Article: why are young liberals so depressed?

[Matty]

https://mobile.twitter.com/Alicia_Smith19/status/1631104812006735872


Here’s another data point I saw that I think is another reflection of something troubling happening

Asian Americans who were put in camps by our govt have a higher level of feeling accepted in America than Asian-Americans in their 20s.

https://mobile.twitter.com/robkhenderson/status/1633964931476332546

[Farmlands]

When you pay too much attention to the internet, if you get told enough times online that you don't belong by people with a clear agenda, you might just start to believe it, even if it's not true in real life. Definitely a problem with many young liberal people of all stripes in the US.

[Anti-Penguin Tariff Voter]

Well having a growing climate crisis, an existing gun crisis, not being able to find employment, and having all your rights stripped away with seemingly nothing done to stop any of it will do that to a person.

[Suburbia]

Young liberals want to conquer the world too much, they feel that they have to help or use a platform.

Conservative boys should be the most depressed because of this SJW culture that brands all of them as racist colonizers, even if they were not born in the 1700s and 1800s....

[Suburbia]

Young Asian Americans feel left out because they were racially discriminated during COVID at school.....

[ملكة كرينجيتوك]

Americans who were put in camps by our govt have a higher level of feeling accepted in America than Asian-Americans in their 20s.

https://twitter.com/robkhenderson/status/1633964931476332546

The vast majority of Asian Americans currently over 65 in the US weren't Japanese internees lmfao. And the numbers in that study make complete sense when you consider that English-dominant native-borns and post-1980 borns at large are aware enough of systemic biases in society to not feel "completely" accepted.

https://twitter.com/MilesNored/status/1634099671957377025

Well having a growing climate crisis, an existing gun crisis, not being able to find [middle-class single householder] employment, and having all your rights stripped away with seemingly nothing done to stop any of it will do that to a person.

[Vosem]

I wonder if there is an element of adverse selection; most forms of modern American rightism are primarily attractive to people with sunny and optimistic dispositions. The people that are left behind (pun intended) are fundamentally pessimistic and scared.

[Ferguson97]

Partly because "young" and "liberal" are both two types of groups that are more inclined to report depression. Conservatives, for obvious reasons, will be more likely to bottle up their feelings and not seek help.

I wonder if there is an element of adverse selection; most forms of modern American rightism are primarily attractive to people with sunny and optimistic dispositions. The people that are left behind (pun intended) are fundamentally pessimistic and scared.

Literally what the hell are you talking about. Most modern Republicans are extremely angry, pessimistic people afraid of their own shadow.

[Zohranism is OUR future]

Because young conservatives are in denial about how f**ked humanity can be. Young liberals are realistic.

[Vosem]

Partly because "young" and "liberal" are both two types of groups that are more inclined to report depression. Conservatives, for obvious reasons, will be more likely to bottle up their feelings and not seek help.

I wonder if there is an element of adverse selection; most forms of modern American rightism are primarily attractive to people with sunny and optimistic dispositions. The people that are left behind (pun intended) are fundamentally pessimistic and scared.

Literally what the hell are you talking about. Most modern Republicans are extremely angry, pessimistic people afraid of their own shadow.

There are literally zillions of studies, some of which are brought up in the article linked in the first post, showing that American conservatives are much less likely to be depressed and much likelier to report higher self-reported happiness than American liberals. (I think this is something that varies cross-culturally, but it's a really strong pattern in the US and basically every poll thinks it's gotten much stronger in the 21st century, I think because among Millennials and Zoomers the difference is enormous). In the US in the 2010s, as the Slow Boring article discusses, poor mental health among liberals is at the level of 'social crisis'.

Do you have surveys/studies that show American conservatives feeling more miserable/having worse mental health than American liberals? This is a common way American conservatives are caricatured in American liberal mass media, but studies suggest it's really, really not true.

Because young conservatives are in denial about how f**ked humanity can be. Young liberals are realistic.

A less self-aggrandizing way to put this might be that conservatives like the way humanity actually is more. There is a tendency (on both sides, in fact) to assume that people have basically the same values but are operating on different sets of facts, and while this can be true, I think the values differences between the American right and the American left are often underestimated.

[Abolish ICE]

I wonder if there is an element of adverse selection; most forms of modern American rightism are primarily attractive to people with sunny and optimistic dispositions. The people that are left behind (pun intended) are fundamentally pessimistic and scared.

[หมูเด้ง]

Ignorance is Bliss.

[Vosem]

I wonder if there is an element of adverse selection; most forms of modern American rightism are primarily attractive to people with sunny and optimistic dispositions. The people that are left behind (pun intended) are fundamentally pessimistic and scared.

Literally every study ever conducted including by quite left-wing groups shows this, as the article linked in the first post makes clear.

[kwabbit]

I wonder if there is an element of adverse selection; most forms of modern American rightism are primarily attractive to people with sunny and optimistic dispositions. The people that are left behind (pun intended) are fundamentally pessimistic and scared.

Maybe this is part of why Youngkin did well. His campaign stood out for its optimism. Perhaps conservatives should switch to an "America is still great and can be even greater" type message and do less of the fire and brimstone. If the message is incongruent with what the Republican party voters actually feel, they might be losing support at the margins, even if the angry rhetoric satisfies parts of the base.

[dead0man]

progressive youth actually believe the fear mongering done by the progressive media

[the artist formerly known as catmusic]

*gestures to world in general*

Probably worth noting as well that (I think it's safe to assume, at least) young liberals are a more diverse crowd than young conservatives, and minority groups tend to deal with higher rates of depression. So that could be skewing the statistics.

[Suburbia]

Because young conservatives are in denial about how f**ked humanity can be. Young liberals are realistic.

Why do you think that is though? The inability to walk in someone else's shoes, or just rigidity?

[Migrant Crime]

Liberals see racism, sexism, whatever -ism in everything and everywhere they go.  They hear dog whistles in their head whenever someone speaks.  They generally see the worst in people.  How could they not be depressed?  I would be too.  It sounds exhausting.

[Zohranism is OUR future]

I just find it hilarious that people are depressed about the problems of the world as if this generation isn’t having the best standards of living than other generations throughout human history.smh at the young liberals, stop worrying about saving the world and focus on your life.

Looking from the graph it looks like it gotten worse since 2011 and had no yoy change before that. It’s gotta be social media, the internet along with the decline of social institutions

A mentality like this is what will end the greatest age of human living.

[Mr. Smith]

That's the price of education, curiosity, and collective empathy in general. Overthinking and lack of direction.

You need a certain amount of incuriosity, proud ignorance, and "my way or the highway" to stay optimistic or you will we be walked over by everyone and everything.

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

Well having a growing climate crisis, an existing gun crisis, not being able to find employment, and having all your rights stripped away with seemingly nothing done to stop any of it will do that to a person.

But they cheered on as rights were stripped away during Covid, and they call for gun control.

[Mr. Smith]

Well having a growing climate crisis, an existing gun crisis, not being able to find employment, and having all your rights stripped away with seemingly nothing done to stop any of it will do that to a person.

But they cheered on as rights were stripped away during Covid, and they call for gun control.

The right to not get a disease and the right to not be shot take precedence.

This goes back to the whole empathy thing.

[หมูเด้ง]

I just find it hilarious that people are depressed about the problems of the world as if this generation isn’t having the best standards of living than other generations throughout human history.smh at the young liberals, stop worrying about saving the world and focus on your life.

Looking from the graph it looks like it gotten worse since 2011 and had no yoy change before that. It’s gotta be social media, the internet along with the decline of social institutions

A mentality like this is what will end the greatest age of human living.

How else do we have this declining LE despite all of these advances in medicine? That’s just one example. Its been a complete mind f ck since like 2007. Just look at TRs graph.

[Abolish ICE]

I wonder if there is an element of adverse selection; most forms of modern American rightism are primarily attractive to people with sunny and optimistic dispositions. The people that are left behind (pun intended) are fundamentally pessimistic and scared.

Literally every study ever conducted including by quite left-wing groups shows this, as the article linked in the first post makes clear.

Your party is basically an authoritarian personality cult worshiping an orange lump of hate, grievance, bigotry, and conspiracy theories.  With all due respect, the idea that today's Republican Party is the party of optimism and folks with "sunny dispositions" doesn't really pass the laugh test.  

[GeneralMacArthur]

Wait, someone actually said the Republicans are the optimism party?  For young people?  Have you ever met a politically-active young Republican?  They're almost entirely driven by grievance and revenge against their annoying peers.

I say politically-active because 80% of young Republicans are only Republicans because their parents are Republicans, and will mindlessly repeat Fox News talking points for about 30 seconds and then get indignant and pretend to take things personally if you try to push past those.