Vox explains why 'Gen Z is done with both political parties'

I'm beginning September with Vox explaining why Gen Z is done with both political parties | America, Actually.

It’s clear that the youngest generation of voters isn’t the same as the ones that came before. So, what’s up with the kids?

Gen Z researcher Rachel Janfaza joins Vox’s Astead Herndon to discuss how young voters are prioritizing economic survival, confronting their anxieties related to AI-job displacement, and searching for pragmatic, transparent leaders who address their everyday challenges.

00:00 Astead’s love-hate relationship with Gen Z
05:04 The theory of two Gen Z’s
06:19 How the pandemic broke Gen Z
09:48 Growing up with a phone in one hand
16:15 Rejection of the algorithm
17:56 The drivers of economic anxiety
22:08 AI and the future of work
25:25 The gender divide, explained
31:43 Hope for a post-Trump politics
32:51 Takeaways

I've been teaching since 1978, when I became UCLA's flag instructor, and I've seen how every generation is different. They require me to change my teaching to match their peer personalities. Some generations are independent learners, some require more direction. That difference generally reflects how they were taught in K-12. Having been trained and worked as a secondary school teacher allows me to pick up the styles they learned under. Gen Z in particular has been, as Rachel Janfaza pointed out, shaped by remote learning during the pandemic. That would make them more independent, along with the effects of social media, giving them access to sources outside of the classroom, both for good and for ill.

Another way I understand generations has been the writings of Strauss and Howe on generations, which I last mentioned in FiveThirtyEight asks 'Why Are There So Many Boomers In Congress?'

I agree with FiveThirtyEight's quick summary of what our gerontocracy means for policy. It's good for issues relevant to seniors, but maybe not so good for those important to younger Americans. That's good and bad for me personally. I'm 63, so the current Congress would be more likely to pay attention to health issues, like my diabetes, and retirement. On the other, they might not take climate change and technology as seriously as I think they need to, while a younger group of legislators would. Sigh.

Gen Z getting mobilized against AI in general and data centers in particular shows that they are getting other generations to attention to pay attention to their issues.

I'm not surprised by Gen Z's activism; according to Strauss and Howe, they are the same kind of generation as the Silent Generation, that of my parents. That was the generation that supplied the then-young activists of the Civil Rights Movement and later the Women's Liberation Movement. Boomers may claim credit based on their protests against the Vietnam War, but the Silents really provided the people power behind the first two.

Speaking of the past, Gen Z probably has even less connection to the events of the Depression and World War II than I had to the Civil War in my youth. First, I was a young boy during the Centennial of the Civil War, so I got reminded of it regularly. Second, the U.S. has never stopped rehashing the issues of the Civil War, such as sectionalism and racism; the Civil Rights era was still going on when I was young. The Cold War replaced the global struggle of fascism, which everyone thought was defeated. Now that fascism is back, the people who remember are mostly gone and today's young people see World War II as ancient history; they don't understand the relevance. That's one of the reasons why history, even if it doesn't repeat, certainly does rhyme, as Theodor Reik wrote, then had his line attributed to Mark Twain. The history is forgotten, then it returns. Cue George Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

That's a gloomy thought, but one that isn't enough to make me think less of the final generation of my students. I like the generation that is saving movies and the mall. As I wrote in those two posts, I like them and think they're good people.

That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for more Emmy Awards coverage tomorrow.

FiveThirtyEight asks 'Why Are There So Many Boomers In Congress?'

After some long, involved entries, I'm ready for a simple short post. FiveThirtyEight gave me one this morning when it asked Why Are There So Many Boomers In Congress?

Congress has gotten steadily older over the past few decades, and that has major implications for the issues the legislature cares about.

The short answer to the question is demographics — America has growing older, despite falling life expectancy during the pandemic — and the power of incumbency. I'm sure my fellow fans of Strauss and Howe would not be surprised by this result; those authors saw something like this coming at about this time 30 years ago. I'm also sure that they would notice that FiveThirtyEight is using Strauss and Howe's names for the generations as well.

I agree with FiveThirtyEight's quick summary of what our gerontocracy means for policy. It's good for issues relevant to seniors, but maybe not so good for those important to younger Americans. That's good and bad for me personally. I'm 63, so the current Congress would be more likely to pay attention to health issues, like my diabetes, and retirement. On the other, they might not take climate change and technology as seriously as I think they need to, while a younger group of legislators would. Sigh.

The end of the semester approaches and I need to spend more time on my work, so stay tuned for another short post tomorrow.

Biden warns about threats to American democracy in Philadelphia

Yesterday was a busy news day, so I'm posting two entries today, beginning with coverage of President Biden's speech in Philadelphia in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the second of three visits to Pennsylvania. "Morning Joe" on MSNBC recapped the address in Biden Issues A Dire Warning About Threats To US Democracy.

The Morning Joe panel recaps President Biden's Thursday prime-time speech on the 'soul of the nation'.

Historian Michael Beschloss rightly points out that the current moment could be as big a threat to American democracy as 1860 or 1940, which happen to be critical years in the last two secular crises according to Strauss and Howe's cyclical framework for American history. The Hedgehog returns and I don't mean Spiny Norman!

ABC News compiled their own highlights video of the speech, Biden speaks on the state of American democracy in prime-time.

"The MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic," President Joe Biden said during his prime-time speech in Philadelphia on Thursday.

A lot of political commenters are having rhetorical fainting fits over the visual symbolism and aggressive tone of the speech, but I'm glad fighting Joe Biden is coming out finally. I suspect the relative lack of energy until very recently was one of the reasons for Democratic-leaning voters' frustration with the Democratic Party that Pew Research found.

Those who lean to the Democratic Party have become more critical of Democratic leaders. When asked why they lean toward a party – rather than identify with it – many leaners say they do not want to put a political label on their views, while nearly as many offer that they are frustrated with the leadership of the party they lean toward. The share of Democratic leaners who cite frustration with the party’s leaders as a major reason for why they do not more closely associate with the party has risen from 28% in 2016 to 40% currently. Over the same period, the share of Republican leaners who express frustration with GOP leadership has declined from 52% to 39%.

Here's the graphic that shows those results.


Notice, it's not policy, but leadership that is causing frustration. That probably plays into the other reasons for the disconnect, like inability to accomplish campaign promises and other Democratic agenda times. I think passing the Inflation Reduction Act and forgiving (some) student loan debt will take care of a lot of that. Biden's approval ratings are already improving, as FiveThirtyEight observed when the site examined What Biden's Rising Approval Could Mean For The Midterms.

In part three of this installment of the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast, the crew analyzes why Biden’s approval rating has increased by nearly five points since late July. They also look to the future and discuss how this could possibly impact the midterm elections.

Democrats will vote for Biden and other Democrats. What's important is turnout among Democrats and persuading independents. Both of those look hopeful.

Stay tuned for the second installment of today's political news, which will focus on two initiatives that Republicans are keeping off the ballot in Michigan.

R.I.P. Art Bell

I wrote that "I plan on posting about the Tax Day protest in West Palm Beach, Florida, home of Mar-a-Lago, tomorrow" at the end of Watch reports on March for Science 2018 from four U.S. cities, but two events happened that convinced me to postpone that entry.  First, the D.C. Tax March is today, so I'll wait for tonight's videos to be uploaded so I can write about them tomorrow.  Second, Wochit News reported Radio Personality Art Bell Passes Away at 72.

Art Bell, the pioneering host of 'Coast to Coast AM' radio show, has passed away at the age of 72. The heavily syndicated late-night radio program themed around the paranormal and all manners of wild conspiracy theories. Founded in 1988, the show ran until Bell retired in 2007. According to reports, Bell died at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada this week. No cause of death has been announced, and an autopsy will be done in the upcoming week to learn more.

I first mentioned Art Bell on this blog six years ago in Projection is the Right's favorite defense mechanism.

I used to give out a mock award on the USENET group dedicated to Art Bell's Coast to Coast called the Green Lantern Award for Projection. It might be worth reviving that award, along with Cleopatra Queen of Denial, Brain of Stone, and others.

I mentioned Art Bell's USENET fan group later that same year in Sustainability through the looking glass with Jeff Wattrick of Wonkette.

Looks like Jeff's got Climate Change crossed with HAARP. Now, that's something I hadn't seen before, but it's been a while since I've read alt.fan.art-bell on USENET.

Yes, that kind of conspiracy theory was par for the course on "Coast to Coast AM."  It was even more so on the USENET group for his fans.  I made that clear in Recycled comments about the men's rights movement.

I came to realize that the core posters on soc.men are nearly as big a bunch of loons as the collection of kooks who post to alt.fan.art-bell, with the distinction that the garrison of Fort Machismo actually work together almost as well as the saucerheads of alt.astronomy. That combination makes the soc.fr00ts almost dangerous.

No, I did not think highly of Art Bell's online fans.  That doesn't mean I thought poorly of Art himself, despite his program being a showcase for fringe ideas, especially of the ones I mock under the doom label.  That's because he and his successor George Noory also had the late William Strauss and the still-living Neil Howe, authors of "The Fourth Turning," which I also blog about under the hedgehog, on as repeat guests.  I was grateful for his giving their cyclical concept of history a forum, enough so to forgive the rest of his kookery, if not that of his guests and fans.

By the way Art Bell wasn't the only conspiracy theorist I followed who died on Apophis Day.  Michael Ruppert did as well, although it wasn't on a Friday in 2014.

Enough eulogizing.  It's time for the music.  I dedicate Crystal Gayle's Midnight in the Desert, the theme song to Art Bell's radio shows, to him.


For his fans, I offer a song by a band I have an ambivalent opinion of, just like Art Bell, Muse.  On the one hand, they're brilliant musicians.  On the other, they're complete tinfoil-hat wearing kooks.  Here is a song about a notorious conspiracy theory, MK Ultra, which is about CIA mind control.  Art Bell even had a show about it.  Really.


The next time I post this, it will likely be the UCLA Band version.  I can never get too far away from movies or marching band with my music.

Finally, R.I.P. Art Bell.

Perspectives on the next doomsday from The Archdruid and me

In Nablopomo for February: Perspective, I made a programming note.

I also like to examine how other bloggers see things.  In fact, I have more than a week's worth of material saved up from previous months about The Archdruid, Kunstler, Nebris, The Hipcrime Vocab, Julie Bass and others that I didn't get around to posting.  This month's theme looks like a good excuse to do that.

Here is the oldest conversation with Greer that I hadn't yet posted, my response to 2030 is the New 2012 along with his reply.

One of Greer's recurring points is that, whenever a date for doomsday comes and goes, a new one comes along.  The new date is 2030, which has no basis in any external event or prophesy.  At least 2012 tied into the Fake Mayan Apocalypse.  Greer explains that the timing has an internal logic, not an external one, one which I understand.

Greer: It’s thus surely no accident that 2030 is about the time the middle of the Baby Boom generation will be approaching the end of its statistically likely lifespan.

Me: I was wondering why that date, other than the combination of a nice round number with a time close enough to be threatening, but not too alarming.  I would think something more concrete, like either 2029 or 2036, when the asteroid Apophis, aptly named after an Egyptian deity of destruction, would fly close enough to Earth to have a chance of colliding.  Your explanation, though, makes sense given the narcissism of the Boomers.  This way, they maintain their importance even in death, while not having to give up anything beforehand.

My comment ties back to this passage.

The third factor, which relates to the second one, unfolds from the historical tragedy of the Baby Boom generation, which is massively overrepresented in apocalypse fandom just now.  The Boomers were among the most idealistic generations in US history, but they were also far and away the most privileged, and the conflict between those two influences has defined much of their trajectory through time. Starting when the Sixties youth culture crashed and burned, the Boomers have repeatedly faced forced choices between their ideals and their privileges.  Each time, the majority of Boomers—there have always been noble exceptions—chose to cling to their privileges, and then spent the next decade or so insisting at the top of their lungs that their ideals hadn’t been compromised by that choice.

I'm a Boomer myself and I've been examining the position of my generation relative to its generational neighbors for more than 20 years, which I how I became acquainted with andelku of Contemplating the Hedgehog, so Greer's observations rang true.  He described the major philosophical conflict within Boomers and how it has panned out over the past 50 years.  It's one of the reasons why I have the feeling that we're like the Moties, doomed to crash our civilization, and why I've determined to be a Crazy Eddie trying to prevent that.

Follow over the jump for more of this conversation, along with the theme song for this blog.

My 9-11 story, part 1

Amy of Discovery News made the following invitation on YouTube last week.

This week we've shared some of our personal 9/11 stories with you. Feel free to share yours with us.

Between this invitation and this month's Nablopomo "Return" theme, I think it's the perfect opportunity to share my recollections of that Tuesday ten years ago, something I don't believe I've ever either written down before.

Nablopomo for August: Fiction

Seems like only yesterday.

By the way, next month's theme for Nablopomo is Fiction. I'm participating. Here's the badge.



More on this theme beginning tomorrow, which will be in a few minutes. See you then!

Time to share the following from my email.

August's theme for daily blogging: FICTION. Certainly, blogging is about truth-telling; recording our lives. But how often does fiction seep into our reconstruction of our day? Is it important to always be honest, or can we skew the facts to present a better story?Beyond that, how can you not enjoy delving into a work of fiction? Finding a new world, new characters, new inventions that didn't exist until the writer placed them on the page. This month, we have to spend some time sharing our favourite books, authors, and characters.

I've been waiting for a theme like this to come along for months, as I have a whole bunch of book-related posts that I've been promising to do, going all the way back to April, when I wrote three entries in which I said I'd revisit the topic.

Contemplating the Hedgehog: Introduction

As I wrote in the first post in this blog:

I'll also post reviews of other blogs about societal collapse and what to do about it. There are plenty of them out there, and they all deserve a good meta look.

The first one was an obituary of Joe Bagaent as told through his interactions from a distance with Jim Kunstler. The second was supposed to be a review of Clusterfuck Nation. For some reason, I keep postponing that review. As I wrote in my second post on this blog:

[T]oday isn't the day for that review. It's not that I don't have a lot to say about him; I do, but I can always repackage my opinions on a slow news day.

Or when don't find another blogger that I think deserves more attention, which brings me to the subject of today's post.

My friend andelku on LiveJournal has been posting a series she calls Contemplating the Hedgehog. Why "the Hedgehog?" In the first post in the series, Welcome to the Hedgehog, she wrote:

When I was just a wee lass, me and my talented underachieving college friends spent large amounts of time sitting around kitchen tables and on back porches of our cheap apartments drinking bad wine and talking about how we all sensed this country, if not the world, was headed for some kind of crisis. Until finally one girl says "I'm tired of calling it the Big Awful Thing That Nobody Knows What It Is But Everyone Can See Coming. Let's call it The Hedgehog." And so we did.

In reality, she's looking at the same situations that I'm writing about here; it's just that she's doing it from a more global (pun fully intended) perspective than I am. That means her series is exactly the kind of material I should be reviewing. Besides, I rather like this conceit, so I'm looking forward to commenting on her posts. Not only will it get her writing the attention it deserves, it should be fun.