Marianne Williamson and Gen Z

[JT45242]

OMFG -- my 22 YO son who just graduated with a chemical engineering degree and gets so much info from the internet was screaming at me that the only legitimate progressive running for President is Marianne Williamson....

He then screamed at me that the idea that she is an astroturf plant to weaken Biden paid for by billionaires is just a smear campaign from "establishment Democrats who are antiworker just like Hillary was."

Somewhere in the recesses of the internet, this chemical engineering major thinks that both Clintons were antiworker and that Hillary lost because she ignored flyover states (not sure he understands what a flyover state is even though we moved to Iowa when he was in JH) and not because of Russian disinformation suppressing and funneling Black votes on top of voter suppression in Rethug states.

This is scary that a smart kid can believe that Dems are antiworker.

Of course, trying to explain 'do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good' and you have to get legislation that will actually get through both the house and senate with the filibuster, Manchin, Sinema, etc ....

He hates Rethugs but thinks that Dems only protect the wealthy and not workers too.

[question everything]

1. And GenX who supports RFK Jr.

[vlyons]

2. tell him to look at the latest jobs report

and lowering the cost of insulin

[live love laugh]

6. That won't change his mind with the barrage of repeated lies on the internet.

[Demsrule86]

14. I am sorry to say, you can't fix 'stupid'. Anyone who believes the internet is foolish in the

extreme. Perhaps maturity will fix this. I hope so or in the years to come, he could find himself in a horrible prison camp with no media at all or much of anything like food and water ETC... we are in a perilous position. It has come to that. Vote for the Democrat-Biden-it is our only hope.

[live love laugh]

20. There's truth on the internet. What's missing is discernment.

To dismiss the internet as a whole is foolish.

[PatSeg]

22. This is true

And discernment or critical thinking is something that a person ideally learned in school, but apparently that is often not the case.

[Demsrule86]

39. I love the internet and spend way to much time on it...but I don't believe everything I read or

listen to...those who don't use critical thinking skills like MAGA types are idiots IMHO.

[TwilightZone]

34. There's plenty of stuff on the internet that is true.

There are plenty of solid and relatively unbiased sources of news and information on the internet.

The internet as a whole isn't the problem. Propaganda, the lack of critical thinking, the inability of some to be able to read in context, ignorance (intentional or otherwise) and people being unable or unwilling to vet their sources are some of the many issues.

[Demsrule86]

37. If you believe everything you see on the internet...than I am sorry but you are stupid...I don't

mean you by the way. Sure much of it is true...but there are plenty of things out there that are blatant lies.

[TwilightZone]

41. Discounting the entire internet - which is what you did in your initial post...

is no less ridiculous than believing everything.

I quite clearly noted what many of the problems are. I doubt many people believe everything they read -- they usually just believe whatever they read that says what they want to hear.

[elias7]

3. People need to get their history from dry non-biased sources

Not their you tube influencers

[live love laugh]

7. It would be great if they were more selective with their sources.

Last edited Thu Jun 22, 2023, 01:25 PM - Edit history (1)

[WhiteTara]

4. I think this is part of individuating as a young adult

you're old and obviously you don't know anything because he has a newly minted engineering degree.

I'm afraid I would laugh at him were he my child, but I'm getting very cynical and jaded. I find laughing in the face of idiocy helps my mood.

[H2O Man]

12. I would tell him

to go stand in a corner until he ceased screaming. After he calmed down, I'd ask where he learned such behavior?

[WhiteTara]

15. He sounds beyond obedience

and is willful, like most 20 yr olds. I still go with the laughing out loud and long right into his face.

[H2O Man]

17. Both of my sons

knew at age 20 that they were smarter than me. This lasted a few more years. But neither would have dreamed of screaming at me. I didn't raise them that way. I never had to raise my voice with my older daughter, and only did once with my younger daughter. In our family, screaming wasn't an option for communication.

I do agree that laughter is the most appropriate response.

[WhiteTara]

18. not everyone lives as you do and I have

seen grown children be so disrespectful, I was stunned.

I have to say it has immediate effect (laughing in someone's face) More than one trumper has had to walk away in embarrassment.

[H2O Man]

27. That begs the question .....

is it respectful and polite to hold the defendent's cult members down and tickle them? Let the share in the laughter and merriment?

[WhiteTara]

47. technically

that's assault and battery
But it might be fun anyway

[walkingman]

5. My 24 yo nephew who just graduated college is saying very similar stuff.

I know each generation likes to differentiate themselves from previous ones but I question their logic. I wonder if this is coming from the "influencers" on social media? I can't understand the attraction to people like Williamson nor their actual hatred of Hillary? I'm beginning to wonder about the quality of his VERY EXPENSIVE education??

[uponit7771]

44. "A key person in the NY FBI office was on the Russian payroll,"

... males that were eating crap off SM without any critical thinking.

[uponit7771]

45. "A key person in the NY FBI office was on the Russian payroll,"

... males that were eating crap off SM without any critical thinking.

[uponit7771]

46. "I wonder if this is coming from the "influencers" on social media"...100% I thought it was gen x ..

... males that were eating crap off SM without any critical thinking.

[SharonClark]

8. Disagreeing with you about the Dems is one issue.

Screaming at you is a second issue. He sounds immature and unable to articulate his positions in a satisfactory way.

Is he volunteering in the community in a way that supports his belief in promoting workers rights? When he does, he'll find those people at the local Democratic Party headquarters.

[BootinUp]

9. She has no record of public service does she?

Assuming what I suggest above is so, then why should anyone believe her?

[Beautiful Disaster]

10. She's polling worse than. RFK. No need to get upset over her vanity campaign.

Let him have his fun. Just as long as he comes around in the general.

[betsuni]

11. People he trusts told him the Clintons are personally responsible for deindustrialization because

of '90s trade deals. Never mind this began in the '70s (Hello Michael Moore's documentary "Roger & Me" in the '80s, and automation is the main cause of job losses). The TPP was a diabolical conspiracy by Obama to screw American workers and the ACA a neoliberal plot and drones drones drones drones.

They told young people incrementalism is evil. Hope they're happy!

Williamson's message is I WILL TALK AND USE MAGIC BULLY PULPIT. They really think the problem is that Democrats are ignoring everybody except for the rich. Neoliberals. Somehow idiots believe Democratic policy is the same as Republicans: deregulation, privatization, austerity. Some bullshit fantasy about revolution and pseudo socialism. These people hate Democrats more, see them as the true roadblock to progress, fooling people into voting for them because of "identity politics," think that at least Republicans are honest. Horrible.

[Demsrule86]

13. Point out to your son that she could never win a General and it is thinking like this which lead

2016...packing the courts. This caused the fall of Roe and many other horrors, culminating in the January 6th insurrection where Trump and his fascist buddies attempted a coup. Explain that the choice in this election is between fascism and Democracy...and Marianne can't cut it in terms of electability.

If we want to elect progressives (and I do), we must win hearts and minds. And he should get started at the grassroots level ASAP. And last but not least, Your son should choose carefully or it may be the last election he ever votes in.

[LuvLoogie]

24. Young "progressives" are often Veruca's

Progress takes deliberate sustained effort every day. But we have to listen to their concerns, and wade through their emotions to get at the core of their concerns and anxieties. Assure them that people have been in the good fight since the beginning.

It is greed leveraged with marginalization of the other that is killing everything. We can't get to where they want until more people realize the approaching socio-economic collapse born of abuse of our fellow man and the planet.

We really do have to lead by example. There are no shortcuts. We have to preserve their passion, enthusiasm, and joy. Absorb their fear and pain. Point them to this site. Challenge them to hang on to their cynicism in the face of those who have endured and fought for decades.

[Demsrule86]

35. Sorry, reality won't bend to your son or anyone else's hopes and wishes...perhaps with hard

work, He and others can realize those things...but if the GOP gets in this year and voting for anyone other than Biden will cause that to happen, it is game over for this country. The GOP will without doubt stage another insurrection. We do not live in a progressive country though I wish we did...what is your son doing to further the progressive agenda, to win folks over? It is easy to sit in a chair and complain and blame. He should roll up his sleeves and get to work. It is my opinion, that hopes, dreams, and enthusiasm are great but one must actually do something.

[LuvLoogie]

43. Hi, I'm not the OP.

Although I did respond to you, I did have the OP in mind as well. My response is more general, not to this instance specifically.

[SharonClark]

16. May I suggest your son read "The Defining Decade"?

This book has been highly influencial with some Gen Z who need to figure out their lives. Maybe it will provide some clarity for your son, make him a happier person, and help him to align his political passions with politics in the real world.

Here's a recent article about the book and author from the NYT:

What’s the Point of Your 20s? Ask the Patron Saint of Striving Youth.
Meg Jay knows it’s confusing to figure out what to do with your life. She also knows you need to get on with it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/14/business/whats-the-point-of-your-20s-ask-the-patron-saint-of-striving-youth.html

Hope this helps.

[Elessar Zappa]

19. Don't put it on gen Z.

Most of them vote for Democrats.

[SharonClark]

25. True that.

[H2O Man]

28. +1

[Mariana]

30. Unlike their elders.

Most Boomers vote for Republicans.

[live love laugh]

21. Her motto is "No plans just dreams and love"

[Johonny]

23. One born every minute

She's a self help book semi-conartist. She's skilled at it and she has made millions from the self help racket. But she has no real answers and I assume most in generation Z won't stay conned for long.

She's filled with a feeling of self worth and entitlement, but she's mostly filled with metaphysical hot air. The idea she could navigate congress or foreign policy better than Biden is laughable.

She's not Trump, but self help books tend to be a well known racket.

[Cha]

26. Why?! Does MW Feed him this

stuff?

What does that say about MW?

[Mariana]

29. You let your kid scream at you?

[Oopsie Daisy]

31. I weep for our future.

[vercetti2021]

32. There's a few red flags with your son

Just because he graduated with a degree like that doesn't excuse him from yelling at his own mother that's just downright disrespectful

[Hortensis]

33. I'm sorry, JT. It's highly probable that he will become more politically rational

and sensible as he progresses into his 30s and through life. Your boy may be a graduate chemical engineer but he's also still an adolescent; he hasn't achieved full adult brain development yet. And the political drugs passed around in college are often particularly potent.

We have young people in our extended family also who are affected by the political extremism everywhere these days, both far left and right (fortunately left's in one state and right are in another -- and I seldom have to see any of them until they grow out of it, or at least calm down a bit).

Itm, maybe courtesy test: if you wouldn't say it over lunch to a book club with Williamson admirers, don't say it to him? For a while?

[Act_of_Reparation]

36. Your kid likes Marianne Williamson, ergo there is an issue with their entire generation?

Oh come on.

[misanthrope]

42. Exactly**nm

There's plenty more scattered throughout the thread.

[TwilightZone]

38. "thinks that Dems only protect the wealthy and not workers too"

Then, he should do more research into the platform and the bills introduced by Democrats over the past several decades. Or just the past few cycles, for that matter.

Reminds me of the liberals who inexplicably jumped on the Ron Paul bandwagon years ago. They had no clue that he was one of the most conservative members of Congress in history and that one of his primary advisors was a horrible racist.

[TwilightZone]

40. Your son only represents himself, not all of Gen Z.

We often try to lump a group together based on anecdotal evidence, but blanket statements based on limited data are almost universally false.

[Autumn]

48. I couldn't get past the first sentence. You have a problem and it's not a whole generation.

It's your son and your relationship with your son. .