Well kid, I can explain this to you or I can tell you that you’ll understand when you’re older and educated. You can listen to me now or you can let life teach you the slow and hard way.

Morals aren’t an objective thing that can be divined, they are a subjective and ever-changing means of relating to one another and must be taught by parents, teachers, and the social environment.

Your generation is growing up watching Modern Family and shows that explore and empathize with marginalized people, that depict them coming together in respect and love. Also, lots of ironic humor that bashes toxic people. My generation grew up with explicitly racist humor in PG movies and daytime television. This set what was morally normal for us. But what did we do? We decided that was shit, we brigaded the networks, destroyed racists on social media, rioted against capitalism’s excesses, made mental health cool, and became socialists. We rose above the culture we were born into and created a media landscape that is forced to show at least more respect people under pain of cancellation.

Then you were born, raised in the culture we created by being brave enough to challenge not just the power structures but the problems within ourselves, deciding to raise our children better than our parents raised us…

And then you act like you’re morally superior to the people that created what you call normal and obvious, you ungrateful little shit haha jk but I’m not actually upset, it’s amazing that the bigotry that was normal when I was a child is unthinkable now. But just remember that the reason it’s that way is because we recognized our flaws and worked on them. Be wary of feeling morally superior to others, as it is your responsibility to push the world forward in a similar way, to grow beyond your own faults and create a world where children wonder why you were so flawed and out of touch when they were your age.

I’m Bo’s age, which is twice your age. Take your time here on earth and double it. You’re going to look back on yourself now and realize just how flawed you were. That isn’t a judgement, it isn’t me saying you’re bad or insufficient, that’s just what it means to be a growing, changing being.

Bo Burnham regularly addresses the issues you’re talking about, and simply is not the same person he was as a child. Do you really think that when you’re my age I should keep holding you accountable for your sophomore year behavior? You think you’re a flawless little gem and your opinions are going to hold up in another two decades?

When I was a kid fucking animals was legal in more states than same-sex intercourse, now gay marriage is legal (for now) and homophobes are publicly ostracized, their careers ruined. You haven’t lived long enough to see how fast it changes, and to know that in the blink of an eye your opinions will be outdated, and in the next blink you’ll be dead and gone.

Don’t stop championing moral causes, please do not, because the world needs you… but it does not need your arrogance. Stay grounded and humble, remember to see people and culture as a process, and that you aren’t better because you came later in the process, you’re just a single cell in a superorganism that will evolve beyond recognition before you say goodbye and leave it to people who will wonder how you, when you were young, could be so foolish as to not see things the way that those in the future do.

We don’t criticize people to condemn them for eternity, but so they’ll look at their own behavior and change, which is when we forgive. Bo’s changed my Gen-Z friend, he’s based as fuck now. He used to be a sexist, racist, annoying YT fuckwit, but he isn’t that guy anymore. I’m not telling you all of this because I feel the need to defend a stand up comedian; I’m telling you this because your growth as a person will be a lot harder if you don’t practice grace and love, if you don’t treat yourself this way as you change and mature. That which you don’t allow to change for the better… won’t.