Wednesday morning in my U.S. government and politics class, a seemingly simple question from my teacher stirred an unexpectedly heavy silence: “Who watched the presidential debate on Tuesday, Sept. 10?”
“As young people, we’re poised to inherit a world that needs thoughtful, informed leadership more than ever. But if we’re not even willing to watch a debate, how can we expect to take on that responsibility? We owe it to ourselves — and to one another — to do better, to look beyond influencers and viral videos, and to engage deeply with the issues that truly matter. Even Taylor Swift, in her endorsement, urged us to “do your research.” If we don’t, we risk becoming not just uninformed voters, but a generation that’s lost sight of what it truly means to be part of a democracy.”
The whole idea that the younger generation is not interested. Is hardly a new one unique to gen Z.
Pretty much every generation since the 1900 has been accused of this.
The only difference is how much change in culture each generation has had to face.
Honeatly pre 1900s. One generation did not face much change from that of their grandparents world. Since then each generation has seen more change then the last. As technical groth has sped up notable even in my 50 plus yeae lifetime. The changes have been notable.
But each generation. As they age a % develop interest in things to a higher level. Little indicates gen z are any different in this.
“The poll found that 36% of respondents 18-29 agree that “political involvement rarely has any tangible results” – up from 22% who felt that way in 2018. Those who agree that “I don’t believe my vote will make a real difference” went to 42% in the current poll, an increase from 31% in 2018. And well more than half – 56% – believe that “politics today are no longer able to meet the challenges our country is facing,” up from 45% who felt that way in 2018.”
https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2022-04-25/youth-losing-faith-in-politics-poll
Took me two minutes on Google to see the MASSIVE difference between young people being disengaged in every political cycle and what is happening now.
While you have laid this all at the feet of change a generation has to deal with. I would argue that it is the complete lack of change that drives this. You can see the massive shift we are having where political power has only the use of enriching the individual. Senators gets bribes and we get a worse country, repeat. But the amount that younger generations have been invited into this inner circle of bribed law makers, rich people, and those tasked with penning the actual laws has swiftly moved to almost zero. You are not welcome in politics if you are young, and until you get older, jaded, and much more willing to take bribes at the cost of your convictions, we don’t need you.
The idea that gen z gives a shit at all is honestly astounding. Like imagine growing up, and your parents never had the power to do anything positive for the country. Your grandparents are running the family business, and no one is ready to take over when grandpa dies, because they didn’t want to prepare tge world to go on without them. They wanted tge world to crash and burn when they die so that everyone will know they were needed.
At least that is the perspective of someone who first voted for Obama and change. And all I got was dead brown people in the middle east at ever increasing rates.
Honestly as a left leaning American, it looks like the plan of massive non-white genocide that the old white people love is continuing swimmingly. And will probably continue to as long as tge only path for a young person to power is boot licking or nepotism.
Politics not supporting younger voters is not the same as young voters not being political.
Your statistics are not a valid criticism of gen Z. But of our generation and our failure to support the end of FPTP over other issues.
A 2-second look at the fucking fiscal mess we as a generation have left by voting for property prices and removing support for the higher education costs we had. Makes it pretty clear why those opinions exist. They are not a rejection of politics. But a rejection of the politics pushed by our generation of voters.
So much of our modern political system is poised around vibes, because that’s all the older voters (seem to) really care about. If I had a dollar for every time I heard some variation of having a beer with George W, I’d have more dollars than I do now.
I think in contrast younger voters care about a vast array of issues very deeply, making engaging in politics a much more complex task that they probably don’t have time for. Given that so much of the coverage consists of no-meaning political lines with no coherent policy right now, engaging in traditional ways is pointless until they stop having vapid “debates” and “interviews” with no content, and start forcing real policy discussion.
I think Bernie was popular with younger voters because he brought so few vibes and so much policy. I went to a Hillary rally and a Bernie rally during the primary in 2015 and the difference was night and day. Hillary talked about the positive feeling of continuing the Democratic legacy, while Bernie talked about sustainable agriculture and straw polled the attendees about wind power.
To be clear I bet this held true 50 years ago when our old voters were young too, no hate on the olds here, priorities change, though I hope mine don’t. Also I wonder if this is all still true for the new young voters, most of my interactions are with millennials and gen z. My few interactions with the folks graduating now have been tainted by my old and out of touch self and by their (in my opinion) under-practiced interpersonal skills from covid years at home. Again, no hate intended.
I think you are making a lot of good points here, but in a really, “I’m just a simple country farmer” sorta tone. We didn’t get here on accident. When I was young Obama ran for office and he is consistently still the youngest political figure we see doing anything. We have systemically leaned into old white men so hard in the last ten years that it feels like a joke.
The age of our politicians has begun to skyrocket. The AVERAGE senators should not be 64 years old, I don’t think a single American would argue it should be. But it is.
“As young people, we’re poised to inherit a world that needs thoughtful, informed leadership more than ever. But if we’re not even willing to watch a debate
I think it’s fair to say that Gen Z has seen enough of both major parties to know definitively that neither of the two leaders up for the job are going to do anything meaningful to change their lives in a positive way. Their entire lives they’ve watched presidents of both parties promise to raise wages, improve health care and education, and spend less on war. Instead, they’ve watched both of their parents working full-time jobs while still finding themselves unable to provide for the family’s needs and education.
And it isn’t lost on them that when money for a war or corporate bailout needs to happen, it happens overnight, every single time. During COVID the government even made a few trillion we didn’t have appear out of thin air overnight.
It’s unreasonable at this point to expect Gen Z to care. Why waste a badly-needed day’s work to vote when you have observed for your entire life that things stay consistent regardless of who’s elected?
First of all, maybe to young cis straight white kids both sides are the same but to everybody else one side has and will continue to, if given the change, make their lives actively worse
What seems to be lost on most, is that money has been coming “out of thin air” for close to a century already. The problem is that every time less money gets destroyed than created, it dilutes the worth of the total… and people who still think in terms of gold nuggets, are completely unprepared to propose anything that would make sense.
That assumes we educate gen beta, with no time, money, resources, or fucking example to go off. So yeah, don’t hold your breath that a magic future generation will both A understand the economic climate that professional economists struggle to explain, and B have a willingness to help poor people once you are in the “I’m so smart and handsome and God even loves me more than anyone poor” pipeline they shove you down.
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Honestly as an older git.
The whole idea that the younger generation is not interested. Is hardly a new one unique to gen Z.
Pretty much every generation since the 1900 has been accused of this.
The only difference is how much change in culture each generation has had to face.
Honeatly pre 1900s. One generation did not face much change from that of their grandparents world. Since then each generation has seen more change then the last. As technical groth has sped up notable even in my 50 plus yeae lifetime. The changes have been notable.
But each generation. As they age a % develop interest in things to a higher level. Little indicates gen z are any different in this.
“The poll found that 36% of respondents 18-29 agree that “political involvement rarely has any tangible results” – up from 22% who felt that way in 2018. Those who agree that “I don’t believe my vote will make a real difference” went to 42% in the current poll, an increase from 31% in 2018. And well more than half – 56% – believe that “politics today are no longer able to meet the challenges our country is facing,” up from 45% who felt that way in 2018.” https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2022-04-25/youth-losing-faith-in-politics-poll Took me two minutes on Google to see the MASSIVE difference between young people being disengaged in every political cycle and what is happening now.
While you have laid this all at the feet of change a generation has to deal with. I would argue that it is the complete lack of change that drives this. You can see the massive shift we are having where political power has only the use of enriching the individual. Senators gets bribes and we get a worse country, repeat. But the amount that younger generations have been invited into this inner circle of bribed law makers, rich people, and those tasked with penning the actual laws has swiftly moved to almost zero. You are not welcome in politics if you are young, and until you get older, jaded, and much more willing to take bribes at the cost of your convictions, we don’t need you.
The idea that gen z gives a shit at all is honestly astounding. Like imagine growing up, and your parents never had the power to do anything positive for the country. Your grandparents are running the family business, and no one is ready to take over when grandpa dies, because they didn’t want to prepare tge world to go on without them. They wanted tge world to crash and burn when they die so that everyone will know they were needed.
At least that is the perspective of someone who first voted for Obama and change. And all I got was dead brown people in the middle east at ever increasing rates.
Honestly as a left leaning American, it looks like the plan of massive non-white genocide that the old white people love is continuing swimmingly. And will probably continue to as long as tge only path for a young person to power is boot licking or nepotism.
Politics not supporting younger voters is not the same as young voters not being political.
Your statistics are not a valid criticism of gen Z. But of our generation and our failure to support the end of FPTP over other issues.
A 2-second look at the fucking fiscal mess we as a generation have left by voting for property prices and removing support for the higher education costs we had. Makes it pretty clear why those opinions exist. They are not a rejection of politics. But a rejection of the politics pushed by our generation of voters.
So much of our modern political system is poised around vibes, because that’s all the older voters (seem to) really care about. If I had a dollar for every time I heard some variation of having a beer with George W, I’d have more dollars than I do now.
I think in contrast younger voters care about a vast array of issues very deeply, making engaging in politics a much more complex task that they probably don’t have time for. Given that so much of the coverage consists of no-meaning political lines with no coherent policy right now, engaging in traditional ways is pointless until they stop having vapid “debates” and “interviews” with no content, and start forcing real policy discussion.
I think Bernie was popular with younger voters because he brought so few vibes and so much policy. I went to a Hillary rally and a Bernie rally during the primary in 2015 and the difference was night and day. Hillary talked about the positive feeling of continuing the Democratic legacy, while Bernie talked about sustainable agriculture and straw polled the attendees about wind power.
To be clear I bet this held true 50 years ago when our old voters were young too, no hate on the olds here, priorities change, though I hope mine don’t. Also I wonder if this is all still true for the new young voters, most of my interactions are with millennials and gen z. My few interactions with the folks graduating now have been tainted by my old and out of touch self and by their (in my opinion) under-practiced interpersonal skills from covid years at home. Again, no hate intended.
I think you are making a lot of good points here, but in a really, “I’m just a simple country farmer” sorta tone. We didn’t get here on accident. When I was young Obama ran for office and he is consistently still the youngest political figure we see doing anything. We have systemically leaned into old white men so hard in the last ten years that it feels like a joke.
https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/ln4ffu/average_age_of_us_politicians_for_100_years_the/
The age of our politicians has begun to skyrocket. The AVERAGE senators should not be 64 years old, I don’t think a single American would argue it should be. But it is.
I think it’s fair to say that Gen Z has seen enough of both major parties to know definitively that neither of the two leaders up for the job are going to do anything meaningful to change their lives in a positive way. Their entire lives they’ve watched presidents of both parties promise to raise wages, improve health care and education, and spend less on war. Instead, they’ve watched both of their parents working full-time jobs while still finding themselves unable to provide for the family’s needs and education.
And it isn’t lost on them that when money for a war or corporate bailout needs to happen, it happens overnight, every single time. During COVID the government even made a few trillion we didn’t have appear out of thin air overnight.
It’s unreasonable at this point to expect Gen Z to care. Why waste a badly-needed day’s work to vote when you have observed for your entire life that things stay consistent regardless of who’s elected?
BoTh SiDeS ArE The SaMe
First of all, maybe to young cis straight white kids both sides are the same but to everybody else one side has and will continue to, if given the change, make their lives actively worse
What seems to be lost on most, is that money has been coming “out of thin air” for close to a century already. The problem is that every time less money gets destroyed than created, it dilutes the worth of the total… and people who still think in terms of gold nuggets, are completely unprepared to propose anything that would make sense.
Gen Beta might have more of a grasp on things.
That assumes we educate gen beta, with no time, money, resources, or fucking example to go off. So yeah, don’t hold your breath that a magic future generation will both A understand the economic climate that professional economists struggle to explain, and B have a willingness to help poor people once you are in the “I’m so smart and handsome and God even loves me more than anyone poor” pipeline they shove you down.