They say that young people tend to be rebellious. They fight the social norms, they want to reject what their parents believed in, and be different. There was also this constant perception of the older generation always being one with the conservative mindset, being nationalistic, standing for traddition, while the youth is liberal, wanting change and a freedom of expression. This vision still seems to be stuck in many people’s heads, but I see how it’s been changing over time.

Many content creators who I used to follow online around 15 years ago, who were rebellious teens, telling edgy jokes, are now spending time …. Lecturing people about how to act, how to talk, what to think, what everyone’s political beliefs should be. Then when their audience complains, talks about how much they’ve changed, how they’re not fun anymore, they call their followers “toxic”, disable comments and complain how rough they have it. All of a sudden, being an authoritative bossy person is good, because those adults in the past… it wasn’t like we hated them for their lecturing, NO, it was just them having different views than we did. Oh wait, I’m sorry, I implied nuance and self-reflection there. They don’t speak of “different views”, but rather “hateful views”. Because of course, labeling different views as evil, silencing criticism, not accepting any nuance, and firmly being in a “everybody is dumb, but me” position is only bad and worth mocking when other people are doing it.

Perhaps this is a pointless journal, but I felt like writing it, because it makes me quite self-reflective. I still do see myself as a moron, that hasn’t changed. However, I do see how some of my former idols have truly lost their way, and have become what they claimed to oppose, and it’s quite sad, because they don’t even realize it, and we get the classic exchange:
“You've changed man. You used to be cool”
“I’m still cool!”