The next generation can’t save the world.

[Dans117]

I get so triggered whenever I see some fluff piece while doom scrolling news (not healthy I know but I do it sometimes because I am too bored and hopeless to do anything else) about how "the next generation is different" in some way. Does anyone seriously believe this? I think it was Mark Twain who said, "Every generation imagines its elders to be foolish, and its children unwise" or something like that. That's the truth but the media and politicians ALWAYS pin their hopes on the youngest generation and pretend it's not a dick move.

Take my generation, the Millennials. The hippie boomers believed when they had us that we would be the "flower children" who would grow up to overthrow the status quo and save the world. They even baked this shit into our childhood. In grade school, I was taught that the planet was being destroyed and it was our job to save it. Our school told us they were pitching in to buy an acre of rainforest to save it from deforestation and told us to do the same. Even as a naive stupid kid I wondered why they couldn't buy more. They could have told us that it was really corporate greed funded by the .01 percent of the population who are the richest shareholders destroying the rainforest, but of course they didn't, it was just government propaganda. Anyone remember Captain Planet? That was basically what they were expecting from us. They wanted us to be superheroes saving the world while they just sat on their asses and watched TV.

Fast forward to now and those same boomers think we are hopelessly entitled snowflakes who can't handle the real world. No, we are traumatized corporate slaves who are expected to do the impossible while our parents screw us over. Of course they pulled the same "youth will save the world" crap on Gen Z (who have it even worse than us imo), and now Gen Z are smartphone addicts with no social skills according to the media.

I'm not saying everything is the Boomers' fault because the 60s/70s really were a horrible time to grow up. JFK, Vietnam, stagflation etc didn't help their worldview. But just a little bit of self awareness would be nice. I cringe now whenever I hear the term "Alpha generation" knowing that these innocent little kids will soon be subjected to the same BS, if not worse.

 

[hurtbox]

People are always going to be destroying the world as long as there's a monetary incentive which (on a global scale) is not going to be changed anytime soon. At this point in time the world is irreversibly fucked.

 

[theboy]

so true

 

[universe]

I get so triggered whenever I see some fluff piece while doom scrolling news (not healthy I know but I do it sometimes because I am too bored and hopeless to do anything else) about how "the next generation is different" in some way. Does anyone seriously believe this? I think it was Mark Twain who said, "Every generation imagines its elders to be foolish, and its children unwise" or something like that. That's the truth but the media and politicians ALWAYS pin their hopes on the youngest generation and pretend it's not a dick move.

Take my generation, the Millennials. The hippie boomers believed when they had us that we would be the "flower children" who would grow up to overthrow the status quo and save the world. They even baked this shit into our childhood. In grade school, I was taught that the planet was being destroyed and it was our job to save it. Our school told us they were pitching in to buy an acre of rainforest to save it from deforestation and told us to do the same. Even as a naive stupid kid I wondered why they couldn't buy more. They could have told us that it was really corporate greed funded by the .01 percent of the population who are the richest shareholders destroying the rainforest, but of course they didn't, it was just government propaganda. Anyone remember Captain Planet? That was basically what they were expecting from us. They wanted us to be superheroes saving the world while they just sat on their asses and watched TV.

Fast forward to now and those same boomers think we are hopelessly entitled snowflakes who can't handle the real world. No, we are traumatized corporate slaves who are expected to do the impossible while our parents screw us over. Of course they pulled the same "youth will save the world" crap on Gen Z (who have it even worse than us imo), and now Gen Z are smartphone addicts with no social skills according to the media.

I'm not saying everything is the Boomers' fault because the 60s/70s really were a horrible time to grow up. JFK, Vietnam, stagflation etc didn't help their worldview. But just a little bit of self awareness would be nice. I cringe now whenever I hear the term "Alpha generation" knowing that these innocent little kids will soon be subjected to the same BS, if not worse.

I really don't have faith in humanity, so honestly I think it's a bit naive to think that a generation would save the human being. Because yes, behind "saving the planet" is saving the human being. The planet is doing very well and anyway life on earth will disappear in 100 million years.

I often hear this phrase from parents: "our children will find solutions to our problems". These people, instead of finding solutions themselves and taking responsibility, unload their problems on their offspring. And I imagine that's what their children will do when they become adults. Anyway, when I see parents, most of the time they are badly brought up, bad, mean, with futile and toxic preoccupations. Do they really think their child will be geniuses? Dogs don't make

 

[Anonymus]

The truth is that it doesn't help much for the last generations to tell you, for example, that I didn't do enough to preserve the planet when we managed to solve the hole in the ozone layer and reduce pollution levels in cities to a ridiculous level . Barcelona itself was unbreathable in the 80s and the rivers that surround the city seemed more like Ankh-Morpork at that time.
I put in a lot of effort, they found part of the work done (and it's never enough) and they don't know how to see it.
A little gratitude perhaps?

//

La veritat es que no ajuda gaire que les últimes genaracions et diguin per exemple que no em fet prou per preservar el planeta quan vem aconseguir resoldre el forat de la capa d'Ozó i vem reduïr els nivells de contaminació a les ciutats a un nivell ridícul. Barcelona mateix era irrespirable als anys 80 i els rius que circumvalen la ciutat semblaven mes propis d'Ankh-Morpork en aquella época.
Em fet un gran esforç, s'han trobat part de la feina feta (i no n'hi ha mai prou) i no ho saben veure.
Una mica d'agraïment potser?.

 

[actual_fox]

Yeah we fucked. I think about leaving before It turns to absolute hell, I need to talk about this because I have boomer parents and they do not understand how bad things can get.

l . Barcelona itself was unbreathable in the 80s and the rivers that surround the city seemed more like Ankh-Morpork at that time.

+1 respect for Terry Pratchet reference
Also there are rivers that totally cease to exist! Like how fucked is that, China lost it's biggest rivers this year and ALL fish died there, same happened in one river in France

 

[Lost Magic]

Yeah, so long as NeoLiberals continue to scourge the world there will be no saving this doomed planet.

 

[makethepainstop]

Well as an old codger I feel I know a bit about it. We the old fogeys always think the kids will have it better than we did. We are tend to hope that the kids won't screwup like we did. We like to think that the next generation will some how make this world and life better. As for the rest, societies do try to program and indoctrinate kids. I can't think of this a malicious, but common by product of humans and societies existing. Peace to you.

 

[ManicPanic2018]

It doesn't matter what generation it is, what their attitudes are like, any of that. There's nothing thay will be able to stop the issue of climate change and the ensuing crises.

Humans are great at coming together to solve immediate issues. We saw it with covid, we had vaccines in a year. We pull together well with imminent threats.

The problem with things like climate change is that its always going to be the next generations problem. It's the whole "putting a frog in a pot of boiling water and it won't react till its about to die" theory (Yea I know there's been certain debunking of that theory, but what its being applied to here is what the point is).

Every generation will cry "Its too late, it was the fault of those before us" because humans haven't evolved with those sets of problem solving skills to apply on this global scale.

Corporate greed is a huge factor, yes. But the bigger problem is that the value of a human life is put on a pedestal above all else to the point that we're sleepwalking into being overpopulated at an alarming rate. Capitalism loves the idea of exponential growth, but the world would collapse under those rules with population growth.

Maybe there is hope for the next generation given that we're seeing population numbers drop in some first world countries. The tin foil hat theory is that this is a designed byproduct of late stage capitalism. Keep having children too expensive, keep the world going longer, keep bleeding it dry.

Of course, then there's the issue of aging populations thay aren't being replenished. There's so much shit coming up. No generation, no matter how smart or switched on, can stop it.

 

[Dans117]

Well as an old codger I feel I know a bit about it. We the old fogeys always think the kids will have it better than we did. We are tend to hope that the kids won't screwup like we did. We like to think that the next generation will some how make this world and life better. As for the rest, societies do try to program and indoctrinate kids. I can't think of this a malicious, but common by product of humans and societies existing. Peace to you.

I agree and I honestly don't blame you or even my parents. It's human nature, I just get irritated when people try to pretend it's not and then get angry when someone points out that it is. Thanks for your input.

It doesn't matter what generation it is, what their attitudes are like, any of that. There's nothing thay will be able to stop the issue of climate change and the ensuing crises.

Humans are great at coming together to solve immediate issues. We saw it with covid, we had vaccines in a year. We pull together well with imminent threats.

The problem with things like climate change is that its always going to be the next generations problem. It's the whole "putting a frog in a pot of boiling water and it won't react till its about to die" theory (Yea I know there's been certain debunking of that theory, but what its being applied to here is what the point is).

Every generation will cry "Its too late, it was the fault of those before us" because humans haven't evolved with those sets of problem solving skills to apply on this global scale.

Corporate greed is a huge factor, yes. But the bigger problem is that the value of a human life is put on a pedestal above all else to the point that we're sleepwalking into being overpopulated at an alarming rate. Capitalism loves the idea of exponential growth, but the world would collapse under those rules with population growth.

Maybe there is hope for the next generation given that we're seeing population numbers drop in some first world countries. The tin foil hat theory is that this is a designed byproduct of late stage capitalism. Keep having children too expensive, keep the world going longer, keep bleeding it dry.

Of course, then there's the issue of aging populations thay aren't being replenished. There's so much shit coming up. No generation, no matter how smart or switched on, can stop it.

This is why I'm glad that, as a gay man, I will never have kids. I'm no better and I admit that, I'm just trying to minimize the damage I do just by being alive, seeing as we aren't allowed to voluntarily eliminate our own carbon footprint via suicide. If our leaders seriously cared about the planet, they would give us an easy, painless and dignified way of doing so. Instead we see the exact opposite: being alive is defended, justified and celebrated with totalitarian zeal.

 

[Insomniac]

and yet.. there are young people who are creating companies, having babies, building houses... I wonder if they're truly living in the same reality as the majority of people.

 

[Green Destiny]

I agree with this take. The summer in my country is the 2nd hottest on record. Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, forest fires etc. have become a very common every day occurrence in today's everyday life. Whenever I'm driving to the grocery store or work I always say this to myself "This planet is doomed." And I honestly genuinely believe that there's nothing that can be done to change the course that humanity is taking. Sure people offer glimmers of hope but to me it's just swapping around furniture and deck chairs on the Titanic. Doesn't matter what you do, the ships going to hit the iceberg.

 

[CTB Dream]

Human same say generat differ what tell all lie put varrot distance fake dream people chase year ten twenty later many see fake. Human always human always destroy plant fight each hurt everything. Some part advantage technology etc minority most not care only lie repeat looping humanity word future make bright wen real future darkness mean

 

[Obliviate]

I think this next generation will be the best that can bring some amazing changes BUT there will always be evil. ALWAYS. And as we see, it always seems to win. I had maybe a slight hope that when these old disgusting MFs die the world could be better and it could be but those same MFs will pass on their sick fucked up ideology to their children and for the kids to wake up themselves and realize that it's wrong is a slim chance that we can't just rely on.

 

[Julgran]

I get so triggered whenever I see some fluff piece while doom scrolling news (not healthy I know but I do it sometimes because I am too bored and hopeless to do anything else) about how "the next generation is different" in some way. Does anyone seriously believe this? I think it was Mark Twain who said, "Every generation imagines its elders to be foolish, and its children unwise" or something like that. That's the truth but the media and politicians ALWAYS pin their hopes on the youngest generation and pretend it's not a dick move.

Take my generation, the Millennials. The hippie boomers believed when they had us that we would be the "flower children" who would grow up to overthrow the status quo and save the world. They even baked this shit into our childhood. In grade school, I was taught that the planet was being destroyed and it was our job to save it. Our school told us they were pitching in to buy an acre of rainforest to save it from deforestation and told us to do the same. Even as a naive stupid kid I wondered why they couldn't buy more. They could have told us that it was really corporate greed funded by the .01 percent of the population who are the richest shareholders destroying the rainforest, but of course they didn't, it was just government propaganda. Anyone remember Captain Planet? That was basically what they were expecting from us. They wanted us to be superheroes saving the world while they just sat on their asses and watched TV.

Fast forward to now and those same boomers think we are hopelessly entitled snowflakes who can't handle the real world. No, we are traumatized corporate slaves who are expected to do the impossible while our parents screw us over. Of course they pulled the same "youth will save the world" crap on Gen Z (who have it even worse than us imo), and now Gen Z are smartphone addicts with no social skills according to the media.

I'm not saying everything is the Boomers' fault because the 60s/70s really were a horrible time to grow up. JFK, Vietnam, stagflation etc didn't help their worldview. But just a little bit of self awareness would be nice. I cringe now whenever I hear the term "Alpha generation" knowing that these innocent little kids will soon be subjected to the same BS, if not worse.

It seems like useless previous generations have given birth to yet more useless generations, including the Millennials, which I'm a part of, too. The key point is that we probably wouldn't be useless if the previous generations weren't useless, as well.

 

[almaranthine]

hurricane coming in a few days—a gentle reminder to me personally that everything is fucked beyond anyone's control. my mom is all like, "stock up on water, make sure you get gas, have cash on hand, etc etc" but I don't have the motivation to prepare because I just don't fucking care anymore. eventually I imagine the world as a whole will get so bad that masses of people will share the same type of apathy i have