Long ago, I was an angry young man who railed against all the injustices of the world, but time has passed, I have matured and learned so much more about things, and now I am an angrier old man.
(Importing from my old account my pinned post, which seems even more apt (apter?) now than when first expressed.)
Jun 26, 2026, 4:37 AM@robpike I have found, as I age, that I am less concerned about what people might think negatively about what I say, so I increasingly say exactly what I feel, and if people don't like it, so be it.
Jun 26, 2026, 4:46 AM@robpike
I have had a similar experience. I find myself playing old #punk rock that I loved in the mid-1980s. #DeadKennedys was my favorite band. In the early 2000s, I finally realized that Jello Biafra, in particular, but all political punk lyricists in general, can't tell the difference between hyperbole and reality.
Yet, I listen to DK songs like “Police Truck”, “This Could Be Anywhere”, “Soup Is Good Food” & many others & all I think is “they are no longer hyperbole in 2026”!
Cc: @evan
@bkuhn @robpike @evan
It's a sign of our times, that prior generations got more conservative as they got older, while ours increasingly drift to the left.
While they tended to have a better life as they got older and therefore grew satisfied with what they had, we can only observe, how everything is turning to shit.
Jun 26, 2026, 4:33 PMI generally agree. The one slightly different way I'd state it is that other generations got conservative as they got older because they saw a path to preserve what they had, and most GenX and younger never had all that much to begin with.
For example, my parents easily bought a house in their early 20s in early 1970s, while the only reason I got a house in my *40s* is (sadly) that my father-in-law died younger than he expected & left us half his retirement savings.
@robpike you're not alone.
@robpike When I was in my 20s, I would listen to the Dead Kennedys and wonder why people then put up with the kind of shit their songs were about. When I reached my 40s, I would listen to the Dead Kennedys and wonder why we're STILL putting up with the kind of shit their songs were about. My anger as an old man is far more focused and much less inchoate when I think about the injustices of the world.
Jun 26, 2026, 6:43 AM@robpike I’m 61 and I’ve never been angrier.
@robpike super duper apt
@robpike not really related but yhis somehow reminded me of “I used to be young and poor, and after a lot of hard work, I am no longer young”.
@robpike same
Jun 26, 2026, 1:48 PM@robpike I remember in high school adults telling me I would become more conservative as I got older and I would really like to have a talk with those people now.
Jun 26, 2026, 2:04 PMJun 26, 2026, 2:28 PM
@robpike I'm so tired
@robpike I’d say this is pretty high on the aptificationess scale.