Touche. But many here on HN literally helped build the mainstream web. Or at least gave it their best shot.

Hard to get more mainstream than “i work at facebook/google/whatever”

I see what you are saying.

On the other hand, a lot of the counter culture that I've seen takes a view something like "The reality is that most of us have to work for a corp 9-5 to survive. What makes you counter culture is what you do with the rest of your life."

"The reality is that most of us have to work for a corp 9-5 to survive."

I think the reality is, that you have to work 9-5 to maintain the modern, expected standard. But if you don't care about that, there are plenty of other ways.

Oh for sure. When you get old, you want more comfort(or have a family to feed) and more comfort comes with more money and more money comes with loosening up some ideals.

"never trust anyone over 30" was a maxim for a reason. It's difficult to fight culture once you've become invested in the status quo, and so alienated by the cutting edge that modernity disgusts you.

"that modernity disgusts you"

The thing that disgusts me the most about modernity, is actually teenage Instagramm/TikTok zombies, totally unaware of the algorithms controlling them, created by the tech crowd.

My motto is "don't trust anyone under 30" -- because in my experience they just don't know enough yet to have valuable opinions and also because the kids these days have a value system that deifies mental illness and victimhood, and I'm just not interested in the opinions of people who operate from a mentally-ill victimhood stance.

But do you actually interact with kids?

If you would, you might find that there are differences, just like with old people.

Yes, I've interacted with the kids. They decorate their desks with Harry Potter paraphernalia and they boast about their eating disorders.

That's a wild generalisation and actually really shows how chronically out of touch you are because I can tell you as someone in my early 20s that Harry Potter is rapidly going out of mode because we care about the fact that JK Rowling is committing political suicide rn. Pro-ana was also a thing like 10 years ago. Hilarious how you managed to show how much you don't interact with young people just by making this comment

First, who did taught them about all that, that annoys you?

Secondly, maybe try seeing more people under 30 regulary with an open mind. I am sure you will eventually find someone not engaged with that. Just like you can find people over 30, who are still open to the world.

what?

1. If the youth is messed up, it is the fault of the older generation who failed to teach them right. That would be you and me.

2. Maybe you have distant memories left, when you yourself were young. Do you think, you would have liked to learn from someone, who thinks all young people are stupid?

That was for a different time. Those under 30s grew up and many are more countercultural than kids under 30 now

> Those under 30s grew up and many are more countercultural than kids under 30 now

Pretty sure this is exactly how my Gen X parents feel. My mom couldn't understand how the music I loved in high school doesn't have a political message.

But she grew up in a time when you'd go to jail for speaking up against the regime unless it was masked through art. I grew up in a democracy. Very different.