This is another thoughtful conversation with Glenn and John. I found the comment about linguistics majors tending to be gay particularly interesting - sounds like a Master's thesis for some bold future social scientist.
Stepping back from the sexual alphabet fray, however, it strikes me that a society that is this obsessed about sexual identity is not serious about things that really matter, or perhaps has too much time on its hands. I mean, we have a massive spike in deaths of despair, a level of debt that's unsustainable with our declared priorities (massive entitlements, world's policeman, interminable bailouts), geopolitical challenges, massive migrant flows, etc. (add your own concerns) , and our nation's future (ivy league) leaders are trying to decide what sexual orientation polls well on their Instagram pages? It seems like frivolous adolescent navel-gazing to me.
The gender phenom isn't totally disconnected from the spike in suicide. For at least a substantial cohort of people thinking they have a different "gender identity", they're searching for meaning in what many perceive to be an otherwise meaningless world - one where the temptation to despair is that much greater than it otherwise would be.
Good comment tying some of this together, LG - thanks. The WSJ just ran a piece in the last couple of weeks saying that something like a fourth of all millennials are depressed, unhappy, etc. I found that shocking. They seem like they have everything, but maybe that's the problem. Is it digital media? Lack of social connectedness? Why do they find the world so meaningless as you say?
Because compared to their predecessors (or for that matter, compared to their peers in other more traditional countries) who would have received via a religious tradition a sense of meaning and purpose for their lives, most children who grow up in secular families and/or communities (and thanks to the internet & iPhones this is bit by bit becoming the whole world) are told that they can decide for themselves not only whatever they want to do with their lives (up to and including attempting to override reality), but that it’s also up to them to determine what everything means (provided they are interested in imbuing their experiences & choices with any meaning at all). Having that much choice and freedom, particularly when it comes to the most important parts of one’s life, is a recipe for anxiety and depression - if people can get overwhelmed and can’t decide which laundry detergent to buy when they’re faced with 20 options, why would we expect things to go well when we tell kids that there are absolutely no constraints and that they can do whatever they want with their own lives?
Technology makes this problem much worse in that it functions as an additional distraction (total understatement there) from more positive pursuits that can develop people’s character and put them on a path to a meaningful life, as well as making possible things that were mere science fiction in the past (ie “sex change” surgeries). But even without disruptive technologies (after all, it’s not like people couldn’t choose to waste their lives in the past), having a culture that encourages young people to reject received wisdom & tradition (or to at least treat those things as incidental) will, I think, inevitably lead to a great many more people feeling unmoored, anxious, depressed and tending to despair. The gender identity movement that we’re seeing now is functioning as a religion for the increasing number of people who have given up on the more traditional varieties. But since it’s based on a denial of reality (and is inherently narcissistic in exalting the self), it’s ultimately not going to reduce the dissociation from one’s body (and from what I would say is one’s actual true self) and disconnection from the rest of society that leads to despair.
These are great comments. You've tied together a variety of influences and shown how they combine to create the problems you talk about. This should be a full length article. Well-done.
Cultural neoteny perhaps? There was a time when this kind of rampant narcissism would have been checked by shame. It has all but been condoned by the incumbent adult authority. Young people now find it completely normal to stare endlessly at pictures of themselves and their friends, and are compelled to distill themselves into memes in order to be represented in the virtual world.
It seems like sex has been an obsession in all significant civilizations going back to the first ones. This idea of one's sexuality as the core of one's identity then seems like the latest iteration.
I agree with you, it's all too much.
I think it's a good thing if you can regularly engage in the types of sexual activities you want--provided you have consenting partners, you don't do it to excesses that interfere with other significant aspects of your life, and you keep in mind the stark realities of these activities, that they can bring about disease and in some cases pregnancy.
But a person's identity involves many other aspects of how they are and how they interact with the people around them. And one's identity is actually negotiated with society, not determined by the person alone.
This is another thoughtful conversation with Glenn and John. I found the comment about linguistics majors tending to be gay particularly interesting - sounds like a Master's thesis for some bold future social scientist.
Stepping back from the sexual alphabet fray, however, it strikes me that a society that is this obsessed about sexual identity is not serious about things that really matter, or perhaps has too much time on its hands. I mean, we have a massive spike in deaths of despair, a level of debt that's unsustainable with our declared priorities (massive entitlements, world's policeman, interminable bailouts), geopolitical challenges, massive migrant flows, etc. (add your own concerns) , and our nation's future (ivy league) leaders are trying to decide what sexual orientation polls well on their Instagram pages? It seems like frivolous adolescent navel-gazing to me.
The gender phenom isn't totally disconnected from the spike in suicide. For at least a substantial cohort of people thinking they have a different "gender identity", they're searching for meaning in what many perceive to be an otherwise meaningless world - one where the temptation to despair is that much greater than it otherwise would be.
Good comment tying some of this together, LG - thanks. The WSJ just ran a piece in the last couple of weeks saying that something like a fourth of all millennials are depressed, unhappy, etc. I found that shocking. They seem like they have everything, but maybe that's the problem. Is it digital media? Lack of social connectedness? Why do they find the world so meaningless as you say?
Because compared to their predecessors (or for that matter, compared to their peers in other more traditional countries) who would have received via a religious tradition a sense of meaning and purpose for their lives, most children who grow up in secular families and/or communities (and thanks to the internet & iPhones this is bit by bit becoming the whole world) are told that they can decide for themselves not only whatever they want to do with their lives (up to and including attempting to override reality), but that it’s also up to them to determine what everything means (provided they are interested in imbuing their experiences & choices with any meaning at all). Having that much choice and freedom, particularly when it comes to the most important parts of one’s life, is a recipe for anxiety and depression - if people can get overwhelmed and can’t decide which laundry detergent to buy when they’re faced with 20 options, why would we expect things to go well when we tell kids that there are absolutely no constraints and that they can do whatever they want with their own lives?
Technology makes this problem much worse in that it functions as an additional distraction (total understatement there) from more positive pursuits that can develop people’s character and put them on a path to a meaningful life, as well as making possible things that were mere science fiction in the past (ie “sex change” surgeries). But even without disruptive technologies (after all, it’s not like people couldn’t choose to waste their lives in the past), having a culture that encourages young people to reject received wisdom & tradition (or to at least treat those things as incidental) will, I think, inevitably lead to a great many more people feeling unmoored, anxious, depressed and tending to despair. The gender identity movement that we’re seeing now is functioning as a religion for the increasing number of people who have given up on the more traditional varieties. But since it’s based on a denial of reality (and is inherently narcissistic in exalting the self), it’s ultimately not going to reduce the dissociation from one’s body (and from what I would say is one’s actual true self) and disconnection from the rest of society that leads to despair.
These are great comments. You've tied together a variety of influences and shown how they combine to create the problems you talk about. This should be a full length article. Well-done.
I so appreciate that my fellow readers continue Glenn and John’s discussion in such an intelligent way. Thank you, Sea Sentry.
Cultural neoteny perhaps? There was a time when this kind of rampant narcissism would have been checked by shame. It has all but been condoned by the incumbent adult authority. Young people now find it completely normal to stare endlessly at pictures of themselves and their friends, and are compelled to distill themselves into memes in order to be represented in the virtual world.
I agree. It’s really weird. I don’t know how to react to all this other than to be glad I’m not an adolescent today.
The "me, me, me" trend goes back to the boomers, who were indulged in turn by their parents during the unprecedented prosperity of the 1950s.
I couldn't agree more. My boomer generation has really made a hash of so many things in this country.
It seems like sex has been an obsession in all significant civilizations going back to the first ones. This idea of one's sexuality as the core of one's identity then seems like the latest iteration.
I agree with you, it's all too much.
I think it's a good thing if you can regularly engage in the types of sexual activities you want--provided you have consenting partners, you don't do it to excesses that interfere with other significant aspects of your life, and you keep in mind the stark realities of these activities, that they can bring about disease and in some cases pregnancy.
But a person's identity involves many other aspects of how they are and how they interact with the people around them. And one's identity is actually negotiated with society, not determined by the person alone.
Thoughtful comments- thanks LM.
Your last sentence: BINGO!