Thank you for bring clarity to a chaotic media environment. It is a long slog, but maybe one day intellectual honesty will be something all journalists strive to achieve.
This boomer is really offended by this assumption. I've all but completely abandoned legacy media myself. I listen to Joe Rogan and Jimmy Dore and Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi and more. And I'm not the only one. What, you don't want our votes?
I am sympathetic to younger people's resentment of us boomers. I think you are seeing that on average younger people are more open to RFKJr.'s campaign, and you are right to make your appeal to them. But don't pander to them by smearing their elders with too broad a brush. My political heart died with Mr. Kennedy's father, and you're telling it not to bother struggling back to life.
This was not meant to offend...I’m a boomer too. I am so encouraged by RFK Jr. What he’s saying is he doesn’t do well with Boomers as they get their info from MSM. He’s right all my siblings and most work acquaintances fall into the Boomer age group, they all have a poor opinion of him after years of him being slandered and labelled a conspiracy theorist.
None of them bothered to look into him and his opinions. They completely believed their source. I find so many boomers really excited by RFK Jr’s run once they are introduced to his ideas and values. I watch MSM not that I believe most of what they say....but it’s important to know what they are filling the heads of the masses with! I just keep encouraging everyone to check his website and make up your own mind.
In my experience it's not boomers per se so much as mainstream liberals (though it's true that most of those are older, while the woke brigade are younger). Liberals have an absolutely fixed, knee-jerk, dismissive view of RFKjr, just regurgitating the propaganda they've been fed. It's strange that his environmental work means nothing to them. They tend to be devout believers in vaccines and The Science and that seems to have overridden their environmentalism.
You make lots of thoughtful comments here, so I know you must understand that he is referring to statistics and not individuals. By some accounts, I am a boomer. I was born in 1963. Some people say that's generation X. I really couldn't care less. It is definitely true that people over the age of 60 generally do not support RFK and generally get their news from the media sources that he cited. Good for me and you that we have remained open to new things as we age. Rogan is no spring chicken himself, by the way. 55 or 56 I think.
My parents are from the Boomer generation, and I don’t think this was meant to imply resentment or to be offensive. My perception of this article was that it was accurate. My parents consume legacy media, and are not familiar with Substack, podcasts, and other alternative news sources.
I have one parent who lives in Tennessee, and the other in Southern California. The only reason they found out that RFK Junior was running for president was because I convinced them to watch his Joe Rogan interview right after it first aired.
RFK’s long form interview with Rogan completely turned my dad‘s views around, and he’s a traditionally conservative R-voter, but has always disliked Trump (and was a huge Ross Perot fan). It blew my dad’s 70+ year old mind that the government could not be trusted, and institutional capture was a new concept for him--it is not something that is discussed in legacy media and is contradictory to how he was raised to view American politics as a Marine-brat that narrowly escaped the draft for the Vietnam War (missed it by one day).
My mother, a D-voter that was born in the early 50s and raised to be a huge Kennedy family fan, had already written off RFK Jr as a conspiracy-theorist anti-Vaxxer that used to be a cool Environmental activist lawyer.
Good for you for staying on top of this pivotal evolution in journalism. Do you have any suggestions on how to get the Boomer generation connected to alternative journalism (like podcasts and Substack), in time for the general election?
I will give that some thought—but I can’t improve on how you did it. I think listening to young people they care about is one of the few ways to break through. Another way would be hearing trusted friends of their own generation who’d had a change of mind.
I'm a leading edge baby boomer and proud of it. I was a high school junior when President Kennedy was assassinated and had just graduated from college when RFK met the same fate. I remember well when Senator, then President Kennedy's work on wages helped me save for college, back in the day when we made around $1.00/hr. (Not sure part time and summer jobs would accomplish that today.)
RFK, Jr. is our best chance to break up government and corporate corruption and get us back on the road to fulfilling America's promise for all generations. He has my full support.
I agree about the boomer observation though, many of my contemporaries have their heads in the sand about so many issues, and stubbornly stuck in legacy media and don't know the difference between Substack and Smokestack. A few I've talked to aren't even aware RFK, Jr. is running, as unbelievable as that is. My question is, how do we change that?
I'm just a touch older than you, and my observation is that it's liberals - or the unthinking - who follow the MSM story line. Please, everyone remember that it's folks our age that created the Counter Culture, the Internet and WWW, and who first had bumper stickers (in the '80s) saying "I don't believe the Washington Post."
It's not an age group, it's the lazy, follow the herd, sheep who are the problem.
I'm an early Boomer, and admit to some legacy media - FOX, WSJ, and NY Times. I do not watch the networks, CNN, MSNBC. I plan to cancel the Journal and Times when my current subscriptions run out. I may have listened to 10 podcasts. But I read numerous Substacks (Racket and Public and ten more, including this one), Glenn Greenwald's transcripts of his Rumble show, The Free Press, and multiple daily newsletters. I agree that if one only consumes legacy media, one has a vicious, slanted view of RFK Jr. But podcasts aren't the only way to reach Boomers. I reached you.
I'd urge caution about trusting what you read on the Free Press Substack. Their writers are open-minded about some subjects, but I've also seen some smugly regurgitate ruling elite narratives, e.g., with respect to covid shots and foreign affairs. All of which is to say, I agree with your approach of seeking information from many largely reliable sources, and then checking and cross-checking. Part of the problem with the boomers (('m one), especially the so-called managerial and professional class, is that many of them think they are the smart people in the room and consider themselves super to working people.
I quit the Free Press for the "smugness" you described. I started up again after being pay walked on posts I really wanted to read. I am one of the "demographics" the Dems have allegedly attracted - white, female, advanced degree, and financially comfortable (because we saved and invested). I simply do not understand my friends and acquaintances swallowing the man uncritically. Your explanation makes as much sense as any I've heard.
I'm in the same boat, only I didn't invest as well. I certainly wish I could find a way to "break through" to my old friends and colleagues, but I am pretty sure reason does not work. Back in the day, I was the most liberal of my friends and colleagues, though virtually all of us were Dems. We could discuss political figures and issues about which we had differing opinions, we all listened to each other, and no one came emotional and hysterical. As soon as Russiagate hit and I questioned the Dem narrative, specifically asking why the FBI wasn't granted access to the DNC's server, my old friends (we were all lawyers and judges) started looking at me with dead shark eyes. I had somehow avoided Trump Derangement Syndrome and become a danger to engage with. I'm sure they all knew, at a minimum, that something about the Russiagate "investigation" was "off," but no one who considered herself a Superior Good Person dared say it. IMO, once they started down that path of embracing lies and groupthink, they had joined a cult. By the time government mandated covid measures came into force, they were fully onboard with mandates and advocating for mandates and quarantine camps.
Believe me, we didn't invest that well. Took some.hits in the 2008 meltdown. We stayed the course and didn't sell. And we took advantage of the age 55 "catch up" on our 401ks, and didn't retire until age 70.
As to breaking through, they likely would be unwilling (unable?) to admit to "errors", particularly about Covid or Donald Trump. It's frustrating, but I've given up trying to change hearts and minds on those two subjects. I converse about the effects on Biden's policies on " regular" folk, the sorry state of the Republicans (noting the exceptions), and other less fraught political issues. We don't agree, but can have a reasonable discussion. No one I know was onboard for quarantine camps.
Did it occur to you that the "programming" from the fake news media (both the ones you don't watch and the ones you plan to cancel, is just that, and takes its toll. Interesting that intelligent people are pretty sure the programming can be resisted.
I recognize it, believe me. I watch, read.the legacy media I listed to understand what garbage is being fed to their audiences. I truly believe I am resisting.
I, too, have given up trying to get through to the Diehards. Sad to say, some members of my family, including a brother, were aggressively onboard with the concepts of quarantine camps, prosecuting people who refused the covid shots, and denying "unvaxxed people" health care. They will let nothing penetrate their bubble, and I don't try. I can only love them from a distance and remember better times. Working as a volunteer on the Kennedy campaign has been a great way to meet new, noncrazy people. They aren't the same as "old friends," but they are open-minded, reasonable people with a sense of a purpose and a sense of responsibility to future generations.
Peace and Love? He advocates GENOCIDE, ETHNIC CLEANING, MASS CHILD SACRIFICE, APARTHEID AND CENSORSHIP.
I was a huge supporter for many years and read all his books and articles and most of his interviews. Kennedy's stance on the Tragedy being done to mostly defenseless Children and Women for decades Exposes Kennedy as either a Bought and Paid for Prostitute, Blackmailed through Epstein or a similar network or the One World Orders rotten pick.
I was still an infant when his father was assassinated, but I must be one of the few of that age group who will seek out alternate media, because I have learned how to not trust much of what government puts out to the people.
There is plenty of information available for those willing to search. But matters of national importance should not be kept in a silo; these matters NEED discussion. And most of the press, under the wishes of the government, wants to keep them bottled up instead of allowing the important issues to be explored.
Endorsements have become nothing but pinballs bouncing endlessly. EM pulled away from DJT since the later outed the Li ion bad for America fact. He quickly moved to De Santis. That backfired as De Santis wisely folded and endorsed DJT. So is this latest endorsement useful?
Musk is not looking good as of now, despite being on the right side of important topics recently.
But hey, and celeb endorsement. If T bought off Swift came over that would be something, yes?
Lol. Get real!! Obviously you know nothing about him since you probably haven’t listened to a word he has said in the past 4 months. This man is about peace and love! Take your hate somewhere else. Thx. #kennedy24
Thank you for bring clarity to a chaotic media environment. It is a long slog, but maybe one day intellectual honesty will be something all journalists strive to achieve.
Clear unbiased information. What a concept. I think I see it catching on.
This boomer is really offended by this assumption. I've all but completely abandoned legacy media myself. I listen to Joe Rogan and Jimmy Dore and Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi and more. And I'm not the only one. What, you don't want our votes?
I am sympathetic to younger people's resentment of us boomers. I think you are seeing that on average younger people are more open to RFKJr.'s campaign, and you are right to make your appeal to them. But don't pander to them by smearing their elders with too broad a brush. My political heart died with Mr. Kennedy's father, and you're telling it not to bother struggling back to life.
This was not meant to offend...I’m a boomer too. I am so encouraged by RFK Jr. What he’s saying is he doesn’t do well with Boomers as they get their info from MSM. He’s right all my siblings and most work acquaintances fall into the Boomer age group, they all have a poor opinion of him after years of him being slandered and labelled a conspiracy theorist.
None of them bothered to look into him and his opinions. They completely believed their source. I find so many boomers really excited by RFK Jr’s run once they are introduced to his ideas and values. I watch MSM not that I believe most of what they say....but it’s important to know what they are filling the heads of the masses with! I just keep encouraging everyone to check his website and make up your own mind.
In my experience it's not boomers per se so much as mainstream liberals (though it's true that most of those are older, while the woke brigade are younger). Liberals have an absolutely fixed, knee-jerk, dismissive view of RFKjr, just regurgitating the propaganda they've been fed. It's strange that his environmental work means nothing to them. They tend to be devout believers in vaccines and The Science and that seems to have overridden their environmentalism.
You make lots of thoughtful comments here, so I know you must understand that he is referring to statistics and not individuals. By some accounts, I am a boomer. I was born in 1963. Some people say that's generation X. I really couldn't care less. It is definitely true that people over the age of 60 generally do not support RFK and generally get their news from the media sources that he cited. Good for me and you that we have remained open to new things as we age. Rogan is no spring chicken himself, by the way. 55 or 56 I think.
My parents are from the Boomer generation, and I don’t think this was meant to imply resentment or to be offensive. My perception of this article was that it was accurate. My parents consume legacy media, and are not familiar with Substack, podcasts, and other alternative news sources.
I have one parent who lives in Tennessee, and the other in Southern California. The only reason they found out that RFK Junior was running for president was because I convinced them to watch his Joe Rogan interview right after it first aired.
RFK’s long form interview with Rogan completely turned my dad‘s views around, and he’s a traditionally conservative R-voter, but has always disliked Trump (and was a huge Ross Perot fan). It blew my dad’s 70+ year old mind that the government could not be trusted, and institutional capture was a new concept for him--it is not something that is discussed in legacy media and is contradictory to how he was raised to view American politics as a Marine-brat that narrowly escaped the draft for the Vietnam War (missed it by one day).
My mother, a D-voter that was born in the early 50s and raised to be a huge Kennedy family fan, had already written off RFK Jr as a conspiracy-theorist anti-Vaxxer that used to be a cool Environmental activist lawyer.
Good for you for staying on top of this pivotal evolution in journalism. Do you have any suggestions on how to get the Boomer generation connected to alternative journalism (like podcasts and Substack), in time for the general election?
I will give that some thought—but I can’t improve on how you did it. I think listening to young people they care about is one of the few ways to break through. Another way would be hearing trusted friends of their own generation who’d had a change of mind.
Great that you have the good sense to realize the Fake News Media is just that.
Black folk have abandoned the Democrat plantation but seems they have endorsed DJT.
What do they know that the boomers do not??
I'm a leading edge baby boomer and proud of it. I was a high school junior when President Kennedy was assassinated and had just graduated from college when RFK met the same fate. I remember well when Senator, then President Kennedy's work on wages helped me save for college, back in the day when we made around $1.00/hr. (Not sure part time and summer jobs would accomplish that today.)
RFK, Jr. is our best chance to break up government and corporate corruption and get us back on the road to fulfilling America's promise for all generations. He has my full support.
I agree about the boomer observation though, many of my contemporaries have their heads in the sand about so many issues, and stubbornly stuck in legacy media and don't know the difference between Substack and Smokestack. A few I've talked to aren't even aware RFK, Jr. is running, as unbelievable as that is. My question is, how do we change that?
I'm just a touch older than you, and my observation is that it's liberals - or the unthinking - who follow the MSM story line. Please, everyone remember that it's folks our age that created the Counter Culture, the Internet and WWW, and who first had bumper stickers (in the '80s) saying "I don't believe the Washington Post."
It's not an age group, it's the lazy, follow the herd, sheep who are the problem.
Fully agree. Kennedy needs to develop his own podcast. Like Joe Rogan. He needs to also do yhis in Spanish.
He has a podcast from before his run for president. I listen on Apple podcast.
I'm an early Boomer, and admit to some legacy media - FOX, WSJ, and NY Times. I do not watch the networks, CNN, MSNBC. I plan to cancel the Journal and Times when my current subscriptions run out. I may have listened to 10 podcasts. But I read numerous Substacks (Racket and Public and ten more, including this one), Glenn Greenwald's transcripts of his Rumble show, The Free Press, and multiple daily newsletters. I agree that if one only consumes legacy media, one has a vicious, slanted view of RFK Jr. But podcasts aren't the only way to reach Boomers. I reached you.
I'd urge caution about trusting what you read on the Free Press Substack. Their writers are open-minded about some subjects, but I've also seen some smugly regurgitate ruling elite narratives, e.g., with respect to covid shots and foreign affairs. All of which is to say, I agree with your approach of seeking information from many largely reliable sources, and then checking and cross-checking. Part of the problem with the boomers (('m one), especially the so-called managerial and professional class, is that many of them think they are the smart people in the room and consider themselves super to working people.
I quit the Free Press for the "smugness" you described. I started up again after being pay walked on posts I really wanted to read. I am one of the "demographics" the Dems have allegedly attracted - white, female, advanced degree, and financially comfortable (because we saved and invested). I simply do not understand my friends and acquaintances swallowing the man uncritically. Your explanation makes as much sense as any I've heard.
I'm in the same boat, only I didn't invest as well. I certainly wish I could find a way to "break through" to my old friends and colleagues, but I am pretty sure reason does not work. Back in the day, I was the most liberal of my friends and colleagues, though virtually all of us were Dems. We could discuss political figures and issues about which we had differing opinions, we all listened to each other, and no one came emotional and hysterical. As soon as Russiagate hit and I questioned the Dem narrative, specifically asking why the FBI wasn't granted access to the DNC's server, my old friends (we were all lawyers and judges) started looking at me with dead shark eyes. I had somehow avoided Trump Derangement Syndrome and become a danger to engage with. I'm sure they all knew, at a minimum, that something about the Russiagate "investigation" was "off," but no one who considered herself a Superior Good Person dared say it. IMO, once they started down that path of embracing lies and groupthink, they had joined a cult. By the time government mandated covid measures came into force, they were fully onboard with mandates and advocating for mandates and quarantine camps.
Believe me, we didn't invest that well. Took some.hits in the 2008 meltdown. We stayed the course and didn't sell. And we took advantage of the age 55 "catch up" on our 401ks, and didn't retire until age 70.
As to breaking through, they likely would be unwilling (unable?) to admit to "errors", particularly about Covid or Donald Trump. It's frustrating, but I've given up trying to change hearts and minds on those two subjects. I converse about the effects on Biden's policies on " regular" folk, the sorry state of the Republicans (noting the exceptions), and other less fraught political issues. We don't agree, but can have a reasonable discussion. No one I know was onboard for quarantine camps.
Did it occur to you that the "programming" from the fake news media (both the ones you don't watch and the ones you plan to cancel, is just that, and takes its toll. Interesting that intelligent people are pretty sure the programming can be resisted.
I recognize it, believe me. I watch, read.the legacy media I listed to understand what garbage is being fed to their audiences. I truly believe I am resisting.
I, too, have given up trying to get through to the Diehards. Sad to say, some members of my family, including a brother, were aggressively onboard with the concepts of quarantine camps, prosecuting people who refused the covid shots, and denying "unvaxxed people" health care. They will let nothing penetrate their bubble, and I don't try. I can only love them from a distance and remember better times. Working as a volunteer on the Kennedy campaign has been a great way to meet new, noncrazy people. They aren't the same as "old friends," but they are open-minded, reasonable people with a sense of a purpose and a sense of responsibility to future generations.
It was a niece of mine and my goddaughter who radicalized me 😂 And it took some time, just time for me to think and read and not feel pressured.
By the way Cindy, Kennedy is preaching Hate and Mass Murder NOT Peace and Love. You need to wake up.
Peace and Love? He advocates GENOCIDE, ETHNIC CLEANING, MASS CHILD SACRIFICE, APARTHEID AND CENSORSHIP.
I was a huge supporter for many years and read all his books and articles and most of his interviews. Kennedy's stance on the Tragedy being done to mostly defenseless Children and Women for decades Exposes Kennedy as either a Bought and Paid for Prostitute, Blackmailed through Epstein or a similar network or the One World Orders rotten pick.
I was still an infant when his father was assassinated, but I must be one of the few of that age group who will seek out alternate media, because I have learned how to not trust much of what government puts out to the people.
There is plenty of information available for those willing to search. But matters of national importance should not be kept in a silo; these matters NEED discussion. And most of the press, under the wishes of the government, wants to keep them bottled up instead of allowing the important issues to be explored.
I suspect you are the rare case that not only resists but moves forward to search for the truth.
You are a rare. Most drink the kool aid and ask for refills.
Know more that a few who would not even recognize the worthwhile journalists you mention.
They think if something was important, that they would know about it.
They make no such effort. The programming controls them...
Endorsements have become nothing but pinballs bouncing endlessly. EM pulled away from DJT since the later outed the Li ion bad for America fact. He quickly moved to De Santis. That backfired as De Santis wisely folded and endorsed DJT. So is this latest endorsement useful?
Musk is not looking good as of now, despite being on the right side of important topics recently.
But hey, and celeb endorsement. If T bought off Swift came over that would be something, yes?
Kennedy is a Zionist and One World Order Puppet!
Lol. Get real!! Obviously you know nothing about him since you probably haven’t listened to a word he has said in the past 4 months. This man is about peace and love! Take your hate somewhere else. Thx. #kennedy24