this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2026
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
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Boomers at least had a reason to go through this development because they were still able to accumulate some wealth. With a good job in the 80s-90s it was possible to invest into assets that have by now exploded in value. That does make some people more inclined to hold on to the status quo.
Anyone after Gen x on the other hand has little reason to hold on to a system that keeps screwing them over.
I think that, with boomers, you’ve got something special happening: boomers were brainwashed by Reagan, by neoliberalism.
But it’s also worth pointing out that the evidence shows a clear trend: hard-earned wealth is tied to progressive values.
Broadly, richer people who worked for their wealth are more progressive than poorer people. Note that THIS IS TRUE LESS AND LESS THE MORE THE WEALTH IS SOURCED FROM EXTRACTIVE PRACTICES. But, assuming the wealth was earned from work, it holds true. The effect work-wealth has on progressive values is multiplied with education and interconnectivity from living in cosmopolitan spaces or having access to the internet.
FWIW I’m a genx who did well and I didn’t grow out of it.
I know the system is rigged, I don’t want to hoard anything, and I want to live in a world where everyone does well.
People that change their values because they make a lot of money don’t actually have any values.
Same. I live small with little, I choose to recycle and not waste, I underconsume. I work to help others. Progressive and proud.
It pisses me off when those around me complain about the young, if the young can’t build lives they have nothing to conserve.
Exactly. Conservatism is not really very strongly correlated with age, controlled for other factors. But it is correlated with various things that are themselves correlated with age. Like wealth. And family status.
Right, and they became “conservative” because they want to hoard it for themselves to the detriment of others. They mentally regress to a selfish two-year-old.
Wealth is like the One Ring to Rule Them All..to most people. The second they have it in their possession it takes over and they turn into Gollum, unwilling to let it go and very happy to do almost anything to retain or bolster what they have.