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this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2025
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askchapo
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tbh I don't think millennials or even gen x were as a whole meaningfully less reactionary than previous generations, I think there just happened to be some social pressure to appear progressive in the last few decades, probably due to "muh end of history" in the 90s, and that pressure is going away because history is starting up again
I think there has been less need for the general population of the US to be explicitly racist as neoliberal policies do the dirty work for them-- you don't need lynch mobs when they can subject marginalized populations to extreme austerity through opaque financial mechanisms. I think this has created an environment where more people can say "Hey racism is bad!" while still enjoying the benefits of the racism with plausible deniability. I think the Christian orthodoxy around "being a good person" comes into play here too, but that's a conversation for another time.
That's not to say it's that cut and dry. I think more people than before genuinely realize how sick and twisted this system is and no longer want to take part, also creating cynicism and nihilism that can be a vector for reactionary thought. Because the system needs to reinforce itself, it is simply adapting to these conditions and finding new ways to create new reactionaries.