• AFK BRB Chocolate@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    21
    ·
    12 days ago

    I’ve been saying here for ages that the perception of boomers being overwhelmingly right wing and younger generations being overwhelmingly left wing is far, far from accurate. You can look at the demographic data from the prior two elections and see that, yes, there were more conservative boomers than liberal, but it’s not a big margin, and for younger generations it was flipped. Now it appears the younger folks are more conservative than liberal.

    As a very liberal boomer, it’s been frustrating to get so many truly hateful responses, even recently, based on nothing other than the year I was born. I kept feeling like that level of intolerance didn’t bode well, and now I’m thinking that concern was validated.

    • Pennomi@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      18
      ·
      11 days ago

      It’s to be expected. My theory is that millennials grew up late enough that they had access to the early Internet, so they got exposed to all kinds of strange cultures and had to learn tolerance and acceptance.

      The younger generations grew up with an internet dominated by mega corporations, and algorithmic feeds. Unfortunately hostile states and other bad actors have been very effective at exploiting these mechanisms, causing a strong right wing shift simply due to exposure.

      Your brain is strongly colored by what it consumes, of course.

      • AFK BRB Chocolate@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        11 days ago

        That’s a good theory. It’s long been held that the more population dense area of the country skew liberal because diverse people jammed together learn to understand and get along with each other. You could make an argument that growing up on an internet with unfettered voices expressing themselves would be similar.

        But the underlying racism that seems to fuel modern conservatism seems to be growing in all areas. I’m in California, which is about as blue as it gets, but like 40 percent of people voted for Trump.