they had an influence and that it was an issue to be dealt with.
So just like Andrew Tate and every other rightwing asshole?
I can simultaneously be aware of Jordan Peterson without having read or watched any of his nonsense and still laugh when someone says "Lisa needs braces" or whatever.
the new media creation systems of the internet allows millions of right wing grifters to be out there. it is simply impossible to keep track of them
Pop culture is basically all garbage. It always sucked. Always had and always will. The only reason why the pop culture of our childhood gets a pass is because it's tied to childhood memories like field trips and rainy days. I remember watching Land Before Time when it was raining while I was at elementary school, so obviously that movie is going to have that particular memory associated with that. But I'm not going to begrudge boomers, gen x, zoomers, and gen alpha for not giving a shit about Dinosaur Bambi, which if we're being honest, was what Land Before Time was. It's literally just our generation's Bambi.
Just look at all the shit here. How much of it was actually good? Star Trek: TOS? The Simpsons Season 1-8? Looney Tunes? Undertales? Minecraft? And you're telling me we should start watching shit from every single other box, just watching shit that's garbage but unlike our garbage, we have no emotional attachment whatsoever?
And frankly, some pop garbage needs to stay in their generation consort. Imagine a non-millennial knowing what Biker Mice from Mars, Street Sharks, or Extreme Dinosaurs were. That would be embarrassing. 8 year old me would be embarrassed that some random gen x teen would know what they were and even more so if the gen x teen did it so they would fit in with millennial kids. Do you know what nerdy 8 year old me would call this person? A fucking loser. They should go back to playing Mortal Kombat 3 and leave us kids with our knockoff TMNT humanoid shark toys alone.
Some zoomer liking this shit would be even worse. It's like, instead of liking cringey shit from your generation, you had to actively hunt down this shit and enjoy glorified toy commercials made for old people lol. And I know there's plenty of cringey boomer, gen x, zoomer, and gen alpha shit. Our cross to bear was Biker Mice from Mars, and I'm sure zoomers have their own crosses to bear as well.
When Grandmama called your Sega Genesis a Nintendo, that isn't your grandmother being cringey for not being able to tell gaming consoles apart. It's her being fashionably out-of-date. Someone born before electricity and indoor plumbing was ubiquitous in the US shouldn't have to know what gaming consoles are. For someone like Andrew Tate, well, he's a millennial, and most people I know aren't that well informed about celebrities within their generational bracket. So, gen X people aren't as plugged in to gen X-aged celebrities, millennials aren't as plugged in to millennial-aged celebrities unless they're into celebrity gossip.
I think your average millennial should get a pass for not knowing who Andrew Tate is. And let's be frank. The millennial who would know who Andrew Tate is would be some deeply misogynist and bitter 30-something-year old, evenly split between a creepy incel trying to pick up 19 year old chicks at a college bar or a divorced deadbeat dad who refuses to pay child support for his two kids. I'm glad I didn't know who he was because it means I haven't sunken to the level of a pathetic incel.
This is also why social movements need to be intergenerational. Millennials have blind spots, zoomers have blind spots, gen x has blind spots, and so on. But we don't need to necessarily consume other generation's pop culture garbage. All generations, even boomers, respond positively towards mutual decency, respect, and compassion, things that transcend generations.
Star Trek: TOS? The Simpsons Season 1-8? Looney Tunes?
Yes these are all actually good.
You can draw a line between entertainment that was made to entertain, and entertainment that was deliberately made to create merchandising opportunities. There's a huge difference between Looney Tunes, which was just cartoons which were (much) later adapted into theme parks and such, and He-Man and Transformers which were built from the ground up as a promotional show for a line of children's toys.
"For me, "hobbyist" refers not esthetics so much as origin. That is, whence did game X or module Y come? Was it created to fill a slot in a production schedule or did it arise out of play? That's the big difference between, say, Gygax's Giants-Drow series and the Dragonlance modules. The former were professional write-ups of adventures based in actual play, whereas Dragonlance was conceived from start to finish as an effort to sell modules. Certainly Dragonlance borrowed elements from adventures and campaigns that were actually played (like Jeff Grubb's deities), but there was no such thing as a Dragonlance campaign prior to its being written up for sale, unlike nearly adventure Gary Gygax wrote during his time at TSR."
-- James Maliszewski, Grognardia.blogspot.com
Yes these are all actually good.
I would like to argue they aren't mostly. The amount of racism, colonialism apologia etc. in Star Trek is absurd. Stuff is often not progressive or emancipatory. I feel that got worse and better, worse for most of media and better for some. Seems representation and a diverse channel to connect to consumers does that to you.
That said, feel free to enjoy your treats.
The first TV series to feature an interracial kiss just isn't good enough. You heard it here, kids.
Did you hear Mark Hamill liked a tweet by JK Rowling? He's not good enough either! It's an endless purity spiral with no end.
Stuff can be enjoyable without being good. Having PoC is good for the west, but it is laughable for billions of people. Not every critique or judgement is Christian purity testing.
And frankly, some pop garbage needs to stay in their generation consort. Imagine a non-millennial knowing what Biker Mice from Mars, Street Sharks, or Extreme Dinosaurs were. That would be embarrassing. 8 year old me would be embarrassed that some random gen x teen would know what they were and even more so if the gen x teen did it so they would fit in with millennial kids. Do you know what nerdy 8 year old me would call this person? A fucking loser. They should go back to playing Mortal Kombat 3 and leave us kids with our knockoff TMNT humanoid shark toys alone.
This kinda feels like generational essentialism to me and a call to "stay in your own lane." Like Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry re-runs were running well into the 90s, and so 90s kids also enjoyed them, even though they were made for kids from older generations. And adults also enjoy content that was initially made for kids. I mean I enjoy Steven Universe and She-Ra. Should I not be allowed to talk about it with someone younger than me at the risk of looking like a "fucking loser"? Also I'm not sure what you're trying to say when you imagine your 8 year old self calling a hypothetical teenager a "fucking loser." In the eyes of adults both of you would probably have been considered just dumb kids.
and most people I know aren’t that well informed about celebrities within their generational bracket. So, gen X people aren’t as plugged in to gen X-aged celebrities, millennials aren’t as plugged in to millennial-aged celebrities unless they’re into celebrity gossip.
I'm not so sure about this. Gen Xers probably were into fellow gen xers, such as Kurt Cobain. And millennials were also aware of child actors around the same age as them on Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel. And of course zoomers are definitely up to date on the celebrities their own age.
his kinda feels like generational essentialism to me and a call to “stay in your own lane.” Like Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry re-runs were running well into the 90s, and so 90s kids also enjoyed them, even though they were made for kids from older generations.
And zoomers enjoy The Simpsons, including making meme videos using a segment of an episode from Season 7. Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry are classics just like The Simpsons Season 1-8 is a classic. Every generation has their gems. There's nothing wrong with watching a gem because it's a genuinely good show. But my point is that most pop culture suck and intentionally watching something you know sucks for the sake of trying to connect with young people is misguided. There's a difference between playing Minecraft because you think it's a good game and playing Minecraft because you're a millennial and you heard through the grapevine from your older gen x coworkers that zoomers (ie their kids) are into it and you want to socially connect with zoomers through knowledge of Minecraft somehow.
Also I’m not sure what you’re trying to say when you imagine your 8 year old self calling a hypothetical teenager a “fucking loser.” In the eyes of adults both of you would probably have been considered just dumb kids.
Well duh, because boomers have more important things to do than play with action figures or arcades.
I’m not so sure about this. Gen Xers probably were into fellow gen xers, such as Kurt Cobain. And millennials were also aware of child actors around the same age as them on Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel. And of course zoomers are definitely up to date on the celebrities their own age.
Outside of child actors and athletes, the majority of celebrities most people would know are from an earlier generation than them. This is especially true if we're including dead celebrities like John Wayne or Bob Hope. A gen xer who knew who Kurt Cobain was would almost certainly know who The Beatles were, who The Rolling Stones were, who Elvis was, who Sinatra was, who Led Zeppelin were, and so on. It doesn't mean they enjoy their music, but they would almost certainly recognize who they were. Try to list zoomer and millennial aged celebrities vs gen x and boomer aged celebrities, and unless you're really into sports or name every single d-list e-celeb on Twitch, I would bet the first list is shorter than the second one.
Her first album was good.
I never got around to listening to the rest though.
Can I just not discourage young people from liking what they like instead?
experiencing the latest cultural product is not a high priority for me because i don't understand myself as a burnt out husk on the sideline of history, in danger of becoming "irrelevant" with whatever the aggregate of algorithms says is the next thing.
don't be cajoled or shamed for liking your dumb little nerd shit, and don't let the freaks convince you to lobotmize yourself with tiktok.
Also no one was blindsided by Tate. They might not have been aware of him
I said that people were blindsided by his existence.
I'll play SNES games on my PSP while listening to 100 gecs to maintain proper situational awareness of the modern day.
I only like old shit… like 1931’s Threepenny Opera. Ah to be young again!
