The denouement?

[JasonBlack]

(08-16-2022, 10:18 AM)David Horn Wrote:

(08-15-2022, 07:37 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: Two roads diverge at some point in a 4T. One leads to disgrace and ruin, personal or national. Another leads to a wholesome result. Maybe it isn't perfect; the generational theory suggests that even what people see as the optimum changes predictably in a cyclical way.

Note: the 1950s (better known as the Ideal World) had plenty of racial issues, including lynchings, plenty of demagogues, including Robert Welch and Joe McCarthy and plenty of lesser but still effective social inhibitors -- ask anyone who belonged to the "wrong" church.  The last 4T stated from REALLY BAD, and ended with still bad but kinda, sorta better.  I doubt we get more this time either -- assuming that the 4T resolves on a high note. of course.

Assuming you agree that this 4T is a shadow of the ACW, which wasn't really resolved positively either, the best we get, apparently, is "some improvement".  After all, history is a process, and we're just sitting out our little piece of it.  "Success" is probably permanently illusive.

Something most boomers will agree with me on is...1st Turnings are overrated. Granted, having been born on the other side of the curve, I understand the appeal. The 3rd and 4th Turnings are typically stressful periods to live through. A 1st Turning offers a necessary period of respite and gives time for society to rebuild, but this comes with the price tag of conformity, often to the point of infringements on privacy and, especially in the first half, straight up witch hunts weeding out the last supporters of the old regime.