New Generation of Conservatives on the Rise

[Pinkie-Dawn]

Today's teenagers are growing up to be much more conservative than the so-called Millennial youth of today, a survey has found.

People now in their mid-teens are much more cautious about drugs, transgender rights and same-sex marriage, and are even sceptical of tattoos than those a few years older than them.

The results could be an early signal that the pendulum is about to swing away from ultra-liberal Millenials, and could indicate that the SJW movement has peaked.

According to market research firm The Gild, who commissioned the research, people born since 2001 are shaping up to be more conservative than anybody since the post-war generation.

59% of young people responding to the survey said their opinions on same-sex marriage, transgender rights and marijuana was either "conservative" or "moderate" – a drastic swing from Millennials and members of "Generation X", more than 80% of whom said their opinion was either "quite liberal" or "very liberal":

The most youthful respondents – dubbed "Generation Z" – were also more likely to say they "hate" tattoos and unusual body piercings (11%) and prefer to save money than spend it (47%).

The survey backs up claims made by Milo Yiannopoulos at a speech last month that young people are abandoning "the social justice craze" and that backlash is building to the hyper-restrictive culture of political correctness."

Source: https://heatst.com/world/a-new-generation-of-conservatives-is-on-the-rise-study-finds/

Found this article while I was watching one of Computing Forever's recent youtube videos. While this sounds like a good thing for the anti-drug groups, I dunno if this means that Generation Z would try to outlaw same-sex marriage again.

 

[Her]

Yeah, I'm gonna have to side-eye an article that uses the term 'SJW' without quote bubbles.

 

[Somewhere_]

What kind of conservative? Are they all caught up in the Alternative-Right movement? Its mostly internet based, so I wouldnt be surprised.

 

[Melody]

This is a bubble; or trend. It will pop soon enough. I don't think Gen Z will stay this way once they achieve educated status.

 

[Somewhere_]

This is a bubble; or trend. It will pop soon enough. I don't think Gen Z will stay this way once they achieve educated status.

I think its either a trend or a single-generational thing. Regardless, I firmly believe this phenomenon is largely irrelevant in the progress of humanity (progress as in continuing forward, in either a good or bad way) because in the aggregate, egalitarian sentiments will continue to grow more and more as democracy continues. Gay marriage cannot and will not be repealed. All ya'll liberals should be happy and partying. Social democracy is in and, if not, its inevitable without a major governmental change.

What do you mean by "educated?"

 

[Bidoof FTW]

It's a trend that liberalism is followed by conservatism which is again followed by liberalism etc. etc.

I'm not very surprised

 

[Shamol]

Oh wow, this is interesting. During certain parts of the election cycle, I kept hearing some commentators and pundits saying conservatism (esp. in some of its more old school iterations) are dead beyond hope. I couldn't square that with the burgeoning internet-based movement which is associated with conservative values in some ways. I'm not saying my experiences are representative of reality, but it's only rarely that I come across full-blooded committed liberals in the internet.

Frankly I think this movement needs to be understood a little better. I'm not even sure if it's a coherent movement to begin with. Do these people really relate to conservative values, or is it something of a backlash to what they perceive as some of the excesses of the so-called SJWs? I mean, there's a legitimate question to be asked about whether a movement really qualifies as such if it just stands opposed to things.

It would be very interesting to know if this movement has any coherence and substance and, if so, how they'll shape the socio-political discourse for the time to come.

 

[Kanzler]

Youth can be conservative-minded for sure, but I'm not sure if that translates into anything ideologically-speaking.

 

[Esper]

Why do they consider saving money and not liking tattoos "conservative" things? I'm your average bleeding heart liberal and I save most of my money and won't ever get a tattoo.

When they say that these young people are "conservative" on issues like gay marriage does that mean they want to repeal it or that they're not interesting in pushing for more LGBT+ rights? Because it's a big difference and I can't believe that most young people would want to repeal marriage equality.

Which brings me to another point. How much is that 59% conservative and how much is moderate? I wonder if the 59% is, like, 55% moderate and 4% conservative but they got lumped together to make the conservative part seem larger. We don't really know and I wonder why they didn't bother to differentiate. Call me suspicious, but I think they're trying to skew how the results are read. But even if we assume it's an even split that would mean 29.5% are conservative, 29.5% are moderate, and 41% are, presumably, liberal. So, still more liberal overall.

 

[Kanzler]

Another explanation is that Generation Z is coming of age in an era where same-sex marriage, transgender rights, and expecting marijuana legalisation is normal. So most people find themselves moderate, and those who aren't "really about all that" but aren't down for repealing the advances made might consider themselves conservative. Really, though, political labels are all relative and it's very difficult to understand precisely what liberal or conservative means without a comparison.

 

[Shamol]

I'm pretty sure the actual conservatives in that lump do not form the majority. Again, this phenomenon is just beginning- very much in its formative days. Right now it's the phase of being rebels without causes. I'd wager what unifies that 59% is a common distrust of what they perceive to be the so-called SJW/PC culture. If this trend continues, some substance may emerge around which the group would learn to coalesce. Right now it's really amorphous and hard to define (try defining the alt-right, for example- same problem).

 

[Somewhere_]

I'm pretty sure the actual conservatives in that lump do not form the majority. Again, this phenomenon is just beginning- very much in its formative days. Right now it's the phase of being rebels without causes. I'd wager what unifies that 59% is a common distrust of what they perceive to be the so-called SJW/PC culture. If this trend continues, some substance may emerge around which the group would learn to coalesce. Right now it's really amorphous and hard to define (try defining the alt-right, for example- same problem).

Milo Yianniapoulos explains it pretty well. He is a pretty big figure within the Alt-Right movement. Other than pepe of course. xD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgl53EXInPc

From my own experiences with the Alt-right and arguably being a part of the Alt-Right, I can help define it as well. I hope i do a decent job.

1) Alt-rightists are fed up with the current Republicans and current conservatives. They recognize modern conservatism is lacking nationalism and the championing of western values. They believe modern conservatism is lacking populist aspects and favors elitists.

2) Alt-rightists are also reacting to new waves of feminism, PC culture, and SJW's. They believe this contributes to cultural decline and the chipping away of western civilization.

3) They are inherently anti-egalitarian and reject any form of communism, socialism, and some even reject democracy as a governmental system.

3) I covered the more cultural aspects (where they focus on a cultural-centric society), but policy-wise, they differ. Some are pro-free trade, some are anti-free trade, some call for totally closed borders, some call for more lenient cultural borders. Some are strict non-interventionists, some are common sense interventionists.

4) While all support Donald Trump, they come from different places. Many are disavowed conservatives, some are a subset of libertarianism called paleolibertarianism that is dissatisfied with the libertarian party and libertarians in general, some are neo-reactionaries/monarchists/propertarians/anarchists (used slashes because these are small minorities).

 

[Kanzler]

Milo Yianniapoulos explains it pretty well. He is a pretty big figure within the Alt-Right movement. Other than pepe of course. xD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgl53EXInPc

From my own experiences with the Alt-right and arguably being a part of the Alt-Right, I can help define it as well. I hope i do a decent job.

1) Alt-rightists are fed up with the current Republicans and current conservatives. They recognize modern conservatism is lacking nationalism and the championing of western values. They believe modern conservatism is lacking populist aspects and favors elitists.

2) Alt-rightists are also reacting to new waves of feminism, PC culture, and SJW's. They believe this contributes to cultural decline and the chipping away of western civilization.

3) They are inherently anti-egalitarian and reject any form of communism, socialism, and some even reject democracy as a governmental system.

3) I covered the more cultural aspects (where they focus on a cultural-centric society), but policy-wise, they differ. Some are pro-free trade, some are anti-free trade, some call for totally closed borders, some call for more lenient cultural borders. Some are strict non-interventionists, some are common sense interventionists.

4) While all support Donald Trump, they come from different places. Many are disavowed conservatives, some are a subset of libertarianism called paleolibertarianism that is dissatisfied with the libertarian party and libertarians in general, some are neo-reactionaries/monarchists/propertarians/anarchists (used slashes because these are small minorities).

What do you mean by lacking nationalism and lacking populism? Especially the latter, how can you stick up for the little guy while rejecting socialism, egalitarianism, and even democracy to an extent?

 

[Guest123_x1]

With the media reports that continually claim that America is moving further and further to the left every single day, this kind of development in standing up to the establishment is a bit surprising, at least to me. Thing is, though, there needs to be more people from both sides of the political compass to stand up and realize that enough is enough with the way our country has been going for the past decade.

I've known for many years that our country has been continuously going in the wrong direction, especially since 9-11, which George W. Bush took advantage of to justify the war in Iraq that he would start nearly two years afterwards, and also with all the leftist movements including the 'SJW' that have come to fruition since Wall Street bankers and speculators crashed the economy in 2008 (and were promptly rewarded by both Bush and Obama in the form of bailouts as well as inflationary "stimulus" packages and several rounds of "quantitative easing".)

In hindsight, though, I wouldn't be surprised if the new generation conservatives were among Ron Paul's supporters during his 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns, and maybe even Rand Paul's presidential campaign until early this year.

 

[Shamol]

To add to the question Kanzler above is asking, is there a coherent definition of "western civilization" or "western values" that's in wide currency among alt-rightists? Perhaps that definition would help us understand the alleged nationalist/populist aspects of the movement better.

 

[Somewhere_]

What do you mean by lacking nationalism and lacking populism? Especially the latter, how can you stick up for the little guy while rejecting socialism, egalitarianism, and even democracy to an extent?

Republicans are not the nationalist party they need to be. Nationalism as love of culture. Specifically western culture in the Alt-right case. Meaning rule of law, order, family values (mostly nuclear family), truth, property rights, freedom of speech, squashing parasitism. Thats just off the top of my head.

Populism because Republicans do not appeal to the common man. They are too pro-establishment. the Alt-right advocates for right-wing populism, unlike the Republican party.

The second question is pretty broad and not really mine to answer. I might be able to answer, but Im not sure at the moment.

 

[Shamol]

I don't think we'll make much progress in this conversation without going into the nitty gritty of the policies and attendant ethics. I mean no one would object to things like family values and truth and 'squashing parasitism' as such. As words they are rather blank canvasses. It's only when you define what the alt-right specifically means by those words, in terms of policy, that we can have a discussion on whether they're on to something and the merits/demerits thereof.

I have no idea how to proceed from this point on. Maybe open threads about each of these specific issues and how things like new waves of feminism are (allegedly) contrary to them?

 

[Kanzler]

Republicans are not the nationalist party they need to be. Nationalism as love of culture. Specifically western culture in the Alt-right case. Meaning rule of law, order, family values (mostly nuclear family), truth, property rights, freedom of speech, squashing parasitism. Thats just off the top of my head.

TBQH that sounds like the Republican party at the moment. Don't they talk about family values, law and order, encouraging private property and entrepreneurship, freedom of speech, and self-sufficiency? Don't Republicans talk about American exceptionalism more than Democrats? I find it difficult in my mind to be more nationalist than subscribing to American exceptionalism without delving into chauvinism.

Populism because Republicans do not appeal to the common man. They are too pro-establishment. the Alt-right advocates for right-wing populism, unlike the Republican party.

One can talk the talk, but how do you walk the walk? What kind of policy prescriptions does conservative populism imply, in your opinion?

@Shamol I think it's possible for this thread to carry a discussion of specifics and elucidate precisely what those buzzwords really mean, in both a general or traditional conservative context as well as this apparently new conservative context.

 

[Somewhere_]

TBQH that sounds like the Republican party at the moment. Don't they talk about family values, law and order, encouraging private property and entrepreneurship, freedom of speech, and self-sufficiency? Don't Republicans talk about American exceptionalism more than Democrats? I find it difficult in my mind to be more nationalist than subscribing to American exceptionalism without delving into chauvinism.

They may talk about it, but they sure as heck dont practice it. Government has grown larger and larger under Republicans and Democrats alike. Family values have declined, rule of law has declined, private property has declined, entrepreneurship could be better, and the list goes on. A quick look at the average republican is much different from the average republican politician and policy under republicans.

Republicans do a great job supporting order, but thats not very hard. Hitler did a great job of retaining order too.

 

[Livewire]

I don't know what country this article is referencing but assuming it's a sourced, empirically supported article (It probably isn't, lmao) I doubt it's the USA. Demographically speaking, the US is becoming less religious, more urban, and the racial gap is closing, rapidly. The USA is gradually becoming more multicultural, and let's not forget that in the last decade or so, sport for same-sex marriage, social rights, etc., has ballooned. Gay Marriage, as an issue, arguably sunk John Kerry's Presidential Bid in 2004 but reinforced Obama in 2008, and 2012 and in the midterms since so I really don't get the logic here, because I don't see a serious study or definable trends. All of those things do not make for a more conservative society. Do your research before you post.