BS.
The amount of obvious BS that kids today swallow whole without even realizing it stinks is appalling. The "global cooling" scare of the 1970s was laughed at. The current "global warming" scare is taken with foolishly earnest seriousness. In the 1970s, queers were viewed rightly with derision. Today, the oxymoronic idea of "homosexual marriage" is taken with foolishly earnest seriousness. Similar examples abound.
Ban DHMO!!!
You're right, but that's actually not what I was actually talking about -- I should have been more clear.
I know a lot of young folks, and I've learned that they've got excellent BS meters for people who are trying to sell themselves as a particular type of person. Sarah Palin is one such.
(And you might be surprised to realize that the "global warming" stuff isn't selling nearly as well as it used to....)
Interestingly, they're also notably silent on Obama now .... back when he was running for president, they were all very caught up in the "hope and change" thing, and they spoke glowingly of him. But as with Palin's supporters now, it was really only the idea of Obama that they liked; they projected their own hopes and desires onto a blank slate. The reality has intruded now ... in terms of his chances for re-election, that's an indicator of the biggest problem he's got: he can't count on people pinning their hopes on him this time.
(Fair disclosure: I think Sarah Palin is an opportunistic con artist who has no more business than Obama did, in flirting with the presidency.)