An interesting comment. To what extent, do you think, the memes you’ve mentioned apply mostly to young people, in particular young males? I have the impression that the older generation suffers much less from the “Hold mah beer and watch this” syndrome. This may be because they’re just older (which means both that they managed not to kill themselves and that their biochemistry makes them less aggressive and rash), or this may be because it’s just a different generation which grew up in different conditions.
I would say that, considering that much of what I’ve mentioned has to do with a lack of risk aversion, it would be skewed at least somewhat towards young people. But simultaneously and counterintuitively, I would say that it applies to young women more than one would initially suspect; my just-so story for this is that greater society-wide gender equality manifests in the minds of many working-class young women as “Do what the boys are doing because I can now,” which amounts to pronking. I’ve noticed that my sister in the past has done dangerous things for the sake of social status. But I also think that all of my words should be taken in context, because I am myself only one relatively uneducated, working-class, young male, which holistically is simultaneously a source of authority and bias.
But of course, not everything that I’ve said has to do with a lack of risk aversion, so if we were to dissolve this slightly and examine some of the individual memes that I’ve discussed, some may apply to older people as well, such as a greater tolerance for abuse, heart-following, and of course anti-intellectualism. Also, I do have some rural relatives who suffer from the aforementioned syndrome despite their age.
An interesting comment. To what extent, do you think, the memes you’ve mentioned apply mostly to young people, in particular young males? I have the impression that the older generation suffers much less from the “Hold mah beer and watch this” syndrome. This may be because they’re just older (which means both that they managed not to kill themselves and that their biochemistry makes them less aggressive and rash), or this may be because it’s just a different generation which grew up in different conditions.
I would say that, considering that much of what I’ve mentioned has to do with a lack of risk aversion, it would be skewed at least somewhat towards young people. But simultaneously and counterintuitively, I would say that it applies to young women more than one would initially suspect; my just-so story for this is that greater society-wide gender equality manifests in the minds of many working-class young women as “Do what the boys are doing because I can now,” which amounts to pronking. I’ve noticed that my sister in the past has done dangerous things for the sake of social status. But I also think that all of my words should be taken in context, because I am myself only one relatively uneducated, working-class, young male, which holistically is simultaneously a source of authority and bias.
But of course, not everything that I’ve said has to do with a lack of risk aversion, so if we were to dissolve this slightly and examine some of the individual memes that I’ve discussed, some may apply to older people as well, such as a greater tolerance for abuse, heart-following, and of course anti-intellectualism. Also, I do have some rural relatives who suffer from the aforementioned syndrome despite their age.