Why is Gen Z Supporting Political Violence?

[00:00] Hey cousins, happy Thursday. I saw this

[00:02] article from Newsweek that I really

[00:04] wanted to dive into because I found it

[00:05] very interesting and very fitting in

[00:08] today's day and age to talk about. So

[00:10] the headline reads, "Gen Z is much more

[00:12] supportive of political violence." It is

[00:14] by Martha McCarti. And although the

[00:17] article seems to lean a bit left, I

[00:19] definitely agreed with majority of the

[00:21] points because, you know, it's not even

[00:24] just that the shooters are very often,

[00:26] it seems to be Gen Z, but it's that when

[00:30] you go online after these shootings,

[00:32] majority of the support seems to be

[00:33] coming from Gen Z. And especially if the

[00:36] shooting or the violence has to do with

[00:38] something that is political. So, we're

[00:40] going to do a deeper dive into this. And

[00:42] I want to know if you guys have noticed

[00:43] this trend as well. Be sure to like,

[00:45] comment, share, subscribe. Welcome to

[00:47] Respectfully.

[00:50] [Music]

[00:52] Okay, so again, this article, it does

[00:54] lean a bit left. If you guys go and

[00:56] check it out, we can put a link in the

[00:57] description, but I thought that it was

[00:59] just very interesting. Again, it says,

[01:01] "Jenz is much more supportive of

[01:03] political violence." So, while we have

[01:06] seen this, you know, we have seen in the

[01:08] last 5 years a huge shift when it comes

[01:10] to culture. I feel like ever since

[01:12] George Floyd, people have been much more

[01:14] prone to violence. We're seeing people

[01:16] be much more comfortable with rioting,

[01:18] looting, crime, and making up excuses

[01:21] for all kind of reasons. Is that like an

[01:23] angelic overlay on George Floyd?

[01:27] Country Wheel. Miss Rodriguez, I'm going

[01:30] to need you to tell Country Wheel to be

[01:31] careful.

[01:32] >> You know, if I would have seen this, I

[01:34] certainly would have been angelic glow

[01:36] over on George Floyd. That is crazy.

[01:39] Anyway, child. RIP Mr. Floyd. But that

[01:43] being said, ever since then, there has

[01:45] really been this turning point. And I

[01:47] feel like during 2020, so like I, for

[01:48] example, am the very oldest month of Gen

[01:51] Z. I am January 1997. That is the

[01:54] starting date for Gen Z. I was 23 during

[01:58] the whole George Floyd situation. So

[02:00] that being said, majority of Gen Z were

[02:02] either teenagers or very early 20s,

[02:04] which are very formative years to the

[02:06] way that we think. and seeing the

[02:08] violence, seeing it be justified, seeing

[02:10] the crime and the looting and all of

[02:11] that political discourse. I really think

[02:14] that was the starting point for people

[02:15] to become more unhinged. But it has

[02:17] certainly gotten worse ever since then

[02:20] because since then we've seen Trump's

[02:21] assassination attempts, the first one

[02:23] being from someone that's in Gen Z.

[02:25] We've seen the United Healthcare CEO be

[02:27] murdered by someone in Gen Z. We've seen

[02:29] Charlie Kirk be assassinated by someone

[02:31] that's in Gen Z. And they, for what it's

[02:34] worth, I'm going to be honest. I'll

[02:35] acknowledge they are all Gen Z white

[02:37] men. Not saying that this is a racial or

[02:39] gender thing, but if we're always going

[02:41] to call out demographics, we have to be

[02:42] honest, okay? Cuz we we're honest about

[02:45] the fact that we see a lot of these, you

[02:46] know, gender pronoun shooters. So, let's

[02:49] just call spade a spade of what we're

[02:51] seeing out here. Now, that's side

[02:55] tangent that I know y'all are going to

[02:56] drag me for, but I clock the tea here.

[02:58] We talk color over here. Um, it's not

[03:01] always black people to be blamed for

[03:02] things. But that being said, when we

[03:05] talk about the the reasons why this this

[03:09] author, this uh what's her name again?

[03:11] Miss McCardy, Mccardi is talking about

[03:13] um the reasons why Gen Z is more

[03:15] comfortable choosing violence or seem to

[03:17] be more supportive of violence. The

[03:19] first reason I don't really agree with.

[03:21] I think it's actually quite a reach. So,

[03:23] she mentions that economic uncertainty

[03:26] threatens young men's sense of

[03:28] masculinity and that it leads to this

[03:30] weird supporting political violence

[03:32] thing and doubles down on the gender

[03:35] roles. And that's part of why I brought

[03:37] up the whole white men thing. I do think

[03:39] that's a reach. I don't think that the

[03:40] reason that we're seeing more violence

[03:42] from Jenzie has anything to do with

[03:43] masculinity,

[03:45] nor do I think it has to do with gender

[03:47] roles. But I do think that the rest of

[03:49] the points that she adds, they

[03:51] definitely are much more, you know, full

[03:53] of substance or substantive. So, one of

[03:56] the things that she mentions is

[03:57] essentially online extremism and blaming

[04:00] people and blaming just everyone from

[04:02] both sides. Online extremism is a huge

[04:04] reason why we're seeing violence come

[04:06] from Gen Z and be supported by Gen Z.

[04:08] Because whether it's the left or the

[04:10] right, they're always going to blame it

[04:12] on their perspective of the following

[04:14] issues. They're always going to bring up

[04:15] race. They're going to bring up gender.

[04:17] They're going to bring up illegal or

[04:19] legal immigration. They're going to

[04:20] bring up religion or they're going to

[04:22] bring up gun laws. Okay, so when Charlie

[04:25] Kirk was murdered most recently by

[04:27] someone in Gen Z and we saw all these

[04:29] different Gen Z people making memes and

[04:31] just just the most vile, disgusting

[04:33] posts about it and no, you know, social

[04:36] media content about Charlie Kirk's

[04:37] assassination. What were they constantly

[04:39] talking about? They were trying to

[04:41] justify Charlie Kirk's assassination

[04:43] because of his views or their

[04:46] perspective of his views on race,

[04:48] gender, immigration, religion, and gun

[04:51] laws. Those were the things that people

[04:52] were constantly bringing up. So yes,

[04:55] online extremism is a huge reason why.

[04:57] We also see the rise of radical Islam.

[05:00] We see the rise of illegal immigrants

[05:02] here and a lot of people trying to

[05:04] justify it. So every angle that you

[05:06] possibly look at it, a lot of it ties

[05:07] back into the online extremism that

[05:10] comes from both sides. Because it's a

[05:11] great thing to have conversations about

[05:13] those topics, but the second you allow

[05:15] your perspective of those topics to

[05:16] become extreme, you have completely lost

[05:18] the plot. Completely and utterly lost

[05:21] the plot. And let's not do that wide

[05:22] shot again, cuz my um my pants are

[05:24] flooding right now. Chill. So,

[05:27] so I do want to add into that though as

[05:31] we talk about especially with Charlie

[05:32] Kirk's assassination, the fact that

[05:34] conversation seems to not be welcome in

[05:36] the way that it was before George Floyd.

[05:39] Pre-George Floyd, we were able to have

[05:41] political discourse and it didn't feel

[05:43] as emotional or as intolerant or as

[05:46] extreme. And nowadays, the second you

[05:50] try to add discourse or peaceful

[05:52] discourse, it leads to anger and

[05:54] violence. We saw that with Charlie Kirk,

[05:57] who was the pinnacle of democracy. He

[05:59] was the pinnacle of reaching across the

[06:01] aisle in good faith and wanting to have

[06:03] conversation and being willing to admit

[06:05] that he's wrong when there are times

[06:07] where people come up to him and say that

[06:08] he's wrong. I saw trending last week

[06:10] there was actually a video of a deaf man

[06:13] who was telling him that is that

[06:15] Charlie's uh comments about the I don't

[06:17] know the formal name but sign language

[06:19] readers the or interpreters the sign

[06:21] language American sign language

[06:22] interpreters Charlie made a comment

[06:24] saying that he didn't think that it was

[06:26] appropriate to have them on screen

[06:27] because it was distracting this deaf

[06:29] person came and explained to him which I

[06:31] also didn't know that American sign

[06:33] language is often a first language a lot

[06:35] of people can't actually read English

[06:37] lips

[06:38] So they only know American Sign

[06:40] Language. When he explained that to

[06:42] Charlie, Charlie admitted, "You know

[06:43] what? You're right on that point and

[06:45] gave him his tens." That's what good

[06:47] faith conversation looks like. But

[06:48] that's not what the left wants to see

[06:50] anymore. And honestly, there's some

[06:52] people in the woke right who don't want

[06:53] to see it either. But now we're getting

[06:55] to this point where intellectualism is

[06:58] declining and animalistic behavior is

[07:01] taking over because what separate

[07:03] there's many things that separate us

[07:04] from animals, but one of the most key

[07:06] things is our ability to communicate and

[07:08] have intellectual discussions. But as

[07:11] those are becoming more taboo, you're

[07:13] seeing more violent behavior. Um, I've

[07:15] given a shout out a couple times now to

[07:17] Cam Higgby and my friends that are doing

[07:19] the Fearless Tour. This video just got

[07:21] posted, I believe, yesterday. Um, let's

[07:23] play this clip

[07:26] >> again, trying to have good faith

[07:27] conversation.

[07:29] They start arguing and this violent thug

[07:32] starts, you know, assaulting him, gets

[07:34] pepper sprayed all up in his nachos. I

[07:37] know that hurt. I know that hurt. And

[07:39] the camp started talking his little

[07:40] mess.

[07:43] And um, yeah, I mean, this is the type

[07:44] of stuff that's happening. He's over

[07:46] there trying to have good faith

[07:47] discussion. He's not choosing violence.

[07:49] He's literally in a foldup lawn chair.

[07:51] So, the fact that this person thought it

[07:54] was appropriate to assault him is crazy.

[07:56] And my message to Cam, just like I I

[07:58] texted him and I said this, Cam, you

[07:59] need to stop being so close to these

[08:01] people. You're not proving anything new

[08:03] by proving that the left chooses

[08:04] violence. And it's not worth it. Anybody

[08:06] that is thinking to do on the ground

[08:09] journalist content like this, I respect

[08:12] that you're doing it. I respect how

[08:13] brave you are for doing it, but it is

[08:15] not worth allowing these people to get

[08:17] that close to you when you know that

[08:18] they choose violence because they choose

[08:20] animalistic behavior while

[08:23] intellectualism is declining, especially

[08:26] when they're in Gen Z these days. And

[08:28] there's going to be people who will try

[08:29] to justify this black person assaulting

[08:31] him because, oh, it's someone black and

[08:33] you're probably saying things that are

[08:34] racist is what they're going to try to

[08:36] argue. Okay, that's where Gen Z is just

[08:38] completely losing the plot. you know,

[08:41] other parts that other factors that were

[08:43] brought up in this article included

[08:45] economic struggle. So, when it comes to

[08:47] economic struggle, there's always this

[08:49] narrative that poverty leads to crime

[08:52] and desperation, which factually,

[08:54] objectively speaking, it does. I have

[08:57] always rejected the premise just on a

[08:59] more subjective level. I know that like

[09:02] obviously the stats show it. It's common

[09:05] sense that in more povertystricken

[09:08] neighborhoods there's going to be more

[09:09] crime because they're more desperate.

[09:11] I've always just hated the mindset of

[09:13] that though because no matter how poor

[09:15] you are, that doesn't give you an excuse

[09:17] to go and try to steal or to try to harm

[09:20] people. But unfortunately, desperate

[09:23] people do desperate things. We saw that

[09:25] with Luigi Mansion. Luigi Mansion went

[09:28] and shot the United Healthcare CEO

[09:30] because he thought it was appropriate

[09:32] for all the people who couldn't afford

[09:34] their health care bills or so we've

[09:36] heard or so it is alleged. And what is

[09:39] with these angelic overlays? We got face

[09:42] tune on every single p every single

[09:44] criminal today.

[09:45] >> This person doesn't have from what I'm

[09:46] seeing on my end and it looks like no

[09:48] editing. I I can't lie. The first one

[09:50] definitely looked like

[09:51] >> Is that just what Luigi Mansion looks

[09:53] like? It looks like a well-lit shot from

[09:55] a high quality camera with a solid lens

[09:56] to me.

[09:58] >> Dang. I can understand then why why why

[10:01] they're all folding because he looks

[10:03] like a model here. Okay. Well, he has

[10:06] good face card. He could have maybe went

[10:08] and did modeling, but instead he's going

[10:10] to be in a cold prison cell for the rest

[10:11] of his life allegedly if he committed

[10:14] the crime that they're saying that he

[10:15] did. But Luigi Mansion, as we know, he

[10:18] went up, he shot the United Healthcare

[10:19] CEO and well, allegedly. And if all the

[10:23] different things that are tracing as

[10:25] evidence as to why he allegedly did it,

[10:27] it's all trying to people are trying to

[10:29] justify it. People are fighting up and

[10:30] down saying that he did this because the

[10:32] United Healthcare CEO, a presumably

[10:35] wealthy man, was in a position of power

[10:38] and while a lot of people couldn't

[10:39] afford their medical bills, he was

[10:41] living a presumably great life. And

[10:44] again, that's disgusting. I understand

[10:47] being angry at healthare or at the

[10:49] healthare system. I speak on the health

[10:50] care system being fraudulent all the

[10:52] time. But I would never choose violence

[10:55] again against a man who has a wife and

[10:57] kids, but even if he was single and

[10:58] living in his basement, it doesn't

[11:00] justify choosing violence because you

[11:02] don't agree what it is that he has to

[11:04] say. But a lot of people in Gen Z, they

[11:06] don't see it that way because they are

[11:08] taking the mindset of economic struggle

[11:10] justifies crime and desperation. The

[11:13] other thing that's happening, and I

[11:14] think that this is a huge point that

[11:15] tends to be overlooked a lot, and this

[11:17] is a very under understated cause for

[11:22] why we see so many people in Gen Z be

[11:24] totally desensitized to violence, but

[11:26] it's the fact that violence is

[11:28] overexposed. You go online and you see

[11:31] the most vile, disgusting acts of

[11:34] heinous hatred

[11:37] so often that it's no, it almost just

[11:39] feel like you see someone be brutally

[11:41] murdered and it honestly feels like

[11:42] you're just watching Call of Duty or

[11:44] Grand Theft Auto. That's how it feels.

[11:46] It doesn't feel real to people anymore.

[11:48] You know, I talked extensively about

[11:50] during my debrief of remembering Charlie

[11:53] Kirk, how it really has not sat well

[11:55] with me seeing Charlie murdered in such

[11:57] a way, even just on a like beyond a

[12:00] personal level, but on a human level.

[12:02] Like that's extremely unsettling to me.

[12:03] Like there's just random moments where

[12:05] like the imagery of it pops back into my

[12:07] head and it's not something I've gotten

[12:08] over. And you know who else I haven't

[12:10] gotten over and who else I hope you know

[12:12] people don't stop saying her name and

[12:13] demanding justice for her is Ireina

[12:16] Zerretka. The Ukrainian refugee that let

[12:18] us not forget prior to Charlie's murder

[12:21] was slaughtered had her throat slit on a

[12:24] bus and it the the video is all over

[12:28] Twitter and everybody has seen the video

[12:30] and everybody has seen this woman this

[12:32] beautiful young woman bleeding out and

[12:35] it's just another day on Twitter. It's

[12:37] like, yes, obviously like this made a

[12:39] big stir because of how horrible it is.

[12:41] But the thing is is the more we see

[12:42] these horrible acts of violence, the

[12:44] more we become desensitized to it. And

[12:46] Gen Z being the generation that has

[12:48] grown up pretty much our entire lives

[12:50] being virtual and digital, we

[12:52] continuously see this. We are

[12:54] chronically online and we are

[12:55] overexposed to horrible acts of

[12:58] violence. The more you see it, the more

[13:00] you become numb to it. Unfortunately,

[13:02] that's like a lot of police officers.

[13:04] like my best friend's a cop and he was

[13:06] telling me he was telling me and he

[13:08] doesn't talk to me about you know what

[13:10] he does on his dayto-day very often but

[13:12] he was telling me some old story and

[13:15] he's just like casually telling me the

[13:16] most vile like horrible crime scene and

[13:20] I'm looking at him just like are you

[13:22] okay like you seem quite numb and he

[13:24] goes I he goes I often forget that it's

[13:26] not every day that you see a dead body

[13:28] for most people and that just like put

[13:30] chills all over my body like seeing a

[13:33] deceased person is not something that

[13:34] anybody should just be, you know,

[13:36] accustomed to unless they're like

[13:38] inbalming bodies or like work in that

[13:40] field obviously. But the fact that you

[13:42] go online and you see this on such a

[13:43] regular basis, it is desensitizing and

[13:47] demoralizing Gen Z. And you know, after

[13:50] Charlie passed away, there was a

[13:51] reporter, I want to say from USA Today

[13:54] or somewhere that reached out to me

[13:55] asking if I think that there should be

[13:56] censorship on, you know, those kind of

[13:59] acts of violence. And I told her it's

[14:02] one of those things that's like I and I

[14:04] don't even know if I said this on record

[14:05] or not, but I told her I was like, it's

[14:08] one of those things I find myself really

[14:10] torn by because obviously it was like in

[14:12] a really sensitive time. I just watched

[14:14] Charlie be murdered and I was not ready

[14:15] to open up my Twitter and see that. But

[14:17] at the same time, it's like you have to

[14:19] see it. It has to be visible. I think we

[14:21] should limit maybe the platforms that

[14:23] it's on. Like I don't think that needs

[14:25] to be on YouTube. I don't think that

[14:26] needs to be on YouTube, Instagram,

[14:27] everything. Luckily, we have X. I'm most

[14:30] comfortable personally with it just

[14:31] being on X and like the other platforms

[14:34] having it against their terms to maybe

[14:36] not have it. Not in a censorship way,

[14:38] but just in a way of there's a place to

[14:40] see it when you're ready to see it. If

[14:42] that makes sense to you guys. I just

[14:44] don't think that every single social

[14:46] media platform I go on should I be

[14:47] seeing someone be literally murdered. I

[14:49] think that does more harm for society

[14:52] than good. Um, I do actually think it's

[14:54] I I see the benefit of there being the

[14:57] um little warning overlays on certain

[14:59] videos and images when it has to do with

[15:02] actual murder or actual death or

[15:04] violence to that degree because again, I

[15:06] should not just open up well, I would

[15:08] like to not open up my Twitter feed and

[15:10] I just see somebody getting slaughtered

[15:12] no matter who it is. So, it's one of

[15:15] those slippery slope things. I am never

[15:17] going to be in favor of censorship, but

[15:19] I can respect a slight warning on

[15:22] something that's going to be that

[15:23] heeness because I don't think that young

[15:25] people especially should be just opening

[15:27] up their phone and saying that every

[15:29] single time. It's making Jenz way more

[15:32] comfortable with violence and way more

[15:34] desensitized to the fact that a life is

[15:36] being lost every time somebody is being

[15:38] murdered. And the last part of it that I

[15:41] wanted to talk about that I thought was

[15:43] a good point that was made in this

[15:44] article was uh questioning the

[15:47] importance of democracy. A lot of people

[15:49] in Gen Z feel like democracy has

[15:51] completely failed us. We live in a

[15:53] constitutional republic. Some people say

[15:55] a some people say that it is a failed

[15:58] system. I really don't think that it is.

[16:00] I think there are failures within the

[16:01] system, but there's not never going to

[16:03] be a system that's perfect. But for the

[16:05] people who say that our democracy and

[16:07] the fact that we all have some sort of

[16:09] say in what happens in our country that

[16:11] that has failed us, I think that's a

[16:12] reach. I feel like yeah, there's

[16:14] downsides of being in America, but where

[16:16] in the world is better? I always have to

[16:18] challenge people with that. Where is the

[16:20] country that is doing better and why

[16:23] aren't you there? If that's the case,

[16:24] because if you take your mindset there,

[16:26] it's either not going to be accepted or

[16:28] allowed or people with your mindset are

[16:30] going to go there and ruin it. But a lot

[16:33] of people in Gen Z were will get

[16:35] frustrated that they're making $725 an

[16:37] hour and rent is $3,000 and everything

[16:41] seems to be like we we do feel like

[16:43] we're holding the weight of all every

[16:45] prior generation's burdens on our

[16:47] shoulders financially. And I get that. I

[16:50] get the anger. I get the frustration.

[16:52] But violence and tyranny and anarchy,

[16:54] that is not going to bring the solution

[16:56] that you guys want. that is just going

[16:58] to make everything a million times worse

[17:00] and have us living like we're in some

[17:01] kind of third world country with no

[17:04] integrity or moral compass. Okay. So,

[17:06] the whole point that she makes

[17:08] throughout it, I think she's correct. I

[17:10] think the author of this article is

[17:11] correct in the fact that questioning the

[17:14] importance of democracy is why there's

[17:17] so much disillusionment with political

[17:19] institutions. But I don't think that

[17:21] anybody in Gen Z should ever take their

[17:24] hatred towards democracy as reason to go

[17:28] and choose violence or to get on the

[17:30] internet and celebrate violence here in

[17:32] America. And that's all I have to say

[17:34] about that. So, what do you guys think?

[17:36] Have you guys noticed it? Have you guys

[17:37] noticed that Jenz is being much more

[17:39] prone to violence or much more

[17:41] accustomed to being comfortable with

[17:43] celebrating violence? Or am I reaching

[17:46] and is this article reaching? because

[17:47] statistically speaking, it seems like

[17:49] that seems to be the case. And that's

[17:50] all I have to say. Thank you guys for

[17:52] tuning in for another episode

[17:53] respectfully. Be sure to like, share,

[17:55] comment, and subscribe. I'll talk to you

[17:56] soon.

[18:00] [Music]