I finally hit the “Unsubscribe” button on Sweater Lady. To be clear, I didn’t follow her because I liked her; as a fellow GenXer, I followed her specifically to see how she’d frame her arguments—and, more importantly, to see who was paying for them.

Her recent obsession with “Boomers” has veered from lazy economic critique into straight-up ageism—a bias YouTube seems perfectly happy to host as long as it’s wrapped in the language of generational inequality.

The double standard is staggering. If I made a video claiming that “all men are rapists,” even if I tried to frame it as an “economics problem,” it would be scrubbed for hate speech within the hour. But because she’s targeting an age group, she’s allowed to broadcast a narrative that erases the reality of millions.

The missing pieces in her narrative? Capitalism and Neoliberalism.

She pushes the tired trope that Boomers “climbed the ladder and pulled it up behind them.” But she never stops to ask who actually owns the ladder. If this generation is so universally wealthy, why are so many Boomers I know still working at Walmart, unable to afford retirement or the very Social Security and Medicare she’s worried GenZ won’t see?

The irony of her “sweater” aesthetic is almost too perfect. It brings to mind Jimmy Carter’s 1977 speech telling Americans to just turn down their thermostats and put on a sweater. That was the dawn of Neoliberalism—a shift toward individual sacrifice that went into overdrive under Reaganomics.

Instead of punching up at the ruling class and the policy-makers who actually dismantled the American middle class, she’s punching sideways at her own neighbors. It’s a classic divide and conquer move.

But here’s the most telling part: She admitted she’s sponsored by Drumbeat Labs. For those who don’t know, they are a “mission-driven” agency that pays creators to “weigh in on culture and trending topics.” When an agency is telling you what to talk about, you aren’t a rebel; you’re a proxy. She’s being told what to talk about, and she’s delivering ruling-class talking points designed to keep the working class fighting itself across generational lines.

I’ll be looking into Drumbeat Labs more. When someone is paid to sow discord, you have to ask: Who actually benefits from us being at each other’s throats?