First off thank you, I’m really enjoying bridging this generation gap. And satan’s doing the whispering while his blue team minions smoke the devil’s lettuce, but that’s beside the point ;)

I don’t think modern “red team” believes or is aware that social atomization is a byproduct of corporate greed for the most part. Distracting from that and providing a scapegoat is part of the utility of culture war and exactly what that conspiracy theory is meant to accomplish. A wealthy, intelligent, well-positioned conservative might be consciously aligned with the process, but dumb is a lot more common than evil. The conflict between social and economic values kinda has to be obscured for that ideology to function. They fear the result, but can blame the other (gay weed smoking atheists!) and remain all for the process that’s actually responsible

It confuses things further that a few generations ago the “nuclear family” was widely recognized as a step towards atomization, but at this point things have progressed so far it’s become a traditional ideal many feel nostalgia for. Grandma watching the kids and everyone working the farm together is long gone, and if you’re a single parent or just living on your own it sure seems cohesive from here. It’s a destructive template imposed on us, and whether they’re after a return to the land or a soma pod above a nightclub I don’t think it’s what anyone who’s thought things through really wants. Even if it is a step in the right direction at this point x(

Actually in the process of writing that last bit I had a thought: waaaay back when, conservatives almost certainly were against the push towards the nuclear family (and were right imo). It’s only once we’d been isolated beyond that point that it could seem like something worth preserving or returning to