Much like a lot of Gen X, some of the older Millennials in my life (particularly the white working professionals) are parroting the age old mantra of "I don't care about passing my skills on to the younger generations or helping those in need, no one ever helped me in my life.". My response is always "That's not a good thing!" because I never know what to say. Debate is not my strength.
My working class grandparents were never like this. They lived through the great depression and two wars and never wanted anyone to suffer as much as they did. I miss them and their kindness dearly. It's only from boomers and younger that I've seen this attitude. Capitalism is crushing our instincts as a social species. If we can't stand on the shoulders of giants... well then we will stop advancing as a species. We will stagnate and go extinct because the challenges we face now need all of us. It goes against everything that is human to be this alienated and antagonistic to one another. Particularly frightening is the hatred and contempt modern society has towards children.
This is not going to end well.
I appreciate all the people here, whether you're 20 or 60, for not becoming the thing that hurt you. We need people with a soul more than ever.
Every day, I become more familiar with how the hippies became neocons. The toxic individualism innate to burgerland culture is a plague that corrodes our empathy.
Whenever some Joe Roganite (or equivalent "JUST DO DRUG BRO DON'T BE A (slur) BRO!") tells me about some mind-altering miraculous cure-all, I remember that Steve Jobs took a lot of psychedelics and
spends almost as much time in the K-Hole as he does on Twitter.
Sure, certain substances may help some people with specific things, but the "DRUGS FIX EVERYTHING BROOOOOOO" thing is not only idealistic bullshit but it was also the kind of idealistic bullshit that the hippies were into.