01-14-2021, 04:47 PM
(01-14-2021, 10:50 AM)David Horn Wrote: You may be over-thinking this. If we assume the Left wins the 4T (still arguable, but a good point of departure) then the terms of the victory will determine the extent of reconciliation. Judging by the clueless nature of many members of the Right, the extent of the damage to society may be a lot less than previous internal conflicts. If so, the problems can be addressed more directly and resolution may be some form of mutual acceptance -- probably not including the older, more radical elements. That's an optimistic case, but one that's feasible.
I hope I'm over-thinking it, and I'm certain the Left's march through institutions (academia, media, corporations, etc.) has made it so they are the likely victor. Don't get me wrong, I dislike most policies coming from both sides, so on some level it doesn't matter as much to me who wins but what that impact will be on individual freedom and overall economic prosperity and well-being. The double-standard in play for how those institutions treat those on the ideological left vs. right does hit me right where my sense of justice and fairness, lives, though, which makes me a bit more sympathetic to the right in a lot of circumstances. Over time, though, I know that will get better and if the worst that happens this cycle is some people get banned off of Twitter or have to keep their heads down and mouths shut at their jobs, I can live with that.
Quote:The Millennials and New Artists (can we settle on a name at some point?)
I feel the New Artists will end up being called Zoomers. Personally, I like the Masked generation because it somewhat mirrors the Silent gen and also illustrates what a good chunk of their childhood memories will be about - stuck at home taking virtual classes, unable to get within 6 feet of their friends even while wearing a mask, no sports or clubs for socialization, obeying authority out of fear that they might get sick, etc.. The social and developmental toll on this generation in order to protect Boomers and Silents is something we will be coming to terms with as a society for awhile. Depression rates are high, academic failure is soaring (in my son's classes, at least 25% of the students in any given class are failing it), social isolation is rampant, I'm sure cyber bullying has increased, and that is just the easily apparent aspects. And everything gets worse the further down the economic scale you go.
Quote:are more socially open on all important levels: race, gender and class.
They are, and that crosses both major party lines. Millenials and Maskers (I like it. I'm going with it) lean more Democrat in ideology, but around 30% of Millennials lean right, which is significant. In a two party system, the reasons people line up under one party or the other is usually for myriad of reasons and, for many people on the Republican side, race, gender, and class are not their driving motivations for voting. Labeling them as racist has worked very well for the left in terms of driving down support among younger generations, but not enough for the electorate to abandon them since many people (at least half of them) legitimately dislike the Democrat policies that have been presented and the more illiberal aspects of the current ideology.
The reason for my alarmism is that, once you have labeled your opponent as evil (which is what racism is seen as in this country), how do you compromise with them? How do you even allow them to get close to the levers of power? Why should they even be allowed to participate in the public sphere unless they thoroughly repent and convert to our way of thinking?
Better thinkers than me (on left and right) have said this has all the markings of a holy war and we all know what happy, kumbaya sessions those are.
Quote:They may differ on philosophical grounds, but I don't see them marching off to the drums of a neo-QAnon, and the old QAnon doesn't fit them very well.
Until Jan 6th, I guarantee that the average Republican had no idea who QAnon was and many of them still don't. They aren't marching to their beat anymore than the left wants to live under the rule of antifa.