Yes, we are to blame. But this is a problem that goes back to the Boomers. Valorising the rebellion of youth, negating the authority of parents and all symbols of authority, we are left with a lowest common denominator egalitarianism where the loudest and most brazen brat wins (as backed by the entire lascivious culture industry). Consequently, there are never any adults in the room. This is a serious civilizational failure from which we may not recover. This to me was the most disturbing thing about Moira Deeming's misadventures with the leader of her Party, the Premier, and the Press. Screaming brats supposedly outraged that anyone would dare be sensible about upholding the most basic rights of women to speech, safety, and dignity entirely determined what all the 'adults' did, until finally (and incredibly needlessly and painfully) there is a judge who is a grown up and stands up for truth and decency. But not even that happened for Sall Grover. So now the brats are screaming about Palestine, and without any comprehension of the profoundly difficult problems faced on all sides of this horror. The very least outsiders can do is be silent. But no, now brazen terrorism has the juvenile moral high ground. And there are no adults.
There is a clear class divide here - self actualisation is a luxury for bourgeois offspring. That's what you see in the Deeming/Lib-silver-spoon-cohort conflict. One of the reasons I back Moira although aren't a lib supporter.
Thanks Ian. I suppose what I am getting at is that the dialect between the wisdom, experience, and authority of the old, and the passion, experimentation and initiative of the young, has broken down. Now we only seem to have Peter Pans, no matter what age someone is. We have valorised rupture and passion over continuity and reason, in our adults as much as in our youths. Who respects the old, who respects mothers (and no-one respects fathers), who respects reason anymore? I’m 60 and yet I still feel like I’m 17, and indeed, the 17 year old giving me a coffee calls me “Buddy” in his well-intentioned attempt to be polite. Passion without reason is folly; initiative that will not heed experience makes needless errors; moral preaching without moral authority is bullshit. We seem to be drowning in an ever-young sea of folly, errors and bullshit. Or am I just old and grumpy?
I admire your optimism, but I'm really not sure about that. Algorithms, cloud capitalists, social-media echo chambers, neoliberal globalization; these have not ever been with us and they skew the dialectic towards the instant, the merely passionate, the irrational, and the foolish. So whilst I definitely am old, jarred by the contemporary world, and grumpy, I don’t think that is all that is going on here.
This harks back to a comment made by John Anderson in your interview of him about where young people are getting their information from about world events.
As the MSM continues to disintegrate or calcify and become captured by one ideology or another, young people are resorting to whatever someone is saying with the loudest voice on social media. Followers and likes have replaced circulation figures as the new currency by which veracity is measured. A deep understanding of the issues has been replaced by simply sharing slogans and attending street protests.
Often when these people are interviewed, they have not the first idea of the underlying complexities at hand. To them, the Israelis have been painted very effectively as wanton baby killers, so that is what they believe. Activists like Greta are the high priests of the modern age. They sermonise and their avid followers say amen, lest they be 'on the wrong side of history' (i.e. not cool).
In a world where information dissemination is no longer limited to the classroom, newspapers and four TV channels, we are finally coming to the crisis of the information age. How to effectively communicate the truth to a jaded and jaundiced Gen Z. This will only become more difficult with the rapid onset of AI, when we can no longer trust even our own eyes.
I'm not sure what the answer is but we will see more ships of fools before this civilisational moment (again to borrow from JA) is over.
“Wouldn’t watch the video…”. I’ve noticed that both the hard left and the hard right refuse to examine evidence if they think it might be inconsistent with their ideology. Especially amongst millennials. Clearly their ideology is more important than a search for truth. The enlightenment it appears may just be a transient phase for Homo sapiens
When I first saw the headline I thought it might be related to the news story about "Adulting" lessons being provided to school leavers, who have no idea (apparently) how to navigate the world as a grown up.
I'm a Gen Xer. I enjoyed a basic (by today's standards but very comfortable at the time) 80's childhood, and vividly remember the 90s and when it felt like we were the vanguard of a brave new and better world and we were going to fix up the shit that the Boomer generation left us.
So it's rather a peculiar feeling to be the generation that "the kids" are railing against. Except that I genuinely believe that the "the kids" have no clue about shit. How much of that is a failure of parenting?
I wish I could blame Millenial parents but Greta's parents are even more Gen X than I am.
However, Greta and Co were born just at the rise of social media availability to the affluent class. And today - even in the poor and working class communities around me in the regional area where I live - the best phone + social media + streaming service are considered a necessity on par with cigarettes.
In tandem, there has been the erosion of trust in experts. Now, anyone can have an opinion and anyone can hear it. Wisdom is not valued.
I believe (I hope!) that there is a swing back the other way so kids who are currently at primary school will have a different experience and Gen Alpha may have a different outlook.
However, in the meantime we are about to have a hump of Millennial and Gen Z professional leaders (like Greta) whose views of the world are not tethered to an impetus to evaluate an evidence base. "It's all about The Vibe baby!"
Yes, we are to blame. But this is a problem that goes back to the Boomers. Valorising the rebellion of youth, negating the authority of parents and all symbols of authority, we are left with a lowest common denominator egalitarianism where the loudest and most brazen brat wins (as backed by the entire lascivious culture industry). Consequently, there are never any adults in the room. This is a serious civilizational failure from which we may not recover. This to me was the most disturbing thing about Moira Deeming's misadventures with the leader of her Party, the Premier, and the Press. Screaming brats supposedly outraged that anyone would dare be sensible about upholding the most basic rights of women to speech, safety, and dignity entirely determined what all the 'adults' did, until finally (and incredibly needlessly and painfully) there is a judge who is a grown up and stands up for truth and decency. But not even that happened for Sall Grover. So now the brats are screaming about Palestine, and without any comprehension of the profoundly difficult problems faced on all sides of this horror. The very least outsiders can do is be silent. But no, now brazen terrorism has the juvenile moral high ground. And there are no adults.
There is a clear class divide here - self actualisation is a luxury for bourgeois offspring. That's what you see in the Deeming/Lib-silver-spoon-cohort conflict. One of the reasons I back Moira although aren't a lib supporter.
You're right, but that's the thing about being young: you're allowed to have your passions. Thankfully, the next generation has them too.
Thanks Ian. I suppose what I am getting at is that the dialect between the wisdom, experience, and authority of the old, and the passion, experimentation and initiative of the young, has broken down. Now we only seem to have Peter Pans, no matter what age someone is. We have valorised rupture and passion over continuity and reason, in our adults as much as in our youths. Who respects the old, who respects mothers (and no-one respects fathers), who respects reason anymore? I’m 60 and yet I still feel like I’m 17, and indeed, the 17 year old giving me a coffee calls me “Buddy” in his well-intentioned attempt to be polite. Passion without reason is folly; initiative that will not heed experience makes needless errors; moral preaching without moral authority is bullshit. We seem to be drowning in an ever-young sea of folly, errors and bullshit. Or am I just old and grumpy?
It was ever thus.
I admire your optimism, but I'm really not sure about that. Algorithms, cloud capitalists, social-media echo chambers, neoliberal globalization; these have not ever been with us and they skew the dialectic towards the instant, the merely passionate, the irrational, and the foolish. So whilst I definitely am old, jarred by the contemporary world, and grumpy, I don’t think that is all that is going on here.
This harks back to a comment made by John Anderson in your interview of him about where young people are getting their information from about world events.
As the MSM continues to disintegrate or calcify and become captured by one ideology or another, young people are resorting to whatever someone is saying with the loudest voice on social media. Followers and likes have replaced circulation figures as the new currency by which veracity is measured. A deep understanding of the issues has been replaced by simply sharing slogans and attending street protests.
Often when these people are interviewed, they have not the first idea of the underlying complexities at hand. To them, the Israelis have been painted very effectively as wanton baby killers, so that is what they believe. Activists like Greta are the high priests of the modern age. They sermonise and their avid followers say amen, lest they be 'on the wrong side of history' (i.e. not cool).
In a world where information dissemination is no longer limited to the classroom, newspapers and four TV channels, we are finally coming to the crisis of the information age. How to effectively communicate the truth to a jaded and jaundiced Gen Z. This will only become more difficult with the rapid onset of AI, when we can no longer trust even our own eyes.
I'm not sure what the answer is but we will see more ships of fools before this civilisational moment (again to borrow from JA) is over.
“Wouldn’t watch the video…”. I’ve noticed that both the hard left and the hard right refuse to examine evidence if they think it might be inconsistent with their ideology. Especially amongst millennials. Clearly their ideology is more important than a search for truth. The enlightenment it appears may just be a transient phase for Homo sapiens
When I first saw the headline I thought it might be related to the news story about "Adulting" lessons being provided to school leavers, who have no idea (apparently) how to navigate the world as a grown up.
I'm a Gen Xer. I enjoyed a basic (by today's standards but very comfortable at the time) 80's childhood, and vividly remember the 90s and when it felt like we were the vanguard of a brave new and better world and we were going to fix up the shit that the Boomer generation left us.
So it's rather a peculiar feeling to be the generation that "the kids" are railing against. Except that I genuinely believe that the "the kids" have no clue about shit. How much of that is a failure of parenting?
I wish I could blame Millenial parents but Greta's parents are even more Gen X than I am.
However, Greta and Co were born just at the rise of social media availability to the affluent class. And today - even in the poor and working class communities around me in the regional area where I live - the best phone + social media + streaming service are considered a necessity on par with cigarettes.
In tandem, there has been the erosion of trust in experts. Now, anyone can have an opinion and anyone can hear it. Wisdom is not valued.
I believe (I hope!) that there is a swing back the other way so kids who are currently at primary school will have a different experience and Gen Alpha may have a different outlook.
However, in the meantime we are about to have a hump of Millennial and Gen Z professional leaders (like Greta) whose views of the world are not tethered to an impetus to evaluate an evidence base. "It's all about The Vibe baby!"
Buckle up...