Paul MusgraveI wrote about what I’m seeing in my classrooms (in general terms) https://open.substack.com/pub/musgrave/p/the-post-generation?r=10tj&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Jay Ulfelder@profmusgrave Thanks for writing and sharing this. As a parent of a recent art-school grad and a current college student, I recognize a lot of what you describe, but you've conveyed and framed it very well and sympathetically. And I have no idea where we're all headed.
@jayulfelder I am reassured (and worried) that this struck a chord—but thank you for sharing!!
Joshua@profmusgrave @jayulfelder That’s a disconcerting read. I wonder how much of this is the aftereffects of high school during COVID.
@desafinado @jayulfelder some of it, for sure, but the news reading habits are generational
@profmusgrave @jayulfelder Yes. Clearly.
@desafinado @profmusgrave I think some aspects of this are part of a broader crisis of capitalism and democracy that seemed initially (to me) like echoes of 2008 but now seem pretty clearly like a sustained spiral with no obvious exit path. And culture is changing in response to those conditions.
@jayulfelder @profmusgrave When we consider the political preferences of the younguns, is it really the case that’s there’s no clear way out of the spiral?
@desafinado @profmusgrave Maybe you're more sanguine than I am about the possibility of halting and reversing this spiral thru elections. I'm hopeful that voting can stop the slide into GOP-led competitive authoritarianism, but I'm much less optimistic about the prospect of addressing the structural economic part of it by way of intra-system reform, and I think that's actually the more fundamental part at this point.
@jayulfelder @profmusgrave Please say more about the econ side.
@desafinado @profmusgrave This convo is way too big for this format, but I'm thinking of two things in particular: sustainability and precarity.
On former, climate change is most obvs aspect, but things like declining public health (e.g., shortening life expectancies) are relevant, too.
On latter, housing crisis is huge current indicator, but also wages, savings, etc.
How do we turn this around, esp. in context of current political situation? And what happens if we don't?
@desafinado @profmusgrave Some of what Paul described, and that I see in my kids and their friends, is profound hopelessness and nihilism in response to these facts. The world's tanking, and the system is incapable of fixing itself, so why bother? Don't worry about careerism cuz it's a dead end, don't have kids cuz that's cruel, etc. Pretty fukken bleak stuff permeating their culture, and it's hard to argue with them about the facts.
@jayulfelder @profmusgrave Bleak indeed. I’m not sure it’s completely warranted, though. Inequality and even climate change trends don’t shift overnight, but they are very much downstream of politics. And major political change is coming in their lifetimes. It’s them. They are the change.
@desafinado @jayulfelder they are, I regret, especially nihilistic about nuclear issues
@profmusgrave @jayulfelder stands to reason