• solsangraal@lemmy.zip
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    1 month ago

    the younger population is disgusted by all the crusty old white men in the government, so they don’t vote. i know, because i work at a community college. yet another consequence of deliberately hobbling public education while blaming all the world’s ills on abortions, mexicans, gays, women, and black people

    • mozz@mbin.grits.devOP
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      1 month ago

      Absolutely true. The propaganda that says “Everyone in government is crusty old white men and all equally the problem, it’s not worth even trying to improve things, just be unproductively bitter and angry instead, while we’re taking all your stuff”

      Is very much of a piece with the propaganda says “All the poors and immigrants are the problem, it’s not old white men in government, just be unproductively bitter and angry instead, while we’re taking all your stuff.” The target audience is just different.

      And you know what? They both work real real fuckin’ well. See, look all the problems.

      • solsangraal@lemmy.zip
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        1 month ago

        it goes back to the intentional removal of critical thinking skills from an early age onward. it’s not “believe what you’re told to believe,” it’s “believe what WE tell you to believe. everything else is fake news”

        • mozz@mbin.grits.devOP
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          1 month ago

          I was very very lucky in terms of getting a good education (both from my parents and from the schools I went to), and it was absolutely shocking to me when I first started doing political arguments with some people I’d known for quite a while and realized they had no idea how to think for themselves.

          Like even the basics of, if source X says one thing and then later on in the same article says some incompatible thing, then that source is not the truth. Never mind about even comparing one day’s statements to the next day’s, or against real science or anything like that.

          They just go with who’s real confident and forceful in their presentation and sounds like they have firm authority over what’s going on, and then they go all-in on believing whatever crazy shit that changes day to day that that person is saying. Like I say it was real shocking (and also, how if I tried to break down inconsistencies with what their source was saying, they’d just get confused and upset and disoriented, and ultimately reject what I was saying.)

    • millie@beehaw.org
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      1 month ago

      What do you mean? We have better voter engagement among young people than any previous generation.