I’ve lost a lot of the “zoomer cavalry will save us” mentality over time, but I feel like what is actually significant about the current and coming generations is that they aren’t being bought off on the system like the boomers were during the latter half of the 20th century. Like, that was the deal: you don’t try to do socialism or communism like the Soviets, and we’ll give you a cut of the profits for staying with us. And they took that deal and their lead-contaminated brains were fully broken.

However, with the current generations - to a lesser extent the millennials, and to a greater extent Gen Z and Alpha, there isn’t really that same cut of the profits from the ruling class anymore. They took the carrot on that stick while they were stripping the copper out of the walls. So what happens if you don’t have a carrot to dangle anymore and only have a great big stick in the form of anti-China, anti-communist propaganda? I guess we’re collectively going to find out, but I’d be surprised if Gen Z and Alpha ended up exactly the same as the boomers. Treat-obsessed, absolutely, almost every American who isn’t fighting for their life in poverty working three jobs every single day is, but if the treats decline, then what happens?