Comment on Ok, boomer

• StarvingMartist@sh.itjust.works ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Let me Tell you a story from a whippersnapper if you care to listen. When I was young and roaming the digital wild West, there’s one thing I kept seeing from my peers. People saying “as a millennial/ gen. Z, I’m sorry for my generation” This is always stuck with me as something that was depressing in and of itself, but that also gave me pause for the idea that we needed to be sorry for something in the first place. They were apologizing for stupid things like memes or childish behavior, but I had seen them do these things in the past and have a great time doing it.

  The main thing this taught me is that people are a product of their time and the current time. It’s usually not worth it to just write these people off as lost souls, but rather to reach out and try to peel back that layer of societal contempt. There’s still a human under there and they still have some of the old ideals you used to know, just under a layer of dust. When I see my peers changing nowadays, I don’t let that affect my perception of them, I still remember them as the Goofy 14-year-olds shouting swag in the hallways. Now, whenever I meet up with them, I make the effort to brush off whatever nonsense they’re going on about now and peel back that layer to see the version of them that I know and grew up with.

  It’s easier than you might think, just takes a few well placed laughs and you’ve got your friends back

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  • raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Even assuming your observation was universally true (which I doubt, I firmly believe people can irreversibly deteriorate) - there are circumstances that can prevent you from reaching people. To name the immediate two that come to mind:

    • lack of “alone” time that they will spend with you due to family / spouses / jobs
    • you simply do not find the key (again, assuming it exists) to “peel back” their layer of anger and frustration that clouds their objectiveness

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  • akacastor@lemmy.world ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I agree with StarvingMartist, it really is much easier to be an enabler than it is to give a shit about values. It’s easier than you might think.

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    • StarvingMartist@sh.itjust.works ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Sure if you want to belittle my point and make a joke, be my guest! Ultimately I can’t change your mind so I’m not going to bother trying, just like with my friends and family, I’m going to brush off dust and keep navigating this complex spiderweb we call life.

      I just know I won’t be doing it alone and isolated from people because they have a different viewpoint.

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      • Crysalim@lemmy.world ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Ironically, you and people who speak like this are the truly belittling ones. It’s much harder and more courageous to hold values and stick to them than it is to delude yourself and others into believing bad things really aren’t that bad, and that we can all hold hands and laugh it away like anime characters if we just try hard enough.

        These things are not mutually exclusive, either. You can absolutely cry laugh over something with an evil nazi boomer. It won’t change who they are, though - they need to do that themselves, and comforting platitudes are what they count on people endlessly giving them in order for them never to have a reason to do so.

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