I don't disagree with a lot of what you say here. But I was refering just to events in Europe in the last 18 years since Reddit started.

Back in 2005 it was a pretty good time for most people. Since then we had the 2008 crash, austerity, major terrorist attacks, the refugee crisis, Brexit, Covid, huge inflation, a war on our borders, unrest, etc. France has had two sets of riots this year alone. It's not surprising people's views change when presented with all that.

Also, people grow and their life and priorities change. A mod who was a twenty year old student when the site formed, is now a thirty-eoght year old who's spent plenty of time in the real world, may be married, have kids, etc. They will view the world differently to the kid that set up the sub back then.