"There is no one, single American culture anymore because there is no one, single America. There is no “American people” beyond the fact that we all live in the same geographical boundary called “The United States of America.”"
Exactly. We're not a country. Not a serious one, at least. We're an open air shopping mall-cum-prison. A deracinated, atomized economic zone, just one among many, meant to be farmed out for tax and labor. Dismal, isn't it?
I was having similar thoughts myself watching the Eagles and 49ers game (yes, I still do pay attention to the NFL. Laugh if you want, it's fine). I was talking to my friend and some commercial came on that was being pitched as some big, massive celebrity cross-over where they get together and act like normal people, I guess, and I realized that, not only would I rather jump out of a moving car than sit through that torture, but I also didn't recognize most of the people who were supposedly "celebrities". I usually have this feeling of being totally alienated and removed from the wider culture when I talk to my sisters, who are heavy Tiktok users, and they talk about influencers with names and faces that I could swear were generated by some sort of AI program, but this was the first time that I was watching television with other people of a similar age and had that feeling. Most of us did because none of us really watch television, but these commercials, this whoring out of this new crop of young Hollywood "stars" (that I don't think anyone can stand) seems like the dying gasp of a failed culture that truly is withering away, little by little. Unfortunately, I don't see things getting better - I just think that the new "mass culture" is moving towards other platforms, Tiktok chief among them, and the charismatic sociopaths that would have been Tom Cruise-level stars in the past now go by the label of "influencer".
Don't even get me started on similar trends in music. I get legitimately scared and confused like I assume a dementia patient might when I check what's trending on Spotify. I'm still somewhat convinced that "DaBaby" was just an elaborate hoax and not actually a real person who was supposedly making real music.
Exactly. No one rallies around an International Airport, they only go there if they need to use it and then continue one their way...and that's what the entire West has become.
Excellent. I’m guessing we’re the same age because all this reflects my experiences. My kids can’t believe when I tell them you had to be home on a certain day, at a certain time, to catch the latest episode of The Wonder Years. If you missed it, you were fucked.
People are disengaging from Big Event TV and curating a collection of niche interests online. My kids generally prefer a guy on YouTube discussing video games or model trains or whatever than a TV show.
Yeah it’s wild how kids can be much more selective about what they get into. The downside is that there are even MORE distractions than before. Would I have taught myself music or drawing, or read so much, if I were born in 2011 instead of 1981? Doubtful. Nintendo and TV and early internet were distractions enough!
You know, I asked myself this the other day and wasn't sure but yesterday my 5 year old asked me to put on a youtube video that teaches her to draw Totoro anime characters and she sat there drawing along with it.
That’s great. My daughter is also five and she likes this site called something like ArtHubforKids and will sit and learn how to draw cartoony things. It’s stuff like that the internet is actually good for.
This process of Cultural Destruction closely follows the model of Cultural Revolution - destroy all icons, erase all tradition and replace with the State.
The only choice is to refuse to lose. Refuse to consume their offerings. Create your own culture.
Great post man. You know I like to travel so my kid spends a lot of time watching "regular" tv in hotel rooms and she's always upset that she can't rewind or pick the show. I feel like a geezer telling her how "back in my day you had to look through the TV guide to know when your favorite show was on!"
"Some may say that makes you an “old soul,” but I take issue with that because they say it like it’s a good thing. It’s not. I wish I could relate to people my age more, then and now."
What makes it bad in your view? Is there anything inherently inferior with relating more to people older than you than with people your own age?
And do you think that the issue, if there is one, is with you or with the other people your age that you have a problem relating to?
Corona really helped push this further and probably ahead of schedule. I'm lucky if I can go to the store and have an employee look me in the eye at checkout. They are probably hoping for self-checkout to come in so they don't have to engage in that activity either. We might as well still be under lockdown because no one wants to be anywhere, it seems.
I for one see positivity in this Great Fizzle. Instead of having vetted pop culture foisted upon us, we're left with an a la carte menu.
That's what they get for jumping the shark. I agree with you on the skewed demographics in advertising: it's cynical but not worth losing sleep over. It does, however, show us their hand. And I think most people at this point are fed up with being told what to think, whom to vote for, or what matters outside of our own sphere of influence. As Terence McKenna once said, "Culture is not your friend."
The a la carte approach is good and has advantages, but there are some downsides, such as a lack of cohesion society-wide. You gain something, you lose something.
Here’s an upside though: the smaller subcultures are often very tight-knit and very interesting.
While I resonated with your commentary, I wonder if your perspective cuts across the generational layers. I'm a Boomer, as Millennials like to say. Gen Z. And what about the digital natives of generation Alpha?
I’m sure it does differ by generation. The trend I see though is that every subsequent generation gets more and more fragmented. I could be wrong though.
Excellent. I’m guessing we’re the same age because all this reflects my experiences. My kids can’t believe when I tell them you had to be home on a certain day, at a certain time, to catch the latest episode of The Wonder Years. If you missed it, you were fucked.
People are disengaging from Big Event TV and curating a collection of niche interests online. My kids generally prefer a guy on YouTube discussing video games or model trains or whatever than a TV show.
I don’t know what could be planned about this, or how it could be planned. Our side runs the risk of ascribing super genius to the people in charge when most of them are morons. I think the product has been bad for so long that the percentage of people tuning out is finally statistically significant.
"I've noticed this with my immediate family as well, and even more surprising of it all, they seem to care more about their immediate problems and priorities than what's pushed as the popular "thing"."
Is it maybe that their immediate problems have grown larger? A lot of things have changed for the worse in the last few years, especially the economy.
"There is no one, single American culture anymore because there is no one, single America. There is no “American people” beyond the fact that we all live in the same geographical boundary called “The United States of America.”"
Exactly. We're not a country. Not a serious one, at least. We're an open air shopping mall-cum-prison. A deracinated, atomized economic zone, just one among many, meant to be farmed out for tax and labor. Dismal, isn't it?
I was having similar thoughts myself watching the Eagles and 49ers game (yes, I still do pay attention to the NFL. Laugh if you want, it's fine). I was talking to my friend and some commercial came on that was being pitched as some big, massive celebrity cross-over where they get together and act like normal people, I guess, and I realized that, not only would I rather jump out of a moving car than sit through that torture, but I also didn't recognize most of the people who were supposedly "celebrities". I usually have this feeling of being totally alienated and removed from the wider culture when I talk to my sisters, who are heavy Tiktok users, and they talk about influencers with names and faces that I could swear were generated by some sort of AI program, but this was the first time that I was watching television with other people of a similar age and had that feeling. Most of us did because none of us really watch television, but these commercials, this whoring out of this new crop of young Hollywood "stars" (that I don't think anyone can stand) seems like the dying gasp of a failed culture that truly is withering away, little by little. Unfortunately, I don't see things getting better - I just think that the new "mass culture" is moving towards other platforms, Tiktok chief among them, and the charismatic sociopaths that would have been Tom Cruise-level stars in the past now go by the label of "influencer".
Don't even get me started on similar trends in music. I get legitimately scared and confused like I assume a dementia patient might when I check what's trending on Spotify. I'm still somewhat convinced that "DaBaby" was just an elaborate hoax and not actually a real person who was supposedly making real music.
There are limits to identity-by-consumption, and we’re smashing into them.
Exactly. No one rallies around an International Airport, they only go there if they need to use it and then continue one their way...and that's what the entire West has become.
The west has become airport/museum. It’s a shame that most European countries are known for having old stuff to gawp at.
And does anyone even like being in an airport? Or do they just tolerate it?
An airport is a necessary evil. So, uh, take from that what you will.
Excellent. I’m guessing we’re the same age because all this reflects my experiences. My kids can’t believe when I tell them you had to be home on a certain day, at a certain time, to catch the latest episode of The Wonder Years. If you missed it, you were fucked.
People are disengaging from Big Event TV and curating a collection of niche interests online. My kids generally prefer a guy on YouTube discussing video games or model trains or whatever than a TV show.
Yeah it’s wild how kids can be much more selective about what they get into. The downside is that there are even MORE distractions than before. Would I have taught myself music or drawing, or read so much, if I were born in 2011 instead of 1981? Doubtful. Nintendo and TV and early internet were distractions enough!
You know, I asked myself this the other day and wasn't sure but yesterday my 5 year old asked me to put on a youtube video that teaches her to draw Totoro anime characters and she sat there drawing along with it.
That’s great. My daughter is also five and she likes this site called something like ArtHubforKids and will sit and learn how to draw cartoony things. It’s stuff like that the internet is actually good for.
Ok, that's awesome. I added that to her youtube kids on the tv.
100%. I started writing in 1990 out of boredom. I misappropriated school supplies to make up stories. I also drew. Zero chance my kids would do that.
I didn’t start writing seriously until 2008, and yet even at that time distractions were nothing like they are now.
We were still mostly on flip-phones back then.
And better off for it, arguably.
"Ennui."
What a great word. A lot of that nowadays.
Rightfully so, but ennui saps one of the vitality needed to fight back.
Yeah I promptly went to the gym after that
This process of Cultural Destruction closely follows the model of Cultural Revolution - destroy all icons, erase all tradition and replace with the State.
The only choice is to refuse to lose. Refuse to consume their offerings. Create your own culture.
~ GO. CREATE. REJECT THE STATE. ~
REFUSE TO LOSE!
Great post man. You know I like to travel so my kid spends a lot of time watching "regular" tv in hotel rooms and she's always upset that she can't rewind or pick the show. I feel like a geezer telling her how "back in my day you had to look through the TV guide to know when your favorite show was on!"
It’s so true though. Kids these days have it so good, get off my lawn, etc. etc. and so on.
"Some may say that makes you an “old soul,” but I take issue with that because they say it like it’s a good thing. It’s not. I wish I could relate to people my age more, then and now."
What makes it bad in your view? Is there anything inherently inferior with relating more to people older than you than with people your own age?
And do you think that the issue, if there is one, is with you or with the other people your age that you have a problem relating to?
I think I would have enjoyed being a kid and teenager—and yes, life in general—better if I could’ve fit in more.
Corona really helped push this further and probably ahead of schedule. I'm lucky if I can go to the store and have an employee look me in the eye at checkout. They are probably hoping for self-checkout to come in so they don't have to engage in that activity either. We might as well still be under lockdown because no one wants to be anywhere, it seems.
It’s wild, isn’t it?
I for one see positivity in this Great Fizzle. Instead of having vetted pop culture foisted upon us, we're left with an a la carte menu.
That's what they get for jumping the shark. I agree with you on the skewed demographics in advertising: it's cynical but not worth losing sleep over. It does, however, show us their hand. And I think most people at this point are fed up with being told what to think, whom to vote for, or what matters outside of our own sphere of influence. As Terence McKenna once said, "Culture is not your friend."
The a la carte approach is good and has advantages, but there are some downsides, such as a lack of cohesion society-wide. You gain something, you lose something.
Here’s an upside though: the smaller subcultures are often very tight-knit and very interesting.
While I resonated with your commentary, I wonder if your perspective cuts across the generational layers. I'm a Boomer, as Millennials like to say. Gen Z. And what about the digital natives of generation Alpha?
I’m sure it does differ by generation. The trend I see though is that every subsequent generation gets more and more fragmented. I could be wrong though.
Excellent. I’m guessing we’re the same age because all this reflects my experiences. My kids can’t believe when I tell them you had to be home on a certain day, at a certain time, to catch the latest episode of The Wonder Years. If you missed it, you were fucked.
People are disengaging from Big Event TV and curating a collection of niche interests online. My kids generally prefer a guy on YouTube discussing video games or model trains or whatever than a TV show.
I don’t know what could be planned about this, or how it could be planned. Our side runs the risk of ascribing super genius to the people in charge when most of them are morons. I think the product has been bad for so long that the percentage of people tuning out is finally statistically significant.
"I've noticed this with my immediate family as well, and even more surprising of it all, they seem to care more about their immediate problems and priorities than what's pushed as the popular "thing"."
Is it maybe that their immediate problems have grown larger? A lot of things have changed for the worse in the last few years, especially the economy.