Much like a lot of Gen X, some of the older Millennials in my life (particularly the white working professionals) are parroting the age old mantra of "I don't care about passing my skills on to the younger generations or helping those in need, no one ever helped me in my life.". My response is always "That's not a good thing!" because I never know what to say. Debate is not my strength.
My working class grandparents were never like this. They lived through the great depression and two wars and never wanted anyone to suffer as much as they did. I miss them and their kindness dearly. It's only from boomers and younger that I've seen this attitude. Capitalism is crushing our instincts as a social species. If we can't stand on the shoulders of giants... well then we will stop advancing as a species. We will stagnate and go extinct because the challenges we face now need all of us. It goes against everything that is human to be this alienated and antagonistic to one another. Particularly frightening is the hatred and contempt modern society has towards children.
This is not going to end well.
I appreciate all the people here, whether you're 20 or 60, for not becoming the thing that hurt you. We need people with a soul more than ever.
It's really sad. It's like the material conditions making us unable to take care of children has alienated us from children in general.
Like the people who can care for children now either have them unplanned or are wealthy enough to do so and have some of the worst political views.
Then you throw in the way children are already treated like possessions and it gets that much harder to connect with younger generations.
It doesn't make it right, and I want to support the people around me regardless of age, but times are desperate right now and capitalism incentivizes short- sighted selfishness and self preservation.
It makes me really sad because I can see the material conditions for younger generations are so much worse than mine.
I didn't have mass shooter drills or a high school graduation on zoom. I had reliable resources I could access online without as much fear of predation. I didn't witness depressingly clear public executions and climate disasters on my phone and then get told I needed to study more for a job that won't be there.
They don't need the false hope peddled by liberal politicians. They need solidarity from those of us who were where they are right now. Like yeah, shit sucks, but I want them to get through this and hopefully continue to fight for the better world that we know is possible.
I catch myself doing that too. At least I look at it from a media criticism lens, but I don't want to ruin someone's time with Pokémon, the Princess Peach game, or the new Zelda because of conversations I want to have about feminism or turning media into slop.
But I do feel bad that younger generations are being fed slop.
Small rant on Pokémon:
spoiler
I feel like the capital G Gamers want to have an M-rated edgy Pokémon, for example,where they can have a waifu or whatever, while I just want gamefreak to talk to 10 year olds like they're smart enough to handle topics like bullying in school if they're going to prominently feature that as part of the plot.
It feels insulting to younger generations that such potential storytelling is missed because the reality is that such writing would offend the sensibilities of those G Gamers. They don't want to talk about animal liberation or systems of power or the myriad things that could be portrayed in a game like Pokémon. They just want their nostalgia slop without politics and that comes at the expense of children.
I remember playing the early games and despite the lack of polish, but the stories got simpler with time with a few exceptions.
But companies like gamefreak go where the money is and that's the status quo.
I'm happy kids can enjoy what they can, and such conversations should be directed at adults and the companies themselves, but I definitely dislike this trend of taking joy from children to heal one's own childhood wounds.
Pokemon was never meant to be edgelord shit. It was always about having fun learning about creatures. It can be enjoyed by all ages without forgetting that it's also for kids.
Until Diamond and Pearl made everything kind of stupid the games were very much about environmentalism and had a lot of hints about animal liberation, too (somewhat ironically -- I try to keep in mind it is still a video game, after all). The arcs of Mewtwo, Rocket, and Cinnabar are genuinely compelling existential narratives that are only ever hinted at and briefly expanded in the first movie. You do not see stuff like this at all with this franchise, anymore.
For Ruby and Sapphire specifically, this is one of my absolute favorite videos analyzing the historical context around the games' development and what they try to say with their themes. 100% worth a watch if you enjoy the old Pokemon games like me.
https://youtu.be/Ze8uhmeFt7A
Sonic the Hedgehog used to have an environmental component too.
Good vid. I played ruby as a kid and yeah those themes went way over my head
I played Black on an emulator for the first time recently and holy shit it must have been made by the Japanese State Department or something lmao a tour de force of propaganda
It has been a long time since I played it, and I don't think I finished it. What was propaganda to you? I don't think I ever got that impression, but I may just not remember it.
The bad guys want to liberate Pokémon from being captive battle slaves, and you and the coalition of good guys are trying to stop it. And of course they make the bad guys out to be doing it because they actually just want power and to steal everyone’s Pokémon for themselves lol. Some of the lines in there are golden, things like “We’re going to liberate all Pokémon! And I’m gonna start by stealing yours because I want to!!”
Ohh, yeah I do remember that now. Team plasma was it? Really fucking sucked I agree. ever since galactic I feel this way about enemy Pokémon groups…they’re either not grounded at all in any sort of relatable way (galactic, plasma, flare), they're just a worse rocket (aether), or they’re not even a syndicate at all and just hooligans (skull, yell, star). At least that last group can be interesting, but they’re so mired in the ungrounded nonsense now that I just don’t care.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
That's some beautiful language there- "particularly fashionable scars."
I do wonder about the nature of some toxic fandoms. Are they not aware that their behaviour harms the overall fandom? Or are they so committed to self-satisfaction that they don't care? Or do they see themselves as an isolated outcrop, that their actions shouldn't affect the whole community?
WRT Pokemon, how much of the franchise's Flanderization was actual response to objections of touchy content, and how much is due to risk-averse people being handed a huge money printer, fueled by parents who are easily mobilized against "problematic" content. It's interesting that they never tried to manufacture a Palworld-style product themselves-- a deliberately independent universe where they don't need to worry about keeping it rated "E for Everyone", but using their proven engines and mechanics.
Wild that a space with a high number of child haters also has a high number of groomers.
Also weird that it is full of people who have no sense of duty to their communities or anything outside of their immediate gratification.
including Nonce Island "experts" claiming that orphans were better off being taken in by said predators)
o_O
I think a lot of people forget what it was like to be a kid
To just feel everything so much because everything is new and your brain is just this wad of rubber bouncing around like a bullet ricocheting off the inside of your skull
Like, yeah, I get it, it can be irritating sometimes, but have you ever just spent time with a kid?
To remember what it like when you could have fun just by running around and screaming?
God, kids are great
I used to work at the Boys and Girls Club and it was such a fun job
I miss being able to run around with the kids, but it didn't pay enough for me to live off of
Which is absolutely fucked when you think about it
I was responsible for educating, playing with and ensuring the safety of 20+ kids and they were paying 50 cents over minimum wage
It broke my heart to tell them that I was leaving, but it was either that or be trapped in debt and end up being buried in a pauper's grave
Hedge fund managers are a steep net negative to society and are paid the very most of any salaried position.
Oh that reminds me of the last quote from Das Kapital Vol. 3 Chapter 23
The proceedings of the Court of Bankruptcy show that these wages of supervision were, as a rule, inversely proportional to the actual supervision performed by these nominal directors.
Every day, I become more familiar with how the hippies became neocons. The toxic individualism innate to burgerland culture is a plague that corrodes our empathy.
The other young millennials that I go to evening school with are literally repeating 2012 gender memes and communism is when no iPhone. Don’t place your hope in a generation. Plenty of people in 1920s Germany grew up poor and hungry and enough of them turned to the Nazis.
Tell me about it. I’m lucky enough to have parents supporting me, and that I’m a shut in and don’t usually have to listen to the crazy shit people are saying.
I'm an older millennial. My experience might not be typical since it was caused by serious illness as well as capitalism. When I was young I was idealistic and wanted to make the world a better place. I wanted to fight for human equality and animal rights, I really thought this is what I came to earth for. I worked a few different jobs, donating a chunk of my paychecks to causes I care about while trying to find out how to get more involved.
But then I got cancer, and the treatment caused me to have a stroke, which left me partially sighted and learning to walk again. I'm still in cancer treatment, it makes me exhausted and brain foggy, and I've developed chronic, severe migraines. But what makes this a million times worse is the UK benefit system. I can't work any longer and had to sign on for disability benefits. They re-assess me frequently, and make me go through MRs and appeals. Last time I provided letters of support from my GP, physiotherapist, ophthalmologist and mental health team (because I've developed depression and anxiety from this constant stress, it got so bad I made a suicide attempt and am now in therapy). I also provided letters of support from a carer and social worker. Somehow at my last assessment I was awarded zero points. Now I'm going through appeal. My overdraft is maxxed out, I have no money, just debt.
This means my entire life now revolves around desperately trying to stay fed, while being extremely unwell and undergoing regular horrible medical treatments. My entire mental and physical energy are taken up with trying to find food, desperately trying to access food banks (difficult and time consuming), fight my appeal. I've taken to outright begging and shoplifting. I've been stealing food items from the local supermarket, one day in desperation I even sat in the street and asked passersby for spare change. I recently begged for money here on hexbear and a couple of kind souls gave me enough for some food. But every time someone charitable helps me get food, it of course always runs out and when it does it's back to begging, shoplifting and starving. All for the crime of getting cancer.
You know what's even more stupid? due to chronic starvation I developed multiple vitamin and mineral deficiencies, diagnosed by blood tests after I fainted in the street and someone called an ambulance. So now the NHS pays for me to have supplements. But the country won't ensure me an income so I can buy food. How stupid is this! They won't give me money, so I starve to the point I collapse and instead of doing the reasonable thing and ensuring I have food, they let me continue to starve but give me some vitamin pills. This worls is just absolutely sick.
So now I have no physical or mental energy to fight to make the world a better place. I feel completely hopeless, and like the world itself is hopeless because there are many people in an even worse situation than me. Millions, maybe billions. It's all so overwhelming.
Please, please, please continue to use our mutual aid com any time you need it. It infuriates me that you've been so mistreated by the NHS.
Thanks but I feel bad about using it again when so many others are there needing help. Also I'm worried people might get compassion fatigue from me if I use it too often. I am pretty desperate though, I don't know. How often do you think is OK?
The NHS has let me down even worse than that - it took them three and a half years to diagnose my cancer. They refused to do any tests initially, saying I was "too young for it to be anything serious." They diagnosed me with depression and gave me antidepressants. When that didn't work they said I was a hypochondriac. Meanwhile I was slowly dying of cancer. Also when I was finally diagnosed they said the recommended treatment didn't have any side effects. Then when I had a stroke and developed heart problems they were like "Oh yeah those are side effects of your meds."Thanks but I feel bad about using it again when so many others are there needing help. Also I'm worried people might get compassion fatigue from me if I use it too often. I am pretty desperate though, I don't know. How often do you think is OK?
As often as you need. That is what it's there for and we will never, ever get tired of it. If you need it, you need it and you should never feel guilty or shy about using it. Please.
Also when I was finally diagnosed they said the recommended treatment didn't have any side effects. Then when I had a stroke and developed heart problems they were like "Oh yeah those are side effects of your meds."
Jesus that sounds like severe malpractice.
I certainly do feel I've experienced a huge amount of medical malpractice but I simply don't have the energy or strength to do anything about it. The thought of taking on a ;egal case or something that would probably drag on for years is too much. It's hard enough keeping up with the benefit appeal.
At the very least I hope we can help when you need food.
Thanks, I don't know what I would do without this place.
Yeah, shits fucked. I'm a "younger" millennial (early 30s) so I'm scared that when I get closer to 40 I'll become more fash or something
35 here and not in any danger of becoming fash. Wish I had time to read theory more and get back to organizing but have two young kiddos I'm going to do my best to raise without liberalism.
I'm a bit over 40 and have moved fully to the left just in the past years. Getting a better paying job has just made me see the contradictions better.
As long as you are aware of the brainworms around you, they can't get to you.
I also very much choose to focus on humanity, in my choice of media and in the things I pay attention to. I'd much rather make a note of the person helping someone else cross a street than a person behaving selfishly, because it matters. I feel the most nihilist people around me just pick and choose the most negative things that affirm their already shitty worldview to justify and uphold said worldview and through that their own apathy and lack of kindness.
I'm gonna teach the kids how to dumpsack properly
And if that doesn't work, upgrade to a higher tier incendiary
I see consequences of this in my workplace weirdly enough. There's been a huge brain drain in recent years that was accelerated through the pandemic, and then again by egregious financial mismanagement by leadership that really fucked us and of course the workers at the bottom all paid for it.
Training materials were last updated like 15 years ago, the systems we use have all undergone massive changes rendering those completely useless. Everyone's crunched because we have less employees, and the new employees all need to be really baby sat and have things explained to them, because there's no other way for them to gain the knowledge how to do their jobs other than having one of the few employees who are still here to walk them through these things and take on the role of teacher and full time tutor while still managing their increasing workload.
It fucking sucks ass and of course all the older employees are jaded and bitter about it, but its become this self perpetuating cycle of incompetence, crunch, and catch up because no one wants/has the capacity now to put in the work in up front to get some sort of training materials set up for new workers - but that just means that same work will end up being done in a much more frustrating and crushing way of constantly dealing with simple mistakes.
This was kinda a tangent, but the problem and solution are so obvious - but there's no collective will to try and improve this for all of us to make our lives simpler, so people end up instead becoming so bitter and resentful of each other rather than the fucks who refuse to address this issue above us. And I get it - its so fucking frustrating dealing with this shit and having it grind you down in the context of a workplace, of course people want to be like "fuck this I'm just hanging around until I'm stable enough to fuck off somewhere better."
I see this same shit playing out in society with people having the same attitude. I don't know what to do about it, and I don't like it. I do my part trying to build solidarity, but fuck me if it ain't a one way street that ends up feeling like wasted effort most of the time.
Edit: multiple spelling and gramatic errors because me mad
I'm a younger millennial and I sometimes hate how jaded and cynical I feel these days. I'm ultimately an idealist, and I try not to close myself off, but there are definitely days when I'm sad to see that side of myself come out so strongly.
I'm also really sad to see how many people around my age or a little older are genuinely shaking their heads and wringing their hands over the what "the youth" are up to these days. People have short memories.. I remember all of my generation being shit on not that long ago in the same way. I think the youth are doing great, and I refuse to condescend them.
That's not a good thing!" because I never know what to say. Debate is not my strength.
ironicly enough, i think thats the best thing one can say to that . Its not a real accusation , nor a real appeal .. its just an aknowledgment of it beeing not optimal . Also you describte the Situation "that is not a good thing" , instead of making it personal "you dont do a good thing by that , DOnt You KnOW?"
This is not going to end well.
That's the entire fucking point. If you are currently suffering from Capitalism, REVOLT OR DIE
:yea: I wish I knew how to undo the hold capitalist propaganda has on people
Boomerism really is catastrophic. I know not every baby boomer is like this, and I never want to see any normalization of deriding the elderly even because of this selfishness.
One big boomer ethos is ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ and unfortunately millennials ended up getting sabotaged because many boomers started identifying their own children as ‘the Joneses’.
Why pass down the skills? Millennials are competition for the good life! Why lower rent? The more young people that are basement dwellers, the better older people look by comparison. Why make jobs? Us boomers work for pleasure and it will make younger people look lazy by comparison if we simply never give them permission to work.
They only value what they do because of the satisfaction they get of younger people not being able to have it. I never want to hear leftism being described as the “politics of envy” ever again when capitalist sympathizers sabotaged the next generation because they were jealous of the one thing they had that boomers can’t ban, buy, or steal from the next generation: youth. Also, isn’t greed just a smug form of envy?
It's the complete intolerance from our generation towards both children and the elderly that really gets me. It's like people are in denial about their own mortality, and angrily reject anything that might remind them of it. In my experience this is an especially anglo thing. Sick culture.
I suspect it's the divide and conquer 1%er propaganda as well.
I'm just to burnt out from all my jobs to do much more then helping my people and my limited community service.
"Do you want the world to be worse or better? Because that attitude makes it worse. Even from the point of laziness, why wouldn't you want to train up young people so you don't have to do pointless boring shit?"
