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We love looking backwards to try to get in touch with ourselves, our history, traditional ways of doing things. I think this is a noble pursuit but the pace of cycling through eras in the trend cycle for example has grown increasingly rapid to the point that it feels like weāre endlessly regurgitating everything all at once, without context.
Rediscovering the past can look like going back to pre-industrial ways of living which is a beautiful thing to strive toward. In a lot of ways, weāve also abandoned a lot of traditional ways of doing things in favor of methods that are easier, faster, and simpler, not necessarily better.
On the other hand, one of the three essential elements to fascism identified by Jason Stanley is invoking a mythic past to manufacture nostalgia for a more traditional, patriarchal, and racially pure past, which is I think what weāre seeing with a lot of people who romanticize 1950s Americana as some kind of utopian traditional society.
Carl Sagan said: āIn general, human societies are not innovative. They are hierarchical and ritualistic. Suggestions for change are greeted with suspicion: they imply an unpleasant future variation in ritual and hierarchy: an exchange of one set of rituals for another, or perhaps for a less structured society with fewer rituals. And yet there are times when societies must change.ā
āAs a consequence of the enormous social and technological changes of the last few centuries, the world is not working well. We do not live in traditional and static societies. But our government, in resisting change, act as if we did. Unless we destroy ourselves utterly, the future belongs to those societies that, while not ignoring the reptilian and mammalian parts of our being, enable the characteristically human components of our nature to flourish; to those societies that encourage diversity rather than conformity; to those societies willing to invest resources in a variety of social, political, economic and cultural experiments, and prepared to sacrifice short-term advantage for long-term benefit; to those societies that treat new ideas as delicate, fragile and immensely valuable pathways to the future.ā
So I think we need forward-thinking transformational change, though it may not be as comfortable as nostalgiaā¦
Rediscovering the past can look like going back to pre-industrial ways of living which is a beautiful thing to strive toward. In a lot of ways, weāve also abandoned a lot of traditional ways of doing things in favor of methods that are easier, faster, and simpler, not necessarily better.
On the other hand, one of the three essential elements to fascism identified by Jason Stanley is invoking a mythic past to manufacture nostalgia for a more traditional, patriarchal, and racially pure past, which is I think what weāre seeing with a lot of people who romanticize 1950s Americana as some kind of utopian traditional society.
Carl Sagan said: āIn general, human societies are not innovative. They are hierarchical and ritualistic. Suggestions for change are greeted with suspicion: they imply an unpleasant future variation in ritual and hierarchy: an exchange of one set of rituals for another, or perhaps for a less structured society with fewer rituals. And yet there are times when societies must change.ā
āAs a consequence of the enormous social and technological changes of the last few centuries, the world is not working well. We do not live in traditional and static societies. But our government, in resisting change, act as if we did. Unless we destroy ourselves utterly, the future belongs to those societies that, while not ignoring the reptilian and mammalian parts of our being, enable the characteristically human components of our nature to flourish; to those societies that encourage diversity rather than conformity; to those societies willing to invest resources in a variety of social, political, economic and cultural experiments, and prepared to sacrifice short-term advantage for long-term benefit; to those societies that treat new ideas as delicate, fragile and immensely valuable pathways to the future.ā
So I think we need forward-thinking transformational change, though it may not be as comfortable as nostalgiaā¦
Jan 15, 2025
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ši think itās paired with anti-intellectualism - weāre getting to a place where nearly everyone wants immediate gratification so they need a constant stream of consumption. i think this is particularly true in capitalist countries and in the west. i do think superficial interests in culture by the masses are the historical norm, partly bc historically that media was often the most accessible, but i think, combined, the internet and trends changing so rapidly nowadays has exacerbated the issue. everything is cheapened, thereās little respect for craft or appreciation of Doing.
many people want everything fast fast fast, so itās tiktok instead of movies, AI summaries instead of books, chatgpt instead of research (or simply google), fast fashion to keep up with trends, etc. many of us are privileged enough to be able to access an impossible amount of information through the internet and yet so many people are simply using that resource to mindlessly consume whatever content.
also, with the internet i feel weāve lostĀ subculturesā uniquenessĀ because itās easier to find them - you can quickly learn about the symbolic aspects of basically any subculture and adopt those (ie fashions, slang, media) without having a personal relationship with whatever community it is. which basically means (tongue-in-cheek) weāre in aĀ poser renaissance.
i think as living conditions gets worse for most people, thereās a lower ability to think as clearly and increased desire to escape, so most of the people who can live so mindlessly, do it.
plus throw in the American dream (which i think is just the myth of success that exists in all capitalist societies) and thereās this other group of people who prioritize āhustle cultureā or whatever and that takes up time they couldāve used to really engage with art, film, reading, etc (alienation as the other Marx once saidĀ lol). which is its own unique depreciation of art and scholarship!
in hisĀ essay on ur-fascism, umberto eco notes the opposition to most artistic and intellectual pursuits as an aspect of fascism (which we can observe in the right-wing movements of many countries today), in part that, to fascists āthinking is a form of emasculation. Therefore culture is suspect insofar as it is identified with critical attitudes.ā
May 18, 2025
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šwas just listening to sleep by godspeed you! black emperor and the monologue at the beginning really struck me with a lot i've been thinking about lately
about how america is a kind of corrosive force. its people (unless they're native americans who it actively seeks to eradicate) don't have any traditions, rituals, old knowledge passed down ā their ancestors may have had these, but everything was ironed out and forgotten when they had to assimilate, not into a dominant culture but into an absence of one
but little pockets of uniquely american experiences and stories have arisen in so many places and i'm really interested in finding them. like that monologue. but with the internet homogenizing culture those bubbles dissolve, and gentrification displaces the people who built them etc. it all feels like a drive towards nothing culture.
but i guess what i want to ask is, what's your culture? have you held on to something that's yours? made something new? how can we make sure these things aren't lost? do you have any links to videos/stories/media that this makes you think of?
about how america is a kind of corrosive force. its people (unless they're native americans who it actively seeks to eradicate) don't have any traditions, rituals, old knowledge passed down ā their ancestors may have had these, but everything was ironed out and forgotten when they had to assimilate, not into a dominant culture but into an absence of one
but little pockets of uniquely american experiences and stories have arisen in so many places and i'm really interested in finding them. like that monologue. but with the internet homogenizing culture those bubbles dissolve, and gentrification displaces the people who built them etc. it all feels like a drive towards nothing culture.
but i guess what i want to ask is, what's your culture? have you held on to something that's yours? made something new? how can we make sure these things aren't lost? do you have any links to videos/stories/media that this makes you think of?
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šThis question has been in the back of my mind for the past few years because when we talk about āgetting freeā we have to acknowledge that the bounds of the society weāve created arenāt free at all. Getting free means breaking from oppressive power structures, having the freedom to collaborate with others without pretense of capital, the freedom to imagine new systems of governance for ourselves with the ability to change with consensus and the ability for us as a peoples to live in the commons (that is this world) as good stewards to ourselves and nature~
I wonāt get into it too much but I highly recommend folks read David Graeber and David Wengrowās āHow to Change the Course of Human Historyā or any of the video essays by @Andrewismšæ to get a better idea of what Iām talking about āš¾
I wonāt get into it too much but I highly recommend folks read David Graeber and David Wengrowās āHow to Change the Course of Human Historyā or any of the video essays by @Andrewismšæ to get a better idea of what Iām talking about āš¾
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It lends a reflective and wistful tone to written communications imoā¦
Jul 10, 2025
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My dad teases me about how when I was a little kid, my favorite thing to do when I was on the landline phone with somebodyābe it a relative or one of my best friendsāwas to breathlessly describe the things that were in my bedroom so that they could have a mental picture of everything I loved and chose to surround myself with, and where I sat at that moment in time. Perfectly Imperfect reminds me of that so thanks for always listening and for sharing with me too š
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