The Origins of Our Discontents
Earth to GenZ: Know Your History
In a recent conversation with a friend, we were discussing T***p and his need to call people childish names. You know, like all great statesmen of the past. He said something along the line of: “Jesus Christ, are we all twelve again?”
I’ve been thinking a lot about “GenZ” and how they voted. This is the digital generation, they grew up with the internet, cell phones, and the non-stop barrage of instant information. They’ve grown up with climate change, shooter drills and seemed to be the generation that had the most “range” when it comes to empathy and tolerance.
Then I began to think that these GenZers are 4th and maybe even 5th generation Americans. Not only are they most likely ignorant of the history of America…but probably of their own lineage, their own DNA.
My friend and I are Boomers. Growing up, we knew our heritage. My grandmothers on both the maternal and paternal side were Irish. My paternal grandfather was Albanian (came over during the Ottoman Empire war), and my maternal grandfather was German. When we were kids, we knew our bloodline heritage…what made up our DNA. We also had Civics classes in school and “Social Studies” as well as history. True, much of our history was sanitized, but I remember learning about the globe and wars and countries and political systems…very little, of course, about slavery.
I wonder if ANY GenZ person has ever read the founding documents? Have they read the Federalist Papers? Do they know that the basis for the documents that created the United States of America originated from the Iroquois Confederacy? Do they know the lineage of their great grandparents? We not only took the land from the Native Americans, but we also stole their form of government as well.
“You had the Cherokee chiefs having dinner with [Thomas] Jefferson’s father in Williamsburg, and then in the northern area of course you had this Philadelphia interaction with the Delaware and the Iroquois,” says Kirke Kickingbird, a lawyer, member of the Kiowa Tribe and coauthor with Lynn Kickingbird of: Indians and the United States Constitution: A Forgotten Legacy.”
Needlesstosay, it did not take long for the Founding Fathers to establish a Caste system once they started taking over Native lands. Benjamin Franklin referred to them as “…six Nations of ignorant Savages…” Not quite sure what made them ignorant or savages. They had, after all, survived for centuries and had a basis of government that the US Founders thought well enough of to craft the Constitution. Perhaps, being British, they had a little too much Kingly DNA in their cells? Maybe they just preferred the non-savageness of the “whites?”
“A caste system is an artificial construction, a fixed and embedded ranking of human value that sets the presumed supremacy of one group against the presumed inferiority of other groups.” ― Isabel Wilkerson, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
Through not knowing our history, not as Americans but as humans, we have bore witness to a fascist cult occurring right before our very eyes. Several much smarter people have been telling us this was happening, but Americans were not listening. We sleepwalked into Autocracy…just like they said we would.
We Will Root Out the Communists, Marxists, Fascists, and Radical Left Thugs
“Dehumanization distances not only the out-group from the in-group, but those in the in-group from their own humanity. It makes slaves to groupthink of everyone in the hierarchy. A caste system relies on dehumanization to lock the marginalized outside of the norms of humanity so that any action against them is seen as reasonable.”
― Isabel Wilkerson, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
If GenZ had studied a little history, they could/would have immediately recognized the language that was occurring in their faces…and they would rightfully have been afraid. Either this, or GenZ genuinely wants a dictator, which means they NEVER read our founding documents.
“Washington’s greatest fear that summer of decision in Philadelphia was that unwise, self-seeking politicians — even if fairly elected to public office — would tear down the central government and its constitutional laws for the sake of their own advancement and glorification.
Irrespective of party affiliation, demagogues were a distinct personality type that knew no bounds of politics except fiery self-aggrandizement.” -- Why demagogues were the Founding Fathers’ greatest fear
The founders saw this danger immediately. They may not have liked the ‘colored’ savages, but they really did not like demagogues. George Washington was prescient enough to know that a self-aggrandizing asswipe could and would fuck this thing up…badly. Alexander Hamilton wrote about the dangers of an asswipe demagogue in Federalist Number One. I doubt that either Washington or Hamilton could have foreseen the asswipe selling baseball cards of himself dressed as an astronaut.
Francis Scott Key is undoubtedly spinning is his grave after learning that his anthem, written in remembrance of the country standing strong to the British attacking Fort McHenry and the United States Capital, was being used by the asswipe to celebrate the jackals that sacked the Capital in an illegal coup attempt. GenZ might have just been sick on that day in class?
The main thing they did not foresee was an entire party, with a cult, getting behind the asswipe. As I pointed out previously, America has had its share of demagogues throughout history. “Father Coughlin, William Dudley Pelley, Ezra Pound, Charles Lindbergh, Joseph McCarthy. None of these fascist demagogues ever had an entire party line up behind them in support of their fascist activities.”
From the MAGA Handbook:
“The better you feel about yourself, the less you feel the need to show off.” –Robert Hand
One needs to ask, has any of the MAGA faithful ever read the founders, do they know the history of our country and the documents that define the nation? What is truly crazy is that the Republican Party, before it was taken over by MAGA, was the intellectual party. William F. Buckley, George Will. People who knew history, not just of America but the world. They were readers of books and fiery intellectuals. Now we have the likes of “Peach Tree Dish” Marjorie Taylor Greene. Ugh. Idiocracy indeed.
The Overview Effect
“The overview effect is a cognitive shift reported by some astronauts while viewing the Earth from space. Researchers have characterized the effect as "a state of awe with self-transcendent qualities, precipitated by a particularly striking visual stimulus". The most prominent common aspects of personally experiencing the Earth from space are appreciation and perception of beauty, unexpected and even overwhelming emotion, and an increased sense of connection to other people and the Earth as a whole.” --Wikipedia
What are we going to do in a country of so many ignorant and uneducated people? One of the few laws passed during the Bush 43 Presidency was “No Child Left Behind.” It seems like we have left an entire generation of children in the dark. These children were the GenZ kids.
Watch any of the “man on the street” segments on Jimmy Kimmel to get a sense of how unbelievably fucking stupid ‘Muricans are.
Can we embrace this, along with its darkness? Can we embrace “Amor Fati?”
“The phrase “amor fati” is Latin for “love of one’s fate.” It describes the attitude whereby one not only accepts everything that happens in life, including adversity and loss, but actually loves it.” –What is Stoicism?
Can we live by the tenets of a Byron Katie or an Eckhart Tolle?
“I am a lover of what is, not because I'm a spiritual person, but because it hurts when I argue with reality.” ― Byron Katie
“The secret of awakening is to unconditionally accept this moment as it is.” --Eckhart Tolle
The illness is rooted in American individualism and our collective rejection of community. In tribal nations, if one of the tribe was ill, the entire tribe worked for their healing because one single weak link in the chain would weaken the entire group. This also defines Eastern nations, the collective is more important than the individual. Asians are not smarter, they are just better educated. They live in societies that value education.
“Individualism is a mirage. Connection defines us. Entitled adults live stream minor grievances. The American dream is the delusion of individualism on steroids.” –Brian Klaas: Fluke
We are NOT rugged individuals. We’re linked to one another by such slender threads.
Years ago I read about a spiritual reckoning that would be happening and we would all be choosing sides. Our future as the beings we are now was not known or guaranteed. I think of this a lot now.