I have no idea why, but when I read this I thought of the original “The Land Before Time.” and how you know it was so good because you feel so lost, so hopeles and helpless, so scared, so wanting to go back in time (before sharp tooth gets her), and also hold littlefoot’s mother is such high regard for her final words to her son. FFS I get teary just thinking about it.
it’s been apparent to me for a few years that the underlying rot of the modern western world is the Hatred Of Humanity. it manifests everywhere and penetrates deep into our culture.
we hate our fragility, our vulnerability, our mortality, our desire.
Today, we are taught, not to create our own reality, but to be observers of other realities. We must judge others, while ignoring ourselves. To the extent we observe ourselves, it is to presume that we have no right to exist.
Really, what kind of a movie are such people capable of making?
I remember reading Presumed Innocent when it came out. I had already developed a healthy skepticism of the reliability, character and honesty of government institutions. This book, written by a lawyer, validated my skepticism.
I also read Pillars of the Earth. As an individual who made a living in construction, this book resonated with me because it is told from the point of view of tradesmen of the time.
Driving home from dinner Sunday I put on "The Madrigal of the Shape of Things" by the Kingston Trio which ended, about the time I arrived home, with me playing a Rusty Warren live version of "Roll Me Over in the Clover".
And I realized the people you are writing about, large swaths of at least two generations, won't get that song.
No, they won't grok that song or other bawdy songs. The closest will be to be offended in ways and to a degree my Southern Baptist grandmother wouldn't have
Reflecting on that I remember something Louise Perry has said: that consent culture has impoverished language around sex. It's not that consent isn't important but making consent the only thing that matters robs people of the ability to discuss good/bad/desirable/exciting sex. If "consent = good sex" then you consent and have bad sex it makes no sense.
Which might explain the explosion of claims of sexual misconduct that are a bit mystifying. The only way sex can be bad is for it to be non-consensual.
And that narrows the range of speaking and ultimately thinking to where the dirty thrill of even the most mildly transgressive bawdy song can't be indulged much less understood and embraced.
Sad thing to realize two days from the first of May.
It's always been with us (it is a worm in the entire Platonist framework, for example), but I suspect that the current flare up has been building for a while and is coming to a point due to a set of conditions:
1) There's been a heavy and ongoing push away from pragmatism and towards idealism by those who run the educational apparatus (this is a century-plus-long campaign) which contributes.
2) The crisis of confidence in the viability of the American (and, in general, Western) system in 2008 was never really resolved.
3) The propaganda over the last 20+ years has leaned heavily on the great virtue of moderation and conformity as the basis of social trust (look at how "extremism"--i.e. being outside the Overton window--is now considered a vice per se, regardless of the actual content of the views being discussed).
4) Helicopter and snowplow parenting has the effect of crippling a child's ability to deal with emotion, and well over half of the population now has been thusly abused (going by the averages).
5) The universal penetration of the Internet, and its reach into younger and younger demographics, mean that children simply do not get enough practice in forming social bonds and learning to navigate the messiness of human interaction at a young enough age.
6) The triumph of the marketing image, and the complete penetration of propaganda into every crack of life, mean that the expectations a young adult has for how life is supposed to work ("What we were promised!") is at such a mismatch to how life actually does work, that resentment and bitterness and alienation are a very reasonable reaction.
7) All of this is going on at the same moment (and for many of the same reasons) that our political and cultural system are falling apart and attempting to remake themselves, leaving those without a coherent culture or identity (a situation that follows naturally from several of the above factors) absolutely nothing to hold on to.
Put those together, and you've got the bottom two generations of the American populace that are plagued with these problems, combined with the outliers of the proceeding generations who have, and the depth of disillusionment and hatred for life, self, and all becomes quite understandable.
I have no idea why, but when I read this I thought of the original “The Land Before Time.” and how you know it was so good because you feel so lost, so hopeles and helpless, so scared, so wanting to go back in time (before sharp tooth gets her), and also hold littlefoot’s mother is such high regard for her final words to her son. FFS I get teary just thinking about it.
it’s been apparent to me for a few years that the underlying rot of the modern western world is the Hatred Of Humanity. it manifests everywhere and penetrates deep into our culture.
we hate our fragility, our vulnerability, our mortality, our desire.
we hate the very things that make us human.
it’s the modern disease.
Yup.
Of course, you might have noticed that this is something I care a lot about already ;-)
Today, we are taught, not to create our own reality, but to be observers of other realities. We must judge others, while ignoring ourselves. To the extent we observe ourselves, it is to presume that we have no right to exist.
Really, what kind of a movie are such people capable of making?
I remember reading Presumed Innocent when it came out. I had already developed a healthy skepticism of the reliability, character and honesty of government institutions. This book, written by a lawyer, validated my skepticism.
I also read Pillars of the Earth. As an individual who made a living in construction, this book resonated with me because it is told from the point of view of tradesmen of the time.
So, this one came back to me in an odd way.
Driving home from dinner Sunday I put on "The Madrigal of the Shape of Things" by the Kingston Trio which ended, about the time I arrived home, with me playing a Rusty Warren live version of "Roll Me Over in the Clover".
And I realized the people you are writing about, large swaths of at least two generations, won't get that song.
No, they won't grok that song or other bawdy songs. The closest will be to be offended in ways and to a degree my Southern Baptist grandmother wouldn't have
Reflecting on that I remember something Louise Perry has said: that consent culture has impoverished language around sex. It's not that consent isn't important but making consent the only thing that matters robs people of the ability to discuss good/bad/desirable/exciting sex. If "consent = good sex" then you consent and have bad sex it makes no sense.
Which might explain the explosion of claims of sexual misconduct that are a bit mystifying. The only way sex can be bad is for it to be non-consensual.
And that narrows the range of speaking and ultimately thinking to where the dirty thrill of even the most mildly transgressive bawdy song can't be indulged much less understood and embraced.
Sad thing to realize two days from the first of May.
It's the exsanguination of humanity.
Precisely the right word. It is the achievement of Screwtape's speech about the nature of modern man.
But why now?
Why now what, particularly?
>It's about a hatred of human need, and the feelings of inadequacy it causes.
Why now that hatred?
It's always been with us (it is a worm in the entire Platonist framework, for example), but I suspect that the current flare up has been building for a while and is coming to a point due to a set of conditions:
1) There's been a heavy and ongoing push away from pragmatism and towards idealism by those who run the educational apparatus (this is a century-plus-long campaign) which contributes.
2) The crisis of confidence in the viability of the American (and, in general, Western) system in 2008 was never really resolved.
3) The propaganda over the last 20+ years has leaned heavily on the great virtue of moderation and conformity as the basis of social trust (look at how "extremism"--i.e. being outside the Overton window--is now considered a vice per se, regardless of the actual content of the views being discussed).
4) Helicopter and snowplow parenting has the effect of crippling a child's ability to deal with emotion, and well over half of the population now has been thusly abused (going by the averages).
5) The universal penetration of the Internet, and its reach into younger and younger demographics, mean that children simply do not get enough practice in forming social bonds and learning to navigate the messiness of human interaction at a young enough age.
6) The triumph of the marketing image, and the complete penetration of propaganda into every crack of life, mean that the expectations a young adult has for how life is supposed to work ("What we were promised!") is at such a mismatch to how life actually does work, that resentment and bitterness and alienation are a very reasonable reaction.
7) All of this is going on at the same moment (and for many of the same reasons) that our political and cultural system are falling apart and attempting to remake themselves, leaving those without a coherent culture or identity (a situation that follows naturally from several of the above factors) absolutely nothing to hold on to.
Put those together, and you've got the bottom two generations of the American populace that are plagued with these problems, combined with the outliers of the proceeding generations who have, and the depth of disillusionment and hatred for life, self, and all becomes quite understandable.
What a great critique