It’s not that arbitrary. Gen-X are the first generation of boomer children. Millennials are the second generation of boomer children who grew up with the internet. These are real events.
People find it easy to fit boomers into a tidy box. Ask the boomers born on the cusp of boomer and gen-x. It’s arbitrary bullshit too. It’s not like baby boomers all came from the boomer factory and then one day they decided, ‘that’s it the boomer factory’s closed’.
They want to virtue signal trivial social issues to avoid admitting they’re just plain conservative.
There was definitely a time when people were smarter. I read a comment on r/xennials that stuck with me. They were lamenting the loss of a the culture of their youth. I’m not sure I can rephrase it as well as they said it.
Basically they were describing how it used to be about how we questioned things. Like the show The X-Files. It was about seeking the truth. They noted how that show was reflective of how reality was. There was this common mindset that the answers are out there. That we can work together even to seek the answers and we will find them inevitably.
You see that doesn’t make much sense in 2025 because everyone has the answer to anything and everything. Except it’s their own answer. Not the answer. More than ever their answer is one which is derived from their internet / social media bubble.
There is no longer some big unknown out there full of mysteries to unravel. Not anymore. The zeitgeist right now is that I have my own world view and that’s the one. I know how the system works. I know the way. It’s the way I see the world. So why doesn’t everyone else come join my world view??? Are they stupid?
In the past we didn’t know everything. Nobody knew anything. Nobody had any illusion that they did. Nor could they whip out their pocket rectangle and find answers immediately.
In the past people had to be more open minded. They had to be honest about not knowing. Without modern media they had to be seekers of knowledge. As opposed to over confident purveyors relying on a quick internet search (these days a simple GPT query). The modern zeitgeist is one where everybody talks. Nobody listens. 8 billion deaf ears listening and learning nothing. Just waiting for their turn to talk. Everyone learned everything and they’re so damn sure of it.
Stupid people think they know it all. Smarter people are unsure of what they know. Of course there were stupid people before. But they knew they were stupid. Today the stupids can mask it by repeating words from the podcast, the tiktoks, the youtube videos they just watched.
It’s not uniquely an American problem. The American symptoms are quite a sight to beheld though.
He’s a classic internet edgelord. “Autistic” is the spin doctor code word for antisocial. To them the thinly veiled nazi references are the height of comedy. The overall theme is that they think they’re operating on a meta level such that everyone else isn’t in on the joke.
I don’t think this is so much a wealth factor as much as it is right wing culture rot that plagues young men. Though obviously Elon isn’t young anymore but this culture dates back as old as he is. His fanboys love him because of all this. He is who they see in themselves. They are very smart but too lazy to achieve their potential because reasons. If only they had unlimited money they could beat the (((system))) that is conspires to oppress them for who they are. Namely being right leaning cis hetero white male.
Money didn’t break him. Without money he’s just another of the millions of basement dwellers who would be fanboying over some other right wing oligarch.
Forums were micromanaged far more than modern social platforms. Reddit is one of the “free speech absolutist” sites like its sibling 4chan. These were opposing paradigms to forums.
I’ve long contended that modern social media users would absolutely hate the old style forums. If people think subreddit mods and reddit content mods suck. They haven’t met the admin of Joe Bobs phpbb forum hosted from his garage. Joe Bob doesn’t suffer fools gladly.
I don’t think it’s a free speech problem. I think people have not only been conditioned to be content junkies. They’ve become addicted to being Greater Fuckwads.
Maybe nobody cares what you think and whatever your words are they aren’t that important. Social media has devoured peoples egos turning them into the Greatest Fuckwads. With social media everyone has a podium and everyone has very important words with billions of doomscrollers as an audience. Don’t you dare steppy my freedoms!!1!
Anyways I think the real test is whether people can handle a small forum with strict moderation and focused discussion. That will reveal who has half a brain apart from the fuckwads. I’ve seen people come to what are now basically private forums acting like a garden variety social media user only to get smacked down real quick. A sobering dose of reality for them.
He has a few hundred thousand excess COVID deaths.
Tech companies hire psychologists to behavior modify us to be engagement zombies. That alone must have done a number on intelligence.
They fell in love with their own reflection. All they can hear is their own words ‘Freedom!’ echoing in their ears. It’s a modern day tale of Narcissus.