07-14-2022, 04:45 PM
Let's remember: although nearly every Saeculum has a Civic generation taking on a heroic role in a Crisis (the Gilded ended up filling the role as well as they could) each Saeculum creates its distinct milieu for a Civic generation. Contrast the last Crisis Era, which had very different attitudes toward race relations, women's rights, and homosexuality among fortyish GI's than what we see among Millennials of like age.
Civic/Hero generations are Establishment. They conform to expectations of public behavior of the time, whether such implies butchering First Peoples or establishing slavery or finding such an abomination. We have yet to set norms on many things, and if the norm is crony capitalism with maximal inequality in the name of economic growth even if such brings unremitting misery, then the Millennial Generation will acquiesce. We have yet to see whether the pattern for political discourse and conduct resembles such opposite models as Obama or Trump. I am satisfied that it will be one or the other, with anyone still connected to the 'wrong' model being damned to poverty, harassment, shame, and even imprisonment. You all know where I stand on that one, with Obama-like behavior solving more problems than it creates and Trumpism as a means to ruin of America in multiple ways.
Imagine that the Hard Right offers crony capitalism with fundamentalist religion that promises that in return for selfless suffering on behalf of rapacious, demanding elites and the rejection of the intellectual values of the Enlightenment that one will at least have promises of pie-in-the-sky-when-you-die... and that those Americans who mock such an offering had better find another country in which to live or have very strong faith that allows them to believe that exploiters, abusers, and superstition-mongers will be the ones headed to Hell. History has shown plenty of fates worse than death, and I can imagine ultra-capitalists using Protestant fundamentalism as a means of rewarding people in This World while punishing people in This World who fail to obey. In a Christian version of Iran or Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, a modernized version of Roman spectacles or the auto-da-fe of the Inquisition is possible. Maybe they feed heretics or dissidents to crocodiles in an aquarium instead of feeding Christians to lions, bears, or tigers in Roman circuses. Self-righteous sadism is no better than the brutal means of enforcement of gangsters of the Capone era who rarely pretended to high moral purpose.
Of course I hope for better. I can think of technological surrogates for consumption that we consider real. Starting with food -- we may get faux meat that will have the same texture, coloring, and taste of the invertebrates, fish, birds, and mammals that we used to butcher. Let's see -- beef on Sunday, perch on Monday, pork on Tuesday, clam chowder on Wednesday, venison on Thursday, salmon on Friday, and lobster on Saturday... and because it will be faux meat the fake pork, clams, venison, and lobster will even be kosher. If you live in Iowa and want to see a great coast you could choose California 1, Michigan 22, or perhaps the route along the French Riviera (among other attractive places). You can ride your fake Harley to take it in at its best, and in complete safety. You will have live tours of museums and live concerts, operas, and plays beamed into your tiny, windowless flat -- except that your flat will have simulated windows that will give you a full view of an automobile graveyard if you are a masochist (most of us will think of other things. The point is that you might not need an automobile to tool around with. Much work that can be remote will be remote. Let's remember that resource depletion and global warming can give us huge problems arising from eating real meat and burning up huge amounts of energy for fun and profit. We will be able even to simulate hikes in nature because we can be surrounded by its simulation.
Status symbols will be pointless. Maybe our real consumption will be on the decline... just in time to thwart global warming.
Civic/Hero generations are Establishment. They conform to expectations of public behavior of the time, whether such implies butchering First Peoples or establishing slavery or finding such an abomination. We have yet to set norms on many things, and if the norm is crony capitalism with maximal inequality in the name of economic growth even if such brings unremitting misery, then the Millennial Generation will acquiesce. We have yet to see whether the pattern for political discourse and conduct resembles such opposite models as Obama or Trump. I am satisfied that it will be one or the other, with anyone still connected to the 'wrong' model being damned to poverty, harassment, shame, and even imprisonment. You all know where I stand on that one, with Obama-like behavior solving more problems than it creates and Trumpism as a means to ruin of America in multiple ways.
Imagine that the Hard Right offers crony capitalism with fundamentalist religion that promises that in return for selfless suffering on behalf of rapacious, demanding elites and the rejection of the intellectual values of the Enlightenment that one will at least have promises of pie-in-the-sky-when-you-die... and that those Americans who mock such an offering had better find another country in which to live or have very strong faith that allows them to believe that exploiters, abusers, and superstition-mongers will be the ones headed to Hell. History has shown plenty of fates worse than death, and I can imagine ultra-capitalists using Protestant fundamentalism as a means of rewarding people in This World while punishing people in This World who fail to obey. In a Christian version of Iran or Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, a modernized version of Roman spectacles or the auto-da-fe of the Inquisition is possible. Maybe they feed heretics or dissidents to crocodiles in an aquarium instead of feeding Christians to lions, bears, or tigers in Roman circuses. Self-righteous sadism is no better than the brutal means of enforcement of gangsters of the Capone era who rarely pretended to high moral purpose.
Of course I hope for better. I can think of technological surrogates for consumption that we consider real. Starting with food -- we may get faux meat that will have the same texture, coloring, and taste of the invertebrates, fish, birds, and mammals that we used to butcher. Let's see -- beef on Sunday, perch on Monday, pork on Tuesday, clam chowder on Wednesday, venison on Thursday, salmon on Friday, and lobster on Saturday... and because it will be faux meat the fake pork, clams, venison, and lobster will even be kosher. If you live in Iowa and want to see a great coast you could choose California 1, Michigan 22, or perhaps the route along the French Riviera (among other attractive places). You can ride your fake Harley to take it in at its best, and in complete safety. You will have live tours of museums and live concerts, operas, and plays beamed into your tiny, windowless flat -- except that your flat will have simulated windows that will give you a full view of an automobile graveyard if you are a masochist (most of us will think of other things. The point is that you might not need an automobile to tool around with. Much work that can be remote will be remote. Let's remember that resource depletion and global warming can give us huge problems arising from eating real meat and burning up huge amounts of energy for fun and profit. We will be able even to simulate hikes in nature because we can be surrounded by its simulation.
Status symbols will be pointless. Maybe our real consumption will be on the decline... just in time to thwart global warming.
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.