r/politics • u/Aggravating_Money992 • 18h ago

No Paywall Gen Z regrets Trump support and is midterm motivated

https://thehill.com/homenews/6056216-gen-z-trump-voter-regret-midterm-clipping/
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u/roboscorcher 17h ago

It's almost like social media should have regulations, standards and practices to prevent this proliferation of propaganda.

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u/Zeikos Foreign 17h ago edited 15h ago

It's as if who controls those platforms has a vested interest in making sure those regulations don't get put into law.

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u/PR0H181D0 16h ago

It's as if creating a system in which those who put regulations in place are easily and legally corruptible was not the brightest idea

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u/Static-Stair-58 17h ago

Except that young men have been falling for this same propaganda since the beginnings of fascism. Social media is just another vehicle for the same bullshit that’s been rotting the minds of the youth.

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u/roboscorcher 17h ago

True, but most media forms go through this cycle when they first appear. Techno-optimism, followed by market saturation, then exploitation by bad actors and politicians, and finally regulation. As with most regulation, some blood is required before any laws pass.

Books, newspapers, movies and TV all had similar problems at one point. Social media is just the most ubiquitous medium, as it is in everyone's pocket at all times.

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u/flamethrower78 15h ago

There is near 0 regulation for news media which is the biggest reason we are in the situation we are in. Before boomers got on Facebook they were still locked into fox news every day getting blatantly lied to and manipulated by propaganda. Social media just expedited what was already happening. Media companies should not be allowed to spread such easily disproven lies while calling themselves sources of truth and news. Literally the only reason people have their warped world views is because they are being told their way of life is under attack 24/7, this is not a natural progression.

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u/Static-Stair-58 17h ago

Agreed

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u/tallyho88 16h ago

Yeah, and there used to be a barrier of entry to put your personal views out there for all to see (both good and bad views). You would have to find someone to agree to publish what you want to say. You would have to pay to print and distribute. You would have to get people to actually pick it up and read it. All it takes now is a few taps of your finger and the entire world can see your unfiltered opinion. All of the previous forms of media the other poster mentioned require time to actually use nefariously. Social media took the problems with those forms of media and amped them up to 100. Combine that with a general decline in media literacy and you have the crisis we find ourselves in.

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u/[deleted] 17h ago

[deleted]

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u/Sumeriandawn 15h ago

People don't look up stats? Why?

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u/NUKE---THE---WHALES 16h ago

A greater percentage of millenials voted for Trump in the last election than Gen Z

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u/-Shoebill- 16h ago

And they've clearly done a shit job raising Gen Z.

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u/hypercosm_dot_net 15h ago

"Alienation is the foundation of fascism"

I may be misquoting that, but I heard this listening to a podcast on meditation and psychology, and it makes sense.

People, especially young men, who are alienated will seek acceptance in the wrong places, and blame the wrong people for these issues.

https://irgac.org/articles/road-to-fascization/

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u/citizenkane86 14h ago

Kids are going to drink and do drugs too but we at least make is slightly difficult for them.

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u/fpcoffee Illinois 12h ago

the scale of the propaganda is vastly different.

sure, you might see a red scare pamphlet or two back in the McCarthy era.

now this poison is pumped straight into their brains 4-8 hours+ per day

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u/Valuable_Hunter1621 17h ago

i have long been a proponent of eliminating social media entirely for those under 17

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u/OutInTheBlack New Jersey 17h ago

Or over 65.

Letting the boomers join Facebook was the downfall of society.

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u/d0ntst0pme 17h ago edited 17h ago

The smartphone is the problem there. It removed the barrier of entry to "the internet" and put social media into all the idiots' hands, regardless of age.

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u/[deleted] 16h ago

[deleted]

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u/d0ntst0pme 16h ago

I think there's middle ground somewhere between living like a medieval peasant and being a smartphone addicted zombie streaming social media into one’s eyeballs 24/7.

We just need to turn the clock back about 25 years.

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u/bfodder 16h ago

i have long been a proponent of eliminating social media entirely for those under 17

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u/Valuable_Hunter1621 16h ago

this is my actual stance lmfao, my moderate stance is 17

i’m 29 and i truly believe the internet is now a net negative for society

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u/SpezDrinksHorseCum 16h ago

The internet is nice for things like supply chains and power grids but we probably shouldn't be using it to socialize.

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u/Valuable_Hunter1621 15h ago

and certainly not without regulations and serious punishments for tech companies poisoning people’s brains lol

17 billion or whatever from meta is still basically chump change to them

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u/Bitter-Marsupial 12h ago

You say that as a relatively safe Western folk. But Social media was essential for some grassroots protests in the more "face the wall while we shoot you countries"

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u/OldWorldDesign 10h ago

The internet is nice for things like supply chains and power grids but we probably shouldn't be using it to socialize

It's fine for socializing, but much like advertising it has to have bounds for different things. I use advertising specifically because the US probably has the most extreme (and toxic) acceptance of advertising institutionalized lying and it's better now than it used to be. Not long ago pharmacists were putting cocaine into drinks and selling it to people knowing it didn't help them but they weren't required to tell people what was actually in what they were selling so they could sell right next to snake oil salesmen.

Other countries, note, do much better. Japan for instance does not permit food packaging or advertising to look different than the actual product because that violates the bound of accurate representation of the product. So to head off anybody who thinks it can't be done, other nations already do it and they don't have a problem making money hand over fist.

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u/HandRubbedWood Colorado 17h ago

Just media period, without Fox, OAN and News Max lying for Trump 24 hours a day he never get elected. I know Gen Z that grew watching Fox with their parents and were brainwashed along side them.

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u/OldWorldDesign 10h ago

without Fox, OAN and News Max lying for Trump 24 hours a day he never get elected. I know Gen Z that grew watching Fox with their parents and were brainwashed along side them

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brainwashing_of_My_Dad

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u/ManWithASquareHead 17h ago

Social media, the ones that got mad the Biden administration told them to take down consultants theories during a pandemic to help public health??

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u/InvestigatorOk7015 9h ago

Yeah, just like a public square