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[scriver]

Nah, I'd definitely believe anyone buying a story like that has some kind of mental illness / impairment

Sincerely, a poster with at least one mental condition

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I don't know what exactly is wrong with Qanon cultists. It's even worse than talking to a brick wall, because at least a brick wall won't wildly osculate between smugly dismissing you and screaming in your face. It's very much like general boomerism developed into some far more severe strain and began infecting people of all ages, though Qanon cultists do seem to skew older.

I believe this is another mass affliction of capitalist existence more than anything else.

[bloop_bleep]

at least a brick wall won't wildly osculate

Sounds like you haven't been looking for the right brick walls, son.

[Reelya]

Is 8chan really full of boomers? Seems unlikely. Those people on 8chan are guaranteed completely up on all the anime-related memes for sure, for example. That's not a boomer trait. Hell, I doubt that most Gen X are even up on the kind of stuff that you'd find on 8chan. I'm pretty certain you'd find that the 8chan crowd are the same generation who are into that GamerGate stuff for example. Definitely not boomers. Hell I'm GenX and definitely feel "too old" for the whole 4chan thing.

Yeah, so this stuff almost certainly isn't produced by boomers, though some who fit that age range may be passive consumers. It's more likely millenial trolls. If you look at the types of channels on youtube pushing the type of meme-y right-wing stuff, it veers young.

I have a suspicion that most of the people concocting this stuff aren't Boomers, GenX, or even Millenials. They're Gen-Z, who are skewing further right.

[Frumple]

Hasn't it repeatedly been shown like every time someone bothers to try to check that the younger/youngest generations aren't skewing right, basically at all?

[Iduno]

http://inthesetimes.com/article/22473/democrats-cobra-stimulus-private-insurance-medicare-for-all-health-care

Hasn't it repeatedly been shown like every time someone bothers to try to check that the younger/youngest generations aren't skewing right, basically at all?

Yes, but it's also been shown that the people in power don't care. That's why our election choices are generally "far-right" and "somehow, even further right."

[Reelya]

Righto, so it's 70 year olds spreading the Pepe the Frog memes now. That doesn't necessarily mean that people on 8chan are all oldies.

The figures are easy to spin either way. Gen Z are more liberal on social issues, but that doesn't mean they're liberals. The issues they're more liberal on are also ones that are big with Libertarians. Who are definitely still right-wing. With cherry picking the types of issues, it's easy to self-delude that things are going to go your own way all the time - i.e. the idea that you'll win purely because "the boomers are going to die off". That breeds the same type of complacency that got you guys Trump in the first place.

So, they're similar to Millenials on climate change, legalizing pot, and LGBT rights. But ... so are Libertarians.

This post gives an overview of a number of different studies, which are linked:
https://www.christianpost.com/voices/is-generation-z-more-conservative-less-conservative-than-other-generations.html

There are some exceptions to Gen Z becoming more liberal. Business Insider surveyed Gen Z and found that a majority did not identify as liberal or conservative. The remaining Gen Zers were about evenly split between the right and the left. 

The Harris Poll took a survey on behalf of the LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD, and found that the percentage of young people who are comfortable interacting with LGBGQ people dropped from 53% in 2017 to 45% in 2018. That’s further down from 63% in 2016. Other age groups did not have similar drops.

The Hispanic Heritage Foundation found that eight out of 10 Gen Zers identify as fiscal conservatives. This could be because they watched their parents live through the economic decline in the late 2000s.

While only 18% of Millennials attend church, 41% of Gen Z does. Of course, this could be due in part to the fact Gen Z is still living with their parents. The Pew survey found that Gen Z views single mothers raising kids similarly to the older generations. Almost half believe it has no effect on society. Over a third believe it has a bad effect.

[WealthyRadish]

The Hispanic Heritage Foundation found that eight out of 10 Gen Zers identify as fiscal conservatives. This could be because they watched their parents live through the economic decline in the late 2000s.

Of that quote, nothing jumped out to me except this. If this questionably huge proportion is accurate, I would be surprised if at least half of those "fiscal conservative" teenagers weren't left of Biden on most issues of government spending if polled on individual policies. It's one of those terms that at least in the US has acquired a minor self-advancing air of strict positivity, possibly because it implies a nuanced non-binary differentiation from the parties attributable to the person being informed and having discretion (I think most people who identify as libertarian or green are attracted for a similar reason). In practice, "fiscal conservative" at best means nothingburgers like "the government should spend money wisely" or "there are things I'd cut".

Part of it is that the "left" in the US doesn't contest right-wing economic positions on any basis other than the morality of providing state charity, so it's extremely common to genuinely believe in things like having the government balance their budget or be run like a business and so on.

[Max™]

True Belief (tm) is a terrible thing to witness.

I prefer as close to objective reality as my brain permits me to enjoy, personally.  It never ceases to amaze me how strongly humans seem to favor illusions and myths though.

Jumping past the explanation you felt necessary, try mentioning that you actively avoid beliefs entirely because once I become aware of a belief it feels like a lie so I have to replace it with an approximation of "I can not confirm this as a fact or prove it from first principles, but it is useful to assume it may be true" because honest doubt is easier for me than unjustified certainty.

Also I'm hearing that the US remains a dumpster fire, with Trump throwing ever crazier and more desperate shit at the wall to see if anything will stick.

Reality remains frustratingly difficult to obscure, thankfully.

[nenjin]

Starting to think QAnon is more or less a secular equivalent of religious apocalyptic doomsday cults. Except instead of 7 Headed Beasts and Angels with Seals, it's a pastiche of modern home-brewed batshit crazy conspiracy stuff. Tabloids on steroids, accessible even to the elderly with a tap of their finger.

[hector13]

That’s what the Wikipedia article seems to suggest.

Well, outright states really.

Bunch of mad fucks thinking the world will be made unto their own image once Donny rounds up all the folks who disagree with them, Dems are satanist paedophiles supported by libtard Hollywood etc.

[thompson]

On the issue of younger generations becoming more liberal, I suspect there is also an element of self censorship that masks the true rates of prejudice that occur in younger demographics. To come out and say shit like “homosexuality should be outlawed” would be social suicidal (or at least perceived to be) at that age, so they’ll gravitate to the “correct” answers. As they grow older they’ll either care less about what others think or will grow resentful of society and try blaming their failures on whoever they’re prejudiced against. Social media has also changed the game: people can self-censor in the real world while laying into their preferred scapegoats anonymously online.

Then you have the steady cognitive decline of the boomers. Boomers have all the money, so a little cottage industry of boomer-prejudice-affirming bullshit has emerged online.

[Iduno]

So, they're similar to Millenials on climate change, legalizing pot, and LGBT rights. But ... so are Libertarians.

You got good libertarians where you are. Ours hate anyone who isn't a cis-straight-white man. Also, anything that doesn't directly benefit corporations in the short-term. Cool with pot, though.

[sluissa]

So, they're similar to Millenials on climate change, legalizing pot, and LGBT rights. But ... so are Libertarians.

You got good libertarians where you are. Ours hate anyone who isn't a cis-straight-white man. Also, anything that doesn't directly benefit corporations in the short-term. Cool with pot, though.

That's not exactly true. Most libertarians I know are live and let live as a baseline. As infuriating as they can be, they don't typically care who sleeps with who or what clothes you want to dress up in or what color your skin is. The hate comes when they start to feel like their personal space* is being encroached upon.

Examples:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_perspectives_on_LGBT_rights

In 2009, the Libertarian Party came out against H.R. 1913, a proposed hate crime bill that would add to the federal hate crime statute the categories of sexual orientation, gender identity and disability. The reason the Libertarian Party opposed the proposed hate crimes bill was because it would violate equal justice under the law by creating different classes of victims for the same crime. The Libertarian Party also accused legislators of attempting to buy the support of the LGBT community while still opposing same-sex marriage and repealing Don't ask, don't tell.[9]

In 2013, the Libertarian Party applauded the Supreme Court's decision United States v. Windsor to strike down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as unconstitutional. The Libertarian Party has supported same-sex marriage since its founding in 1971.

*Personal space less as in the 1-2 meter radius around them and more in the "this is my territory and these are my habits" sort of space. This can be reasonable, and it can be unreasonable, but usually stems from someone telling them they have to do something new when they never had to do it before and it's a perceived burden upon them.

[Reelya]

Jesus Trump's a hypocritical asshole. During Cuomo's most recent press conference on the coronavirus, Trump repeatedly tweeted to Cuomo criticizing him to "Stop Talking!" while there's a crisis on. The best bit is the reply:

“First of all, if he’s sitting at home watching TV, maybe he can get up and go to work,” Governor Cuomo said, responding to the President’s tweets.

EDIT: Just saw some TV news, a load of undocumented immigrants were deported from USA to Guatemala, and 75% of them tested positive for Covid-19 when they arrived.