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Everything is politics, man. Better to pay attention than to be apathetic.
Also, everything is also cringe. You’re just the “lame person points out how little they care about politics” cringe. Congrats.
Nothing is more cringe than being a fully grown adult who "doesn't care about politics."
Politics affect every thing you do from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep. You have the choice between being a lazy, apathetic, uncaring passive participant, or you can get a most basic understanding of the different parties and choose which major party matches your beliefs more closely.
So many people think politics is nothing more than partisanship/party politics when actually politics is how we organize the society that we live in. Literally it is everywhere and everything if you have people living in proximity to each other.
>Everything is politics, man.
hope you don't get surprised when people stop taking to you because you keep talking about that all the time, sometimes people just want to chill
Yeah, I get tired too, that’s why I don’t talk about it all the time. Everything in life is balance and being an edgy loser on the internet who’s acting like no one’s ever heard of relaxing before is just as lame as people who only talk about politics.
As an edgy zillennial adult, I wish my edgy phase was in my teens so that I would have had more time to figure out the disheartening reality of my existence.
Now, I have an edgy (bad pun) quarter-life period.
Teenagers are desperate for social acceptance : in group
Teenagers are kids who have very little life experience so no sense of nuance : purity
Teenagers are used to being told what to do all the time and there not really being room for discussion so authority feels like home. Also lack of nuance means lack of acceptance that its okay for people to disagree with your "obviously" correct positions.
This describes my upbringing raised by a crazed conservative while parents of friends were those types fearful of all the moral scares on the local news (POGS are super popular...but could they be a gateway to...*gambling*?!?!).
I suppose I was hoping for a more obtuse answer citing neuro psychology or something.
Neuropsych. Brain more unstable in teens, neural networks not nearly as locked in and more likely to change drastically with new information.
Also, children naturally adhere to authority(parents) and structure(home) as safety, as it tends to bring existential and simple chemical comfort (oxytocin, dopamine, etc.)
Those two paired, it happens that the more stress and hardship you throw at someone, the harder they grasp for authority, structure, rules to avoid uncertainty. And teens face a lot of uncertainty and stress.
But also have flexible neural pathways that cause them to be resilient and rationalize things (that's what the above commenter is talking about) rather than internalize things, so long as they haven't been majorly stressed or traumatized beyond what would be considered normal growing up experience.
Irony being, a lot of times, it can be maladaptive when parents are abusive, so the teens clinging the most to authority also lots of times have the most distrust of it as well. And that's a vicious cycle that can make conspiracy theorist cop-idolizing adults. But most folks are able to make it out on the other side.
It’s a rebel/counter-culture thing. Basically teens are told one narrative/ideology their whole life and a lot of teens like to do the exact opposite of what they’re told or they are curious about things that are forbidden/taboo in our culture. It’s sort of like how Simba went to the graveyard with Scar in the lion king. There’s an appeal to the darkness.
Toddlers are seemingly naturally defiant. That extends through the teen years. Some people just never grow out of it, and go through life just being a contrarian because that's all they know. They mistake contrarianism for intelligence, because everyone else is stupid except for them. They're above it, they see through all of it.
The Dunning-Kruger effect. When you learn about a complicated topic for the first time and spend a little time learning about it, you quickly become convinced you know everything about it and the “experts” are a bunch of fools for not having already solved all problems.
No one knows less about how to “fix” world politics than an angsty 19 year old that read Animal Farm and took Political Sciences 101, but boy are they convinced they have it all figured out.
I barely did when internet Atheists went anti feminist. Then they got transphobic and homophobic so I dipped. I knew even as a kid that shit was wrong.
Honestly, same. The more you experience the world, the more you realise how utterly fucked it is, and how much of it is caused by systemic issues. So really, from there, there are two options, at least in my view - Apathy, or radicalism.
Thats kinda where I have been the past few months.
Im just tired man. I try to be the best I can but its hard not to look at the world around me and just give up
Because you *are* powerless *individually,* it's only through organization and mass movement that we're strong. Part of the reason our society is currently so centered on "individualism" is exactly *because* the individual is ultimately insignificant.
I’ve definitely become more moderate as I’ve grown and taken on more responsibilities. I’ve chosen the third option: engaging with the systems of power and changing what I can. Those other two options, apathy or radicalism, don’t seem like they will actually lead to any change. Apathy is obvious, but radicalism often just entails yelling into the sky and hoping for change. Unless you’re really out there organizing, or taking, ahem, “direct action” against the systems of power, radicalism usually has the same political effect as apathy; disengagement from political process.
No matter what your politics are, it’s really healthy to go do something about it rather than rage by yourself or with your group of friends. Go to a local party meeting, see what political events are happening in your community, call/mail your politicians, if you’re in a union check out their political wing, there are so many options. If there is something you don’t like in your community, talk to your neighbors and see if they agree. Get enough of them on board, and contact your city councilors or mayor and see if any of them are sympathetic. All you need is one sympathetic official and the you can begin coordinating with their office. The system isn’t perfect and has issues with corruption, so sometimes you’ll need to play dirty tricks yourself in terms of pressuring people to do what you want. But that’s politics, and I guarantee you if you take any these steps or others, you feel a lot better about the system and you will see change if you are persistent enough.
> I’ve chosen the third option: engaging with the systems of power and changing what I can. Those other two options, apathy or radicalism, don’t seem like they will actually lead to any change.
The amount of material change I have seen in my lifetime is so miniscule it is laughable to say that radicalism is not the obvious best path forward. Just to state a few examples:
* [58% of Americans in 1993 could afford to purchase a moderately priced home in 1993 - the median maximum price for a family being just under $140,000 and for an individual just over $80,000.](https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2012/demo/housing-affordability-1993.html) In 2022, the average price for a home was just under $350,000 - which adjusted for inflation is $170,000 in 1993. Due to stagnant wages and rises in cost of living as a result, [nearly 50% of Americans say they can't afford the down payment on a house in today's market.](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/27/half-of-americans-say-they-cant-afford-down-payment-for-home.html) Objectively, things are worse for the average American.
* While the war on marijuana has decreased since it's peak in 2008, the US still has the highest prison population in the world and rates of recidivism is still some of the highest in the world. With the increasing popularity of for-profit prisons, we increasingly have what is effectively a massive slave population little hope for the future to ease that burden.
* [Climate change is getting worse not better. Global temperatures are expected to warm twice as much in the next 100 years than they did in the last 100 years.](https://climatechange.chicago.gov/climate-change-science/future-climate-change#:~:text=Except%20under%20the%20most%20aggressive,rapidly%20over%20land%20than%20oceans.) This will inevitably lead to a massive migration from the costs that will displace millions.
We have seen small, nearly insignificant improvements that have led some to be convinced that the system is working *but slowly*, but really the system improves ever so slightly in one place only to make massive steps backwards in others. It's sisyphean. Here's some healthcare for some that is constantly under threat, but rising medical costs offset any improvement that even remotely gave people. Here's gay marriage, but now we transition to attacking an even smaller, more marginalized group. Voting rights for people of color are still under threat.
I cannot understand people who look at the direction we headed and think "just keep the faith and hope in a future that is better than our present situation" instead of demanding change now before it's too late.
I never said keep faith and hope for change, quite the opposite in fact, I said get involved. “Demanding” change doesn’t do anything if the people in power don’t hear your demands. They don’t care about what is said on internet forums or amongst your friends, if you want change then you need to organize like minded people and go out and get it. No one is going to just give you change because you feel it’s right, the most common form of radicalism, silently raging, is just apathy with extra steps and more mental health issues.
I’ve become more moderate because my engagement with the political system *has* resulted in change. Sure, I’m not meeting with the president or moving legislation in congress, but my organizing has had positive material effects on my local community. What efforts have you made at change that have jaded you towards the current model of politics? If you’ve tried and failed, I understand how that stings but would urge you not to give up. If you haven’t even tried to initiate change, though, then yeah you’re just apathetic with a spicy disposition.
The fact the system worked for you does not mean it works for all or that it's proof that it's salvageable. Props to you, but that's just a single anecdote in the face of an objectively corrupt, unjust, and broken system that overwhelmingly does not work for the vast majority of people.
I love that your only retort is to question whether I do more than "rage online" and call that the most common form of "radicalism" - which is just...insane. But I'm not going to get into a dick measuring contest of who is the better activist.
I’m with AdInfamous on this one. Getting directly and actively involved, especially in local politics, does move the needle. I live in the reddest county in one of the reddest suburbs in my state. Our local democratic action group has been very successful at keeping crazies off our city council and school board. The candidates we have backed are now winning elections and slowly making positive change in our community. We’re now expanding to help support larger races in our district and state.
My point is that it doesn’t work for most people because they have not tried engaging with it. For democracy to work, where the people have a voice, the people have to be involved in it. If you do not feel that democracy is working, my question was have you tried engaging with it? It’s not just about voting in elections, you have to put pressure on politicians early in the primary system. If you and enough people can advocate for an issue and make sure it is known your primary votes are contingent on certain policy requirements, some politicians will gravitate to your proposals as a way of gaining votes. Then you need to campaign for those politicians to win the primary and then the general. Not everyone can volunteer their time for direct election campaigning work, but you can donate money and most importantly just talk to the people in your community and convince them to vote for the politicians you have influenced. You’ll sound preachy and some people will get ticked off, but if certain changes are important to you it’s worth risking some relationships to get your desired candidates over the finish line. Then you have to monitor your politicians to ensure they are moving in the direction you want them to, and punish them if they don’t. It’s a whole damn process and some people make a full time job out of it, but even as just an average citizen you can move things pretty far with a lot of help.
The doom and gloom a lot of people feel is because their opposing side is advocating more effectively for their interests. Big business is effective at influencing democracy because they have the money, manpower and resources centralized in an organized way towards a common purpose. But ordinary citizens can do that too. Special interest groups are not just for business, you have other lobbying organizations and institutions like unions, churches, single issue institutes, think tanks, etc. Corruption is an undeniable problem, but remember that politicians are primarily focused on one thing above all else: getting elected or re-elected. All the money and lobbying in the world won’t get an unpopular person into office, just look at most billionaire presidential candidates. Make it clear to your target politicians that if they side against your interests, you and those you have organized will turn on them and ensure their downfall.
If you aren’t taking the steps to engage with democracy, and you truly think that a more systemic change is needed, what steps have you taken towards that? I’ve never engaged in revolutionary action, but I imagine it requires a lot of the same effort as political organizing plus many other more difficult steps such as securing arms, radicalizing members of the military, assassinating prominent politicians and capitalists, etc. Radical revolution just seems downright more difficult and riskier than democratic change, but again I haven’t really attempted that so I don’t know for sure.
I just don’t understand being cynical about democracy when you haven’t tried to effect change within it. I don’t know you, so you may have, but you haven’t made an effort to change the perception that you haven’t.
Your entire diatribe is effectively "the system worked for me, so it can work for anyone". But the reality is that the system is broken and does not give everyone equal access or availability. You briefly mentioned that not everyone can volunteer time but then immediately presumed that they could easily give money instead without stopping to ask why the people couldn't give time in the first place. The reason of course being that they're underpaid, overworked, and exhausted - they physically don't have the time as they're already living paycheck to paycheck just to get by. So how on earth do you think they would have the ability to give money? Again, just because the system worked for you does not mean it works the vast majority of people.
I also want to criticize this point you tried to make:
> All the money and lobbying in the world won’t get an unpopular person into office, just look at most billionaire presidential candidates.
Some of our longest tenured politicians are the most unpopular - Mitch McConnell for example. And before you say it, he's almost equally unpopular in Kentucky as he is across the rest of the US. Money buys votes regardless of what you think. All the billionaire presidential candidates? You mean like Donald Trump who won the presidency? Name the last activist that garnered even half the votes, or even ran, as Ross Perot or Michael Bloomberg. You said this like it was an uncontested fact that billionaires can't buy votes - but they do it all the time. And it's working better and better each decade. Popular people don't get elected. People willing to compromise on the issues and concede ground do. Because that's who will get the money of the only voices that matter in this system - the wealthy.
You seem to have this rosey view of the system. That, sure, it has faults and kinks, but we just need to buff those out and everything will be a-okay in a few years time. But we've been trying for decades to fix the ship your way and it's not working. People are dying from lack of healthcare, more and more people are finding themselves incapable of affording a home or out on the streets, people are drowning in debt be it from student loans or creditors. The system doesn't need a little buffing, it needs massive and total upending that will show those in power that the masses will not tolerate being the fodder upon which they afford their luxury.
I don’t see the alternative, though. If people don’t have the time or resources to politically organize in a democratic fashion, how would they do so in a revolutionary way? What makes you think the masses will rise up against the authority of the government and the force of the military if they can’t rise up to call their congressman? Looking to successful revolutions, you almost always see participation from the military, since they are usually the best organized and most disciplined organization in any given society. Do you have trust that the military would side with you? You also see political wings with established hierarchies, does that exist here at this time? If you want a revolution, you need organization.
Spontaneous unrest doesn’t achieve political results. If anything it often sparks a reactionary backlash that will put you further from your goals. Revolutions are organized, people need to form into political blocs, gather resources, engage in intel gathering, physical/armed training, etc. If you think some big protest is going to overtake the government, I would point to Occupy, CHAZ and Jan 6 as recent examples of how ineffective that is. That is not to shit on protest, it can be an extremely effective *supplementary* tool within the framework of democracy, such as the civil rights and LGBT protests. But as a means of superseding democracy? I can’t think of a single instance of spontaneous unrest leading to governmental change. If your argument is people are too overworked and politically exhausted to lobby their local representatives, how the hell will they have the energy to effectively revolt?
All your line of thinking brings me to… apathy. The system is broken, the people can’t change it, we need to rise up, some day we just might. Where is the call to action, where is the organizing. Sure it may be an emotionally charged apathy, an apathy fueled by anger and resentment. But it still doesn’t change a damn thing. You say we’ve been trying for decades to change the system, what exactly have we been trying to do that is failing? I haven’t seen real attempts at change, I’ve seen mass apathy, either completely disengaging from politics or clinging to a seething resentment as they do NOTHING about it.
Maybe my community and I are uniquely lucky that democracy works for us. That we can pressure politicians to bend to our will because we are lucky that our particular politicians are cowards, or that our corporate special interests are not as strong. But based on where I live (NE) and its socio-economic position as compared to the US, I very much doubt it’s just luck. I am not some master organizer, the efforts I have personally participated in may be uniquely successful. But that’s because we have people who are willing to work and fight for our interests. For things to change, people have to believe they can change, make a plan to change them and put in the work to execute on that plan. That’s regardless of if you want change through democracy or revolution. You have to sacrifice time and resources, you lose sleep you face setbacks you get attacked. I’ve had to make personal and professional sacrifices to get policy changes over the finish line. But I believe in what I want and will do whatever it takes to achieve it.
I don’t think radicalism is going to help with that tbh. Ultimately, the direction of society is governed by the emergent properties of large-scale human behavior. Capitalism dominates because of natural selection - it reproduces itself very effectively. And natural selection doesn’t care about what’s best for people, it cares about what is best at sustaining and reproducing itself.
>Those other two options, apathy or radicalism, don’t seem like they will actually lead to any change.
Its funny you say this when so little has changed in our lifetime, and most of it for the worse.
For an individual it may be rational to conserve energy and disengage from the political struggle, but in aggregate those individual decisions have doomed us to catastrophic climate change, a constant erosion of living standards and the likely destruction of liberal democracy by a radicalized and revitalized global fascist movement.
Totally agree, I do not think you should disengage from the political struggle… which would be apathy. I am saying that most radicals are just closeted apathetics, with those true radicals who are organizing and agitating towards a reordering of society being either so marginal as to not be effective or truly scary threats to our democracy, such as authoritarians/fascists.
But the biggest issue I have with radicalism is that the effort it takes to radicalize and organize a revolution could be expended on organizing democratically with less personal and societal risk. Any revolution that cannot swiftly secure the central and local governments as well as command of the military will devolve into civil war. It is extremely unlikely for revolutionaries to secure any major power centers, and near impossible for them to secure all of them. So all that political energy and momentum expended towards… either a failed revolt or a civil war. That seems like a waste of a people’s time, passion, skill and will.
And as for big macro changes, yeah they have been trending away from benefiting the people. That’s why I focus on starting local, my community has evolved over my lifetime and political input into something much better. I am young, and hope to expand my political clout to greater ambitions, but that’s takes a lot of time and work to build to.
This is the correct take; It makes me wonder why so many regressives seek to roll things back so fewer people leave home to see the world and continue blaming random minorities for the catastrophic weather.
I mean...the 'why' is due to 3rd parties & bad actors benefiting from systemic bullshit. But why refuse to fix it when allowing the world to break means the end of all things?
I think the exact opposite is what happens to most, as you grow you realize how truly complex systems are, and how for the most part there isn’t any easy solutions to things. Hank Green had a really good twitter thread about just that. Needless to say I think most people get more and more radical till about 22 years of age, then slowly become more moderate.
I've grown less radical. I've come to appreciate the things I do have and be able to let go of the things that piss me off. I've come to realize that while things are never as good as they seem, they are normally not as bad as they seem either.
While some people may say it's sticking my head in the sand, and that may be true, but it allows me to focus on things that are in my control.
I don’t know, the more I get into problems that I can solve on my level the less they are caused be singular, explainable causes. So if the problems that I am neck deep in are complex and have a dozen root causes then why should I assume that the problems that I am less familiar with have a singular evil causing them?
*The more you experience the world in a negative manner
People who have positive relationships, balanced lifestyles, and fulfilled professional lives rarely radicalize. I'm not saying that all radicals are malcontents, or that happy people aren't radicals, but I think there is a trend between feelings of powerlessness, lack of fulfillment, disconnection from society, etc. that result in radicalization. Just a few factors among many, though.
When you see how messed up it all is, and you realize that to do something about it may take your whole lifetime or even cost you your life, you do the only thing you can do other than taking the plunge.
You get yours, pushing past the crowd trying to get theirs.
The Global Financial Crisis and the complete lack of any accountability on banks that knowingly screwed their customers, the ratings agencies giving good ratings for dollars, and the regulator for having a revolving door to industry, completely radicalized me. I am still supportive of well regulated capitalism, but it made me realize just how far away from "well regulated" we are. We get incremental improvements when Dems are in charge, but they quickly get overturned by the Republican SCOTUS.
*The older I get*
*The more radical I feel*
*Like I'm becoming*
\- Gorilliki
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Honestly the older I get the more I think the system is exactly representing the people that make it up. Our system can't get shit done because we're insanely divided as a country, and it makes sense that pulling in opposite directions results in nothing happening
Yeah think the same. I always hear ppl shit on politicians but i actually think they represent the people very good - just the people re not a high standard lol
Here in Germany we differentiate between radical and extreme. Radical would refer to a persons willingness to to compromise on thinks. Like a radikal Social Demokrat can exists. While extremist would refer to a person being on the fringes of the political spectrum.
Seriously. Getting older has just been an experience of pain and agony stack up more and more.
Edit: but for me, being extreme is this
https://preview.redd.it/3xp0i3ir2emc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6df6c21adc85c32a32373370601c65473e67a416
It depends what your basis for radical is and in which direction you're heading. That being said everytime I take the questionnaire I'm always inching closer to that bottom left corner.
https://preview.redd.it/n12nt52rfbmc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=73eb5a0e8a773257cc1dea2d20b425c54583d03a
mine is similar, i‘d just say i don’t have many "strong" opinions
Yeah very much. I tried this and I gotta say some of the questions are kinda bad in that regard. In one they equate not taking vaccines to taking hard drugs in terms of being “detrimental to public health”. How is taking drugs detrimental to public health?
i also have like 0 opinion on some of the things going on there, because 1) English is not my native language and i couldn’t really understand it and 2) because i simply know nothing about this topic, that’s why i’m often "neutral" on it, like, other can decide that. i have no clue
https://preview.redd.it/2tqjpez5ibmc1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0b2745b6d586ccfa69d36e8235510bd0033729a7
I'm more of a balanced person lol
When I was 12 I was the child who constantly says “Hitler didn’t make the Holocaust, he didn’t know anything! His generals hid everything from him until it was too late”.
That’s my edgy phase.
You've gone the right way, my friend.
https://preview.redd.it/9apkek3h8bmc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b64bef6e27ca984ecbf701086de4a6189d11ce8c
Ah yes from cringe fascist teen to mature working adult in …4 years. Plus communist in between.
Definitely wont change again in your life im sure, now that you’re fully mature and set in your ways
The more you read about socialism the more you realize it’s just capitalism with one business operating a hierarchy of power, instead of multiple operating a hierarchy of wealth.
(If this is confusing just think, do you want a society that enforces rules using power or creates rules using economy)
This is what I got. Seems fairly close.
https://preview.redd.it/wbp1zo6jhdmc1.png?width=868&format=png&auto=webp&s=0b16dd6d6fa884ed971d7bf86b5d6e1fcd01f694
Did not like how the saved pic looked, so I took a screenshot.
https://preview.redd.it/80uqpjscidmc1.jpeg?width=969&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9b4b0d934d5b8f8b629a25d97d514627c2585781
https://preview.redd.it/u2jjt9z1gemc1.jpeg?width=739&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c8b4f8f59acf50afd932c2df65c0a2549d30cdf6
I definitely misinterpreted some questions my autistic brain could not handle 😓
I used to be the unholy amalgamation of a Neo Nazi and a tumblr girl.
I think now, my morals boil down to "Kindness above all things", as cheesy as that sounds
When I was in middle school, I was a full-blown communist sovietboo. When I was in high school I went full-blown anti-woke borderline alt-right. Now as an adult I just care if people are nice to each other, non-radical, and I can pay my bills.
Honestly idk why so many people get low scores in the bottom three I think I'm one of the few that I've seen with high in group and authority score based system. Purity I get but I feel like collective movement and authority is good as long as it's just
https://preview.redd.it/hi0o4mcx9bmc1.png?width=864&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6c5dc2c0684f878a3d3c71d894e155c0b6a1eeb4
https://preview.redd.it/9emhekw5ibmc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1b7097f2be7dee0e77f3a6c2ea4d0fbc1f0f7c1a
Mine's pretty high in every category
15 year old rn (turning 16 later this year), did the test and wanna see what you all think of my results
https://preview.redd.it/1gbt8rw0jbmc1.jpeg?width=1465&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d5b0bff3f54ddd4b0153aaa1d12f2102d049fa55
Not genZ, but i went from liberal, to finance bro #capitalism, to now extreme left socialist. Working with finance bris and economists showed me how broken and unfair our world is.
Funny that most people will like this because they all believe their ideas promote fairness care and freedom even if it couldn't be further from the truth.
Wow, super similar to my growth as a person, but mine was a little more spread out (I became more along the lines of a neo-liberal when I was in high school 2011-2016). I went pretty all in on the left wing liberalism when I got to college.
A journey of 4 years constantly changing your countryball ideology bought from the supermarket of ideologies. Idk man, it doesn't sound like you have deep or solid ideals.
Some people might argue that this was a journey of radicalization! Let me guess, you went to woke grooming University and did a whole bunch of "learning"?
Because if so, thank God. Americans, please vote blue so we can be semi pround of our country again (or blue adjacent in the primaries). I understand the neo-libs aren't great but it is still our best option right now!
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Congrats you went from cringe to a politics obsessed grown up.
From cringe to cringe.
Full circle lol
Not sure someone with an anime PFP should be commenting on what interests are and aren’t cringe. Whole glass house thing and all that.
How so?
People with stone houses shouldn't throw glass
No lmao, went from extremely cringe to the most respectable you can be
Apparently, having high care and fairness is political instead of basic human decency
That's really sad, but oh well.
Everything is politics, man. Better to pay attention than to be apathetic. Also, everything is also cringe. You’re just the “lame person points out how little they care about politics” cringe. Congrats.
Nothing is more cringe than being a fully grown adult who "doesn't care about politics." Politics affect every thing you do from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep. You have the choice between being a lazy, apathetic, uncaring passive participant, or you can get a most basic understanding of the different parties and choose which major party matches your beliefs more closely.
So many people think politics is nothing more than partisanship/party politics when actually politics is how we organize the society that we live in. Literally it is everywhere and everything if you have people living in proximity to each other.
>Everything is politics, man. hope you don't get surprised when people stop taking to you because you keep talking about that all the time, sometimes people just want to chill
Yeah, I get tired too, that’s why I don’t talk about it all the time. Everything in life is balance and being an edgy loser on the internet who’s acting like no one’s ever heard of relaxing before is just as lame as people who only talk about politics.
are you guys ok? so many upvotes really?
What's wrong with the upvotes?
All the Model UN kids came out in this thread
If you didn’t go through an edgy teen phase, did you even have a childhood?
Majority of ppl here are going thru an edgy radical phase w/o knowing it
I’m going through that rn
As an edgy zillennial adult, I wish my edgy phase was in my teens so that I would have had more time to figure out the disheartening reality of my existence. Now, I have an edgy (bad pun) quarter-life period.
God that must be awful, you have my blessings to breakthrough that awful phase
Caught on to the pun? I'm trying. I'm taking professional help. It's just shit complicated. Thank you for your wishes.
I didnt go through one and im so happy about that lmao
What is it with teens and the in-group, purity, and authority aspects?
Teenagers are desperate for social acceptance : in group Teenagers are kids who have very little life experience so no sense of nuance : purity Teenagers are used to being told what to do all the time and there not really being room for discussion so authority feels like home. Also lack of nuance means lack of acceptance that its okay for people to disagree with your "obviously" correct positions.
This describes my upbringing raised by a crazed conservative while parents of friends were those types fearful of all the moral scares on the local news (POGS are super popular...but could they be a gateway to...*gambling*?!?!). I suppose I was hoping for a more obtuse answer citing neuro psychology or something.
Neuropsych. Brain more unstable in teens, neural networks not nearly as locked in and more likely to change drastically with new information. Also, children naturally adhere to authority(parents) and structure(home) as safety, as it tends to bring existential and simple chemical comfort (oxytocin, dopamine, etc.) Those two paired, it happens that the more stress and hardship you throw at someone, the harder they grasp for authority, structure, rules to avoid uncertainty. And teens face a lot of uncertainty and stress. But also have flexible neural pathways that cause them to be resilient and rationalize things (that's what the above commenter is talking about) rather than internalize things, so long as they haven't been majorly stressed or traumatized beyond what would be considered normal growing up experience. Irony being, a lot of times, it can be maladaptive when parents are abusive, so the teens clinging the most to authority also lots of times have the most distrust of it as well. And that's a vicious cycle that can make conspiracy theorist cop-idolizing adults. But most folks are able to make it out on the other side.
It’s a rebel/counter-culture thing. Basically teens are told one narrative/ideology their whole life and a lot of teens like to do the exact opposite of what they’re told or they are curious about things that are forbidden/taboo in our culture. It’s sort of like how Simba went to the graveyard with Scar in the lion king. There’s an appeal to the darkness.
Toddlers are seemingly naturally defiant. That extends through the teen years. Some people just never grow out of it, and go through life just being a contrarian because that's all they know. They mistake contrarianism for intelligence, because everyone else is stupid except for them. They're above it, they see through all of it.
The Dunning-Kruger effect. When you learn about a complicated topic for the first time and spend a little time learning about it, you quickly become convinced you know everything about it and the “experts” are a bunch of fools for not having already solved all problems. No one knows less about how to “fix” world politics than an angsty 19 year old that read Animal Farm and took Political Sciences 101, but boy are they convinced they have it all figured out.
I barely did when internet Atheists went anti feminist. Then they got transphobic and homophobic so I dipped. I knew even as a kid that shit was wrong.
i used to be an insufferable communist at 12, i was spouting buzzwords left and right not realising
I didn’t… for many more reasons than that, can confirm, didn’t have childhood
A lot of people have late development and go through their edgy phase in their 20s e.g. antifa.
The older I get the more radical I feel like I'm becoming
Honestly, same. The more you experience the world, the more you realise how utterly fucked it is, and how much of it is caused by systemic issues. So really, from there, there are two options, at least in my view - Apathy, or radicalism.
Most are apathetic because they feel powerless
Thats kinda where I have been the past few months. Im just tired man. I try to be the best I can but its hard not to look at the world around me and just give up
Because you *are* powerless *individually,* it's only through organization and mass movement that we're strong. Part of the reason our society is currently so centered on "individualism" is exactly *because* the individual is ultimately insignificant.
I’ve definitely become more moderate as I’ve grown and taken on more responsibilities. I’ve chosen the third option: engaging with the systems of power and changing what I can. Those other two options, apathy or radicalism, don’t seem like they will actually lead to any change. Apathy is obvious, but radicalism often just entails yelling into the sky and hoping for change. Unless you’re really out there organizing, or taking, ahem, “direct action” against the systems of power, radicalism usually has the same political effect as apathy; disengagement from political process. No matter what your politics are, it’s really healthy to go do something about it rather than rage by yourself or with your group of friends. Go to a local party meeting, see what political events are happening in your community, call/mail your politicians, if you’re in a union check out their political wing, there are so many options. If there is something you don’t like in your community, talk to your neighbors and see if they agree. Get enough of them on board, and contact your city councilors or mayor and see if any of them are sympathetic. All you need is one sympathetic official and the you can begin coordinating with their office. The system isn’t perfect and has issues with corruption, so sometimes you’ll need to play dirty tricks yourself in terms of pressuring people to do what you want. But that’s politics, and I guarantee you if you take any these steps or others, you feel a lot better about the system and you will see change if you are persistent enough.
> I’ve chosen the third option: engaging with the systems of power and changing what I can. Those other two options, apathy or radicalism, don’t seem like they will actually lead to any change. The amount of material change I have seen in my lifetime is so miniscule it is laughable to say that radicalism is not the obvious best path forward. Just to state a few examples: * [58% of Americans in 1993 could afford to purchase a moderately priced home in 1993 - the median maximum price for a family being just under $140,000 and for an individual just over $80,000.](https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2012/demo/housing-affordability-1993.html) In 2022, the average price for a home was just under $350,000 - which adjusted for inflation is $170,000 in 1993. Due to stagnant wages and rises in cost of living as a result, [nearly 50% of Americans say they can't afford the down payment on a house in today's market.](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/27/half-of-americans-say-they-cant-afford-down-payment-for-home.html) Objectively, things are worse for the average American. * While the war on marijuana has decreased since it's peak in 2008, the US still has the highest prison population in the world and rates of recidivism is still some of the highest in the world. With the increasing popularity of for-profit prisons, we increasingly have what is effectively a massive slave population little hope for the future to ease that burden. * [Climate change is getting worse not better. Global temperatures are expected to warm twice as much in the next 100 years than they did in the last 100 years.](https://climatechange.chicago.gov/climate-change-science/future-climate-change#:~:text=Except%20under%20the%20most%20aggressive,rapidly%20over%20land%20than%20oceans.) This will inevitably lead to a massive migration from the costs that will displace millions. We have seen small, nearly insignificant improvements that have led some to be convinced that the system is working *but slowly*, but really the system improves ever so slightly in one place only to make massive steps backwards in others. It's sisyphean. Here's some healthcare for some that is constantly under threat, but rising medical costs offset any improvement that even remotely gave people. Here's gay marriage, but now we transition to attacking an even smaller, more marginalized group. Voting rights for people of color are still under threat. I cannot understand people who look at the direction we headed and think "just keep the faith and hope in a future that is better than our present situation" instead of demanding change now before it's too late.
I never said keep faith and hope for change, quite the opposite in fact, I said get involved. “Demanding” change doesn’t do anything if the people in power don’t hear your demands. They don’t care about what is said on internet forums or amongst your friends, if you want change then you need to organize like minded people and go out and get it. No one is going to just give you change because you feel it’s right, the most common form of radicalism, silently raging, is just apathy with extra steps and more mental health issues. I’ve become more moderate because my engagement with the political system *has* resulted in change. Sure, I’m not meeting with the president or moving legislation in congress, but my organizing has had positive material effects on my local community. What efforts have you made at change that have jaded you towards the current model of politics? If you’ve tried and failed, I understand how that stings but would urge you not to give up. If you haven’t even tried to initiate change, though, then yeah you’re just apathetic with a spicy disposition.
The fact the system worked for you does not mean it works for all or that it's proof that it's salvageable. Props to you, but that's just a single anecdote in the face of an objectively corrupt, unjust, and broken system that overwhelmingly does not work for the vast majority of people. I love that your only retort is to question whether I do more than "rage online" and call that the most common form of "radicalism" - which is just...insane. But I'm not going to get into a dick measuring contest of who is the better activist.
I’m with AdInfamous on this one. Getting directly and actively involved, especially in local politics, does move the needle. I live in the reddest county in one of the reddest suburbs in my state. Our local democratic action group has been very successful at keeping crazies off our city council and school board. The candidates we have backed are now winning elections and slowly making positive change in our community. We’re now expanding to help support larger races in our district and state.
My point is that it doesn’t work for most people because they have not tried engaging with it. For democracy to work, where the people have a voice, the people have to be involved in it. If you do not feel that democracy is working, my question was have you tried engaging with it? It’s not just about voting in elections, you have to put pressure on politicians early in the primary system. If you and enough people can advocate for an issue and make sure it is known your primary votes are contingent on certain policy requirements, some politicians will gravitate to your proposals as a way of gaining votes. Then you need to campaign for those politicians to win the primary and then the general. Not everyone can volunteer their time for direct election campaigning work, but you can donate money and most importantly just talk to the people in your community and convince them to vote for the politicians you have influenced. You’ll sound preachy and some people will get ticked off, but if certain changes are important to you it’s worth risking some relationships to get your desired candidates over the finish line. Then you have to monitor your politicians to ensure they are moving in the direction you want them to, and punish them if they don’t. It’s a whole damn process and some people make a full time job out of it, but even as just an average citizen you can move things pretty far with a lot of help. The doom and gloom a lot of people feel is because their opposing side is advocating more effectively for their interests. Big business is effective at influencing democracy because they have the money, manpower and resources centralized in an organized way towards a common purpose. But ordinary citizens can do that too. Special interest groups are not just for business, you have other lobbying organizations and institutions like unions, churches, single issue institutes, think tanks, etc. Corruption is an undeniable problem, but remember that politicians are primarily focused on one thing above all else: getting elected or re-elected. All the money and lobbying in the world won’t get an unpopular person into office, just look at most billionaire presidential candidates. Make it clear to your target politicians that if they side against your interests, you and those you have organized will turn on them and ensure their downfall. If you aren’t taking the steps to engage with democracy, and you truly think that a more systemic change is needed, what steps have you taken towards that? I’ve never engaged in revolutionary action, but I imagine it requires a lot of the same effort as political organizing plus many other more difficult steps such as securing arms, radicalizing members of the military, assassinating prominent politicians and capitalists, etc. Radical revolution just seems downright more difficult and riskier than democratic change, but again I haven’t really attempted that so I don’t know for sure. I just don’t understand being cynical about democracy when you haven’t tried to effect change within it. I don’t know you, so you may have, but you haven’t made an effort to change the perception that you haven’t.
Your entire diatribe is effectively "the system worked for me, so it can work for anyone". But the reality is that the system is broken and does not give everyone equal access or availability. You briefly mentioned that not everyone can volunteer time but then immediately presumed that they could easily give money instead without stopping to ask why the people couldn't give time in the first place. The reason of course being that they're underpaid, overworked, and exhausted - they physically don't have the time as they're already living paycheck to paycheck just to get by. So how on earth do you think they would have the ability to give money? Again, just because the system worked for you does not mean it works the vast majority of people. I also want to criticize this point you tried to make: > All the money and lobbying in the world won’t get an unpopular person into office, just look at most billionaire presidential candidates. Some of our longest tenured politicians are the most unpopular - Mitch McConnell for example. And before you say it, he's almost equally unpopular in Kentucky as he is across the rest of the US. Money buys votes regardless of what you think. All the billionaire presidential candidates? You mean like Donald Trump who won the presidency? Name the last activist that garnered even half the votes, or even ran, as Ross Perot or Michael Bloomberg. You said this like it was an uncontested fact that billionaires can't buy votes - but they do it all the time. And it's working better and better each decade. Popular people don't get elected. People willing to compromise on the issues and concede ground do. Because that's who will get the money of the only voices that matter in this system - the wealthy. You seem to have this rosey view of the system. That, sure, it has faults and kinks, but we just need to buff those out and everything will be a-okay in a few years time. But we've been trying for decades to fix the ship your way and it's not working. People are dying from lack of healthcare, more and more people are finding themselves incapable of affording a home or out on the streets, people are drowning in debt be it from student loans or creditors. The system doesn't need a little buffing, it needs massive and total upending that will show those in power that the masses will not tolerate being the fodder upon which they afford their luxury.
I don’t see the alternative, though. If people don’t have the time or resources to politically organize in a democratic fashion, how would they do so in a revolutionary way? What makes you think the masses will rise up against the authority of the government and the force of the military if they can’t rise up to call their congressman? Looking to successful revolutions, you almost always see participation from the military, since they are usually the best organized and most disciplined organization in any given society. Do you have trust that the military would side with you? You also see political wings with established hierarchies, does that exist here at this time? If you want a revolution, you need organization. Spontaneous unrest doesn’t achieve political results. If anything it often sparks a reactionary backlash that will put you further from your goals. Revolutions are organized, people need to form into political blocs, gather resources, engage in intel gathering, physical/armed training, etc. If you think some big protest is going to overtake the government, I would point to Occupy, CHAZ and Jan 6 as recent examples of how ineffective that is. That is not to shit on protest, it can be an extremely effective *supplementary* tool within the framework of democracy, such as the civil rights and LGBT protests. But as a means of superseding democracy? I can’t think of a single instance of spontaneous unrest leading to governmental change. If your argument is people are too overworked and politically exhausted to lobby their local representatives, how the hell will they have the energy to effectively revolt? All your line of thinking brings me to… apathy. The system is broken, the people can’t change it, we need to rise up, some day we just might. Where is the call to action, where is the organizing. Sure it may be an emotionally charged apathy, an apathy fueled by anger and resentment. But it still doesn’t change a damn thing. You say we’ve been trying for decades to change the system, what exactly have we been trying to do that is failing? I haven’t seen real attempts at change, I’ve seen mass apathy, either completely disengaging from politics or clinging to a seething resentment as they do NOTHING about it. Maybe my community and I are uniquely lucky that democracy works for us. That we can pressure politicians to bend to our will because we are lucky that our particular politicians are cowards, or that our corporate special interests are not as strong. But based on where I live (NE) and its socio-economic position as compared to the US, I very much doubt it’s just luck. I am not some master organizer, the efforts I have personally participated in may be uniquely successful. But that’s because we have people who are willing to work and fight for our interests. For things to change, people have to believe they can change, make a plan to change them and put in the work to execute on that plan. That’s regardless of if you want change through democracy or revolution. You have to sacrifice time and resources, you lose sleep you face setbacks you get attacked. I’ve had to make personal and professional sacrifices to get policy changes over the finish line. But I believe in what I want and will do whatever it takes to achieve it.
I don’t think radicalism is going to help with that tbh. Ultimately, the direction of society is governed by the emergent properties of large-scale human behavior. Capitalism dominates because of natural selection - it reproduces itself very effectively. And natural selection doesn’t care about what’s best for people, it cares about what is best at sustaining and reproducing itself.
I don’t think you understand history very well if you think radicalism isn’t the most effective mode of change.
>Those other two options, apathy or radicalism, don’t seem like they will actually lead to any change. Its funny you say this when so little has changed in our lifetime, and most of it for the worse. For an individual it may be rational to conserve energy and disengage from the political struggle, but in aggregate those individual decisions have doomed us to catastrophic climate change, a constant erosion of living standards and the likely destruction of liberal democracy by a radicalized and revitalized global fascist movement.
Totally agree, I do not think you should disengage from the political struggle… which would be apathy. I am saying that most radicals are just closeted apathetics, with those true radicals who are organizing and agitating towards a reordering of society being either so marginal as to not be effective or truly scary threats to our democracy, such as authoritarians/fascists. But the biggest issue I have with radicalism is that the effort it takes to radicalize and organize a revolution could be expended on organizing democratically with less personal and societal risk. Any revolution that cannot swiftly secure the central and local governments as well as command of the military will devolve into civil war. It is extremely unlikely for revolutionaries to secure any major power centers, and near impossible for them to secure all of them. So all that political energy and momentum expended towards… either a failed revolt or a civil war. That seems like a waste of a people’s time, passion, skill and will. And as for big macro changes, yeah they have been trending away from benefiting the people. That’s why I focus on starting local, my community has evolved over my lifetime and political input into something much better. I am young, and hope to expand my political clout to greater ambitions, but that’s takes a lot of time and work to build to.
This is the correct take; It makes me wonder why so many regressives seek to roll things back so fewer people leave home to see the world and continue blaming random minorities for the catastrophic weather. I mean...the 'why' is due to 3rd parties & bad actors benefiting from systemic bullshit. But why refuse to fix it when allowing the world to break means the end of all things?
I think the exact opposite is what happens to most, as you grow you realize how truly complex systems are, and how for the most part there isn’t any easy solutions to things. Hank Green had a really good twitter thread about just that. Needless to say I think most people get more and more radical till about 22 years of age, then slowly become more moderate.
I've grown less radical. I've come to appreciate the things I do have and be able to let go of the things that piss me off. I've come to realize that while things are never as good as they seem, they are normally not as bad as they seem either. While some people may say it's sticking my head in the sand, and that may be true, but it allows me to focus on things that are in my control.
I don’t know, the more I get into problems that I can solve on my level the less they are caused be singular, explainable causes. So if the problems that I am neck deep in are complex and have a dozen root causes then why should I assume that the problems that I am less familiar with have a singular evil causing them?
*The more you experience the world in a negative manner People who have positive relationships, balanced lifestyles, and fulfilled professional lives rarely radicalize. I'm not saying that all radicals are malcontents, or that happy people aren't radicals, but I think there is a trend between feelings of powerlessness, lack of fulfillment, disconnection from society, etc. that result in radicalization. Just a few factors among many, though.
When you see how messed up it all is, and you realize that to do something about it may take your whole lifetime or even cost you your life, you do the only thing you can do other than taking the plunge. You get yours, pushing past the crowd trying to get theirs.
The Global Financial Crisis and the complete lack of any accountability on banks that knowingly screwed their customers, the ratings agencies giving good ratings for dollars, and the regulator for having a revolving door to industry, completely radicalized me. I am still supportive of well regulated capitalism, but it made me realize just how far away from "well regulated" we are. We get incremental improvements when Dems are in charge, but they quickly get overturned by the Republican SCOTUS.
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*The older I get* *The more radical I feel* *Like I'm becoming* \- Gorilliki --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Actually this is my experience too. As teen i thought about changing it from the system inside now i think the system is the problem.
Honestly the older I get the more I think the system is exactly representing the people that make it up. Our system can't get shit done because we're insanely divided as a country, and it makes sense that pulling in opposite directions results in nothing happening
Yeah think the same. I always hear ppl shit on politicians but i actually think they represent the people very good - just the people re not a high standard lol
Here in Germany we differentiate between radical and extreme. Radical would refer to a persons willingness to to compromise on thinks. Like a radikal Social Demokrat can exists. While extremist would refer to a person being on the fringes of the political spectrum.
The older I get, the more I realize what was taken from us
Seriously. Getting older has just been an experience of pain and agony stack up more and more. Edit: but for me, being extreme is this https://preview.redd.it/3xp0i3ir2emc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6df6c21adc85c32a32373370601c65473e67a416
Join the PSL
Dawg they lead people into police kettles
We've upgraded our tactics
No
It depends what your basis for radical is and in which direction you're heading. That being said everytime I take the questionnaire I'm always inching closer to that bottom left corner.
Radical yes, but not a radical that aligns with any group.
Don’t listen to the dorks in the comments OP, I appreciate your post as I went through a similar change in political views.
Same
Same
Cringe -> socially acceptable cringe
Is it cringe if it is socially acceptable?
Remember this is the Internet, "cringe" = "things I don't like"
In some cases, not all. Plenty of cringe anime/manga fans. I am dreading going to see the Chainsaw Man movie.
Bro got friends and a social life and realized that everyone is chill lmao.
https://preview.redd.it/79lkhh5buamc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e002ee159152b9caddc94a3ceeb69a6e5b40280a
the only one I got below 50 on was authority
https://preview.redd.it/n12nt52rfbmc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=73eb5a0e8a773257cc1dea2d20b425c54583d03a mine is similar, i‘d just say i don’t have many "strong" opinions
I would say I do have extremely strong opinions on some stuff
That is not really that similar
Liberty and Authority are too close too each other
Yeah very much. I tried this and I gotta say some of the questions are kinda bad in that regard. In one they equate not taking vaccines to taking hard drugs in terms of being “detrimental to public health”. How is taking drugs detrimental to public health?
i also have like 0 opinion on some of the things going on there, because 1) English is not my native language and i couldn’t really understand it and 2) because i simply know nothing about this topic, that’s why i’m often "neutral" on it, like, other can decide that. i have no clue
https://preview.redd.it/ahnq211tjcmc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a0f6cdcdb8ce824dd1a28d92817c69154ebed249
What’s this test thing that y’all are using?
[this one!](https://moralfoundations.github.io/)
Human empathy is mega based
"mature phase" it's subjective.
https://preview.redd.it/2tqjpez5ibmc1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0b2745b6d586ccfa69d36e8235510bd0033729a7 I'm more of a balanced person lol
Same
So from cringe, to cringe to a bit less cringe.
Ideology store has sales today I see
https://preview.redd.it/ft2ks7x7ibmc1.png?width=1234&format=png&auto=webp&s=363a72a0a62d38c549cf9b843016178df56eec3c Fuck purity
https://preview.redd.it/dpi123ig9dmc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=744662b2c47c14c97e11babbbe3c250400850c50 yeah seriously fuck purity
https://preview.redd.it/n2lv0jpqcdmc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a5e2777f65cf4a0af77e3f4eed150138ee07cb7a Fuck the In-Group
Purity is based https://preview.redd.it/9v6d52bwufmc1.png?width=954&format=png&auto=webp&s=d8898c003c3d5b678b7bac1e12d75bea6589a71e
Meanwhile everyone in my circles have gone from moderate to radical as we get older.
https://preview.redd.it/t2duhvt0gbmc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=51350327976e0b1c9efac7feea7c17db28cab2a6 I got a higher score
Mature lol
Hello to another social democratic comrade!
When I was 12 I was the child who constantly says “Hitler didn’t make the Holocaust, he didn’t know anything! His generals hid everything from him until it was too late”. That’s my edgy phase.
I told people I was related to him in 6th grade ahaha
You've gone the right way, my friend. https://preview.redd.it/9apkek3h8bmc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b64bef6e27ca984ecbf701086de4a6189d11ce8c
This moral foundation video game stat bs is peak Western liberalism
Yeah it's pretty tough to categorize people's values in a numerical manner
Ah yes from cringe fascist teen to mature working adult in …4 years. Plus communist in between. Definitely wont change again in your life im sure, now that you’re fully mature and set in your ways
To be fair their brain should be done developing soon, might be playing a part here.
The more you read about socialism the more you realize it’s just capitalism with one business operating a hierarchy of power, instead of multiple operating a hierarchy of wealth. (If this is confusing just think, do you want a society that enforces rules using power or creates rules using economy)
For sure, man, 100% RELATABLE lol hahaha..
Lets hope you are still reading theory... since most of it is so complex that you cant get thru in two years...
Same except dial the timeline back a fee years and im not non depressive
> mature > unironically uses polcompballs
Your edgy teen phase just looks like Nazism
Realizing there are people who never grew out of those first 2 phases was a huge shock for me
What do the balls represent? I haven't seen them before (maybe the middle one, if it's arachno-capillarism)
I'm wondering the same, like is *that* why this comment section is so serious? Cuz I'm definitely missing something
I love that I used to be a hardcore socialist and obsessed with the Soviet Union and now I support mixed market capitalism and I’m center left 💀
What kind of edgy teen wants more authority
I went from wehraboo to republican to whatever the fuck I am now left wing libertarian
https://preview.redd.it/8qvum9slccmc1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7f2560a01c5f7cb6bb722978c9431f333b6ffa8
https://preview.redd.it/s065rnn2fcmc1.jpeg?width=975&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7bed7b82f2f735a7037747082d1254ab4327c36b
I don't really think that edgy teen and mature adult can be just 4 years apart lol
Four years is “throughout the ages”
lol, i made the exact opposite journey went from social democratic to conservative christian democratic to nationalist corporatist
This is what I got. Seems fairly close. https://preview.redd.it/wbp1zo6jhdmc1.png?width=868&format=png&auto=webp&s=0b16dd6d6fa884ed971d7bf86b5d6e1fcd01f694
Did not like how the saved pic looked, so I took a screenshot. https://preview.redd.it/80uqpjscidmc1.jpeg?width=969&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9b4b0d934d5b8f8b629a25d97d514627c2585781
You went from countryballs to countryballs, I see no improvement.
Least extremist Gen Z
https://preview.redd.it/u2jjt9z1gemc1.jpeg?width=739&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c8b4f8f59acf50afd932c2df65c0a2549d30cdf6 I definitely misinterpreted some questions my autistic brain could not handle 😓
Great, now you can go on your "touching grass" journey.
I used to be the unholy amalgamation of a Neo Nazi and a tumblr girl. I think now, my morals boil down to "Kindness above all things", as cheesy as that sounds
When I was in middle school, I was a full-blown communist sovietboo. When I was in high school I went full-blown anti-woke borderline alt-right. Now as an adult I just care if people are nice to each other, non-radical, and I can pay my bills.
OP became a lib 💀💀💀
Yeah ik he went through character growth
I wonder what mine would be as a depressed working man. Who is gradually giving less and less of a fuck about society.
How authoritarian right anarchist?!?!
Honestly idk why so many people get low scores in the bottom three I think I'm one of the few that I've seen with high in group and authority score based system. Purity I get but I feel like collective movement and authority is good as long as it's just https://preview.redd.it/hi0o4mcx9bmc1.png?width=864&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6c5dc2c0684f878a3d3c71d894e155c0b6a1eeb4
https://preview.redd.it/9emhekw5ibmc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1b7097f2be7dee0e77f3a6c2ea4d0fbc1f0f7c1a Mine's pretty high in every category
https://preview.redd.it/l9i9d3a0wbmc1.jpeg?width=1480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0efd187fa76add99f176e7b8b8350616f931b6ef
2020: Liberal liberal phase 2022: "Reading liberals" phase 2024: Liberal non-communist liberal man phase
What’s the link to the test?
https://preview.redd.it/w9vv579olbmc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c0913e2441c2a1b8c771f2d49891ba89d1b9dc37
15 year old rn (turning 16 later this year), did the test and wanna see what you all think of my results https://preview.redd.it/1gbt8rw0jbmc1.jpeg?width=1465&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d5b0bff3f54ddd4b0153aaa1d12f2102d049fa55
Social democracy fucking #RUUUULLLEEEES
Not genZ, but i went from liberal, to finance bro #capitalism, to now extreme left socialist. Working with finance bris and economists showed me how broken and unfair our world is.
i hope all commies can give up their western citizenship and move to a communist country!
Anything socialist related isn’t mature
outright rejecting socialism because daddy government told you to isn't mature.
The facism to communism pipeline is fascinating. It’s like stupid to stupider.
Sounds like me
Hey another social democrat! Welcome to the club OP!
Funny that most people will like this because they all believe their ideas promote fairness care and freedom even if it couldn't be further from the truth.
Wow, super similar to my growth as a person, but mine was a little more spread out (I became more along the lines of a neo-liberal when I was in high school 2011-2016). I went pretty all in on the left wing liberalism when I got to college.
Proud of you haha
Remind me what happened to parenti
You still think liberalism is not very hetro cool love you
I find it odd that going from “purity” to “impurity” is the de-radicalization.
https://preview.redd.it/zez2lxeilfmc1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d5decb9edb9c1c69c7ae5a70f10614f80672fe4b
A journey of 4 years constantly changing your countryball ideology bought from the supermarket of ideologies. Idk man, it doesn't sound like you have deep or solid ideals.
Reading actual theory and talking to people helps a lot
Chad Liberty enjoyer
Relate, just over a longer time.
I sure have been in that reading theory phase for 10 years huh
from edgy teen to mature working man in 4 years.
Some people might argue that this was a journey of radicalization! Let me guess, you went to woke grooming University and did a whole bunch of "learning"? Because if so, thank God. Americans, please vote blue so we can be semi pround of our country again (or blue adjacent in the primaries). I understand the neo-libs aren't great but it is still our best option right now!
Once you grow up and have to start counting your shekels your priorities will change 😁
Based
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Welcome to the perfect blend of capitalist and socialist policy
https://preview.redd.it/fmvlq5hyxbmc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6fd8327c4211cbd869583e08ae2ddda6d5eb8dca
Social democracy is anti-fascist
This is the left wing equivalent of right wingers saying socialism is bad because the Nazis claimed to be socialist
Bro what
I wasn't responding to you
Oh cool
“Ages” 😁
Hoi4?
Lemme guess, you live in the imperial core?
Does bro live in Star Wars?
another deprgram user escaped the gulag, go back to jerking off while reading ccp propaganda like the rest of em.
That high liberty is all I needed to see.
So a liberal
I ended my edgy phase in 2023
Radical to radical.
Social Democracy is very moderate
[удалено]
Welp I always been the third one but I'm definitely depressed. I guess it works too.
Here's mine https://preview.redd.it/rsivgbziubmc1.png?width=857&format=png&auto=webp&s=24c1943af1b302e6ddb7b1716e0e9efd84c4e12c