I just watched part of Jordan Klepper’s new special, in which he speaks to college students across different states of America.
I’m well educated on what is happening in America, but watching these conversations has sent a chill down my spine that feels like it will never leave.
There is a crisis among the next generation of Americans that celebrates authoritarianism, normalises hatred and violence, and actively seeks to silence diverse voices that dare to speak differently.
The chill I feel is visceral because I can more clearly see why certain communities in America might wake up each day in genuine fear.
I could sense the violence, not because people were committing violent acts on camera, but because I could see a whole generation being groomed to think violence is acceptable. I saw how young people are being conditioned into complicity with others’ toxicity and extremism.
It’s profoundly unsettling and feels like insufficient counterforces exist.
I recognise that I’m not on the ground, and what we see from abroad represents only part of the story. Yet the fragments we do see are alarming enough to make it difficult to maintain hope that effective resistance to this radical indoctrination is taking hold.
What terrifies me most isn’t just the hatred itself, but how ordinary it has become—how many young people don’t understand the basic idea that everyone deserves a voice.
Democracy only works when people protect it. After watching these interviews, I worry: if the next generation doesn’t value democracy itself, who will be left to defend it when it’s systematically undermined?
