Murray’s upper-middle-class professionals are not the callous and un-American “Davos Men” of Steve Bannon’s rhetoric. They’re guilty of some mostly benign neglect, but in general their lifestyles are fairly admirable.It's fair to draw a distinction between decent 'elites' and the "Davos Men" (and women, including especially the recent Democratic candidate for President). But let's not lose the fair criticism, either: how many of these don't preach what they practice? How many preach that the traditional family structure is a kind of trap for women and children, or that marriage is a very fluid concept, or that really it's fine if the best jobs go to strangers overseas? They don't practice this way. They practice as if their marriage and family are sacrosanct, and their children need to position themselves to get the increasingly few good jobs that exist in a changing economy.
They’re disciplined and hard-working. They embrace healthy life habits. They are conscientious parents who get involved in their (bubbled) communities. It’s also interesting to note that Murray sees his upper middle class as a genuine cognitive elite.... In short, Murray in “Coming Apart” seems to regard the residents of “Belmont” as fine exemplars of many core American values. He doesn’t want to see them deposed. He just wants them to try harder to reach out to their less-fortunate compatriots, which is especially critical because “Fishtown” needs some help in this regard....
We don’t have to choose between a theory suggesting that “Fishtown” needs more and better professional and educational opportunities, and one suggesting that Fishtowners need more discipline and better life habits. These claims can easily both be true.
But if they are both true, then we won’t be able to lift “Fishtown” up just by tearing “Belmont” down. Populism likes to lionize the common man, but that wasn’t Murray’s impulse. He wanted the elite to “preach what they practice,” negatively judging Fishtowners’ misbehavior for their own good and the good of our shared society.
They say the popular things to say, not the hard things. If the poor and the weak hear these things from the righteous and successful, how many of them will find the heart to say that the righteous and successful are wrong? Well, they are wrong: not so much in what they do, but very often in what they say. Very often, likewise, in what they consent to their government saying.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qIWGLcMj7s
ReplyDeleteThe entire world is corrupt and how little the mortals know what is really going on.
How many preach that the traditional family structure is a kind of trap for women and children, or that marriage is a very fluid concept, or that really it's fine if the best jobs go to strangers overseas? They don't practice this way. They practice as if their marriage and family are sacrosanct, and their children need to position themselves to get the increasingly few good jobs that exist in a changing economy.
Of course they don't practice what they preach. Did the Catholic child predators practice what they preached? Did the communists that infiltrated the Catholic Church in the 1930s, practice what they preached?
Does any villain in fact, obey the laws that they enforce. The Leftist alliance and all of their fellow travelers, ask for mercy when they are weak, but they give no quarter when they are strong and winning.
Those who put their trust in humans, are worse than fools. This war won't be over even if every Islamic Jihadist and Leftist dies tomorrow. It goes far beyond mortal comprehension.
Up until Vietnam the elites seemed to realize the responsibilities of their positions, as well as the perks- at least the casualty lists were well populated with the sons of the upper crust. And the great stewpot of service put them elbow to elbow with the average Joe, so later in life they had examples to hold in mind, of a steelworker from Philly or a farm boy from Indiana or a clerk from Hoboken, instead of an amorphous remote mass of "deplorables".
ReplyDeleteIt's a reasonable point in isolation.
ReplyDeleteOne notes, however, that this was written by Rachel Lu, who—if I remember correctly—also chirped that the Disney IT workers laid off in favor of H1-B foreign replacements "should have made healthier choices!" (Presumably, back when they were learning IT skills, they should have understood that it was or would shortly become federal policy to restrict wages, job mobility, and eventually job retention for that sector, and instead gone to law school* or otherwise embarked on the cursus honorem. And, preferably, arranged to have aspirational-class parents. These would have been far healthier choices than learning computer programming and network administration and getting jobs in those fields.) Thus, one is a little less inclined to accept the surrounding assumptions.
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*Side note: I think one of the most serious social problems with this country is that engineering and allied fields are no part of the cursus honorem. You can recover socially from an engineering degree if you top it off with suitable graduate degrees, but practicing engineers are in practice socially lower than lawyers, HR directors, and part-time professors.
Grim this is a thought provoking post.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I wrote two pages just to tear it up in response to this post.
I went down so many rabbit holes, and backed out of them.
I even slept on it. Which means I gave it consideration and submitted to my subconscience which is often a clarifier for me.
Lately, I have been reading alot of Murray and listened to a few of his interviews too.
This is the part that got my attention.
....They say the popular things to say, not the hard things. If the poor and the weak hear these things from the righteous and successful, how many of them will find the heart to say that the righteous and successful are wrong? Well, they are wrong: not so much in what they do, but very often in what they say. Very often, likewise, in what they consent to their government saying.
We are moving into "Pre French Revolution times again, and it will not be pretty If Murrays trends continue.
Merrit based systems suck
Marriage as an institution is all but destroyed for Fishtown.
This does not end well.
They don't want to be called crazy or cut off from their social circle, so of course they will say what the world tells them to say. They are weak.
ReplyDeleteWho actually is crazy enough to say things they know will get them put into the cuckoo house by their fellows and family?
Other than the ancient prophets and various exceptional outliers like Jean de Arc, I can think of no one other than demon possessed psychologically damaged people as professionally diagnosed by our superior entities in Phds.