It’s something the millenial generation has experienced throughout our existence but “millenial optimism” doesn’t encompass as much meaning as doomerism (which sounds too much like boomerism for my liking.) Why is creating new words so hard
OMG that’s why I love this community that’s exactly it. “You must realize that I am far from feeling beaten…it seems to me that…a man out to be deeply convinced that the source of his own moral force is in himself — his very energy and will, the iron coherence of ends and means — that he never falls into those vulgar, banal moods, pessimism and optimism. My own state of mind synthesizes these two feelings and transcends them: my mind is pessimistic, but my will is optimistic. Whatever the situation, I imagine the worst that could happen in order to summon up all my reserves and will power to overcome every obstacle."
As an environmentalist I've found myself in a very similar thought pattern these past few days, not entirely unhappy that this might curb our incessant consumerism and possibly even alter our addiction to cheap disposable plastic crap... time will tell.
“What’s made America Great is that we rose out of the 20th century as the champion. We won. All the winning Trump wants is simply the greed of a petulant billionaire that lives a life where nothing is ever enough. Becoming a consumer economy is our victory lap for winning. We became a world power when the colonial powers destroyed themselves in the fight over expansionism during WW1. We cemented our wealth through our military and economic victories in WWII. Since the end of the war, we’ve used the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other legal institutions as instruments of enacting inescapable poverty through austerity in the developing world. And for the entirety of the 20th century, we committed (and funded) genocides and destabilized governments through assassinations and coups whenever workers and socialists attempted to take power. We won, and our prize for winning the the bloodbath of the last century is being able to buy whatever we need and more importantly what we don’t need.”
This whole essay is great but damn, this paragraph. Adding a new meaning to “suffering from success” ie to inflict so much suffering from your success.
So incredibly articulate. In Australia (where I reside) we are witnessing the decline of right winged politics directly coinciding with trumps time in office. Older generations are turning on conservative politics, and adopting leftist values. Much more is to be done obviously in moving beyond capitalist structures all together… but for a generation of Australians who so HEAVILY adopted USA nationalism as their own identity and heedlessly followed/funded USA into almost every conflict post WW2 to turn against their “saviour” you start to think maybe trump was the fire starter for the imperialist nations to finally wake up to the revolution.
I'm not going to expound everything you wrote. I think you did a beautiful job of capturing and articulating what America is and how it became this way. You are a wonderful writer. I'm just going to say thank you for writing this piece.
Similar to you and a number of the commenters, I feel that wrecking the system might be the least bad solution at this point. It certainly seems impervious to change otherwise. This should raise the consciousness of some, though who knows if it will be enough (either in number or in amount of raising), but we can hope. And we can work toward that, prepare for how to pick up the pieces. And we should do this now, since there are surely others who have rather more different ideas about what new order to create in the aftermath who are doing the same thing.
I have a strong suspicion that wrecking the system might be the point. But not in the way most of us would want. So yes I quite agree. There is going to be a space, a gap, for people to fill however they can and we need to be clear on the world we want in the wake of that wreckage, otherwise we will have the world the billionaire class and envisions for us all.
If you don't already, you should follow or at least check out @Daniel Pinchbeck. His thinking is similar (they they want to wreck things), though he's trying to organize some resistance to it. Another one you might want to check out is @Guy James.
And yeah, I'm quite sure a world rebuilt by Thiel, Musk, and Trump would be terrible for the 99%.
In the wake of these “Hands off” protests, the praising of Corey Booker’s fake-filibuster, and the #resistance culture, I’m not confident most people will learn the lesson of class consciousness. I’m afraid the Democrats will do what they do and siphon the energy. Elite Capture.
Yeah, I think you’re right, but something has to break it. And while we figure out that method for the wider culture, pushing the boundaries will still help move individuals forward
I have more hope that the people who "aren't political", trump voters or non voters, will be faced with the deep emptiness of American consumer culture...the sadness of what we did (build a very Trumpish gilded golf course/casino of a culture) with our colonial-imperial "winnings"...and start to wonder if there isn't another way to live? But maybe that's *too* optimistic?
I’ve kinda felt the same over the last few days.. like, will tariffs force us to actually reuse and/or establish a reliable skilled trade economy? Which is great! And: will these policies also result in prison labor [with an ever-widening definition of “crime”] fulfilling immigrant dominated jobs?
I think ultimately slave labor from prisoners will be utilized in the US to keep goods cheap. UNLESS. We invigorate community and get our shit together on a local level.
Is this the opposite of toxic positivity? Is this…healing negativity?
I haven’t gotten the name right quite yet, but generally it’s the path after doomerism 😅
Dialectical pessimism?
It’s something the millenial generation has experienced throughout our existence but “millenial optimism” doesn’t encompass as much meaning as doomerism (which sounds too much like boomerism for my liking.) Why is creating new words so hard
Pessimism of the intellect. Optimism of the will. (Gramsci)
OMG that’s why I love this community that’s exactly it. “You must realize that I am far from feeling beaten…it seems to me that…a man out to be deeply convinced that the source of his own moral force is in himself — his very energy and will, the iron coherence of ends and means — that he never falls into those vulgar, banal moods, pessimism and optimism. My own state of mind synthesizes these two feelings and transcends them: my mind is pessimistic, but my will is optimistic. Whatever the situation, I imagine the worst that could happen in order to summon up all my reserves and will power to overcome every obstacle."
As an environmentalist I've found myself in a very similar thought pattern these past few days, not entirely unhappy that this might curb our incessant consumerism and possibly even alter our addiction to cheap disposable plastic crap... time will tell.
“What’s made America Great is that we rose out of the 20th century as the champion. We won. All the winning Trump wants is simply the greed of a petulant billionaire that lives a life where nothing is ever enough. Becoming a consumer economy is our victory lap for winning. We became a world power when the colonial powers destroyed themselves in the fight over expansionism during WW1. We cemented our wealth through our military and economic victories in WWII. Since the end of the war, we’ve used the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other legal institutions as instruments of enacting inescapable poverty through austerity in the developing world. And for the entirety of the 20th century, we committed (and funded) genocides and destabilized governments through assassinations and coups whenever workers and socialists attempted to take power. We won, and our prize for winning the the bloodbath of the last century is being able to buy whatever we need and more importantly what we don’t need.”
This whole essay is great but damn, this paragraph. Adding a new meaning to “suffering from success” ie to inflict so much suffering from your success.
as someone who often identifies as a doomer, I really appreciate this take. fantastic writing. I hope you are right.
So incredibly articulate. In Australia (where I reside) we are witnessing the decline of right winged politics directly coinciding with trumps time in office. Older generations are turning on conservative politics, and adopting leftist values. Much more is to be done obviously in moving beyond capitalist structures all together… but for a generation of Australians who so HEAVILY adopted USA nationalism as their own identity and heedlessly followed/funded USA into almost every conflict post WW2 to turn against their “saviour” you start to think maybe trump was the fire starter for the imperialist nations to finally wake up to the revolution.
I needed this hope today. Thank you.
I'm not going to expound everything you wrote. I think you did a beautiful job of capturing and articulating what America is and how it became this way. You are a wonderful writer. I'm just going to say thank you for writing this piece.
Similar to you and a number of the commenters, I feel that wrecking the system might be the least bad solution at this point. It certainly seems impervious to change otherwise. This should raise the consciousness of some, though who knows if it will be enough (either in number or in amount of raising), but we can hope. And we can work toward that, prepare for how to pick up the pieces. And we should do this now, since there are surely others who have rather more different ideas about what new order to create in the aftermath who are doing the same thing.
I have a strong suspicion that wrecking the system might be the point. But not in the way most of us would want. So yes I quite agree. There is going to be a space, a gap, for people to fill however they can and we need to be clear on the world we want in the wake of that wreckage, otherwise we will have the world the billionaire class and envisions for us all.
If you don't already, you should follow or at least check out @Daniel Pinchbeck. His thinking is similar (they they want to wreck things), though he's trying to organize some resistance to it. Another one you might want to check out is @Guy James.
And yeah, I'm quite sure a world rebuilt by Thiel, Musk, and Trump would be terrible for the 99%.
A scathing essay. Beautifully said.
In the wake of these “Hands off” protests, the praising of Corey Booker’s fake-filibuster, and the #resistance culture, I’m not confident most people will learn the lesson of class consciousness. I’m afraid the Democrats will do what they do and siphon the energy. Elite Capture.
Yeah, I think you’re right, but something has to break it. And while we figure out that method for the wider culture, pushing the boundaries will still help move individuals forward
Definitely. Points like yours need to be said again and again and as loudly as possible.
Yes to all of this. Really hoping we can move past the typical bs.
I have more hope that the people who "aren't political", trump voters or non voters, will be faced with the deep emptiness of American consumer culture...the sadness of what we did (build a very Trumpish gilded golf course/casino of a culture) with our colonial-imperial "winnings"...and start to wonder if there isn't another way to live? But maybe that's *too* optimistic?
He wears his pants like my grandmother
The stupidity of oligarchy, the petulance of Trump.... You KNOW I eat that up
I’ve kinda felt the same over the last few days.. like, will tariffs force us to actually reuse and/or establish a reliable skilled trade economy? Which is great! And: will these policies also result in prison labor [with an ever-widening definition of “crime”] fulfilling immigrant dominated jobs?
I think ultimately slave labor from prisoners will be utilized in the US to keep goods cheap. UNLESS. We invigorate community and get our shit together on a local level.