Very insightful. I don't know if anyone else is noticing this but there does seem to be a thread of BOREDOM running through the woke brigade, even in your last article about the FtMs who leave their husbands. Maybe boredom is a symptom of privilege. How often are transitioners and their ultra woke "allies" white and middle class? Perhaps a lack of real-world issues is causing some to seek them out in order to find meaning in their lives.
I've been wondering lately how it's impacting us to live in a world of such convenience. How is it impacting us not to have to wait for things? To be able to acquire goods, services, and information at the click of a button? Surely, our frustration tolerance has to be affected, our patience, but also a sense of meaning in life. A certain amount of struggle or hardship to overcome can give us a feeling of accomplishment but if we have no significant struggles, life can feel dull and directionless.
As someone whose friend group all went to the super woke direction, I don't agree with boredom as a reason. All but one of them came from extremely religious, conservative families and while they rejected the religion and politics they were raised with they did NOT reject the dysfunctional relationship to Original Sin/individual perfection/black and white thinking, however you want to put it. Some of them are emotionally unstable. Some aren't productive (and they are aware of both of these things and beat themselves up about that, too) but their very anti-woke family aren't more emotionally stable or productive. They simply channel their unachievable ideals in a different direction.
Most of them have chronic physical health problems, struggle to remain employed, most of them grew up lower middle class at BEST and some have had bouts of homelessness. They are not all white and not all of them grew up in western first world countries - I know a trans person from Rwanda and one from Nigeria and from the Philippines and oh boy they're all way more fiery than any of the American born woke people I know. Characterizing woke people as not having REAL problems or as all being really well off and spoiled is entirely unfair. Being obnoxiously self-righteous allows them to feel some measure of control in a life where they're struggling to keep afloat. Perhaps it's difficult to understand this way of coping if you're someone who is more skilled at perspective or motivation. This doesn't make their coping mechanism healthy but unhealthy coping mechanisms and causing problems for people around you doesn't mean you don't also have very real problems.
Plus, the woke people are all extremely anxious and prone to catastrophizing and when you get people like that in a group it feeds on itself.
As for the FTM thread - because again, these are my people in some way - not boredom, nobody behaves that way because they're bored. Self-hatred, yes. A desire to be someone else, because OBVIOUSLY the current version of you is a completely unlikeable failure and if only you could transform into someone else....if only it were possible to actually turn into another person, because if I really believed that were a possibility I would have joined them on the trans train, too. But I know it won't make a difference, I'll still be the me I want to escape so I won't like myself any better. but for the people who truly believe it can make a difference, why wouldn't they pursue it? so many of the reasons these women hate themselves are for reasons beyond their control (or, at least, any changes they could make would be glacial and would never amount to a big difference even with monumental amounts of personal effort because it turns out you can't will your way out of anxiety or ADHD related memory problems or whatever.)
Thank you--really interesting perspective Tar. This is a phenomenon that does feed on itself. Probably the truth is that people are drawn to this cultural wave for many reasons and from many places. I wouldn't have picked the word "boredom," but I resonated with this comment about boredom--my experience with the woke in my world is that they come from a great deal of comfort/privilege and so I have often wondered if there might be a need for a problem to solve. But everyone suffers, after all, nobody is problem-free. And as you point out, some of these folks who are drawn to it are struggling greatly.
That's probably true that there are a variety of motivations. I also want to backtrack slightly on my anti-boredom crusade, as I just recalled that there's a phenomenon where some people with ADHD are known to deliberately provoke other people for stimulation which could be interpreted as "I'm bored, let's fight!" and as ADHD is extremely overrepresented among my friend group....also, I remember reading a study about how those of us with Autism were swifter to punish for smaller slights than Allistics were which frankly is a study I would like to pretend didn't exist but I will grudgingly concede it could be relevant to some of the behavior from the trans end at least.
I agree with the boredom idea. It's not talked about much, but I think it is behind so much wokery. People want a problem to solve--along comes Woke Wordle! Roll up your sleeves, it's fun! You have to figure it out, and it takes some creative bending of reality that brings the satisfaction of accomplishment. You score when you get someone else punished, or when you get acknowledged for your "kindness" or your "oppression," or whatever. The dopamine hits of revenge and SJW righteousness keep the game going.
TLDR version: a whole bunch of college interns from swanky elite colleges got fired from their positions after demanding woke changes during, you know, a summer internship.
One of the problems with this play-acted version of militant labor activism is that they issue lists of “demands”, rather than making “requests”. It doesn’t seem to occur to them that making demands requires an effective recourse if they’re refused.
Demands also carry a whole weight of guilt and blame and precedent-setting that something phrased as a request does not. If your neighbor DEMANDS you remove your car from the spot in front of their house that it legally occupies, you’re unlikely to comply, even if they give you a reason (“I need to unload something”). If they request it, well, maybe you’ll think about it. But I think the confrontation is the point.
All I had to see was “Vassar” to know it was written by a moron. I’m an adult nursing student and I’ll tell you that the writing was well below the level expected at a good community college.
Following on from your comment on Junior Employees 'inventing dragons to slay', I wonder if there's also a group of older employees who are victims of the 'St George in retirement' syndrome?
Perhaps those who fought some of the great liberal battles in their youth, but are still desperate for causes to fight for, and end up pursuing more and more woke and/or trivial causes.
They need their dragons.
Did you come across anyone like that? (or perhaps they just fit into your 2nd or 3rd categories?)
Hmmm... I know the type but in my experience they're more likely to go along than be ringleaders? They worry they've lost touch and think they're looking at the next iteration of what they did, so they lend their support. What do you think?
I think you're probably right in that they're mostly followers.
It's an interesting cohort though. My generation and older (50 plus). I think there's a powerful sense of not wanting to be seen as out of touch, reactionary etc. So there's often a knee jerk reaction to uncritically follow what is deemed to be 'the right side of history'.
Also, we tend to have children, full time jobs etc, and don't often have enough time to do the research necessary to really understand a particular topic.
I know a bunch like this, who are always talking about how great and smart and advanced the kids are these days and how they know their own minds and we need to follow their lead and so on and so forth. Though they’re also the type who are always on about how “I’m sorry I brought my kids into this world “ and “I’m glad I’ll be dead before everything collapses”. I find this all very annoying because I’ve been hearing the same shit for 40 years from hippie-dropout-doomer family and friends, which is not to minimize the problems we face, but the doom and gloom gets old. (Also if they feel bad about bringing their grown-up kids into this, what’s that supposed to say about my much younger ones?)
As management becomes more diverse, there is another group using wokeness as a weapon- the brown-noser. They will shamelessly insinuate themselves into the good graces of higher-ups through their relentless proclamation of allyship and the use of activist rhetoric in every context. I overheard one such groveling schmuck tell my boss "When I was a kid I had a dog named Black Power!" The boss was not impressed.
Jennifer, I am not sure that groveling schmuck is the correct Yiddish opprobrium in this case. Schmuck, in my circles, means something more like a jerk or a dumbass, whereas putz means something like a stupid or worthless person. In this case, I think groveling putz might be more appropriate, given that it's silly to assume you can brown-nose your white privilege way.
On the other hand, another Yiddish choice here could be groveling schnook, which means a fool or naive person, again given the scenario. Interestingly enough, both schmuck and putz come from different words that mean "penis" but neither of them means quite what "dick" means in English. (I hope I haven't triggered any transpersons by using the P-word. I assuredly believe you can be a putz or a schmuck regardless of your gender identity.)
My grandmother would not be so proud that so many decades later this is the Yiddish I'm discussing, and not what she taught me as a child.
This is a very interesting and informative take on the issues. I think a good deal of this is also driven by simple ignorance of biology and history, and pervasive narcissism. Thank you for your thoughts. Frederick
Very insightful. I don't know if anyone else is noticing this but there does seem to be a thread of BOREDOM running through the woke brigade, even in your last article about the FtMs who leave their husbands. Maybe boredom is a symptom of privilege. How often are transitioners and their ultra woke "allies" white and middle class? Perhaps a lack of real-world issues is causing some to seek them out in order to find meaning in their lives.
I've been wondering lately how it's impacting us to live in a world of such convenience. How is it impacting us not to have to wait for things? To be able to acquire goods, services, and information at the click of a button? Surely, our frustration tolerance has to be affected, our patience, but also a sense of meaning in life. A certain amount of struggle or hardship to overcome can give us a feeling of accomplishment but if we have no significant struggles, life can feel dull and directionless.
Excellent article from Eliza and great comment from you IW.
The old trope holds true, I think.
No-one values anything they get for nothing and the one thing that definitely needs earned is respect.
So true.
As someone whose friend group all went to the super woke direction, I don't agree with boredom as a reason. All but one of them came from extremely religious, conservative families and while they rejected the religion and politics they were raised with they did NOT reject the dysfunctional relationship to Original Sin/individual perfection/black and white thinking, however you want to put it. Some of them are emotionally unstable. Some aren't productive (and they are aware of both of these things and beat themselves up about that, too) but their very anti-woke family aren't more emotionally stable or productive. They simply channel their unachievable ideals in a different direction.
Most of them have chronic physical health problems, struggle to remain employed, most of them grew up lower middle class at BEST and some have had bouts of homelessness. They are not all white and not all of them grew up in western first world countries - I know a trans person from Rwanda and one from Nigeria and from the Philippines and oh boy they're all way more fiery than any of the American born woke people I know. Characterizing woke people as not having REAL problems or as all being really well off and spoiled is entirely unfair. Being obnoxiously self-righteous allows them to feel some measure of control in a life where they're struggling to keep afloat. Perhaps it's difficult to understand this way of coping if you're someone who is more skilled at perspective or motivation. This doesn't make their coping mechanism healthy but unhealthy coping mechanisms and causing problems for people around you doesn't mean you don't also have very real problems.
Plus, the woke people are all extremely anxious and prone to catastrophizing and when you get people like that in a group it feeds on itself.
As for the FTM thread - because again, these are my people in some way - not boredom, nobody behaves that way because they're bored. Self-hatred, yes. A desire to be someone else, because OBVIOUSLY the current version of you is a completely unlikeable failure and if only you could transform into someone else....if only it were possible to actually turn into another person, because if I really believed that were a possibility I would have joined them on the trans train, too. But I know it won't make a difference, I'll still be the me I want to escape so I won't like myself any better. but for the people who truly believe it can make a difference, why wouldn't they pursue it? so many of the reasons these women hate themselves are for reasons beyond their control (or, at least, any changes they could make would be glacial and would never amount to a big difference even with monumental amounts of personal effort because it turns out you can't will your way out of anxiety or ADHD related memory problems or whatever.)
Thank you--really interesting perspective Tar. This is a phenomenon that does feed on itself. Probably the truth is that people are drawn to this cultural wave for many reasons and from many places. I wouldn't have picked the word "boredom," but I resonated with this comment about boredom--my experience with the woke in my world is that they come from a great deal of comfort/privilege and so I have often wondered if there might be a need for a problem to solve. But everyone suffers, after all, nobody is problem-free. And as you point out, some of these folks who are drawn to it are struggling greatly.
That's probably true that there are a variety of motivations. I also want to backtrack slightly on my anti-boredom crusade, as I just recalled that there's a phenomenon where some people with ADHD are known to deliberately provoke other people for stimulation which could be interpreted as "I'm bored, let's fight!" and as ADHD is extremely overrepresented among my friend group....also, I remember reading a study about how those of us with Autism were swifter to punish for smaller slights than Allistics were which frankly is a study I would like to pretend didn't exist but I will grudgingly concede it could be relevant to some of the behavior from the trans end at least.
I agree with the boredom idea. It's not talked about much, but I think it is behind so much wokery. People want a problem to solve--along comes Woke Wordle! Roll up your sleeves, it's fun! You have to figure it out, and it takes some creative bending of reality that brings the satisfaction of accomplishment. You score when you get someone else punished, or when you get acknowledged for your "kindness" or your "oppression," or whatever. The dopamine hits of revenge and SJW righteousness keep the game going.
For the platonic ideal of entitled junior employees, I present:
https://miscellanynews.org/2020/09/02/features/nobody-leaves-mid-hudson-terminates-internships-in-response-to-blm-statement-and-demands/
TLDR version: a whole bunch of college interns from swanky elite colleges got fired from their positions after demanding woke changes during, you know, a summer internship.
Thank you. That brought a smile to my face.
One of the problems with this play-acted version of militant labor activism is that they issue lists of “demands”, rather than making “requests”. It doesn’t seem to occur to them that making demands requires an effective recourse if they’re refused.
Demands also carry a whole weight of guilt and blame and precedent-setting that something phrased as a request does not. If your neighbor DEMANDS you remove your car from the spot in front of their house that it legally occupies, you’re unlikely to comply, even if they give you a reason (“I need to unload something”). If they request it, well, maybe you’ll think about it. But I think the confrontation is the point.
All I had to see was “Vassar” to know it was written by a moron. I’m an adult nursing student and I’ll tell you that the writing was well below the level expected at a good community college.
Following on from your comment on Junior Employees 'inventing dragons to slay', I wonder if there's also a group of older employees who are victims of the 'St George in retirement' syndrome?
Perhaps those who fought some of the great liberal battles in their youth, but are still desperate for causes to fight for, and end up pursuing more and more woke and/or trivial causes.
They need their dragons.
Did you come across anyone like that? (or perhaps they just fit into your 2nd or 3rd categories?)
Hmmm... I know the type but in my experience they're more likely to go along than be ringleaders? They worry they've lost touch and think they're looking at the next iteration of what they did, so they lend their support. What do you think?
I think you're probably right in that they're mostly followers.
It's an interesting cohort though. My generation and older (50 plus). I think there's a powerful sense of not wanting to be seen as out of touch, reactionary etc. So there's often a knee jerk reaction to uncritically follow what is deemed to be 'the right side of history'.
Also, we tend to have children, full time jobs etc, and don't often have enough time to do the research necessary to really understand a particular topic.
I know a bunch like this, who are always talking about how great and smart and advanced the kids are these days and how they know their own minds and we need to follow their lead and so on and so forth. Though they’re also the type who are always on about how “I’m sorry I brought my kids into this world “ and “I’m glad I’ll be dead before everything collapses”. I find this all very annoying because I’ve been hearing the same shit for 40 years from hippie-dropout-doomer family and friends, which is not to minimize the problems we face, but the doom and gloom gets old. (Also if they feel bad about bringing their grown-up kids into this, what’s that supposed to say about my much younger ones?)
You just know she’d give Colin Robinson a run for his money
As management becomes more diverse, there is another group using wokeness as a weapon- the brown-noser. They will shamelessly insinuate themselves into the good graces of higher-ups through their relentless proclamation of allyship and the use of activist rhetoric in every context. I overheard one such groveling schmuck tell my boss "When I was a kid I had a dog named Black Power!" The boss was not impressed.
Jennifer, I am not sure that groveling schmuck is the correct Yiddish opprobrium in this case. Schmuck, in my circles, means something more like a jerk or a dumbass, whereas putz means something like a stupid or worthless person. In this case, I think groveling putz might be more appropriate, given that it's silly to assume you can brown-nose your white privilege way.
On the other hand, another Yiddish choice here could be groveling schnook, which means a fool or naive person, again given the scenario. Interestingly enough, both schmuck and putz come from different words that mean "penis" but neither of them means quite what "dick" means in English. (I hope I haven't triggered any transpersons by using the P-word. I assuredly believe you can be a putz or a schmuck regardless of your gender identity.)
My grandmother would not be so proud that so many decades later this is the Yiddish I'm discussing, and not what she taught me as a child.
Good point. I agree that putz would be a better fit for this individual. 😂
This is a very interesting and informative take on the issues. I think a good deal of this is also driven by simple ignorance of biology and history, and pervasive narcissism. Thank you for your thoughts. Frederick
Terrific piece! I would also love to read a follow-up piece on "who supports these nightmare employees and why"!
So I did write a bit about that here and here:
https://elizamondegreen.substack.com/p/dont-think-about-it
https://elizamondegreen.substack.com/p/think-tanked
Thank you!