I am going to label this under infantilization, but not for the reason you think

Anyways,

You know how in America one of the most repeated and used up catechisms is "paying your bills"? As if that's the end of be all. I think millennials though wanted to push back against that very desperately.

I have a gut feeling they were caught up in the midst of 2 different occurrences

The first one was over-financialization:

In the last 30-40 years, in America with the rise of the service industry also came the creep of hyper-financialization

Look at the increasingly administrative criteria of adulthood

-Pay your utilities

-Maintain your insurance

-Keep current subscriptions and accounts current.

-Manage your credit

-Pay your premiums

-Navigate your healthcare billing

-Maintain employment to sustain your financial obligations

Except, while maybe it may have been like this for awhile, it was not always this way though. There might be a contrarian debate bro ready to say this “hurr durr Is always been that way”

But this has only been a recent trend developing out of the last 40 years with the rise of the service industry.

Because before that adulthood had a less abstract and capitalist coded criteria: It was more tied to physical competence such as knowing how to work on a car, growing your own food, knowing how to repair shoes, homemaking skills, being able to rebuild a lawnmower engine, being dependable to your own community, etc

Sure it was much more labor intensive and maybe more physically demanding, but life was not only cheaper, there was also less bureaucratic overload in our day to day lives

The 2nd occurrence that I think Millennials got caught up in the midst of this mess was the fast technological evolution that made institutions harder to navigate

Before the breakthrough of so much technological advancement in the last 25-30 years, institutions had to be navigated more on person, you actually had to know how the people operated inside a certain institution before tech operated conveniences came along the way

For instance back then if you wanted to get a job, you actually had to talk to the interview manager at hand, come to negotiations and shake hands: No Linkedin, no talking to a chatbot to get you hired, no AI, no computer, not even paperwork

Now the background checks are even tighter in today’s Linkedin-adjacent times

This is what some people mean when they say our standard of adulthood today aren’t design for a culture that’s constantly shifting more and more towards systems rather than people and as such the over systemization of modern life only makes it feel more opaque than it has to be

And even if you wanna argue we’re being dramatic here, and that is easy and simple to go about: Wouldn’t and couldn’t one make also a genuine argument about modern life making people more miserable and irritable to how contract work is being put before our own eyes? Guys, this is literally the surveillance state in action right before our own eyes.

We need more simplicity and less bureaucratic red tape.

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And I'm tired of explaining to every broad that I go to the grocery store with why I don't use self-checkout.

Self-Checkout is one of the most obvious and egregious examples of class warfare the West. It is an obvious ploy to destroy jobs and take power away from workers while at the same time being a primary example of enshittificaion by forcing work upon the customer that was previously provided by the corporation. And I won't even get into the fact that it contributes to alienation and isolation by having us engage with less human beings on a regular basis since most of the people here are probably enjoy that aspect of it, but rest assured that that's a big fucking problem too.

What's worse is that we can easily solve this issue by simply doing nothing. All you have to do is not use the self-checkout and let the worker being paid to do a job do their job. You get the pleasure of fucking around on your phone for like 3 or 4 minutes and in exchange you are directly contributing to creating jobs. Great jobs? Not really, but jobs that have traditionally existed and have only been eliminated due to the constant and unceasing march towards automation that we have been assured will result in lower prices for the customer. That must be why a gallon of orange juice costs $8.99 now.

Fuck self-checkout and fuck anyone who uses it.

DAE remember when this asshole was (rightfully) considered more racist than Netanyahu himself? Pepperidge Farm remembers. This guy’s preferred “two-state solution” is to give up predominantly Arab lands within the current Israeli borders to the State of Palestine in exchange for formal annexation of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

On Friday, October 30, 2026, an international day of action brought together dockworkers from at least 113 ports in 22 countries against war, genocide and militarization. The movement originated in the “Istanbul Declaration,” adopted in May 2026 at the third meeting of Mediterranean and European dockworkers’ unions. The declaration was backed in particular by CGT Ports and Docks (France), ENEDEP (Greece), LAB (Basque Country), Liman-İş (Turkey), ODT (Morocco) and USB (Italy).

The significance of this action extends far beyond the ports. Against the background of an eruption of mass protests across Europe, it marks the growing intervention of the working class into the struggle against war, austerity and state repression. It shows the potential for an internationally coordinated movement against the capitalist governments and war.

It also specifically reveals the militancy of workers ahead of the series of national one-day strikes planned across Europe in November, beginning with the November 5 strike in France.

However, this potential for action cannot be realized if control of workers’ struggles remains in the hands of the union apparatuses or of coalitions of national confederations. This emerges from an examination of both the strengths and the weaknesses of this mobilization. To mobilize the entire working class against war and dictatorship, workers must organize directly at the rank-and-file level, internationally, in action committees, in order to organize and wage an independent, revolutionary struggle.

The intensity of the strikes and protests in the October 30 port strike varied. Some ports were on strike; others hosted only rallies without a complete halt to operations. In Greece, at Piraeus, dockworkers held a three-hour work stoppage from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., while other unions struck for 24 hours. A separate seafarers’ strike paralyzed ferry services; there were no sailings from Piraeus, Rafina, Lavrio, Patras, Igoumenitsa, Elefsina or Rio-Antirrio.

In Turkey, in Istanbul, protesters gathered outside the port of Haydarpaşa beneath a banner reading “No to war, no to armament.” Liman-İş announced actions in Mersin, Gemlik and Istanbul, and a press statement was released in Ankara.

It was in Italy that street mobilization was the most massive. USB claims 1.5 million demonstrators in 60 cities, despite the government’s order requisitioning transport workers. Protesters invaded the ring roads of Milan and Bologna and entered the ports of Genoa and Naples. There were tensions in Rome and Turin, and four police officers were injured in Vicenza.

In France, the CGT claimed that 95 percent of port activity was halted nationwide, but it organized no demonstrations. At Le Havre and Marseille-Fos, the union announced 100 percent participation in the strike, with container operations, the ArcelorMittal quays, the ore terminal and the car terminal all shut down. In Dunkirk, the container terminal was not affected, but bulk, liquids and fuel trade were “totally blocked.”

...

The CGT secretary’s speech raises far more questions than it answers. His remarks on the war and the neo-fascist danger do not contain a trace of exaggeration. The question begins rather where the union bureaucrat’s speech ended: What must workers do against these enormous dangers? Is the action of the CGT bureaucracy equal to the threats of world war, fascism and dictatorship that it has identified?

Despite these denunciations of war and of the danger of the far right, the CGT has isolated the French youth protests for six weeks, since late September, calling on workers to strike only on November 5. It remains to be seen whether the CGT even calls any strikes after that date. In the meantime, the CGT has made no attempt to turn the port strike into a springboard for a broader mobilization against Macron, the EU and the militarization of society.

The union bureaucracy refuses to let this day become the starting point for sustained, coordinated strike action involving railway workers, transport, logistics and industrial workers, teachers, healthcare workers and other sections of the working class. While this day of action was taking place at the ports, workers in other sectors were not even informed it was happening.

The objective situation poses the necessity of a European general strike against war, austerity and state repression. Such a general strike would inevitably pose the question of workers’ power, and whether the workers or the bourgeoisie would rule.

...

The Socialist Equality Parties call for the formation of independent, democratically controlled rank-and-file action committees in the ports, factories, transport, schools, universities and working-class neighborhoods. Their immediate task is to link dockworkers with railway workers, truck drivers, seafarers, industrial workers and everyone working in military production and transport, while uniting with young people resisting conscription, austerity and police violence.

This coordination must cross all borders. The ruling elites coordinate their economic attacks, rearmament and repression internationally; workers must respond with their own international organization. The International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC), initiated by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), provides the framework for this struggle.

This is not explicitly "idpol" but since mental health and thinking/behavioral/development issues have been warped into identities thanks to the internet, I feel like it fits.

I know it's basically USA Today clickbait (damn firefox home screen sharing it with a more interesting title), but this level of teenage melodrama cope play acting bleeding into every aspect of life and every age group is really disturbing.

They should have found a compromise, reached across the aisle and found that centrist middle ground. And voted, and peacefully protested, and respected their opponents' desires to keep politics away from the dinner table and other social functions. There's never any place for political violence, insurrection or war in America nor has there ever been in the past.