Although most teenagers didn’t realize it at the time, Covid was the event that would radicalize them. American youths watched as their schools, friendships, and routines were ripped away from them under the false pretense of health precautions. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finally admitted what many had long suspected — that the Covid vaccines killed American children. At least 10 deaths were directly related to the vaccines that were allegedly going to save their lives, according to an FDA memo.
In 2020, the conversation around Covid for teenagers was very different from the conversation happening amongst adults. The initial fear was diluted due to the general healthiness of young people. Instead of being mortified, they usually talked about it through memes. Especially once schools transitioned online, many kids saw it as an inconvenience rather than a genuine threat. I remember my 17-year-old friends and I hitting each other with yardsticks and shouting “Social distancing!” as a joke.
The biggest dilemma came later. After the vaccines began to roll out, many high schools, colleges, and after-school programs began mandating the Covid vaccine. It was widely accepted as the morally good thing to do. Teenagers subjected themselves to the vaccine regardless of their political affiliations. It was easier than trying to fight school boards and colleges worried about their public image. Few people discussed the risks of taking a drug that was rushed and mostly untested. The lack of public discussion helped champion the liberal sentiment that “Getting vaccinated was the nice thing to do.”
Now that we know that the vaccine had deadly effects on children, young people will respond to this in one of two ways. For those who are caught in the legacy media bubble, they will never be exposed to this truth. Fifty-one percent of American teenagers primarily get their news from social media, putting it ahead of both television and news sites. Eighty-six percent of Gen Z go to social media for news updates. Social media platforms, like the China-sponsored TikTok, will downplay the FDA’s admission of guilt if they acknowledge it at all.
Social media intentionally isolates teenagers from the truth, so that they are never exposed to data that challenges their leftist ideology. Instead, these teens will continue to mock “anti-vaxxers” and berate the Trump administration. Their political values have been ruined by hypnotic liberalism.
The other response from teenagers will be outrage. Young people were forced to take a dangerous vaccine so that they could learn, see their friends, and participate in extracurricular activities. Many kids decided not to fight the institutions pushing mandates because the fight could have cost them their academic careers and friendships. Despite this, they still lost important developmental years. Instead of taking classes with friends, they were stuck in Zoom calls at their kitchen tables. Instead of football practice, they had canceled seasons and solo gym sessions. Instead of pep rallies, they had Netflix marathons.
A segment of teenagers broke out of the left’s social media trance. Gen Z kids who graduated high school after Covid have a higher likelihood of being conservative than those who graduated before Covid. Seventy-three percent of 18-29-year-olds are choosing not to affiliate themselves with the Democrat Party. Youths are resisting leftism in favor of more moderate political affiliations.
Covid was the dividing moment for members of Gen Z. It destroyed their childhoods and fractured their friend groups into those who were and weren’t vaccinated. In June of 2020, I spent my 18th birthday alone because my friends’ parents were too afraid for their kids to be around other kids. One of my friends was graciously allowed to sit on the porch with me for an hour — but had to sit five feet away.
The young people who experienced this gross misuse of power will never trust institutions again. Their skepticism about Covid was justified, and they now know that their childhoods were stifled without cause. As more conservative conspiracies turn out to be true, this trend will only continue. From Russiagate to the mental decline of Joe Biden to election fraud, the institutional lies have become standard.
American teenagers have a fractured relationship with the federal government, one that may never be healed. It is no surprise that there has been a rise in conspiratorial black-pilling on platforms like X. It is important for citizens to be vigilant toward their government, but after being so personally abused, young Americans will never trust public institutions. If a “good” vaccine is released, they may be too cynical to even consider its benefits. It’s hard to blame them.
Young Americans came of age in a world controlled by tyrants like Anthony Fauci and big pharmaceutical companies. They will either be consumed by that world or try to liberate it.
