Christoper Lasch

[luka]

i managed about 30 seconds of it

 

[version]

this argument

The core assertion of the post-Left is relatively simple: The real ruling class in America is the progressive oligarchy represented politically by the Democratic Party. The Democrats are the party of Silicon Valley, Wall Street, the Ivy League, the media, the upper layers of the national security state and federal bureaucracy, and of highly educated professionals in general.

is what Vim has been saying for years. Dissensus is very familiar with these arguments.

I think it's correct, but I also think some people fall into the trap of attacking progressive politics more generally rather than the people and institutions using the stuff as an ideological shield. Of course, that's exactly why they do it. You can't criticise big business or the state or the media's manipulation of a concept like diversity without opening yourself up to accusations of bigotry.

 

[version]

That being said, there are no doubt actual bigots using that argument as cover too. The 'anti-Semites hiding behind anti-Zionism' tactic.

 

[version]

Reading Culture of Narcissism and I can see why it's struck a chord recently. The attack on 'confessional' writing really chimes with the complaints I read online about the prevalence of autofiction, and his claim the narcissist demands the world shore up their faltering sense of self is all over contemporary media, see: the adults reading nothing but YA fiction and complaining when a protagonist is a 'bad person' or 'unlikable' and they can't identify with them.

 

[sus]

Ostensibly that means our cultural moment echoes his, a return of the 60s

 

[version]

It's concerning that some of the things he describes as what was then a 'new narcissism' just seem like part of the universal experience to me; either he's wrong or we're/I'm so deep into it at this point that we/I can't imagine being any other way.

 

[WashYourHands]

Your Brand

I was reading Blackbird Spyplane this morning which is basically a consumerism column for New York neohipsters. They have a feature called V.I.P. R.A.D.A.R.,” ie. "Vibey Illustrious People with Rare And Dope Ass Recon." Basically they interview scenesters and ask for clothing/scent/furniture...

www.dissensus.com

 

[other_life]

It's concerning that some of the things he describes as what was then a 'new narcissism' just seem like part of the universal experience to me; either he's wrong or we're/I'm so deep into it at this point that we/I can't imagine being any other way.

i kind of lean towards "he's wrong and psychologising-pathologising something he finds personally frustrating". but a) we also have different priors vis a vis politics b) i've been advised against reading him in extenso by people i trust so that i don't waste my time

 

[other_life]

the quotes upthread about 'civil rights being hijacked by the identitarian concerns of black power' feel suspect to me. like he spent two paragraphs avoiding the word 'uppity'; calling civil rights 'heroic' in this context feels very backhanded

 

[linebaugh]

It's concerning that some of the things he describes as what was then a 'new narcissism' just seem like part of the universal experience to me; either he's wrong or we're/I'm so deep into it at this point that we/I can't imagine being any other way.

Feel like this has been said a million different ways by every sort of late 20th century political thinker but hes writing about what happens to a population when traditional politics become impossible for it and were still in that situation so I think it would make sense