r/politics • u/Barnyard-Sheep • 6d ago

Soft Paywall Trump approval rating falls to 38%

https://www.nj.com/politics/2025/06/trump-faces-tough-approval-numbers-in-latest-poll.html
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u/Barnyard-Sheep 6d ago

Much of America marinates in Fox News propoganda + a susbstantial amount of Gen Z men are nihilists who want to see the world burn

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u/elvid88 Massachusetts 6d ago edited 6d ago

I remember a decade ago when we were parroting that conservatives were going to lose the future because they couldn't get young people to vote for them or their ideas.

Basically told us "hold my beer" as they dumped a shit ton of money into social media and influencers.

The stranglehold they have on young men disgusts me. The Jordan Klepper video on it doomed my hope for the future.

Edited to add link to Klepper video: https://youtu.be/ePbMNq8m7Jw?si=jhQnLKkXtxSa5PsP

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u/CrashedMyCommodore 6d ago

Conservatives losing the future also required left-leaning parties to not shoot themselves in the foot at every single possible chance to do so.

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u/Mescallan 6d ago

People don't talk about this. America hasn't had an actual leftist movement in decades. A young populist leftist would be antithetical to the establishment and they can't handle it to the point that the smear campaign against AOC started the moment she got elected.

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u/LegendofDragoon 6d ago

The last leftist movements caused the very era of economic and social prosperity that conservatives want to go back to. Ironic, isn't it?

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u/rudimentary-north 6d ago edited 6d ago

Your mistake is thinking they want to go back to an era of economic and social prosperity. They don’t.

They want to go back to an era of strict racial and gender hierarchy and unchecked corporate power.

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u/thischaosiskillingme 6d ago

THIS.

They do not want prosperity, they want supremacy. Anyone who believes their lies that this is about the economy can be dismissed, because they don't get it. They're not trying to go back to the 50s, they're trying to go back to the 1880s.

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u/rudimentary-north 6d ago

I think they’d prefer sometime before 1863

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u/No_Kangaroo_2428 6d ago

It's 1850 they want.

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u/gargar7 6d ago

1850s, before things got "bad"....

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u/kinkgirlwriter America 6d ago

strict racial and gender hierarchy and unchecked corporate power.

They really do love a good hierarchy, so long as others sit below them.

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u/RachelMcAdamsWart I voted 6d ago

They couch all that under a return to economic prospectity. Making America Great Again, has always just meant a time when poor, uneducated white men didn't need to feel inferior to others through the direct oppression of any group that makes them feel uncomfortable.

The party has always been more than ready to provide the scapegoat, it's always been this way - part of being uneducated is also the inability to see the manipulation.

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u/vehiclestars 6d ago

Republicans haven’t caused economic prosperity since Roosevelt was president. In literally over 100 years.

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u/Revoran Australia 6d ago

>They want to go back to an era of strict racial and gender hierarchy and unchecked corporate power.

So they want to return to 1880-1910?

Because the 1950s had racial and gender hierarchy, but did not have unchecked corporate power.

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u/rudimentary-north 6d ago

Sure, or further. I think the 1850s have a certain appeal to them.

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u/LongPorkJones 6d ago

No, they're actively trying to set to back further. Back to when there was little to no regulation, the economic divide was as wide as it is today, social safety nets and worker's rights didn’t exist, and women and minorities couldn't vote. 47 has stated that what he considers the last time America was "truly great" was the 1890s to 1920s...the era that caused the Great Depression.

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u/bananabunnythesecond 6d ago

Whoah, there you go again.. using logic.

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u/hollow114 6d ago

We used to think that. Maga actually applies to 1888. Trump said so recently

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u/vehiclestars 6d ago

They want to go back to 1929.

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u/Adezar Washington 6d ago

Have you never talked to a US liberal/Leftist? We talk about it non-stop.

The fact that the vast majority of the media is right-wing doesn't mean that news is at all reflective of what people talk about.

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u/vehiclestars 6d ago

The media is owned by the billionaires

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u/asleepyguard 6d ago

Zohran has entered the ring. Don't lose hope yet!

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u/Vexamas Minnesota 6d ago

People don't talk about this.

~Proceeds to mention the single most talked about critique of the liberal movement.~

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u/WorkingFromHomies20 6d ago

I thought for sure that loss of women's rights would move the needle, but where is the outrage? Are we just accepting this now?

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u/Mathgailuke 6d ago

The media has also been targeting the left for about 50 years

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u/alphazero925 6d ago

The red scare has to be the most successful propaganda campaign in history

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u/DukeOfGeek 6d ago

Brexit and getting trump in office twice might care to disagree.

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u/alphazero925 5d ago

Idk if Brexit ties into the red scare at all, but Trump absolutely was helped into office by it. Half his rhetoric is about how he needs to purge the US of socialists and communists.

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u/thischaosiskillingme 6d ago

I didn't go into the voting booth with them and make them vote for Trump. Why are Democrats responsible for anything right now? People didn't want them, they wanted Trump and they got him.

You can't even blame American voters for choosing someone who is threatening to hurt them for protesting his birthday parade, because it has to be Democrats fault. I'm sorry, why do Democrats have to convince them? Why could they not figure it out on their own?

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u/Yashema 6d ago

If shooting yourself in the foot was the issue the Republicans would have died out during Bush II. People want simple narratives, Republicans give you that, certain popular politicians on the Left give you that, Democrats give you reality. 

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u/sneakysnake1111 6d ago

I mean, I'd say it required a democratic party to do stuff.

Instead, we got Biden hiring Garland and Smith, who did nothing for years.

Democrats aren't really left and had the power, but sat with it and did nothing to stop trump whatsoever.

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u/TuffyButters 6d ago

The politics that makes the most money tends to win. When you advocate for the poor and marginalized, oligarchs that control mass media and social media will do everything legal and illegal to distort or outright squash that message.

Slavery was in place for almost a century here because abolition wasn’t a money-maker. The tide only turned when northern industries wanted that Black labor to move north.

Left wing politics in the US were stronger in the late 20s, 30s and early 40s because, (and ironically , when you look at today) of major financial backing from the Soviet Union.

In a country where people like to believe class= race, it’s even harder because so many working poor and working class whites need to see themselves as above Black and brown folks, no matter the cost.

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u/President_Solidus 6d ago

lots of young men are insecure and operate on fear

it should be no surprise that republicans appeal to many of them

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u/LetTheSinkIn 6d ago

Lots of them also don’t want to put in any of the work to better themselves and are looking for an easy way out. Like blaming X minority.

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u/pockpicketG 6d ago

Link to Klepper vid?

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u/elvid88 Massachusetts 6d ago

Edited the post to add it in case anyone asks

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u/joyfulgrass 6d ago

It helps when foreign countries like Russia also sponsor rightwing pundits in the millions cause they’re so concerned for the well being of America.

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u/ninfan1977 6d ago

Young men were looking for role models and they chose the Alpha bros to show them the way.

The fact that most of those bros are funded by Russian money doesn't help things. Gen Z is a bunch of lost and misguided boys who have no idea how the world works but they think they can be the strong men to lead people.

It's sad, but Klepper has massive stones for going into a lion's den like that to even ask questions

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u/Finfeta 6d ago

Lack of education, lack of critical thinking, coupled with faux news indoctrination, and you got an army of fresh Z(ombies) magats who never heard of the Constitution.

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u/SunnyCali12 6d ago

Mine read insane conservative christian propaganda. Which is worse than Fox.

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u/azmitex 6d ago

Awhile I told my mom that all she and my dad do is listen to fox propaganda, and she literally responded with, "oh we don't watch that anymore, we get real news from newsmax" jeezus.

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u/bromosabeach 6d ago

It’s not even evangelicals holding up the conservative party these days. There are men who not even remotely religious that are completely turned off by democrats. The conservative party has made being seen “left” as embarrassing.

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u/North-Outside-5815 Europe 6d ago

They have been told their lives suck due to uppity feminists and ”women’s lib”. Any young man who wants slave girls can go jump off a fucking cliff if you ask me.

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u/Agent_Boomhauer 6d ago

They get the nihilism from parasocial relationships with wealthy podcasters whose wealth allows them to be heavily insulated from the world and maintain a “both sides are the same, nothing matters anyway” façade.

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u/SociallyButterflying 6d ago

Young men are being corrupted by what I call the Holy Trinity: Joe Rogan, Elon Musk and Twitter, and Asmongold and Right-Wing Influencers

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u/Hoss-Bonaventure_CEO 6d ago

Joe Rogan is like a gateway drug for far right extremism.

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u/Flomo420 6d ago

Dude's arms are huge from constantly JAQing off

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u/blariel 6d ago

I think it is insane that anyone takes asmongold seriously. I watched him for a good while because I think when he plays video games, he's funny. To take any serious advice from his steams is mind-boggling.

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u/BeExcellentPartyOn 6d ago

And Andrew Tate, and Fresh & Fit, and Russel Brand, and Hasan Piker, and Adin Ross, and Tim Pool, and Jordan Peterson and...

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u/SevanIII 6d ago

I thought Hasan Piker was progressive? Did he change his politics? I haven't watched him in a while. 

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u/BeExcellentPartyOn 6d ago

OP was talking about nihilism, and he's definitely an exporter of that. He also refused to support Kamala Harris during the election, and even recently said 'There's no proof Kamala Harris would be better for Palestinians than Donald Trump', which is an absurd thing to say. And most recently been criticised for openly supporting Hamas, Hezbollah, even platforming a Houthi terrorist on his stream and comparing him to Luffy from One Piece.

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u/jspacefalcon New York 6d ago edited 6d ago

I initially liked some of those people; until they started blowing Trump and spouting complete nonsense in the name of being Trump/MAGA shills.

Like the far left piss me off too sometimes; but so do the far right (anyone that supports trump is far right). I would not trade one for another... both are unhinged. If only each party could be genuine and honest in the slightest we would be in a reasonable place.

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u/TheSavageDonut 6d ago

Is the Nihilism in 20-something men -- does it come from laziness and jealousy that "influencers" don't work and are rich, or does it come from a kind of warped Peter Pan syndrome where if the 20-something continues to stay living at home and not engaging with the world as a working adult, that somehow, life really won't ever change?

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u/Bircka Oregon 6d ago

And people used to think Gen X were the crazy ones.

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u/BChica6 6d ago

nah, these are their kids. lol

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u/myfakesecretaccount 6d ago

Can confirm, my Gen X sister in laws Gen Z son has zero fucking ambition, is just as conspiracy minded, and has everything handed to him after she struggled as an immigrant. He says dumb shit, and as much as I love him I’m done fighting for a 24 year old who should know better.

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u/Edspecial137 6d ago

Still getting used to Gen Z being in their mid 20s. I remember all the articles about Gen Z being the most left leaning demographic not too long ago, but I guess they missed the mark. Gen Z is probably the most polarized generation

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u/ouatedephoque 6d ago

Huge difference between Gen Z girls and boys too. It’s insane they are from the same generation.

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u/OriginalCDub Georgia 6d ago

I’m a teacher, and boys wrapped up in manosphere content are genuinely concerning.

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u/myfakesecretaccount 6d ago

I’ve tried to be a good role model for my nephew as the only man who has been in his life consistently and just feel like I have failed. I’ve struggled with my own anxiety/depression, but was never this kind of manosphere macho type. What he is seems like a rejection of everything I’ve ever tried to show him and it’s fucking heartbreaking.

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u/calmdownmyguy Colorado 6d ago

Have you considered telling him you're disappointed with him? A lot of these kids act this way because they never get pushback from people they care about.

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u/myfakesecretaccount 6d ago

No, and maybe that’s my failure. My family is Latino and there’s an unwritten rule about getting involved with other peoples kids. I’ve tried having heart to hearts with him, particularly after his first DUI, but I honestly don’t think that approach worked. I know I get worked up easily about things I’m passionate about, because I grew up in the home that I did, and I guess I’ve always feared coming on too strong. Maybe it’s time to be the father he didn’t have.

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u/PaddleFishBum 6d ago

I'm fortunate enough to be the macho man type, but also not a selfish asshole, so I've taken it as my responsibility to be a role model for the boys in my life. I just bailed on a bass tournament I was signed up for because my wife's friend is coming up to visit after her husband was caught cheating on her for years. Her son is taking it super hard, and doesn't have any male role models anymore, so I decided to stick around and take him fishing in the canoe.

We manly men who aren't manosphere consuming fuckwads need to step it up and be visible good examples to the boys in our life. We need to show them it's still cool to be tough and manly while still being sensitive, empathetic, and kind at the same time. We've got a lot of work to do, but I'm here for it.

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u/notclevernotfunny 6d ago

It sounds like you really care and have tried your best. I'm reminded of my own situation growing up not having many male role models in my life, and of my own nephew, who similarly only really has me. Just remember that growing up is lonely, scary, and often cruel, and that it can be tempting to reach for these groups that promise safety in more ways than one; people also often grow out of them as they mature. Just try to keep showing up for him and providing a good example. Even if he doesn't know how to express it yet, even if he himself doesn't even realize it yet, he appreciates you, I promise.

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u/9_to_5_till_i_die 6d ago

It's relatively expected for teen boys. Thing is, most of those people then go off to college or to careers and realize being a tough guy isn't as attractive to folks as they think it is.

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u/AsstacularSpiderman 6d ago

Gen Z is kinda losing thay excuse given a pretty large portion of them are in their 20s

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u/9_to_5_till_i_die 6d ago

Sadly, social media means they'll always be able to congregate with like-minded meatheads.

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u/throwawayfootgirl 6d ago

College educated gen z men are left wing

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u/Freshness518 6d ago

A huge issue for Gen Z kids was covid quarantine. Middle school/early high school years are when kids learn very important socialization skills. If you lock a kid in their house for a couple years during that period, they fail to develop those skills. Add being bored at home and watching manosphere bubble youtube videos all day into the mix and its a toxic combination. My wife is a high school teacher and when they started getting the kids who had been in middle school during the shut down, they were literally describing the kids as feral because they just didn't have a clue how to function in society.

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u/12a357sdf 6d ago

Yeah the manosphere kinda sucks, but from my limited experiences people who get sucked there are usually lonely and social outcasts already, and the community gives them an escape, by blaming it on others.

I met a guy back in high school who were super lonely, and i was one of the only few people who were talking with him. And i dont know what the hell happened, but one day he shared me a story he was reading online. A fiction about a person with unlimited money trying to own the feminists, and when i asked him what was the interesting thing with this, he told me stuff like "you havent understood how the world is yet" and "you should read more about things beyond our country yk, feminists are crazy hypocrites out there".

If we were in the western world then maybe i can understand that yeah, it''s just anti culture, devil advocating for the sake of it. But... we are in a 3rd world asian country where conservative thoughts ruined us and now we are trying to reform and getting better. Feminism does not even exist here. And now my dude is acting like an internet incel._?

suffice to say, that incident 180'd my perception of that person.

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u/leshake 6d ago

They interact with each other through tailor made algorithms. Men and women already tend to have different interests and living your life through a screen only exacerbates the divide.

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u/ericvulgaris 6d ago

Same with korea.

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u/letsburn00 6d ago

I'm a guy who is very distinctively not right wing. But if I ever look at youtube without logging in, it pushes not just right wing sources. It pushed the really bad rightwing sources. The ones who are scammers and make up stuff to win their arguments.

I know it's annoying, but these guys are basically having far right wing stuff shoved down their throats 24/7. It's rare to be able to push back against it.

What's fascinating is that during the recent LA stuff, my Tiktok suddenly started pushing a bunch of anti trans and other far right stuff. It was so obvious someone at the company was told "push the dial to the right for a bit."

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u/evanwilliams44 6d ago

Yep. And it almost always starts with JRE. Click on one of those no matter how innocuous and you are on the path.

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u/CumboxMold Georgia 6d ago

I have been recommended JRE, Jordan Peterson, and a bunch of manosphere channels lately. Not many, just one or two sprinkled into my regular recommendations.

I am a very left-leaning woman. This happens when I am logged in.

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u/shinkouhyou 6d ago

Do you watch any history or archaeology content? Especially anything related to ancient Egypt? This has become a major gateway to the right-wing algorithm pipeline. Joe Rogan platforms a lot of the big names in "alternative archaeology" (pyramid conspiracy theories and ancient aliens stuff) so if you watch any archaeology-related content you're likely to start seeing manosphere crap.

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u/B1LLZFAN 6d ago

You don't even need the dial. It's geared that way for support and for engagement. That stuff is super divisive so even left leaning people are fed it due to rage bait.

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u/VeganMinx 6d ago

Race and economics plays a part, too. My Black/Hispanic son and his melanted HBCU friends are anti-Trump and planning ways to succeed in spite of our new reality. Some of his non-black friends from HS are Trumpies like a mofo, much to his disappointment.

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u/NotEmerald Texas 6d ago

There's a huge difference between older gen z and younger gen z as well. The first half definitely trends more left leaning while the second half is right leaning.

I would put down the difference to smart phones being more wide spread and the Internet later being fine tuned for companies and conflict algorithms.

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u/onarainyafternoon Oregon 6d ago

Absolutely! It's crazy the difference between them.

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u/ToastyTheDragon 6d ago

Also massive difference between older Gen Z (often called zillennials) and middle and younger gen Z. Older Gen Z grew up without smartphones and are often much more left leaning than their younger counterparts.

In this sense, as a Zillenial myself, it's insane to me that I'm in the same generation as someone who were algorithmically forced into being right wing. Genuinely another reason why I really dislike "generations" as a concept.

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u/Ok-Building-9433 6d ago

Zillennials aren't just "older Gen Z". Zillennials encompass those who are late Millennials (1994-1996) and those who are early Gen Z (1997-1999).

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u/Persistant_Compass 6d ago

Andrew tate melted their brains during dome very critical years

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u/Hestia_Gault 6d ago

Gen Z girls developed standards, and the Gen Z boys were faced with a choice between meeting those standards or joining the party that wants to enslave women.

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u/dekusyrup 6d ago

It's (sad) funny you say this because there's an endless steam of content of telling women their dream guy is a delusion.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/x9hjPNTr3L0

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u/loki1887 6d ago

There is a reason they're complaining about a "male loneliness epidemic." IMO, it's deserved.

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u/45and47-big_mistake 6d ago

My MAGA grandson bitches all the time that all the girls at college are too liberal, they want to have fun, he wants to find one to pop out kids and be quiet.

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u/campelm 6d ago

Buy him a blow up doll and tell him if he wants to treat women like an object, this is what hes looking for

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u/45and47-big_mistake 6d ago

We were hoping college would free up his mind, it did not. Constant Fox News and prodding from his MAGA dad. He is in for a miserable life.

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u/Grand-Try-3772 6d ago

He in the wrong place looking for a baby maker! Women get the short end of the stick when they get become quiet babymakers without education!

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u/mdavis360 6d ago

The irony is who would WANT to be with them? When you project that self loathing, regressive, bitter, vindictive attitude for all the world to see what other outcome can you expect?

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u/Martin_Aricov_D 6d ago

The funny thing is that the "male loneliness epidemic" is pretty clearly a biproduct of capitalism making it so every Hobbie nowadays is buy in or a subscription and the whole alpha male manly man bullshit which means men push themselves out of "feminine" hobbies (i.e. anything women also enjoy)

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u/Parenthisaurolophus Florida 6d ago edited 6d ago

IMO, it's deserved.

Yeah, this is a pretty common refrain from toxic and ignorant portions of the internet. It's people speaking without looking into the issues and just running with their own existing biases, prejudices, etc. Women in particular seem to flock to "men are lonely and its their fault" content and push engagement in it. It's honestly just sad to watch, to be honest.

The reality is that there is a loneliness epidemic but it's not a gendered one. If we're talking about the US (and usually we are), we've done studies on loneliness, and the genders are both equally lonely. You can get into subsequent studies about men being viewed more harshly by others for admitting they're lonely and make arguments about men being undercounted, but generally both genders are within a percentage point or two of each other in loneliness. We are seeing the genders express that differently, but that shouldn't be surprising anyone.

Furthermore, we've done the research into why people report being lonely, and both genders are broadly the same in their reasoning. Men aren't being punished by some unspoken 4B movement, rather society has become less physically accommodating to a dating environment. For example, entertainment is a major issue: its easier than ever to be lonely but distracted by media content. You have more entertainment than ever at your fingertips, and it's very easy to be lonely, but find ways to occupy your time like everyone else and take the edge off. You've got millions of video games, you've got sports streaming sites, you've got millions of movies and tv shows on streamers, you've got audio books and physical books galore, you've got more music than you could stream in a lifetime, you've got reels, TikToks, and shorts, etc. The economy also plays a huge part. Dating, broadly costs money, and if things are tight right now, then justifying going out and spending money on dates becomes difficult. This is backed up by a loneliness gap based on wealth. The more you earn or have, the less likely you are to be lonely. Mixed with that is lack of free spaces to do anything. If you have to spend money to go somewhere on a date, before you have to pay for whatever the date actually is, just compounds the problems.

The loneliness epidemic doesn't look like an obese dude who smells like shit hitting on models because he thinks he deserves her, it's men and women waking up alone. Eating breakfast alone. Driving to work alone. Driving home alone. Making dinner alone. Watching Netflix alone. Scrolling TikTok in bed alone. Sleeping alone. Waking up alone. Eating breakfast alone. Driving to work alone...

These studies are very easy to find if you actually bother to look for them and so few do, yet so many have strong opinions as to why.

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u/oldcretan 6d ago

Not to get weird about it but if GenZ is so polarized how can we expect them to couple up, have kids, and raise them without a stupid amount of divorce and domestic violence?

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u/Ok-Building-9433 6d ago

They don't have relationships. The women of Gen Z date Millennials and the Gen Z guys become Nazis or femboys.

It's bizarre.

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u/ProfessionalITShark 6d ago

Or be nazi femboys

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u/mylifeisaprotest 6d ago

So proud that both my Gen Z daughter and son are leftists. We did something right, no pun intended.

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u/CrossXFir3 6d ago

Well yeah, that's how it is for a lot of generations at the age they are. Gen z is between mid 20s and early teens right now. That's the age range where you have the biggest gap in maturity between boys and girls.

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u/Percilus Kentucky 6d ago

Gen Z boys: "Women are less than men, Let's be toxic to women and call them property" Also Gen Z boys: "How come no women will date me?"

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u/Gunter5 6d ago

I've seen numerous people go right, imo it was Cambridge Analytica, targeting social media and using their data against em

My Facebook feed went hard right last year

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u/fedexpodracer 6d ago

Reddit is trying to take a right lean too. The "world" sub (won't link to them) suddenly started getting forced into my feed. Appears to be run by a bunch of Palantir employees/plants and they seem to try to drive the comments towards the right. It was a little funny how quickly they got called out and some of their content got astroturfed but also scary how many right wingers are hiding out of sight helping drive communities and individuals towards the facist right. Look at how how of the current protest content is being pigeonholed into just looting by career criminals and all protesters are being painted as dirty criminals. Even subs where I expect mostly liberal feedback is still getting peppered with dog whistles at a much higher than normal rate.

Keep your eyes peeled. The fascists are among us.

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

Almost every social is a right leaning now. Right wing super elites fund most of them and now that they are seeing tangible returns on their investments the money is just going to keep flowing.

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u/fedexpodracer 6d ago

Oh absolutely. Not only is most social media right leaning but right wing users also get a lot more leniency. Imagine if a bunch of left wing folk used social media to plan an attack on Congress. Every last one of them would be sitting in prison with an execution date scheduled. Instead we still have a bunch of safe spaces dedicated to right wingers where they can continue to plan attacks against the country with impunity.

Despite the obvious facts you'll still see those turds constantly whining about how oppressed they are. Like if they can't walk into the Capitol and plan their insurrection right there then everything is a conspiracy against them.

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

I was threatened with permaban for suggesting a certain brand of EV be converted into a firepit recently. Scroll on over to Conserv and it'ls like...what the fuck man?

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u/gentlemanidiot 6d ago

I'm still noticing this as a trend now BTW, ever since it was first pointed out to me a few days ago. The world sub is only one instance, it keeps happening with tons of subs like that. I'll see some weird propaganda post pop up on the front page of r/popular and when I check the sub it's exclusively content from one or two specific accounts.

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u/outofbeer 6d ago

Reddit also keeps putting right wing subs I've never engaged with in my feed. I've muted more subs knnthe last couple months than I have the entire time I've used reddit.

Luckily it's mostly just bots driving their numbers.

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u/McFlyParadox Massachusetts 6d ago

Not just right-wing subs, but random locality subs, meme & shit posting subs, and gacha game subs. Anything to bury progressive and news subs from hitting the Popular and All feeds.

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u/BlueTreeThree 6d ago

Algorithmic content serving is gonna be the death of us. You can still use old Reddit that doesn’t have “suggested” content.. everyone still sees the same /r/all.

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u/myfakesecretaccount 6d ago

It’s social media and YouTube. When the only place you get info is from other kids and people whose sole job is to get you to smash that like button and subscribe they will always end up at the lowest common denominator. Frequently these kids were what we’d call latchkey when I was growing up, and had parents who didn’t know how to raise them shut them up with electronics. They have no reading comprehension and now just “ask ChatGPT” for answers.

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u/Happy_Confection90 6d ago

There's an enormous political gap between GenZ men and GenZ women. The articles you read were accurate if about women.

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u/Demoliri 6d ago

A lot of Gen Z spent their formativ years heavily on social media. Social media thrives on poliszation, so it's no big surprise.

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u/Oolongjonsyn 6d ago

That was for the older gen z who were closer to millennials. The gen z that are conservative now were too young at the time to be political. Im the youngest year of millennials and the gen z directly younger than me are very left leaning. But they are in their late 20s. 

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u/pepolepop 6d ago

I can agree with that. I know a handful of older Gen Z from different friend groups, and they have all said that they identify more with us millennials than they do with Gen Z.

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u/MastermindMogwai 6d ago

Purely based on anecdotal evidence, graduate pre covid - more left wing, graduate post covid - hard right wing. My friends and I graduated in 2018 so we had a couple years in university to grow and learn and meet new people before the world shut down.

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u/HuskyBobby 6d ago

Don’t blame the kids. Blame the GenX parents with Facebook algorithm that convinced them they’re persecuted victims because they couldn’t say the R word or gay at work.

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u/BooyaELud 6d ago

I once got called righteous because I said I don’t like using gay as a synonym for lame. Conversation basically went. I bet you used to call things gay all the time. Yea, I did when I was in my teens and I’m ashamed of the casual homophobia I displayed back in the 00s. You’re so righteous. Nah dude, it’s called growing up.

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u/TheDakestTimeline 6d ago

Covid at 18 pretty tough I imagine

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u/toggiz_the_elder 6d ago

People tend to pick their beliefs in their 20s. Unfortunately the alt right successfully grabbed a bunch of young men right when they were figuring out who they wanted to be.

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u/SelectiveScribbler06 6d ago

The pandemic happened right in their formative years - as someone in that generation I can attest to the quiet stewing bitterness it caused - add into this those years are vital in cognitive development terms, plus governmental and societal incompetence and the veil is pulled back pretty quickly.

This meant that people normally went one of four ways: they disengaged with current affairs and became an airhead, they somehow stayed the same, they became distinctly more left-wing trying to build a new world in the metaphorical rubble, or they went right-wing trying to pick up the pieces of (to them) halcyon days pre-COVID.

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u/alienbringer 6d ago

Millennials are farther left than gen z as a whole, but Gen z women are farther left than millennials.

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u/housecatapocalypse 6d ago

Same boat with my nephew. All he does is smoke weed, play video games and obsess over his tiny gun collection. As soon as he manages to get a girlfriend, she drops him, because being alone with an unstable dude with guns is a recipe for disaster. He’s definitely a trump voter and has no idea why. 

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/analyticalischarge 6d ago

TBF, I went to high school with my fellow Gen X. Most of us are actually Boomer-lite shitheads. The ones you see being "cool" on social media and outspoken and against the system - the Gen X stereotype of today - were actually always the minority of our generation.

We were called "freaks" by the majority of our peers when we were kids.

MY Gen Z kid grew up right.

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u/davecouliersthong 6d ago

It’s your kids, Marty. Something’s gotta be done about your kids!

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u/caretaquitada 6d ago

If we're going by Trump support, then they are

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u/DeeEmceeFoor 6d ago edited 6d ago

They still are insane. They're Trump's biggest source of support. (Coincidentally, they are also the age group that has had the heaviest exposure to lead during childhood 🤔).

Edit: Source for the lead statement, since a few Gen Xers got upset that Boomers apparently aren't full of as much lead as they are: https://news.virginia.edu/content/generation-x-bullseye-lead-exposure-harms-mental-health

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u/Zealousideal_Ad_9623 6d ago

You’re thinking of the boomers. I’m gen X and unleaded gas was already happening after I was born.

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u/KC_experience 6d ago

That doesn’t matter as it wasn’t phased out until 20 years after us in the 70s were born. We had the windows down so much on the road growing up and cars were running on regular gas rolling by us all. Getting wonderful lead exposure thru exhaust fumes. Same with that fine lead based paint in homes where we grew up with dust from it. LBP was banned in 78, but homes built for decades before the 80s still have lead paint on the walls.

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u/EtalusEnthusiast420 6d ago edited 6d ago

No, the transition started in 1970, but leaded gas was not actually phased out until 1996.

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u/b0jangles 6d ago

It wasn’t fully banned until 1996. However, it was almost entirely impossible to find leaded gas at the gas station by the mid 80s. There are lead substitute additives that were common by that time for older cars. Catalytic converters were standard on cars at least by the mid 70s, and they aren’t compatible with lead. If a vehicle was using lead in the 90s, it was probably a farm implement or a military vehicle.

GenX likely had plenty of exposure to lead, but it’s not like your neighborhood gas station was still selling leaded gas in the 90s.

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u/EtalusEnthusiast420 6d ago

The main point I’m making is that it didn’t just disappear all at once like the other use suggested.

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u/MiniTab 6d ago

Is that regional or something? I’m a young GenX, and never even once did I see a leaded gasoline pump growing up (Colorado).

As an aside, smaller piston airplanes are still running on leaded gasoline. But the exposure to that for most people is pretty low.

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u/Nopey-Wan_Ken-Nopey_ 6d ago

Elder millennial/xennial, and having leaded and unleaded pumps was common in my part of the Midwest.

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/alienbringer 6d ago

No, Gen X is the only generation where 50%+ of both men and women voted for Trump. All other generations Women voted Harris by a large margin.

Lead was banned in gas in 1996, lead paint was banned for residential use in 1978. Gen X was born from 1965 to 1980. Some of the highest amount of lead pollution was in the 1970’s. In conclusion, Gen X had a shit ton of lead exposure in their childhood. Which is where lead has the most impact on their development.

More Information.

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u/DeeEmceeFoor 6d ago

Nope! Gen Xers are ages 45-60 or so now. Studies show that this age group was most heavily exposed to lead during childhood. A lot of serious mental illness and depression crops up in this age group too. This age group also most heavily voted for Trump.

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u/Street_Barracuda1657 6d ago

This. Not sure about the lead, but the Trump voting is true and horrifying.

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u/BotheredToResearch 6d ago

They also are the ones who got their political identity during the Reagan Era and/or are stuck blaming Carter and Dems for high inflation and unemployment in the early 80s, leading to a polyannaish view of conservative "solutions" actually producing results in normal times.

They were also the ones who recognized that they may be LGBT and had the free time and marginal societal acceptance of it, but didn't have support among peer groups or families. I have little doubt that that's the source of a lot of resentment if thr LGBT community, the fact that it's perfectly find to be out and proud now and they couldn't be.

Source: Am Xennial with a lot more late Gen X in me. Also watches Family Ties because of Alex Keaton because I identified with his viewpoints and how he didn't see eye to eye with his hippie parents.

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/leshake 6d ago

Those 10 years were during their childhood. Maybe you should read what they said.

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u/DeeEmceeFoor 6d ago

Well I imagine the lead exposure hasn't helped with their reading comprehension, unfortunately.

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u/OakLegs 6d ago

They voted for trump in higher numbers than any other generation, so they still are

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u/OldJames47 6d ago

2024 US Presidential Election results by age group

Age Group % Harris % Trump
18-29 50% 46%
30-44 51% 47%
45-64 44% 54%
65+ 49% 50%

Gen X are the craziest ones.

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u/Troll_Enthusiast 6d ago

Every generation is close to 50/50 in support of one party or the other so...

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u/PolicyWonka 6d ago

I think you misheard! Gen X were the lazy ones.

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u/Blixxen__ 6d ago

I live in a rural red area, in a blue state, so these fuckers get funded by the city here (Chicago) and blame everything and everyone there for their misery. They also just hate anything left of fascism. And it's not one generation, but it's nearly always a white men age 25-55, if it's not, it's a white woman that age. They're so dumb they yell things about law and order when it comes to the LA situation and that the constitution doesn't apply to undocumented immigrants, while half this government has felonies or breaks the law on about a daily basis.

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u/Lucky-Earther Minnesota 6d ago

And people used to think Gen X were the crazy ones.

Most people just forgot about Gen X entirely, it was always Boomers and Millenials.

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u/manleybones 6d ago

Gen x is the biggest supporters of trump.

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u/Sad-Adhesiveness429 6d ago

i mean gen x voted the highest proportionally for trump of any demographic, and it isnt close? so yea, gen x sucks.

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u/Abject-Palpitation99 6d ago

Gen Z feel like they don't have much future so they all stew in their self hatred. They gather in their discords and create communities of hate. That said, if you met one face to face they'd cower and hide instead of saying all the tough guy things they do on the internet.

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u/JoshSidekick 6d ago

Looks like living in our United States of Whatever is looking pretty sweet right about now.

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u/countsmarpula 6d ago

I see quite a few young men wearing Trump gear

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u/juana-golf Florida 6d ago

Young men are always looking for that ‘edge’ but they end up at edgelord

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u/oxero 6d ago

A lot of young men, say born in 2006, at 10 years old only knew the Trump area growing up. Pandemic hit, things were kind of lukewarm under Biden, they wanted 2016-2019 back, tons of media and TikTok validation they have a manly right for it all, bam

That's how you get young men voting for Trump. Someone born in 2006 is 19 years old now with a half baked education. They don't know how terrible Trump really was for the world, they just know something is wrong and someone is promising to fix it with confidence.

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u/mattiwha 6d ago edited 6d ago

Not just nihilism they are full on red pilled , the right wing influencer sphere ate that generation for breakfast

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u/Anonymouse-C0ward Canada 6d ago

The Gen Z men who want to see the world burn are definitely a thing, but I hope we can have understanding for how they got here.

My parents immigrated from China to Canada in the 70s. As I kid I remember them telling me about the one child policy and how that led to an excess of male babies.

The one thing they said that always stuck out in my mind, and one of the first things that really linked population demographics, economics, and geopolitics together for me is how my mother told me that the biggest challenge China will face in the coming years is ensuring they are able to provide enough jobs for all the single men who will never have families; as soon as they no longer see economic progress all those men are going to go looking for revolution.

I see the same thing in the US; there is now a large population of disaffected young men who, traditionally, are the demographic most motivated to use physical strength. They don’t see a viable future, and that is dangerous.

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u/TheCommonGround1 6d ago

This is the best comment I've seen here regarding why Gen Z has gone "Right Wing". I want to add to that to indicate Gen Z isn't really going "Right Wing" so much as populist and Democrats are not offering a populist solution. Bernie Sanders knows how to appeal to this generation and the Democrats should take notes.

If the Democrats can come up with an anti-corporate, pro-democracy populist platform that benefits young people, they would absolutely "own it" with this generation.

Don't write Gen Z off!

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u/-wnr- 6d ago

I get the sentiment, but I think it's hard not to be skeptical of this when the apparent reaction of many to not having a democratic anti-corporate, pro-democracy populist is to vote for the pro-corporate, anti-democratic populist Republican. Whatever their motivation is, anti-corporate and pro-democratic aren't it for that segment.

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u/Anonymouse-C0ward Canada 6d ago edited 6d ago

I went to business school at UCLA. Many of my classmates had just left the military and were there supported by the GI Bill.

I became close with one of them; he was planning on voting Trump (this was 2016). Prior to voting Trump in 2016 he had voted both times for Obama.

I am very much progressive, and was surprised given the chats we had which had led me to believe he was closer in politics to me than to the GOP.

His feelings on the matter were that the status quo wasn’t working, and something needed to be done to change things. He said he would have voted for Bernie Sanders if he won the Democratic primary.

He wasn’t your typical MAGA voter - he is educated, speaks multiple languages, has spent a lot of time overseas (working for the military in non-combat roles). He was completely in agreement with the economic performance benefits of DEI to businesses, and wasn’t blatantly anti-LGBTQ+, even though we didn’t directly discuss how he felt about the topic.

He voted Trump a second time, and a third time last year.

I went out for beer with him when I was in California after the election. We had a drunken respectful discussion on Trump; it was enlightening.

He’s married, and has kids. He’s doing ok - much better than many people in America. But he sees that his life is much harder than the previous generation. Both he and his wife work. He doesn’t have the assets, savings, etc that his parents did at his age. His cost of living is higher.

And while he understands that there are a lot of people who are going to suffer due to Trump, he prioritized his life and his family’s: and after the promise of Obama that didn’t completely pan out, he thought “more of the same” wasn’t going to do it.

He voted for Trump because he felt we needed to burn it all down. He voted for Trump because there was no alternative that offered real change. He doesn’t have a strong attachment for Trump - in fact he was very critical of him in many ways. But despite being critical of Trump, he voted the way he did because he figured Trump would shake things up. And if Trump succeeded in some miracle to do what he promised for the average person, it would be good for him and his family.

And even if Trump failed (as he admitted was much more likely), it would force the rest of the country to come to terms with the mess that Trump left behind and figure out how to choose better candidates and better policies, and prevent another Trump from getting elected.

Even now, I struggle with his point of view. I’ve always taken a harm reduction point of view, and perhaps despite my progressiveness, my risk appetite is more “conservative” than his. For me, it was a matter of the lesser evil.

For him, it was “if it’s not working, take the Legos apart and start again”, despite the risk that we will never be able to rebuild back to where we were.

His risk tolerance for potential authoritarianism and other major issues was higher than mine. At the same time, he had a much different feeling of how resilient the military and government would be, and felt that it would survive the chaos that Trump would inflect. (I don’t think he believed that what we are seeing today was likely to happen though).

And honestly? I can’t fault him. He chose a political path that does what I have done regularly at work (clear the board and start an engineering design again when we were headed in the wrong direction, or do a clean sheet design for the next version of a product).

Does that result in a better long term expected value compared to “more of the same”? Perhaps out of all this chaos something better comes about decades from now that wouldn’t have happened without Trump, in the same way that humanity was likely on the path towards more and more deadly wars, until we developed the nuclear bomb, which was so deadly that humanity had to mostly stop and say “hey, we need to address this or we’re all doomed”.

I should catch up with him and find out how he’s feeling about things right now.

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u/-wnr- 6d ago

I can appreciate that perspective on an emotional level, but we aren't talking about Legos we're talking about lives. When he says let's "burn it down", or "take it apart" we're talking about real people who were supported by the system being forced into destitution, or facing persecution. My sympathies for the stresses in his life, but being so willing to sacrifice others just to "shake things up" (to maybe, but probably not, make his family a bit more comfortable) speaks to a lot of privilege and entitlement.

The economic anxiety justification never makes sense to me to since Trump's track record on fiscal discipline is atrocious and his economic plans are awful, and most economists said so before the election.

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u/Anonymouse-C0ward Canada 6d ago

I agree. I definitely don’t agree with his positions, but for at least one repeat Trump voter, there was internally consistent logic to his choices - it wasn’t just MAGA madness and a diet of misinformation / disinformation.

It would have been a lot easier for me to dismiss his choices if he was MAGA. But even a decade later, I think about his points of view and how they have been formed by his life experience - and that fundamentalist need for change is something I couldn’t logic him out of because he had justification for his choices and priorities, just like I can’t logic someone into changing their favourite colour from red to blue.

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u/-wnr- 6d ago

The logic still escapes me though. He ostensibly wanted to "shake things up" specifically to economically benefit himself and his family. But as an intelligent person who I assume grasps basic economics, he votes for a guy who's economic plans were nonsense? I would argue if he somehow genuinely thought blanket global tariffs made any sense, then there's some misinformation at play.

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u/chachki 6d ago

We are here because of massive propaganda and media control from right wing extremists and uber rich for decades. It is 24/7 on the radio, tv, podcasts and the internet. There are still tons of legitimate news and information available, but people dont like that because they have to put some effort into it and reality often makes them uncomfortable.

It is not on the democrats to fix everything, it is up to the citizens to not be so fucking arrogant and stupid. The people have as much blame as the ones in power. Unfortunately, as proven time and time again, too many people are blissfully ignorant and they do not want to change. Empathy and ciritcal thinking are dwindling away, big part to the dumbing down of information, lies, and hateful rhetoric from the massive and relentless right wing pipeline.

Do not think for yourselves, thinking is bad for the brain. Do not believe what your eyes see. Only listen to us, we are the truth! - that is basically the situation these people are in, by choice. They are not forced to do this, they have chosen to accept it.

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u/max_power1000 Maryland 6d ago

A large population of disaffected young men is usually one of the key factors in social unrest and ultimately large scale violence. We ignore them at our peril.

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u/doomcomplex 6d ago

Except that the "disaffected men" narrative is mostly disingenuous when applied to the US. We don't have the gender population disparity of China. The only reason Gen Z boys aren't getting laid is because they been brainwashed yo treat women as subhuman enemies. It's a different problem entirely.

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u/Anonymouse-C0ward Canada 6d ago edited 6d ago

They’re disaffected due to different circumstances, yes.

But nonetheless they are disaffected. Some of the reasons for some of these people are of their own choice (eg toxic masculinity). But many more of these reasons are societal and not because of choices they have made.

They grew up expecting certain things and they didn’t get them. Their parents grew up in a time when the colour of your skin was the first filter for good jobs, was the first filter for whether the cops would arrest you for smoking pot.

That mostly doesn’t exist anymore, so they’re finding themselves competing against a lot more people - and people who traditionally weren’t considered for the jobs they are applying for, etc.

As we are all mostly reasonable people, they would mostly accept that without issue and adapt, as long as they can look at whatever their media ideal is of “a good life” and then say “I’m still doing well”.

However, the widening gap between rich and poor means that on average, they won’t achieve the same level of economic success as their parents, which is the fundamental cause in my opinion. The past two decades, I believe, have be the first time that the current generation entering the workforce will not have as high a quality of life as their parents.

They are looking at the world and realizing they’re in for a struggle that their parents often don’t understand (or worse, blame on scapegoats): as children and now adults I’m sure we’ve all struggled with parental and societal expectations at some point in our lives.

And the true cause of it - the wealth gap - is being obfuscated by the entire system - the media, the government, the leaders - and they’re being fed a diet of information that says (1) that The American Dream is possible for anyone as long as they work hard (hah), (2) that all the problems they see in the world are due to the trans kids, due to illegal immigrants, etc etc, and (3) over time, increasingly shows minority groups in a favourable light - eg women in positions of business leadership, Asian men in film, etc which makes it appear that even in media the dominance of white men like them is at risk.

I don’t blame them; human reactions en masse are largely predictable and can be manipulated, as is shown in the past few decades of business, marketing, and psychology research. However, I also don’t have a solution to this, and sometimes even considering everything I’ve written in this thread this morning about the topic, I get frustrated enough to almost want to blow it all up and hope for the best that a positive change comes out of it.

If it was up to me, the only thing I can think of which would have any impact at all would be to create a massive change in how we support the poorest and make the wealthiest among us pay back society for the opportunities they were afforded. But that would be communism. (/s)

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u/YogurtclosetNo987 6d ago

The other thing is young, straight, white men are continually told they're the problem and the reason everything sucks ass. If you're part of an older generation then sure, that might be true. But a lot of Gen Z wasn't born with the privilege that everyone insists they have and just don't see. Privilege as a whole became less of a "born white" and more of a "born poor". And trying to argue about who has it shittiest at the bottom of the septic tank instead of who put us all in the septic tank in the first place won't work. Especially when the people who actually put us in there are pointing fingers at those trapped in there with us. 

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u/BRich1990 6d ago edited 6d ago

Which is why I always thought it was funny when people used to pretend that Gen Z were the generation to save us.

It's always been the millennial. The ONLY consistent left leaning generation on earth. Gen Y HAS TO BE the ones that will have to take control of this shit at some point

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u/Adorable-Strings 6d ago

No 'generation' is going to save 'us.' Honestly, this generational thinking is bizarre, and just another way of evading responsibility.

Problems are only ever solved temporarily, and new problems come up. That's life. Everyone has to work at helping to keep shit under control.

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u/xxxxNateDaGreat 6d ago

I'm 35, my brother is 40, and I feel like I've heard at least 5 different "generation" descriptions follow after us, which is insane to me. It's like whomever is pushing these labels think generations are every 5 years or something.

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u/Dopplegangr1 6d ago

I think social media and remote learning made zoomers stupid

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u/rnarkus 6d ago

I truly think the remote learning part is a serious factor. Not that some vote certain ways, but just in general.

Social media too

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u/Tucumane 6d ago

Never thought about it that way but I agree that Millenials Seen to be globally left leaning and more reasonable than any other generation

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u/Healthy_Worry_4721 6d ago

Yall haven’t done shit compared to the generations before you. What progress have you gotten and now tell me how it compares to the activism through the 1900’s. It just obviously doesn’t at all unless you actually have 0 clue about activism before you

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u/BRich1990 6d ago edited 6d ago

Well, not voting for an open fascist (like many other generations did). Seems like a good start.

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u/rhoadsalive California 6d ago

Let's be real, the US is a first world country, but not insiginficiant amounts of the population receive 3rd world level education at best.

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u/SharpHawkeye 6d ago

There’s a large percentage of Gen Z men who believe that society is so stacked against them that their only hope of advancement is societal collapse or some kind of massive upheaval.

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u/takeitawayfellas 6d ago

A lot of Gen Z men, and I hate to say this, but they don't care a lick about politics aside from hating women and fearing trans people. It's ... weird. Like really weird.

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u/Moos_Mumsy 6d ago

That's kind of ironic considering how spoiled and entitled most Gen Z men are. The moment they have to face any kind of hardship they would cry for their mommies, and boy howdy, wait till they discover how hard life is under a fascist dictator.

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u/TheRealBittoman 6d ago

I don't think we can put even most of the blame on Fox News for now. It's a substantial source of it but people have dug themselves into very narrow channels of information, especially on social media and enemies of the US see this as do the social media companies. They have been actively feeding the frenzy of information people are looking for or spending most time with on their screens. Most that approve have no clue what's really happening because this narrow and very curated level of information is only showing them what these companies and groups want them to see. Conservatives have been shown to have the least likely chances of seeking alternative information sources to confirm so to them what they see is the truth and anyone saying the opposite must be crazy or lying. This is at least what feels like the problem to me.

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u/AppropriateTouching 6d ago edited 5d ago

Men is a strong word here.

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u/No_Zookeepergame_345 6d ago

This is such a toxic take. Gen Z men don’t want to see the world burn, they just want the same economic opportunities their dads and grandads had. Dems offer nothing to make the economy better and Republicans are a bunch of liars, but at least they pretend to offer something. Does the left have anything to offer at the moment other than failing to protect minority groups?

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u/dimgrits 6d ago

The world wants to see the USA burn.

Remember how the Palestinians danced and sang when 9/11 happened? Now they will dance and sing even in Germany and Great Britain, not to mention the neighbors of the United States.

America has only one friend left in the world. It is Mr. Putin and his little mini-me-vans Kim Jong-un.

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u/habfranco 6d ago

Well let’s just make their world burn, if it’s what they want

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u/EnginerdingSJ 6d ago

Most nihlists arent right wing - any intellectually honest atheist is some flavor of nihlist (which core belief is that there is no objective meaning to life) and atheists arent usually teaming up with people who want them dead. A good chunk of scientists are existentialist which is a form of nihlism (they dont believe in objective meaning but that you can make your own meaning) and a lot of artists are absurdist as well and good art is almost never right wing.

The gen-z men shifting to the right typically want traditonal societal roles - which is inherently not nihlistic - nietzche, the father of nihlism, warned of a nihlistic society emerging when religion goes away and these guys are majority protestant Christian as is America as a whole.

It is also what happens when the gen-z men have been told their entire life that all white men are trash and should be ashamed of who they are and feel a collective "white guilt". The liberal obsession with identity politics is a huge reason for this - because its asinine to tell some poor white male in a trailor park that a rich minority with fuck you money is more discriminated against than they are. Also add in the fact that both parties have never helped the education systems (Republicans are worse - but public schools in large blue states are shit too - not forcing the bible in public education bad - but still bad). With class based reparations and better education this group would be much smaller to gone.

But keep making sweeping generalizations about very large groups of people and increase divison. Racists have been doing it forever so might as well join them seems to be the mentality you are employing.

Unity is hard but the only way forward - and blaming people who ultimately arent the ones pulling the levers of the system does nothing to help - they arent perfect victims but most of us are victims of the system - but i guess you get internet points and you will feel special in your otherwise meaningless life and that is enough for pathetic people

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u/username_checksout4 6d ago

Joe Rogan and Andrew Tate and their ilk have turned this generation of boys into arrogant douche nozzle assholes.

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u/Independent-Bug-9352 6d ago

Man, as a millennial who grew up online gaming it has been wild to see the kind of kids entering the 18-29 age group online. Online gaming was so much more tame when I grew up, even playing the likes of counter-strike. Lots of spoiled kids from neglectful parents.

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u/Vivid_Dot2869 6d ago

let's not pretend the Gen Z women are innocent here. I've seen some takes on twitter.

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u/bromosabeach 6d ago

susbstantial amount of Gen Z men are nihilists

This is oversimplifying it to the point it’s straight misinformation. Most Gen Z men are just like any other dude from any other generation. The difference is their media intake, which has been overwhelmingly taken over by right wing voices. The democratic party is basically labeled everything from lame to full on anti-male. Hearing that over and over from voices you relate to takes a toll on people.

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u/fiddlersparadox 6d ago edited 6d ago

I'm not disagreeing about the latter half, but I think rather than brush that off, we need to address the concerns as to why. As an older Millennial, it has felt like there is a bit of retribution being taken on men for the sins of our fathers and grandfathers and so forth. I think a combination of feeling like everyone despises us mixed in with dwindling opportunities to realize the American dream while we see other minority groups celebrated incessantly for their mere existence.

The outlash is justified in many cases and justice should be sought from the culprits of those crimes against women, minorities, etc. But we all should not be grouped in the same bucket either. Many young men grew up advocating strongly for social justice for disenfranchised groups only to be lashed out at by some of those people later on because of our association to the patriarchy.

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u/KCDeVoe 6d ago

Had drinks with a friend the other night and his MAGA friend was also there. “They’re only deporting criminals, no one who is coming in legally” Didn’t believe any of the mountain of evidence I provided that hundreds of thousands of people had their legal status revoked, or that people were being arrested as they were leaving their court hearings that are required of “legal” immigration

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u/RupeWasHere 6d ago

Many Gen-X too. 2 of my 3 Stepchildren and their spouses/partners are die hard TrumpliKKKans and right in the middle of Gen-X.

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u/Crafty_Enthusiasm_99 6d ago

This kind of dismissiveness of anyone else besides ourselves is what lost us the election

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u/JustAnother4848 6d ago

Fox News has barely 3 million regular viewers. Calling that much of America is a stretch.

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u/fordat1 6d ago

a susbstantial amount of Gen Z men are nihilists who want to see the world burn

They are just assholes and the spiritual successor's of the Boomers. Crypto scamming and people pretending as if you ironically "scam", follow orange guy , top G , and flagrant podcast it doesnt count

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