The Most Dangerous Generation

As a member of Gen X, I can tell you that we have always had the luxury of blaming everyone else for the problems of the world. We could look at the boomers and say “What were you thinking?” and then turn around and point to Gen Z and the millennials and say “What are you thinking?” We were blameless, and even if we were accused of something, we didn’t care anyway.

We were the generation of MTV and colorful and bizarre fashions. We were the ones who went rushing headlong into the dot com debacle. We could pretend to flip the bird at the establishment with our parachute pants and breakdancing one minute and support Operation Desert Shield the next. We were America’s middle child, often overlooked and unsupervised, and thus permitted to do as we pleased. We were somewhere between the hedonism of the ’70s and the workaholism of the ’90s. And we were fine with that. The future was always so bright that we had to wear shades. Something would always come up, or work out. Until it didn’t. But as much as we blame the myopia of the boomers and the narcissism of Gen Z and the millennials, we were also content to live it up even while, as Ray Bradbury once put it, “Doom bided its time and whetted its whistle around the corner.” However, in our defense, we were no more guilty than anyone else. And honestly, no one could have looked at the Clinton administration and posited the rise of what has effectively amounted to a coup d’état in the 21st century.

Related: Fighting Woke

And so we all find ourselves in a unique situation in which we all have created people who crave a sense of security and safety above all else. People whose optimism lies not in their own abilities but in the ability of the state to create a condition of stasis in which everyone feels “alright.” Americans no longer wish to triumph over adversity but to avoid it altogether. They no longer see challenges in the midst of struggle. They see only horrific things from which they must flee. Or worse yet, they become quislings, denouncing not only their neighbors but themselves in the hope that they might be afforded one more day of peace and quiet.

This is why the results of a recent Pew poll, while uncomfortable to read, should not be shocking. A majority of Americans favor the restriction of false or violent content online.

Here are Pew’s “key takeaways”:

• 65% of Americans support tech companies moderating false information online and 55% support the U.S. government taking these steps. These shares have increased since 2018.
• Americans are even more supportive of tech companies (71%) and the U.S. government (60%) restricting extremely violent content online.
• Democrats are more supportive than Republicans of tech companies and the U.S. government restricting extremely violent content and false information online. The partisan gap in support for restricting false information has grown substantially since 2018.

As noted above, the report states that 55% of those surveyed are in favor of our government restricting false information online, despite the fact that it could prohibit people from accessing or publishing information. Only 42% of the respondents agree that “freedom of information should be protected even if it means false information can be published.”

Compare the data from 2018 to 2023:

• In 2018, Americans were in favor of prioritizing freedom of information over the restriction of false information by a margin of 58% to 39%.
• In 2018, 56% of adults surveyed said that tech companies should take steps to restrict false information. In 2023, that number is at 65%.

Also from Pew:

A large majority of Democrats and Democratic leaners (81%) support technology companies taking such steps, while about half of Republicans (48%) say the same. The share of Democrats who support technology companies taking these steps has also increased steadily since 2018.

Since 2018, the percentage of young adults who favor tech companies restricting false information rose from 14% to 19%. Broken down along party lines, 81% of Democrats and those who skew in that direction support a crackdown on false information. Interestingly, 48% of Republicans agree.

This, of course, is entirely contingent on one’s definition of “false information.” To many, “false information” indicates something that is not true. To Hollywood, the media, and those who enjoy positions of power and prestige, “false information” is anything that makes them uncomfortable or that puts their positions at risk. Even if it is true. Hunter’s laptop was “false information.” His father’s corruption is still being peddled as “false information,” even as I write this. Just one more jab, a few more weeks of masking, a few more months of closed stores, and everything will be fine. There is no crisis at the border. Children not only want to be neutered and filled with chemicals, they need to be. White people are irredeemable and should be blamed for everything. Homelessness? Fentanyl? Nothing to see here, folx.

Of note:

Three-quarters of Americans ages 50 and older support tech companies restricting violent content online, and 66% support the U.S. government doing so. This compares with 69% and 54%, respectively, among younger adults.

No one but the basest among us enjoys violent content for the sake of its violence. But there are times when images of violence are necessary. Not to satiate prurient interests, but to help people understand just how far the world and the nation have fallen. Reality must be confronted if we are to have a clear picture of the state of the union and chart a course away from chaos. But our self-styled overlords would rather have us gaze contentedly at a shaky silhouette than cope with the reality that lurks behind the image.

At PJ Media, we scan the news for stories of interest. There are a myriad of sources from which to choose and not all of them are legitimate. A particularly interesting headline must be carefully vetted and tracked back to the original source before the story is written up and published. Due diligence must be done. But alas, America has decided that it is better to leave the vetting to someone else. People are no longer content to use the sense God gave them to try to separate the wheat from the chaff. They have outsourced their critical thinking skills.

Orwell’s “1984” is here. Huxley’s “Brave New World” is here. A dystopian future? You’re living in it. This present generation and nation believe that it is better to nod and smile, post a black square, and hang a Pride flag than to take up the banner of potential greatness. Scroll through your social media feed or your favorites on OnlyFans. That is safe and acceptable. And this generation believes that ignorance is preferable to real life. Another dose of soma, please. The headlines are particularly unsettling this morning.