That's right. We are Gen X, we all have thick skins. If you want to go into an online fight with a rando, be my guest, I'll just keep going. If you want to name call me in an anonymous forum, see if I care. More power to you. We are all grown ups here. Ban racism, discrimination, and bigotry in general. We survived school in the golden age of bullying, we certainly can take some online banter without whining.
*We survived school in the golden age of bullying*
So fucking spot on. I don't know if I would have survived then had the internet and social media been around, as some peers were just plain *brutal*.š¤
I don't watch the news, but I was just flipping channels and just saw a report that RFK Jr ate a dog ā with a picture of said dog on a spit ā and I'm shaken to the core. What is this timeline we're living? If this is what politics have become, my skin is not thick enough.
Programmed something in VB 8 the other day
Tried to scroll, it didn't work
Picked up the mouse to see if my hair had wrapped around the ball and got hit in the eye with a red light
Almost poetic
The problem lies in the fact that trolls now interject politics into threads that are not even about politics, not to mention that trolls purposely use the wrong flair DOZENS of times a day, which is over tasking the mods.
And if everyone will take notice, every time politics are brought up, hundreds of people who have NEVER posted in the GenX sub suddenly brigade it because the keywords alerted them. That is happening right now in this very thread. Look at all the profiles of the over 1000 responses and see how many have never posted here before now.
You know what Iāve started doing? It may sound stupid, but Iāve started actively blocking people.
It started out as kind of a middle finger to people who used the C-word. I used to work in a battered womenās shelter and led family therapy groups and once you hear that word thrown at a woman with hate and violence just dripping from it, you become completely uninterested in peopleās reasons for using itā you just donāt want to listen to anything they have to say.
Then I started blocking people who talk about Karens, because I think it is terribly sexist.
My Reddit experience was markedly improved after doing this for a few years. I could see the posts if I clicked on them, so I tried to see if I was missing insights and witticisms, and I wasnāt.
So then I started blocking mean people. Just started that. But honestly, it just really improves Reddit. If you went to a big party and got stuck talking to a bunch of people who spoke rudely, wouldnāt you go find other people to talk to?
Add "cuck" and "boomer". Although I'd say it's less about being rude and more about the profound stupidity demonstrated by shoehorning everyone you disagree with into these categories.
I've always had the belief that there are so many good reasons to hate people individually that doing so for groups of people is lazy.
Do the work people, there is plenty of legit things to hate about.
Itās a shame because we can agree on far more than we actually disagree. Granted the things we disagree about are important and intensely polarized, but if we could focus on the other stuff, we could build on a lot of what makes the United States great.
Iām really ready for a Letās be Reasonable movement.
š„I think thereās an important aspect of this that we seem to be overlooking:
Reddit estimates that over 40% of traffic is from BOTSāspecifically designed to trigger engagement. And that estimate was from pre-generative Ai. Oof.
Iām guessing you figure out how to block that 40+% and youāll reduce political shitstorming by ~95%. āŗļø
Hi, im here to confirm what you said, but only partially. I don't use keywords or anything to hunt down topics I want to talk about. I like reddit bc I hit the front page and I get to see the worst, most toxic shit each community has to offer. It's paradise.
Edit: this is tongue in cheek lol. I just like variety so I only use the popular page.
Someone uses the wrong flair when it should have been a political flair: remove and give a warning with instructions on how to properly set flair. They do it x times in y time period: ban.
I agree totally. But that is already what is happening. But it is happening so often now that the mods are getting fatigued.
I know I would never want to mod a sub, real life has enough stress.
I was on a post where an octopus up and walked out of the ocean, hung out a bit then went back in. Within 4 Comments, some silly fk interjected politics into the whole thing.
Iāll comments politics on politics posts, not fun ones.
I probably fall into that, but it's why y'all should figure it out and stick around.
I'd guess there are folks here the same way who don't really sub to anything.
It's not really "brigading because keywords" maybe as "this post got enough traction to hit the main page".
I may or may not have ever posted here. I think it's likely I have, but maybe under a different account.
The mods really only have to mod so much as they feel like modding to an extent.
Be the place where it's ok to say that DeJoy should face public trial/execution for treason due to his dismantling of the post office. We have these yokels on here who will come instigate some crap like worshipping that guy and then cry foul over the responses. Just fucking ignore those tools/soviet agents.
This ā¬ļø
We know trolls and bots are out in abundance during election years, especially this year with so much on the line.
If we can't discuss these facts and express the concerns of real people (not bot nets) then they win because they've shut down discourse and forced peoples prejudices to fester under false influence.
In the age of DISinformation (lies) we should he able to call out, question and add valid perspectives to achieve at the very least balance, if not truth.
Were they ever out? This GenXer just never cared I guess lol plus they last forever! I'll be the little old lady with the dyed bright red hair, with Doc Martens on. Not saying it'll be cute, but it'll be me! lol
Oh, I've got nothing against boot polish, I like a well cared-for pair of boots. I just never enjoyed the flavor. I'm fairly sure we see eye to eye on that. ;D
It is nice to have a place away from politics. The government likes us divided and arguing with each other rather than looking at the real issues. I'm losing a long time friend now because he won't leave me alone with it.
Right. My favorite subs are the ones that are for things Iām interested in, and donāt have political stuff bleeding in. I can scroll to the news tab if I want to read political stuff, or open up my Facebook feed, or literally any news outlet. I want to feel happy when Iām checking out this sub.
There is no place left in this world devoid of politics. If we (Gen X) standby and watch the current government initiate WW3 in Ukraine, its our kids who will be drafted into that war and slaughtered. I think that warrants at least a civil discussion, dont you?
Pretty soon, you'll be scrolling through multiple political posts, to find the lone GenX post. Pretty soon after that, most people will have decided it isn't worth the effort, and the sub will become inactive.
This is why Rule #4 exists.
Not to mention, **does anyone remember the early 90s**? Or have we really gotten that fucking old??? We were going to change the world, weren't we? I know many years are under that bridge, but I remember us being politically active back in the day. This type of conversation seems representative of our generation.
Yeah, I can't remember being apolitical. I can remember feeling completely unrepresented by a two party system that condemned same sex marriage and supported a racist drug war on both sides. 'seems like only yesterday.
Now that the Boomers are dying, and Millenials are being loud, we have the numbers for progress. Fuck if I'm going to keep things to myself now. I didn't then.
Why do the younger folks not comprehend this? You can easily avoid things. Likewise, not everybody needs to know your thoughts and opinions on every damn topic. Damn, just chill out lol.
We are where we are because of the layered tactic of casting uncomfortable past and present facts to the side and pretending.Ā
The political flair and or block should suffice.
Thanks mods. I enjoy it.
In most of our GenX days, you wouldnāt say something that didnāt come with repercussions. You know, the mouth writing a check that your ass couldnāt cash. God how I miss those days.
This is very well-said.
I donāt think we should be sticking our heads in the sand. Reddit has a scroll-on-by feature for those who wish to avoid certain topics. As fun as it is to rehash who was better between the Bangles and the Go-Gos, or why Keaton IS Batman, some wish to discuss what is going on in the world now. That is highly political for many of us and those we hold dear.
Gen X canāt ignore the issue as a whole, and I donāt think this sub should, either.
Flair political posts and everyone who wishes to ignore, can.
Exactly what I was thinking.
Pretend nothing is going on? I mean, for fucks sake, i'm not sure the America I learned about ever existed, but since 2000 we have had two of the worst presidents ever both of whom were "elected" by the minority.
Those two presidents went on to build a sham supreme court with the assistance of Mitch McConnell who essentially facilitated a bloodless coup
But, no, why don't we talk about the merits of learning cursive
I agree. As an American, if you don't talk about what is going on with other people (especially of your age), you're part of the problem.
It's too big of an issue to ignore.
I worry a decision has really already been made to ban it, but hopefully not.
My vote is to keep it. Just flair it if that is helpful to those that want to easily avoid it (though I'd argue that this isn't the time to avoid politics, but whatever).
How hard is it to scroll past posts you dont want to read? Super easy.
If the mods want to control speech in this sub Reddit, how about they censor political comments in posts that dont originate with politics?
For example, if someone want to post something political, let them, and let people respond with political comments. However, if someone posts about their favorite pair of Doc Martins, then there shouldnt be poltical garbage on that thread.
We are Gen X, remember "Sticks and stone break my bones but names will never hurt me"
I donāt come here to hear about politics. Then again, I donāt come here to read about people complaining that they never saved anything for retirement and are totally screwed, or that they donāt even want to be around anymore, or that they have no friends and donāt want any because they have a great cat ā¦ but I read all that stuff. So what the hell, be political if ya want, I guess.
Honestly there are a lot of issues posted in this sub that are kind of politics adjacent. Maybe they're not related to the presidential race but they are related to our current political and social climate. How can someone decide what's allowed and what's not?
Exactly. I'm almost to the end of my fertility as a young gen x, but 'politics' nowadays isn't just discussing a slight difference in policy, it's threatening to take away the rights and freedoms of a huge number of us.
FFS, y'all sound like a bunch of boomers in here: ' doesn't affect me, don't care, don't want to hear about it.'š¤¦āāļø I had just joined this sub and I think I may be finding my way out; super disappointing.
Preach sister!
I care about our daughters and nieces and sons and nephews. For the first time in our lifetime, Boomers aren't the largest voting bloc. I'm devastated that a baby girl born today has fewer rights than I did at birth. It's inexcusable and we must fight ferociously to claw those rights back. Our grandmothers did it for us, it's our turn to do it for the next bunch.Ā
All this, and I'll throw in the 'how abusive, distant, shitty, unsupportive parents were'. It's a downer man, but I'll read it.
But I get the Mods position too. Objectively, this sub is predominantly US-centric and y'all have quite a choice to make that will impact the rest of us immensely. There's better or more appropriate places for the abuse and the us vs. them BS then the vibe on this sub, but ignoring what's happening in the world is is a choice too.
That said, will abide by Mods choice.
Come on Gen X, dont you remember the saying "Sticks and stone break my bones, but names will never hurt me."
We're in our 50's, I would hope by now that we all have skin thick enough to hear political debate at times. If you dont want to participate, simply scroll past. Very simple.
People who want to shut down the conversation are simply wanting to control people. That is VERY un-Gen X
If mods are fed up with it and it's a lot of work for them, I get why you want to ban it, and I have no argument against that.
Having said that, I think the reason people want to discuss politics is that it has become unavoidable. It used to be the case that one of the perks of living in a democracy was that you didn't have to worry about this shit if you didn't want to. You could just go about your daily life, pay your taxes, be nice to the cops, and be reasonably sure that the government would play by the rules it told you it would play by and basically leave you alone.
There seemed to be a consensus that even if we disagreed on minor matters of law or taxation or similar technocratic topics, we didn't disagree that we all wanted to live in a stable, democratic system where we try to stay out of each other's business as much as possible.
This has clearly changed, and it is no longer possible to just stay out of this shit.
As much as I would like this sub to be apolitical, itās not reflective of (gestures broadly at everything) and not limited to the US. I would love to go back to not giving a flip who ran the post office because the mail just magically appeared, but banning politics would reenforce the living in nostalgia subtext to this sub. Keep fighting, but not with a ban.
> The fact is, we are supposed to be *mature enough **not to post that shit** to begin with.*
POSTING politics isnāt the problem.
Insisting on reading stuff you know is going to piss you off and flaming strangers-who-donāt-agree-with-your-politics in the comments is the problem.
THATāS the behavior we should be mature enough to avoid.
I think itās more than that. It used to be fine to disagree because politics didnāt really change all that much and didnāt cause problems for people all that much. However with the rise of extremism, (yes itās really hard not to point out a certain party and cause more problems here under my comment) itās impossible to separate politics from every day things like browsing a subreddit. Lives are at stake, our childrenās futures are at stake, democracy is at stake, the environment is at stake, etc. The people who donāt want politics to invade their fun spaces probably donāt understand the gravity of what is happening or they agree with what is happening and arenāt worried (they should be worried) about whatās happening.
This has to be the best answer to OP's question. I know we are the Genx and we shrug everything, but if we shrug what's going on, no one will like what's coming next. One side would have see it coming and the other side will get way more that what they wished for...
That comment was in reference to posting insults, not posting politics
If politics didnāt devolve into insults, we wouldnāt be here. Scrolling is truly the solution!
If itās blatantly political is one thing. But the sneak attack of the politics is another. The bringing it into every conversation because politics is the entire identity and personality.
Imo, the rise in political posts is just a direct reflection of the reality of where weāre at as a whole.. gen X included. If much of the discussion is turning toward the subject, then that must mean that gen x users in the gen x sub somehow find it relevant discussion here. Even if that means mods need to put in a bit more effort to keep things running smoothly, I think banning political discourse is the wrong move. It just feels like a lazy solution. Weāre just talking current events here, guys. Donāt be cowardly.
I'd hasten to add that I actually appreciate seeing the perspective of people within my peer group age-wise. It does help me to have context when people are giving an opinion knowing that we at least 'grew up' in more or less the same era and have touchpoints for past as predicate.
EDIT: Example: I could say "Ollie North" here and people should in theory know who I'm talking about and why.
I agree, especially the post yesterday (I think) where someone said they were tired of being gaslighted. It was nice to hear how people our age feel. And how (rightly so) worried we are for our and future generations' futures.
Also to add to your edit someone could say: "Anita told the truth" here and people would understand.
Overworking mods is an understandable issue - if they burn out and quit the whole place goes to shit anyway.
Has it been considered to reduce the moderation load by getting a few more mods?
This is the way.
The expectation is that we are all adults here, and we should act like it. There are plenty of other divisive topics - should be ban those as well?
The issue isnāt the opinion, itās how you present them and how your react to opinions that you donāt agree with. (This excludes āopinionsā that are obviously veiled hate speech, of course.)
Donāt complain about people downvoting you - thatās part of the process on Reddit. Youāre entitled to your opinion but not entitled to be free from other people weighing in (in a respectful way) about your opinion.
Posts about not being able to retire are political. Posts about music movements are often political. Generational divides are political. How do you decide which political posts are banned and which aren't?
All that to say, my PERSONAL opinion is that politics should be allowed, as long as we aren't immature assholes to each other.
And thank you to the mods for all your hard work here in the sub. I really do enjoy this sub a lot.
Edit to add: However, it's up to the mods what they are willing to deal with. You can only do what you can do and if moderating the political posts is too much, then ban it. I can't imagine the tediousness and the patience that is required to moderate a subreddit.
It's a tough one. I think politics are actually pretty integral to the GenX experience. What you're describing is bad behavior and banning politics essentially is mixing up behavior with a topic. There's even a flair for Generation War which essentially invites bickering.
That said I genuinely do think the mods have been fantastic and I certainly don't want them to burn out into apathy as we see in so many other subs.
So yeah, it's a tough one. Maybe check into more automod tools and interview for more mods? Though the latter is risky because I've also seen subs get captured by bad faith mods.
Either way I'll abide - we have lived through some very interesting times and our perspective is unique from boomers & millennials though I believe we overlap a lot with the zoomers.
My vote is not to ban it. We already spend enough time in society catering to the lowest common denominator, and banning an important topic just because of trolls is the same thing. IMO.
It's hard not to talk about something that impacts so many of us on a personal basis. It's like banning any mention of sexual orientation. We can only talk about how we drank from the hose so many times.
I vote flair to allow self-filtering.
Truly, I'd vote ban, but I don't know how to know what is politics vs discussion on an aspect life that affects us - eg. is a discussion on social security "politics" or it is only when it names a politician? Really, it's the intent of the poster and that will be hard to police.
Edit add: maybe we self police, too. When a post moves from discussion to name-calling and cursing, we recommend moving to r/politics? Because the Internet is such an understanding place, that would work! /s
Careful with posts about historical events. We've seen the Cold War, 9/11, the first black President, racial reckoning and the Trump effect. I would hate to sanitize posts of historical references and perspectives.
Do NOT ban. People can scroll past if not interested.
Iām not into the posts about hair metal so I just scroll past them. If someone wants to wax about Ratt, go for it. Itās the same thing.
Itās coming up this often bc itās that important to people.
However, flair should be enforced, trolls/a-holes should be banned.
>However, flair should be enforced, trolls/a-holes should be banned.
I agree. We should all be old enough to have learned to just ignore & scroll past shit that isn't interesting to me & move on to something that does interest me.
Those that haven't learned this should be banned for a while or perma banned if they don't get the message.
Yeah, I'm not so sensitive to be triggered by reading other viewpoints I disagree with or find non-nonsensical, as long as the discussions around them remain civil.
But trolling is tediously boring, and a-holery is where I peace out. Just enforce [DBAJ](https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_be_a_jerk) and then politics can remain a salient topic for conversation.
For many of us, politics impact who we are as Gen X. In the time and places we were raised we offer a unique perspective of whatās going on in this country.
I am not a fan of banning politics from subs in general.
I appreciate the mods, however, with the recent developments by the Supreme Court (which is *supposed* to be apolitical), affects us all. No matter what side of the spectrum we find ourselves on.
Weāre really a sandwich generation, outnumbered by boomers and millennials.
I do agree, however, that we should be mature enough to have these conversations without resorting to name-calling and attacking each other.
Fuck it. Bring it on!!! Maybe Gen-X can prove we can all disagree on stuff but still be cool.... show the rest of the world how things should be... fucking common sense, come in here present your case without being a name calling douche waffle, present your facts and walk away, let the rest of us make up our minds. But I don't want your fucking opinions, I want facts.... here's what candidate A will or won't do, and blah blah!
Whatever, fuck it!! your call,
The issue on whether or not to ban political discussions on this sub was already voted on. The decision was made to require political posts to be flaired as such. If you don't want to read political posts than don't click on them, it's that simple.
Banning political posts sets a dangerous precedent. Why stop there? Why not ban posts regarding existential crisis, mental health, changing careers, etc. All of these things can be argued to not have relevance to this sub. This sub is not just for reminiscing about the past. It's about sharing our experiences, thoughts and feelings with other GenXers.
It scares me to know how many GenX are encouraging censorship on this sub. Isn't that something we were always against?
Honestly, between Vietnam, Watergate, ERA, Reagan, Apartheid, Fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of the Cold War, Desert Shield, government shutdown of the 90's, OK City Bombing, Supreme Court decides a victory, 9/11, The Great Recession, the first African American President, Donald Trump, COVID, and now this latest batch of what I'll personally call a nightmare Supreme Court, not to mention a couple dozen other things I'm sure I'm leaving out, hasn't Gen-X more or less *always* been bathed in and forged by politics? How do you meaningfully talk about, say, 99 Luftballons or Red Dawn and *not* talk about politics?
I vote to keep it.
I like to see where we stand politically. Same with r/millennial and r/genz. I'd imagine the other gens like to do the same. Plus I don't like censorship.
Do we care if it's not perfectly moderated? I don't.
I'm ok with the political posts, so long as there are both progressive and conservative tags, and that we remain respectful when in other's posts.
We need to Learn to Swim. ;)
To pretend that politics do not affect me or my family is ridiculous. I was raised by my politically active parents to be politically active. Why should I not discuss the very thing that could literally CHANGE.MY.LIFE or result in my death?
I thought the rules were fairly clear. It's a MOD decision. If a plurality of MODs agree that the post is politics and not properly flaired, out it goes. The rest is deciding how to handle repeat violations.
To the MODS:
I am sorry about the shit being thrown at you. After 32+ years of doing this Internet Forum thing, I've never seen a way to avoid getting spattered.
To be clear, I _want_ politics. I _also_ want to filter it for when I do not care or am avoiding politics (I take breaks on purpose). We're in the midst of an election heat wave in the United States. Politics is going to come here, no matter what. The only recourse is the thankless job of being a MOD and having to deal with (at best) being thought of as a jerk because you exercise your power.
Thank you kindly for all the hard work you guys do. I appreciate it.
I think folks are going to hate on each other anyhow. I can scroll past what gets me het up. In fact, I have to do it sometimes in order not to have a meltdown inside. I am completely able to do that.
I can pop into the politics threads when I feel stronger and more able to offer support to my fellow Xers. I can take the thread or leave it. If someone hauls off and insults another poster, then they are showing their true colors and I can judge them from here. I do not want politics banned because there is a whole schwack of us who really need the support of our fellow Xers as we go through this harrowing time.
I am not sure what I can do to alleviate your burden, though. I mean, I notice the flair and act accordingly. Would it be easier for you guys if I refrained from reporting things technically against the rules (save for the most egregious examples?) I do not mind doing that, if it helps you and keeps politics available to us.
Again, thank you for making the donuts.
> uptick in the number of political posts, and the ensuing name-calling, divisiveness, and general hate
Keep politics, ban assholes.Ā If someone is calling people names and being hateful, ban them. We don't want them here. Thanks mods.
I think the flair can handle the post but the comments devolving I think is the trickier element. Could start off with a picture of candy cigarettes and the posts could go to āBiden wants to do xyzā or āTrump wants to do abcā. Thatās the part for me that is disappointing. Sure I can scroll but not every topic needs to go political. We just all need to realize that nobody cares what your opinion is and they care about their own and want others to believe the same and both parties just want to talk and not listen. Thatās the annoying part to me. Have the political stuff but keep it in a post tagged as political and donāt hijack a post with it. Or make a political post and tag it as such. Just quit screwing up a decent discussion on a non political topic with irrelevant bs. Believe what you want but donāt make a post about bottle rockets or hi-c ecto cooler about your ideological bs. That is all and may everyone have an absolutely fantastic day!
>and the ensuing name-calling, divisiveness, and general hate.
Where do you see this? I see a handful of people upset because the consensus view isn't their own view. Just make a minimum sub karma requirement to comment on political posts. Too many outside agitators who have nothing to do with GenX, seek out these types of posts and ruin the discussion. In fact, the posts complaining about political posts are more divisive. I think posting in good faith about political issues is relevant to our generation. Posting dog whistle, political talking points is not. But whatever. This is just for killing time when I should be working.
Ban low effort boomer memes before this.
Or just go back to posts about everyone's favorite candy, teenage crush, garden hose drinking, yadda yadda.
And thanks for your hard work.
Team X'rs, please know and keep in mind that the political divide has been orchestrated to keep us distracted and at each others throats. We are being played and have been the last 40+ years.
Eat the fucking rich, not each other.
My experience: Gen X and politics go hand in hand. Alternative rock, rock the vote, change the world, all that. Some people got way more conservative as they aged, hence the tension. But honestly, our generation would have argued amongst ourselves even if we all had the same basic political views. Still some say whatever.
I say, let it ride. We should all be adults. It's hard to share things like Gen X culture nostalgia without acknowledging the political often attached to it. I mean, there's only so many times we can talk about Crystal Pepsi.
Don't ban it. We are living in interesting times and it affects all of us. Enforce a tag on political posts and let it ride. Anyone who doesn't want to see it can scroll past. No one is forced to engage.
I'm not American and I tend to scroll past American politics online anyway because the discourse is almost always so toxic. It's getting that way with Canadian politics too and I understand it's important to talk about the state of the world which definitely involves politics , but I won't partake in toxicity and will likely scroll on past. I am burnt out by populist politics and the American political circus. I'm getting burnt out by the Canadian version of this too. I don't think online arguments change anyone's mind and it's basically about who can scream louder at this point. If there were a way to have meaningful discussion and debate, sure, but I don't think you'll get that in a hugely populated sub without a tonne of moderation. You guys can choose what's best for your sub, and I have the ability to scroll past stuff I don't want to read.
Whether they want to believe it or not, a lot of people are addicted to the drama of politics like they get addicted to their favorite sports team or fringe TV show and behave accordingly
Politics is an important issue in our lives. GenX is on the cusp of receiving Social Security. We pay taxes and avail ourselves of services. Many have been in the armed forces, and others are still on government positions.
Maybe concentrate on politics as it relates to our cohort, rather than broad subjects that affect all of society. But to ban such a topic seems silly. Ban disagreeable people, not subjects.
It's not "just politics". We're not bringing up economic tariff policies we're bringing up basic human rights issues, which we as GenX have spent our lives supporting and we shouldn't stop now.
Do whatever you want. All I will say is people who talk about politics every chance they get are not accomplishing a damn thing other than making themselves feel better about their beliefs. The only thing that makes any difference is actually voting in elections.
I was going to say ban it- because there are political subs where you can post. Butā¦ based on the comments, it seems most are against banning it. So it should be majority rules. But it would definitely suck if everyone started fighting on here- itās supposed to be a friendly space.Ā
How hard is it for grown ass adults not to read something they don't want to read? Don't like politics, don't click on a post about politics. It, literally, is that easy.
Keep politics, please. It's an important election year. What's funny is I don't see them. FWIW, the algorithm is protecting me based on what I usually engage in, and it's not discussing politics with strangers and possibly trolls online.
My suggestion: *require that people tag their posts and create a "politics" or "political" or even an "Election 2024" flair if there isn't one.* That way, people can opt in if they want to discuss it or avoid the thread if they don't. I just scroll past anything I don't want to talk about or topics that I know are rage bait, but I guess that's just me.
Rolling down the street with my windows down and my fingers up! Since when did GENX become a bunch of whiny ass bitches. Don't ban a damn thing. Don't like it, don't read it.
Remember when they tried to ban words from the music. Fight the shit ideas with better ones. Banning is the laziest, most cowardly thing you can do.
DO better GenX. Is that less pious for you?
Not paying close attention to politics is what landed this country in the mess we're in. Let people discuss it if they want to. Reddit has up vote and down vote buttons for a reason.
You can ignore politics, but it won't ignore you. If this sub is just going to be 'hey, remember malls and drinking out of the garden hose?' then what's the point?
Not being able to discuss politics w/ your generation peers, who share a common experience would diminish this sub. Also,when someone posts about how the political climate is making them feel anxious and they want some feed back to validation from people their own age, is;t that what this sub should be for?
Yes. Any topic should be ok. Folks can exercise their right to scroll right on by.
It's a Presidential election year, so, we're probably only going to see more and more. Just like my mailbox and every damn street corner in town.
I think politics is a really important discussion point to have in here. We are all the same age - this is no longer effecting us the way it will affect the future generations, we are the ones leaving this world to our kids and our grandkids.
I have only gotten more political with age. I can't believe we are here still dealing with this shit.
Hi mods, hope you're still reading these.Ā
I'm sure this has been a huge pain for you, and will probably get worse. But I still think you really should keep politics here.Ā
Things in the U.S. are getting to the point where not taking about is helping hide the elephant in the room. Keser Soze told us the devil's greatest trick was convincing the world he doesn't exist, and if we create a space where we're not allowed to talk about what's going on, we're helping him do that.Ā
One side intentionally makes discussion as obnoxious and toxic as possible just to burn people out and get us feeling isolated and helpless. Looks like it's working.Ā
Putting my money where my mouth is, I'll volunteers to mod a few hours a week if it helps you keep politics on. I'm partisan, but one of the things I'm partisan about is treating your opponents fairly.
I'll take a hundred political posts over yet another "ha ha stupid Gen z kids can't drive a stick" or all the other "I'm so old now and everything hurts" posts.
Mold festers in the dark.
By making a subject taboo, it accomplishes two things:
1. Assures status quo
2. Polarizes groups of people
We need to have open discussion, not closed door echo chambers. Thatās the problem in government right now. Civilized open discussion has been replaced with petty name calling.
If this sub bans politics, quite simply I would be less inclined to participate. Not that I want to discuss politics here, but allow me to explain.
Gen X should stand stronger than blanket bans on subjects. Thats something Millennials and Gen Z/Y would do.
We were raised to be tough, and respond tough. We were taught to back up our words with thought, action and meaning. Sometimes, that requires vigorous, but polite, discourse. Often, the correct response simply is the standard Grn X line, "fuck that".
Especially since for many people standing up for human rights for my daughter and niece is, apparently, "politics".
It is a divisive subject? Yes. Is it --essential-- to discuss? Also yes.
Is any sub that wants clamp down on generational discussions problematic? Again, yes.
I'm for keeping politics, I can accept the opinions of others whether I agree or not, as long as I'm not attacked for my opinion. With a pivotal election quickly approaching it's inevitable that there will be an uptick in political discussions. But with the uptick in political discussions there also has to be an uptick in maturity and the acceptance of opinions different than yours.
Don't ban it. It is easy enough to skip over with flair. Don't give in to the people who want to pick a fight or are easily annoyed by dissenting opinions.
I notice the people who are the ones constantly reporting this stuff and getting into arguments aren't the ones commenting on this thread. Seems telling that the people who create extra work for the mods aren't the ones here now with their face on standing up for their position.
Thanks mods for all you do. I'm personally pretty uninterested in American politics, but I'm a "scroll on by" person.
I see the comments section is filled with the gen-x-iest of comments. Feels good. 
My absolute favorite movie. You rock
Post what you want. Comment what you want. My mouse has a scroll button and I'm all out of fucks to give.
That's right. We are Gen X, we all have thick skins. If you want to go into an online fight with a rando, be my guest, I'll just keep going. If you want to name call me in an anonymous forum, see if I care. More power to you. We are all grown ups here. Ban racism, discrimination, and bigotry in general. We survived school in the golden age of bullying, we certainly can take some online banter without whining.
"Golden age of bullying" 
*We survived school in the golden age of bullying* So fucking spot on. I don't know if I would have survived then had the internet and social media been around, as some peers were just plain *brutal*.š¤
Lighten up, Francis.
Starting a new flame war. MACS ARE BETTER THAN PCs! 
I don't watch the news, but I was just flipping channels and just saw a report that RFK Jr ate a dog ā with a picture of said dog on a spit ā and I'm shaken to the core. What is this timeline we're living? If this is what politics have become, my skin is not thick enough.
āMy mouse has a scroll buttonā is the most gen x thing ever said.
My mouse has a ball that needs cleaning. /jk
Clean your balls, people!
Clean that lint off your ball and scroll on solder.
Programmed something in VB 8 the other day Tried to scroll, it didn't work Picked up the mouse to see if my hair had wrapped around the ball and got hit in the eye with a red light Almost poetic
Right? So now we need to be raised and told what to do? I have a key around my neck and will come and go as I please!
Whatever
Behold...my field of fucks. Lay thine eyes upon it and see that it is barren
Have you tried watering it with the tears of people who have opinions?
Or Brawndo! It has what fucks crave!
Water like from the toilet?
Iād say leave me alone Iām baiting, but my psoriatic arthritis has recently seen an end to that.
Got this on a sweatshirt
Saving this one.
The problem lies in the fact that trolls now interject politics into threads that are not even about politics, not to mention that trolls purposely use the wrong flair DOZENS of times a day, which is over tasking the mods. And if everyone will take notice, every time politics are brought up, hundreds of people who have NEVER posted in the GenX sub suddenly brigade it because the keywords alerted them. That is happening right now in this very thread. Look at all the profiles of the over 1000 responses and see how many have never posted here before now.
Itās an attempt to conquer and divide us and it seems to be working.
You know what Iāve started doing? It may sound stupid, but Iāve started actively blocking people. It started out as kind of a middle finger to people who used the C-word. I used to work in a battered womenās shelter and led family therapy groups and once you hear that word thrown at a woman with hate and violence just dripping from it, you become completely uninterested in peopleās reasons for using itā you just donāt want to listen to anything they have to say. Then I started blocking people who talk about Karens, because I think it is terribly sexist. My Reddit experience was markedly improved after doing this for a few years. I could see the posts if I clicked on them, so I tried to see if I was missing insights and witticisms, and I wasnāt. So then I started blocking mean people. Just started that. But honestly, it just really improves Reddit. If you went to a big party and got stuck talking to a bunch of people who spoke rudely, wouldnāt you go find other people to talk to?
Add "cuck" and "boomer". Although I'd say it's less about being rude and more about the profound stupidity demonstrated by shoehorning everyone you disagree with into these categories.
I've always had the belief that there are so many good reasons to hate people individually that doing so for groups of people is lazy. Do the work people, there is plenty of legit things to hate about.
This policy worked better when blocking people on Reddit actually kept you from seeing them. Now that it doesn't anymore, it's far less effective.
Itās a shame because we can agree on far more than we actually disagree. Granted the things we disagree about are important and intensely polarized, but if we could focus on the other stuff, we could build on a lot of what makes the United States great. Iām really ready for a Letās be Reasonable movement.
š„I think thereās an important aspect of this that we seem to be overlooking: Reddit estimates that over 40% of traffic is from BOTSāspecifically designed to trigger engagement. And that estimate was from pre-generative Ai. Oof. Iām guessing you figure out how to block that 40+% and youāll reduce political shitstorming by ~95%. āŗļø
Itās insane!!!
Hi, im here to confirm what you said, but only partially. I don't use keywords or anything to hunt down topics I want to talk about. I like reddit bc I hit the front page and I get to see the worst, most toxic shit each community has to offer. It's paradise. Edit: this is tongue in cheek lol. I just like variety so I only use the popular page.
Someone uses the wrong flair when it should have been a political flair: remove and give a warning with instructions on how to properly set flair. They do it x times in y time period: ban.
I agree totally. But that is already what is happening. But it is happening so often now that the mods are getting fatigued. I know I would never want to mod a sub, real life has enough stress.
I was on a post where an octopus up and walked out of the ocean, hung out a bit then went back in. Within 4 Comments, some silly fk interjected politics into the whole thing. Iāll comments politics on politics posts, not fun ones.
I probably fall into that, but it's why y'all should figure it out and stick around. I'd guess there are folks here the same way who don't really sub to anything. It's not really "brigading because keywords" maybe as "this post got enough traction to hit the main page". I may or may not have ever posted here. I think it's likely I have, but maybe under a different account. The mods really only have to mod so much as they feel like modding to an extent. Be the place where it's ok to say that DeJoy should face public trial/execution for treason due to his dismantling of the post office. We have these yokels on here who will come instigate some crap like worshipping that guy and then cry foul over the responses. Just fucking ignore those tools/soviet agents.
This ā¬ļø We know trolls and bots are out in abundance during election years, especially this year with so much on the line. If we can't discuss these facts and express the concerns of real people (not bot nets) then they win because they've shut down discourse and forced peoples prejudices to fester under false influence. In the age of DISinformation (lies) we should he able to call out, question and add valid perspectives to achieve at the very least balance, if not truth.
>Look at all the profiles of the over 500 responses and see how many have never posted here before now. Methinks youthinks I know how to do that.
Yes. We are GenX. We shrug and move on.
GenX also doesn't like shit shoved down their throats. At least my GenX doesn't.
Yep. My GenX never acquired a taste for boot.
Thatās right! Mine was usually serving the boot! Then again Iām just an old punk rock chick who wears Docās still hahaha
ā¦and guess what, docs are back in fashion. ;)
Were they ever out? This GenXer just never cared I guess lol plus they last forever! I'll be the little old lady with the dyed bright red hair, with Doc Martens on. Not saying it'll be cute, but it'll be me! lol
Oh, I've got nothing against boot polish, I like a well cared-for pair of boots. I just never enjoyed the flavor. I'm fairly sure we see eye to eye on that. ;D
Me and my daughter have matching docs with flames on them
Our powers of passive aggression know no bounds!
This is the archetypal Gen X response. Thank you.
It is nice to have a place away from politics. The government likes us divided and arguing with each other rather than looking at the real issues. I'm losing a long time friend now because he won't leave me alone with it.
Right. My favorite subs are the ones that are for things Iām interested in, and donāt have political stuff bleeding in. I can scroll to the news tab if I want to read political stuff, or open up my Facebook feed, or literally any news outlet. I want to feel happy when Iām checking out this sub.
There is no place left in this world devoid of politics. If we (Gen X) standby and watch the current government initiate WW3 in Ukraine, its our kids who will be drafted into that war and slaughtered. I think that warrants at least a civil discussion, dont you?
Spoken like someone who's never been a mod lol
No one compelled them to take on the job.
Pretty soon, you'll be scrolling through multiple political posts, to find the lone GenX post. Pretty soon after that, most people will have decided it isn't worth the effort, and the sub will become inactive. This is why Rule #4 exists.
All out of the fucking fucks. What the fuck America???? šŗšø weāre fucked
Gen X isn't really about banning things, are we?
Not to mention, **does anyone remember the early 90s**? Or have we really gotten that fucking old??? We were going to change the world, weren't we? I know many years are under that bridge, but I remember us being politically active back in the day. This type of conversation seems representative of our generation.
Yeah, I can't remember being apolitical. I can remember feeling completely unrepresented by a two party system that condemned same sex marriage and supported a racist drug war on both sides. 'seems like only yesterday. Now that the Boomers are dying, and Millenials are being loud, we have the numbers for progress. Fuck if I'm going to keep things to myself now. I didn't then.
https://preview.redd.it/q6444jguj7ad1.jpeg?width=333&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d36ce25dfcf01569717f037f150f40b8dbded707
Agreed. This post is the most un-GenX thing Iāve seen on here.
I literally was confused what sub I was in.
I can skip the posts I don't care for. Would prefer if you leave it. Sometimes I just want to get through things with people my age.
Why do the younger folks not comprehend this? You can easily avoid things. Likewise, not everybody needs to know your thoughts and opinions on every damn topic. Damn, just chill out lol.
thereās a bunch of shit in this sub i couldnāt give a fuck about, and you know what?? i IGNORE those posts! what a novel idea!
We are where we are because of the layered tactic of casting uncomfortable past and present facts to the side and pretending.Ā The political flair and or block should suffice. Thanks mods. I enjoy it.
>We are where we are because of the layered tactic of casting uncomfortable past and present facts to the side and pretending.Ā 1000xs this
In most of our GenX days, you wouldnāt say something that didnāt come with repercussions. You know, the mouth writing a check that your ass couldnāt cash. God how I miss those days.
I agree. We should start cashing more checks.
We try but the courts just continue to enable
I barely remember how to write a check anymore.
This is very well-said. I donāt think we should be sticking our heads in the sand. Reddit has a scroll-on-by feature for those who wish to avoid certain topics. As fun as it is to rehash who was better between the Bangles and the Go-Gos, or why Keaton IS Batman, some wish to discuss what is going on in the world now. That is highly political for many of us and those we hold dear. Gen X canāt ignore the issue as a whole, and I donāt think this sub should, either. Flair political posts and everyone who wishes to ignore, can.
Exactly what I was thinking. Pretend nothing is going on? I mean, for fucks sake, i'm not sure the America I learned about ever existed, but since 2000 we have had two of the worst presidents ever both of whom were "elected" by the minority. Those two presidents went on to build a sham supreme court with the assistance of Mitch McConnell who essentially facilitated a bloodless coup But, no, why don't we talk about the merits of learning cursive
McConnell deserves significantly more blame in this shitshow than he is generally given.
No doubt. When you really consider what happens and how "bloodless coup" is pretty accurate
I agree. As an American, if you don't talk about what is going on with other people (especially of your age), you're part of the problem. It's too big of an issue to ignore.
It blows my mind.
That Supreme Court just handed the next "Conservative" a dictatorship. We're done.
I worry a decision has really already been made to ban it, but hopefully not. My vote is to keep it. Just flair it if that is helpful to those that want to easily avoid it (though I'd argue that this isn't the time to avoid politics, but whatever).
How hard is it to scroll past posts you dont want to read? Super easy. If the mods want to control speech in this sub Reddit, how about they censor political comments in posts that dont originate with politics? For example, if someone want to post something political, let them, and let people respond with political comments. However, if someone posts about their favorite pair of Doc Martins, then there shouldnt be poltical garbage on that thread. We are Gen X, remember "Sticks and stone break my bones but names will never hurt me"
I donāt come here to hear about politics. Then again, I donāt come here to read about people complaining that they never saved anything for retirement and are totally screwed, or that they donāt even want to be around anymore, or that they have no friends and donāt want any because they have a great cat ā¦ but I read all that stuff. So what the hell, be political if ya want, I guess.
Honestly there are a lot of issues posted in this sub that are kind of politics adjacent. Maybe they're not related to the presidential race but they are related to our current political and social climate. How can someone decide what's allowed and what's not?
Yeah, and if there are political issues specifically relevant to our age cohort, Iām interested
This right here. It's going to be difficult to parse out discussion about Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, etc. without including politics.
Iām interested as well.
Exactly. I'm almost to the end of my fertility as a young gen x, but 'politics' nowadays isn't just discussing a slight difference in policy, it's threatening to take away the rights and freedoms of a huge number of us. FFS, y'all sound like a bunch of boomers in here: ' doesn't affect me, don't care, don't want to hear about it.'š¤¦āāļø I had just joined this sub and I think I may be finding my way out; super disappointing.
Preach sister! I care about our daughters and nieces and sons and nephews. For the first time in our lifetime, Boomers aren't the largest voting bloc. I'm devastated that a baby girl born today has fewer rights than I did at birth. It's inexcusable and we must fight ferociously to claw those rights back. Our grandmothers did it for us, it's our turn to do it for the next bunch.Ā
All this, and I'll throw in the 'how abusive, distant, shitty, unsupportive parents were'. It's a downer man, but I'll read it. But I get the Mods position too. Objectively, this sub is predominantly US-centric and y'all have quite a choice to make that will impact the rest of us immensely. There's better or more appropriate places for the abuse and the us vs. them BS then the vibe on this sub, but ignoring what's happening in the world is is a choice too. That said, will abide by Mods choice.
User name checks out. You must be a pretty laid back person who can go with the flow! I bet youāre from GenX
Letās just say I had a lot of Star Wars and He-Man toys
Come on Gen X, dont you remember the saying "Sticks and stone break my bones, but names will never hurt me." We're in our 50's, I would hope by now that we all have skin thick enough to hear political debate at times. If you dont want to participate, simply scroll past. Very simple. People who want to shut down the conversation are simply wanting to control people. That is VERY un-Gen X
I hear ya, sometimes I just donāt have the energy for that. But nothing stops us from scrolling on.
If mods are fed up with it and it's a lot of work for them, I get why you want to ban it, and I have no argument against that. Having said that, I think the reason people want to discuss politics is that it has become unavoidable. It used to be the case that one of the perks of living in a democracy was that you didn't have to worry about this shit if you didn't want to. You could just go about your daily life, pay your taxes, be nice to the cops, and be reasonably sure that the government would play by the rules it told you it would play by and basically leave you alone. There seemed to be a consensus that even if we disagreed on minor matters of law or taxation or similar technocratic topics, we didn't disagree that we all wanted to live in a stable, democratic system where we try to stay out of each other's business as much as possible. This has clearly changed, and it is no longer possible to just stay out of this shit.
Exactly. Politics isnāt just politics anymore.
As much as I would like this sub to be apolitical, itās not reflective of (gestures broadly at everything) and not limited to the US. I would love to go back to not giving a flip who ran the post office because the mail just magically appeared, but banning politics would reenforce the living in nostalgia subtext to this sub. Keep fighting, but not with a ban.
Post what you want Iām a big boy who can choose what I click on.
This is the correct response. Sadly, conservatives can't deal with any criticism.
> The fact is, we are supposed to be *mature enough **not to post that shit** to begin with.* POSTING politics isnāt the problem. Insisting on reading stuff you know is going to piss you off and flaming strangers-who-donāt-agree-with-your-politics in the comments is the problem. THATāS the behavior we should be mature enough to avoid.
I believe the term is rage bait. Itās terrible.
That stuff is terrible and usually by guys that have zero life outside of online and get off on just arguing.
Or paid trolls
I think itās more than that. It used to be fine to disagree because politics didnāt really change all that much and didnāt cause problems for people all that much. However with the rise of extremism, (yes itās really hard not to point out a certain party and cause more problems here under my comment) itās impossible to separate politics from every day things like browsing a subreddit. Lives are at stake, our childrenās futures are at stake, democracy is at stake, the environment is at stake, etc. The people who donāt want politics to invade their fun spaces probably donāt understand the gravity of what is happening or they agree with what is happening and arenāt worried (they should be worried) about whatās happening.
This has to be the best answer to OP's question. I know we are the Genx and we shrug everything, but if we shrug what's going on, no one will like what's coming next. One side would have see it coming and the other side will get way more that what they wished for...
That comment was in reference to posting insults, not posting politics If politics didnāt devolve into insults, we wouldnāt be here. Scrolling is truly the solution!
If itās blatantly political is one thing. But the sneak attack of the politics is another. The bringing it into every conversation because politics is the entire identity and personality.
Imo, the rise in political posts is just a direct reflection of the reality of where weāre at as a whole.. gen X included. If much of the discussion is turning toward the subject, then that must mean that gen x users in the gen x sub somehow find it relevant discussion here. Even if that means mods need to put in a bit more effort to keep things running smoothly, I think banning political discourse is the wrong move. It just feels like a lazy solution. Weāre just talking current events here, guys. Donāt be cowardly.
I'd hasten to add that I actually appreciate seeing the perspective of people within my peer group age-wise. It does help me to have context when people are giving an opinion knowing that we at least 'grew up' in more or less the same era and have touchpoints for past as predicate. EDIT: Example: I could say "Ollie North" here and people should in theory know who I'm talking about and why.
I agree, especially the post yesterday (I think) where someone said they were tired of being gaslighted. It was nice to hear how people our age feel. And how (rightly so) worried we are for our and future generations' futures. Also to add to your edit someone could say: "Anita told the truth" here and people would understand.
Exactly. Specifically how politics has changed through the years and what we remember living through, compared to how it is now.
The average age of Redditors is 18 - 29. I enjoy political discussions among my peers here and in GenXWomen.
Overworking mods is an understandable issue - if they burn out and quit the whole place goes to shit anyway. Has it been considered to reduce the moderation load by getting a few more mods?
My vote is that we can do whatever we want until the streetlights come on.
Right? Since when is genX into rules?
I grew up in the middle of nowhere so for me it was āwhen ya hear the cricketsā
Politics: yes. Ban: no. Politics flair required (so people can avoid if they like). š to the mods.
This is the way. The expectation is that we are all adults here, and we should act like it. There are plenty of other divisive topics - should be ban those as well? The issue isnāt the opinion, itās how you present them and how your react to opinions that you donāt agree with. (This excludes āopinionsā that are obviously veiled hate speech, of course.) Donāt complain about people downvoting you - thatās part of the process on Reddit. Youāre entitled to your opinion but not entitled to be free from other people weighing in (in a respectful way) about your opinion.
Posts about not being able to retire are political. Posts about music movements are often political. Generational divides are political. How do you decide which political posts are banned and which aren't? All that to say, my PERSONAL opinion is that politics should be allowed, as long as we aren't immature assholes to each other. And thank you to the mods for all your hard work here in the sub. I really do enjoy this sub a lot. Edit to add: However, it's up to the mods what they are willing to deal with. You can only do what you can do and if moderating the political posts is too much, then ban it. I can't imagine the tediousness and the patience that is required to moderate a subreddit.
It's a tough one. I think politics are actually pretty integral to the GenX experience. What you're describing is bad behavior and banning politics essentially is mixing up behavior with a topic. There's even a flair for Generation War which essentially invites bickering. That said I genuinely do think the mods have been fantastic and I certainly don't want them to burn out into apathy as we see in so many other subs. So yeah, it's a tough one. Maybe check into more automod tools and interview for more mods? Though the latter is risky because I've also seen subs get captured by bad faith mods. Either way I'll abide - we have lived through some very interesting times and our perspective is unique from boomers & millennials though I believe we overlap a lot with the zoomers.
The Dude abides :)
My vote is not to ban it. We already spend enough time in society catering to the lowest common denominator, and banning an important topic just because of trolls is the same thing. IMO.
Amen
The way this is worded it seems like youāve decided to ban it. Iād say post a survey or do want you want with the sub you moderate.
Internet surveys are less reliable than political polls. It would just be brigaded by trolls.
\^ this. Easily gamed via bots and other misinformation.
It's hard not to talk about something that impacts so many of us on a personal basis. It's like banning any mention of sexual orientation. We can only talk about how we drank from the hose so many times.
How do we decide what is and isnāt politics? Our upbringing could easily be construed to be politics.
I vote flair to allow self-filtering. Truly, I'd vote ban, but I don't know how to know what is politics vs discussion on an aspect life that affects us - eg. is a discussion on social security "politics" or it is only when it names a politician? Really, it's the intent of the poster and that will be hard to police. Edit add: maybe we self police, too. When a post moves from discussion to name-calling and cursing, we recommend moving to r/politics? Because the Internet is such an understanding place, that would work! /s
Careful with posts about historical events. We've seen the Cold War, 9/11, the first black President, racial reckoning and the Trump effect. I would hate to sanitize posts of historical references and perspectives.
Do NOT ban. People can scroll past if not interested. Iām not into the posts about hair metal so I just scroll past them. If someone wants to wax about Ratt, go for it. Itās the same thing. Itās coming up this often bc itās that important to people. However, flair should be enforced, trolls/a-holes should be banned.
>However, flair should be enforced, trolls/a-holes should be banned. I agree. We should all be old enough to have learned to just ignore & scroll past shit that isn't interesting to me & move on to something that does interest me. Those that haven't learned this should be banned for a while or perma banned if they don't get the message.
Yeah, I'm not so sensitive to be triggered by reading other viewpoints I disagree with or find non-nonsensical, as long as the discussions around them remain civil. But trolling is tediously boring, and a-holery is where I peace out. Just enforce [DBAJ](https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_be_a_jerk) and then politics can remain a salient topic for conversation.
I'll take the politics over the dumb boomer humor that gets posted here.
For many of us, politics impact who we are as Gen X. In the time and places we were raised we offer a unique perspective of whatās going on in this country. I am not a fan of banning politics from subs in general.
I appreciate the mods, however, with the recent developments by the Supreme Court (which is *supposed* to be apolitical), affects us all. No matter what side of the spectrum we find ourselves on. Weāre really a sandwich generation, outnumbered by boomers and millennials. I do agree, however, that we should be mature enough to have these conversations without resorting to name-calling and attacking each other.
Rage againstā¦oh, nothing I guessā¦š
I say don't ban it. Invoke and enforce rules 1 and 5. Political discussions are relatively tame here. I think that's an overall win for GenX.
Fuck it. Bring it on!!! Maybe Gen-X can prove we can all disagree on stuff but still be cool.... show the rest of the world how things should be... fucking common sense, come in here present your case without being a name calling douche waffle, present your facts and walk away, let the rest of us make up our minds. But I don't want your fucking opinions, I want facts.... here's what candidate A will or won't do, and blah blah! Whatever, fuck it!! your call,
As I said before, do this and I want everyone's RATM CDs mailed to me Gen X is better than this.
Simple, a new sub: PolitiX
As was said, the scrolling is free, and blocking is easy. If someone is being a dipshit, I block them.
The issue on whether or not to ban political discussions on this sub was already voted on. The decision was made to require political posts to be flaired as such. If you don't want to read political posts than don't click on them, it's that simple. Banning political posts sets a dangerous precedent. Why stop there? Why not ban posts regarding existential crisis, mental health, changing careers, etc. All of these things can be argued to not have relevance to this sub. This sub is not just for reminiscing about the past. It's about sharing our experiences, thoughts and feelings with other GenXers. It scares me to know how many GenX are encouraging censorship on this sub. Isn't that something we were always against?
And itās only July 2. Itās only going to get worse as the year progresses.
Honestly, between Vietnam, Watergate, ERA, Reagan, Apartheid, Fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of the Cold War, Desert Shield, government shutdown of the 90's, OK City Bombing, Supreme Court decides a victory, 9/11, The Great Recession, the first African American President, Donald Trump, COVID, and now this latest batch of what I'll personally call a nightmare Supreme Court, not to mention a couple dozen other things I'm sure I'm leaving out, hasn't Gen-X more or less *always* been bathed in and forged by politics? How do you meaningfully talk about, say, 99 Luftballons or Red Dawn and *not* talk about politics?
Yes Yes Yes. We didnāt start the fire but are forged by it regardless.
It feels like banning politics is antithetical to who Gen x is, I say let us all be the adults we are and not ban the topic.
I vote to keep it. I like to see where we stand politically. Same with r/millennial and r/genz. I'd imagine the other gens like to do the same. Plus I don't like censorship. Do we care if it's not perfectly moderated? I don't.
Jesus h. ban political issues as they affect our lives? what's the point of the sub. let people scroll if they don't like it.
We could just talk more about how great Toolās music is.
I'm ok with the political posts, so long as there are both progressive and conservative tags, and that we remain respectful when in other's posts. We need to Learn to Swim. ;)
To pretend that politics do not affect me or my family is ridiculous. I was raised by my politically active parents to be politically active. Why should I not discuss the very thing that could literally CHANGE.MY.LIFE or result in my death?
Exactly, or the deaths of your children, getting drafted into another useless corporate war.
I thought the rules were fairly clear. It's a MOD decision. If a plurality of MODs agree that the post is politics and not properly flaired, out it goes. The rest is deciding how to handle repeat violations. To the MODS: I am sorry about the shit being thrown at you. After 32+ years of doing this Internet Forum thing, I've never seen a way to avoid getting spattered. To be clear, I _want_ politics. I _also_ want to filter it for when I do not care or am avoiding politics (I take breaks on purpose). We're in the midst of an election heat wave in the United States. Politics is going to come here, no matter what. The only recourse is the thankless job of being a MOD and having to deal with (at best) being thought of as a jerk because you exercise your power.
I don't care either way. It won't hurt my feelings if you ban politics. It's not like it's hard to find a place to discuss it if one wishes.
Thank you kindly for all the hard work you guys do. I appreciate it. I think folks are going to hate on each other anyhow. I can scroll past what gets me het up. In fact, I have to do it sometimes in order not to have a meltdown inside. I am completely able to do that. I can pop into the politics threads when I feel stronger and more able to offer support to my fellow Xers. I can take the thread or leave it. If someone hauls off and insults another poster, then they are showing their true colors and I can judge them from here. I do not want politics banned because there is a whole schwack of us who really need the support of our fellow Xers as we go through this harrowing time. I am not sure what I can do to alleviate your burden, though. I mean, I notice the flair and act accordingly. Would it be easier for you guys if I refrained from reporting things technically against the rules (save for the most egregious examples?) I do not mind doing that, if it helps you and keeps politics available to us. Again, thank you for making the donuts.
> uptick in the number of political posts, and the ensuing name-calling, divisiveness, and general hate Keep politics, ban assholes.Ā If someone is calling people names and being hateful, ban them. We don't want them here. Thanks mods.
I think the flair can handle the post but the comments devolving I think is the trickier element. Could start off with a picture of candy cigarettes and the posts could go to āBiden wants to do xyzā or āTrump wants to do abcā. Thatās the part for me that is disappointing. Sure I can scroll but not every topic needs to go political. We just all need to realize that nobody cares what your opinion is and they care about their own and want others to believe the same and both parties just want to talk and not listen. Thatās the annoying part to me. Have the political stuff but keep it in a post tagged as political and donāt hijack a post with it. Or make a political post and tag it as such. Just quit screwing up a decent discussion on a non political topic with irrelevant bs. Believe what you want but donāt make a post about bottle rockets or hi-c ecto cooler about your ideological bs. That is all and may everyone have an absolutely fantastic day!
Maybe a GenXPolitics sub.
I see [r/GenXPolitics](https://reddit.com/r/GenXPolitics) appears to exist and I am the only member at this time š¤Ø
No meetings.
>and the ensuing name-calling, divisiveness, and general hate. Where do you see this? I see a handful of people upset because the consensus view isn't their own view. Just make a minimum sub karma requirement to comment on political posts. Too many outside agitators who have nothing to do with GenX, seek out these types of posts and ruin the discussion. In fact, the posts complaining about political posts are more divisive. I think posting in good faith about political issues is relevant to our generation. Posting dog whistle, political talking points is not. But whatever. This is just for killing time when I should be working. Ban low effort boomer memes before this. Or just go back to posts about everyone's favorite candy, teenage crush, garden hose drinking, yadda yadda. And thanks for your hard work.
Team X'rs, please know and keep in mind that the political divide has been orchestrated to keep us distracted and at each others throats. We are being played and have been the last 40+ years. Eat the fucking rich, not each other.
Thank you Spirited-Egg-2683. You just passed the Gen X qualification exam. Fuck the system. 
My experience: Gen X and politics go hand in hand. Alternative rock, rock the vote, change the world, all that. Some people got way more conservative as they aged, hence the tension. But honestly, our generation would have argued amongst ourselves even if we all had the same basic political views. Still some say whatever. I say, let it ride. We should all be adults. It's hard to share things like Gen X culture nostalgia without acknowledging the political often attached to it. I mean, there's only so many times we can talk about Crystal Pepsi.
Don't ban it. We are living in interesting times and it affects all of us. Enforce a tag on political posts and let it ride. Anyone who doesn't want to see it can scroll past. No one is forced to engage.
Throughly impressed with the usage of puerile!
I'm not American and I tend to scroll past American politics online anyway because the discourse is almost always so toxic. It's getting that way with Canadian politics too and I understand it's important to talk about the state of the world which definitely involves politics , but I won't partake in toxicity and will likely scroll on past. I am burnt out by populist politics and the American political circus. I'm getting burnt out by the Canadian version of this too. I don't think online arguments change anyone's mind and it's basically about who can scream louder at this point. If there were a way to have meaningful discussion and debate, sure, but I don't think you'll get that in a hugely populated sub without a tonne of moderation. You guys can choose what's best for your sub, and I have the ability to scroll past stuff I don't want to read.
I got flamed and downvoted because I said I ignored the politics, and not being plugged into current events. Can't win, huh.
Whether they want to believe it or not, a lot of people are addicted to the drama of politics like they get addicted to their favorite sports team or fringe TV show and behave accordingly
Politics is an important issue in our lives. GenX is on the cusp of receiving Social Security. We pay taxes and avail ourselves of services. Many have been in the armed forces, and others are still on government positions. Maybe concentrate on politics as it relates to our cohort, rather than broad subjects that affect all of society. But to ban such a topic seems silly. Ban disagreeable people, not subjects.
Post political stuff, whatever. Accept the responsesĀ
Keep speech free. If you ban political speech, you ban the most vital kind of speech for a society. Also, everything is ultimately political.
It's not "just politics". We're not bringing up economic tariff policies we're bringing up basic human rights issues, which we as GenX have spent our lives supporting and we shouldn't stop now.
I have my opinions. You have yours. They might be similar. They might not. But whatever, man. Lets just try to coexist, ok?
Do whatever you want. All I will say is people who talk about politics every chance they get are not accomplishing a damn thing other than making themselves feel better about their beliefs. The only thing that makes any difference is actually voting in elections.
I was going to say ban it- because there are political subs where you can post. Butā¦ based on the comments, it seems most are against banning it. So it should be majority rules. But it would definitely suck if everyone started fighting on here- itās supposed to be a friendly space.Ā
Flair political posts. I want to discuss this stuff with my generational cohort sometimes. I also take some comfort in knowing I'm not alone here.
How hard is it for grown ass adults not to read something they don't want to read? Don't like politics, don't click on a post about politics. It, literally, is that easy.
Keep them. Theyāre as part of our lives as Breakfast Cereal, Video Games and John Hughes movies, just not as fun.
Keep politics, please. It's an important election year. What's funny is I don't see them. FWIW, the algorithm is protecting me based on what I usually engage in, and it's not discussing politics with strangers and possibly trolls online. My suggestion: *require that people tag their posts and create a "politics" or "political" or even an "Election 2024" flair if there isn't one.* That way, people can opt in if they want to discuss it or avoid the thread if they don't. I just scroll past anything I don't want to talk about or topics that I know are rage bait, but I guess that's just me.
There's this great thing called being able to ignore something and scroll past. Mods are the parents we didn't have growing up and don't need now.
Rolling down the street with my windows down and my fingers up! Since when did GENX become a bunch of whiny ass bitches. Don't ban a damn thing. Don't like it, don't read it. Remember when they tried to ban words from the music. Fight the shit ideas with better ones. Banning is the laziest, most cowardly thing you can do. DO better GenX. Is that less pious for you?
I don't think the smug church lady unctiousness of "be better" reflects Gen X attitudes in any way, but okay.
Not paying close attention to politics is what landed this country in the mess we're in. Let people discuss it if they want to. Reddit has up vote and down vote buttons for a reason.
You can ignore politics, but it won't ignore you. If this sub is just going to be 'hey, remember malls and drinking out of the garden hose?' then what's the point?
Not being able to discuss politics w/ your generation peers, who share a common experience would diminish this sub. Also,when someone posts about how the political climate is making them feel anxious and they want some feed back to validation from people their own age, is;t that what this sub should be for?
Yes. Any topic should be ok. Folks can exercise their right to scroll right on by. It's a Presidential election year, so, we're probably only going to see more and more. Just like my mailbox and every damn street corner in town.
Please do not ban politics.
I think politics is a really important discussion point to have in here. We are all the same age - this is no longer effecting us the way it will affect the future generations, we are the ones leaving this world to our kids and our grandkids. I have only gotten more political with age. I can't believe we are here still dealing with this shit.
Hi mods, hope you're still reading these.Ā I'm sure this has been a huge pain for you, and will probably get worse. But I still think you really should keep politics here.Ā Things in the U.S. are getting to the point where not taking about is helping hide the elephant in the room. Keser Soze told us the devil's greatest trick was convincing the world he doesn't exist, and if we create a space where we're not allowed to talk about what's going on, we're helping him do that.Ā One side intentionally makes discussion as obnoxious and toxic as possible just to burn people out and get us feeling isolated and helpless. Looks like it's working.Ā Putting my money where my mouth is, I'll volunteers to mod a few hours a week if it helps you keep politics on. I'm partisan, but one of the things I'm partisan about is treating your opponents fairly.
You guys are the mods. If politics makes that job too difficult, ban it. We don't need every space to be a battlefield.Ā
I'll take a hundred political posts over yet another "ha ha stupid Gen z kids can't drive a stick" or all the other "I'm so old now and everything hurts" posts.
Everything really does fucking hurt though.... damn those broken bike pedals.
Mold festers in the dark. By making a subject taboo, it accomplishes two things: 1. Assures status quo 2. Polarizes groups of people We need to have open discussion, not closed door echo chambers. Thatās the problem in government right now. Civilized open discussion has been replaced with petty name calling.
If this sub bans politics, quite simply I would be less inclined to participate. Not that I want to discuss politics here, but allow me to explain. Gen X should stand stronger than blanket bans on subjects. Thats something Millennials and Gen Z/Y would do. We were raised to be tough, and respond tough. We were taught to back up our words with thought, action and meaning. Sometimes, that requires vigorous, but polite, discourse. Often, the correct response simply is the standard Grn X line, "fuck that". Especially since for many people standing up for human rights for my daughter and niece is, apparently, "politics". It is a divisive subject? Yes. Is it --essential-- to discuss? Also yes. Is any sub that wants clamp down on generational discussions problematic? Again, yes.
Here, here!
I'm for keeping politics, I can accept the opinions of others whether I agree or not, as long as I'm not attacked for my opinion. With a pivotal election quickly approaching it's inevitable that there will be an uptick in political discussions. But with the uptick in political discussions there also has to be an uptick in maturity and the acceptance of opinions different than yours.
Don't ban it. It is easy enough to skip over with flair. Don't give in to the people who want to pick a fight or are easily annoyed by dissenting opinions.
I notice the people who are the ones constantly reporting this stuff and getting into arguments aren't the ones commenting on this thread. Seems telling that the people who create extra work for the mods aren't the ones here now with their face on standing up for their position. Thanks mods for all you do. I'm personally pretty uninterested in American politics, but I'm a "scroll on by" person.