Dare ObasanjoMar 31, 2024
Whenever people complain about their favorite intellectual property from their childhood becoming “woke” it’s usually because it simply went over their heads as kids.
Show threadMatt McIrvinMar 31, 2024

@carnage4life I think that for many conservatives it's because they have a static idea of the "just right" amount of progressivism: that e.g. the civil-rights movement of the 1950s-60s was good, but at some point all the real problems were fixed and to go further is just going too far.

So it's OK for 1960s Star Trek to make episodes attacking racism, but for modern Star Trek to make episodes attacking transphobia is bad "woke".

I think that among conservatives this is a common feeling, and the point they identify as "just right" is invariably either in their own childhoods or a point just prior to their birth.

Show threadColm Ó Donnchadha
@mattmcirvin @carnage4life isn't there also a bit of people getting more conservative as they get older
Mar 31, 2024 at 7:23pmWeb
Show threadMatt McIrvinMar 31, 2024
@ColmDonoghue @carnage4life Maybe. But I think a lot of that is just that if you start out with this essentially static outlook on what is good and true, it will become more obvious as you age and that fixed point gets further out of sync with the culture.
Show threadMatt McIrvinMar 31, 2024

@ColmDonoghue @carnage4life Thinking differently is difficult because it involves critically examining your own past attitudes. And this is a bit exhausting for anyone.

But a really progressive outlook on justice and inclusion is that it's a neverending process--the work is never done and you can always get better.

Show threadBrett RMar 31, 2024

@mattmcirvin @carnage4life The studies I've (casually) seen actually say the opposite: most people get more liberal as they age, but they don't keep pace with society as a whole.

They may seem more conservative in relation to everyone else, but they are more liberal compared to their younger self. It's just a popular thing to say.

Show threadGrinning Cat   🚫👑Apr 2, 2024
@swiftone @mattmcirvin @carnage4life I casually saw another study that said that slightly more conservative folks than liberal folks *survive* to *get* old.
Show threadBrett RApr 2, 2024
@grinningcat @mattmcirvin @carnage4life Interesting. I wonder if they live longer because they are conservative, if they live longer because they are wealthy (which might make them more likely to be conservative), or for some other reason?
Show threadMatt McIrvinApr 3, 2024
@swiftone @grinningcat @carnage4life Best guess: because they are white. I suspect racial disparities in medical care and stress explain much of any partisan difference.
Show threadJed BrownMar 31, 2024
@ColmDonoghue @mattmcirvin @carnage4life That's largely a myth.
https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/109609941910796255
mekka okereke :verified: (@[email protected])

Attached: 2 images I'm going to keep sharing this info until it sinks in. Young voters do not get significantly more or less politically activated. Voter suppression gets more or less effective. Ballot drop boxes and mail-in voting, prevents suppression. People do not become more conservative as they get older. There is not an increasing difference between white GOP and Dem voters as they get older. Black people don't live long, and many brown voters aren't born yet.

Hachyderm.io
Show threadMatt McIrvinMar 31, 2024

@jedbrown @ColmDonoghue @carnage4life Those graphs show that *partisan* vote over time is pretty static and essentially completely explained by changing racial demographics of the electorate.

But you'd probably get different results polling on individual *issues* (in fact I know this is true for some specific ones) since the positions of the parties themselves change over time.

(e.g. same-sex marriage was a position with little mainstream support in 1992, but supported by the Democratic Party by 2012 and nationwide law not long after.)

Show threadJoe ❌👑Apr 1, 2024
@mattmcirvin @jedbrown @ColmDonoghue @carnage4life Joe Biden isn't my favorite guy, but he dragged Obama into supporting same sex marriage by forcing the issue in 2012: he publicly announced his support at a time when Obama's political advisors were urging him to keep it ambiguous because it might help Mitt Romney. The advisors then anonymously attacked Biden to their contacts in the political press, saying he was a gaffe machine who had no sense. Obama was forced to go along because that was what almost the whole D party wanted.
Show threadMatt McIrvinApr 1, 2024
@not2b @jedbrown @ColmDonoghue @carnage4life I did wonder at the time how staged that whole episode was.
Show threadJoe ❌👑Apr 1, 2024
@mattmcirvin @jedbrown @ColmDonoghue @carnage4life I don't think it was. Prop 8 (aka Prop Hate) won in California in part because Obama opposed same sex marriage at the time. It was used as an argument for it.