Kirk is being posthumously celebrated by much of the mainstream press as a noble sparring partner for center-left politicians and pundits. Meanwhile, the very real, very negative, and sometimes violent impacts of his rhetoric and his political projects are being glossed over or ignored entirely.
To be fair, I think a lot of gen Alpha right now would absolutely trounce most Gen-Z at interpersonal debate and discussion. Gen-Z got a shitty hand growing up in the most checked-out period of American history. At least a lot of Gen Alpha from what I’ve seen have learned right away they’re basically on their own, adapted fast to things like Covid, political upheaval and unstable economics, and know already even at an early age that they need to figure out how to do everything by themselves and don’t really have as much extreme social anxiety as their older peers.
I’m sure it varies from place to place, but I don’t think this debate model that people like Kirk and Shapiro pioneered, which is going to high-schools and debating kids, will hold up long-term.
Real talk, this might be a really small thing but I know the kids are going to be alright cause I do Uber and whenever I pick up a high schooler, they are the most polite riders and actually don’t slam by car’s for when exiting.
I don’t think it’s a small thing, I’ve noticed it myself a lot, more than any young generation before today’s young teens are extremely composed and thoughtful broadly, and it does give me hope for the future.