&gt; this nonsense is creating an asinine, infantilized generation: easily manipulated, desperate for social acceptance, incapable of independent thought, and entirely beholden to the whims of mainstream society.<p>As far as I can tell, most people in any time period have been like this.<p>Desperate for social acceptance: There&#x27;s that &quot;keeping up with the Joneses&quot; thing. Nothing new.<p>Incapable of independent thought: If most people in the past had been capable, mass movements like Christianity, Islam, Nazism, Communism etc. would never have caught on like they did.<p>Easily manipulated: Didn&#x27;t aristocrats etc. manipulate peasants&#x2F;serfs back in the Middle Ages?