LISTEN, I survey a lot of more social media; more than most of you ever do, and I can tell you this with some certainty.
99.999% of all social posts we see — even by the most famous scholars historians, journalists and pundits — are all about the contours or specific examples
99.999% of all social posts we see — even by the most famous scholars historians, journalists and pundits — are all about the contours or specific examples
of our "MAGA/Trump" problem. It's become a kind of national horror-porn. A bottomless well of nutrients for doom-scrollers that is powering the (often-shrinking) careers of many respected people and institutions, but has very little value beyond that.
Sadly, perhaps even
Sadly, perhaps even
tragically, a much bigger problem is that almost none of them are proposing or even promoting any solutions to any part of our problems.
Diagnosing socio-political problems is really pretty easy: almost anybody can do it. And almost everyone has in some form or another.
But
Diagnosing socio-political problems is really pretty easy: almost anybody can do it. And almost everyone has in some form or another.
But
proposing even pieces of solutions — or even some process to arrive at solutions — requires some degree of intellectual courage.
Unfortunately very few of the people we want so desperately to respect have very much of said courage. And that, in my view, is America's — and
Unfortunately very few of the people we want so desperately to respect have very much of said courage. And that, in my view, is America's — and
perhaps the modern world's — biggest single problem.
And we're all partly to blame for this by allowing our society to evolve with almost no mechanisms for respecting or transmitting any form of traditions, norms, or rules of order from one generation to the next. Most of us
And we're all partly to blame for this by allowing our society to evolve with almost no mechanisms for respecting or transmitting any form of traditions, norms, or rules of order from one generation to the next. Most of us
don't trust anyone anymore, because there are no accepted community frameworks for building and sharing that trust. Almost everyone seems to be largely working with norms and values assimilated from popular culture. Especially from television and films. This is why so much
of what politicians say sounds so cliché. Because it is cliché. They watch and learn from the same video dreck we've all been bombarded with since we were children. Few ever read or study philosophy or the classic literature anymore, once the transmission mechanism for most
shared human values. Hell, many don't read anything at all anymore. They get their learning from pop culture and entertainment, not from any kind of accepted frameworks for what life and society should value.
If religion ever did have any real value, it was at least providing
If religion ever did have any real value, it was at least providing
frameworks that a large number of people would abide by. It's no longer a big (or admitted) part of most people's lives, but nothing has replaced it as a transmission source for shared values.
And MAGA has exploited all these conditions and cultural failures. By routinely
And MAGA has exploited all these conditions and cultural failures. By routinely
and forcefully shouting down almost any credible positions or opinions, they have made it very risky for anyone with status or stature to speak up on just about everything.
Consequently, few speak much at all, but when they do, it's mostly outrage, outcry, or contempt for
Consequently, few speak much at all, but when they do, it's mostly outrage, outcry, or contempt for
what's happening to us. Proposing even the smallest practical steps we MIGHT take is left to the "extremists" who we're all implicitly taught to distrust because, well, "they're extremists." As a result, the closest we come to reforming anything is untenable demands such as
"Abolish Ice," as if that was really some kind of easily effected solution. It's not remotely that. It's just political rhetoric with absolutely no serious operational value. But someone with proposals to "Reform Ice" will never even be heard, because magnifying such
reasonable proposals carries that inherent risk that either MAGA or the Left will shout it down, mock it, or ignore it. No one wants to be seen shouting into a void that gets little if any popular reaction. It just feels too weak and ineffectual. (That's where the lack of
courage is best seen). This is merely one small example. There are thousands of others across the entire landscape of critical issues we face.
Just ask yourself when was the last time you saw somebody definitely reposting any kind of solution (even bad ones) to anything, as
Just ask yourself when was the last time you saw somebody definitely reposting any kind of solution (even bad ones) to anything, as
opposed to just one more piece of token evidence that we live in a badly broken society on a very dangerous and dark path. But you' can see the non-productive memes and agitprop — the junk food of social media — reposted literally thousands of times a minute wherever you
look.
We have to develop a means to surface the people with the courage to surface tangible ideas and make everyone else aware of them. It's the only way we will ever move past this toxic political agitprop posing as serious discourse that just generates more Gummy Bears for
We have to develop a means to surface the people with the courage to surface tangible ideas and make everyone else aware of them. It's the only way we will ever move past this toxic political agitprop posing as serious discourse that just generates more Gummy Bears for
doom-scrollers.
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