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Not understanding the difference between pre and post 9/11 politics
Hate to break it to you but people born in 2006 are turning 18 this year (and are technically considered "adults").
Having just turned 43, I can tell you that I don’t think I became an adult until my early/mid 30s.
This is a truth that everyone under 30 denies until the day they turn 30. It’s like a magic spell is suddenly broken, and you realize you’re alone in an aging meat husk that now knows the glory of back pain.
I know a young person will read this and think this won’t happen to them. To that person: I am you from the future. Remember us as we were.
I know a young person will read this and think this won’t happen to them.
I rather thought "Huh, 30s is still young."
I have no illusions anymore that this pattern won’t repeat. I enjoy my back pain for what it is: the pre-hip pain era.
I think it's kinda like the old dating age formula; you can date people (your age) / 2 + 7 years old, and you feel like that's the age of an adult.
When I was 15 I felt like ann adult, but people younger than me were teens. When I was 25 I felt like an adult but people under the age of like 20 were just kids. Now I feel like people in their early/mid-20s are just about adults. I'm sure when I'm 50 I'll think back to myself now and consider myself barely an adult.
I'm 27 and I think I'm there already
I thought that too. I regret to report: it gets worse.
I'm 40 and it seems like I can continually look back at myself from five years ago and think damn I was an idiot back then. I wonder how I will feel in five years...
That's a relief!
Wow, you're me!
They are technically, but not actually adults.
That assumes you live in one of a small number of countries for which politics significantly shifted after one of those countries was attacked.
And also that you're at least old enough to have had a reasonable mature understanding of the political landscape before 2001, so as to appreciate how things changed. Let's assume that'd make you at least 20.
...So, we have to be at least 43 years old, and American, or you'll assume we're children?
To actually understand you'd have to have been following politics pre 9/11, which would make you probably 16 at the time. That means 39 right now. That's a lot of adults you're ruling out.
If you want to say understand society pre and post 9/11, then you're probably talking 12 at the time, so 35 right now. Still a lot of adults you're ruling out.
I was alive for 9/11 and I don't know the difference.
I don't care for politics.
Not at least understanding the difference seems irresponsible.
Who needs an informed electorate anyway?
Why? How does knowing how politics worked before I could vote, help me as a voter today?
I understand enough about politics to cast my vote and beyond the act of voting, I generally don't follow politics. I vote based on party platforms (what they intend to do) and the likelihood of those things happening. Eg, if a party was to say that they'll make everyone rich, I would consider that statement to be delusional, unrealistic and not something that could be fulfilled even if that party was voted in. This is an extreme example, but I think you get my meaning.
Beyond doing my due diligence in figuring out who I want to vote for, and then voting for that party.... What else do I realistically need?
My district always elects the same party anyways, whether I vote for them or not. I've landed in a gerrymandered location and that party basically always wins, but I still vote regardless.
IMO, I shouldn't need to take a political history course to be considered to be a responsible voter.
Bad assumption, a localized event doesn't affect everyone in the world equally.
So, uh, what is the difference?