Low Down Low wrote: ↑28 Aug 2023, 7:30am
One thing i find interesting in my home Irish context. The political landscape here seems to be heading for change in that the old conservative parties, who have ruled since the foundation of the state, are being overtaken by the inexorable rise of (leftist?) Sinn Fein whose support is largely driven by the young, say u-35, generation. And while that's a tough prospect for generations who grew up with and had their values at least partly shaped by the killings and murders in the north, the young with no living memory of such atrocities couldn't care less. They just want to kick the government in the nuts and Sinn Fein are the dock boots they can do it in.
It's funny, in Quebec since the 60s, when there was an awakening of French nationalist consciousness, politics dominated by Boomers has had a somewhat paranoid bent towards the rest of Canada and the world. Outsiders coming to overtake us. To that end, they've established lots of language laws to protect/promote French and make use of other languages difficult if not punitive. The success of it is that younger Francophones don't have that same fear of outsiders—not to the same degree, anyway—because their life has been one of the French norm. French culture in danger? That hasn't been their life experience. Yet Boomers still bang the paranoid drum, not appreciating their success.
The interesting thing, though, is that the young seemingly have that power here to affect that change and they're preparing to effect it. Unlike the UK, most notably, where elections are decided on the basis of the preferences of older voters who, of course, are overwhelmingly likely to vote for conservative parties. You could say the same for brexit too. I have yet to see any serious study or treatment of this glaring - to me anyway - anomaly.
My faith or hope is in the young. Get the Boomers off the stage and, frankly, Xers aren't much better, not for the kind of radical change required. Those growing up in anxious times are the best hope of breaking out of the dumb myths that got us here. No guarantee that they'll pursue something better, but anything is better than this Boomer stranglehold.
"Ain't no party like an S Club party!'" - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft
