Memes

I too grew up in an age of movies like Star Wars fighting an overtly fascist empire, of Indiana Jones killing nazis, of countless kid's shows and cartoons emphasizing values like being accepting and not judging people by appearances, of shows like Star Trek explaining the complexity of human societies and using aliens to relay messages of understanding and empathy with others, of science and educational shows like everything on PBS.... I thought FOR SURE that these lessons being seen by everyone would lead to a brighter future of mutual compassion and understanding between people.

Holy shit was I wrong. People didn't watch ANY of that shit, and if they did, they didn't think about it, and certainly didn't take any lessons from it. A vast majority of media-consumers don't engage with their entertainment I've learned, they just experience it and move on without any attempt at making mental effort. Even the lightest mental effort is too much for most people. I'm literally shocked we have the society we do knowing now exactly how ignorant most people are.