That general winding down feeling you’re getting is not an illusion

[phantom power]

Sometimes I feel like America is just in a holding pattern. We’re basically waiting for all the people who are still bitter about modernity to pass away in large enough numbers that those of us willing to move into the future can actually capture the electorate. I never felt that so keenly as listening to Obama speak last night. It’s like living in a house where a cantankerous patriarch won’t let you fix anything up or clean anything, and you’re sitting around watching the house fall apart while waiting for him to die. (Vague memories of “The Secret Garden” surface.) And that’s pretty much exactly what’s going on, right down to our crumbling infrastructure and cannibalistic economy. The problem with this is that not cleaning up the house means that we’re seeping poison into the air, and that may not be something we can clean up when we get the signal to go ahead and actually start fixing things.

http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/that_general_winding_down_feeling_youre_getting_is_not_an_illusion/

[frazzled]

1. We do not live in the modern age

Modernity is generally defined historically as having ended in 1989. (It ranges from the early modern period, which began after the Middle Ages in about 1500). We've been in the era of postmodernity for the last quarter century. That's what some people can't get used to.

I think the better thing to talk about is people still bitter about the end of the modern era. "Modern" has a very specific usage.

[jwirr]

2. Those of us who understand the things are changing rather we like

it or not and that we need to approach this change in view of reality are totally frustrated with what we are getting done. One thing book that I read gave some comfort though. Paul Hawken wrote "Blessed Unrest" which is a survey of all the small groups and individuals who are working to make those changes despite the governments and opposition. After reading it I feel better. Most of our change is coming from the bottom up and it is working. One example that I have seen personally is recycling. A grandmother started the highrise recycling program in her building when her little grandchild told her how important it was to recycle. When she died the entire building was recycling everything they could.

[Name removed]

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