Caitlin JohnstoneThe primary complaints about Gen Z ultimately boil down to "They refuse to work shitty jobs for shit pay" and "They're too nice to people who are different". Which says just as much about the quality of the older generations as the quality of the new one.
I'm always yammering on here about what it's going to take to turn this human catastrophe around, but sometimes I think it might turn out that all that needs to happen is for all us old assholes to get the fuck out of the way and leave the world in better hands than our own.
Charles ☭ is now tooting from queer.partyI heard this very often in the late 80s and early 90s. My generation was going to solve both racism and climate change, while the boomers and older who agreed with these goals got out of the way and those who disagreed wielded considerable power and wealth to fight - and win. And, indeed, Gen Xers hardly became a unified force against racism or for the climate.
I'm extremely suspicious of generational analysis as it elides class.
Firehorseart Lives!Gen X was told that we had to go it alone, become a superwoman/rman. Gen Z seems to have realised that a greater strength lies in communities and worldwide cooperation.
I hope Gen Z continues to be visionary, as an 'every man for himself & get rich quick' attitude weakened Gen X.
Unions have their flaws but they also have stronger bargaining power than individuals. We could do with that strength again.
Katma@srfirehorseart @celesteh @Caitoz
Building on this, my memory was that we Gen Xers were told we were lazy, apathetic whiners *and* that we had to fix everything because the boomers were busy or tired or whatever
I see similar garbage directed at Gen Z and it’s infuriating. Obviously people have different experiences and knowledge based on when they grew up, but I think the amazing p, inspiring people have a huge amount in common across gens
Yes, I tend to agree.
Gen X were told they'd never had it so good, by their post-war parents. Whilst this was true in some respects, it was also used to dismiss Gen X's considerable achievements, as they were pushed to work harder and faster and yet still told that they hadn't done enough!
Gen X is a model for burnout.
@Caitoz @celesteh @srfirehorseart
Yes! And then every seven years there was a (usually) avoidable economic collapse and #GenX would get to start all over financially and sometimes having to figure out how to switch careers.
I honestly don’t even know how #GenZ manages the economic mess of today. I wish we wouldn’t get tricked into this generational conflict model
Eryn with a Y@KatMA @Caitoz @celesteh @srfirehorseart This! I'm a young gen X/elder millennial and it seemed like everytime I started to figure things out some global catastrophe or economic collapse would snatch it all away and I'd have to start over.
@ekelseya @KatMA @Caitoz @celesteh
Sympathies. A lot of my best gains over the years were about being in the right place at the right time.
The last 4 years, including the pandemic, really knocked my confidence about replicating that success. My experience tells me I mainly need to get back into the right head space again.
Top tip: read The Luck Factor - it has some good advice about 'creating' luck in our lives.
@Caitoz @ekelseya @celesteh @srfirehorseart
It’s wrenching isn’t it? Millennials are on the same demoralizing hamster wheel as Gen X and Z
I don’t know what to think of boomers. Some were able to take advantage of affordable education & insane increases in their property values (if they could own) but less privileged ones are right there with the rest of us? The ones I know seem to be doing well, but don’t think it’s a representative sample
@KatMA @Caitoz @celesteh @srfirehorseart The human condition is complicated and the only solution is to eat the rich.
@ekelseya @KatMA @Caitoz @celesteh
The solution to the human condition, as I see it now, is to learn how to be happy on my own terms, in the present.
Money and material gains are only temporary solutions to material problems, but don't work as substitutes for good mental health. The rich are probably no happier than anyone else. They may be more miserable, as they have seen being £$¥ wealthy isn't the same as happiness.
@srfirehorseart @KatMA @Caitoz @celesteh I get what you're saying, but there is a huge difference between being unfulfilled because your billions don't bring happiness and having your lights turned off because you decided to feed your children rather than pay the power bill. A serious wealth tax would help stop that disparity and improve millions of lives.
And it could be argued that the mind set necessary to hoard that kind of wealth is not conducive to happiness in any form. Satisfaction maybe, but not happiness.
@ekelseya @celesteh @srfirehorseart @Caitoz
I totally agree. We can’t think or will ourselves to economic equality/justice. We can’t have a good attitude and suddenly those with power won’t be able to game the system for themselves. And economic justice is strongly, unbreakably connected to social justice.
Sometimes mental health depends on allowing ourselves to see what is really happening and having logical emotional reactions to it.
I totally agree. We can’t think or will ourselves to economic equality/justice. We can’t have a good attitude and suddenly those with power won’t be able to game the system for themselves. And economic justice is strongly, unbreakably connected to social justice.
Sometimes mental health depends on allowing ourselves to see what is really happening and having logical emotional reactions to it.
@ekelseya @KatMA @Caitoz @celesteh
Yes, I agree that any kind of hoarding (including money) is indicative of unhappiness.
I see the mind set for hoarding as being based on anxiety about the present, extrapolated into the future.
Any satisfaction is then going to be temporary. Future events are unpredictable, material things decay or lose their value, as Ozymandias warns in Shelly's poem.
Guaranteed basic support for all would prevent a lot of hoarding habits, IMO.
@ekelseya @Caitoz @srfirehorseart @celesteh
Yes. And start by taxing the hell out of them, which I think they’d probably hate more.
Yes. And start by taxing the hell out of them, which I think they’d probably hate more.