You got it. That was a lot of grown-up talk. Let’s try this again, like we’re explaining it in class.

Imagine the world is a video game.

1. The Older Player’s Game (Grandpa)

• An older person, let’s call him “Grandpa,” has been playing this game for a long, long time.
• For most of his life, the game was on “Easy” mode. The levels were calm, he knew all the rules, and most players were nice to each other.
• Now, all of a sudden, a new, scary bad guy (let’s call him “Political Violence”) has jumped into the game.
• Grandpa is terrified! He’s yelling, “This is not normal! This is a huge, new problem! This is an emergency!” He is very, very concerned.

2. The Younger Player’s Game (Nina)

• A younger person, let’s call her “Nina,” just started playing.
• But from the moment she picked up the controller, the game was already on “Super Hard” mode.
• She is already dodging tons of other bad guys all the time:
  • A bad guy called “School Stress.”
  • A bad guy called “No Money.”
  • A bad guy called “Everyone Yelling Online.”
• Her game has always felt crazy and hard.

What Happens When the New Bad Guy Shows Up?

When the new, scary bad guy (“Political Violence”) jumps into the game…

• Grandpa panics, because his easy, normal game is now broken.
• Nina just sighs. She’s already busy fighting all the other bad guys.

She looks at “Political Violence” and thinks, “Oh, great. Another bad guy. Just add him to the pile.”

So, Why Isn’t Nina as Worried as Grandpa?

It is not because Nina thinks the new bad guy is good. She doesn’t.

She is just less surprised by him.

She has been playing a difficult, stressful, and “messy” game her whole life. To her, this new bad guy isn’t a new emergency; he’s just one more piece of the big, hard, messy game she’s always been forced to play.

That’s why the older generation is shocked by the violence, while the younger generation is more frustrated by the whole, unfair game.