Editing 2660: Gen Z

{{comic
| number    = 2660
| date      = August 17, 2022
| title     = Gen Z
| image     = gen_z.png
| titletext = Curdled milk, of a peculiar kind, made after a Bulgarian recipe and called "yaghurt," is now a Parisian fad and is believed to be a remedy against growing old. A correspondent who has tried it, says he would prefer to die young. (1905, The Elk Falls Journal)
}}

==Explanation==
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Older generations are often confused by the trends and norms of younger people, and this comic aims to contextualize this common situation by placing it in a historical perspective.  

The title text apparently quotes a 1905 paper from Elk Falls, Kansas, which tells of a "Parisian fad".  In this case, the "fad" is the introduction of yogurt (spelled "yaghurt" in this publication, probably because English spelling of the word was not standardized yet and may have been influenced by the French spelling).  In the modern day, yogurt is enjoyed as a common food in most cultures, but in 1905 the concept was bizarre and repulsive to the readers of this Kansas newspaper.  This shows that things which are dismissed as "strange" because of preconceived notions of a particular group (that curdled milk is necessarily bad) may, in fact, be perfectly acceptable once more context is obtained.  It is also worth noting that yogurt was not invented in 1905, but had existed for centuries prior; despite this, the recent introduction to French culture is what prompted its recognition as a nascent "fad" by the Kansan writer.  This may be analogized to various fads and trends which {{w|Gen Z}} is embracing which may appear unfounded to members of older generations, but which nevertheless represent acceptance of ideas which did not originate with members of that generation.

This is not the first comic to identify "modern" complaints or viewpoints as having been present throughout history in various forms (see comics [[1227: The Pace of Modern Life]] and [[1601: Isolation]]).

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Six individuals in clothing representing early 1900s' American fashion stand in a line.  Four of them have speaking roles, from left to right, and two stand in silence, contributing to the feeling of a conversation amongst a crowd gathered around the first speaker]
:Speaker 1 (white brim hat): Now, it may sound strange, but it's how Gen Z is doing things!
:Speaker 2 (wavy hair, dress with belt): Gosh!  Is that really true??
:Speaker 3 (dark hat with indent): Ridiculous.  It just goes to show what I've been saying about them.
:Speaker 4 (hair in bun, dress with lace hem): Now now, maybe we just need to change with the times.

:Caption below comic: People ascribing qualities to "Gen Z" have the same energy as small-town salespeople in 1905 talking about what the ladies in Paris are up to.

{{comic discussion}}