When I was a more insecure, self-centered person (a.k.a. "a Teenager"), roughly 18 years ago, I recall much ink being devoted to branding the Y-gen kids as being something called "super-predators"... Anyone else remember that? I, being on the tail end of X, was meanwhile destined to go on to a meaningless life of "slacking" & apathy, according to many experts in this still-growing field of doom-saying prognostications regarding anyone younger than themselves.

Now, the experts (perhaps disappointed that their visions of packs of free-roaming, amoral-killing-machine Twenty-somethings didn't really come to pass) have decided the real problem with Y-ers is that they're narcissistic.

I am now in my 31st year (& yes, I'll admit to spending some of those years dithering about), & I do find myself grumbling about "kids these days" from time to time. So, are some younger people self-absorbed? Sure. Do some of them lack empathy or once-prized social graces? Again, yes. Can we extrapolate that these faults are endemic to this generation from a sampling of 16,000 young people? Um... absolutely not.

It is the nature of older people to worry about, fear, condemn, & fail in understanding younger people. Narcissism (or any other short-coming) can't be ascribed to a certain generation as though that generation developed the concept! Like any human frailty, it has existed in some form or concentration in every generation in History.

It makes me think of the infamous anti-drug ad that was in constant rotation when I was young (yet another instance of adult fear-mongering that helped exacerbate an existing problem). The angry Boomer Dad confronts his son with the evidence of the son's freebase coke habit, only to have his son say "You, Dad! I learned it from watching you!"

Shouldn't we give these kids a break, already? I would guess that for every spotlight-craving, celebrity-aping Twenty-odd desperate to jump-start their career in personal sex-tape leaking, there are 25 quietly going about taking care of business & working hard to make a better world. Just like there always have been.

"Yakety-yak!/Don't Talk Back!" ;-)

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The pressure to obsessively define oneself is not limited to the realm of myspace, facebook, and youtube. Have you applied to college recently? In an effort to admit 'people,' not transcripts has forced prospective students to be able to sell themselves as a package. Its been my experience as a 21 year old that from an early point in education (usually middle school) children are forced to take inventory of themselves in order to be better able to define their personality in 100 word essays. This is article was ok, but most definitely overlooks the noble intentions behind the need to narcissitize.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

the problem is not with kids and young adults, but rather how they are made the focus of the entire culture. they shouldn't be. the focus of our culture should be on rearing adults, adults who behave responsibly and are sensitive vibrant free and creative people. that surely is not where free form economic spiritual and military capitalism ends up. it ends up perpetuating the underdeveloped soul with its insistence on self satisfaction, unchecked consumption, and violent intervention, and only accomplishes self mutilation, poisonous waste, and endless war. children are behaving either as if they've got the keys to the kingdom, will sell anything to get them, or will kill anyone to protect it. when the great mirage is that there is this kingdom at all. this american "dream" has run its course, and everyday now becomes more and more a part of the world nightmare our conquesting forefathers were running away from not so long ago. the new world and the old world are now becoming one. now this becoming is no gentle kiss, in fact, its a cataclysmic collision. it will force us to discover not a new land, but a new soul, collectively, we will either grow from this, or perish in ignorance, as the rest of life moves on.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I am almost 65 years old and have worked with kids most of my life. I am a court certified expert on child developement and parenting issues, having worked for over ten years with parents in danger of having their parental rights terminated. I have taught parenting classes (and, no, I don't believe in the groundless self-esteem that the authors of this study are talking about) and coached individual parents to improve their ability to discipline and guide their children.

I am currently working with high school students who are interested in preventing underage drinking. I spend at least half an hour with them every week, in addition to several hours at a time doing community service projects. What I know about today's young people does not come from a group of questions to which they can answer only yes or no, but from observation, conversation, evaluation, and shared effort.

My experience and observation is that this is a wonderful generation. They are thoughtful, kind, empathetic, and funny. I would like to remind you that a recent study showed that the majority of people dying of drug overdoses are aging baby boomers -- not Millenials. Of course this generation has some narcacistic members, every generation does. And, to some degree, all teens are self-centered. The major task of the teen is to give over childhood and develop an adult self. You can't do this without being more self-centered than either children or adults. However, in my rather long career, I have never seen a less narciscistic generation than the current one. I have never seen a generation that was more attached to parents and respectful of values.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I am almost 65 years old and have worked with kids most of my life. I am a court certified expert on child developement and parenting issues, having worked for over ten years with parents in danger of having their parental rights terminated. I have taught parenting classes (and, no, I don't believe in the groundless self-esteem that the authors of this study are talking about) and coached individual parents to improve their ability to discipline and guide their children.

I am currently working with high school students who are interested in preventing underage drinking. I spend at least half an hour with them every week, in addition to several hours at a time doing community service projects. What I know about today's young people does not come from a group of questions to which they can answer only yes or no, but from observation, conversation, evaluation, and shared effort.

My experience and observation is that this is a wonderful generation. They are thoughtful, kind, empathetic, and funny. I would like to remind you that a recent study showed that the majority of people dying of drug overdoses are aging baby boomers -- not Millenials. Of course this generation has some narcacistic members, every generation does. And, to some degree, all teens are self-centered. The major task of the teen is to give over childhood and develop an adult self. You can't do this without being more self-centered than either children or adults. However, in my rather long career, I have never seen a less narciscistic generation than the current one. I have never seen a generation that was more attached to parents and respectful of values.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Hmmm. Over 2 million copies of Dobson's "Dare to Discipline" have been sold since 1970.

Those I know with similar personality traits, have had a somewhat abusive upbringing.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

An aggressive broadside against a largely non-empowered group of people by a bunch of old farts who have royally screwed up this country during the prime of their lives. Considering we have to clean up the mess they've left this society in, they ought to be kissing my young ass.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Why doesn't some enterprising researcher find out why it's always the oldest generation, the one doing research into the evils of Generation {n+2}, that kills hundreds of thousands of innocent people for money, power and ideology?

Better yet, why not study how the oldest generation always manages to guilt-trip Generation {n + 2}, into fighting their useless wars for them?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Happiness and good health are found in the medians not in the extremes. This generation may have been too bolstered and pampered, but the generations before them were often brought up too harshly. Too many children were beaten, emotionally and verbally abused, and taught to believe only in a bleak future.

It may take a while for the ME generation to get over the shock of actually having to care about others, work hard for rewards, etc..but I think in the end they will prove to be wonderful people who will contribute a lot to this planet.

It is a good thing medicine is making people live longer though because the ME generaton may take quite awhile to get past the adolescent stage.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Boomers have done a lot of damage. And they're still doing it today. They're obsessed with ideology, politics, extremism, control... They have a tendency to force their values on everyone else, whether it be feminism, Reaganism, or Bushism.

If Gen Y wants to spend all day making self-indulgent videos for YouTube, why should that bother me? A generation that minds its own business and doesn't try to fix the rest of us is a welcome break.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I can't believe this story is even news. First, the "research" is still under peer review. Second, the author already has decided about the characteristics of this young generation (see her previous book). Third, some would argue that her characterization of narcissism isn't a bad label, but potentially a very good one and also descriptive of many teens -- a natural developmental stage, if you will. Fourth, the reactionaries saying that this is due to too much self-esteem building and too little discipline by parents are the same right-wing conservative claptraps that we come to Alternet to get away from. What the hell is too much self-esteem, anyway? The shame of this whole story is that every single assumption made by this "researcher" is just plain wrong, and it feeds into the radical right's cause of destroying the individuality and joy of being human in favor of creating an army/workforce for sake of the almighty frickin' benjamins.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Young people live in a world where everything costs and nothing is free. Where you need to grab or it is gone. Where older people sit on over-inflated houses-as-pensions because they are too chicken shit to come to terms with the people who stole their pension funds in the first place.

Young people have to fight this endless war with crazy muslims. They die on battle fields around the world while mom and pop sit around and look at glossy catalogues for adult-only retirement communities.

But let's do some generation comparing since you started it. I was written off as Gen X. Yet I look at what I have accomplished so far, the numbers of people who I have helped, either creating businesses that have employed them, or epoch-shaking work changing life in new democracies, and then compare it to what my mother and grandparents did with their lives. I have travelled to 50 countries in the world. Written millions of words. Taken award-winning photos published in glossy magazines. If that is a slacker, well, I think demographers should shut the fuck up.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I would tend to agree with much of this article. Although there are some wonderful "under-thirties" out there- and I am pleased to know and work with some, there is a pervasive level of self-absorbtion present in this age group. Teaching this generation at a college has not been always enjoyable. While I have had students who were hardworking, caring and committed, the majority are otherwise. The prevailing trend has been one of a sense of entitlement; to good grades(A's of course), minimal work required and constant pats on the back.

Many of my students believe that they possess superior intellect; after all, they've ben told how wonderful they are since day one. They are shocked at receiving a bad grade, and are angry and abusive when they do. I don't think that self-esteem can be given- it should be earned. This generation has been dosed with it regularly and we are seeing the effects of this parenting style.

I am also appalled at how unaware and unconcerned most of my students are with the world. They are concerned with their own friends, cell phones, You-Tube, facebook/myspace, etc and not with critical environmental , social or political issues.

Although I was too young to have been in college at the time of great political and social activism; the Vietnam War for instance, I am aware of the level of activism that made many colleges a hotspot of social change. No more. My students don't read papers or even on-line news. They are almost completely unaware of the greater world around them .

I am not optimistic about many in this current generation of young adults. There are as I noted earlier, some wonderful twenty-somethings out there who are committed to making a difference, but it seems that most of their peers are only committed to getting totally wasted as many nights as they can.

And by the way- as for the whining Gen Y'ers who complain that their parents generation totally screwed it all up and they've been given this mess; we said the same thing. It's no different. We got the Cold War, rivers that caught on fire, the hole in the ozone, sky high interest rates, Iran hostages, etc- there's always a mess that you didn't create that you'll have to deal with it seems. At least the way our society functions.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

...sounds like a bunch of future repulicans to me. Republicans are all self centered. What they want they expect to get or take from someone else. The repub party is based on big corporatocarcy, big neocons and big religion. The last, big religion, may be the worst because they use religion to validate that 'force their beliefs on others mentality'. The two self centered republican religions who think they are better than others are the Catholics, my religion, and their allies the white southern confederate states evangelical fundamentalists. Neither of these two somewhat poisonous relgions have any respect for anyone who thinks the least bit differently. They espouse the republican mantle of conservatism which to them means that the gov't use taxpayer dollars for the benefit of corporate welfare and wealthy people welfare and the welfare of their own selfish religions. The hallmark of these people is that they are devoid of Humility and Respect for others. And the killing of others to take away what rightfully belongs to others. The selfishness,theivery and lying is embodied in the Republican Bush, Cheney,Gonzales, Rove administration. Does everyone remember when when Karl Rove said the republicans would abolosh and destroy the Dem party by or before the year 2020. That is what conservatism and republicanism are all about. Strip everyone of their rights(shredded Constitution thanks to Gonzales and Yoo and the SCOTUS especially Scalia, Thomas, Roberts and Alito all of whom are Catholics) doing what the Popes prior and present tell them to do. The Catholic church has long been known to support those in wealth and power(Hitler and the Nazis) and always telling poor people that they would get their rewards in the kingdom of heaven when it sould have been and should be standing up for the poor since the beginnings of the catholic church and should be doing so especially now, when the entire world is being beseiged and attacked by the Bushie Repubs. Instead the Pope John Paul II gae us Ronald Reagan, Bush41 and Bush43. And the current Pope Benedict XVI is continuing this same policy. The Catholic Church is no longer a religion it is nothing more than a crummy political organization and extension of the republican party.

Talk about self centered and selfish... Republicans and their supporters are the very epitome of those. Meanwhile people in america, mexico, our troops, our vets(the entire VA system except under Max Clelland) the Afghani and especially the Iraqi people are dying and being maimed by these rethugs and their supporters in BIG RELIGION as well as their families. The aforementioned criminals talk about Family Values and Pro-Life. In Reality these total hypocrites violate the concept of Family Values and Pro-Life every day and have been doing so since at least the days of Ronald Reagan and unto this very day. Republicans and their supporters are the very epitome, the very zenith and at the same time the very nadir of selfishness and self centeredness.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The Boomers screwed people my age royally. Everything costs too much...housing, college, health insurance, etc. If you're 100K in debt you're going to play along with the corporate masters to pay off your loans...and is this an accident? Hmmm, well, I'm not going to claim a conspiracy but I'm sure it doesn't keep the head of Bank of America up nights. Oh, and this credit card thing? Now you have to pay off your credit cards even after bankruptcy? What kind of B***S*** is that?

you boomers polluted the environment, drove the country into debt (twice!), outsourced our jobs to India, and made all of us narcissistic with your 'self-esteem' movement, and now you're blaming the victim.

Young people have Myspace pages? The horror.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Well having lived in the US most of my life and having an international perspective, now living in Japan, I have to say that this piece is right on the mark. However I would like to add that it is not just limited to a group, but rather the whole United States. The whole country is (generally speaking) narcissistic. It is a part of what defines the American culture, and one of many reasons why I moved out of the country and am now happily an expat. I no longer wanted to be part of the narcissistic culture.

I do have to say it has been quite a learning experience shedding layers of American culture, but am happy to go through the painful experience of adjusting to a culture in which there is respect for elders, a sense of community and willingness to take care of one another at the expense of just the individual.

If anyone wants to get a sense of what American culture is really like, get out. It's hard to see when you're in the thick of it.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The boomers grew up entitled to everything. Young people have every reason to try and do them one better. But the numbers of young people with 'problems' of one kind or another is unprecedented. Extremes in behavior can't be explained. Self destructive behavior is common. Having fun has become work and a high price is paid. Being self absorbed is a little like arguing with yourself or being the only one in the race. No fun at all. Thanks, ANNA

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

People in their 20s are generally economically unstable, because whatever you may hear about the economy, there is a lack of entry level jobs with a living wage, in a big part because boomers and the generation slightly older than them won't retire. They can't afford to. We demand health insurance as soon as we're hired because we know that we could be financially ruined and possibly die due to inadequate care otherwise. We have a ridiculous national deficit. We never expect to get social security, and finally, we grew up watching corporations like Enron screw over their employees on purpose, and plenty of others do so through bad management, and lay off workers en masse. We have no illusions that the companies we work for are going to protect us, or that they generally view us as anything but expendable resources. Our schools were, in comparison to earlier generations, violent and underfunded. We look out for ourselves by necessity.
Of course, some of this is just age-old crap about the younger generation always being self-centered.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I need to see more science and process before I buy into this study's results. What questions were they asking? For instance. And then how dis they determine which answers indicate narcicism, and why is that a bad thing?

I'm in my 20s, and I have marched in anit-war rallies with my fellow gen-y peers, as well as organized and held protests outside superstores and even raised money going door to door for the Florida Consumer Action Network. I've done a petition drive for Planned parenthood with my peers, and I have volunteered at a women's shelter with my peers. I keep saying with my peers because I don't mean to suggest that I am a good exception to the 20-something rule of being a jerk. Rather, I mean to say that we aren't all jerks, not any more than you yuppies who probably wrote the article and agree with it. We are the generation that gets more crap than any other one, I think because we intimidate you so you try to make sure we have so much debt that we can never fully participate in the world you accuse us of not caring about.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

They screwed this country up: politically, economically, and especially environmentally. So why should they still be allowed to vote? It's like letting a defendant with a proven criminal record sit on the jury to their own trial.
Sure, it can be argued that excluding Boomers from voting is undemocratic, seeing as they're citizens (albeit expensive ones) and all. But really, what kind of democracy have they left us? Our political system is dominated by the industrial war complex (Boeing, Lockheed Martin) and corporate influence. And this new generation's lives are limited so much more than the Boomers ever were. The Boomers could go and have a Summer of Love because they had the freedom to do so. And now the new generation is trapped in college under a mountain of debt and plastic qualifications, unable to do anything really meaningful. And then the Boomers bitch about us partying a little bit to escape the grind they've built for us.
The Boomers are, unforetunately, the status quo. And that needs to change. They represent all the old, outdated interests. Cut out corporate tax loopholes? No! Their wrinkly old, polluting business wouldn't be as profitable. Cut Social Security? No! Their petty wars and stupid governments have robbed its coffers and now they want this generation to fix it for them, because they're all retired and 'too old to do anything about it.'
Frankly, I just sick of the Boomers trying to lecture the younger generations on how to live when they've managed to fuck things up so royally.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Materialistic values, spurred on by rampant capitalism and nationalism, have created a shallow culture which fails to meet the emotional needs of individuals. Those that have been raised in this culture feel a sense of emptiness and search relentlessly for something to fill the void, often looking for acceptance from others instead of self acceptance. In the pursuit of this acceptance, they strive to earn and spend as much as possible, believing that will gain them acceptance and happiness. They worship celebrities and reality television characters who emulate the characteristics they think others praise. The narcissism of youth today is not a result of high self-esteem at all. Rather, quite the opposite, it's a reflection of low self-esteem and a feeling of emptiness.

However, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The hyper-commercialization of our culture seems to be creating a growing population of 'generation y-ers' who are opposed to its principles. Thus, we see a kind of polarization where, on one side, there are the self-absorbed, narcissistic individuals and, on the other, a growing number of empathetic individuals with strong post-materialistic values. I think the former group has reached its pinnacle and will soon begin to decline as the latter group grows.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Trends towards narcissism are very disturbing all by themselves, but what is really going on is much more disturbing.

The narcissism mentioned in this article is just what is happening on the surface. But beneath this shallow layer of contrived excess individuality is a deep layer of groupthink. People today are actually MORE alike and have MORE in common with each other than ever before, yet they think they are MORE different! This is very alarming!

This narcissism is largely contrived by corporate media control, but some of it is a subsconscious reaction to those same systems of controls which we know are bad on a primal level.

Obviously, the implied solution to this little narcissism dilemma is ... even more groupthink. But that will only exacerbate the situation, leaving the next generation even worse off.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

All we have to do is stop listening to the Baby-Boomers. Stop listening to them blame everyone else for everything, and stop listening to them whine about needing more of everything.

I'm going to stop calling them the Baby-Boomers and start calling them Generation Drug. Because even blame is an addictive drug.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Whaaaaatt?!? Like, you mean, there's more to life than one's make-up, cell phone, crib, and ride? Sounds like the author is talking about the boomers as well. I'm 44. My parents only cared about making money, driving a nice car, living in a nice neighborhood, education their kids, and taking a vacation once a year. It's not as if my parents were putting their bodies on the line to stop the Viet Nam war.

Give this generation a break. They grew up with images of girls as sluts, guys as pimps, dot-com excess, global warming fears, HIV/AIDS, the Bush administration.
Please. It's not their fault. Madison Avenue/Hollywood brought
them up. Parents were too busy just paying the bills.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I think that the older generation traditionally expects to be respected and admired by the younger generation - they're the ones who helped to create the world that the youth will inherit, after all. If you look at cultures all over the world, you find that this is true, and that there are traditions of respect for elders.

But what kind of world is the older generation leaving for the youngest? Time and time again, greed has won out over concern for the future. The public education system in the US has become more expensive. The 'peace dividend' that was supposed to come from the end of the Cold War never happened, because greedy older people wanted to keep their weapon sales cash flow high. Action wasn't taken on global warming, because greedy older people wanted to keep their fossil fuel sales high. The world that is being handed down could have been better cared for - don't you think?

Perhaps a better word for the majority of the boomers generation would be the Viagra generation - a generation in search of perpetual youth, that doesn't know how to grow old with dignity, and which has failed to hold up their end of the traditional bargain between the young and the old, and which now complains about the disdain and lack of respect with which they are viewed by the youngest generations.

Of course, there are exceptions to this 'greedy old bastard' stereotype. Still, the best lesson for the younger generation to learn from the boomers is how not to behave.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

.
Posting 1 of 2 - Ole Ullern

Gen Y has really been succeeded by Gen ZZZ. The majority of youth is trained by commercialism's distractions away from essential meaning, to snooze through life in a consumer's rut.

Our meeting-space in consensual reality has been turned into a device of guided hypnotism. The space where we could mostly learn from each other and explore reality together as a great common project, is now used to sustain a lifelong snooze for far too many. We're all contributing to the great snooze through our daily examples to others as snoozers. Humanity is today a self-deceived species. This self-deception shows up best in youth as they're learning to snooze their minds in the "right", politically correct way.

That’s true except for those young who object to the snooze, seeing how it's killing ourselves in the world by e.g. climate warming. But they naturally are persecuted for NOT snoozing - cf. last year’s Paris-riots, current Copenhagen-riots, other riots by youth objecting to the big snooze.

So whether youth snooze or riot, they're pestered to comply with the status quo of consensus-space. “Be a little awake, but not a lot.”

Consensus-space is anything we agree on between us as having meaning. Like the sounds of language, views of the world, taste of life, the smell of success, the feeling of well-being. - Even the pursuit of happiness is a consensus-game of what "happiness" is considered to be.

In book 4 of Plato's "Republic" these complaints are attributed to Socrates, regarding how young people are neglecting that: "the young are to be silent before their elders; how they are to show respect to them by standing and making them sit; what honour is due to parents; what garments or shoes are to be worn; the mode of dressing the hair; deportment and manners in general."

What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them? - Such is Plato's own complaint, some two and a half thousand years ago.

"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise [disrespectful] and impatient of restraint." These are the words of Homer's supposed pal Hesiod, who is the other contemporary great source of Greek poetry, tales, mythology and mores.

Maybe they're right - only two and a half to three thousand years early. Maybe we notice what they're saying on this because they confirm current conditions. Or maybe antiquity is when the self-hypnotized snooze started. May be the critics of youth have been right all along, that each succeeding generation has fallen deeper into the snooze, and that only now it has become globally destructive, self-destructive and collectively suicidal.

It's a possibility: That the consensus we need to cooperate is blinding us to other circumstances, and the ignored conditions are having adverse effects accumulating to destroy us.

Then it would be correct that this has been going on since the beginning of our culture, meaning the old Greek. It's a meme we've carried along. Only now the warning of youth "coming to no good" is at long last becoming true, and we're all the youth referred to, previous or current. We’re all Gen ZZZ.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Posting 2 of 2 – Ole Ullern

Youth is the transition from nature to culture. Biological kids becoming cultured adults, denying many of their biological parameters. That’s why the edges of the snooze-trance are showing up clearly. Youth is a beacon for adults, exposing what harsh demands culture puts on us all (even the demand to snooze is harsh on natural alertness) and revealing the fair objections to those demands.

We should all wake up to be eternally young, alert and responsive.

This, though, demands a “model of meaning” which western culture has dispensed with by neglecting to develope. A largely lacking model paradoxically denies its weakness through a tacit claim that there’s nothing to model. Meaning then has almost no part of life.

(“Almost” because meaning still exists, even though the nuances of personal meaning is reduced to “me” being an undifferentiated, blank white spot somewhere inside my head. Yet the question of “Who observes this “me”-spot when noone else is around?” gets no answer, and the issue is relegated to esoteric philosophy - while in reality it’s the core and source of everything we may experience.)

To regain full meaning in life, meaning needs a consensus-model. A map of meaning, using the subjective experiences of mind in the body as a deliberate metaphor. The vedic chakra-system of psychic centers and channels,