Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

The Joke

A man declares "I hate future generations!" and when asked why, he explains that their political systems are insane, their economy is terrible, they deal with budget problems incorrectly, and their sex lives are "unnatural." Another person points out, "I don't know, but statistically it's likely to turn out this way, so I might as well get ahead on things." The final panel labels this attitude "Preemptive Conservatism."

The comic satirizes the pattern of every older generation complaining about the younger one. By having someone preemptively hate future generations before they even exist, it highlights how predictable and formulaic generational grievances are. The character reasons that since older people statistically end up resenting the young, he might as well start now and skip the wait.

The Humor

The comedy works by taking the well-known sociological pattern of generational conflict and reducing it to a logical syllogism: since every generation eventually hates the next one, why not be efficient about it and start early? The term "Preemptive Conservatism" is the perfect label -- it sounds like a real political philosophy while simultaneously mocking the inevitability of social conservatism as people age. The joke also pokes fun at how the specific complaints (politics, economy, sex lives) are essentially the same ones every generation levels at the next, revealing them as reflexive rather than substantive.