Look for the helpers, as Mr. R. once said.
I just found this site; it looks good, but I still have to check it out in depth: Young people interested in talking about serious things, not trying to score points, not trying to win at all costs.
I didn't like it at first because it was different from some things I believe. But then, people are different from me and sometimes I still like them, or don't. That's what a democratic republic is: people, not "Point/Counterpoint" and the politics of total destruction; not a community of one sort or another that is defined only in terms of who and what it excludes and condemns.
The biggest recent strides in social justice, such as they were, came when a generation ruled that had been thrown into barracks, while young, from all walks of life and molded into an army for a very good reason. Forced to get along "or Hitler would win," they talked more with each other after 1945 and they didn't despise hope. (Of course they were just people and messed up later, as every generation does, but still, like some earlier generations, they knew, far better than many Americans do today, what real hate, horror, loss, hunger, and conflict are like and so emphasized the opposite and were a little more openminded.)
You can't get that back, but each historical period has its own strengths.
I like the recollection that linked site (unherd.com) gives me, at least to initial contact with it, of my own youthful openmindedness and optimism in the 1960s. The young can't afford to be cynical -- it's their future at stake. After awhile they grow old and weary (and occasionally wearisome
). They mess up, too. Same old story, really.
But there are always more young people, and always with minds of their own and a future to somehow gain.
