Unkind, Risk Averse and Untrusting

[David Horn]

Without quoting the OP, I can respond in general.  

We crossed an invisible Rubicon roughly 45 years ago.  Maybe it was the disillusionment of the Nixon era, or maybe something else entirely, but everyone got rerouted into the hamster cage.  Add a generous helping of electronic propaganda, and you get something similar to brainwashing on a societal scale.  For some reason, it's been worse in the US than elsewhere in the advanced world.  That may be the product of the entertainment industry we've dominated for 100 years.  In any case, it's now fully internalized to the point that alternatives aren't even considered.

So let's examine the living generations, and see whether there is something insidious here:

• GIs: nearly gone from the scene, and no longer engaged in the public sphere.  If you find a GI that is still willing to share, you'll find someone baffled by the mess we've created, and probably more than a little judgmental about it
  
• Silent: departing the scene as well, but still trying to manage the process in a structured manner.  Think Nancy Pelosi as a prime example.  She's unwilling to step far from the party line, but equally unwilling to hand over power.  Most of the Silent Majority that devolved into the Evangelical RW originated in this generation
  
• Boomers: if any group deserves blame for being congenitally stupid, it's Boomers.  We've grabbed for every brass ring on the Merry-Go-Round, and missed then all … but we still believe they're there for the taking.  That said, I sincerely hope that the next President is a Boomer, because we're unlikely to have enough fire to solve problems under Xer leadership
  
• Xers: started cynical and are now either Trumpists, ready to battle Trump or morose.  Since they are the ones raising the children and launching the next wave of young adults, they have plenty on their plates … especially given the piss-poor support they've gotten.  It should be noted that they are the generation that bought the self-sufficiency nonsense most completely, so they are the most brainwashed generation too
  
• Millies: Need to get their act together and soon.  They may be engaged, for all I know,  They operate outside the domain I fully understand, using social media as connective tissue.  If 2018 becomes the start of the long march back, it will be the Millies doing it.  If not, they will also be responsible for that.
  

So consulting my Magic 8-Ball, the response is Cloudy, try again later.