#this would definitely get him the gen z and millennial vote

[midnight-train-of-thought]

Yooo guysss

I got the BEST idea for a Biden campaign ad

Okay so, it opens in a picturesque 1950s American town square- the set of Back to the Future.

Biden skates into frame on a skateboard, and looks back behind him to where there is a commotion- Trump is kicking puppies (or babies or something) while his posse looks on and laughs.

Biden beckons to the camera conspiratorially and whispers, “Watch this.”

He slides on his aviator glasses and calls to Trump, “Hey Don! Why don’t you pick on someone your own age?!”

Trump gets red in the face, steam blows out of his ears, and he gets tunnel vision, like a bull. He yells something incoherent and probably unairable at our star, then gets into his big red MAGA pickup truck, decked out in flags, guns, and lewd (and insensitive) bumper stickers. He revs the engine and charges straight at Biden.

They have a quick chase across the town green. They’ve drawn a crowd of cheering onlookers. Soon, Trump has gained on Biden. It looks like it’s the end of the road for Joe. Trump gets ready to ram him.

But at the last possible second, Biden does a backflip handstand and leaps over the truck with the grace of a leopard. Trump and his goons gape as they look back at him…realizing too late that they were heading straight for a manure truck.

BLAM! SPLORCH! An EXPLOSION of shit!

Then Biden walks past the screen, 50s babes in each arm, with Trump spluttering and choking on shit behind him. He tilts his glasses and says, “NObody calls me Chicken.” Then bites into a Chick-fil-A sandwich.

[arpov-blog-blog]

The race for the presidency remains statistically tied despite President Biden’s dismal debate performance two weeks ago, a new national NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finds.

Biden actually gained a point since last month’s survey, which was taken before the debate. In this poll, he leads Trump 50% to 48% in a head-to-head matchup. But Biden slips when third-party options are introduced, with Trump holding the slightest advantage with 43% to 42%.

Those numbers, though, do not represent statistically significant differences, as the margin of error in the survey is +/- 3.1 percentage points, meaning results could be 3 points higher or lower.

The poll also found that, at this point, no other mainstream Democrat who has been mentioned as a replacement for the president on the ticket does better than Biden.

The results reflect the hyperpolarized political environment in the country and the reality that both of the major parties’ presumptive nominees bring with them significant disadvantages. Majorities of those surveyed continue to say they have a negative opinion of both men, and neither, they say, should be on the ballot at all.

“This is an unpleasant rematch with two unpopular people,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, “but Biden gets points for honesty and character. As a result, there’s a lot of canceling out.”

 By a 2-to-1 margin, 68% to 32%, people said it’s more concerning to have a president who doesn’t tell the truth than one who might be too old to serve.

Third parties pull younger voters, Biden doing better with those most likely to vote

When third parties are factored in, Trump and Biden are statistically tied, with Trump at 43% and Biden 42%.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pulled 8%, tied for the lowest support for him since Marist started including him in the survey in April. Professor Cornel West, running as an independent, got 3%, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein received 2%.

A significant area of concern for Biden is younger voters. Biden drops 13 points with Gen Z/Millennials when third-party candidates are factored in.

In fact, 1 in 5 Gen Z/Millennials choose a third-party candidate when the option is offered, higher than any other age group. But they are the least-likely age group to say they are definitely going to vote.

Biden is actually being buoyed by high-propensity voters. That’s a change from past election cycles when low-turnout elections were thought to favor Republicans.

Trump and Biden are tied, 45% to 45%, with the voters who say they are definitely voting. But Biden is doing better with older votes and white voters with college degrees than he did in 2020. Traditionally, those are two groups that have had among the highest participation rates of any voting blocs.

Biden’s approval rating overall is 43%, but it jumps to 47% with those who say they are definitely voting.

If not Biden, who else?

This question may be at the heart of why even more Democratic officials have not called for Biden to step aside.

At this point, no other Democrat tested does better and all are statistically tied with Trump, too.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the most likely successor if Biden were to decide against continuing his campaign, also gets 50% compared to 49% for Trump. California Gov. Gavin Newsom mirrors Biden at 50% to 48% over Trump. And Trump and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are at 49% to 49%.

So there is no clear Democratic alternative, though, as Democrats who have called for Biden to step aside would argue, those candidates could all make the case more coherently for themselves and the party.

Pollsters also expect that Trump will likely get a bounce from the Republican convention, as is the case traditionally in the days and weeks following a convention. That may set off yet another round of Democratic concerns and calls for Biden to step aside in the month until the Democrats’ convention in Chicago in August.

[locustheologicus]

From CNN: Gen Z and Millennials are scrimping. Boomers? Living it up

Gen Z and Millennials are scrimping. Boomers? Living it up

So let me share with you a conversation. This conversation happened about a year ago. It happened with a man that I consider a companion for my mother. She enjoyed the way he treated and took care of her even though I do not know if she fully comprehends him.

Before I get into this conversation, let me offer a portrait of this man and what he represents. He is a traditional Boomer, an American man, born in the 1940's and came to their initial political identity during the 60's. His generation claims credit for the social movements that many of the preceding generation actually fought for, the social Keynesian economy of the post WWII period (which they now call socialism) along with the civil rights and sexual revolution movement that came afterwards. but they certainly reaped the socio-economic benefits of that amazing period. Many of them promoted a liberal agenda early on. Once another generation, and a new group of migrants, came into its own political identity they too made the same claim to the socio-economic benefits that the Boomers reaped, this was now the 1980's, the period of the Gen-Xers. At this point, many of the Boomers began to move towards the political conservative landscape and vote against the same economic policies and social benefits that they benefited from. Claiming to be fiscal conservatives, they were actually self-absorbed and did not want to share the wealth and benefits they had gained. As other generations made their way into the political landscape, they seemed to move ever farther to the right of American politics. Nowadays, you can find them critiquing any other openness or tolerance for other cultural perspectives, especially from the sanctity of their enclosed communes like "The Villages" in Florida.

My mother is technically of the Boomer generation, but she was not born in this country, unlike her companion. Until my father passed away, I do not think I can say that either of them identified with the Boomer culture. If anything I would say that my father was critical of this culture from a traditional Catholic perspective, my mother perhaps not so much. But since his passing, my mother has drunk from these waters, and it has definitely changed her.

So here I was, talking to her Boomer companion, I recall going over my work schedule with him, perhaps with a sense of pride (my Father's ethos was that there was dignity in work, this value I very much carried with me). It was at this point that he suggest that I need to take it easy. For him this meant that one should enjoy life, spend your hard earned money, go out, see the world, have fun. He goes on to share with me his experience which molded this perspective. He recalled how his parents lived their lives, saving and scrimping every dollar and cent. He recalls that his own parents eventually passed away, and to the astonishment of him and his sister, they had left them an unbeknownst small fortune. For this Boomer, this was a sad epiphany. The lesson that he learns from this experience is that you must live a life of leisure, go on exorbitant vacations and cruises. Go party and enjoy life. Spend it all he told me, because you can't take it with you after you die.

He seemed to proudly impart this wisdom to me, suggesting that I need to take advantage of what I have and spend it on myself. Go on a cruise (evidently a favorite pastime among Boomers) enjoy the life of leisure, don't follow the mistake of those who save their money and live a simple life. This is the life lesson he offered me. On another occasion he would also impart his wisdom on what is wrong with colored people and how they ruin society but that is another topic.

I was horrified. This morally upset me. I recalled the wisdom of Psalm 49 which I had read in my evening prayer that day.

This is the lot of those who trust in themselves, Who have others at their beck and call. Like sheep they are driven to the grave, where death shall be their shepherd and the just shall become their rulers. Though he flattered himself while he lived: "Men will praise me for all my success," Yet he will go down to join his fathers, who will never see the light any more. In his riches, man lacks wisdom: he is like the beasts that are destroyed.

Like the psalmist, my mother's companion recognized that one could not take whatever wealth they had to the next life. Instead of applying the wisdom of justice, however, and seeing that one should use their wealth for the good of the community, he choose to trust in himself instead and use his wealth for his own pleasure and enjoyment. Keeping alive the memory of what my parents taught me, I know they would never have considered this a responsible position. My mother is now confused with her Alzheimer's condition to understand what is happening, but even in her own way, she is complicit with having embraced this self-centered morality that defines that generation.

I have been concerned about the generational issue for some time now. The disagreements that exist between my elders and those who are my kids age. I wrote about this in a previous post. Now I feel a moral obligation to side with Millennials and Gen-Zers in order to follow the ethics of the generations that preceded the Boomers. I remember members of the Greatest Generation who promoted an ethic of stewardship and authentic fiscal and social responsibility. This is what we have lost in the last generation and if we can bring back these ideas of saving for the common good of this generation and the next generation then I have every reason to hope for the future that they bring.

For now, many of us who are witnessing our Boomer (or in my case born again Boomer) parents ageing away on their fantasy communes are planning for our post-boomer society. In the case of my mother that means keeping her happy and trying to maintain a connection with the family she left behind. In some ways it is sad to witness how she, her companion, and so many other, have defined who they are. But at the very least, they do have Pickleball to make them happy.

[smokeybrand]

Mutiny

I’m not a fan of Joe Rogen. I find a lot of what he says to be problematic as f*ck but the way he says it, is FAR more damaging. Dude pushes some wild, dangerous, nonsense under the guise of “free speech”, disingenuous “debate”, and insidiously leading questions. Rogen is the Frat Boy version of Tucker Carlson in a lot of ways and that sh*t just doesn’t appeal to me. Beta males who think too highly of themselves listen to this due and take him seriously. These are people who are not self-actualized, who’s entire personality is based on their car or their sneakers or some other superficial bullsh*t they confuse for a personality, and that’s what Rogen’s entire show is; Superficial bullsh*t. So when he pushes dumb-f*ckery like “Don’t get the shot if you’re young and healthy”, these idiots who are either teenagers or have the mentality of teenagers, f*cking listen and we have a spike in cases. Because Joe Rogen said so.

The other day, this asshole bought into that whole “White Fear” sh*t, talking about how the Straight White Male is the most persecuted demo in America and i just groaned. This is the same exact sh*t Carlson does on his show, verbatim, just slightly less racist. It’s the current strategy of what is fast becoming the American Fascist Party, Republicans. It’s hypocritical f*cking nonsense and i hate it. How the f*ck would Joe Rogen, a Straight White Male with a whole ass podcast, be silenced or censored or persecuted/ He’s a multi-millionaire with one of the most popular platforms on f*cking Spotify. How the f*ck would any White person, especially Straight White Males, get silenced in the US? The bones of this country are built to uphold a very specific form of White Supremacy. Hell, cats talk about all these rights and liberties but, in the very beginning, those rights were only extended to White Male Landowners; basically Rich White Men, and guess who the f*ck Joe Rogen is? The constitution had to be amended to include every one else which means this country was designed to be a haven for objective White Supremacy. The fact that they replaced Straight with Rich is just a misnomer used to broaden that division and you have assholes with real audiences buying into that dangerous bullsh*t, disseminating that poison to their followers. And they just drink that persecution complex kool-aid, up. It’s f*cking absurd.

The irony in all of this is the fact that the country is getting younger and browner. Statistically, by the time Gen Z’s kids come of age, we’ll outnumber White people. The margin will be slight but they’ll be the overall minority in this country and that’s why we have all of this fear-mongering and treasonous tantrums. That system the Founding Fathers built to protect their power, is falling apart. It's all a matter of time. Why do you think they're fighting so hard to keep DC and Puerto Rico from becoming actual States? I can guarantee those cats who signed the Constitution never anticipated the influx of melanated people over the years, interbreeding with their lily White sensibilities, or the homogeneity desegregation would bring to society or the way Black culture ended up shaping the entire American zeitgeist or how the Internet just blew the doors off any illusion US citizens had about our true status in the world at large. I was born in 1984. Ten years before i existed, the South was still heavily segregated. My generation, the Millennials, were the very first to be completely free from the social consequences of the Civil Rights Movement. We were far enough removed from that to just see people, not race. I was exposed to so many more cultures, religions, and people, as a kid, than my ma had been when she was young. It wasn’t like, all of a sudden, we were singing kumbaya together, but it was definitely a start, one that has only gained more and more momentum as the Generations who came after mine, started coming of age in a world whose borders are just ceremonial at this point because of the Tech age.

I met my chick and made friends across the globe in a chatroom. One of my closest friends lives in New Zealand. Another stays in Finland. My birthday twin lives in England. She’s a year older than i am and has a beautiful family. My Puerto Rican sister met her dude around the same time i met my chick. He’s from Alabama. She moved from the island to be with him and they've settled down in Georgia where they share a beautiful daughter. My best friend became so close with an Asian girl from Australia, that he adopted her as his own sister. They spoke at least twice a week for the next fifteen years, all the way up until he passed away. The world is much smaller, much clearer, than it has ever  been before, and it turns out that it’s full of color. Color these Straight White Men are, apparently, terrified of. That’s got to be it. That’s got to be why they’re throwing these big ass tantrums and constantly fear-mongering about it. I don’t understand. When Brie Larson said what she said, it was the truth. There are THOUSANDS of films about White dudes you can watch. The entirety of film history is Straight White Males. What is so bad abut getting some chicks or People of Color or some LBGTQ representation in a few leads? Why can't we have strong Black performances in movies where we don't play the “magical Negro” or f*cking Slave? Why can't we have an all Asian cast when the principals aren't constantly fetishized? What is so terrible about giving a role to a Muslim that isn't linked to some ridiculous terrorist trope? Who’s really offended by this and why are they so goddamn fervent about it? Straight White Males, bud.

It’s because their grip on the reins is slipping. The power and the privilege they’ve had for so long, too long, is started to tip in the other direction. The playing field is, ever so slowly, evening out and these Straight White Males are losing their sh*t. They’ll talk about “being racist against white people” and “it's fine to interview everyone but hire cats who are qualified” with one breath but then absolutely savage voting rights directly focused on crippling the Black vote and desperately cling to the idea that 45 still deserves to be president, even though a steady stream of his criminal incompetence has been flowing out of the the White House since he’s left. The level cognitive dissonance is f*cking hilarious. It’s as bad as the GOP complaining about “cancel culture” while literally silencing Liz Cheney. Are you f*cking kidding me? I gotta sit here and listen to a very vocal minority complain about the direction of the MCU because they’ve decided to add a plethora of female and POC roles going forward into Phase Four. They keep asking “who's this for?” and it's obvious it's for everyone, not just Straight White Males. That, to them, means it's going to be bad. Just because the focus has shifted from three White dudes in leading roles, suddenly the MCU has lost it's way. It’s like, all of a sudden, just because the MCU wants to represent their audience as a whole, not just a narrow and shrinking part of it, we’re not supposed to trust in Feige anymore. Are you kidding me? The Green Knight is slated to be another massive hit for A24. The cat who wrote that film was bounced from studio to studio because he created that story specifically as a vehicle for Dev Patel and no major studio wanted to make it with him in the lead. Dev Patel is a f*cking Oscar winner and a brilliant actor but this movie, draped in surreal and beautiful imagery, driven by a visceral, bloody, focus, wasn’t going to get made because the lead this plot was specifically written for, happens to be brown. But Straight White Males are the ones being silenced? Okay, bud.

Joe Rogen is a symptom of a greater problem and it’s the problem of White Fragility. White Fragility fuels the worst of our society. It's the genesis of racism and bigotry. It drives Nationalism and is fertile ground for cults of personality which blossom into whole ass dictatorships. These motherf*ckers are in they’re feelings and will burn this country to the ground if it means they will stop getting their way. Brie Larson calls out the ridiculousness of the race bias in Hollywood? They attack. Arizona flips Blue because Indigenous people and Black folks come out to vote in droves? Voter fraud and four recounts, one months after the election has been called and Biden has already taken office. Jordan Peele says, out loud, to the entire country, that he’s not interested in telling stories with White people in the lead? Shadow banned from Hollywood. Dude was the toast of Hollywood after Get Out and Us. He said what he said and cat's been trapped behind the camera as a Producer ever since. It’s nuts because these people complaining about how hard it is to be and how unfair the current social climate is to Straight White Males, have called Twatter NPCs whiny, SJW, children, for years. Bro,you’re the same, just racist! You are the Trump to their Obama. You are the thermodynamic reaction to their Civil action. You assholes are arguing the same merit, just on the opposite ends of the spectrum so, if they’re whiny assholes, wouldn’t you have to be, too? The only difference is that the Twatter assholes have a zeal for inclusion while you Rogen Bros have a penchant for White Supremacy and, given the choice, I'd have to agree with the Blue Checkmarks in this regard.

Straight White Males have had the run of this country since before it was a country and look what they’ve done with it. Look where we are, right now, in the year of our lord, 2021. This is as far as we have come under their stewardship. It’s time for a new captain, i think. Sorry if that hard truth hurts your feelings. Now please steer us away from those very obvious rocks. I’d rather not violently crash into that reef and sink into a watery grave before we can get our hands on the wheel to right this ship, all because you assholes are in your feelings, thank you.

[alltheselights]

I don’t think u have to worry abt young progressives. Young progressive understand more than anyone that a vote for Biden is necessary. This is our generation

Oh, plenty do, but I’m definitely still going to worry about young progressives. And there still is good reason to. Millennial and Gen Z make up about 37 percent of eligible voters, but we don’t vote in the same numbers that older people do. In 2016, young people (18-29) showed up to vote for Hillary Clinton about 5% less than they did for Obama. Though that doesn’t seem like a huge margin, considering how small the margin of victory was in some of the swing states, it was one of many factors that contributed to her loss.

In the primaries this year, Bernie counted on huge youth turnout to help take him over the top, but it didn’t end up happening. As this article says, “young people did not vote with the same enthusiasm that they voted with in the 2016 primary, nor did they vote with the same enthusiasm they voted in the 2018 general election.”

Now, to be fair, there were challenges with many of the primaries due to COVID and that was a primary, not an election. But I still think it’s important to pay attention when young people aren’t turning out and I also think the “Settle for Biden” that I see all over TikTok and the similar general mood on other social media platforms from young people is not exactly a passionate call to get out and vote because our futures literally depend on it. People being passionate about voting Trump out and replacing him with Biden (the only possible alternative), achieving a Democratic Senate, and keeping a Democratic House is really important even if people aren’t passionate about Biden himself because there are going to be a lot of obstacles to voting this year.

There’s the virus, the mail being slowed down because of Trump’s postmaster general, Trump spreading lies about voting every chance he gets, typical voter suppression tactics, Republicans in many states trying to make mail in/absentee voting more difficult or prevent votes from being counted, lots of deadlines and different voting rules for different states (which is a problem every year), and then just the overwhelming barrage of terrible news and cynicism and failure from our leaders that gets poured over all of us daily, which can make people feel helpless or like you shouldn’t bother voting because it makes no difference anyway or like a protest vote might help change the system (it won’t). And these things do not exclusively affect young voters, but older people are still more reliable with voting.

Anyway, my point is just that I think it’s really important to continue to emphasize to Gen-Z and millennials that this is the most important election of their lifetime. I know we said that in 2016, and it was true, and I know we said it in 2018, when it was also true, but now it’s really really really true. And I hope all of us who are 18-30 in particular, and then the older millennials as well, all do everything we can to turn out ourselves, of course, but also to talk to our friends and other people in our age group to get us all mobilized. If we turn out in the numbers that those old assholes who have ruined the planet for us do, Biden would win with a sizable margin and we would flip the Senate.

And that would be a beautiful thing.

[womenofcolor15]

YBF POLITICS: Sen. Chris Coons Talks Faith, Black Women, Defunding The Police & Proves Being Both A Divinity Expert AND Lawyer Is The Ultimate Cheat Code

Black women are often regarded as the backbone of the Democratic party, the family, protests, and hell, everything else.  But, how are we re-paid for our emotional, mental and physical labor when we save everyone else? 

  Natasha sits down with a powerful voice in the Democratic party - U.S. Senator Chris Coons - to talk about how he has incorporated black women into his life and political arena that has had a reciprocal benefit to them, his faith, defunding the police and more.

  It's no secret that recent politics have provided the backdrop for the ultimate divide - arguably the biggest divide in modern history - amongst U.S. citizens and beyond. But just when we were starting to feel that feeling of hopelessness (because, really, one can only take so much of unfounded and flat out false conspiracy theories becoming ACTUAL platforms and talking points), a politician (yes, of all people) was there to restore it again.

Natasha sits down with Sen. Chris Coons, the esteemed divinity expert-lawyer-dad joke haver-husband-son of Delaware who is known to bridge more divides than others create, for the latest installment of YBF POLITICS. And MUCH is discussed.

After filling Presidential nominee Joe Biden's Senate seat back in 2010 as a virtually unknown candidate (that should tell you something right there), he's been winning over his constituents and the rest of the country with his ability to get REAL WORK done. He can reach across the aisle to get Republicans to sign on to his more progressive legislation (this is IMPERATIVE) while being uber clear on not compromising the end goal - making laws to create and protect fair housing, fair business & lending practices for black owners, black people's & black women's health disparities, economics and more.

He's most definitely not your stereotypical religious figure. He holds both a J.D. from Yale Law and a masters degree in ethics from Yale Divinity School. It's a tricky combo, for sure. But being fully educated in both of these lanes (as opposed to just regurgitating false religious talking points to defend misogyny and racism like many Evangelists) makes him someone we want on our team. When it comes to expressing what many would deem "progressive beliefs", he easily communicates why being pro-choice (in both women's health and religion), pro-defunding the police and anti-racist is right in line with religious freedom. He gets it. He also gets the physical and mental toll social issues like racism take on black women in particular. And he's a voice we need in the U.S. Senate as one of the "adults in the room".  He's also WELL aware of the needs and opinions of millennials and even Gen Z.

The sometimes surprisingly hilarious discussion covers mentorship, protests, faith, Covid, the importance of Democrats gaining control of the Senate and more. Get into the discussion now!

Learn more about Sen. Coon's work and also donate to his campaign.

Register to vote NOW. Vote November 3rd, or vote by mail NOW according to your state's guidelines. CLICK HERE FOR ALL VOTING INFO.

Subscribe to The YBF Podcast anywhere you get your podcasts and our Youtube channel!

[Read More ...] source http://theybf.com/2020/09/09/ybf-politics-sen-chris-coons-talks-faith-black-women-defunding-the-police-proves-being-a-

[sinrau]

Photo by John Moore

I’m sorry. I’ve tried, but I can’t help it. I have a bad feeling about the upcoming election. A very bad feeling. I’ve tried to stifle it. Tried and tried. But it’s rising, like a failed harvest, by the day. Do you have that kind of feeling too? Or maybe you don’t at all. I can’t say.

Let me distill what this strange and terrible feeling — it feels like watching a sky turn black, or a horizon grow red — keeps whispering to me.

(I’m going to put the first two reasons in parentheses because you should skip them. They’re boring and we all know them. The first one is the most obvious: Trump’s trying to steal the election. And so far, he’s doing a pretty good job. The Postal Service has been captured, voting machines mysteriously, quietly shut down, and meanwhile, the Democrats have threatened to…hold hearings. He’s threatened to send armed troops into the streets on Election Day. Then there’s the fact that his side has an array of legal challenges lined up, which will cast doubt on whatever the results are, throwing politics into chaos. And the fact that he doesn’t plan to leave office peacefully at all. Need I go on? Suffice it to say that an aspiring authoritarian has a well-crafted plan to thwart a fair election — but the opposition, what little there is, doesn’t have a unified, careful, decisive plan to stop him.

Then there’s all the help that Trump is going to have stealing the election. You know what’s coming, and so do I. Everyone from the Kremlin to your local unfriendly billionaires are going to barrage Facebook with propaganda — and because there’s money to be made, Zuck is going to grin like a dork, and look the other way.)

But those are only the least urgent, most superficial things my bad feeling whispers at me, to tell you the truth. The economist in me and the survivor of authoritarianism in me — they’re whispering truer truths to me right about now, ones I can’t ignore, I can’t deny, things I don’t want to say or admit or even think much about — but have to anyways.

Here’s the first one.

America’s up against not just Trump and his cronies — but against the tides of history itself. And history is a mighty, mighty force, like a great river. The few who’ve swum across its tides and lived to tell the tale? Well, they barely exist. Let me explain what I mean by that.

There’s one single force that foretells the rise of authoritarian-fascism in a nation: fresh, growing poverty, which breeds discontentment, anger, and eventually, hate. That hate is channeled by demagogues, targeted at long-hated minorities, who are blamed for all a society’s ills — which, in truth, they have nothing to do with.

It’s an old, old story, as old as time. Weimar Germany became Nazi Germany by way of Hitler, who blamed the Jews. A once vibrant and liberal Muslim world became a fanatical hotbed of extremism, by way of mullahs, who blame everyone from women to gays to “heretics.” Even Athens, the birthplace of democracy itself, fell prey to this vicious cycle, and fell to the Thirty Tyrants, as poverty and insecurity grew.

The latest example of poverty and despair igniting fascist-authoritarian collapse? America. Let me outline how grave the situation is. Just a quarter of working age Americans now have what would be considered decent jobs in any other nation. Another 25% work go-nowhere McJobs, what economists politely call “ low-income service jobs,” jobs with no benefits, protections, upward mobility, raises, security, on which you can’t support a family. And the remaining 50% are either unemployed, underemployed, or “discouraged,” meaning they’ve given up entirely.

Let me say it again. Just 25% of working age Americans have decent jobs. Everyone else is trying to eke out a living. And mostly, they’re failing. That’s why suicide and depression are skyrocketing. It’s why millennials can’t afford to start families, and are so traumatized they barely have sex. It’s why the birthrate is plummeting. How the middle class became a minority, and the dream died with it. Why 80% of American households live paycheck to paycheck, 75% struggle to pay basic bills, and 70% can’t raise a few hundred dollars for an emergency.

This is one great tide of history. One almost inescapable mechanism of cause and effect. The impoverishment of a society leads almost always to authoritarian collapse.

Now, most people — especially Americans — think that’s the other way around. They think authoritarianism breeds poverty. That’s exactly backwards. Authoritarianism doesn’t make people poor so much as people being poor breeds authoritarianism first. You only have to look at history to understand that. Why did peasants and serfs submit to being under the thumbs of kings and nobles, who were mostly violent, idiotic men with swords and guns? Because they were too poor to ever muster the resources to do anything about it. They were exhausted, drained, uneducated, illiterate, broken in the mind, spirit, heart. That’s why it took human civilization millennia to ever really develop beyond the age of empire.

The impoverishment of a society almost always leads to authoritarian collapse. Weimar Germany, Stalinist Russia, Maoist China, Islam in the late 20th century — I could go on forever. The examples of societies who have resisted this tide of history are so few and far between that they’re almost nonexistent.

What tends to happen is the precise opposite: societies have to become achingly, grindingly poor, reach a point of total catastrophe and ruin — before they wake up, come to their senses, and finally change. That’s Europe’s story. Only after World War II — the absolute devastation of it — did it become the place that’s synonymous with modernity and civilization today. Mere upheaval, as in World War I — even that wasn’t enough. Almost nobody escapes this tide of history. Nobody, in fact, that I can think of at all.

That means that America would have to be something truly, well, exceptional, to brook the tide of impoverishment breeding authoritarianism. Is that really the case? I imagine we’ll find out. But like I said, I have a bad feeling. History tells me that this challenge is much, much greater than most Americans think it is.

That brings me to the second reason I have a bad feeling, which is, well…Americans.

For Trump to really lose this election — not even by a landslide, just to lose it by a slender margin — three groups need to vote against him like they mean it. Young people, minorities, and those now notorious suburban housewives, by which we mean “downwardly mobile white women.”

I hate to have to say it, but I see absolutely no evidence yet that such a thing is happening. We need some kind of tidal wave of feelings rising from these groups, and I don’t feel it at the magnitude that we need it.

Young people, it seems to me, are just as tuned out and apathetic as they’ve been for a decade or more now. I don’t blame them. Joe Biden isn’t exactly a millennial or gen Z heartthrob, and neither is Kamala Harris. What I mean by that is that young Americans lean left — because they understand viscerally that they lived in a failed capitalist society, that capitalism has failed them the way communism failed Soviets. To Americans pundits, their young are “far” left — but they’re not, they’re mostly just minor-league social democrats in global terms.

But that perspective isn’t represented at all in the Democratic Presidential and VP choices. You couldn’t have more sober and boring neoliberals than Biden and Harris at all, really. And even though Biden’s a good dude, like Kamala, he’s not exactly a revolutionary, or even a reformist. He’s just…the establishment, all over again. “Better than Trump!” you cry. Definitely. Without a doubt. But young people aren’t exactly whooping with excitement — and that’s the point.

The same is true for minorities. Sure, if all you read is the New York Times, you’d think Kamala Harris was the second coming of MLK. But if you actually talk to minorities, you’ll hear a more rounded, skeptical point of view. It goes something like this. Kamala had to act like a white dude to ascend to power — and what’s the point of that? It obviates being a minority in the first place. If you have to act like them to gain power…then you’ve become them…and nothing changes. Different actor, same game.

Now, if all you listen to is pundits, you’ll never quite hear that perspective. But I think it’s a little insulting to think minorities are, well, so dumb that they’ll vote for someone just because they’re one of their own, according to skin color. I’m brown — should I vote for Kamala just because she’s half brown? Come on now, that’s mildly offensive, not to mention hilariously illogical. The point of view about minorities being presented by American punditry — most of which is white, remember — is way, way too simplistic to accord with lived reality. But what else is new? The point is this: just as young people are apathetic, minorities are skeptical and wary, too.

That brings me to the third critical constituency: soccer moms. Listen, I love soccer moms. No, not that way. I mean something more like I basically am a soccer mom, if a brown dude can be one. Hey, I get to choose my own pronouns now, right? I take my puppy to the park and hang out with all the other moms.

Recent history has shown us something funny, dismal, and surreal. Who decided the vote for Trump? All those nice white ladies. Who said they’d never vote for Trump? You guessed it. Who ignored Trump’s horrific history of misogyny, as in ‘grab ’em by the pssy’? Who had some kind of weird, deep hatred for Hillary, and chose Donald Trump over her? All those nice, polite soccer moms.*

White dudes — much maligned — ended up, in the last election, being a little more honest. They’ll tell you the batshit crazy stuff Americans believe to your face. “Nobody should have healthcare!!” “Wait, Bob, not even…your kids?” “No! They have to learn to stand on their two feet!!” “But what if they get — ” “Hey, only the strong survive, brochacho!! There’s no room for the weak around here!!” So white dudes we have a reasonably good read on: most of them, as in the majority, are fairly terrible people (sorry, white dudes), who, despite living in the 21st century, believe that nobody in society deserves any form of basic human rights, except maybe guns and beer and possibly obligatory sex from women. That’s a fact, by the way, even though I’ve put it in a funny way: Trump leads among white dudes by close to ten points.

So what if white women feel the same way — but just won’t admit it? That’s exactly what happened in 2016. The secret hate vote emerged, as in, the polls were wrong, because lots of people who said “Oh my God! I’d never vote for that hateful bigot”…turned around and…did. And most of those people — the secret hate voters — were women. The much maligned downwardly mobile American white lady. Soccer moms. If white ladies feel the same way white dudes do — and just won’t admit it, like last time — then…bang!!…Trump wins all over again. Even if just half of them do, he wins. He doesn’t even have to contest the results. He just…wins.

Now. How much do you trust the white suburban moms of America? Like I said, I’m a fan of soccer moms. But do I trust them? That’s a very different question. I only have history to guide me. And history, like I said, tells us that American soccer moms may very well repeat what they did in 2016. Everyone makes mistakes. People grow and learn. But it’s also true that people don’t change, that they stay the same in deep ways, that growth and maturity are hard-won are rare and precious.

I have a bad feeling about all that. I think the soccer moms of America might just turn out to do an about-face in the voting booth, like last time, and put Trump right back into office. Adding fuel to that fire in my mind is the question of whether they’ll really vote for Harris. Half black, half brown, the embodiment of everything that the downwardly white American lady, possibly secretly embittered and resentful…hated…just four short years ago. Is that much growth and maturity in so short a time really possible?

So now you know why. Why I have a bad feeling about this election. America, standing against the great tides of history, trying to swim upstream — a poor country now, trying to undo authoritarianism. How many have managed that? Very, very few. Young people, who seem as alienated as ever — with good reason. Minorities, whose views aren’t being examined or even thought about very carefully at all. And the vexing possibility of the betrayal by the white lady, or even just the American lady who wants to be more white. The one who secretly decided the election for a misogynist, a bigot, a crook, a man so brutish and violent he’s the very embodiment of patriarchy. Do people change that much in four short years?

History says no, my friends, to all these things. It say America can’t swim upstream now. Look how feeble it is, a wounded thing. It says young people won’t vote much for a candidate and his pick who don’t represent their preferences much at all. That minorities aren’t as simple as majorities make them out to be, and pandering to them rarely works well. And that people don’t change nearly so fast as circumstance needs them to, that wisdom comes slower than opportunity, which is the true source of all human grief.

Maybe the truest and darkest truth of them all about time, people, and dust, is the only one left worth believing in, I think to myself sometimes. It took Europe becoming ruins, mass grave, flames, bones — before it grew up, into gentleness, and rebuilt itself as the paragon of civilization and modernity. The growth of our capacity to love comes to us only through seeing what might have been turn to ashes. To mature, to expand in grace, beauty, truth, goodness, first we must fall down.

Umair

August 2020

I Have a Bad Feeling About This Election

[megacircuit9universe]

Uprising

SAT JUN 06 2020

Since I last wrote, the George Floyd protests that began in Minneapolis, and spread to other major US cities over many nights, has now turned into nothing less than a new civil rights movement, in 2020 going under the banner of, “Black Lives Matter,” which began as a hashtag in 2013 after the shooting of Trayvon Martin... and which was subsequently shouted down by two counter movements, “all lives matter,” and “blue lives matter.”

BLM had inspired some demonstrations in the 20-teens, but remained mostly a social media movement, occasionally getting some mainstream press.

At the time of my last entry, as I said, the protests were about George Floyd, and holding the four officers responsible for his death accountable.  And there was progress when all four officers were not only fired, but arrested and charged, with varying degrees of murder or manslaughter.

But because these charges took so long to materialize, the anger of the crowds did not immediately evaporate.  Protests continued, and continued to filter down to the smaller towns in every state... even as they grew bigger in Washington DC outside the White House.

Trump actually holed up in the bunker beneath the white house for a night or two, with all the lights off above decks, while men outside worked day and night to build a wall around the compound.

But, he was criticized for this massive act of cowardice in the media, and was given the nick name, “Bunker Boy,” which enraged him.

So... on Monday, June 1st, after giving a blood curdling speech about how all the protesters were basically terrorists, and how, if governors did not dominate them, he’d send in the military to do so for them... he unleashed a small army of law enforcement and paramilitary goons on Lafayette square, in the middle of the afternoon (broad daylight once again), hours before curfew, to brutalize and drive back the crowds so that he could walk across the square to Saint John’s Church for an unplanned and pointless photo op, in which he held up a Bible, weirdly, saying nothing.

Amazingly, that Bible did not burst into flames in his hand... which speaks to Yaweh’s restraint... though word is he did strike two national guardsmen with lightning just tonight.

The peaceful, law abiding protesters were gassed, pepper sprayed, beaten back by officers with shields and batons, and further intimidated not only by a cavalry of officers on horseback, but also by and extremely low hovering army helicopter, which could easily have crashed and burned at such a low elevation with so many obstacles like trees and power lines nearby.

Last entry, I had said that Trump and his junta were too shy to go full dictator, but this act, last Monday, demonstrated to the nation and the world, that, in his mind at least, full dictator is not off the table.

This move, on Trump’s part, was met with shock and horror on all sides, and lead to General Mattis, his former National Security Secretary, who resigned late last year, to publish a scathing op-ed, in which he not only called Trump a threat to the constitution and democracy, but reminded the US military they... need to not be taking unconstitutional orders from this ass hole.

His words were praised and echoed by many on the right, and many more on the left who normally don’t like to agree with Mad Dog Mattis.

Joe Biden’s numbers rose in the election polls, in all swing states, and turned a few solidly red states into swing states... just as Allan Lichtman’s keys would seem to have predicted.

And lastly, Trump’s dictatorial stunt, crystallized the protest movement into the full blown, new civil rights movement that it’s become today.  The Black Lives Matter movement is now stronger, more organized, and more determined than ever to fight for systemic change.

It’s more than just George Floyd and four guilty officers now.  This is about systemic racism, police brutality, and anti-fascism.  

(It’s also secondarily about the wealth gap and the total failure of those in power to keep us all comfortable enough not to bother taking to the streets.)

Rather than backing down, people all over the country are going out in greater numbers... better prepared for the attacks of the police.  And armed with their smart phones, videotaping events live, and streaming them to the cloud for the world to see in real time.

They are exposing the fact that most of the fires and property damage, such as broken storefront windows, are being done by the cops themselves... as helped along by white nationalist citizens trying to blend into the crowd to cause mayhem (shades of kristallnacht, but for two weeks and counting).

Much of the looting too, is being done by opportunists who are traveling long distances to exploit the mayhem in local  municipalities they’ve never visited before in their lives, much less reside in.

Peaceful protesters are getting much more savvy, not only about exposing these bad players on video, but sussing them out before they can strike.  And they’re getting more savvy about protecting themselves, with padded motorcycle jackets, goggles and other measures to mitigate teargas and pepper spray, bluetooth devices, scouts and lookouts to maintain situational awareness.

It’s definitely worth noting here that all the 2nd Amendment nuts, who for decades have justified their right to bear arms citing exactly the scenario we are now seeing, in which the government becomes tyrannical... are nowhere to be found in this confrontation.  They, in fact, are siding with the fascists in power... because... racism.

Back to the BLM movement...

BLM has now (thanks to Trump) passed the tipping point at which it can be put down by force.  Too many people are involved, and they have too much support, both at home and abroad (78% support domestically, as gauged yesterday).

To put it another way... the effort now required by those in power to quash this movement, is too drastic to be practical.

Why?  Well, they are desperately clinging to a stock market bubble right now... which is being inflated by optimistic speculation in the face of all that’s beset the nation... that everything will get back to normal in a year.

Killing protesters, or disappearing them is out of the question... it will only bring more unrest.  Confiscating smart phones, in order to quash the videos of police wrongdoing... out of the question, because smart phones are economic tools used to make purchases, view ads, pay bills, etc.

Internet black outs... out of the question, for the same reason.

Anything that threatens to pop that delicate stock market bubble is instant death for Trump and his junta.

And even if they don’t pop that bubble... every day the BLM movement gains more steam... with people out of work, out of money, stuck at home because no progress has been made with virus testing and contact tracing... the junta still moves ever closer to the end of their reign.

Talk now is not only that Biden’s numbers are climbing... but that Republican control of the Senate is also on the chopping block this November.

People have not forgotten who impeached this guy last November... warning us about the danger he posed... and who blocked his removal from office back then, just before Covid19 reared it’s ugly head in China.

Who voted to acquit Trump?.. the same ones who oppose stimulus checks now, and who continue to enable all of the needless suffering and hardship we, as a nation are enduring together in this moment.

Even if these Senators break from Trump... which most are yet unwilling to do... we still remember how they failed us at that critical juncture, when he could have been removed in advance of the national crisis.

We still remember how they brushed aside warnings about how history would remember them... at best, not giving a shit about history... but often with mockery, that such a warning had any teeth at all.

We still remember...

We...

...not just the political junkies who always pay attention... but now the ones who, at the time, had better things to focus on.  

The Millennials, who though they’d finally recovered the ground they lost in the Bush years, and were about to try and settle down to own homes and start families.

The Zoomers (or GenZ) just graduating high school, and just starting college, thinking the economic nightmare suffered by their predecessors could not befall them too.  

Together, these two youngest generations of voters, who had been the most apathetic, but have now become the most activist... outnumber, by percentage of population, the boomers in their own activist hayday of the 1960s.

And unlike the young boomers of old, who were at odds with some of the Silents, and all of the Greatests... Gens Y and Z have nearly full support of X, and growing support from the aging boomers, who, as of late, have been asked to sacrifice their lives for the economy.

This is a moment in American history like few before it, in which revolution is now pregnant.

But at the time of writing tonight, I still believe it will be a mostly peaceful revolution... sweeping Trump and his junta out of power this November, and establishing some meaningful and lasting reforms in the aftermath of the nightmare they visited upon us, these past four years.

That’s all I have to say about things for a Saturday night.

It’s time for bed.

[fuzzballsheltiepants]

see this is such a perfect encapsulation of why we need to vote.

let’s ignore Biden for now (though, for the love of god, please vote for him, there is no viable 3rd party for President in this election; that’s work to be done for the future)

let’s work on getting the House and the Senate, and our state legislatures, younger and more progressive.  this is something we can accomplish, particularly in the house, in a matter of a few election cycles.  we need to vote to push the base of the party more progressive. 

there is definitely hope to getting this done; Talib destroyed her more centrist opponent in the primary (after polls predicted it would be very close, it was not at all).  if we push the entire base further and further to the left, we can shift what counts as the “center”. 

get out and vote.  if your state is still primarying, vote for the most progressive candidates down the line. 

right now, boomers and gen X has much higher rates of voter turnout than millennials and gen z.  naturally they are voting in people who more closely represent them; so its up to us to vote for people who more closely represent us.  millennials and gen z of voting age outnumber the older generations by a significant margin.  we win if we show up.

WE WIN IF WE SHOW UP.  so do it.

[thesinglesjukebox]

LIL NAS X - PANINI

[4.50]

What happens after you've ridden til you can't no more?

Ian Mathers: I suspect I might be the only one here who couldn't hum any of "Old Town Road" -- not deliberately, just when something's that big I like to wait to encounter it serendipitously and I haven't yet -- so I wasn't sure what to expect from Lil Nas X. A superior Juice WRLD was definitely not it, but especially by that comparison, this ain't bad! [5]

Tobi Tella: Ughhhhh, I really wanted to like Lil Nas X. "Old Town Road" is still fantastic, and seeing a smart young black kid break out with a different style of music was unexpected and so easy for me to relate with. But then he released his EP, and I realized why I shouldn't make judgments on people from one song. There's not really any part of this I enjoy, from the simple enough to be memed lyrics, the basic production and the short runtime, it seems manufactured to be a streaming fodder hit. It does none of the genre-bending that fans of his EP promise, and it offers no insight into him as a human. I don't require that artists pour their heart to me in every song, but when you can listen to a whole project and still feel like you know nothing about the artist other than "hates long songs," it's disheartening and turns someone from an artist to a product. [2]

Crystal Leww: Music can be fun, guys, and Lil Nas X is keen to show you how. I love how silly this is from the onset, and it's short length means that it never really wears out it's welcome. [10]

Iris Xie: I wish the "Ay, Panini, don't you be a meanie" hook was made much bigger soundwise, but I will still run up and whisper/yell/DM that line to make fun of my friends. I do understand how his drawn out melody for "Say to me, what you want from me/Just say to me, what you want from me" reads as catchy, especially with the whistles, but this is too slight and needs a lot more oomph added to it for such a short run-time. With two minute songs, I want the hooks to grip on to my brain and never let go. For this reason, I'm gonna sing "Ay, Panini, don't you be a meanie" with the long drawl of the chorus hook, because that's how I want this to be stuck in my head instead. A missed opportunity. [6]

Joshua Copperman: Immediate points for referencing Chowder, then points redacted because I am not falling for Millennial/Gen-Z cusper nostalgia. Points given because of the live drums, points taken away because it's barely audible. It is impossible, in good conscience, to score this higher than "Old Town Road." It's not as listenable, the melody closer to a Juice WRLD track (or "Black Beatles"?) than "Old Town Road" was to either of its parent genres. It's not even as thinkpieceable, too petty to leave any sort of impression. Other songs on the EP are outright promising in their genre-hopping, maybe good enough to ensure that he will stay around for a little longer than the average one hit wonder. But this humorless, borderline tuneless mess betrays his weakness when his strengths are genuinely demonstrated elsewhere. [3]

Will Adams: Of course the other horseshoe would drop, that's how it goes with memes. To "Panini"'s credit, there's a decent production that goes well with the Nirvana quote. The rest can't even hide that its existence is solely for memetic purposes, and so it rings hollow. [3]

Jonathan Bradley: The alt-rock nods in "Panini" could be read as a fresh type of genre-mixing from an artist whose career has been synonymous with stylistic incongruity, but they end up sounding a lot like the moody anhedonic emo-rap that's streamed its way through the ebbing 2010s. By those standards, this is decidedly unexciting when compared to the sharp glinting miseries of Juice WRLD or Lil Uzi Vert or Lil Peep. Kurt Cobain gets a writing credit, which feels like a gimmick; if there is any "In Bloom" in this hook, Lil Nas X's lackadaisical treatment reduces one of Nirvana's most florescent melodies to indistinct sing-song. [4]

Alfred Soto: Kudos for mentioning Kurt Cobain -- it got him unexpected streams despite the main hook's barely-there similarity to "In Bloom." Closer to late nineties Tricky than Nirvana, actually. A pity he didn't write an ode to the sandwich. [5]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: Pretty forgettable, but a far better follow-up than I expected for a song that isn't clearly aiming for post-"Old Town Road" meme potential. A [6] in Q2 2019, a [4] anytime thereafter. [5]

Katherine St Asaph: How did it take exactly one (1) single for Lil Nas X to go normie? [2]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[theconservativebrief]

A high number of young voters could turn out in the 2018 midterms, according to a new poll from the Harvard University Institute of Politics.

The biannual poll released Monday showed that 40 percent of 18- to 29-year olds said they will “definitely vote” in the 2018 midterm elections, a substantial increase from the 2014 and 2010 midterms.

“We believe there is a marked increase in youth turnout, unlike anything we’ve seen in 32 years,” said John Della Volpe, director of polling for the Institute of Politics.

Young people who identify as Democrats are more likely to say they will definitely vote; 54 percent of Democrats, 43 percent of Republicans, and 24 percent of independents told Harvard researchers they would vote. That’s good for Democrats, but there’s also evidence that young Republican voters are becoming more enthusiastic as the election nears.

With an eye ahead to 2020, the majority of young people polled also seem to have an intense dislike of President Donald Trump — just 11 percent of young Americans said they are “sure to” vote for Trump, eclipsed by the 59 percent said they will “never vote for him.”

The big question is whether that anger against Trump will trickle down to the 2018 midterms.

Young voters are a notoriously tricky bloc to get to turn out; older voters are a much more reliable demographic to get to the polls. This dynamic is pronounced during midterm elections, without a presidential race in the mix. But that could change in 2018.

“We’ve been hearing about a potential blue wave … we’re here to talk about a youth wave,” said Harvard student Teddy Landis, the leader of the Harvard Public Opinion Project.

The highest turnout percentage for the youth vote in midterms is 21 percent, which happened in 1986. The last midterms in 2014 had lower youth turnout, at just 16 percent.

Of course, there’s a substantial caveat here — Harvard pollsters aren’t saying 40 percent of America’s young voters will definitely get out and vote this year. In past polls, there’s typically a substantial gap in the number who say they will get out and vote, compared to people who actually do.

In 2014, 26 percent said they would definitely vote, a 10-point gap with the 16 percent that actually voted. There was about a 7-point gap in 2010 between the 27 percent who said they would vote and the 20 percent who did.

But Harvard researchers said that gap between the poll and Election Day has remained fairly consistent since the poll was first conducted in 2000. Given that 40 percent of young people plan to vote in 2018, it could still be record-breaking, even with a 10-point gap.

“The number to beat is 21,” Landis said. “The low turnout we’ve seen in the past few years isn’t a Gen Z problem or a millennial problem, it’s something young people have been doing for quite a while.”

As the Democratic Party’s base is having a progressive resurgence, the Harvard poll also asked young people what they thought about capitalism, socialism, and Democratic socialism.

Pollsters found that 43 percent of young voters support capitalism, fairly close to the 39 percent who said they support democratic socialism. Socialism was noticeably less popular, at 31 percent.

“It is not accurate to say this is a generation that endorses socialism as a label per se,” said Della Volpe. “The more they learn about capitalism, the more they approve. Things change, however, when we ask about democratic socialism.”

So while young people aren’t sold on socialism (especially when they were shown the textbook definition of what it means), they are excited about proposals from Sen. Bernie Sanders and other progressive politicians including Medicare-for-all, a jobs guarantee bill, and getting rid of tuition and fees for public colleges.

“They like the policies democratic socialism stands for,” said Harvard student and researcher Richard Sweeney. Sweeney noted the level of enthusiasm on his campus for a jobs guarantee bill and other measures to assist recent graduates and others who need employment.

“We need more discussion on this; it’s very popular with youth,” he said.

It’s worth noting that question wasn’t even on the survey in 2016 — a measure of how quickly democratic socialism is surging in American politics since the rise of Sanders in the 2016 presidential election and the senator’s influence on other candidates in 2018.

“I think Bernie Sanders … [had] probably the most significant losing presidential campaign in terms of the legacy it’s having [regarding] how young people are thinking about policy,” said Della Volpe.

Original Source -> Young people say they plan to vote at near-historic highs

via The Conservative Brief

[usnewsaggregator-blog]

Faces of the Future: Stories From Generation Z

New Post has been published on https://usnewsaggregator.com/faces-of-the-future-stories-from-generation-z/

Faces of the Future: Stories From Generation Z

To come of age in 2017 in America is to enter adulthood in a time of often overwhelming turbulence. The country is deeply divided, technology is reshaping the world at a breakneck pace, and the future seems filled with uncertainty. As each day appears to bring with it another crisis, from unprecedented natural disasters to horrific mass killings to violent and vehement ideological clashes, questions lurk in the background: Who will inherit this world? And what will they do with it?

They are the first generation to spend their entire adolescence with smartphones. Jean Twenge, author of “iGen”

Enter Generation Z.

Loosely defined as those born after 1995, this new wave of soon-to-be grown-ups—also dubbed the iGeneration, Centennials, Post-Millennials, Founders, Plurals and the Homeland Generation, depending on whom you ask—picks up where millennials left off. True digital and social media natives, they’re ever-connected, multitasking on many screens and more comfortable sharing on Snapchat than IRL. “They are the first generation to spend their entire adolescence with smartphones,” says Jean Twenge, author of “iGen,” who has studied the group extensively. “That really rapid adoption of smartphones has had ripple effects across many areas of their lives.”

Birth of a Generation Major moments in modern history

Generation X

Generation Y

Generation Z

Challenger disaster

Obama

elected

Moon landing

Fall of the Berlin Wall

September 11th attack

Moon landing

Challenger

disaster

Fall of the Berlin Wall

September 11th attack

Obama elected

Source: socialmarketing.org

The 2016 election marked the first time many Gen Zers were able to vote, in an event that has served to spotlight and magnify the fractures and fissures in the nation. Decisions made by this administration will have ramifications for years to come, and many of the top issues that drove voters to the polls can be interpreted as de facto battle lines along which the country is dividing itself: Health care. Guns. Immigration. Abortion. The treatment of gay, lesbian and transgender people. Climate change.

So how do young people growing up in today’s chaotic environment feel about their country, their cities and their lives? We’ve spent the last few months following a handful of teenagers on the frontlines of Generation Z: five students who graduated from high school in 2017 and are full of big dreams. For these individuals, the issues facing the country aren’t just hypotheticals to see on the news or be debated by politicians onstage, but their daily realities.

Here are their stories.

Aidan Destefano

Pottstown, PA

At first meeting, Aidan Destefano projects nothing but pure teenage boy.

The 19-year-old is cookie-cutter handsome, with olive skin, dark hair, sparkling green eyes, a firm handshake, and a big, magnetic smile—the kid is always smiling.

But Aidan hasn’t had the typical teenage boy experience, exactly.

I’m finally me; the next step is to live my life as me. Aidan Destefano

Born biologically female, he first encountered the term “transgender��� while watching a YouTube video in the seventh grade, and that’s when the feelings he’d had his whole life suddenly had a name. In 2015, before his junior year of high school, he posted a Facebook video announcing he was transitioning from female to male, then started testosterone, changed his name, and had surgery to remove his breasts. While he’d entered high school on the girls’ cross-country team, by senior year, he was running with the boys.

Aidan now stands among other trailblazers at the crossroads of transgender rights in this country. When his high school was sued for allowing transgender students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of their gender identity, he testified as a witness, sharing his experience of how important it was to be allowed to use the men’s facilities. (While a judge’s decision this summer upheld the school’s policy, the case is now headed to a higher court on appeal.)

Since taking office, President Trump has issued two blows to the transgender community: announcing a ban on transgender troops in the military and rescinding Obama-era guidance that instructed schools to allow transgender students to use facilities that aligned with their gender identity. In June, Aidan met with Gavin Grimm, the transgender student whose lawsuit over access to the bathroom at his Virginia high school was headed to the Supreme Court until the court ultimately declined to hear it this spring. These rights are currently being decided on state and local levels, leaving much up in the air.

As for Aidan, he doesn’t spend too much time thinking about politics. He’s more concerned with his day-to-day life and working toward his future.

“I’m finally me,” he says. “The next step is to live my life as me.”

Breann Bates

Clermont, FL

Breann Bates voted for Donald Trump, but she wasn’t happy about it.

“I’m pretty critical of President Trump,” says the 19-year-old Florida native, who supported Ben Carson, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz during the primaries before ultimately casting her ballot for the president. “I think that it’s important to stay critical and not just be a fan of any politician—to hold him accountable.”

I want to sit down and have a calm, cool and collected conversation and figure out why people believe what they believe and where that comes from. Breann Bates, age 19

She’s no passive political observer. Breann is a key member of Turning Point USA, a nonprofit that trains and organizes conservative activists on high school and college campuses. The group has made headlines for protests against “safe spaces” and for controversial initiatives like its Professor Watchlist, which keeps tabs on educators who “advance leftist propaganda.”

“I do believe there is an ideological battle or war being waged,” says founder Charlie Kirk, 24. “What does this generation stand for?”

Breann is passionate about fighting for her beliefs. She’s staunchly pro-life, a strong supporter of campus carry laws, which would allow guns on college campuses, and wants the government to be less involved in people’s lives. While her political passion may make her something of an outlier among her generation—Twenge says that among this group “interest in government is at an all-time low”—Breann’s skepticism of big government seems to align with her peers. In a study by the Center for Generational Kinetics, a millennial and Gen Z-focused consulting group, only 26 percent of Gen Z respondents said they trusted elected officials.

Now a freshman in college, Breann is hopeful that the country can move past its current division and that people like her will be able to communicate across the aisle. “I want to sit down and have a calm, cool and collected conversation,” she says, “and figure out why people believe what they believe and where that comes from.”

Destiny Robertson

Northfork, WV

McDowell County, West Virginia, has the unenviable distinction of being one of the poorest communities in the country.

But Destiny Robertson wants you to know it’s also one of the strongest.

“We have some of the best people in the whole world,” says the 18-year-old, who grew up in the county in the town of Northfork. “I wouldn’t be who I am without where I am.”

West Virginia got a lot of attention on the presidential campaign trail from candidate Trump, who promised to bring mining jobs back to a state struggling with unemployment. People have been leaving McDowell County, once the top coal producer in the state, ever since coal production started to decline decades ago. Since its peak in 1950, the region’s population has dropped by over 80 percent. The unemployment rate is now more than double the national average, and more than 1 in 3 people live in poverty.

I wouldn’t be who I am without where I am. Destiny Robertson, age 18

Destiny, whose grandfather was a coal miner, believes in her community, but doesn’t think the future lies in trying to chase the past. “A lot of my friends—my male friends—that’s their dream, to become a coal miner. That’s where you can make the most money here, when you can get a job,” she says. “I’m definitely in the minority. My views are that we have to move on from coal.”

Meanwhile, the county, like the rest of West Virginia, is in the throes of the opioid crisis. The overdose rate here is nearly five times the national average. “You have a big problem in West Virginia and we are going to solve that problem,” President Trump said on a visit to the state in August. In October, he declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency.

The president is popular in McDowell County. Seventy-five percent of the votes here went to him in the 2016 election, but Destiny’s wasn’t among them – at 17, she was still too young to vote at the time. She doesn’t like to get too public with her political beliefs, but she’s passionate about voter registration and encouraging people to make their voices heard. “Being a black woman in this town, it’s important to me to exercise my right to vote,” she says.

And she hopes President Trump will come through for the people of her county, who desperately need help. “This place has an epidemic going on…I’d hope that this new administration will bring awareness to that and help us figure out a way to get rid of the addiction.”

Isaiah Charles

Newtok, AK

If you haven’t already been to Newtok, Alaska, you might never have the chance: The tiny coastal village won’t be around much longer. It’s being swallowed—an early casualty of the world’s changing climate. Newtok is built on permafrost, or ground that’s been frozen for a long time, and as the earth’s temperatures have risen over time, that land has started to thaw. The village now loses roughly 70 feet a year as the river erodes the weakened shore.

“The land used to be really far,” explains Isaiah Charles, who grew up here. “It is dangerous to have land falling off and a village of 350 people that are terrified from it.”

For Isaiah, 19, Newtok’s endangered status has long been a fact of life. Boardwalks throughout the town are sinking into the mud. During powerful storms, the damage can be even greater. Residents are actively worried for their homes as the coastline creeps closer.

It’ll be like a memory to never forget. Isaiah Charles, age 19

“The general trend is quite unmistakable,” says climatologist Brian Brettschneider, who notes that Alaska is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the country, and what’s happening here should serve as a warning. “This is really the canary in the coal mine.”

In typical teenage form, Isaiah has other pressing concerns. The former star basketball player graduated from high school in May and will start college in a few months. He’s focused on his friends, family, community and finding a path toward a successful and steady career.

But the reality of what’s happening to his hometown is impossible to ignore. Newtok must relocate, and in a few years, the place Isaiah has always called home will be gone. The village is moving to a new site called Mertarvik, 9 miles across the river, and the relocation team hopes to get everyone there by 2020.

In its current state, Newtok is an often jarring mix of tradition and modernity. A subsistence community, the people hunt, fish and gather most of their food. Though they speak English, most also speak Yup’ik, the tribal language of their ancestors. They don’t have running water in their homes and the erosion has impacted the community’s ability to safely dispose of their waste and maintain clean drinking water, raising health concerns. At the same time, thanks to services like a “lifeline” plan from a local cellphone provider, most young people are often heads-down texting, sending messages on Snapchat or talking to far-flung friends on FaceTime. They get Amazon deliveries, watch YouTube and stream Top 40 hits. “When I was a little kid, it was a lot different,” Isaiah reflects, wistfully. “Kids playing outside, having fun. But now that I’m older, everybody’s inside, just being on their phone or iPad. Everything’s changing.”

Isaiah knows that one day, when he comes home, his village will be gone. But he struggles to describe how it will feel to say goodbye to this place. “It’ll be like a memory to never forget.”

Rasmi Moussa

New Haven, CT

When Rasmi Moussa arrived in the United States in 2016, he only knew one word of English: “No.”

One of the 12,587 Syrian refugees who were resettled in the United States last year, Rasmi, now 19, moved to New Haven, Connecticut, with his parents and three of his siblings. They’d fled their homeland five years before to escape the ever-escalating violence, and had been living in Jordan, where Rasmi hadn’t been able to go to school, and instead worked odd jobs to help support his family.

Almost two years after coming to America, Rasmi has almost fully acclimated. He taught himself English through a combination of translation apps, videos and trial-by-fire experience working at a gas station. He graduated from high school with honors in June, and this fall he started taking classes at a local community college, where he’s pursuing a degree in radiography.

I was thinking I would be back after one month, three months or four months. That was six years ago. Rasmi Moussa, age 19

But behind his smile, Rasmi hides a deep sadness. He lost relatives in the war, his home was destroyed and many of his siblings are still trapped overseas. Those who are still in Syria are in too much danger to escape, and those who made it to Lebanon and Jordan were in the process of applying to the United States for refugee visas until their plans were thrown into limbo when President Trump announced his travel ban in January. With the situation in Syria still dire, Rasmi doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to go home.

“It’s hard to think about,” he says. “I was thinking I would be back after one month, three months or four months. That was six years ago.”

Rasmi talks to his family as often as he can, staying in touch via video chat. It’s been so long since they were together that he has five nieces and nephews he’s never even met. He holds out hope that one day they will all be reunited.

“They ask me every day: What’s happened?” he says. “When can we come? Why’d they close the way to come to the United States?”

“If I had to sum up the generation in one word, it would be ‘terrified,’” says Twenge, whose research has found that Generation Zers are reporting higher levels of anxiety and mental health issues as well as lower self-confidence than the millennials before them. CGK’s Gen Z research found that only 23 percent of the cohort believe the country is headed in the right direction.

And with the typical teen spending an average of six to eight hours a day in front of a screen, their person-to-person communication will almost certainly be impacted. “They just don’t have as much practice interacting with each other face to face,” says Twenge. “I think it’s a pretty good educated guess that social skills are going to be different.”

Yet Rasmi, Breann, Isaiah, Destiny and Aidan all exhibit one defining characteristic that also defines their generation: determination to succeed. “They are very interested in finding good jobs and working hard at them,” says Twenge of Gen Z, noting that the group’s attitudes toward work are more positive than millennials at this age. And when they do relax and unwind, they’re doing it more safely than the generations before them, statistically getting into fewer physical fights and car accidents, recording fewer teenage pregnancies, and drinking less alcohol.

“It’s not like they’re buckling down at home with the books all the time,” says Twenge. “It’s that the party is on Snapchat.”

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