[vinceguidry]

I was there for that war. Kids weren't listening and didn't care back then either. If anything, Gen Z is the most politically-aware generation we've had since we started keeping track.

Trump doesn't have to justify a single thing because the billionaires behind him know that every last bet is off and their very livelihoods are at risk, and his entire base of support up and down the chain are either complicit or fooled.

What the world does when they finally realize Democrats and Republicans are simply two sides of the vast apparatus suppressing the will of the people by any means necessary will be... spectacular.

[foobarchu]

I was there as well, the bush presidency lasted my entire middle and high school career, and I got the chance to vote for Obama in my senior year.

I remember things very differently. Everyone cared about the Iraq war, gay-straight alliance was one of the most up and coming clubs, and political music was everywhere. Green Day had their big second wave with American Idiot, System Of A Down was on top of the world, Rock Against Bush was huge, anarcho-punk like Rise Against was getting big.

I'm not a teenager anymore obviously, so it's entirely possible I'm just missing it, but I've seen very little that compares to those sort of movements. On the other hand, most millennials I know are still wildly politically active.

[bandofthehawk]

In 2002, there war in Iraq had large popular support, something like 70-80 percent. It took a few years for people to realize it was based on a lie and was a massive mistake. It was also morally reprehensible, but that part is not often discussed in mainstream US politics.

If you compare that to the current Iran war, a majority of the population is already against it, however the current administration doesn't seem to care much about public opinion, and there doesn't seem to be much that the public can do about it.

[CPLX]

Yeah I was there too and I don’t know what this guy is talking about. Gen X was highly politically active. This was the era of violent in the street anti-globalization clashes like the WTO protests.

[vinceguidry]

I mean, yeah, we made music and staged protests.

Gen Z is conducting revolutions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Nepalese_Gen_Z_protests

[iwontberude]

Where exactly because in the Midwest we were very vocal about it. We have tons of military families out there and we were poor enough to feel almost like military service was inevitable if we didn’t get scholarships for school. You know the band NOFX had an album, the War on Errorism that was quite successful based on the fuckery of the bush administration. Punk rock and protest music was huge then.

[red-iron-pine]

i think wolves in voles clothing was more apropos, and is now as well

[Izkata]

Trump was in part a response to that realization, an outsider from both parties that used the Republicans to get in the door. Bernie Sanders was supposed to be the same, and when he dropped out a lot of us switched to Trump because they represented the same thing.

Tearing down entrenched establishments that don't work for the people is what people were voting for in 2016 and were disappointed he didn't do it. They're glad he's finally doing what he promised a decade ago.

[danorama]

"Bernie Sanders was supposed to be the same, and when he dropped out a lot of us switched to Trump because they represented the same thing."

That is definitely an opinion.

[disgruntledphd2]

It was a pretty widely shared one in 2016, if I remember correctly.