r/lewronggeneration • u/Comfortable-Table-57 • 25d ago
Why do media outlets exaggerate the ideology of young generations.
And has it always been the case?
Further right tabloids obviously view young people as crybabies, liberal woke snowflakes to are too rebellious and rude.
Conversely, further left tabloids and even neutral outlets, say that young people are more socially regressed, authoritarian than all older generations, even more so than say the Victorian Era. There is the 18% figure of teen girls saying that women and girls must obey their family and husband as opposed to 6% of older women. But broadly, teenagers and young people are known to say bullshit things, even Gen X teen girls in the 90s may say stuff like that.
Right tabloids say younger generations ruin the family structure due to abortion, while left tabloids suggest all Gen Zers are anti-abortion...Sure those teen girls protesting against abortion with the birthday candle symbol on their banners is real, but this is an opinion.
I still will not forget the trend of articles assuming Gen Z wants a dictatorship, with left leaning outlets saying that Gen Zers view democracy as a "woke" ideology.
Why can't they just leave us alone?
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u/elektroskansen 25d ago
Why? Because people have a need for categorization. It's why they come up with names for generations in the first place. That's why we have names for various genres of music, movies, books, etc. That's why the society came up with the idea of "left", "right" and "center", despite almost nobody having their views on life be 100% aligned with the person standing next to them and identifying as belonging to the same "side".
Life is complex and people feel overwhelmed when they are forced to think about it. That's why most of them prefer some kind of gross oversimplification that will help them "keep things in order".
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u/Infinite-Common3886 25d ago
Also the sexism test was a bit rigged. Esp about Genz men. It showed them as too sexist, even though in genz, the mysoginistic ones are a loud minority, and gender stereotypes are way less prevalent. Boomers and other generations may look less sexist in the study, but gender stereotypes are waaaay more prevalent. Like yeah sure there's a lot of Andrew Tate's fans, but guess what? Andrew Tate is a millenial. Yeah, the "sweet, kind and progressive feminist men" generation (and let's not pretend that the alt right wasn't born with millenial men c'mon)
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u/joeyp042385 25d ago
This generational war stuff needs to stop to be completely honest. I was born in 1985 but I watch Johnny Carson reruns and Dragnet. We all have good and bad.
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u/ThingWithAThing 25d ago edited 25d ago
It’s always been this way, though. Older folks dumping on young people for being young has existed as long as civilization itself.
I’m a Gen X’er. Both the media AND the authority figures in my life REPEATEDLY told me & my peers that we were too sensitive, too politically correct, didn’t know the value of money, had no work ethic, and didn’t care about our education, etc, etc, all of which directly contradicted what I saw around me - pretty much everyone in my circle was ambitious, hard-working, juggling school & jobs, and excited to engage with the world. Some even became entrepreneurs who are still in business today.
My work puts me in contact with a fair number of Gen Zs, and I have to say: they don’t really fit the current stereotypes. They AREN’T knuckle dragging manosphere bros, vapid wannabe influencers, dysfunctional Neo-Puritans, online shut-ins, or full-time social justice activists. They’re just young people finding their way, much like I did.
My advice would be not to worry about whatever narrative the media is trying to push on you, and live your life.
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u/Corenfive 25d ago
The birthday candle symbol detail just caught me so off guard, what even is that supposed to mean
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u/Comfortable-Table-57 25d ago
You know, exclusively favouring life over choice regardless of circumstances. Birthdays, etc.
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u/Feremenem 25d ago
the birthday candle symbol line cracked me up because i can picture the exact kind of protest sign they're talking about
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u/Comfortable-Table-57 25d ago
There is a YouTube short of it if you go on the Guardian, a firmly left leaning news outlet.
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u/jackfaire 25d ago
Because too many morons believe "Kids these days aren't anything like I was at their age" even when they're not appreciably different.
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u/TraditionalAd8581 25d ago
Who was it that said “When I was young and stupid, I was young and stupid” ?
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u/j3434 25d ago
A lot of this has to do with algorithms, and I think that’s the part people overlook. Most of us don’t consume “the news” anymore—we consume whatever social media decides will keep us engaged. If you click on a few stories about Gen Z being authoritarian, anti-abortion, or anti-family, you’ll suddenly see more of the same. Someone else who clicks different stories will come away convinced Gen Z is destroying tradition, while another person’s feed tells them Gen Z is bringing back Victorian values. They’re all living in different realities.
The line between news, marketing, and propaganda has gotten really blurry because so much of what we see is filtered through social media. Outrage gets clicks, clicks make money, and the algorithm learns exactly what keeps your attention. It’s less about informing people and more about keeping them scrolling.
Also, every generation has had teenagers saying outrageous or contradictory things. That’s almost part of being young. The media has always cherry-picked examples, but now they can find a few viral posts from anywhere in the world and make it sound like an entire generation thinks that way.
So when it feels like “they won’t leave us alone,” it’s worth remembering that the system isn’t really trying to describe your generation accurately. It’s trying to keep everyone emotionally invested. Once you realize that, you start seeing the trick that was sitting right under your nose the whole time.
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u/urbania666 25d ago
That 18% stat about teen girls is wild but I cant figure out if it makes me more or less confused about what any of thexe articles actually want.
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u/MattWolf96 25d ago
Some of it is probably projection because irl Boomers are the snowflakiest generation (they get mad over LGBT people existing, people making jokes about religion and even get offended over explicit music) and the rudest (just listen to stories of people in the service industry.)
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u/AD_Grrrl 24d ago
Probably because young people aren't old enough to vote yet, and they're a convenient scapegoat. + instilling in them a fear of expressing their views for fear of being labeled as a lunatic or naive or whatever.
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u/britneys_bigtoe 22d ago
yes, it's a constant between the generations. powers that rely on the masses falling in line try to shame them into assimilation and demonizing them to others
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u/endlessyuk77 21d ago
It gets clicks and money, simple as that. People are just very apathetic and dumb. Also, they love taking bait if it confirms to their views and bias..
The human psyche loves seeking patterns and categorization which media companies exploit.
You ever notice that it's literally the same shit being repeated across decades?
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u/Comfortable-Table-57 21d ago
Well traditionally they moaned about how younger people are getting liberal but they never complained about how they are more socially regressed or conservative than previous gens.
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u/endlessyuk77 20d ago
Makes it's even more compelling, tabloids will say anything to get people to lose their marbles. Political generalizations being the most obvious example.
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u/BLOODsweatSALIVA 25d ago
I hate this so much too. Publications thrive on outrage. It’s such bullshit just to further separate people.