Ummmm… have you met today's youth? I am the mother of an 18 year old with a wide circle of friends in a red state, near Raleigh. My nephew, of the same age, is in an even redder and trending redder state, in a rural area redder than most. My other nephew, who's ROTC, is three years older and in college in SC, another bastion of red. I have a neice in Louisianna. Cousins with kids in Florida and Missouri. Even in these red enclaves, these kids are consumed by the issues you mention. They and their compatriots talk of never having children because they don't want to watch them "choke and burn" (my son's words) from out of control climate change. And, let me tell you… They are all – and I mean ALL – hot and activated over the ruling on Roe and the looming unspooling of every civil right ever passed under the 14th Amendment. Even those who previously considered themselves leaning conservative are outraged and plan to vote against republicans this November.
There remain some rare youth who swallow the MAGA line. But, my personal experience is that they are aberrations. Yes, the youth are concerned with building some kind of life for themselves. But, the threats are an ever-present undercurrent in their everyday lives and – and in their conversations (I hear them talking about it). I hear them talk about the expectations of their futures… and, it's frelling bleak. They don't expect to own homes or have children. They don't even expect to ever be able to afford an apartment without multiple roommates. They expect the world to burn.
Today's youth are deeply concerned about all those issues. They expect their lives to be an endless armageddon.
But, they also expect to outlive boomers who they see as having made this world. These kids believe in the better natures of their own generation. They seem to be taking the lessons we spoke and putting them into action. By and large, our youth are less othering. They band together in defense of the other. I know this because my son's circle of friends began by them coming to his defense when he was othered by Trumpian anti-Iranian bigotry in 205. That circle has grown and I am frankly impressed with these kids. They're so much more aware and willing to make a Most of us older folks didn't get there until college, but these kids are growing up activists.
