It is, it really is. I wonder on some level if this a way that growing pains exhibits itself when we're not talking about a personality but instead an idea like nationalism and our concept of what our country is? The US by contrast to a lot of first-world countries is pretty young. We haven't had the hundreds and hundreds of years that Europe and Asia has had to slug out and shed a lot of blood for their sense of country, sense of social contract, sense of religion, sense of well... all of it. We've had less than 300 and in that time, we've fought relatively few classically defined wars among ourselves (though we love a good ideological fight and we've fought many of those for years).
I'm not suggesting that the US has to follow the path of more violent, formal conflict to figure it out, however. Instead, I sort of view the US in its adolescent years. It's first ~300 were relatively politically and socially stable, all things considered. We were in many ways like the child violin prodigy, painfully successful without a lot of effort. But now, the teen years have hit and everything is in an uproar. And I sort of think that manifests itself in the way we conduct ourselves in the social contract in this country, now. The Internet is the place where you go and vomit up every vile thing that crosses your mind. Politically, you have the equivalent of soccer hooligan petulance. Everyone wants their way or they're just going to fuck it all up for the other guy. We're all so isolated. We're all angry. And we don't even really know why. Not really. The economy, jobs, the Democrats, the Republicans. Yes all these things are valid to an extent but it just sort of goes beyond all that but I don't know that we can even as a nation say what's really bothering us because I think we just don't know.
Wow. I grew up pretty close to where you went to school and never heard a peep about that. I can see how there wouldn't otherwise be much cause to bring up the experience later in life unless you felt fundamentally altered by it. Your story really highlights the huge contrast of relative isolation we had not too long ago and the way news is shared now. It really has become more democratic in terms of what we bother to respond to and thus see more of, but the reporting continues to carry a for-profit dramatic slant we could do without. As far as I can tell we are at the point of having those conversations about mental health, gun control and all the angles... maybe I've become more isolated by not watching as much of the spoon-fed media I'm guessing your comments are addressing. I try to watch tv but it's so stupid I can only take so much. Fixing what's wrong there requires people who know better to subject themselves to the lunacy.
I totally agree with your adolescence comparison. I see the current state of our media as the prolonged external projection of acne, hormones and general social awkwardness of a talented late bloomer. I'm actually hoping we clear undergrad status soon because I just can't stand the thought of more drunken fraternity years.
I think "what's bothering us" is the lack of a common enemy or goal. England, the Nazi's, Russia and maybe for a little while the general Middle East gave us something to stand together and fight against as heroes. As happens with growing up, we don't believe in Superman or the Boogieman so much anymore. There are still enough freaked out anti-communist sentiments and fear of socialism floating around (as well as misguided financial interests) to keep us from really getting behind domestic infrastructure goals again. That's sad and frustrating. The closest thing we have to an uplifting common goal is NASA. For a moment, when we landed the rover on Mars it felt like we could maybe pull our heads out of our butts and pull together but that faded too quickly. Flying the shuttle over us was a great move but had too much focus on the end of an era with no hook attached for us to grab onto the next common goal that could represent.
We just need a thing, something other than sex, war, money, video games and movies about sex/war/money to stand for... a way to feel good about ourselves and the systems we support nationally. We need to sign up for an adult league team sport. I vote for more Spaceball and a steady diet of sustainable eco-friendly domestic program supplements.
I'm not suggesting that the US has to follow the path of more violent, formal conflict to figure it out, however. Instead, I sort of view the US in its adolescent years. It's first ~300 were relatively politically and socially stable, all things considered. We were in many ways like the child violin prodigy, painfully successful without a lot of effort. But now, the teen years have hit and everything is in an uproar. And I sort of think that manifests itself in the way we conduct ourselves in the social contract in this country, now. The Internet is the place where you go and vomit up every vile thing that crosses your mind. Politically, you have the equivalent of soccer hooligan petulance. Everyone wants their way or they're just going to fuck it all up for the other guy. We're all so isolated. We're all angry. And we don't even really know why. Not really. The economy, jobs, the Democrats, the Republicans. Yes all these things are valid to an extent but it just sort of goes beyond all that but I don't know that we can even as a nation say what's really bothering us because I think we just don't know.
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I totally agree with your adolescence comparison. I see the current state of our media as the prolonged external projection of acne, hormones and general social awkwardness of a talented late bloomer. I'm actually hoping we clear undergrad status soon because I just can't stand the thought of more drunken fraternity years.
I think "what's bothering us" is the lack of a common enemy or goal. England, the Nazi's, Russia and maybe for a little while the general Middle East gave us something to stand together and fight against as heroes. As happens with growing up, we don't believe in Superman or the Boogieman so much anymore. There are still enough freaked out anti-communist sentiments and fear of socialism floating around (as well as misguided financial interests) to keep us from really getting behind domestic infrastructure goals again. That's sad and frustrating. The closest thing we have to an uplifting common goal is NASA. For a moment, when we landed the rover on Mars it felt like we could maybe pull our heads out of our butts and pull together but that faded too quickly. Flying the shuttle over us was a great move but had too much focus on the end of an era with no hook attached for us to grab onto the next common goal that could represent.
We just need a thing, something other than sex, war, money, video games and movies about sex/war/money to stand for... a way to feel good about ourselves and the systems we support nationally. We need to sign up for an adult league team sport. I vote for more Spaceball and a steady diet of sustainable eco-friendly domestic program supplements.
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