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Young people are more willing to "rise up and fight The Man" than ever before, to be sure. The problem is, now that information is easier to spread instantaneou

Young people are more willing to "rise up and fight The Man" than ever before, to be sure. The problem is, now that information is easier to spread instantaneously across the entire globe--and we carry devices that let us access this global information network in our pockets at all times--people are more prone to groupthink than ever before, and one's political beliefs are more directly shaped by social circumstances than ever before. Many young people express desire to fight for various causes and will make all the social media posts in the world in support, but once they get the dopamine hit from feedback to said posts (likes, retweets, replies, etc.), they feel that they've done Something Good, and call it a day, instead of actively engaging more directly with whatever causes they're supporting. Critical thinking is becoming more and more discouraged, especially in educational settings, as outward expression of such is increasingly drowned out by overemotional responses. I'm not sure what to make of all of this, but it seems overly simple to say "the teens will save us" just because they're more likely to "resist."

hnuser1234 9y ago
This article is written for people who seriously believe that the Trump admin is an attempt at a fascist coup the US. If you don't believe that, the article won't do much for you.
guelo 9y ago
> Critical thinking is becoming more and more discouraged, especially in educational settings, as outward expression of such is increasingly drowned out by overemotional responses. I don't think you have any evidence of this besides whatever media propaganda you might have been reading. As a teen's dad the teens I interact with are much more informed and aware than I remember from my gen-X era high school.
- adamrezich 9y ago
  >I don't think you have any evidence of this besides whatever media propaganda you might have been reading. This is the most perfect sentence to immediately discredit anyone in political discussion today that I have ever seen. No matter what political perspective you have, you can say it and it magically works in your favor. I'll be keeping this in mind for future ironic use. Also, ironically, this statement shows complete lack of critical thinking. I made an assertion without further explanation or citation, and instead of asking for further explanation or citation, you dismissed any conclusions I may have independently reached as being the result of "media propaganda," without even knowing the depths of my conclusions or how I reached them! This signals that you've made up your mind about the topic and aren't even willing to engage in discussion about it. Why post at all?
  - guelo 9y ago
    It would be amazing that you independently reached this conclusion through only your own observations when "people that disagree with us are irrational and emotional" is incredibly common propaganda that is everywhere.
    - adamrezich 9y ago
      It would be amazing for anyone to reach any conclusion in this day and age through solely through their own observations with the infinite access to information we both literally have at our fingertips as I write this and you read it. None of this changes the fact that you seem to have zero interest in any sort of real discussion, preferring instead to shut down my entire perspective because of some ill-defined "propaganda," so I'm going to have to tap out here.
orbitur 9y ago
Your assertion of "slacktivism" seems in contradiction to the fact that more Americans are marching in the streets for various reasons in the last 10 years than in the preceding years of my life.
- adamrezich 9y ago
  Yes, and what does this marching in the streets really accomplish? What does having a "March for Women" really get done in the greater scheme of things, aside from making everyone participating it and supporting it feel good about themselves? Same goes for the "March for Science" and other such "marches." "Political protest" has become normalized to the point where the general populace is becoming increasingly numb to it, making the concept lose whatever effectiveness it once had, and it's gotten to the point where at least for me personally, I can't keep up with the "marches" anymore. What are we marching for this week? Anti-racism? Anti-sexism? Anti-homophobia? Anti-transphobia? Anti-2A? Anti-fascism? Anti-Nazi? All this marching just seems very evocative of Two Minutes Hate at this point. Let the public get it out of their system and move on to some other issue next month. Rinse and repeat, keep the hysteria and fear up, keep the population subdued and angry and afraid and emotionally vulnerable. It's been working out well so far.

hnuser1234 9y ago

This article is written for people who seriously believe that the Trump admin is an attempt at a fascist coup the US. If you don't believe that, the article won't do much for you.

guelo 9y ago

> Critical thinking is becoming more and more discouraged, especially in educational settings, as outward expression of such is increasingly drowned out by overemotional responses. I don't think you have any evidence of this besides whatever media propaganda you might have been reading. As a teen's dad the teens I interact with are much more informed and aware than I remember from my gen-X era high school.

adamrezich 9y ago
>I don't think you have any evidence of this besides whatever media propaganda you might have been reading. This is the most perfect sentence to immediately discredit anyone in political discussion today that I have ever seen. No matter what political perspective you have, you can say it and it magically works in your favor. I'll be keeping this in mind for future ironic use. Also, ironically, this statement shows complete lack of critical thinking. I made an assertion without further explanation or citation, and instead of asking for further explanation or citation, you dismissed any conclusions I may have independently reached as being the result of "media propaganda," without even knowing the depths of my conclusions or how I reached them! This signals that you've made up your mind about the topic and aren't even willing to engage in discussion about it. Why post at all?
- guelo 9y ago
  It would be amazing that you independently reached this conclusion through only your own observations when "people that disagree with us are irrational and emotional" is incredibly common propaganda that is everywhere.
  - adamrezich 9y ago
    It would be amazing for anyone to reach any conclusion in this day and age through solely through their own observations with the infinite access to information we both literally have at our fingertips as I write this and you read it. None of this changes the fact that you seem to have zero interest in any sort of real discussion, preferring instead to shut down my entire perspective because of some ill-defined "propaganda," so I'm going to have to tap out here.

orbitur 9y ago

Your assertion of "slacktivism" seems in contradiction to the fact that more Americans are marching in the streets for various reasons in the last 10 years than in the preceding years of my life.

adamrezich 9y ago
Yes, and what does this marching in the streets really accomplish? What does having a "March for Women" really get done in the greater scheme of things, aside from making everyone participating it and supporting it feel good about themselves? Same goes for the "March for Science" and other such "marches." "Political protest" has become normalized to the point where the general populace is becoming increasingly numb to it, making the concept lose whatever effectiveness it once had, and it's gotten to the point where at least for me personally, I can't keep up with the "marches" anymore. What are we marching for this week? Anti-racism? Anti-sexism? Anti-homophobia? Anti-transphobia? Anti-2A? Anti-fascism? Anti-Nazi? All this marching just seems very evocative of Two Minutes Hate at this point. Let the public get it out of their system and move on to some other issue next month. Rinse and repeat, keep the hysteria and fear up, keep the population subdued and angry and afraid and emotionally vulnerable. It's been working out well so far.