Of you’ve followed recent news, then it’s not hard to see that an increasing portion of young men are turning to the right whilst the left is greying its hair. Part of the reason is due to the “4chan-ification“ of mainstream social media which, depending on whom you ask, is occurring either because big tech has found that the best way to retain young males is by turning their apps into 4chan, or because of the right-wing turn within the big tech cartel that has successfully lobbied the US government on its behalf for years on end, itself since as liberal democracy falters so fascism is unleashed to protect capital and part of it involves turning normies into chuds and wignats to prep them into war mode jingoism.
But something else is at play, and that would be how the left (especially left-liberals) has often adopted ageism for opportunistic reasons, whether it’s by dismissing the concerns of young men even when they’re part of their own electorate, belittling their opposition by infantilising them, or when they dismiss criticism of them by using adultist language (e.g.,: “Let the adults in the room speak”). Now, not everything I mentioned is exclusive to the political left, as plenty of rightists and centrists use the same tactics I mentioned. Nevertheless, it doesn’t do mainstream leftists any favor when they do it too out of political and rhetorical expedience as well as to dismiss opposition against them in facile ways.
But it’s not the elders who are at fault, as younger leftists are responsible for the current predicament by either validating these adultist beliefs or by remaining silent on it. An example of enabling would be ”puriteens” who will vociferously try to shut down any discourse on sexuality (even if it relates to that of LGBTQ+ youth) based on ageist premises, and they’re partly the reason for the resurgence of purity culture among zoomers.
And then there’s the obvious unwillingness within most leftists to challenge ageist laws such as the voting age limit and the current age ID regimes that are spreading across the world. So their inaction isn’t just enabling the oppression of youths, but that of everybody else as well.
I could list many other problems, but you get the point: If the left really wants to gain ground among young people, they should campaign for the self-determination of young people too, for…
NO ONE IS FREE UNTIL EVERYBODY IS FREED!
it's not a left or right thing, it's just how most people are when they get old, they become self-righteous and cynical and bitter and they resent the youth and they resent the world in general for changing in ways that they can no longer keep up with because their neuroplasticity has atrophied from age and living a stable privileged routine life and not challenging themselves or questioning their reality anymore. just as it requires more and more work and discipline to maintain a trim youthful physique as one ages, the same goes for the brain.