GenX thought life was a party. GenY thought life was about them. GenZ is teaching everyone a valuable lesson... You get from your society what you give to it.
Jul 24, 2023·edited Jul 24, 2023Liked by Sincere American Writing
Always food for thought. I think the biggest point here is people just do not read anymore, including my 21yr old daughter. She readily admits to getting her news on TikTok. Holy crap! Just like Kamala Harris going on about Florida's supposed abhorrent education standards about the history of slavery and black history. She got it ALL wrong but everyone who's in her tribe will just blindly go along w it. It's all so frustrating.
I’m saving this to read again - as well as the comments, which fascinate me. Thinking about it. No doubt my reaction is touched by the generational difference between us. Processing this.
Ironically enough, Michael, I think we find truths in places that are the least serious like comedy, art, music, fiction, cartoons, all creative forms that require an individual's interpretation in order "to get it." And it's awesome when a whole group of us get the joke or feel the song or love a book. As a public making laws, rules, etc are just a consensus, a crosshatch of truths. We all live in our own bubbles and every now and then something happens to us directly that pops our bubble and we can see things a little differently than we did before. Just rambling here - your posts always give me something to think about.
Bravo! You made a pertinent observation when you said: "It’s almost as if these people want—almost need—America to be more racist than it is so they can feel at peace." The logic of these Woke arguments points squarely in that direction. This is why we can no longer give a single inch or a nanometer to Woke arguments that claim to hate racism, any more than we should trust that Communists love democracy. If they really did hate racism, they'd oppose Wokeness with a fury. How insulting is it to make the case that "reality" or "objectivity" are White constructs! (The implication of course being that Black people cannot comprehend reality; which is of course convenient as Woke ideologues can swoop in with "the answer") It's like that Smithsonian memo about Whiteness where even time is a construct of Whiteness: because apparently, no other cultures ever had calendars or anything. (Which is why some have argued, and persuasively, that Woke people are White supremacist wolves in anti-racist clothing; this description would, I hear, fit Robin DiAngelos worldview to a tee)
The peace you mention, however, is a dark conversation that has to be had at some point. America is, without question, a country of dualism. At first it was North vs. South. Then it was White America and Black America. Then it was Red States and Blue States, which still appears to be holding up for now but is also being compounded by all the conservatives leaving blue states for places like Florida. But knowing the current instability, who knows if a new and horrific dualism isn't lurking around the corner.
I don't agree that those other "experiences" don't exist, however. I get what you're saying, and I agree that it shouldn't trump our greater unity as Americans. A lot of the issue there is with the dumb way we've refused to streamline minority experiences and integrate them with the majority so that they coexist as symbiotically as possible in a universal American identity: as Morgan Freeman said, "Black history is American history" and it shouldn't be relegated to a month. But if those experiences really weren't important, the Woke left wouldn't be able to divide people over these experiences with the ease that they do; and I can tell you, it's very easy for them to do that, especially as they now dominate the historical narrative and in that narrative, (White) America is irredeemably evil and - most crucially here - otherized. All this without even mentioning how self-segregated America actually is.
The real challenge then is: how to reassert a defamed and otherized national identity (American as nationality, or the 1776 Project) in the era of postmodernism (which is anti-national identity) and streamline these smaller identities while getting rid of the anti-White narratives. Any path forward to resolving this also requires the rejection of postmodernism and a reassertion of patriotism and love of country. One of the grossest misrepresentations of history is the idea that national identity and love of country = Nazism. It was lovers of their countries like Churchill and Charles De Gaulle that made the most effective stand against Nazism. The Soviet Union ended up taking the brunt, but that came later: patriots were opposing Nazism when the Soviet Union was buddy-buddy with Hitler while dividing Poland.
I haven't even mentioned the unserious case you make yet. I appreciate you calling it out, I'm personally sick of it. The world has problems and these people aren't interested in solutions, but in saying "the right things" to look good. I think the solution is easier than it sounds, though: if they believe it's all about being unserious, then they shouldn't be taken seriously at all. Give them a taste of their own medicine. As for those women, perhaps they are tired of the guys they like not being left-wingers; that may be why they don't just come out and say "I want someone who is on the Left and agrees with me." They want guys who fit the profile of conservative men without the conservatism. But they don't want what the Internet unflatteringly calls "beta-males" or "soy boys" either.
I concur with all you say. Except for putting Jones and RFK in the same sentence. Jones has mental health issues. I think that’s quite obvious. RFK is a different story altogether. He is asking questions around a number of issues that need addressing.
If you find a person who loves "Politics and the English Language," you are almost certain to find a person whose politics and intellectual life are "serious" as you use the word.
I find as well that people who dismiss "statistics" as irrelevant are generally unserious. Innumeracy in a society that has the benefit of big data is perhaps an underrated problem.
GenX thought life was a party. GenY thought life was about them. GenZ is teaching everyone a valuable lesson... You get from your society what you give to it.
Always food for thought. I think the biggest point here is people just do not read anymore, including my 21yr old daughter. She readily admits to getting her news on TikTok. Holy crap! Just like Kamala Harris going on about Florida's supposed abhorrent education standards about the history of slavery and black history. She got it ALL wrong but everyone who's in her tribe will just blindly go along w it. It's all so frustrating.
I’m saving this to read again - as well as the comments, which fascinate me. Thinking about it. No doubt my reaction is touched by the generational difference between us. Processing this.
Ironically enough, Michael, I think we find truths in places that are the least serious like comedy, art, music, fiction, cartoons, all creative forms that require an individual's interpretation in order "to get it." And it's awesome when a whole group of us get the joke or feel the song or love a book. As a public making laws, rules, etc are just a consensus, a crosshatch of truths. We all live in our own bubbles and every now and then something happens to us directly that pops our bubble and we can see things a little differently than we did before. Just rambling here - your posts always give me something to think about.
Bravo! You made a pertinent observation when you said: "It’s almost as if these people want—almost need—America to be more racist than it is so they can feel at peace." The logic of these Woke arguments points squarely in that direction. This is why we can no longer give a single inch or a nanometer to Woke arguments that claim to hate racism, any more than we should trust that Communists love democracy. If they really did hate racism, they'd oppose Wokeness with a fury. How insulting is it to make the case that "reality" or "objectivity" are White constructs! (The implication of course being that Black people cannot comprehend reality; which is of course convenient as Woke ideologues can swoop in with "the answer") It's like that Smithsonian memo about Whiteness where even time is a construct of Whiteness: because apparently, no other cultures ever had calendars or anything. (Which is why some have argued, and persuasively, that Woke people are White supremacist wolves in anti-racist clothing; this description would, I hear, fit Robin DiAngelos worldview to a tee)
The peace you mention, however, is a dark conversation that has to be had at some point. America is, without question, a country of dualism. At first it was North vs. South. Then it was White America and Black America. Then it was Red States and Blue States, which still appears to be holding up for now but is also being compounded by all the conservatives leaving blue states for places like Florida. But knowing the current instability, who knows if a new and horrific dualism isn't lurking around the corner.
I don't agree that those other "experiences" don't exist, however. I get what you're saying, and I agree that it shouldn't trump our greater unity as Americans. A lot of the issue there is with the dumb way we've refused to streamline minority experiences and integrate them with the majority so that they coexist as symbiotically as possible in a universal American identity: as Morgan Freeman said, "Black history is American history" and it shouldn't be relegated to a month. But if those experiences really weren't important, the Woke left wouldn't be able to divide people over these experiences with the ease that they do; and I can tell you, it's very easy for them to do that, especially as they now dominate the historical narrative and in that narrative, (White) America is irredeemably evil and - most crucially here - otherized. All this without even mentioning how self-segregated America actually is.
The real challenge then is: how to reassert a defamed and otherized national identity (American as nationality, or the 1776 Project) in the era of postmodernism (which is anti-national identity) and streamline these smaller identities while getting rid of the anti-White narratives. Any path forward to resolving this also requires the rejection of postmodernism and a reassertion of patriotism and love of country. One of the grossest misrepresentations of history is the idea that national identity and love of country = Nazism. It was lovers of their countries like Churchill and Charles De Gaulle that made the most effective stand against Nazism. The Soviet Union ended up taking the brunt, but that came later: patriots were opposing Nazism when the Soviet Union was buddy-buddy with Hitler while dividing Poland.
I haven't even mentioned the unserious case you make yet. I appreciate you calling it out, I'm personally sick of it. The world has problems and these people aren't interested in solutions, but in saying "the right things" to look good. I think the solution is easier than it sounds, though: if they believe it's all about being unserious, then they shouldn't be taken seriously at all. Give them a taste of their own medicine. As for those women, perhaps they are tired of the guys they like not being left-wingers; that may be why they don't just come out and say "I want someone who is on the Left and agrees with me." They want guys who fit the profile of conservative men without the conservatism. But they don't want what the Internet unflatteringly calls "beta-males" or "soy boys" either.
“Thinking as an art form itself has never had it so bad as it does in our country right now.”
And we get to observe it and do it sober. 🙄
It was much easier to just say “the world sucks, people suck.” And then go get fucked up.
I concur with all you say. Except for putting Jones and RFK in the same sentence. Jones has mental health issues. I think that’s quite obvious. RFK is a different story altogether. He is asking questions around a number of issues that need addressing.
"Thinking as an art form itself has never had it so bad as it does in our country right now."
The truth can always be stated a simple sentence. It takes volumes to explain unseriuos thoughts...
If you find a person who loves "Politics and the English Language," you are almost certain to find a person whose politics and intellectual life are "serious" as you use the word.
I find as well that people who dismiss "statistics" as irrelevant are generally unserious. Innumeracy in a society that has the benefit of big data is perhaps an underrated problem.
Thanks for this post.