Michigan Democratic Gov. Whitmer makes direct appeal to young men after sharp shift in election

[u/LavenderBloomings]

https://apnews.com/article/michigan-governor-gretchen-whitmer-young-men-e237387d0762e900f2dc7e38a1c49f7b

[u/Mr-and-Mrs]

What is your source for stating the primary issue is difficulty in K-12 schooling? You’re also talking a lot about how they “feel” and the emotional aspect of society, but these types of discussions should be based on facts and statistics. I completely disagree that “bad grades” are the root of this issue. Instead, I encourage you to research the negative impact of decades of social media and an increasing self-imposed isolation.

[u/Abbreviations-Sharp → u/Mr-and-Mrs]

How about starting with your first response? It was "deal with it." Nobody else gets that message when they are struggling.

[u/Mr-and-Mrs → u/Abbreviations-Sharp]

Avoiding the actual question, like usual.

[u/Abbreviations-Sharp → u/Mr-and-Mrs]

No, if you were capable of putting yourself in someone else's shoes, you would see that that is a very big blindspot for left-leaning parties. It requires emotional intelligence.

[u/Billy_the_Burglar → u/Mr-and-Mrs]

I likely could have explained the intent better, there, and am well aware that "bad grades" aren't the issue.

I spoke specifically about emotions as they're the best avenue for connecting to boys/young men so that they can learn to manage emotions and unlearn the early forms of traits which the likes of Tate make way worse.

The mentioning of K-12 was specifically because critical thinking skills are taught there, and the best way to keep kids away from extremists is to educate them while also emotionally supporting them.

In essence, the idea is to train them to use their heads instead of just their feelings while still honoring those feelings and actually addressing them.

So:

To change a person's mind/to get them to think critically about issues they have to either have a natural inclination/reason to do so, a broad perspective from experience, the education and training to be able to view things from a broad perspective, or all of the above (primarily all of the above). Take media literacy, for example. This really is the primary focus of K-12 English classes, more or less. Book reports, in particular, are a fantastic avenue for getting kids to learn how to think in a broad view about what the subject matter is telling them versus what it really means. It gets kids questioning sources and following logical trains of thought, instead of just what words feel right.

Yet there are statistics which show boys consistently falling farther behind over the years.

In short, this is not just an isolationism problem (though I wholly agree that there is an issue there). All data I've seen points to lack of other avenues of socialization being the primary culprit. A young man with a lack of community is who racists/nationalists/extremists of all swathes target. It's literally their preferred demographic. Something, again, which the hard right has capitalized on (exactly as religious extremists in the middle east do and have done, for example).

Edit: (meant to add)

After all, if they have no other information or the ability to see through lies, and no other support.. where else are they gonna turn?

[u/Mr-and-Mrs → u/Billy_the_Burglar]

Fair enough. This was great discourse and it’s clear we both ultimately want what’s best for Michiganders.