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loom03 t1_j4r39fn wrote

The young are thinking themselves into despair.

Why should young people concern themselves so frequently and often to the point of despair with questions of morality or even nihilistic beliefs? Aren't we allocated many years in the later stages of our life when we have more time, experience, and wisdom to dwell on such topics? The young's superior fluid intelligence cowers in comparison to experience. I propose that our younger years should be driven by self-improvement, and if you do believe that your opinions are superior, then also laying the framework for a career with power where your opinions might hold more weight. This should all be done while constantly learning so that you may be even more qualified to speak on topics like the ones mentioned.

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Perrr333 t1_j4s5cj5 wrote

I don't entirely agree. It has often been the relatively young to drive social change. Emmiline Pankhurst formed the Women's Social and Political Union, later known as the Suffragettes, at age 47, with her daughters Adela (23), Christabel (23) and Sylvia (21). Gandhi starting civil rights campaigning at age 23. Martin Luther King led the Montgomery boycott at age 26. Older people are more likely to have conservative views. This may be due to ageing causing changing views, or generational differences (being brought up in times when homosexuality and abortion were illegal, and racist attitudes were widely accepted); scientists are still trying to pick those apart. But in both cases it is the young who are more likely to want to shift the status quo forward in the direction it has been travelling rather backwards to where it once was at some past point. In democratic countries, society is changed by voting and campaigning. A rational and ethical agent should vote and campaign based on their moral values and their understanding of the world. So moral values, especially about society, will and should always play a central role in people's political lives. Insisting that a person, young or old, stop spending time on the morality of society, is to insist they remove themselves from democracy.

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