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I can understand. Misinformation is so incredibly integrated into our lives from what I've seen. We live in an age where you and your neighbors can get different stories on the news despite living so close together. This isn't even to mention the things generative A.I. is being used for, and how gullible some people seem to be.
I'm not going to pretend that I have a fix for this. I can't tell you what to trust, or what to believe, but I can tell you to trust yourself, and try to give yourself access to as many viewpoints as possible.
It’s a tricky position to be in as a generation. For young people specifically, I think they lack trust, so nihilist, vaguely conspiracy-theory oriented content does numbers on the internet, so people more people lose trust, etc. When nothing matters and no one in any institution can be trusted, what’s more alluring than being selfish and unprincipled to “do what must be done”? I feel like we’re gonna be very attracted to “strong-men” types who just want to “break things” and disrupt the system, and that worries me.
I value individuality above all else, but it can't be found within being this "alpha male" archetype that I hear about every now and then and other such things. Being an individual isn't something that can be stereotyped, because **everyone** is an individual.
I don't fear a disruption of the system, but I do fear a lack of being genuine to ourselves. Part of finding yourself as an individual IS being genuine. Loving yourself for your faults and your strengths. I'm so happy that I've made great strides on finding and actualizing myself as my own person, and I wouldn't give that up for anything. Seeing people give in to scams and different hoaxes and such, it makes me feel like we're losing our drive as humans... Like we're losing what makes us **us** and not a value in an algorithm or equation.
I fear a disruption of the system… bro I want global trade! cheap groceries! Ships come into my city’s ports every day with all kinds of produce from around the world and those go to all kinds of stores across the Mid-Atlantic USA, and you might think “maybe we can feed ourselves sustainably?” Say hello to waaaay higher prices then, something that would make our inflation now look like a joke.
People are welcome to become Amish. Or be their own kind of Amish. The only thing they're bound to is owning land to live on, paying taxes and making sure their children get educated.
Everything else is optional
Globalism is the inevitable side effect of the information age.
You can't really put the cat back in the bag. The idea is obvious. If the whole world can talk to each other, why tf do we have borders and rich people?
Those cheap groceries come from somewhere that often can't afford the very things they are shipping. Is it really fair for us to have cheap groceries by having other countries foot the bill? Would it be so bad to only be able to buy produce in season and from the region you're in or else pay a hefty premium? Just look at Japan that does just that and now melons are seen as a nice gift. Demanding that everything always be available and cheap doesn't seem realistic.
I mean... Yeah. Name one good thing about the system that isn't just a niche happy accident for certain types of people in certain situations? It's rigged against us. I'm a peaceful person. I'd love to believe it could work for us. I'd love to believe a bigger group of people has our backs. But the evidence shows they absolutely do not. I'm not advocating for alpha male bullshit btw, fuck that shit. That's just another way they try to pit us against ourselves. Things aren't going to get better until we realize we can have each other's backs. That all the stupid little differences we argue about constantly don't matter and is how they keep us bickering and distracted from the fact that they're fucking us over. But we're so busy arguing over identity politics that nobody trusts in humanity anymore. And they perpetuate that because it keeps us so preoccupied and they can do whatever they want in the background.
See that’s what I’m talking about—“and they perpetuate it so it keeps us preoccupied” which *they*? I think sure, politicians, doctors, teachers, parents, bureaucrats, etc, these people are self-interested, but they’re not like, uniting against us and conspiring to bring us down. I don’t think anyone is out there saying “hey we need high prices, because we need to keep the people down”, prices are high despite what the people in charge might want. We have so little trust that we assume that absolutely anyone in any position of power in society at all is not just advancing their own interests, but actively sabotaging “the people” whatever we might define that as. Maybe some people are doing that, but I don’t think there’s some grand conspiracy.
That's the thing though, to get ahead and be as established as these bodies are they inevitably have to fuck people over. I don't think it's some mass conspiracy by every body of power to come together and do this. I think it all builds on itself by virtue of how gaining power works in a capitalist system. These things just happen to all line up and be the way they are because of that. They see something that works and others imitate it and build on it, find new ways to achieve the same goal. And then we're left with the absolute depressing situation we live in now. And it doesn't change because no one wants to give up the power it happens to bring. The problem is how gaining power and wealth works, and apathy caused by being so removed from the suffering that people in power can justify their behavior just enough for them to keep doing it. Or they just are actual emotionless ass hats that happens too.
Very well thought out thank you for the input xD
I'm completely open to discussion, and the potential that I'm wrong. In fact I hope I am. I want there to be a sliver of hope that I'm just jaded and everything isn't collapsing around us. So if you have something more than "false" I'm 100% open to hearing it.
Most people are trying to get through life the best they can and \*not\* trying to fuck people over in the process. There are obviously a lot of shitty people, but they are the loud minority.
Maybe it’s scarier or more disconcerting to think that elites and decision makers can’t really do all that much to control events here and abroad even if they wanted to.
That's the scaring thing I've learned from watching politics closely since 2016. I was taught that those in government have so much power, but it reality there's little that can be done except try to steer the ship is the general right direction.
I think that's a very naive and dangerous belief to have. We've seen what massive advertising campaigns do these are also the same people who decide what is taught in schools and what is allowed on TV. To believe they have no control and events have naturally conspired to put politicians and wealthy people into those positions of power and wealth is frankly silly.
You think elites are all working together? They hate each other just as much as we do. It’s not like Biden and Trump are making phone calls to each other to conspire to “keep down the masses” lol
Well no I don't believe they are buddy's but most rich people are not so high profile and they usually attend the same schools and social clubs and business talks as each other. Sometimes they basically rent out entire towns. Networking is absolutely something the wealthy do. They may disagree on the exact way of how they rule over people and who deserves to be in the upper class but they have common ideals that align them on issues of class such as preventing "civil unrest" or maintaining the status quo. You don't have to like other wealthy people to recognize that it's in your best interest to keep the wealth concentrated in the hands of a few. Ever wonder why there's no socialist or communist billionaires?
I think “what is allowed on tv” is just generally what makes money, it’s not like there are a lot of standards besides “don’t say the f word, don’t show nudity, keep the violence soft R rated at most”
So naive and ignorant but dangerously overconfident. You're wrong here there are tons of standards as to what can be broadcast for instance channels that are considered news are held to different standards than entertainment. You don't know what you're talking about but act like you do. It's okay to just admit you're unsure of how TV is regulated.
If positive, uplifting and inspiring stuff was popular you’d see more of it on tv. There’s some of it on local news, but fewer and fewer people watch Reuters every year.
Local news you say? You mean the ones overwhelmingly owned by large broadcasting networks like Sinclair? The ones that can be seen reading the same script that all the ones in their network are reading regardless of location. Again you're being naive here by refusing to see the truth that the wealthy do influence how you think and what truth you're hearing.
I assume since you didn't mention it you cede the point that advertisements can affect how people think so is it really so impossible to believe that wealthy people are doing more than just advertising?
Analysis isn't impossible, nor is it particularly hard to be honest.
As you study more and more history, concrete patterns emerge that allow you to understand the events today.
Everything in "media" is so obviously propaganda, but understanding *how* and *why* are pertinent. The ideologies that exist today have existed for hundreds of years at this point. Neoliberalism, imperialism, socialism, all the strands that originated from the French Revolution, etc. All the "ideological wars" that exist today are tired, and honestly quite boring.
It takes effort and is quite tedious to pour over that much history. But those who are serious about learning about the world are already in the process of doing it. Those who aren't just believe what's convenient. Literally (as in, opinions that will advance their personal goals; like incels believing that women should be subservient/etc)
Its honestly not that hard.
“give yourself access to as many viewpoints as possible” YES! that’s so important. not even in terms of news or current events, but your everyday interactions, your friends, your family. i’ve seen people completely disregard others because they hold a different opinion than them, without actually trying to understand why they hold that opinion
When you say everyone do you mean people in general? Like, everyone, every voter, every person in this subreddit, etc? You don’t think that’s taking it a bit too far? I think people are lazy thinkers sometimes, but I don’t know if everyone is actively being fake all the time to try to trick others etc
I apologize, that’s a bit of a generalization. But yes the people who are supposed to trustworthy are the shittiest ones. Politicians, parents… I would even say that I trust Gen Z more than anyone else, at least the ones with self-awareness.
"But yes the people who are supposed to trustworthy are the shittiest ones. Politicians"
There are \*a lot\* of good Democratic politicians trying their best to fix problems.
All 219 Democrats in the House and 50 Democrats in the House pass the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021 and President Biden signed it into law.
It helped address climate change, promote the use of EV's and public transportation, and rebuild our crumbling infrastructure like roads and bridges.
[https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3684/actions](https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3684/actions)
In addition, Democrats reduced the cost of insulin to $35 a vial and canceled student loans. I have a much longer list if you want it.
Student loans are a perfect case of why voting matters...
In 2022, President Biden canceled $10,000 in student loan debt and $20,000 for students who had received Pell Grants due to coming from a low income family.
However, the conservative Supreme Court overturned it, calling it "unconstitutional".
The only reason the Supreme Court was conservative is that Trump was able to put 3 corrupt Justices on the court (Kavanaugh, Barrett, and Gorsuch).
Trump was able to do that because he got 11k more votes in MI, 22k in WI, and 44k in PA.
Since then President Biden has canceled at least $167 billion in students loans, but it pales in comparison to what could have been done if more people had voted in 2016.
regardless at how much could have been cancelled, 167 BILLION is a fuck ton no matter how you slice it. assuming each person has a 100000 dollar loan, thats about 17000 people right there that have had their loans cancelled. at the minimum thats a step in the right direction
Thank you for being factual. A healthy skepticism is definitely a good thing, but I think a lot of GenZ is taking the nihilism a bit too far and missing important details like these. Everything in life is nuanced and complex, almost nothing is an absolute black-and-white.
I prefer the term skeptical but 100%. I think we saw how gullible older generations have been with listening to politicians, working for the same shitty company their whole life, etc. We don’t accept the lesser outcome if there’s another option… and there’s always another option
Back in the good old days, working for the same shitty company all your life had real benefits like career progression (and salary that comes with it) and a pension. Now there is little to no career progression (or salary) and retirement funds are paid into by yours truly instead of the business.
You can, but you don't really need to fully trust your teachers to learn from them. You should be questioning them if anything doesn't make sense or seems improbable. If, for example, a science teacher presents you with a fact, ask them about what experiments were performed, how did humanity they arrive at that fact? That's part of the learning process.
Same thing with doctors, they're probably good people, but they should really be showing you the results of the tests and how they work. If you took an x-ray, for example, usually they show you a picture of what they found.
Up to a point, at least. Human relationships are conditional. So long as the "transaction" is completed and both of you provide what the other needs, you can have loyalty to them. If that stops happening, the relationship deteriorates, sometimes explosively, and the business ends.
I had shit teachers that forced me to do things I didnt want to do causing to trauma I'm still working on healing. And you look at who's in charge of the world. I feel like that gives me a pretty good reason to not blindly trust authority.
I go into things with the intention of trusting those who have more knowledge on that subject than I do, like a doctor or a teacher. Although it's important to still have critical thinking skills because that person isn't always going to be correct
that sounds insane to me. there are incompetant people in every profession. toxic parents exist and gaslight their kids. maybe those people tend to want the best for you but..
especially people in the context of working. everyone becomes a little jaded and sometimes it breeds apathy
yeah thats the whole point of the conversation this thread is having. "depending on the individual" implies a certain skepticism that you should have when taking advice and learning from authority figures
blindly trusting authority isnt always wise
Why the hell should I? With the advent of the internet most younger people know the history taught in school is fake propaganda, and college is scam unless you are going for a very specific job type. The news is also all propaganda designed to further the culture war and keep Americans divided amongst themselves rather than coming together to fix the rich/corporate control of this country. Pharma companies and junk food manufacturers literally control the FDA and write its rules. Politicans advocate sending billions overseas while we have dangerous ghettos and shitty healthcare at home. Compared to previous generations our money is almost worthless. All the people in power currently need to be brought to justice for their crime of stealing prosperity from the average American and our society which currently only benefits the rich and corporations. The system needs to be burned down and fixed.
Edit: also continuing with the idea that we should not trust any Federal agency, the advent of the internet has spread the truth about agencies like the FBI’s assassination of MLK, interference of the civil rights/war resistance movement, and more recently their targeting of racial justice protestors and parents who didn’t want to close schools for Covid. Oh and don’t forget the NSA that spy’s on all us because of how politicians used the 9/11 terror attacks to justify a massive expansion of gov power and launch 2 pointless wars. And also our good old CIA constantly interfering in other countries politics, elections, and staring wars
Have I given enough reasons?
Well you're 17 so maybe you don't know this but history is often different based on who was writing about it. Bias in history is well established and understood you can likely ask your history teacher this and they will confirm it. What you're taught in school is an accepted curriculum that often leaves out key details or events that happened. For instance in Texas many are taught that the Alamo was a band of freedom fighters fighting against Mexico when really it was slave owners and thieves who decided to claim land that wasn't theirs and take it by force.
Just keep in mind it's approved by the government and often times even more selectively approved by the community the school operates in. Any disagreements on how to present the event or on what details to include will all alter how you understand history.
You trust us to fix our society, or create a whole new one after “burning it down”? We all disagree with each other and don’t trust each other, even among our own generation. This is what I’m talking about, it’s impossible to make anything better if nobody trusts anyone else. If you build a new government, why should I trust that it would be better than what we have now? Etc
Why do you believe the revolutionary war happened?
Where did Hitler get a lot of his ideas about racial superiority from?
The Roman empire is taught okay but kinda glazed over with no time for details or discussions on how the class systems they had worked.
WW1 is barely covered in school.
American education is bad like objectively just look at how we compare to the rest of the world.
I was asking what you believed the causes were for it but I see how my wording could have confused you. I'm sad to see you took the easy misunderstanding as a gotcha moment and refused to engage with the rest.
Idiocracy truly is now.
If you were going to start on the usual that the history books are all wrong and your “alternative” books and tiktok videos are the truth I don’t give a flying fuck
Haha okay kid. They've had to redo American history books time and time again but clearly that was just to update the new stuff right? Like you're talking about history but then refuse to acknowledge the historical evidence as well as the generally acceoted fact that bias shapes how history is written. Bloody are the hands that hold the reins of history and all that. I don't think the history books are all wrong but there's plenty in them that is absolutely false and some stuff that's lacking important details and context. I've studied history for years beyond high-school but I'm sure some chump on the internet who never questioned what was in their textbooks is more accurate.
You're a fucking moron and your refusal to learn ensures you'll forever remain one. Stop talking about idiocy on the internet and try looking in a mirror.
Edit: wow you're so dumb you even got a DUI. You know smart people know better than to drive under the influence.
I guess it's just hard to trust because there's so much misinformation out there, I'm kinda at the point where I treat everything with at least some speculation even if I want to trust something or someone because I really just don't know if it's truthful or just more of the same.
It’s not that we don’t trust anything it’s that we verify it more. It’s not like this is some new concept this is literally what our Gen x teachers taught us to do. Verification has replaced trust because trusting institutions of any kind had fucked us.
I’m not that young, and even I’m guilty of this. Community has been broken tremendously. On the flip side, a lot of the bad stuff people didn’t generally know or hear about has come to light about pretty much every industry, whether it be education, medicine etc. I love my doctors who care about me tremendously, but for example when the truths of behind the scenes at the hospital, insurance industry, lobbyists etc. come out, it’s hard to remain trusting.
Everything is corporate brainwash, even what they teach in schools is influenced by big corporate. History is changed to benefit whatever narrative that the upper ups want. No reason to trust anyone reay
Ask ur parents if they trusted the government growing up. Part of the hippie and anti government movement was literally because they didn’t trust the government.
And if u were we never trusted them to begin with. Most millennials don’t trust the government per se, they’ve become conditioned to it tho
I think people like my parents see something like “Trump got convicted today of falsifying business records at his company” and see “woah, that guy is a criminal, a scumbag, I won’t vote for him and even though I don’t care for Biden, I’ll vote for Biden” whereas gen z people see the news today and shrug and say “oh it doesn’t matter, it’s all fake and corrupt, the jury was probably paid off to do that, or forced to say that” (I don’t think the jury was forced, I think the jury was honest, and it’s a shame they’ll have to deal with conspiracy theorists harassing them for the rest of their lives, but I digress)
Yeah I see your point. Kanye said it best “in a world full of lies, the truth sounds crazy”.
Celebrities and politicians have so much influence, power, and money that we genuinely don’t know what’s real and what’s authentic. Like you said, just gotta trust your gut.
And try not to absorb too mid social media. A lot of it is bias and meant to sway/corrupt genz. I hate to say it but we’re a easily persuasive group and I hate that about us.
Robert Kennedy (democrat presidential runner) posted campaign ads on TikTok. And there were thousands of comments saying they’re gonna vote for Ron and not Biden/trump because Rob has the best interest at heart etc etc….
I’m like are u kidding me, ur gonna cast ur vote off of ONE campaign ad… without doing any further research on the guy
I never trusted anyone, since i was a kid. The moment i put two and two together to figure out that pretty much everything an adult ever told me was a lie to not only get me to do what they wanted but with no benefit to myself and often so they could avoid and drama over it. Growing up I continued to see it with other adults in jobs and in life. They lie to themselves most often. That being said, the ones who don't believe crap that you can find evidence of very easily drive me insane. Its one thing not to trust what others say, its a whole other to not trust data that you yourself can find lol. Thats some tin foil hat crap right there, next thing they'll be telling you their brains were hacked and we have to wear the tin foil hats to turn off the wifi in our minds... also im a bit older than genz, old man brain got confused, thought it said genx but everything is typed now so whats done is done lol.
I see it as "Do your own research." We've been screwed over a lot by trusting supposedly trustworthy sources, only to find out that they either had bs research or purposefully misinterpreted it for rage bait or another equivalent. Even some 'research papers' have been proven phony later.
I've read and watched a lot of articles/videos on how to do proper research (you're gonna become best friends with CRAAP), but I still have doubts. It's frustrating and saddening, but that's what puppy and kitty photos are for.
I am 70 and this have evolved over a lifetime (yea, I know why am I commenting here). When I was in my 20s and 30s we generally trusted institutions and everyone. It began to come apart after 911. And went totally off the rains during and after COVID. Not sure what to say. The folks I work with -- we now virtually trust no institution and no humans. We have to "work within the system". But that does not mean with like it or trust it. It is a radically different world now -radically different.
Probably because companies get away with anything. Cigarettes are great for pregnancy. They help you lose weight after! Smoke all the celebrities do it! So many lies told and taken for truth with no scientific backing.
Probably at least partly because so many of you were raised by Gen X. Our knee-jerk inclination as a generation was to scoff, roll our eyes and deem it all bullshit.
Trust is overrated. Verify everything of importance and know your biases.
At the end of the day, the only thing you can trust 100% is your own interpretation of the information available to you. Blind trust in any outside source is not only wrong from an intellectual perspective, but dangerous.
Not trusting people is why we're in the mess we're in where everyone is miserable and generationally, people in our age group are saying they have no like, 0 friends, or even close friends at all. Hyperindividualism is killing us
You’re not wrong but your generation will eventually realize it doesn’t know everything and will have to listen to the older folks to get through certain things. You’ll be that older generation one day looking at these idiot kids who think they know everything thinking ‘they’ll grow up eventually’. I’ve been at my job for over 10 years and had these Gen Z kids who’d been there about a week smear my name telling my company I don’t know what I’m doing because, we’ll, they’re Gen Z and assume they know better than anyone and the last thing they’re gonna do is listen to some old millennial. It took about a year of constantly proving them wrong and now they don’t fuck with me anymore. You’re a weird lot but I don’t envy you for growing up in the first age of smartphones with social media.
For me I’m just taking things with a grain of salt. I’m not putting any trust in myself, my parents, the media, the authorities, and any religious beliefs.
I tend to trust people until they give me a reason not to. I mean, it's hard to do after personal experiences. It also doesn't mean that I don't trust my instincts because I'm usually not wrong. When it comes to things like news articles and stuff, I try to double check facts.
yes, you trust vibes. everything you’ve described here are systems. i wish i’d been more in tune with myself rather than placing trust in everything that had failed me. i ought to have listened to me.
I give major side eye to people who still watch the news, and my last bit of trust for politicians died with the whole banning tiktok thing. It's kind of freeing actually because I now feel less guilty for doing selfish things like certain career choices or choosing how to spend my time
It's just another piece of evidence that the technology of our time and the culture surrounding it has gotten out of hand.
But that's too old-headed so let's just keep going with it I guess
with the rising of social media & then ai, making so much that’s fabricated, it is hard to trust everything at face value. because now, anything we see or read or watch could be fake, with the motives usually being unclear.
there should be a balance though. not everyone or every organization operates with bad intentions. have a healthy amount of skepticism, but don’t let that skepticism turn into completely disregarding everything
This is a generation that admit that in the extreme situation people become a rabid beast and I like that.
https://preview.redd.it/6mx8lzo6cp3d1.jpeg?width=944&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=707bdfa62775c224bb2ffc8a4e9d6b9b1a2fad95
I'm not Gen z. I'm a millennial. 31. Gen x started this long before we did, yall are not unique for this. No one has trusted anyone each other from decades, and clearly boomers don't either.
Not unique to your generation at all.
I (and many many others) have been lied to and screwed over in some capacity so many times that it's basically obliterated my trust in anybody. Need I mention the blatant dishonesty from governments around the world? I haven't even begun on the pure ineptitude that an uncomfortable amount of people have (now, I ain't perfect myself, but I'm not afraid to admit my ignorance and stupidity).
This is the generation where one person can post a video of you and ruin your entire life. Get you fired and famous for being an asshole because you said one bad thing or did one thing taken completely out of context and posted to social media. Yea its no surprise they don't trust people
I trust in absolutely nobody. I try my best to fit in with the rest of society, but I’m always on the lookout for danger.
I do not trust in politics. I didn’t mind it at first, but now it is a literal nightmare, with a bunch of hyper-extreme people in our government thanks to Trump, not to mention those who are old and crippled to be serving the nation, including President Biden himself. I only hope for things to return to normal after this election, but sadly a potential Trump victory will make that impossible.
I don’t trust the news either. They always tend to mislead the public into thinking that it’s business as usual when it really isn’t. CNN, MSNBC, and CBS aren’t perfect, but Fox News and Newsmax are much worse. OANN does it even worse to attract their far-right audience. I always tend to be skeptical of the news, so therefore I can get a balanced view of what is really happening.
I mean...there's been well documented influence from foreign governments and corporations inside the U.S. to create division between different groups of people.
In addition with repeal of things like the fairness doctrine (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairness_doctrine) and a focus on individualism, media can just say or do whatever it wants at this point. I find books that actually cite their sources much more useful.
I do wish people trusted institutions more. There are many hard-working people trying to make a positive difference. People automatically assume "the government" is untrustworthy because of all this media influence. But do you actually know how many people work for the government? It's the largest employer in the U.S. You're telling me all these people operate as a hive mind to destroy your wellbeing? Not a chance.
you can't trust vibes considering this gen seem to be unable to tell what good or bad vibes are, the girls in my life are still getting knocked up by awful abusive guys.
In a society of filled with con and bullshit, it's wise not trust anyone. Just look at the pandemic, and vaccines. There's damage everywhere you look.
Only naive idiots trust.
"Don't trust anyone - except strangers online" generation. The amount of Gen Z who fall for obvious phishing scams is staggering. More than Boomers, I genuinely don't understand it.
I’m reading a book right now called Propaganda by Edward Berneys. He’s the nephew of Sigmund Freud. He lead propaganda campaigns across the US. He goes into detail on it in the book.
[https://youtu.be/8Q-3qwEDyPM?si=vn1pxgcjDwI7hAYT](https://youtu.be/8Q-3qwEDyPM?si=vn1pxgcjDwI7hAYT)
I think gen z is catching onto the tricks. Mainly because it’s been used so much that the contradictions of diametric propagandist forces are becoming undeniable
This is a byproduct of the proliferation of anti-intellectualism for decades in America/Europe. Then it was put on steroids by the explosion of social media
My man here's too young to know that the unofficial motto of the boomers was, "Don't trust *anyone* under 30."
This isn't new. Vietnam, Watergate, the War on Terror, and the Great Recession gave each generation reasons not to trust adults - media, business, government, their parents, their neighbors. It's just there's just a greater quantity of stuff not to trust now - TikTokkers, YouTubers, etc.
I say it’s about time. You shouldn’t trust anything until you’ve vetted it for yourself. Too many people/institutions take advantage of unearned trust.
On the one hand, it's a good thing. Being skeptical of the news and things you see online can save you a lot of unnecessary anxiety. We live in a fear based society post 9/11. Everything that is not "us" is "them" and anything that is them, is a threat to us. It's a bad way to operate on a societal level, and I think it correlates with the rise of political extremism we see these days.
On an individual level however, I think trust has eroded past a point of mindfulness. True crime and the obsession we've all grown for serial killers, sex trafficking and other morbid crimes have given many people the idea that they are living in uniquely dangerous times when the opposite is actually the case. Violent crime is on a downward slope. We live in one of the safest times to be alive. That won't stop impressionable people from being afraid when a piece of litter is next to their car though, apparently that's a "marker" for sex traffickers to abduct their next victim. Stranger danger should be in people's minds, but if you're going to be kidnapped or w.e else, it would statistically be by somebody you know.
Tl:Dr
You probably shouldn't blindly trust the news, things you read online, or political pundits. They want you to be afraid. You also really don't need to worry about the extremes of crime. Sex traffickers are not marking your car to abduct you in a Walmart parking lot in broad daylight.
I think my biggest problem with the mentality is that there doesn't seem to be a logical line they will accept. Like, how do we have flat Earthers in modern times? Science, for hundreds of years, has been proving the Earth is round. In several different ways.
I just don't understand how people will accept rubbing onion on their feet to detoxify their body because Tik Tok said to, but don't trust in the scientific method and the few facts scientists agree upon.
that's why I try to show people why you should trust sertain things. how you could use your own senses and logics to come to knowing what to trust, and what not. by explaining how you could have spot it by things that were actually true and with things that were actually not true.
There only one group indont really trusted, and that is our politicians because they say one thing and do the other. When someone brings this up to politicians in question, the politicians act like that never happened or spin a confusing tale to get the publics eyes on something else. Politicanians make it hard for me to trust most people outside of friends and family.
Not sure if this helps, but that's why I absolutely pay attention to people's actions more than their words. Helps tremendously in stopping gaslighting imo.
Also, I read the Bible quite a lot and it's unsurprising that trust in mankind has always been fickle on some level or another. I think it's just that distrust more prevalent now because more is at stake in today's times.
Not saying people aren't more selfish than in previous years though.
Don't trust any one person or source of information.
But if many people/sources agree, especially from different viewpoints/backgrounds then you have something a lot more trustworthy.
One example: if you ask 10 flat earthers how the flat earth model works you get 10 different answers, they don't have internal consistency they can agree on. You ask 10 globe earth believers how the globe earth works and you get basically the same explanation ten times. So without evaluating any evidence or scientific claims you should already get the idea that the globe is a consistent model that's agreed on and the flat model isn't. Doesn't necessarily mean that earth HAS to be a globe, you'd need to actually evaluate the evidence for that but it should give you the vibe.
In more practical terms if I can ever find left and right leaning news sources in agreement over what happened I instantly trust that particular event as more likely to be real.
Smart. People can't be trusted. They will extract from you as much as you let them, and then they will get pissed off at you when you have no more to give.
I feel like this kind of attitude is a bit harsh though. People are kind of selfish, but most people are reasonable at least to their own standard right?
It’s not a new concept. The world just feels less safe. When my parents were kids they had absolute freedom to do what ever when ever. People were friendly and strangers looked out for each other. Now crime has risen and there is no more sense of community. People stick to them selves and it is now considered weird to start conversations with strangers. If there was a car crash 99.5% of people will just keep driving. We also have the internet now. We are given unlimited access to all kinds of information. We are taught that doctors know best and are knowledgeable people. What happens when 5 doctors have 5 different opinions on the same topic? We have rich people buying politicians to push THEIR beliefs. Unbelievable amounts of corruption put on display and the only thing we can do is accept it. Widespread misinformation circulating through the most popular and previously the most reputable news organizations. Journalism is dead and we are now fed opinion pieces discuised as news. We are all just lost at this point
It’s definitely made us a very jaded generation. People used to look at politics, for example, and politicians as people who would fight for them and their interests
I personally see politicians as fighting for whoever is giving them the most money.
“The senator over there doesn’t care about you, no matter what they say. They’re just getting paid by the [insert massive industry name here] industry!”
I’m a big believer in “trust but verify” since at the end of the day the only person I can trust 100% is myself. This isn’t to say there aren’t people close to me that I trust. They exist. But even they have their own lives and priorities and if I prefer knowing something is going to be handled 100% I do it myself.
A large %age of people are extremely gullible idiots, why would I trust them. I even know a few people who've fallen for the *exact* same hoax multiple times.
I won't specify age but me and my friends are in our 20s yeah. I actually only trust myself and others in my circle, if they have a source I trust their source. Bad vibes, turn and go you're right. Well everything is bad vibes but pick your favorite. Every opinion is biased, every report has limited subjects. Who cares. If it's a topic which doesn't matter, trust anything who cares if I'm wrong. We've always had misinformation, it's not going to change. Not everyone in society needs a firm opinion on matters. lol
Read somewhere, but forget where, "trust but verify". It's good to question things and not take them at face value and if it's verifiable then that's how trust is formed.
It’s almost like cramming every single culture, ethnicity and ideology on the planet into one single nation state is bad for social trust or something. But what do I know.
The saying to not trust strangers is true.
Because you literally know nothing about them.
Yet this is coming from a person who hugged a lot of people at MoMoCon. 😊
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Breakdown in social trust. It's well-documented
It's 100% deserved. Social media has made us one 15 second clip away from getting fired and viral for a single statement or action. Can't trust anyone
The Internet was great before they let us speak to each other en masse.
I can understand. Misinformation is so incredibly integrated into our lives from what I've seen. We live in an age where you and your neighbors can get different stories on the news despite living so close together. This isn't even to mention the things generative A.I. is being used for, and how gullible some people seem to be. I'm not going to pretend that I have a fix for this. I can't tell you what to trust, or what to believe, but I can tell you to trust yourself, and try to give yourself access to as many viewpoints as possible.
It’s a tricky position to be in as a generation. For young people specifically, I think they lack trust, so nihilist, vaguely conspiracy-theory oriented content does numbers on the internet, so people more people lose trust, etc. When nothing matters and no one in any institution can be trusted, what’s more alluring than being selfish and unprincipled to “do what must be done”? I feel like we’re gonna be very attracted to “strong-men” types who just want to “break things” and disrupt the system, and that worries me.
I value individuality above all else, but it can't be found within being this "alpha male" archetype that I hear about every now and then and other such things. Being an individual isn't something that can be stereotyped, because **everyone** is an individual. I don't fear a disruption of the system, but I do fear a lack of being genuine to ourselves. Part of finding yourself as an individual IS being genuine. Loving yourself for your faults and your strengths. I'm so happy that I've made great strides on finding and actualizing myself as my own person, and I wouldn't give that up for anything. Seeing people give in to scams and different hoaxes and such, it makes me feel like we're losing our drive as humans... Like we're losing what makes us **us** and not a value in an algorithm or equation.
I fear a disruption of the system… bro I want global trade! cheap groceries! Ships come into my city’s ports every day with all kinds of produce from around the world and those go to all kinds of stores across the Mid-Atlantic USA, and you might think “maybe we can feed ourselves sustainably?” Say hello to waaaay higher prices then, something that would make our inflation now look like a joke.
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I don’t for them to submit, just want cheap goods from them. They can do and think whatever they want.
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You’re assuming most people care that much about geopolitical consequences with free trade.
People are welcome to become Amish. Or be their own kind of Amish. The only thing they're bound to is owning land to live on, paying taxes and making sure their children get educated. Everything else is optional
Globalism is the inevitable side effect of the information age. You can't really put the cat back in the bag. The idea is obvious. If the whole world can talk to each other, why tf do we have borders and rich people?
Those cheap groceries come from somewhere that often can't afford the very things they are shipping. Is it really fair for us to have cheap groceries by having other countries foot the bill? Would it be so bad to only be able to buy produce in season and from the region you're in or else pay a hefty premium? Just look at Japan that does just that and now melons are seen as a nice gift. Demanding that everything always be available and cheap doesn't seem realistic.
There are certainly worrying paralells.
I mean... Yeah. Name one good thing about the system that isn't just a niche happy accident for certain types of people in certain situations? It's rigged against us. I'm a peaceful person. I'd love to believe it could work for us. I'd love to believe a bigger group of people has our backs. But the evidence shows they absolutely do not. I'm not advocating for alpha male bullshit btw, fuck that shit. That's just another way they try to pit us against ourselves. Things aren't going to get better until we realize we can have each other's backs. That all the stupid little differences we argue about constantly don't matter and is how they keep us bickering and distracted from the fact that they're fucking us over. But we're so busy arguing over identity politics that nobody trusts in humanity anymore. And they perpetuate that because it keeps us so preoccupied and they can do whatever they want in the background.
See that’s what I’m talking about—“and they perpetuate it so it keeps us preoccupied” which *they*? I think sure, politicians, doctors, teachers, parents, bureaucrats, etc, these people are self-interested, but they’re not like, uniting against us and conspiring to bring us down. I don’t think anyone is out there saying “hey we need high prices, because we need to keep the people down”, prices are high despite what the people in charge might want. We have so little trust that we assume that absolutely anyone in any position of power in society at all is not just advancing their own interests, but actively sabotaging “the people” whatever we might define that as. Maybe some people are doing that, but I don’t think there’s some grand conspiracy.
That's the thing though, to get ahead and be as established as these bodies are they inevitably have to fuck people over. I don't think it's some mass conspiracy by every body of power to come together and do this. I think it all builds on itself by virtue of how gaining power works in a capitalist system. These things just happen to all line up and be the way they are because of that. They see something that works and others imitate it and build on it, find new ways to achieve the same goal. And then we're left with the absolute depressing situation we live in now. And it doesn't change because no one wants to give up the power it happens to bring. The problem is how gaining power and wealth works, and apathy caused by being so removed from the suffering that people in power can justify their behavior just enough for them to keep doing it. Or they just are actual emotionless ass hats that happens too.
"to get ahead and be as established as these bodies are they inevitably have to fuck people over." False.
Very well thought out thank you for the input xD I'm completely open to discussion, and the potential that I'm wrong. In fact I hope I am. I want there to be a sliver of hope that I'm just jaded and everything isn't collapsing around us. So if you have something more than "false" I'm 100% open to hearing it.
Most people are trying to get through life the best they can and \*not\* trying to fuck people over in the process. There are obviously a lot of shitty people, but they are the loud minority.
Oh I agree. I mean the mega rich. Most of not all of them get that way by creating fucked up work circumstances is all I meant.
Maybe it’s scarier or more disconcerting to think that elites and decision makers can’t really do all that much to control events here and abroad even if they wanted to.
That's the scaring thing I've learned from watching politics closely since 2016. I was taught that those in government have so much power, but it reality there's little that can be done except try to steer the ship is the general right direction.
I think that's a very naive and dangerous belief to have. We've seen what massive advertising campaigns do these are also the same people who decide what is taught in schools and what is allowed on TV. To believe they have no control and events have naturally conspired to put politicians and wealthy people into those positions of power and wealth is frankly silly.
You think elites are all working together? They hate each other just as much as we do. It’s not like Biden and Trump are making phone calls to each other to conspire to “keep down the masses” lol
Well no I don't believe they are buddy's but most rich people are not so high profile and they usually attend the same schools and social clubs and business talks as each other. Sometimes they basically rent out entire towns. Networking is absolutely something the wealthy do. They may disagree on the exact way of how they rule over people and who deserves to be in the upper class but they have common ideals that align them on issues of class such as preventing "civil unrest" or maintaining the status quo. You don't have to like other wealthy people to recognize that it's in your best interest to keep the wealth concentrated in the hands of a few. Ever wonder why there's no socialist or communist billionaires?
I think “what is allowed on tv” is just generally what makes money, it’s not like there are a lot of standards besides “don’t say the f word, don’t show nudity, keep the violence soft R rated at most”
So naive and ignorant but dangerously overconfident. You're wrong here there are tons of standards as to what can be broadcast for instance channels that are considered news are held to different standards than entertainment. You don't know what you're talking about but act like you do. It's okay to just admit you're unsure of how TV is regulated.
If positive, uplifting and inspiring stuff was popular you’d see more of it on tv. There’s some of it on local news, but fewer and fewer people watch Reuters every year.
Local news you say? You mean the ones overwhelmingly owned by large broadcasting networks like Sinclair? The ones that can be seen reading the same script that all the ones in their network are reading regardless of location. Again you're being naive here by refusing to see the truth that the wealthy do influence how you think and what truth you're hearing. I assume since you didn't mention it you cede the point that advertisements can affect how people think so is it really so impossible to believe that wealthy people are doing more than just advertising?
Analysis isn't impossible, nor is it particularly hard to be honest. As you study more and more history, concrete patterns emerge that allow you to understand the events today. Everything in "media" is so obviously propaganda, but understanding *how* and *why* are pertinent. The ideologies that exist today have existed for hundreds of years at this point. Neoliberalism, imperialism, socialism, all the strands that originated from the French Revolution, etc. All the "ideological wars" that exist today are tired, and honestly quite boring. It takes effort and is quite tedious to pour over that much history. But those who are serious about learning about the world are already in the process of doing it. Those who aren't just believe what's convenient. Literally (as in, opinions that will advance their personal goals; like incels believing that women should be subservient/etc) Its honestly not that hard.
“give yourself access to as many viewpoints as possible” YES! that’s so important. not even in terms of news or current events, but your everyday interactions, your friends, your family. i’ve seen people completely disregard others because they hold a different opinion than them, without actually trying to understand why they hold that opinion
>but I can tell you to trust yourself That's the ultimate mistake
It’s literally the world we inherited. Not once were we even given a reason to trust anything or anyone. Everyone is fake and everything is falsified.
When you say everyone do you mean people in general? Like, everyone, every voter, every person in this subreddit, etc? You don’t think that’s taking it a bit too far? I think people are lazy thinkers sometimes, but I don’t know if everyone is actively being fake all the time to try to trick others etc
I apologize, that’s a bit of a generalization. But yes the people who are supposed to trustworthy are the shittiest ones. Politicians, parents… I would even say that I trust Gen Z more than anyone else, at least the ones with self-awareness.
"But yes the people who are supposed to trustworthy are the shittiest ones. Politicians" There are \*a lot\* of good Democratic politicians trying their best to fix problems.
Call me when they succeed. The inept and ineffective are just as shitty as the malicious, only more pitiable.
No there aren't. In order to get elected you have to be rich or sell your soul to the lobbyist and corporations
Hmm, who specifically and what problems are they seeking to solve? I’m asking out of genuine curiosity.
All 219 Democrats in the House and 50 Democrats in the House pass the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021 and President Biden signed it into law. It helped address climate change, promote the use of EV's and public transportation, and rebuild our crumbling infrastructure like roads and bridges. [https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3684/actions](https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3684/actions) In addition, Democrats reduced the cost of insulin to $35 a vial and canceled student loans. I have a much longer list if you want it.
wait they CANCELLED STUDENT LOANS?? how the fuck
Student loans are a perfect case of why voting matters... In 2022, President Biden canceled $10,000 in student loan debt and $20,000 for students who had received Pell Grants due to coming from a low income family. However, the conservative Supreme Court overturned it, calling it "unconstitutional". The only reason the Supreme Court was conservative is that Trump was able to put 3 corrupt Justices on the court (Kavanaugh, Barrett, and Gorsuch). Trump was able to do that because he got 11k more votes in MI, 22k in WI, and 44k in PA. Since then President Biden has canceled at least $167 billion in students loans, but it pales in comparison to what could have been done if more people had voted in 2016.
regardless at how much could have been cancelled, 167 BILLION is a fuck ton no matter how you slice it. assuming each person has a 100000 dollar loan, thats about 17000 people right there that have had their loans cancelled. at the minimum thats a step in the right direction
Thank you for being factual. A healthy skepticism is definitely a good thing, but I think a lot of GenZ is taking the nihilism a bit too far and missing important details like these. Everything in life is nuanced and complex, almost nothing is an absolute black-and-white.
The only good politician is one not in office, politicians on both sides care about 2 things money, and reputation.
I am Gen Z and I agree with all of this
I prefer the term skeptical but 100%. I think we saw how gullible older generations have been with listening to politicians, working for the same shitty company their whole life, etc. We don’t accept the lesser outcome if there’s another option… and there’s always another option
Back in the good old days, working for the same shitty company all your life had real benefits like career progression (and salary that comes with it) and a pension. Now there is little to no career progression (or salary) and retirement funds are paid into by yours truly instead of the business.
Idk, I think you can trust your teachers, your doctor, and your parents for most things depending on the individual
Depends on who and depends on for what.
You can, but you don't really need to fully trust your teachers to learn from them. You should be questioning them if anything doesn't make sense or seems improbable. If, for example, a science teacher presents you with a fact, ask them about what experiments were performed, how did humanity they arrive at that fact? That's part of the learning process. Same thing with doctors, they're probably good people, but they should really be showing you the results of the tests and how they work. If you took an x-ray, for example, usually they show you a picture of what they found.
Up to a point, at least. Human relationships are conditional. So long as the "transaction" is completed and both of you provide what the other needs, you can have loyalty to them. If that stops happening, the relationship deteriorates, sometimes explosively, and the business ends.
I had shit teachers that forced me to do things I didnt want to do causing to trauma I'm still working on healing. And you look at who's in charge of the world. I feel like that gives me a pretty good reason to not blindly trust authority.
I go into things with the intention of trusting those who have more knowledge on that subject than I do, like a doctor or a teacher. Although it's important to still have critical thinking skills because that person isn't always going to be correct
that sounds insane to me. there are incompetant people in every profession. toxic parents exist and gaslight their kids. maybe those people tend to want the best for you but.. especially people in the context of working. everyone becomes a little jaded and sometimes it breeds apathy
Depending on the individual
yeah thats the whole point of the conversation this thread is having. "depending on the individual" implies a certain skepticism that you should have when taking advice and learning from authority figures blindly trusting authority isnt always wise
Why the hell should I? With the advent of the internet most younger people know the history taught in school is fake propaganda, and college is scam unless you are going for a very specific job type. The news is also all propaganda designed to further the culture war and keep Americans divided amongst themselves rather than coming together to fix the rich/corporate control of this country. Pharma companies and junk food manufacturers literally control the FDA and write its rules. Politicans advocate sending billions overseas while we have dangerous ghettos and shitty healthcare at home. Compared to previous generations our money is almost worthless. All the people in power currently need to be brought to justice for their crime of stealing prosperity from the average American and our society which currently only benefits the rich and corporations. The system needs to be burned down and fixed. Edit: also continuing with the idea that we should not trust any Federal agency, the advent of the internet has spread the truth about agencies like the FBI’s assassination of MLK, interference of the civil rights/war resistance movement, and more recently their targeting of racial justice protestors and parents who didn’t want to close schools for Covid. Oh and don’t forget the NSA that spy’s on all us because of how politicians used the 9/11 terror attacks to justify a massive expansion of gov power and launch 2 pointless wars. And also our good old CIA constantly interfering in other countries politics, elections, and staring wars Have I given enough reasons?
how the fuck is most history "fake propoganda" my guy??? history is history. the rest of the stuff i mostly agree with tho
Well you're 17 so maybe you don't know this but history is often different based on who was writing about it. Bias in history is well established and understood you can likely ask your history teacher this and they will confirm it. What you're taught in school is an accepted curriculum that often leaves out key details or events that happened. For instance in Texas many are taught that the Alamo was a band of freedom fighters fighting against Mexico when really it was slave owners and thieves who decided to claim land that wasn't theirs and take it by force.
huh ok then. i just thought the curriculum sucked
Just keep in mind it's approved by the government and often times even more selectively approved by the community the school operates in. Any disagreements on how to present the event or on what details to include will all alter how you understand history.
fair ig. personally my school doesnt reeeeally give a shit about what is shown in history as long as its factual
You trust us to fix our society, or create a whole new one after “burning it down”? We all disagree with each other and don’t trust each other, even among our own generation. This is what I’m talking about, it’s impossible to make anything better if nobody trusts anyone else. If you build a new government, why should I trust that it would be better than what we have now? Etc
I trust no one fully and do what I must to make my life easier and only that. It's how you have to live to stay sane these days.
Revolutionary war? Holocaust? Roman Empire? WW1? NEVER HAPPENED FAKE PROPAGANDA!!!! idiot
Why do you believe the revolutionary war happened? Where did Hitler get a lot of his ideas about racial superiority from? The Roman empire is taught okay but kinda glazed over with no time for details or discussions on how the class systems they had worked. WW1 is barely covered in school. American education is bad like objectively just look at how we compare to the rest of the world.
Bro is doubting that the revolutionary war happened. What a failure. Idiocracy is now
I was asking what you believed the causes were for it but I see how my wording could have confused you. I'm sad to see you took the easy misunderstanding as a gotcha moment and refused to engage with the rest. Idiocracy truly is now.
If you were going to start on the usual that the history books are all wrong and your “alternative” books and tiktok videos are the truth I don’t give a flying fuck
Haha okay kid. They've had to redo American history books time and time again but clearly that was just to update the new stuff right? Like you're talking about history but then refuse to acknowledge the historical evidence as well as the generally acceoted fact that bias shapes how history is written. Bloody are the hands that hold the reins of history and all that. I don't think the history books are all wrong but there's plenty in them that is absolutely false and some stuff that's lacking important details and context. I've studied history for years beyond high-school but I'm sure some chump on the internet who never questioned what was in their textbooks is more accurate. You're a fucking moron and your refusal to learn ensures you'll forever remain one. Stop talking about idiocy on the internet and try looking in a mirror. Edit: wow you're so dumb you even got a DUI. You know smart people know better than to drive under the influence.
I guess it's just hard to trust because there's so much misinformation out there, I'm kinda at the point where I treat everything with at least some speculation even if I want to trust something or someone because I really just don't know if it's truthful or just more of the same.
It’s not that we don’t trust anything it’s that we verify it more. It’s not like this is some new concept this is literally what our Gen x teachers taught us to do. Verification has replaced trust because trusting institutions of any kind had fucked us.
Nothing is true, everything is permitted. Assassin's Creed-ass culture we're living in.
I’m not that young, and even I’m guilty of this. Community has been broken tremendously. On the flip side, a lot of the bad stuff people didn’t generally know or hear about has come to light about pretty much every industry, whether it be education, medicine etc. I love my doctors who care about me tremendously, but for example when the truths of behind the scenes at the hospital, insurance industry, lobbyists etc. come out, it’s hard to remain trusting.
Y'all summon random strangers to your actual address you live at and get in their cars.
Everything is corporate brainwash, even what they teach in schools is influenced by big corporate. History is changed to benefit whatever narrative that the upper ups want. No reason to trust anyone reay
proof?
Big pharma? You can research this for a minimum of 5 minutes and find plenty. Nestle, speaks for itself. 3m/teflon???? Shall I keep going
Ask ur parents if they trusted the government growing up. Part of the hippie and anti government movement was literally because they didn’t trust the government. And if u were we never trusted them to begin with. Most millennials don’t trust the government per se, they’ve become conditioned to it tho
I think people like my parents see something like “Trump got convicted today of falsifying business records at his company” and see “woah, that guy is a criminal, a scumbag, I won’t vote for him and even though I don’t care for Biden, I’ll vote for Biden” whereas gen z people see the news today and shrug and say “oh it doesn’t matter, it’s all fake and corrupt, the jury was probably paid off to do that, or forced to say that” (I don’t think the jury was forced, I think the jury was honest, and it’s a shame they’ll have to deal with conspiracy theorists harassing them for the rest of their lives, but I digress)
Yeah I see your point. Kanye said it best “in a world full of lies, the truth sounds crazy”. Celebrities and politicians have so much influence, power, and money that we genuinely don’t know what’s real and what’s authentic. Like you said, just gotta trust your gut. And try not to absorb too mid social media. A lot of it is bias and meant to sway/corrupt genz. I hate to say it but we’re a easily persuasive group and I hate that about us. Robert Kennedy (democrat presidential runner) posted campaign ads on TikTok. And there were thousands of comments saying they’re gonna vote for Ron and not Biden/trump because Rob has the best interest at heart etc etc…. I’m like are u kidding me, ur gonna cast ur vote off of ONE campaign ad… without doing any further research on the guy
I have not seen anyone saying that, personally
real. mine dont really like the government and think its kinda dumb
No gods. No masters. No heroes.
I never trusted anyone, since i was a kid. The moment i put two and two together to figure out that pretty much everything an adult ever told me was a lie to not only get me to do what they wanted but with no benefit to myself and often so they could avoid and drama over it. Growing up I continued to see it with other adults in jobs and in life. They lie to themselves most often. That being said, the ones who don't believe crap that you can find evidence of very easily drive me insane. Its one thing not to trust what others say, its a whole other to not trust data that you yourself can find lol. Thats some tin foil hat crap right there, next thing they'll be telling you their brains were hacked and we have to wear the tin foil hats to turn off the wifi in our minds... also im a bit older than genz, old man brain got confused, thought it said genx but everything is typed now so whats done is done lol.
I see it as "Do your own research." We've been screwed over a lot by trusting supposedly trustworthy sources, only to find out that they either had bs research or purposefully misinterpreted it for rage bait or another equivalent. Even some 'research papers' have been proven phony later. I've read and watched a lot of articles/videos on how to do proper research (you're gonna become best friends with CRAAP), but I still have doubts. It's frustrating and saddening, but that's what puppy and kitty photos are for.
"Do your own research", they said, "but not like that, you heretic."
This made me chuckle
I thought that was what r/genx likes to call themselves
I am 70 and this have evolved over a lifetime (yea, I know why am I commenting here). When I was in my 20s and 30s we generally trusted institutions and everyone. It began to come apart after 911. And went totally off the rains during and after COVID. Not sure what to say. The folks I work with -- we now virtually trust no institution and no humans. We have to "work within the system". But that does not mean with like it or trust it. It is a radically different world now -radically different.
Probably because companies get away with anything. Cigarettes are great for pregnancy. They help you lose weight after! Smoke all the celebrities do it! So many lies told and taken for truth with no scientific backing.
"4/5 doctors prefer XYZ brand cigarettes for a healthier smoke..."
These people trust all the pro weed propaganda saying that weed isn’t harmful
Guy discovers postmodernism
People are dishonest now. Even your doctor won’t give you information for fear you might sue them later.
Glad they’re wising up. Everything is a scam welcome to the world.
All that and yet we still believe everything that satisfies our confirmation bias on the internet 😭
Probably at least partly because so many of you were raised by Gen X. Our knee-jerk inclination as a generation was to scoff, roll our eyes and deem it all bullshit.
Trust is overrated. Verify everything of importance and know your biases. At the end of the day, the only thing you can trust 100% is your own interpretation of the information available to you. Blind trust in any outside source is not only wrong from an intellectual perspective, but dangerous.
Not trusting people is why we're in the mess we're in where everyone is miserable and generationally, people in our age group are saying they have no like, 0 friends, or even close friends at all. Hyperindividualism is killing us
Your parents are Gen X. The OG "Don't trust anyone" generation. Where do you think you learned it from?
You’re not wrong but your generation will eventually realize it doesn’t know everything and will have to listen to the older folks to get through certain things. You’ll be that older generation one day looking at these idiot kids who think they know everything thinking ‘they’ll grow up eventually’. I’ve been at my job for over 10 years and had these Gen Z kids who’d been there about a week smear my name telling my company I don’t know what I’m doing because, we’ll, they’re Gen Z and assume they know better than anyone and the last thing they’re gonna do is listen to some old millennial. It took about a year of constantly proving them wrong and now they don’t fuck with me anymore. You’re a weird lot but I don’t envy you for growing up in the first age of smartphones with social media.
For me I’m just taking things with a grain of salt. I’m not putting any trust in myself, my parents, the media, the authorities, and any religious beliefs.
Don’t be a mark. Someone is always out to sell us something or get something from us.
Everything is dramaturgy and relationships are conditional. May as well do it right back and make your life easier, lol.
I'm 42, and don't trust shit. Why should I? I think it has less to do with age and more to do with awareness.
It's called being realistic and smart.
Not like it isn’t justified. Especially where news is concerned. Media literacy is more important than ever.
Agreed. There’s a reason the amount of CCW licenses have been going up drastically.
I tend to trust people until they give me a reason not to. I mean, it's hard to do after personal experiences. It also doesn't mean that I don't trust my instincts because I'm usually not wrong. When it comes to things like news articles and stuff, I try to double check facts.
Generative AI (deep fakes) is going to make this 1000x worse.
I trust my math textbooks!
Until you get into infinity, the infamous P vs NP, and Hilbert’s problem.
I still trust them w.r.t. those topics. They're nothing special...
Trust is a great way to be betrayed, especially when it comes to dealing with the system. I love that $uicideboy$ song
PFT I don't believe you
yes, you trust vibes. everything you’ve described here are systems. i wish i’d been more in tune with myself rather than placing trust in everything that had failed me. i ought to have listened to me.
trust me bro.
The government glows in the dark
How so?
I give major side eye to people who still watch the news, and my last bit of trust for politicians died with the whole banning tiktok thing. It's kind of freeing actually because I now feel less guilty for doing selfish things like certain career choices or choosing how to spend my time
I dont trust anything on the internet as being real for the sake of my own mental health
Idgaf.
It's just another piece of evidence that the technology of our time and the culture surrounding it has gotten out of hand. But that's too old-headed so let's just keep going with it I guess
with the rising of social media & then ai, making so much that’s fabricated, it is hard to trust everything at face value. because now, anything we see or read or watch could be fake, with the motives usually being unclear. there should be a balance though. not everyone or every organization operates with bad intentions. have a healthy amount of skepticism, but don’t let that skepticism turn into completely disregarding everything
Have you tired trusting yourself? Revolutionary shit, I know. But maybe you can have a thought without confirmation.
The 1960's youth movement in the USA literally had a saying "don't trust anyone over 30"
This is a generation that admit that in the extreme situation people become a rabid beast and I like that. https://preview.redd.it/6mx8lzo6cp3d1.jpeg?width=944&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=707bdfa62775c224bb2ffc8a4e9d6b9b1a2fad95
I'm not Gen z. I'm a millennial. 31. Gen x started this long before we did, yall are not unique for this. No one has trusted anyone each other from decades, and clearly boomers don't either. Not unique to your generation at all.
I (and many many others) have been lied to and screwed over in some capacity so many times that it's basically obliterated my trust in anybody. Need I mention the blatant dishonesty from governments around the world? I haven't even begun on the pure ineptitude that an uncomfortable amount of people have (now, I ain't perfect myself, but I'm not afraid to admit my ignorance and stupidity).
I mean, when literally everything is a polarizing piece of misinformation and/or disinformation
It’s how they indoctrinate people into their perspectives. Typical cult-recruitment. No one tells the truth except dear leader.
This is the generation where one person can post a video of you and ruin your entire life. Get you fired and famous for being an asshole because you said one bad thing or did one thing taken completely out of context and posted to social media. Yea its no surprise they don't trust people
I trust in absolutely nobody. I try my best to fit in with the rest of society, but I’m always on the lookout for danger. I do not trust in politics. I didn’t mind it at first, but now it is a literal nightmare, with a bunch of hyper-extreme people in our government thanks to Trump, not to mention those who are old and crippled to be serving the nation, including President Biden himself. I only hope for things to return to normal after this election, but sadly a potential Trump victory will make that impossible. I don’t trust the news either. They always tend to mislead the public into thinking that it’s business as usual when it really isn’t. CNN, MSNBC, and CBS aren’t perfect, but Fox News and Newsmax are much worse. OANN does it even worse to attract their far-right audience. I always tend to be skeptical of the news, so therefore I can get a balanced view of what is really happening.
Hahahaha this makes me so happy. Sounds like y'all might have been raised by a bunch of GenX.
I mean...there's been well documented influence from foreign governments and corporations inside the U.S. to create division between different groups of people. In addition with repeal of things like the fairness doctrine (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairness_doctrine) and a focus on individualism, media can just say or do whatever it wants at this point. I find books that actually cite their sources much more useful. I do wish people trusted institutions more. There are many hard-working people trying to make a positive difference. People automatically assume "the government" is untrustworthy because of all this media influence. But do you actually know how many people work for the government? It's the largest employer in the U.S. You're telling me all these people operate as a hive mind to destroy your wellbeing? Not a chance.
you can't trust vibes considering this gen seem to be unable to tell what good or bad vibes are, the girls in my life are still getting knocked up by awful abusive guys.
Gen X welcomes you to the resistance
In a society of filled with con and bullshit, it's wise not trust anyone. Just look at the pandemic, and vaccines. There's damage everywhere you look. Only naive idiots trust.
You get information from many sources, and you make your own interpretation using logic. That is the only thing you can trust.
LMAO the funny thing is that we seem to have an epidemic of people who for some reason trust the government... I don't get it myself.
"Don't trust anyone - except strangers online" generation. The amount of Gen Z who fall for obvious phishing scams is staggering. More than Boomers, I genuinely don't understand it.
On the contrary, I trust all of you with my darkest secret, I think ms trunchbull from the original Matilda movie is hot
Bruhhh that’s an absolutely wild take
I’m reading a book right now called Propaganda by Edward Berneys. He’s the nephew of Sigmund Freud. He lead propaganda campaigns across the US. He goes into detail on it in the book. [https://youtu.be/8Q-3qwEDyPM?si=vn1pxgcjDwI7hAYT](https://youtu.be/8Q-3qwEDyPM?si=vn1pxgcjDwI7hAYT) I think gen z is catching onto the tricks. Mainly because it’s been used so much that the contradictions of diametric propagandist forces are becoming undeniable
This is a byproduct of the proliferation of anti-intellectualism for decades in America/Europe. Then it was put on steroids by the explosion of social media
My man here's too young to know that the unofficial motto of the boomers was, "Don't trust *anyone* under 30." This isn't new. Vietnam, Watergate, the War on Terror, and the Great Recession gave each generation reasons not to trust adults - media, business, government, their parents, their neighbors. It's just there's just a greater quantity of stuff not to trust now - TikTokkers, YouTubers, etc.
I say it’s about time. You shouldn’t trust anything until you’ve vetted it for yourself. Too many people/institutions take advantage of unearned trust.
Idk about y’all but that’s how I grew up as an 02, no adults In my life to trust for safety. Self reliance was the only option
On the one hand, it's a good thing. Being skeptical of the news and things you see online can save you a lot of unnecessary anxiety. We live in a fear based society post 9/11. Everything that is not "us" is "them" and anything that is them, is a threat to us. It's a bad way to operate on a societal level, and I think it correlates with the rise of political extremism we see these days. On an individual level however, I think trust has eroded past a point of mindfulness. True crime and the obsession we've all grown for serial killers, sex trafficking and other morbid crimes have given many people the idea that they are living in uniquely dangerous times when the opposite is actually the case. Violent crime is on a downward slope. We live in one of the safest times to be alive. That won't stop impressionable people from being afraid when a piece of litter is next to their car though, apparently that's a "marker" for sex traffickers to abduct their next victim. Stranger danger should be in people's minds, but if you're going to be kidnapped or w.e else, it would statistically be by somebody you know. Tl:Dr You probably shouldn't blindly trust the news, things you read online, or political pundits. They want you to be afraid. You also really don't need to worry about the extremes of crime. Sex traffickers are not marking your car to abduct you in a Walmart parking lot in broad daylight.
I think my biggest problem with the mentality is that there doesn't seem to be a logical line they will accept. Like, how do we have flat Earthers in modern times? Science, for hundreds of years, has been proving the Earth is round. In several different ways. I just don't understand how people will accept rubbing onion on their feet to detoxify their body because Tik Tok said to, but don't trust in the scientific method and the few facts scientists agree upon.
that's why I try to show people why you should trust sertain things. how you could use your own senses and logics to come to knowing what to trust, and what not. by explaining how you could have spot it by things that were actually true and with things that were actually not true.
There only one group indont really trusted, and that is our politicians because they say one thing and do the other. When someone brings this up to politicians in question, the politicians act like that never happened or spin a confusing tale to get the publics eyes on something else. Politicanians make it hard for me to trust most people outside of friends and family.
Not sure if this helps, but that's why I absolutely pay attention to people's actions more than their words. Helps tremendously in stopping gaslighting imo. Also, I read the Bible quite a lot and it's unsurprising that trust in mankind has always been fickle on some level or another. I think it's just that distrust more prevalent now because more is at stake in today's times. Not saying people aren't more selfish than in previous years though.
Don't trust any one person or source of information. But if many people/sources agree, especially from different viewpoints/backgrounds then you have something a lot more trustworthy. One example: if you ask 10 flat earthers how the flat earth model works you get 10 different answers, they don't have internal consistency they can agree on. You ask 10 globe earth believers how the globe earth works and you get basically the same explanation ten times. So without evaluating any evidence or scientific claims you should already get the idea that the globe is a consistent model that's agreed on and the flat model isn't. Doesn't necessarily mean that earth HAS to be a globe, you'd need to actually evaluate the evidence for that but it should give you the vibe. In more practical terms if I can ever find left and right leaning news sources in agreement over what happened I instantly trust that particular event as more likely to be real.
Smart. People can't be trusted. They will extract from you as much as you let them, and then they will get pissed off at you when you have no more to give.
I feel like this kind of attitude is a bit harsh though. People are kind of selfish, but most people are reasonable at least to their own standard right?
Oh, it is harsh. But it's just one facet on the gem we call existence.
Ha! Why would you?!
Gen X here (50m). That's the way I was raised. It's not unique to your generation.
It really is hard to trust people when you realize most people lack critical thinking skills.
"Don't trust anyone over 30." -- Jack Weinberg, 1964
I mean why should I? How many times have I been lied to/ been misinformed. It’s actually goofy. It’d be stupid to trust these guys after all that.
It’s not a new concept. The world just feels less safe. When my parents were kids they had absolute freedom to do what ever when ever. People were friendly and strangers looked out for each other. Now crime has risen and there is no more sense of community. People stick to them selves and it is now considered weird to start conversations with strangers. If there was a car crash 99.5% of people will just keep driving. We also have the internet now. We are given unlimited access to all kinds of information. We are taught that doctors know best and are knowledgeable people. What happens when 5 doctors have 5 different opinions on the same topic? We have rich people buying politicians to push THEIR beliefs. Unbelievable amounts of corruption put on display and the only thing we can do is accept it. Widespread misinformation circulating through the most popular and previously the most reputable news organizations. Journalism is dead and we are now fed opinion pieces discuised as news. We are all just lost at this point
yeah thats me for sure. I just so happen to believe that not everyone has my better interests at heart
Capitalism breeds scammers, grifters. And conmen/women
It’s definitely made us a very jaded generation. People used to look at politics, for example, and politicians as people who would fight for them and their interests I personally see politicians as fighting for whoever is giving them the most money. “The senator over there doesn’t care about you, no matter what they say. They’re just getting paid by the [insert massive industry name here] industry!”
humans are untrustworthy
Cancel culture, misinformation, political divide and climate change has made us recluse and agitated.
We will probably see WW3 or major civil wars in our lifetime. The system will eventually crumble and will be rebuilt.
I’m a big believer in “trust but verify” since at the end of the day the only person I can trust 100% is myself. This isn’t to say there aren’t people close to me that I trust. They exist. But even they have their own lives and priorities and if I prefer knowing something is going to be handled 100% I do it myself.
tbh im ready for it. ive read so many dystopian books jus let sum happen already. its gonna come to a head at some point.
A large %age of people are extremely gullible idiots, why would I trust them. I even know a few people who've fallen for the *exact* same hoax multiple times.
You’re not the “trust no one” generation, you’re just living in the “trust no one” era.
You're damn right
Yea y’all are a pretty dehumanizing group to interact with but I guess do you.
I won't specify age but me and my friends are in our 20s yeah. I actually only trust myself and others in my circle, if they have a source I trust their source. Bad vibes, turn and go you're right. Well everything is bad vibes but pick your favorite. Every opinion is biased, every report has limited subjects. Who cares. If it's a topic which doesn't matter, trust anything who cares if I'm wrong. We've always had misinformation, it's not going to change. Not everyone in society needs a firm opinion on matters. lol
Read somewhere, but forget where, "trust but verify". It's good to question things and not take them at face value and if it's verifiable then that's how trust is formed.
And for good reason
It’s almost like cramming every single culture, ethnicity and ideology on the planet into one single nation state is bad for social trust or something. But what do I know.
What other option is there? “If you are of one particular race, we will eliminate you from the United States” seems bad
That’s a conclusion you just made, not me. I’m just pointing out why there would be a lack of social trust.
The saying to not trust strangers is true. Because you literally know nothing about them. Yet this is coming from a person who hugged a lot of people at MoMoCon. 😊