You're viewing a single thread.
My GenX existential horror was learning in my thirties that all the western American Exceptionalism ideology I was indoctrinated in as a kid was just a way of keeping us from getting proactive for sake of the future generations, and my parents and teachers and ministers knew this and actively lied to me anyway.
I also think that a lot of bad things about the US that a blind eye was turned to because they seemed to be getting better have since become relevant again because they've started getting worse
Oh I realized that in my 20s
I was particularly credulous.
You are assuming a MASSIVE level of introspection on those people. I doubt they had it. They were probably just passing on what they were given.
Conservatives are well known for acting against their own self interest.