So, I guess this isn't the post to be hawking my new synthwave album. ;-)
In all seriousness, it seems that for "America" to function well as a nation, we need a national project, adversary, or disaster to unite us. I think that you're entirely correct in pointing out that we have no Hitler-level figures to define ourselves in opposition to (not that we did that 100% at the time, either), so we manufacture our own. We have no frontier to settle, so we squabble at our personal borders. We don't have to beat the Soviets to the Moon, so we spend our time engineering financial instruments that generate dubious "value".
While a lot of Christians seem to think that the solution to that problem is for America get back on the Religion Train, I'm skeptical that's the answer, looking at the squabbling between religionists throughout history, which make the conflicts between Boomers and Millennials look like silly slap fights.
While I'm not a fan at all of the Chinese regime, recent news of them successfully sending rovers to Mars[1] and building their own space station[2] makes me hopeful that America will wake up and start to see them (as the Chinese sees us) as a rival power to take seriously, and we can unite (to a degree) in the project of working together to project American power and values into the next frontier, as an unquestionably superior alternative to Chinese values in space. I don't know if the future will play out that way, but as far as the "big picture" for the future that I subscribe to, that's the one I've chosen. And I've been very pleased as parts of America are waking up to that so that we don't only have the folks at NASA and DoD to depend upon to carry out that fight, but a nascent and innovative set of private players both in America (SpaceX, Astra) but among our allies as well (Rocket Lab, operating out of New Zealand).
Anyhoo - that's how I roll, and since adopting the new space race as the "big picture" that I'm focusing on, it's alleviated a decent amount of personal angsting and existential questioning, with a simple answer to the question of why not go purely nihilistic/hedonistic? And the answer is that there's so much interesting mind-blowing stuff we have yet to see (as a species), that giving up now is tantamount to abandoning the journey before it's barely begun.
Completely agree Steve. Unhealthy nostalgia leads to irrational and unrealistic idealism, which when exploited explains our polarized political climate. I think like most people, we tend to be more idealistic when younger, filled with more zeal. Then when we start earning paychecks, paying the bills, and dealing with the real world as it is, our idealism becomes tempered with pragmatism. I've certainly become more "live and let live" as I've progressed from youth/undergraduate, to now being a middle aged person. Generally speaking, my core beliefs haven't changed, but the emotional investment in them has tapered off.
Very good commentary. The news video I've seen of the left wing protests and riots seem to show those involved are quite a bit older than the demonstrators I remember seeing on TV when I was in the Army and the ones I saw in person when I was in uniform on business in Raleigh in the 1960s. For sure the right wing protestors and counter-protestors have always been older than the lefties. Is it possible the average age of progressive activists has increased?
So, I guess this isn't the post to be hawking my new synthwave album. ;-)
In all seriousness, it seems that for "America" to function well as a nation, we need a national project, adversary, or disaster to unite us. I think that you're entirely correct in pointing out that we have no Hitler-level figures to define ourselves in opposition to (not that we did that 100% at the time, either), so we manufacture our own. We have no frontier to settle, so we squabble at our personal borders. We don't have to beat the Soviets to the Moon, so we spend our time engineering financial instruments that generate dubious "value".
While a lot of Christians seem to think that the solution to that problem is for America get back on the Religion Train, I'm skeptical that's the answer, looking at the squabbling between religionists throughout history, which make the conflicts between Boomers and Millennials look like silly slap fights.
While I'm not a fan at all of the Chinese regime, recent news of them successfully sending rovers to Mars[1] and building their own space station[2] makes me hopeful that America will wake up and start to see them (as the Chinese sees us) as a rival power to take seriously, and we can unite (to a degree) in the project of working together to project American power and values into the next frontier, as an unquestionably superior alternative to Chinese values in space. I don't know if the future will play out that way, but as far as the "big picture" for the future that I subscribe to, that's the one I've chosen. And I've been very pleased as parts of America are waking up to that so that we don't only have the folks at NASA and DoD to depend upon to carry out that fight, but a nascent and innovative set of private players both in America (SpaceX, Astra) but among our allies as well (Rocket Lab, operating out of New Zealand).
Anyhoo - that's how I roll, and since adopting the new space race as the "big picture" that I'm focusing on, it's alleviated a decent amount of personal angsting and existential questioning, with a simple answer to the question of why not go purely nihilistic/hedonistic? And the answer is that there's so much interesting mind-blowing stuff we have yet to see (as a species), that giving up now is tantamount to abandoning the journey before it's barely begun.
[1] https://www.space.com/china-mars-rover-zhurong-lander-selfie-photos
[2] https://spacenews.com/astronauts-complete-first-chinese-space-station-spacewalk/
Completely agree Steve. Unhealthy nostalgia leads to irrational and unrealistic idealism, which when exploited explains our polarized political climate. I think like most people, we tend to be more idealistic when younger, filled with more zeal. Then when we start earning paychecks, paying the bills, and dealing with the real world as it is, our idealism becomes tempered with pragmatism. I've certainly become more "live and let live" as I've progressed from youth/undergraduate, to now being a middle aged person. Generally speaking, my core beliefs haven't changed, but the emotional investment in them has tapered off.
Very good commentary. The news video I've seen of the left wing protests and riots seem to show those involved are quite a bit older than the demonstrators I remember seeing on TV when I was in the Army and the ones I saw in person when I was in uniform on business in Raleigh in the 1960s. For sure the right wing protestors and counter-protestors have always been older than the lefties. Is it possible the average age of progressive activists has increased?