09-14-2021, 01:24 AM
(09-13-2021, 10:13 PM)beechnut79 Wrote: Am rejuvenating this thread as I had come to mention the current much worse malaise over another thread where I indicated that much of the fun in life seems to have vanished in recent years, long before the pandemic hit. Will invite anyone to take a stab at crafting a 2020s version of a malaise speech. Began this thread to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the fabled Carter malaise speech, sans the actual word, in July of 2019, pre-pandemic.
We have far bigger problems than America had in the 1970's. Reagan led America into a 3T whose worst tendencies have only intensified with no obvious ways of shaking off. We have political polarization in which America divides neatly into opposing camps that have little in common aside from mutual contempt. Both sides are equally self-righteous. We are deep into a 4T, yet we have yet to relinquish the most dangerous traits of a 3T that preclude any solutions whose basis is a shared agenda unless one side is to obliterate, outlaw, or trivialize the other.
Two days ago I saw a flag that read "F--- BIDEN". What could be more blatantly negative than that? Language of that type used to be transitory, as most people were ashamed of the use of the F-bomb in anger. Keeping it on permanent display indicates a level of contempt that... well, we know where that leads if it gets real power behind it. OK, that is one person, and that banner is manufactured, so there must be a market for such a witless expression of contempt. People on my side did not sell or buy banners that read "F--- TRUMP".
Maybe the differences are built into personal psychology. Heavy use of profanity often signifies a lack of impulse control. I've noticed much the same in homophobia, racism, and religious bigotry. A lack of impulse control implies an inability to hone arguments to defend one's side. Poor impulse control also correlates with academic failure and limits on economic success. It rejects rational thought that isn't always convenient but is necessary for solving problems.
Oh, do we have problems! We have a plague that one side has handled far better than the other has... I doubt that I need to repeat myself.
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.