In praticular the mainly American kind of agism, and more specifically towards the younger people I’ve noticed, as an example: a 17 year old is somehow a child and knows absolutely nothing, but an 18 year old is suddenly a full grown adult that’s expected to do everything on their own now right away, unless it’s inconvenient in whatever conversation is occuring, then that 18 year old is still a “kid” when in another conversation they’re an “adult”, which I’ve never seen anyone point out whatsoever when it occurs, and with it also the “groomer” and “paedophilia” hysteria the American media is endlessly pushing onto the people and causing further age hierarchy and superiorites among the people (said “groomer” and “paedophilia” panic also being used against the LGBT+ community), only intensifying these points. I’m sure I’m not the only one noticing this trend, it’s overwhelmingly everywhere on the internet now in one form or another and has become or is becoming the norm beyond just America, it’s spread to other regions and is gradually becoming more and more prominent with each year, even in my day to day life now I’m noticing ageism becoming slightly ingrained in society with time, it’s now normal in certain societies and the internet as a whole to discriminate against an adolescent and harass them solely over their age or for doing anything even remotely hinting at sexual behaviour or any form of romantic relationship between them and others - basically anything and everything that can be used to discrimate against that adolescent will be used against them I’ve noticed (and in the case of older people: discriminating against them solely for being too old or talking to people younger then them), causing people to be treated on the basis of “higher number = human decency, too high or low of a number = discrimination, isolation, and harassment” and call pretty much anyone that doesn’t agree with them on this as a “paedophile” with full acceptance from the internet and certain societies as a whole - and completely distorting what that term even actually means, very remenisent of the red scare to an eerie degree (same exact way some Americans and especially the bourgeois and media call any social democrat a “communist” without even knowing what “communist” actually means - or purposefully leaving that detail out and creating a whole new definition of it by lying over and over again in the case of the latter, but now applied to age and with “paedophile” instead). To me it’s yet another way to divide us through hysteria and lies, it solely exists to weaken us, keep us afraid, keep us divided, and keep us biting at one another over anything and everything, be it skin colour, nationality, religion, hobbies, biology, sexual orientation, gender, language, or age, instead of looking to the roots of our systematic suffering and uniting in solidarity to end it, it’s nothing new whatsoever, especially from the United States who’s notorious for setting these trends in the first place, but nevertheless extremely saddening to see be pushed upon the masses until it becomes the norm in one form or another, adding further to our already fragmented and disjointed world and causing further suffering for everyone, be it young or old. Though what are you’re thoughts of this my fellow comrades? I’d love to see others’ analysations of this trend.
I totally understand it when people substitute ageism for class struggle: when we look around us (at least in my country, the US), a few boomer haute-bourgoesie own like 80% of the real estate, more “landlord / small business owner”-type boomers own like 15%, and everyone younger than them own <5%.
All boomers, regardless of class, also watch a ton of reactionary media, that tells them its the youngers generations that are at fault for everything (despite us having no control of production, property). You’ll see even poor boomers praise the US… and this is from the generation that, when they were young, built a much stronger anti-war movement than we have even today. The media indoctrination did its work.
But yes, ageism is ultimately reactionary, and this substitution is not real or positive in any way. Production will pass into the hands of haute-bourgeois Gen-Xers, Millenials and Gen-Zers, and their populations will also be indoctrinated into liberalism just as much as boomers are. Just going by personal experience, millenials and genzers are just as indoctrinated into liberalism and imperialism as anyone else. They think socialism just means they get social services funded off the backs of workers in the global south. They support every war, have little to no anti-war movement, are very anti-communist, and hate every single country the US tells them to. The methods and means of indoctrination are arguably stronger nowadays via social media, than they are with boomers watching cable.
There’s also a very childish tendency in the west, to wish death upon their elders for having reactionary ideas. The system which reproduces these ideas is out of their control, and they could just as easily be brainwashed (I mean that in the positive sense from Mao, that their brains very much do need to be washed of the filths of racism, sexism, anti-LGBT attitudes) to positive ideas. I try to do this with my parents, but its exhausting and usually not fruitful, because then they turn on fox news, and it reproduces the very ideas I just tried to work out of them for hours. Its no better with those that watch “democrat” media, since that also permits reactionary individualist ideas, and now racism against Chinese and Russian peoples.
This is a societal problem tho, that can only be solved via socialism in power, in control of the organs of media and social media. And the target isn’t old people, but the economic system.
Ageism really shouldn’t be permitted in socialist spaces.
I wouldn’t say gen z is that anti-communist, (though they don’t like America’s current enemy of the day). I think many of us are just very ignorant of international history and politics. People know climate change is bad and caused by oil companies and the overturning of roe was bad, but little more. I am reminded of an interaction I had today. Someone read the “anti fascist action” sticker on my laptop and asked what fascism is, “Is it like China and North Korea?” And I replied emphatically no, it’s like the Nazis. They mention my hammer and sickle sticker and asked “is that like the USSR… we’re they bad… we’re they good?” And I replied “they were good, with big quality of life improvements, developments in the sciences, and they defeated the Nazis.” And they just said “oh” and moved on.
That is true, but just as a virtue of not having been on the planet for as long. Years and years of full-on liberal indoctrination via social media will take its toll on gen-zers too.
Nobody is born with that knowledge, and generations of anti-communist indoctrination heavily tilt the playing field. I’ve learned to not get surprised if somebody else doesn’t know something, because I’m sure there’s a ton of stuff I don’t know. Having knowledge and also not having it can both be a curse.
That is true, I’m not surprised when people kno very little about the world outside the US because of how shitty our educational system is on that stuff. I hope my random commie comments might make it easier for people to move left in the future and not fall down the anti-communist rabbithole. It’s the least I can do.