Feb

21

I read this article called "Where Have The Good Men Gone?" recently, and found it quite interesting. Here is the beginning:

Not so long ago, the average American man in his 20s had achieved most of the milestones of adulthood: a high-school diploma, financial independence, marriage and children. Today, most men in their 20s hang out in a novel sort of limbo, a hybrid state of semi-hormonal adolescence and responsible self-reliance. This "pre-adulthood" has much to recommend it, especially for the college-educated. But it's time to state what has become obvious to legions of frustrated young women: It doesn't bring out the best in men.

Between his lack of responsibilities and an entertainment media devoted to his every pleasure, today's young man has no reason to grow up, says author Kay Hymowitz. She discusses her book, "Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men Into Boys."

"We are sick of hooking up with guys," writes the comedian Julie Klausner, author of a touchingly funny 2010 book, "I Don't Care About Your Band: What I Learned from Indie Rockers, Trust Funders, Pornographers, Felons, Faux-Sensitive Hipsters and Other Guys I've Dated." What Ms. Klausner means by "guys" is males who are not boys or men but something in between. "Guys talk about 'Star Wars' like it's not a movie made for people half their age; a guy's idea of a perfect night is a hang around the PlayStation with his bandmates, or a trip to Vegas with his college friends…. They are more like the kids we babysat than the dads who drove us home." One female reviewer of Ms. Kausner's book wrote, "I had to stop several times while reading and think: Wait, did I date this same guy?"

For most of us, the cultural habitat of pre-adulthood no longer seems noteworthy. After all, popular culture has been crowded with pre-adults for almost two decades. Hollywood started the affair in the early 1990s with movies like "Singles," "Reality Bites," "Single White Female" and "Swingers." Television soon deepened the relationship, giving us the agreeable company of Monica, Joey, Rachel and Ross; Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer; Carrie, Miranda, et al.

But for all its familiarity, pre-adulthood represents a momentous sociological development. It's no exaggeration to say that having large numbers of single young men and women living independently, while also having enough disposable income to avoid ever messing up their kitchens, is something entirely new in human experience. Yes, at other points in Western history young people have waited well into their 20s to marry, and yes, office girls and bachelor lawyers have been working and finding amusement in cities for more than a century. But their numbers and their money supply were always relatively small. Today's pre-adults are a different matter. They are a major demographic event.

John Watson writes:

As a member of the generation Dr. Zussman is describing, he has it totally wrong, but then again most people over age 35 don't understand us, nor do they have a clue.

Countless tomes have been written about our generation and most are wrong. Philosophers ever since Plato have been complaining about the laxness and laziness of the following generations and I expect this trend to continue until the Revelation or whatever the disciples of Dawkins believe. As I'm fond of telling my father (who, like you, doesn't get it either), we will get it right, the economy and world will muddle along, and I will still choose his retirement home. As for the debt crisis, as my dad says, nobody's going to pay it in real dollars anyways, so why worry, life will go on. Things will go on as always, except the media is managing to have a bit more control and people who take them seriously will get frightened by all the editorial.

As for addressing Dr. Zussman's shared article, one thing that really sticks out is it has an anti-male bias which I find very strange. In answer to that, I work quite hard and am preserving two languages and cultures most modernists consider irrelevant. I don't find many females in my field, and it's impossible to recruit them beyond doing restoration work, which is a different discipline. I am quite serious about my studies and future, and most of my associates and fellow students are just as serious as I am. We are not all dilletantes as described in this essay, and all of us are rather serious. We are your caretakers in your dotage and nonage, which should be stressed.

Anyways, what the article avoids mentioning is that the Asians are completely taking over academia, which is something I've noticed since I was 14 years old. That is the real issue that needs to be discussed, and my dad has theories but you'd have to ask him as I am not willing to go on record quoting his radical ideas regarding the Asians. There is a paradigm shift going on that is the most important discussion, that everyone just dances around. Dr. Zussman, you wouldn't happen to be a French intellectual would you?


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