If you occasionally scroll for YouTube reaction videos, you will notice the contrast in Gen-Zs’ reactions compared to earlier generations, especially the Boomers. For those unfamiliar, these videos features creators, usually a male/female couple as well as solo reactionaries, as they film their real-time responses to such things as movies, music, or other internet content that they have not seen before.

Sometimes the couple stop a song intermittently and comment on it briefly before continuing the music, same with movie. What I’ve noticed in most of these Gen-Zs’ facial expressions is how shocked the person(s) is, especially females, to the lyrics of a song or scene from a movie. I doubt previous generations would have been shocked like this.

To give a few examples: When first time watching Jimi Hendrix singing “Hey Joe”, the female winces and looks shocked when she hears the lyrics: “…I’m going down to shoot my old lady, I caught her messing round with another man…”. Killing one’s unfaithful girlfriend is a moral abomination but not in the context of a fictional character in the lyrics of a song.

Boomers wouldn’t bat an eyelid to such edgy lyrics prior to the Third Wave Feminism, but post-MeTo movement, even complimenting a woman’s beauty, instead of killing her, is seen by the Feminists as misogynistic.

As for the reaction viewers watching old movies, they seem appalled at some of the normal behaviour of man and woman lovers, which they deem as sexist. The classic comedy gold sitcoms of the Seventies are a good example, as well as the British ‘Carry on’ movies, which starred the hilarious womaniser, Sid James.

In America, the TV sitcom had Archie Bunker as the central character in All in the Family. For people without a sense of humour, Archie was often depicted as a sexist buffoon and politically incorrect. His character “embodied traditional and outdated views,” according to early and current Woke critics.

The fact of the matter is the drama was meant to expose White male bigotry and misogyny, but its effect made Archie a funny folk hero for blue-collar working guys. It seems Hegel’s cunning of reason struck again.

These comedies now are seen by many (not all) in the post-MeTo movement as sexist, unfunny and vulgar, withoutdated gender stereotypes, ‘dirty’ jokes, and sexual innuendos, which were common during the era when I was a younger teenager during the Seventies, and they were the norm during the Sixties.

But in fairness to the Gen-Zs, they are finding such humour funny in a light-hearted way compared to the extreme politically correct drama that one gets today on TV and Netflix. Remember, Gen-Z are probably the first generation to be less indoctrinated/propagandised due to the exposure of internet podcasts, many of which are more factual informative than the mainstream media. They also don’t watch TV news or read hard-copy newspapers.

But aside from the reactions of couples, there is something else I noticed: Sometimes only one person would be present to give a reaction, and it usually transpires the their was a split in the relationship so they went their separate ways with their own podcasts, trying to hoover up their dedicated subscribers.

Now, here’s the strange thing: When the person is talking to the viewers, his/her personality is different to the one that was sharing the reaction with their spouse/partner. It’s more noticeable in the males, as they come across as more assertive and masculine.

It is as if their persona changes to suit certain socio-gender situations. I have heard some evidence of that from a friend of mine. His daughter was dating a man and one day my friend was in the bathroom when his daughter and her boyfriend entered the house.

It seems like the couple thought nobody was home, as my friend wondered who is this strange man, talking quite crudely, his daughter was with. When he left the bathroom, he was shocked to see it was her current boyfriend whose persona flipped as soon as he saw my friend.

I also noticed a similar change in person friend I knew some years ago. When he was with me, he acted and spoke in a masculine way, but once I overheard him talking to another man in a bar, he spoke and acted quite effeminate.

I guess the psychology behind this is kind of like wearing a different mask when talking to another person. According to Williamsburg Therapy Group Why Your Personality Changes in Different Social Settings | WTG:

You’re outgoing and confident at work, but quiet and reserved at family gatherings. You’re the responsible friend who gives advice, yet you feel like a completely different person when you’re with your college roommates. Sometimes you wonder which version of yourself is the “real” you, and whether all this shifting makes you somehow inauthentic or fake. This experience of feeling like you have multiple selves is not only normal—it’s actually a sign of healthy psychological functioning. What you’re experiencing reflects the natural complexity of human personality and our remarkable ability to adapt to different social environments.

There is much truth in the above—but the Archie Bunkers of this world would probably call it “gobbledygook psychobabble”!