From the state of intergenerational attitudes to the angst of the now, now, now brigades, the ugly is sure spewing out. In a progressive Seattle neighborhood the shouting down of others reached a crescendo during a moderated debate, a microcosm of one of the bigger pictures. Tribal mentalities and engagement pulling the most ill conceived pages out of draconian play books. This mob mentality that has come to the forefront is as backwards as it is dangerous. It is coming from every corner so it is not a simple phenomenon, the paradox is the height of so many of them all in a choir reaching glass shattering pitch in unison that it should be, if nothing else, noticeable.
One of the chronic tasks that I have become attuned to is the philosophy of know thyself. Searching for reasons and what fors? This pop up populist culture has ingrained itself into almost every aspect of our lives and it is more dangerous than any political or religious ideal someone disagrees with. In the finding of myself it is important to understand the states of thinking being engaged in. That makes states of thinking that I have to deal with just as obvious. In that give and take, push and pull through society and everyday life, the states of minds I am coming across is refreshing in the fact that it is being utilized; yet is also alarming as to the dearth of empathy and common sense being applied. Grown up’s in the room? Not so much, more like ill mannered children in new bodies having tantrums instead of finding constructive solutions. The latter description a nod to all generations, not just the younger ones. That is what surprises me the most, am I now the adult in the thinking room? If so, then we have some more serious issues to add to the list.
I am finding even the most progressive of friends closing up, narrow visions of expectations and results. The younger generation blaming the older ones and vice versa, as my Scoutmaster used to say, “someone’s got to lead.” Here is the hilarious state of thinking that I am running into for example; it appears that if one finds a blame for something… anything, that it will somehow absolve them of the dilemma, the problem, the feeling. How the hell is finding the blame anything more than just a starting point? Over the last few years I have heard the political tit for tats come up again and again, come up with a blame, apply blame, look for someone else to fix it or substantiate one’s illusions of a solution. To that I sit perplexed, go ahead and find the blame, declare the reasons and what fors about why something is what it is. I must ask, after the gloating and self-righteous fairy dancing… What’s next? How does that help again? Finding the things that at their base cause discomfort or even fear, but taking the populist posse approach to these things is not a wise practice.
Somewhere along this affluency highway we have come to a built in turnpike. One composed of a reroute right back through that same two gas station town we just left. There is a reason to be patient in some societal matters, like waiting for the road to be built before blazing through the first opening in the clearcut. We have a lot of blazers, we have a lot of people who have waited long enough for their access as well. The bottom fed upper tier is feeling their foundations wobble; and they are doing everything in their power to steady up the cronyism and money status they assume is there because they are special… Few are poisoned to the extent of this administration and its allies but we are still trying to find the blame, find the root cause. Surprise! Found it! We are a collection of spoiled brats, when you can look at it in that light, it makes it really easy to see. We are trying to do the right thing, but so was the atom bomb, just doing what it thought we wanted it to. Pack mentality, mob rule, anarchy, authoritarianism, all ours and not only found on one side of the aisle, but all of them, blazing.
Sure, I agree with the premise that we the people can and will change this country and world for the better. There is also a pace that cannot be set by populist upstarts, fads or trends. It is a stride of generations that has left us off step and tripping over the information garnered from a screen instead of handed down in context. I wonder what this current generation of teens would be like if they were raised in a tech free or limited world? It is not a thought meant to hurt them, but enrich them with the disconnect that many of them do yearn for and simply don’t know it is there. To the older generations I wonder if they really understood what they were doing opening up Pandora’s boxes in everyone’s homes, pockets, refrigerators. All of the cards are on the table and the tarot readers are nowhere to be found.
So, as the world goes crazy and the people around this country are too wrapped up in their own worlds to care enough about the entirety of the world, people will spin. The warped thoughts behind these states of thinking will drive us backwards off the cliff. Patience and steady change will win the day, and save us from eating away at ourselves and our passions, change will occur on a basis already set down long ago. We can want everything, expect it now, and do a shoddy job. Or we can set change free, to change the landscapes of thought the way they are supposed to, through example, over time. These pop-up proclamations and vigilante style insurrections will not leave us in one piece, or with any peace to speak of.