Maybe it's all just tribalism, status games and in-group signalling.
I blame neoliberal capitalism. The elevation of the self as customer (who is Always Right), the atomization of society into anything more than advertising demographics, and the encouragement to Find Yourself and Be Yourself (and our products will show you how). The idea of identity as dialogue between the self and the larger society is abandoned; if the only part of society one sees (or has reason to care about) is the person in the mirror and/or one's socio-political allies,
Meanwhile, the traditional ways of advancing yourself into the world and finding yourself are increasingly circumscribed. Take a gap year to travel the world? Even if you could afford it, you're a year behind your peers on the treadmill. Find Jesus/Krishna/Xenu? Religion's been mapped out...mainstream is full of petty politics, hypocrisy, and covering for abuses. (Although I think cults are coming back...) Even hobbies aren't free expression; the social and financial pressure to monetize everything sucks the fun out.
Show me the incentive, and I'll show you the result, as someone said.
Social media has made all the world a stage. Being 'neurodivergent' or 'on the spectrum' or whatever else one may pin to one's breast is brand building, I guess.
I'm an old gay with the medals to prove it, and I have no idea what the hell is going on with youth. In many ways it's hard to be gay but, like anything else, it's not all bad. I can go anywhere in the world and, provided I shave nicely, there's a community of men who feel a quasi-familial connection with me and would like to meet. Can straight white dudes say the same? Sure feels good to be privileged.
Thanks for the thoughtful feedback, BTR! As straight white dude, I can assure you there is no quasi-familial community on tap for my tribe. (Contrary to progressive imaginings, we don't all regularly gather in a smoke-filled back rooms to plot the continued oppression of non-straight white dudes.)
I think you're dramatically underestimating the effect of what you call The Progressive Account. Why would polls, studies, or other attempts at counting LGBTQ communities that happened during global regimes of oppression for those groups give us anything close to a reliable count? And perhaps more importantly, when we've spent the entire term of modern history in an oppressive regime that puts bright lines where only dim ones probably exist, why would we assume those bright lines are useful? We use the term "gay" to mean a male-identifying person who is attracted to other male-identifying persons; sure. But then, we've had a lot of discussion over whether "male" is the bright line we've assumed it to be - clearly many regard it as not. Of course, being "gay" doesn't mean you're attracted to ALL men; clearly the "gay" descriptor is not itself even sufficiently explanatory of the attraction felt.
Plenty of male-identifying people have been attracted to one or two other male-identifying people at some point in their lives - does that mean that they're "really" gay but still feel enough social stigma to not incorporate it into their personal identity? Or does only being attracted to one or two guys in your life mean you're "really" straight and those instances explained away by some other made-up term?
My point is, it all starts to get pretty silly pretty fast in the details, but we still approach these big wide categories (that we made up specifically to delineate which identities were socially OK and which ones were NOT socially OK) as though they're relevant and descriptive in a world full of gradient lines, where being "gay" is no longer regarded as synonmyous with being a predator. Why? What is the point? Over time, I think we'll find less and less useful or explanatory in silly statements like "nine percent of the population is gay."
Nailed it! I'll be tabling this at our next family meal. It's sad to think that, in certain circles, people are now publicly self-identifying and reaping rewards of various kinds, while others are still suffering privately and experiencing genuine persecution in their own circles. Humans are pack animals and it is clear that the loss of community in recent decades in the western world has, as you rightly point out, created a vacuum that must be filled.
Just found this post linked on FdB's substack. Young people always try to fit in with their peers and rebel against their parents. I did. You did. Maybe it was smoking in the boys room or getting tattoos. Smoking dope, underage drinking. Driving recklessly and taking chances. For some reason I cannot explain, mutilating your breasts and genitals is the new way to fit in and (unless the parents are proggies) rebel. Traditionally, people grow out of this by the time they are in their 30s, if not before that. But, it's too late to get your body parts back.
Yep, you can quit smoking and get tattoos lasered off, but I'm not sure how those who've had body parts lopped off at a relatively young age are going to feel in 5-10 years.
Better hand in your grey commie shirt, you're one of us now.
But seriously, the one constant in all of these 'isms' that form the Woke religion, which comes down from on high, is reducing the human population to save the planet. Climate change is at the fore of the Davos elites' anxieties. Notice all of the elements come together to remove that pesky human: assisted suicide, reduced food production, transexualism, homosexualism, anti-White bigotry -- all of it is a means to invalidating humanity to the "greater good" of the environment. If you want to know more about this, New Australian Bulletin is on Substack, YouTube, Odyssey, Rumble and Bit Chute. You can visit us at www.newaustralianbulletin.com. We are Australian nationalists and we don't mewl around the point. See you. Nige. PS. By the way, you're one of the best writers in Australia. Don't buy your politics all that much. But love the words.
Maybe it's all just tribalism, status games and in-group signalling.
I blame neoliberal capitalism. The elevation of the self as customer (who is Always Right), the atomization of society into anything more than advertising demographics, and the encouragement to Find Yourself and Be Yourself (and our products will show you how). The idea of identity as dialogue between the self and the larger society is abandoned; if the only part of society one sees (or has reason to care about) is the person in the mirror and/or one's socio-political allies,
Meanwhile, the traditional ways of advancing yourself into the world and finding yourself are increasingly circumscribed. Take a gap year to travel the world? Even if you could afford it, you're a year behind your peers on the treadmill. Find Jesus/Krishna/Xenu? Religion's been mapped out...mainstream is full of petty politics, hypocrisy, and covering for abuses. (Although I think cults are coming back...) Even hobbies aren't free expression; the social and financial pressure to monetize everything sucks the fun out.
Show me the incentive, and I'll show you the result, as someone said.
Social media has made all the world a stage. Being 'neurodivergent' or 'on the spectrum' or whatever else one may pin to one's breast is brand building, I guess.
When everyone is unique, no one will be unique.
Make Normal Great Again.
I'm an old gay with the medals to prove it, and I have no idea what the hell is going on with youth. In many ways it's hard to be gay but, like anything else, it's not all bad. I can go anywhere in the world and, provided I shave nicely, there's a community of men who feel a quasi-familial connection with me and would like to meet. Can straight white dudes say the same? Sure feels good to be privileged.
Thanks for the thoughtful feedback, BTR! As straight white dude, I can assure you there is no quasi-familial community on tap for my tribe. (Contrary to progressive imaginings, we don't all regularly gather in a smoke-filled back rooms to plot the continued oppression of non-straight white dudes.)
You do indeed, they are called sports bars or pubs! Lol
I think you're dramatically underestimating the effect of what you call The Progressive Account. Why would polls, studies, or other attempts at counting LGBTQ communities that happened during global regimes of oppression for those groups give us anything close to a reliable count? And perhaps more importantly, when we've spent the entire term of modern history in an oppressive regime that puts bright lines where only dim ones probably exist, why would we assume those bright lines are useful? We use the term "gay" to mean a male-identifying person who is attracted to other male-identifying persons; sure. But then, we've had a lot of discussion over whether "male" is the bright line we've assumed it to be - clearly many regard it as not. Of course, being "gay" doesn't mean you're attracted to ALL men; clearly the "gay" descriptor is not itself even sufficiently explanatory of the attraction felt.
Plenty of male-identifying people have been attracted to one or two other male-identifying people at some point in their lives - does that mean that they're "really" gay but still feel enough social stigma to not incorporate it into their personal identity? Or does only being attracted to one or two guys in your life mean you're "really" straight and those instances explained away by some other made-up term?
My point is, it all starts to get pretty silly pretty fast in the details, but we still approach these big wide categories (that we made up specifically to delineate which identities were socially OK and which ones were NOT socially OK) as though they're relevant and descriptive in a world full of gradient lines, where being "gay" is no longer regarded as synonmyous with being a predator. Why? What is the point? Over time, I think we'll find less and less useful or explanatory in silly statements like "nine percent of the population is gay."
Thanks for the thoughtful feedback, Kim!
Nailed it! I'll be tabling this at our next family meal. It's sad to think that, in certain circles, people are now publicly self-identifying and reaping rewards of various kinds, while others are still suffering privately and experiencing genuine persecution in their own circles. Humans are pack animals and it is clear that the loss of community in recent decades in the western world has, as you rightly point out, created a vacuum that must be filled.
Good idea - I think I'll table it at my next family meal too!
Just found this post linked on FdB's substack. Young people always try to fit in with their peers and rebel against their parents. I did. You did. Maybe it was smoking in the boys room or getting tattoos. Smoking dope, underage drinking. Driving recklessly and taking chances. For some reason I cannot explain, mutilating your breasts and genitals is the new way to fit in and (unless the parents are proggies) rebel. Traditionally, people grow out of this by the time they are in their 30s, if not before that. But, it's too late to get your body parts back.
Yep, you can quit smoking and get tattoos lasered off, but I'm not sure how those who've had body parts lopped off at a relatively young age are going to feel in 5-10 years.
"but I'm not sure how those who've had body parts lopped off at a relatively young age are going to feel in 5-10 years."
Probably like they are missing something(s)?
Better hand in your grey commie shirt, you're one of us now.
But seriously, the one constant in all of these 'isms' that form the Woke religion, which comes down from on high, is reducing the human population to save the planet. Climate change is at the fore of the Davos elites' anxieties. Notice all of the elements come together to remove that pesky human: assisted suicide, reduced food production, transexualism, homosexualism, anti-White bigotry -- all of it is a means to invalidating humanity to the "greater good" of the environment. If you want to know more about this, New Australian Bulletin is on Substack, YouTube, Odyssey, Rumble and Bit Chute. You can visit us at www.newaustralianbulletin.com. We are Australian nationalists and we don't mewl around the point. See you. Nige. PS. By the way, you're one of the best writers in Australia. Don't buy your politics all that much. But love the words.