These are pretty good sentiments from a book I finished recently. I really hate when I completely agree with someone writers because I feel like your job as a reader is to apply a critical eye to it. However, here it is:
"In past moments of national division, young people have played a disproportionate role in deepening the American democratic experiment. The black freedom struggle and the anti-war movement in the 1960s were largely sustained owing to their vision and courage. As older folk become jaded, disillusioned, and weary, the lively moral energy of reflective and compassionate young people can play a vital role in pushing democratic momentum. Yet one of the most effective strategies of corporate marketeers has been to target the youth market with distractive amusement and saturate them with pleasurable sedatives that steer them away from engagement with issues of peace and justice. The incessant media bombardment of images (of salacious bodies and mindless violence) on TV and in movies and music convinces many young people that the culture of gratification- a quest for insatiable pleasure, endless titillation, and sexual stimulation- is the only way of being human. Hedonistic values and narcissistic identities produce emotionally stunted young people unable to grow up and unwilling to be responsible democratic citizens. The market-driven media lead many young people to think that life is basically about material toys and social status. Democratic ideas of making the world are more just, or striving to be a decent and compassionate person, are easily lost or overlooked.
This media bombardment not only robs young people of their right to struggle for maturity- by glamorizing possessive individualism at the expense of democratic individuality- but also leaves them ill equipped to deal with the spiritual malnutrition that awaits them after their endless pursuit of pleasure. This sense of emptiness of the soul holds for wealthy kids in the vanilla suburbs...
These are pretty good sentiments from a book I finished recently. I really hate when I completely agree with someone writers because I feel like your job as a reader is to apply a critical eye to it. However, here it is:
"In past moments of national division, young people have played a disproportionate role in deepening the American democratic experiment. The black freedom struggle and the anti-war movement in the 1960s were largely sustained owing to their vision and courage. As older folk become jaded, disillusioned, and weary, the lively moral energy of reflective and compassionate young people can play a vital role in pushing democratic momentum. Yet one of the most effective strategies of corporate marketeers has been to target the youth market with distractive amusement and saturate them with pleasurable sedatives that steer them away from engagement with issues of peace and justice. The incessant media bombardment of images (of salacious bodies and mindless violence) on TV and in movies and music convinces many young people that the culture of gratification- a quest for insatiable pleasure, endless titillation, and sexual stimulation- is the only way of being human. Hedonistic values and narcissistic identities produce emotionally stunted young people unable to grow up and unwilling to be responsible democratic citizens. The market-driven media lead many young people to think that life is basically about material toys and social status. Democratic ideas of making the world are more just, or striving to be a decent and compassionate person, are easily lost or overlooked.
This media bombardment not only robs young people of their right to struggle for maturity- by glamorizing possessive individualism at the expense of democratic individuality- but also leaves them ill equipped to deal with the spiritual malnutrition that awaits them after their endless pursuit of pleasure. This sense of emptiness of the soul holds for wealthy kids in the vanilla suburbs and poor kids in the chocolate cities. Neither the possession of commodities nor the fetishizing of commodities satisfies young people's need for love and self-confidence. Instead we witness personal depression, psychic pain, and individual loneliness fueling media-influenced modes of escapism. These include the high use of drugs like cocaine and Ecstasy; the growing popularity of performing sex acts at incredibly young ages, such as middle-school girls giving boys blow jobs because it will make them "cool"; and the way in which so many kids have become addicted to going online and instant messaging or creating Weblogs in which they assume an alternate personality. This disgraceful numbing of the senses, dulling of the mind, and confining life to an eternal present- with a lack of connection to the past and no vision for a different future- is an insidious form of soul murder. And we wonder why depression escalates and suicides increase among our precious children.
The most dangerous mode of dealing with this bombardment is addiction- to drugs, alcohol, sex, or narrow forms of popularity or success. These addictions leave little room or time for democratic efforts to become mature, concerned about others, or politically engaged in social change. The popular way of escaping from the pain and emptiness is self-medication- the first step toward self-violation and self-destruction. This is why so many-too many-of the youth of America are drifting, rootless, deracinated, and denuded. They have hardly a sense of their history, little grasp of what shapes them, and no vital vision of their human potential. Many have been reduced to a bundle of desires targeted by corporate America for consumption. Their armor of life is too feeble to enable them to withstand the emotional trauma generated, in part, by the fast-paced capitalist culture of consumption that confronts them. In short, many lack the necessary navigational skills to cope with the challenges and crises in life- disappointment, disease, and death. This is why so many are enacting the nihilism of meaningless and hopelessness in their lives that mirrors the nihilism of the adult world- often they are so disillusioned in large part because they can see that the adult world is so bereft of morality.
Yet some young folk do persevere and prevail: those who hare dissatisfied with mere material toys and illusions of security. They hunger for something more, thirst for something deeper. They want caring attention, wise guidance, and compassionate counsel. They desire democratic individuality, community, and society. They know something is wrong with America and something is missing in their lives. They long for energizing visions worthy of pursuit and sacrifice that will situate their emaciated souls in a story bigger than themselves and locate their inflated egos (that only conceal deep insecurities and anxieties in a narrative grander than themselves. Their emaciated souls contain a rage that often strikes out at the world; their inflated egos yield a cocky pose and posture that defies authority, whether legitimate or illegitimate. A grand story and a large narrative- especially democratic ones- can channel their longings into mature efforts to contribute in a meaningful way to making the world a better place. This longing is the raw stuff of democracy matters." - Cornel West - Democracy Matters
I hope this is still as thought provoking as I found it to be. I know I did not really introduce it, and it is taken out of context so it may not be. I am entirely too tired to really do that right now. I am not much of a proponent of free market capitalism. It does a poor job of regulating itself. So I suppose I am not voting for Ron Paul anytime soon is what I am saying. Yeah, but I hate to have this level of cynicism.. but when I was reading this on my flight back to Carolina after Thanksgiving... I just nodded in agreement to what Cornel West wrote.
RedRobin13