I remember a 13 (or was it 14?) year-old showed up on the sub once and they were intensely concerned about being a good leftist and asking for advice to that effect
it was a strange moment and IIRC everyone wanted them to take a step back and chill out. I guess if they were going to grow up Online there are certainly worse places to be
Doesn't sound too wild. I was first part of the online left as a succ dem on instagram when I was 12 and then went left from it to being more of an ancom as I tried to read some theory, though more read basically the sparknotes lol, then when I was 16 found r/cth and became more of an ML (though that was directly because of Huey Newton's Revolutionary Suicide which I recommend to every leftist I meet) . Most of the tiktok left is from 14-20 but I've seen as young as 12 actually grasping some pretty heavy concepts. Most people from like 1998 onward grew up on the internet and if nothing else it definitely gives you access to things you usually wouldn't deal with til you're much older (2 girls 1 cup was shown to me in the first grade). I think most of gen z has been forcibly accelerated further in our development and as such we've become incredibly cynical and radical, both leftward and right, for example from like 3rd grade onward we watch the plans hit the towers on 9/11 and we've had to practice shooting drills and stuff like that.
Even people who are as old as their early 30s now went through that same process. The Left has been active on the internet as long as the internet has been around. I remember reading theory and shit when I was about 13 because of Catch 22's album Permanenet Revolution (a ska record that is a lyrical tale of Trotsky's adult life) and this was when Bush was President.
Hell, Chapo itself is a product of "weird Twitter" which came from SomethingAwful, in particular the Laissez's Faire subforum which had the exact same humor style as the podcast/hosts.
Oh yeah the Bush years, those were probably the last years where a Americans felt somewhat redeemable tbh. I feel like I am kinda in the cross section of old internet and new, bc I remember vaguely being way too young to be on SA, and a couple visits to 4chan, but then my teens were on reddit and instagram (I don't think I'll ever get twitter). Life's weird lol, everything is accelerating, something something fascist spiral
the Bush years, those were probably the last years where a Americans felt somewhat redeemable tbh
In the Bush years, crazy Republicans didn't believe that power politicians and media figures were a secret pedophile cabal deep state who belonged in jail. They thought that Democrats were literally the Antichrist, and thought that we needed to destroy the middle East in order to let the Jews build the Temple and bring about the second coming of Christ. Believing that the Rapture was imminent (or even that we had the duty to bring it about!) was more common among actual Republican politicians in 2006 than QAnon is now, and this fact was reported on with far, far, far, FAR less intensity or concern. It was a joke on a "hip, edgy, radical, left wing" show like Jon Stewart if anybody even mentioned it at all.
People were even fucking dumber and more insane in the Clinton and Reagan years. Look into Satanic Panics, the West Memphis Three, the tale of the Parent's Music Resource Council, the entire context of the OJ trial, the circumstances around Clinton's impeachment, I mean just pick a week in the news!
Honestly, it's only since about 2015ish that Americans have felt somewhat redeemable at all. The fact that insane, fascist right-wingers want to put politicians and CIA agents in jail instead of wanting to literally killy everyone on Earth so that they can go to Heaven is actually a lot of progress.
I remember a 13 (or was it 14?) year-old showed up on the sub once and they were intensely concerned about being a good leftist and asking for advice to that effect
it was a strange moment and IIRC everyone wanted them to take a step back and chill out. I guess if they were going to grow up Online there are certainly worse places to be
Doesn't sound too wild. I was first part of the online left as a succ dem on instagram when I was 12 and then went left from it to being more of an ancom as I tried to read some theory, though more read basically the sparknotes lol, then when I was 16 found r/cth and became more of an ML (though that was directly because of Huey Newton's Revolutionary Suicide which I recommend to every leftist I meet) . Most of the tiktok left is from 14-20 but I've seen as young as 12 actually grasping some pretty heavy concepts. Most people from like 1998 onward grew up on the internet and if nothing else it definitely gives you access to things you usually wouldn't deal with til you're much older (2 girls 1 cup was shown to me in the first grade). I think most of gen z has been forcibly accelerated further in our development and as such we've become incredibly cynical and radical, both leftward and right, for example from like 3rd grade onward we watch the plans hit the towers on 9/11 and we've had to practice shooting drills and stuff like that.
Even people who are as old as their early 30s now went through that same process. The Left has been active on the internet as long as the internet has been around. I remember reading theory and shit when I was about 13 because of Catch 22's album Permanenet Revolution (a ska record that is a lyrical tale of Trotsky's adult life) and this was when Bush was President.
Hell, Chapo itself is a product of "weird Twitter" which came from SomethingAwful, in particular the Laissez's Faire subforum which had the exact same humor style as the podcast/hosts.
Oh yeah the Bush years, those were probably the last years where a Americans felt somewhat redeemable tbh. I feel like I am kinda in the cross section of old internet and new, bc I remember vaguely being way too young to be on SA, and a couple visits to 4chan, but then my teens were on reddit and instagram (I don't think I'll ever get twitter). Life's weird lol, everything is accelerating, something something fascist spiral
In the Bush years, crazy Republicans didn't believe that power politicians and media figures were a secret pedophile cabal deep state who belonged in jail. They thought that Democrats were literally the Antichrist, and thought that we needed to destroy the middle East in order to let the Jews build the Temple and bring about the second coming of Christ. Believing that the Rapture was imminent (or even that we had the duty to bring it about!) was more common among actual Republican politicians in 2006 than QAnon is now, and this fact was reported on with far, far, far, FAR less intensity or concern. It was a joke on a "hip, edgy, radical, left wing" show like Jon Stewart if anybody even mentioned it at all.
People were even fucking dumber and more insane in the Clinton and Reagan years. Look into Satanic Panics, the West Memphis Three, the tale of the Parent's Music Resource Council, the entire context of the OJ trial, the circumstances around Clinton's impeachment, I mean just pick a week in the news!
Honestly, it's only since about 2015ish that Americans have felt somewhat redeemable at all. The fact that insane, fascist right-wingers want to put politicians and CIA agents in jail instead of wanting to literally killy everyone on Earth so that they can go to Heaven is actually a lot of progress.