For what it's worth, this might not be a recent phenomenon only. My dad has been saying for decades that the speaker at my mom's college graduation (Paul Tsongas, if I'm remembering correctly) was incredibly depressing and basically just said "the world sucks out there, good luck going into it".

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gowld 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Mine was "The world sucks. We need brilliant people like you to save it. Please help."

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jakeydus an hour ago | parent | next [-]

That was the gist of mine as well. "There are too many problems and too few people who care. So please care, and don't let the size of the problems keep you from caring."

	▲	cratermoon an hour ago \| parent [-]
		“And don’t get distracted by money, fame, and power like I did.”

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RobRivera an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

In nyc, elder rats have been known to encourage younger rats to take the first bite, to determine if the food is poisoned