NY Post op ed - gen z-is treating world changing politics like edge lord slop

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(For those who don’t speak Meme: An “edgelord” is a person, often online, who tries so hard to seem brooding and deep that they come off as “all edge, no depth.” “Slop” is low-quality, often repetitive content online. And “edgelord slop” is content that tries to be cutting-edge dark but fails miserably at it.)

Now the people who know and use these terms are coming of voting age.

It seems this attitude has made its way into the government itself. Recently, the official X page of the Department of Homeland Security tweeted out a barrage of memes about the very serious topics of deportation and illegal immigration.

This generational ironic disregard is bipartisan, too.

Former Congressman George Santos, who was recently pardoned by President Trump after wire fraud and identity theft convictions, had an extremely conservative record before he was expelled from Congress. Nonetheless, he told me that he has a large fan base of predominantly left-wing Gen Z women.

“I am more appealing to Democrat youth than I am to conservative youth,” he said. “Why the left seems to be more inclined towards me, I don’t know, maybe the fact that I’m gay makes me more relatable … [and] despite being called a liar and everything, I brought much-needed authenticity and value-add to the mundane nature of Congress, right?”

I’m guessing these young women couldn’t care less about Santos’ extremely conservative views, like calling abortion “barbaric” and likening it to slavery. What matters more to them is the fact that he’s entertaining and eccentric — a ready-made reality show character.

For Gen Z, politics is entertainment. Humor takes precedence over policy. And apparently for some Zoomers, looks are more important than political acumen.