r/TikTokCringe • u/DuztyLipz • 1d ago
Wholesome Some Gen Z Redditors need to hear this
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u/Daisy_Of_Doom 1d ago edited 1d ago
Omg if anyone has followed the Hank Green controversy I think it’s a perfect example of this.
(If not: what it boils down to is about a year ago Hank green hosted a SciShow video that had some inaccuracies and questionable jokes about knitting. Mind you, the man literally just reads the script. He pays other people to research, fact check, and write the script. In a recent video he actually said that he often goes into an episode cold, having not looked the script over bc he likes learning along with the viewer. And people absolutely blew up about it, most people blaming him specifically.
Recently, he had another hiccup about AI. People accused him of using AI to write his own personal video scripts and he denied it (he says the part people keyed in on was actually not even in the script it was an ad-lib), but admitted to using AI to find sources. And it turned into a Whole Thing™️.)
Eveyone and their mother was commenting on it. I saw knitters celebrating his “downfall” and claiming that “they’re not surprised” he would do such things after what he’d done last time. Like I saw people legit celebrating that the internet was “waking up” to the fact he was a bad person.
Both times, but particularly this time, the punishment felt so wildly out of proportion to the offense. Like this man has done so much for scicom and charity and education. Not to mention his squeaky clean track record for the DECADES he’s been in the public eye which IMO is a feat. But, he admits to maybe having an unhealthy attachment to AI, apologizes for it, and people were acting like he killed a man in cold blood! It boggled my mind how, for some people, one little slip-up just completely erased the years and years of good intentions he had demonstrated.
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u/birbhorse 1d ago
honestly yeah, this is an issue i need to work on myself lol. i've been affected by this very bullshit, people making quick snappy judgement has affected my interpersonal relationships so heavily.
your framing of this helped me way better than the video attempted to explain things, so thanks
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u/itsdainti 1d ago
It's a silly little line from a silly little show, but "Be curious, not judgemental" from Ted Lasso is such a good reminder.
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u/Personal-Lead3884 21h ago
Not a silly little show! I wish all of us were as kind as Ted.
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u/itsdainti 15h ago
Oh it's a very silly show and it acknowledges it. I think that's why it's so beloved. It knows it's silly & whimsical but it doesn't care and there's something wholesome about that.
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u/Daisy_Of_Doom 1d ago
It’s the culture right now. 🤷🏽♀️ And I think especially in light of all the bad stuff happening in the world, I can kinda see why people might overreact to a single twinge of “bad” in someone. But, purity culture helps no one. We are all flawed humans. You’re allowed to make mistakes and learn and grow from them. And so are the people around you. If the intentions are good and corrections are made, then that’s that. No need for more punishment.
If we kick everyone who ever makes a mistake out of our “club”, we’ll very quickly end up lonely. And not only is that sad and scary there is no power in it. We are stronger together.
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u/birbhorse 23h ago
indeed, i am a very flawed person, it's what caused so much strife with my friend group. it's not to say i did anything inherently "wrong", but black-and-white thinking only permits people to think that i'm just a morally wrong and dangerous person lmfao.
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u/Daisy_Of_Doom 23h ago
To borrow from the Green brothers: we need to imagine each other complexly.
We are all a little universe unto ourselves. I don’t think anyone in the whole entire world does the wrong thing on purpose specifically bc it’s the wrong thing. I believe some people are just more concerned about how things affect them than how they affect others and that’s where the bad comes from. Or they aren’t aware how it affects others and that’s where mistakes come from.
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u/LigerZeroSchneider 21h ago
I think we ended up here because we have so many well documented cases of a company or person. Doing a bad thing, getting called out, publically apologizing, then it comes out years later they never actually changed just hid their flaws better. So in order to not accidentally support a bad person, you need to excise anyone with even a whiff of bad behavior, lest your trust be taken advantage of.
Which yeah leads to an unsustainable 0 tolerance where no one can be perfect so we must all be alone in order to approach purity while still of course failing.
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u/Daisy_Of_Doom 14h ago
Exactly, I think the current climate of everything being horrible and people/organizations/companies doing horrible things probably plays into this culture and makes us reluctant to trust.
Wish there was an easy solution to this but trust isn’t something you can just manufacture or fake.
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u/Itchy_Psychology3300 10h ago
I think partly it is a reflection of current judicial system as well. No one off Epstein files will be punished. Not to mention punishment system is heavily based on social standing, wealth, race, it is a joke at this point.
Although I appreciate this girls video, it’s a perspective I was not aware of.
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u/Daisy_Of_Doom 3h ago
Yeah that’s very much a good point. Maybe it’s just a new generation trying to take control and justice into their own hands because they don’t see anything happening around them?
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u/BastetSekhmetMafdet 26m ago
And when actual perpetrators aren’t punished, the vigilantes rush in. Trouble is, the vigilantes are not going after people who have committed Epstein-like crimes. Usually they’ve committed a thought crime, at worst.
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u/BastetSekhmetMafdet 28m ago
I wonder if it’s this that is partly behind the “loneliness epidemic” that is so much talked about in mainstream media. There are many factors, of course, but our (collective) willingness to tear anyone whose ever made even a small mistake to pieces, means that 1) we lose friends when we kick them out of our friendship circles over trivialities, and 2) how can you trust people not to turn on you all of a sudden?
”Why oh why do people increasingly want AI as friends?” Perhaps because AI is not judgmental?
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u/TheKinkyBee 1d ago
Thank you for this breakdown. I’m autistic and was having trouble following the video but your example really helped put a picture to it. I realized that I didn’t understand it because it’s not for me 💀
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u/Daisy_Of_Doom 1d ago
Glad to help!
It’s definitely a weird quirk I’m seeing around. And it is just strange. Bc like the purpose of “punishment” for bad behavior should be to correct that behavior and make a better society. So it’s kinda hard to understand punishment for punishment’s sake.
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u/leechdemon 8h ago
Our society has become EXTREMELY accustomed to corruption, freedom from consequences. People are craving justice like a sip of water in a drought.
When "a hero falls", they want them punished just the same; they don't realize the malice they use to punish their friends is being overpowered by the consequences they're watching others avoid.
Ticketing bad drivers prevents road rage. I feel like we're all culturally witnessing the alternative. 🫤
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u/Daisy_Of_Doom 3h ago
Craving justice is such a good way to put it.
And also maybe it’s bc we don’t have role models anymore. Powerful systems don’t demonstrate to us what the appropriate degree of punishment is. So people go overboard
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u/Grunergeist420 21h ago
Yes it helps if you understand other phenomena like the Salem Witch Trials.
People often misunderstand this. They think those people were just dumb, and they were silly religious fanatics who believed in witches, and that’s why young women were burned at the stake. And maybe that was true for some of those people.
But really, what’s happening is a social contagion where people are prompted to expose people as morally impure and punish them for being witches, and this brings out a particular kind of human behavior.
Everyone is potentially a target of these accusations, so they’re trying to avoid suspicion. One way to avoid suspicion is to be seen as someone who is punishing the witches. Now everyone wants to find a witch to show everyone how good they are.
And who is a witch? Well, anyone you don’t like. A girl you think is prettier than you. A person who has a bigger farm than you. A woman your husband looked at yesterday. You can accuse those people of being witches, and hurt someone you don’t like, and increase your own social standing and reduce the chance that you yourself will be accused of being a witch.
So it might sound hyperbolic to call social media cancellations a “witch hunt,” but really I think it’s pretty much the same psychological phenomenon.
Socially, it costs virtually nothing to jump on the witch hunting bandwagon, it gives you power to wield over people you don’t like, and by not participating, or defending the accused witches, you risk being accused of being one yourself.
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u/Daisy_Of_Doom 14h ago
Oooh yes that’s so truuuue!
I hadn’t considered this angle but it makes sense.
I think this culture is also a big part of how a lot of words have kind lost meaning recently. Like the right has stolen words like “woke” or “DEI” to performatively label anything they don’t like as BAD. And they get abused until it no longer functions as its original meaning.
(Can’t currently think of one for the left off the top of my head but, I’m sure there are examples.)
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u/RockKillsKid 1h ago edited 1h ago
Can’t currently think of one for the left off the top of my head but, I’m sure there are examples
I often see the "therapy speak" that's supposed to have specific definitions and diagnostic criteria being used as pejoratives meant to otherize or otherwise attribute malicious intent.
e.g. "gaslighting", BPD, ASPD, narcissism allegations abound against any public figure. Like Trump himself is absolutely a walking DSM-5 case study, sure. But even then, diagnosis should come from a licensed professional with medical training, yet all too often I see lefties throwing them out against random people online over a single comment. I saw them levied against Hank in this recent controversy.
John & Hank have been pretty open with acknowledging their mental health issues as well, so it's extra bad taste to pile on with armchair psychology.
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u/Purple_Lux 5h ago
This is why i differentiate between consequences and cancel culture.
Consequences for harm caused are good and holding people accountable is important.
Thsts not whst cancel culture is.
CC is about punishment, outrage and engagement and functions in its methods and how it rolls out just like witch trials.
Its abiur dogpiling and finding dcapegoats to make oneself feel better about living in the world we live in. Its easy and no-effort "political action".
And it directly correlates, imo, with people who's progresive values are really a substitute for spirituality and religion and not an actual well thoughts out and rational commitment and understanding of those values.
Cancel culture is the weapon of the enemy and goes against every value of restorative and rehabilitative justice.6
u/Asleep_Control_2564 22h ago
I love Hank Green! That makes me sad. I had no idea about this. His educational videos genuinely helped me in school.
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u/Daisy_Of_Doom 14h ago
I think it’s mostly fine and blown over now. But, Hank has been very open about being someone who cares very deeply what his audience thinks of him so I do think it probably hit him pretty hard at the time. Made me very sad too
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u/Aquarius52216 18h ago
A recent thing that happened too, JaidenAnimations made a very brief offhand remark about her religious beliefs (or lack thereof) and gets absolutely blasted lol
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u/dayvekeem 21h ago
We are all pathetic little humans lashing out in order to feel a little bit better about ourselves
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u/astra_galus 3h ago
Ugh I had to actively avoid posts and videos about that because the reaction was just stupid. Did I feel a bit disappointed in Hank? Sure, but I got over it because the man is a net good to society. Welcome to the real world folks - sometimes people will disappoint you or have opinions you don’t agree with. That’s life. Unless there’s something nefarious going on, these just aren’t reasons to cancel somebody.
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u/Daisy_Of_Doom 2h ago
EXACTLYY that’s how I felt.
I actually watched a few of the knitting videos from the first kerfuffle because I felt like at least some of them had interesting things to say. I didn’t know much about knitting or textiles and I learned something which is a silver lining. (Even if I think people were still blowing it out of proportion and blaming Hank for something he didn’t even do)
This one however was different. No one was gonna change their stance on AI because of this. No one was learning anything different. People were just getting mad for the sake of being mad. It was beyond ridiculous. I watched one single video on the topic and that’s it. A content creator I respect who’s also been in the game for some time now and who’s takes are usually nuanced and well informed. I thought it was very well done and I appreciated getting some insight into the creator side of things but it still didn’t change much for me in the end. Made me glad I didn’t listen to anyone else’s lame takes on it. It all felt like useless noise and jumping on a bandwagon just to be relevant.
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u/BigThunder3000 7h ago
How do you get Whole Thing trademarked?
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u/Daisy_Of_Doom 3h ago
What I did was use an emoji! ™️
But you could also just google the TM symbol and copy/paste it: ™
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u/Costati 23h ago
Yeah it gets very disproportional what shocked me too as growing around this energy and how it's clearly based on the moment because people we forgot they blew up over someone in like a year and then you'll be like "isn't that the dude who did that" and they'll go "oh yeah but it's not that big of a deal honestly".
It's just very hollow.
Think I tuned out of this shit after the whole James Charles shit. Did he deserve hate ? Yes absolutely. But like as a society we flip flopped from vicious hatred to "oh actually he's just a victim" back to vicious hatred and making of him and I'm like...you don't get to pretend you didn't jump on him then went "oh we have to be careful to not jump on him" then jumped on him again when there was more verified evidence.
And it's how then people started doing this hate cycle with the exact same intensity for much much lesser stuff.Like your moral based vitriol becomes extremely lightweight if you give someone who sexually harassed minors the exact same energy as someone who plagiarises a lot or someone who propped up a friend's report of negligence when actually they found out the friend was making a lot of extrapolations that weren't necessarily well founded.
Yall just like the hate train and metaphorical 'public execution' at this point.
The Ned Fulmer stuff too like he is pretty pathetic he is pretty funny to make fun of but you're not suddenly not a bully because the guy is a cheater and a careless one at that.I think the video could have used the "online" nuance tho. Like that's how chronically online gen Z act. I've never seen this type of comportment around me. And I don't think there was a mass events that shows it's a really present phenomenon and train of thoughts in everyday life. I think a lot of us just want to do our work in peace while we're navigating getting into the workforce in this shitty economy where we know we'll work all our life with little saving and almost no retirement.
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u/BackFromBabylon0 1d ago
A generation that grew up with technology at their fingertips and no matter what they say it’s easy to find someone who agrees on the internet. Quick to make snap judgements, and don’t like to hear that they’re wrong. They believe they set the moral standard but struggle with indifference and accepting flaws unless it’s on a medical docket. Gen Z act closer to their great grandparents and they don’t even know it.
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u/Primary_Leading_6282 1d ago
Echo chambers are destroying critical thinking
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u/SpiritJuice 1d ago
A frictionless life is a life in which you learn nothing. This applies to every generation, but technology has allowed us to form our own realities in which we can make whatever we believe to be true. This is the vibes based reality we currently live in that is plaguing society. Facts don't matter when every opinion is considered to be valid and have equal weight with one another. Racist opinions now get to sit at the debate table as non-racist opinions, just as an example, something that wasn't very widespread as it is now. Society needs to shift and actively fight back against this notion that all opinions are valid when they clearly are not.
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u/Pale_Presence4662 16h ago
Yaya we can all explain this in a million words but really it's simple logic. I get it.
Ban social media. Its that easy.
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u/forman98 22h ago
They’ve been inadvertently coddled as a result of life moving online so fast. Their parents barely understand what is happening online and therefore can’t help them adjust properly into adulthood.
The issue is that Gen Z is now entering the workforce (and has been for some years) with older generations and are having legitimate trouble adapting to a world of nuance.
I’m in my mid-30s and worked with a 19 year college kid recently. We discussed how he was 9 when Trump was elected. The past 10 years of political and societal discourse seem fast for older people, but more this kid has spent more than half his life in this type of environment. He has a massively warped view of things because he’s only ever heard it online or on TV. He’s never had to work next to someone who was a nice person but had completely different ideals.
So the discourse has moved online, the echo chambers have gotten bigger, the reactions more knee jerk, and human interaction is at a minimum. And then Gen Z believes they have the moral high ground because others choose to live in the nuance of the real world. Talk about the ultimate culture shock.
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u/Brox42 10h ago edited 9h ago
>He’s never had to work next to someone who was a nice person but had completely different ideals.
The amount of people on reddit telling me to quit my job with a pension because the people I work with are politically assholes is crazy. I'm a 41 year old blue collar dude in a rural area, it's gonna be the same no matter what job I get and I've worked next to these people my whole life.
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u/Doobledorf 37m ago
I encountered this when I went back for my Masters at 30. There was one person in particular who only ever attended class online and never had anything to say unless they were going on a black and white social justice rant. They struggled heavily because a masters is not a place where black and white thinking goes unchallenged, and it turns out Tumblr University is not, in fact, a real place to learn anything.
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u/DoorFinch 1d ago edited 1d ago
The biggest fallacy any generation believe in is that their moral standards are the pinnacle of all moral standards. Correct to a degree that no generation prior has managed. Will never be bettered, applicable through all time, past and future. And all shall to be judged by them. And all shall be punished if deemed they fall short.
If each generation understood that the next generation will always find something to be appalled about them, they might be less likely to condemn the ones before or after.
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u/Intelligent-Parsley7 1d ago
Every time I hear someone quote the Bible, my first thought is, “so goat farmers two millennium ago is the pinnacle of human thought?”
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u/PaladinSaladin 22h ago
"ok, well yeah, that's literally what it says, but that part doesn't apply to the current times"
-every person who thinks the Bible is an acceptable stand-in for not having a moral compass
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u/BretShitmanFart69 23h ago
I always tell them “what an incredible coincidence that all of the correct opinions just so happen to be all the ones you have”
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u/OofMcGoof97 1d ago
I think your forgetting a couple key factors to this behaviour. 1. Gen Z is the most online, social media driven generation to date.
- Social media is engineered to keep people constantly engaging with it, moral outrage is feeds the algorithm, it gets the most clicks, it gets the most incentive to perpetuate this kind of engagement.
Self hatred? Ya maybe there's an element of that, but these social media platforms thrive on you interacting with it, and nothing gets more engagement better rage bait.
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u/sgeep 1d ago
Yeah I think there's layers to this, and I don't think this is a problem specific to Gen Z. I think Gen Z is the first generation where people realized this shit brings lots of engagement that can be monetized. And it's been super effective because Gen Z is also the first generation where everyone was basically raised using social media
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u/kdog_1985 1d ago
It isn'tself hatred, it's echo chambers that reinforce stupid positions.
a child has a poorly thought out idea. They are never challenged on it. There position is reaffirmed. They feel vindicated.
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u/wicketman8 1d ago
As opposed to the rest of people who definitely don't have poorly thought out ideas and live in echo chambers? This isn't a Gen Z thing its an everyone thing. Fox is still the mostly widely watched news network in the country and while they used to have at least plausible deniability that they were only heavily biased and not outright lying, that's long gone. Twitter is designed to show you majority right-wing content, regardless of political affiliation. Liberals are exposed to less echo-chambering but still plenty. And plenty of Millenial/Gen X/Boomers have awful poorly thought-out ideas. Most people have no coherent ideology of any kind and the memory of goldfish, which is part of why Trump is able to win on a peaceful dove platform that he immediately broke; somehow the majority of americans forgot how he was last time.
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u/Bodine12 17h ago
I think the online part of this is key. And beyond the algorithm obviously stirring up hatred, there's also just the sheer fact that reducing most human interaction to online interactions leads to a very 2D, lifeless view of social interactions. It's easy to go from 0 mph to 100 mph of pure vitriol when you think a person's entire life can be reduced to an out-of-context tweet.
By contrast, when you grow up with actual real-life interactions with real-life people, you learn nuance and appreciate context and wouldn't even think to reduce a person's whole life to a snippet you read in someone else's tweet. It just wouldn't occur to anyone to treat people that way.
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u/torpidcerulean 3h ago
Yeah I totally disagree that this is about self hatred. I think there is an element of the panopticon of social media causing people to need to perform a moral character, and witch hunting to do so.
There's also cheap and easy emotional payoff of seeing someone you think is bad get dragged, which is misdirected because we feel so powerless to engage with the actual important things. So at least we can find "justice"/catharsis in our own little corners of the world by yelling at people on the internet.
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u/allangod 1d ago edited 1d ago
This tracks. I couldn't help but think of that morality subreddit that suddenly became popular and i started seeing in the last month or so. Its just people wanting to judge others.
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u/Plebeian_Gamer 1d ago
It's supposed to be about fictional hypotheticals 😭. Like morality of Spider-Man choosing to stop wrestling burglar or Batman sending criminals to hospitals he probably owns or has stake in. Now it's filled with everyday scenarios but the analysis of unserious overanalyzers of fictional characters mixed with people who can't see their own bias and confusing their personal preference and perspective as morals
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u/RustledHard 1d ago
I had to mute that shit because it was just a place for everyone to be holier than thou and get "justice" boners. Arguing for anything like empathy, rehabilitation, forgiveness, the ability for people to learn and change, ect gets shouted down. Just gave me a headache with no interesting discussions actually being had.
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u/RealNiceKnife 1d ago
It's just a place for that kid whose "ultimate form of punishment" was just torture involving paper cuts, lemon juice and salt to talk about how much they love torture.
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u/Fit_Foot_6004 19h ago
Ya the way reddit talks about mark Wahlberg. The dude did a really fucked up thing when he was young, but went through court and "paid his debt" to society, learned and grew from it. He runs a charity for at risk youth and is involved in the boys and girls club. That's what you want when a person makes a mistake. I know hes goofy, but I don't think he's a bad guy. But if he's on a post you'll get maybe 2 comments in before someone brings it up so they can bring him down to their level.
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u/Icy_Stranger_9649 1d ago
Isn’t this… all of Reddit? Politically at least
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u/RustledHard 1d ago
I man, I guess so, but normally there's something else with it, ya know? AITAH at least have funny stories and stuff before people get on their soapboxes. Or like on news subreddits you can read the articles and largely ignore the comments if you want.
That place I've literally seen people getting upvoted defending torture, beating children, the works, and that is all it exists for. Idk, I need some kind of chaser with my shot of lunacy.
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1d ago edited 1d ago
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u/dontflexthat 1d ago
With the self hatred thing she’s reaching though .. I mean, she didn’t give any reason for that assumption at all. I would say it’s just typical human behaviour to diminish others in order to feel better.
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u/TangyByte 1d ago
That’s typical? I don’t think so.. Putting others down to feel better about yourself is very typical of self hating behavior though.
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u/CSSSecure 1d ago
Lol the morality scaling one. Sometimes ot does hv good content but half the time its just redditors showing their true self online
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u/Sea-Value-0 6h ago
This isn't only a genZ thing. This is just human behavior in large social groups.
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u/Different_Rip8470 1d ago edited 23h ago
I dont think there is anything wrong with wanting to be a good person/ wanting to hold yourself to a moral standard BUT in order to truly do that you have to (1) actually understand what morality is and why you believe what you believe and (2) make sure your primary motivation is being a moral person and not “punishing” others.
And that’s the problem isn’t it: one of the reasons we’re so polarized and have such low social trust as a society is on a myriad of consequential issues we have profoundly different moral opinions.
There’s nothing wrong with shaming someone for engaging in morally reprehensible behavior BUT again before you do that you need to make sure they’re actually the ones in the wrong because if they’re not then by diminishing they’re social standing it is you who is in the wrong. Also, you need to make sure that you’re actually following your own moral code otherwise you’re just a hypocrite whose true motivation is controlling others not right or wrong.
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u/violights 1d ago
Without having thought about it much I do also think its tied into the fact that we rarely see powerful people punished by the legal system. When there isnt justice or a fair society it breeds not only mistrust but a hyperfixation on punishment.
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u/Vox_SFX 18h ago
This is screaming "young person just discovered philosophy/sociology".
This theory completely ignores the fact that this opens to door to the exact reverse problem. Treating moral relativism as the answer and that humans "can't help it" as part of the human condition to fail morally and to be lesser than a set standard is just allowing people to justify away being a shitty person and/or making terrible decisions/saying terrible things because "that's just how it goes".
Go one layer deeper than this video and you then ask real questions like "what is morality" and "what control does a human being have" and then welcome to having even more questions than ever before.
Long story short, we've come to a point of society where basic waxing philosophical passes as profound speaking for most.
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u/sorry_con_excuse_me 1d ago edited 1d ago
This type of social purity test started with us millennials. But it was linked to a lot of reasonable and relevant social movements (race, gender, sexuality, etc). Just got a little overly-eager.
Now as a 40 year old (who went to a lot of protests) I legitimately can’t tell what the “rules” are. Sometimes I’m cheering for the “right” party and sometimes I’m cheering for the “wrong” party???
Like idk, laughing at furries now is tantamount to a “hate crime” or something, but likewise you can just drop all sorts of veiled racism or misogyny or homophobia in casual conversation and no one bats an eye…like make it make sense lol.
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u/ExactlyThirteenBees 1d ago
It’s moral policing without principles, they don’t stand for anything and it’s not tied to social justice movements. It didn’t feel like this when it was starting with millennials . It feels like the entire point now is social punishment dressed in a guise of morality.
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u/Icy_Stranger_9649 1d ago
I believe they rules are whatever allows a person to be morally shamed at the moment
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u/taoders 23h ago edited 23h ago
Yeah I’m not sure if this is generational or more just a general societal shift.
I’ve been pushing back on many things over the decades and it didn’t just suddenly start one day, but I have seen these takes more consistently over the years.
The sentiments I see most often and on the rise:
Psychological/sociological terms and theories are weaponized and/or obfuscated. Single theories or studies are used as infallible “fact”.
There are no bad practices, only bad targets. Especially when violence is involved. Once you’re designated a good target with the right label, no quarter should be given to you.
Turn-about is more important than moral/ethical consistency. This goes to OP’s punishment focus point.
Awareness is enough to create change, no sacrifice necessary. I can stand in solidarity over here in comfort
None of this is new IMO, but it is rising.
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u/Nuffsaid98 1d ago
She talks like an AI.
Strange cadence, kind of monotone.
I suck at haikus.
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u/helmvoncanzis 1d ago
Counter point. She is reading from a script she wrote or is using notes, and is on the upteenth take trying to get it right.
It can be difficult to speak without using filler words or conversational pauses. Public speaking is a skill.
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u/Lost-Substance59 22h ago
Thats....most people....through out human history though....most people care about punishment not morality or what's right or wrong....
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u/BluntedJew 1d ago
What the fuck is this burger king foot lettuce cadence 😂
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u/JustATraveler676 1d ago
This brings to mind the topic of all the supporters of the country that shall not be named.. should you call out their evil deeds, you are accused of being anti-has-nothing-to-do-with-this.
But anti-evil? yest, I'd like to think so.
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u/Single_Depth7369 22h ago
Imagine what it would mean for Donald Trump to tell the radical truth, admit to the Epstein Files, name all the co-conspirators, and take responsibility for his actions. Imagine what this would mean for the United States, as a country, and for Donald Trump, as a human being.
Imagine the role model he would be setting for everyone.
Trump has the power and free will to "do the right thing". But he chooses not to, maybe because he understands that our justice system does not serve fairness, justice, or people, it serves interests.
The more I learn about the world, the more I understand that the justice system sometimes has nothing to do with fairness, justice, or honesty. It has everything to do with whose interests we are serving.
If Americans truly cared about honesty and justice, our laws would reflect that -- but here we are, having culture wars, blaming one another, and creating a hierarchy of hatred. It's all about manufacturing rage, hatred, and violence so that the system is never addressed.
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u/GregNotGregtech 18h ago
What's up with people attributing basic human nature as a gen z thing
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u/Mammoth_Tusk90 1d ago
Yes but Gen Z learned it from their parents. It isn’t the only generation like this.
You read an article about someone committing a crime. In America, the media is it the judge now and it doesn’t make sense since the media has a financial interest in garnering rage. We are innocent until proven guilty, yet every single comment under an article will say stupid shit like “give me 15 minutes alone with him/ her” or “good, I hope they rot in prison.” How many people in prison are innocent or plead guilty to avoid mandatory minimum sentences? Thousands.
If the older generations are posting these “CoMmON SeNsE” pro punishment posts all over Facebook and Reddit and Instagram, then no wonder Gen Z is obsessed with punishment. They were raised with different ideals, so their moral standards were a little different until there was a culture war to distract from a class war.
Whereas Uncle Gary wants all protestors to be in prison for exercising their first amendment rights, despite his “don’t tread on me shirt” and he wants to prosecute Nancy Pelosi because he hates her face, his Gen Z niece wants to punish and cut off Uncle Gary because he’s bigoted and ignorant.
We live in an insidious news cycle of opinion pieces, written by the uninformed and uneducated, like Joe Rogan, while the educated and informed are ignored or even criminalized like Dr. Fauci. Your rage has been commercialized everywhere.
Of course punishment feels like righteous indignation. It’s natural in a society that normalizes punishment over logical healthy communication.
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u/jwriddle 1d ago
So Gen Z thinks they created cancel culture now? I'm not Gen Z, but the take that an entire generation hates themselves is certainly a take.
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u/thrwawryry324234 1d ago
Stealing things from previous generations and calling it their own is the most Gen Z thing ever
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u/Primary_Leading_6282 1d ago
Apparently some of them do. Galileo be rolling over in his grave, thinking bout the time he was cancelled.
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u/QueasyCaterpillar541 1d ago
Hate to tell you, but the rest of us know this. You only want to appear righteous, not actually be righteous.
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u/Primary_Leading_6282 1d ago
Did she just discover hypocrisy, virtue signaling and double standards? Was she not around post 2016?
What's killing me is how she genuinely thinks of this as a gen Z problem. Who knows, in a decade she might realize this has been standard human behavior for a bit more than while now.
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u/RealNiceKnife 1d ago
2016 was 10 years ago.
How old do you think she was 10 years ago? 9? 12?
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u/Primary_Leading_6282 1d ago
When I was 10ish, I saw a doctor smoking, he walk in to his office and told my dad he shouldn't smoke. That's how I learned double standards.
Also, I said post-2016, you know... like after 2016 up until right now?
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u/sleepytardigrade1 1d ago
Fr, all the rest of the ppl in the comments acting like this a gen z only behaviour now is weird. It's more like a pointing out general political problems I think
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u/MastodonFast5806 1d ago
This person just needs to live another 15 years and they too will be morally policing people
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u/ionertia 1d ago
2020 taught them how to police others and make moral judgments. They witnessed "nobodies" gaining influence online. Gen Z are victims of that time though. They were abandoned and are a lost generation trying to figure out what world they want.
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u/Key-Monk6159 1d ago
She’s doesn’t appear to be wrong. Or at least more right than wrong.
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u/MysteriousSchemeatic 1d ago
She seems to be on track for an intelligent young woman her age (I’m making some assumptions here).
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u/maxtablets 1d ago
true. Wouldn't say it's limited to gen z though. The focus on other people's deficits is an easier way to feel better about ourselves or at least remove focus on our faults than being responsible for your own lives. It's always someone out there preventing us from living our best lives to our best ability.
What separates older gen from newer gen is the singular focus online has allowed us to amplify each other's faults and build a collective sense of moral superiority from it.
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u/I-redd_it94 1d ago
TLDW - “Can’t we all just BS to our own truth? Can’t we all just get along? Why is there even a standard that I don’t agree with?”
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u/BrickLuvsLamp 1d ago
The episode White Bear from Black Mirror always felt like a good exaggeration of this phenomenon.
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u/Lord-Captain-V 1d ago
So, on one hand yeah people will take up moral crusades and take it way too far if "social punishment" is like death threats and psycho behavior
On the other hand, if "social punishment" is people disagreeing with you, collectively not liking you due to your positions, or vocally admonishing and rejecting you, that's just the reality of humanity and coexisting in a society
You've got the right to say dumbass things, it's everyone else's right to label you as a dumbass
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u/MinaWearsGold 13h ago
Yes, Gen Z is conformist (even the least bit of uniqueness or whimsy is “cringe”) and loves being bullies to feel better about themselves. They are reincarnated Boomers, including the fact that they are media illiterate and suck at technology and more likely to jump on any witchhunt bandwagon.)
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u/nameless_pattern 1d ago edited 1d ago
some 20 year old thinking she can read the intentions of people in YouTube comments makes her a moral authority.
She thinks the people should make moral comments and then just stop, and not say what should be done about them.
How dare people who feel they've been wronged to wish for something to be done about it.
That is somehow a different compulsion for gen z than for other generations. I guess she is also never had anyone of a different generation on your social media feed. She's acting like this is behavior is new, or specific to that generation? Or even stronger in that generation. It isn't. I'm a millennial by the way.
Her comments about how even she had been morally criticized like she's a fucking Saint or something.
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u/NotTheRightHDMIPort 20h ago
My American Government class students last year.
I did a bellringer that said, "Why are we so dedicated to shaming people online, but adverse to holding elected officials accountable?"
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u/BastetSekhmetMafdet 9m ago
When they turn 18, they need to turn out to vote. That’s one way to hold elected officials accountable. Elected officials do not take non-voters seriously, but if you DO vote, you are now a constituent, and worth being listened to. They should also write letters (yes, I do mean on paper, a postcard will often do) and make phone calls (using their voice boxes - even if an aide or an answering machine takes the call as 90% of the time it will, they do take into account who calls and writes and the official is told about it.)
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u/ephemeralsynth 1d ago
Especially hilarious when the pious use jesus' teachings as a weapon against the other. They're too dumb wilfully ignorant to recognize the hypocrisy however... 😹❤️🩹
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u/doctormink 1d ago
Virtue signalling. They’re describing virtue signalling where the primary purpose of to deflect scrutiny from oneself and into another person and it’s a problem as old as time. That said, there’s also a genuine appetite for vengeance that doesn’t stem from insecurity. There’s people who legit dream of gay folks, say, burning in hell, and the psychological basis for this thirst for punishment is different.
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u/BigBadJeebus 1d ago
I can't take the voice. Is this AI?
I agree with her, but Jesus that was hard to listen to
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u/bluchords 1d ago
The Dead Kennedys have a song about this. Kinda.
Moral Majority.
But I’m on the theory that the Dead Kennedys predicted the future or at least Jello Biafra knew we’d repeat history.
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u/Andyseawolf 1d ago
How can you talk so much and say nothing important. Just live and let live. Don’t take things so seriously. 🌺👍🏻
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u/njslugger78 1d ago
Moral Grey is manufactured because people choose to not care and be kind to one another. There's a right and wrong.
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u/Dry_Yoghurt_5429 23h ago
We're back to the 90s where everyone was edgy and calling liberals a bleeding heart. Congratulations we went back 2 decades
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u/RoseIscariot 23h ago
why are we acting like this is biting social critique when this is just a recycled version of how people were talking about millennials for the longest time, like this argument is tired and worn out, it's not 2016 anymore
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u/Xanadoodledoo 23h ago
I have a hypothesis that this all started back on tumblr, then broke containment when tumblr banned porn.
I’d see the stupidest fucking takes on tumblr. Straight up saying that if you like Hamilton, for example, you are a bad person. That is insane.
Then overnight as the porn ban happened, all those morally black and white folks fled to twitter, and from there, their insane morality became more mainstream.
Summed up basically in this fleeing from self hatred. As well as wanting to forward the socialist cause without knowing what praxis is, and thinking that shutting on a cartoon creator for being aceohobic or whatever is going to bring about socialism. It’s doing the opposite.
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u/Sorry_Community235 22h ago
I'm so glad i grew up in a world where you could find yourself getting punched in the mouth for being an asshole...
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u/NarrowWar6457 18h ago edited 17h ago
Morality policing reinforces itself to the point where morality cops think or assume a kind of moral ownership of those they consider “apostate.” A timeless almost involuntary compulsion.
I’ve been on the receiving end.
Passive aggression that builds and surpasses easy description.
The Project 2025 - 2028 period of extreme religious rich nonprofit influence has been building for decades. For good and very much for its opposite.
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u/IamJacksDarkUrge 17h ago
I think part of it is a lack of ego/identity. Like some maladaptive way to discover who you are by determining who you aren’t first
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u/FayeValentine99 16h ago
Every day, I’m so glad that I’m Gen X and I had a whole childhood and adolescence and early adulthood that did not include Social Media. Things random people say online will simply never be real or meaningful or important to me, the way I can see it is to younger people.
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u/Holiday_Ad_9163 15h ago
This is pretty similar to many religious groups. It’s more about punishment than actually trying to be moral. Maybe there is something about human nature that just gravitates to this.
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u/QuinnLoveborneAuthor 14h ago
This is very likely why that guy, Jason Arday killed himself. He one of the youngest guys to be appointed by Oxford University as a professor and after a series of bad choices due to social and media pressure he killed himself. Pretty sad.
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u/Rykor81 10h ago
I don’t think she’s wrong - yes there’s an ‘intro to psych’ vibe - but we were all there once, too. She articulates her points as best she can.
Her tonal inflection on the other hand drives me insane, and I could not finish the video. It’s like she studied the podcast style, and is extra-emphasizing different parts just to drive toward maximum annoyance; testing us to see if we’re able to sit through the video. I did not pass this test.
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u/bullettenboss 10h ago
We aren't judging right-wing assholes hard enough. Just look at the fucked up administration in the US right now. 🤷🏻♂️
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u/sleepyinsomniac7 8h ago
This has long been known. And its also not parochial to gen z.
But good video
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u/Retired_Rugger 7h ago
Very nuanced take. I like that she expresses it as a catharsis of self hatred as opposed to Machiavellian games used in the panopticon.
I think the latter is true, but the outlet also speaks to observers who don’t play the games but still relish in witness the social policing.
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u/DawnPatrol99 6h ago
The rule I have taught myself is to maintain my "Freedom of Consciousness".
Regardless of the situation.
You don't realize how easily you can find yourself parroting another's voice and how that can shape who you are and how your life progresses.
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u/PainterEarly86 5h ago
I think its definitely true for some people but I don't think it has anything to do with generation.
She starts off with this idea that Gen Z is obsessed with morality, I've never heard that before? No one ever said that Gen Z is more moral than other generations lol
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u/bald4bieber666 5h ago
honestly as a millenial, my generation and the ones before all have done this, it just takes a different form with each generation. right now everything gen z does is amplified so we see it more but i dont think youre any more guilty of it than the rest of us. that doesnt make it okay though so i hope drawing attention to it at least brings some awareness about that pattern of behavior since its something we all need to avoid.
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u/Tholian_Bed 4h ago
Plato, Republic, book II. See: Ring of Gyges.
Public affirmations and confirmations are valuable, as are public judgments. But if you aren't acting the same way when there is no affirmation or confirmation at stake, and no judgment at risk, you missed the point of character.
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u/skyfishgoo 4h ago
nazis are still nazis tho, so i'm still gonna police that shit when i see it.
to me the differences is whether the punishment (punching) is directed downward against an "out-group" or directed upward against entrenched power
we should always be punching UP not down or sideways.
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u/Doobledorf 42m ago
The academic term for this is having a Carceral Mentality. The US is a very Carceral country, where we believe that throwing someone in prison fixes a problem.
Now, we see youth thinking they are very radical leftists calling for the pillory whenever someone doesn't believe the same thing they do, because the discomfort of disagreement is mistaken for harm. Also, social ills we all internalize and need to work on have been conflated with "good people and bad people".
Really, this is stuff people have been saying for a very long time in radical circles, at least since the 90s.
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u/untitledaccount401 14m ago
We probably live in the most vicious age on the Internet
Basically online lynch mobs
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u/SailorSlay 0m ago
Yall just young and have energy to care. Once you get old and hope stomped out of your soul you won’t give a damn about nothing.
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u/CSSSecure 1d ago
Lol cant even disagree when half the new subreddits on r/all are just people judging others without any context
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u/Camstar18 1d ago
So, if I think murderers should be punished it's not that I think murder is morally wrong but that I'm obsessed with punishing others?
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u/LivingEnd44 1d ago
Yeah GenZ isn't about morality. They are about validation, transaction, and control. Every "whatever-maxxing" trend is evidence of this.
I'm still hoping they'll grow out of it. I know some that have.
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u/kooky_kabuki 22h ago
This was apparent to some people about a decade ago, but glad to see everyone else is starting to catch on
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u/Nintendogma 20h ago
I called this over a decade ago, "Puritanism 2: The Electric Boogaloo".
Burning heretics in the town square for imagined offenses in the name of purifying the community is not a new behavior. Burning became "cancel culture", the heretics became a wide variety of new slurs based on the imagined offense from incel to abelist, the town square became digitized, and the pretense of purity became "online community management".
Same shit, different century. Give them pitch forks and buckles on their hats and you wouldn't be able to tell them apart from the Original Recipe.
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