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Everything to me just points to this being a very confused and disaffected kid who wanted to do something memorable with his life. I genuinely don't think there was much consideration beyond that. He was 20 years old, were your political beliefs as concrete and nuanced when you were that age as they are today?
I was 19 for 9/11. It solidified where I stood pretty well. I'd say 20 year olds today could easily be just as galvanized, especially with the way social media has changed things since then.
Hey we're the same age! I remember when 9/11 happened and the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan, that I didn't really know the main differences of news sources and fully understand how they leaned one way or another. I remember watching Fox News at the time, but didn't really realize that it was blatant propaganda. It wasn't until I started looking into other news sources and then looked into media biases that I started to realize just how fucked up Fox News is.
So I don't really expect most 19 or 20 year olds to really know what's trustworthy and what's not.
Just curious, were you from a conservative family? Or was it just out of the natural political ignorance of youth? I only ask, because my parents were mildly progressive, and I feel that I was sure Fox News was propaganda about as soon as I learned it existed in high school.
My parents never told me this explicitly, either. I just remember Fox News being very pro-Bush at the time I discovered it, and immediately knew it was garbage. I was maybe 15 or so.
Not saying this is you, but I can only imagine how hard it must be to break out of that spell, when it's been force fed to someone by their parents for their whole lives. It's similar to religion in that way.
No, not a super religious or conservative family. My step-dar was ex-military and eventually went down a Fox News hole later in his life that he will never climb out of. But at the time, it was just ignorance on my part as what was considered "news" and what wasn't.
Watching the war on CNN in the dorms like a TV series every day
He's the prototypical American lone wolf shooter, it's not complicated
Everything to me just points to this being a very confused and disaffected kid who wanted to do something memorable with his life.
Used to be, a guy like this would simply shoot up a school. But now that he's shooting at our Dear Leader, its time to get serious about
gun controlmental healthviolent political rhetoricTankies.were your political beliefs as concrete and nuanced when you were that age as they are today
…yeah. To be fair, I'm 22, but I've been in the board of a local political party for over 3 years now. You could maybe make that argument for 16, but honestly, even then I was at political demonstrations.
I'd argue that your experience is an exception and not the rule. Most teenagers aren't nearly so politically involved. And at 29, I'm a very different person than when I was 20.
Many teenagers are though, it's not rare. I was in JSA in high school and went to conventions full of political teenagers.
And honestly, the average teen/young adult is likely more politically engaged than the average adult. I find older adults give up as they get drained of lifeblood by capitalism. Not to mention, the most exciting political discussions tend to happen on whatever popular app hasn't been corporate-washed to death yet.
Yeah until I went to college, and then met very diverse groups of people compared to who I grew up with, wasn’t super involved with politics. I then volunteered to do cold-calling for obama’s campaign, and getting perspectives from Americans all over the nation and what was important to them, (most of these were on the fence voters) and then explaining to many of them how they did in fact align much more with obama’s policy than they thought, was a really challenging and rewarding experience to me as a 19 year old. Everyone’s experience is difference, and I’m thankful to have experiences early in my life that have set up what I believe in
I'd argue that maybe the world for kids today isn't the same as it was for you 10 years ago and maybe you aren't the authority on it.
Does the comment I replied to's personal anecdote make them the authority on the political involvement of teenagers? Did I ever claim to be the authority? We're having conversation, relax
You relax, they were just making a point too. You did use your anecdote in a way that implied a broad sweeping point. Calm down.
People like Andrew Tate are radicalizing a lot of young men.
Yep, this is it. Before, he was an awkward kid from a backward place with no friends and no prospects. Now, his name is forever associated with Donald Trump.
Yes