12-31-2020, 03:23 AM
Basically, two sorts of behaviors die in a Crisis. One sort is behavior that had long existed and had developed a reputation for seediness or sleaziness that people had tolerated because there was no way in which to contest them until one Crisis had the rest of the relevant world turning against it (think of slavery in the American Civil War) or that proved impossible to keep going (empire-building such as that of Alexander, Caesar, Genghiz Khan, or Adolf Hitler) because it had become too dangerous. Imagine a Hitler with nukes -- and human extinction. The Divine Right of Kings may appear to this day on Canadian coins, but nobody takes DGR (Dei Gratia Regina/Rex) seriously anymore. That largely died in the American, French, and Latin-American revolutions. But those are old and increasingly-questionable institutions, ideas, or practices.
The other sort is relatively-novel practice from the preceding 3T -- bad business practice, mindless mass culture, corrupt (and often tribal) politics, exploitative sexuality, fads and crazes, flawed theories, and perverse religiosity. Need I remind you that although there is still a nostalgia market for times as long ago as the 1930's (people watching film of the time and listening to Big Band music are not the original audiences), there is none for the 1920's and never was? The 1920's were a slum of a decade for numbingly-awful mass culture, such pseudo-intellectual garbage as eugenics (a/k/a "scientific racism"), a last hurrah for the Gilded Age (Gilded Greed without Gilded innovation), and a bubble economy? The Lost Generation, which most bought into that nonsense, ended up choosing bland tradition instead of such garbage.
Hybrids in institutions -- often businesses and business models with high costs, especially in the marketing of their wares, often go under. Think of the dead malls... and retailers such as Sears, Bon-Ton, and JC Penney that largely chose them. Who cares about costs when there is a large middle class capable of paying MSLP (Manufacturer's Suggested List Price) that will compensate for the high costs of operating in a mall with impulse shopping. Whoops! The middle-income market shrinks significantly, many customers end up at Wal*Mart, and an entity like Amazon that can offer something very specific instead of relying upon impulse-shopping gains relevance while Bon-Ton dies, Sears practically dies, and JC Penney goes on life support.
Sticking with 3T practices that lose their mass appeal in a 4T and never recover will at the least consign one to extreme loneliness.
The other sort is relatively-novel practice from the preceding 3T -- bad business practice, mindless mass culture, corrupt (and often tribal) politics, exploitative sexuality, fads and crazes, flawed theories, and perverse religiosity. Need I remind you that although there is still a nostalgia market for times as long ago as the 1930's (people watching film of the time and listening to Big Band music are not the original audiences), there is none for the 1920's and never was? The 1920's were a slum of a decade for numbingly-awful mass culture, such pseudo-intellectual garbage as eugenics (a/k/a "scientific racism"), a last hurrah for the Gilded Age (Gilded Greed without Gilded innovation), and a bubble economy? The Lost Generation, which most bought into that nonsense, ended up choosing bland tradition instead of such garbage.
Hybrids in institutions -- often businesses and business models with high costs, especially in the marketing of their wares, often go under. Think of the dead malls... and retailers such as Sears, Bon-Ton, and JC Penney that largely chose them. Who cares about costs when there is a large middle class capable of paying MSLP (Manufacturer's Suggested List Price) that will compensate for the high costs of operating in a mall with impulse shopping. Whoops! The middle-income market shrinks significantly, many customers end up at Wal*Mart, and an entity like Amazon that can offer something very specific instead of relying upon impulse-shopping gains relevance while Bon-Ton dies, Sears practically dies, and JC Penney goes on life support.
Sticking with 3T practices that lose their mass appeal in a 4T and never recover will at the least consign one to extreme loneliness.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.