Aaaaargh!!! What hope is there? You’ve hit the nail on the head in many ways. I’ve been in public service in the UK for over 40 years, when I started, public sector work was aspired to it’s now just another low paid job with high staff turnover and low morale. But thankfully I only have a few more years and I can retire but to what!? Remembering Peter Falk in Wings of Desire always bucks me up, where he explains what it feels like to be human to the angelic Bruno Ganz, to rub your hands together on a cold day, a good cup of coffee! Luckily it’s unseasonably cold here so I’m off outside to rub my hands together.
I often wonder if much of the world is suffering from Oppositional Defiant Disorder.*
*(ODD) includes a frequent and ongoing pattern of anger, irritability, arguing and defiance toward authority figures. ODD also includes being spiteful and seeking revenge, a behavior called vindictiveness.
You know, I think you're onto something. There's a very teen-age (in a simplistic sense) vibe sometimes... that precise knee-jerk opposition to EVERYTHING...
I’m firmly of the belief that there’s Darwinism in play here (but I’m a scientist so I’m biased). If anyone has read Dr James Lovelock’s books about Gaia theory you can see many patterns, and of course the human beast evolved to see patterns everywhere (pure maths is fucking amazing btw). So, given our ancestry, the presence of so much fear and anger triggers hate and survival of the most fit. Anyone that can’t evolve out of the beast mentality and take the trouble to learn, self-analyse and resolve to do better for themselves, their family and the planet will get removed. The Christian Bible, and probably many other religious texts I haven’t read, talks about the Apocalypse. It’s happened before, it will happen again. I give it 50 years for the life on this planet to rebalance itself, after the fuckwits get taken out ;-)
We all rely on the visionary artists to keep us sane, and predict the future for us. Robin Hobb is another great author who understands. Her Farseer books are amazing, especially the interactions between the Fool and Fitz
Have you read Martin Gurri’s book The Revolt of the Public? If not it’s a great analysis on the death of expertise that he predicted before Trump made his way onto the political scene. He basically says that experts and government have overpromised what they’re capable of fixing for so long that the public has become disillusioned and cynical of any authority. The easier access to technology has made it easier for the public to question the experts (sometimes bringing needed correction, other times erroneously) and network to challenge it through protests or other forms of action.
To me though (which differs a bit from Gurri’s opinion), it seems like for decades a whole class of over-educated experts was created where professions and market demand required more and more unnecessary education to the exclusion of the working class. As technology developed it made finding information much easier (I remember the days of having to go to a library and actually put effort into finding an answer), which irks those who spent years studying to learn. For example, my partner is a psychologist and she gets very defensive whenever someone knows something she doesn’t or already knows something. But she’s honest with herself and admits that it just doesn’t seem fair that someone can find information while taking a dump that she had to work hard for.
This has two effects: 1. the experts sniff out and obsess over the dumb public trends (QAnon, far left wokeness, whatever), which makes it seem like these beliefs and incidents are increasing. But they’re not. There’s not a shred of evidence belief in conspiracies are on the rise (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35857743/). And there’s serious doubt as to whether dis/mis/malinformation is on the rise, either (https://harpers.org/archive/2021/09/bad-news-selling-the-story-of-disinformation/). In fact, if you read David Shimer’s book Rigged or Thomas Rid’s Active Measures, you’d seen that even Russian disinformation is nothing new and used to be far worse.
The 2nd effect is that the public has become too confident in their hastily concieved judgements and too cynical towards those in power, creating gridlock. The public is essentially going through a teenage phase of “I’m growned up and don’t have to listen to your stupid face anymore, mom and dad!” So they try out every idea (socialism, fascism, blah blah blah) different from what they’ve been taught to believe in (liberal democracy). But mom and dad also need to realize they need to let the kid have some autonomy and stop helicopter parenting.
But who knows, maybe I’m just biased to the insanity of the public because i grew up in a working class house where no one went to college and developed a resentment of elites after going to college hearing a lot of condescending attitudes towards the poor and working class.
That's all extremely interesting. I haven't read the Gurri — I'll check it out. But that's an interesting class-based analysis of the roots of the disenchantment, too... I think you're on to something, there. And it chimes with some of the impetus for the growth of MAGA — a legitimate feeling that the lives of the working class in the US have been too blithely ignored or dismissed or derided by cultural elites.
"This was a time when the rush for the spoils filled a corner of the forest with the yelping of hounds, the cracking of whips, the flaring of torches. The appetites let loose were satisfied at last, shamelessly, amid the sound of crumbling neighbourhoods and fortunes made in six months. The city had become an orgy of gold and women." Emile Zola
"However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion" George Washington
For myself, I am left with the feeling that it all comes down to entitlement. What point the expert or the expert opinion when what they expostulate goes against what you deem to be your God given right, whether it be guns, food, homes and so on. There is no quid pro quo, merely "mine"
That piece about entitlement is very interesting, actually — there's a LOT of that about. Who are you to tell me I'm wrong, or that I can't have what I want, or believe (as you say) to be my god-given right...
Now that I re-read it, I don't want to seem like I'm saying autonomy is a bad thing, but surely it must be done in a way that stands not only for the self but for for some ethereal notion of the greater good, whatever that bullshit might be...
The issue is that in recent years so many people have turned from "You're not the boss of me" to "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me," a major turn in tone from mischievous to radical, and a major turn in activity from testing and bending the rules to breaking the rules and the system that imposed them.
When people get in this state of caring more about overturning the status quo than they do about what they would like to take its place, they put the whole world in the fuck it bucket to idolize figures who they think will give them the best chance of emancipation while turning a blind eye to any potential longer term consequences. Only once the buzz has worn off and they find themselves shackled to more heinous devils at a deeper circle of hell do they realize their mistake, at which point it's insanely difficult to crawl out from.
It is my hope that the majority of the US population realize this at some unspoken level, and elect to remain adults come voting time, because though letting the superpower that is the US be run by teenagers on a tear might sound kinda fun and interesting and might even feel exciting and rejuvenating, IT IS A TERRIBLE IDEA.
I remember watching the Egyptian documentary THE SQUARE a few years ago and realizing that in a nutshell it was this:
-We demand freedom from oppression!
- Absolutely not. Oh okay, okay, you win. What do you want instead?
- Huh. Fucked if we know, actually.
- Okay, well you can have this in the meantime...
- HELL NO. We demand freedom from oppression!
- Really?
- YES, of course that's what we want!
- Okay then... So you have a very good idea of what you want instead now?
- Errrr, not really, no.
- Oh for heavens' sake. Then here's something we prepared earlier...
- Nooooo, not that. We demand freedom from oppression!
Me to G: you know, I think what they really want is to be in a constant state of revolution, because it gives them direction and purpose and vitality. It's literally addictive.
The sad truth is that most humans just aren't cut out for self-governance. The sooner we realise this, the sooner we can make more reasoned choices about who and what we allow to draw the lines that we'll set about pushing against.
The authorities also played a part in this--the reproducibility crisis in science, macroeconomists claiming they can end boom-and-bust business cycles, experts in one field acting like that expertise transfers without doing the work. But yes, it's hard to see how to get out of the pit we're in where everyone's opinion is equally valid, regardless of actual validity.
Absolutely true on the authorities part... even things like the rash of stories about papers with made-up data contribute to a general air of even the old-school trustworthy being hard to trust. I hope that, as with things like AI, we'll find a new way to accommodate to genies that have been let out of bottles...
I'm in the UK, and the situation does feel hopeless; at least in regard to our politicians... Clearly the Conservatives have done a horrible job, and are expecting quite the drubbing when we get to the election this year. But who wants to vote for Starmer with his lack of ideas? So what about Lib Dems/Greens? Perhaps; but it's a wasted vote.
As a father of 2, I'm quite used to unpicking my kids transitory beliefs, picked up from the latest TikTok; and making them ask the right questions. And yet, when explaining to my 18 year old daughter that she'll be able to vote this year, I had to get into what the sides represent, and what her choices were. Because no-one on TikTok is actually 'educating'. They are just 'opinionating'
So true on the TikTok thing: it's a pose rather than something coming from real understanding or commitment. As sadly some of the stuff happening on campuses here now is.
Irrelevant side comment. The library at the college where I teach has a copy of The Strawmen (it seemed to suddenly appear) which I am now rereading. It is magnificent.
I love it. Reading before I start an evening class - on grief and loss so it’s a nice moment to catch. And maybe my comment wasn’t so irrelevant… that trilogy seems to me to have predicted or mapped out aspects of today’s craziness, not to mention the brisk but pitch perfect sketch of Ward’s grief right at the start. The Dad’s chair and his memory of him. Yes altogether a great piece of writing. I just hope the fact that the book suddenly appeared yesterday (and I know that section of shelf) doesn’t mean THEY are onto me…
I hope we'll get there in the end... maybe it's the down-swings that make us strong ;-)
Aaaaargh!!! What hope is there? You’ve hit the nail on the head in many ways. I’ve been in public service in the UK for over 40 years, when I started, public sector work was aspired to it’s now just another low paid job with high staff turnover and low morale. But thankfully I only have a few more years and I can retire but to what!? Remembering Peter Falk in Wings of Desire always bucks me up, where he explains what it feels like to be human to the angelic Bruno Ganz, to rub your hands together on a cold day, a good cup of coffee! Luckily it’s unseasonably cold here so I’m off outside to rub my hands together.
Those simple pleasures remain, and in many ways are the biggest pleasures of all :-)
Wings of Desire is a great film. I forgot about it. Thank you for reminding me.
I remember enjoying the US remake too...
I often wonder if much of the world is suffering from Oppositional Defiant Disorder.*
*(ODD) includes a frequent and ongoing pattern of anger, irritability, arguing and defiance toward authority figures. ODD also includes being spiteful and seeking revenge, a behavior called vindictiveness.
You know, I think you're onto something. There's a very teen-age (in a simplistic sense) vibe sometimes... that precise knee-jerk opposition to EVERYTHING...
I’m firmly of the belief that there’s Darwinism in play here (but I’m a scientist so I’m biased). If anyone has read Dr James Lovelock’s books about Gaia theory you can see many patterns, and of course the human beast evolved to see patterns everywhere (pure maths is fucking amazing btw). So, given our ancestry, the presence of so much fear and anger triggers hate and survival of the most fit. Anyone that can’t evolve out of the beast mentality and take the trouble to learn, self-analyse and resolve to do better for themselves, their family and the planet will get removed. The Christian Bible, and probably many other religious texts I haven’t read, talks about the Apocalypse. It’s happened before, it will happen again. I give it 50 years for the life on this planet to rebalance itself, after the fuckwits get taken out ;-)
Yeah, I kind of think you may be right...
I think you might have seen the future when you wrote Only Forward ;-)
We all rely on the visionary artists to keep us sane, and predict the future for us. Robin Hobb is another great author who understands. Her Farseer books are amazing, especially the interactions between the Fool and Fitz
Very true!
Have you read Martin Gurri’s book The Revolt of the Public? If not it’s a great analysis on the death of expertise that he predicted before Trump made his way onto the political scene. He basically says that experts and government have overpromised what they’re capable of fixing for so long that the public has become disillusioned and cynical of any authority. The easier access to technology has made it easier for the public to question the experts (sometimes bringing needed correction, other times erroneously) and network to challenge it through protests or other forms of action.
To me though (which differs a bit from Gurri’s opinion), it seems like for decades a whole class of over-educated experts was created where professions and market demand required more and more unnecessary education to the exclusion of the working class. As technology developed it made finding information much easier (I remember the days of having to go to a library and actually put effort into finding an answer), which irks those who spent years studying to learn. For example, my partner is a psychologist and she gets very defensive whenever someone knows something she doesn’t or already knows something. But she’s honest with herself and admits that it just doesn’t seem fair that someone can find information while taking a dump that she had to work hard for.
This has two effects: 1. the experts sniff out and obsess over the dumb public trends (QAnon, far left wokeness, whatever), which makes it seem like these beliefs and incidents are increasing. But they’re not. There’s not a shred of evidence belief in conspiracies are on the rise (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35857743/). And there’s serious doubt as to whether dis/mis/malinformation is on the rise, either (https://harpers.org/archive/2021/09/bad-news-selling-the-story-of-disinformation/). In fact, if you read David Shimer’s book Rigged or Thomas Rid’s Active Measures, you’d seen that even Russian disinformation is nothing new and used to be far worse.
The 2nd effect is that the public has become too confident in their hastily concieved judgements and too cynical towards those in power, creating gridlock. The public is essentially going through a teenage phase of “I’m growned up and don’t have to listen to your stupid face anymore, mom and dad!” So they try out every idea (socialism, fascism, blah blah blah) different from what they’ve been taught to believe in (liberal democracy). But mom and dad also need to realize they need to let the kid have some autonomy and stop helicopter parenting.
But who knows, maybe I’m just biased to the insanity of the public because i grew up in a working class house where no one went to college and developed a resentment of elites after going to college hearing a lot of condescending attitudes towards the poor and working class.
That's all extremely interesting. I haven't read the Gurri — I'll check it out. But that's an interesting class-based analysis of the roots of the disenchantment, too... I think you're on to something, there. And it chimes with some of the impetus for the growth of MAGA — a legitimate feeling that the lives of the working class in the US have been too blithely ignored or dismissed or derided by cultural elites.
Thanks for the recommendation. I’ve just borrowed it from my local library.
"This was a time when the rush for the spoils filled a corner of the forest with the yelping of hounds, the cracking of whips, the flaring of torches. The appetites let loose were satisfied at last, shamelessly, amid the sound of crumbling neighbourhoods and fortunes made in six months. The city had become an orgy of gold and women." Emile Zola
"However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion" George Washington
For myself, I am left with the feeling that it all comes down to entitlement. What point the expert or the expert opinion when what they expostulate goes against what you deem to be your God given right, whether it be guns, food, homes and so on. There is no quid pro quo, merely "mine"
Or summat...
That piece about entitlement is very interesting, actually — there's a LOT of that about. Who are you to tell me I'm wrong, or that I can't have what I want, or believe (as you say) to be my god-given right...
Now that I re-read it, I don't want to seem like I'm saying autonomy is a bad thing, but surely it must be done in a way that stands not only for the self but for for some ethereal notion of the greater good, whatever that bullshit might be...
The issue is that in recent years so many people have turned from "You're not the boss of me" to "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me," a major turn in tone from mischievous to radical, and a major turn in activity from testing and bending the rules to breaking the rules and the system that imposed them.
When people get in this state of caring more about overturning the status quo than they do about what they would like to take its place, they put the whole world in the fuck it bucket to idolize figures who they think will give them the best chance of emancipation while turning a blind eye to any potential longer term consequences. Only once the buzz has worn off and they find themselves shackled to more heinous devils at a deeper circle of hell do they realize their mistake, at which point it's insanely difficult to crawl out from.
It is my hope that the majority of the US population realize this at some unspoken level, and elect to remain adults come voting time, because though letting the superpower that is the US be run by teenagers on a tear might sound kinda fun and interesting and might even feel exciting and rejuvenating, IT IS A TERRIBLE IDEA.
I hope so too... and your note chimes interestingly with April's about a global oppositional disorder...
I remember watching the Egyptian documentary THE SQUARE a few years ago and realizing that in a nutshell it was this:
-We demand freedom from oppression!
- Absolutely not. Oh okay, okay, you win. What do you want instead?
- Huh. Fucked if we know, actually.
- Okay, well you can have this in the meantime...
- HELL NO. We demand freedom from oppression!
- Really?
- YES, of course that's what we want!
- Okay then... So you have a very good idea of what you want instead now?
- Errrr, not really, no.
- Oh for heavens' sake. Then here's something we prepared earlier...
- Nooooo, not that. We demand freedom from oppression!
Me to G: you know, I think what they really want is to be in a constant state of revolution, because it gives them direction and purpose and vitality. It's literally addictive.
Ha — yes: and a perfect dialogue to make that point! Fighting can be a lot easier than winning...
The sad truth is that most humans just aren't cut out for self-governance. The sooner we realise this, the sooner we can make more reasoned choices about who and what we allow to draw the lines that we'll set about pushing against.
The authorities also played a part in this--the reproducibility crisis in science, macroeconomists claiming they can end boom-and-bust business cycles, experts in one field acting like that expertise transfers without doing the work. But yes, it's hard to see how to get out of the pit we're in where everyone's opinion is equally valid, regardless of actual validity.
Absolutely true on the authorities part... even things like the rash of stories about papers with made-up data contribute to a general air of even the old-school trustworthy being hard to trust. I hope that, as with things like AI, we'll find a new way to accommodate to genies that have been let out of bottles...
I'm in the UK, and the situation does feel hopeless; at least in regard to our politicians... Clearly the Conservatives have done a horrible job, and are expecting quite the drubbing when we get to the election this year. But who wants to vote for Starmer with his lack of ideas? So what about Lib Dems/Greens? Perhaps; but it's a wasted vote.
As a father of 2, I'm quite used to unpicking my kids transitory beliefs, picked up from the latest TikTok; and making them ask the right questions. And yet, when explaining to my 18 year old daughter that she'll be able to vote this year, I had to get into what the sides represent, and what her choices were. Because no-one on TikTok is actually 'educating'. They are just 'opinionating'
Arg!
So true on the TikTok thing: it's a pose rather than something coming from real understanding or commitment. As sadly some of the stuff happening on campuses here now is.
Zuckerman? :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zuckerberg
whose the expert now ;)
Indeed ;-)
Irrelevant side comment. The library at the college where I teach has a copy of The Strawmen (it seemed to suddenly appear) which I am now rereading. It is magnificent.
But what do I know?
Odd that it suddenly appeared! I hope you continue to enjoy it :-)
I love it. Reading before I start an evening class - on grief and loss so it’s a nice moment to catch. And maybe my comment wasn’t so irrelevant… that trilogy seems to me to have predicted or mapped out aspects of today’s craziness, not to mention the brisk but pitch perfect sketch of Ward’s grief right at the start. The Dad’s chair and his memory of him. Yes altogether a great piece of writing. I just hope the fact that the book suddenly appeared yesterday (and I know that section of shelf) doesn’t mean THEY are onto me…