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Twenty Years: A Selfish & Savage Trip Inward

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““There’s a lot of bad wood underneath the veneer”

Drive-By Truckers, ‘Hell No I Ain’t Happy’
( This made zero sense as a post on the actual 9/11 date.  Too much sadness, too much reality, too many people in intense pain to detract from what is rightfully the day owned by those that were lost, connected, and then fought in multiple ways in the aftermath.  These words are not about them.  This is about 9/12/01, and what we've become since, and is in no way meant to dishonor memories or actions of those people.  This is for the remainder of us who need to be better).

The hit television show “The Wonder Years” was first broadcast in 1988.   For those that don’t know the show ( I’m sorry, you missed out), it was a nostalgia concept, about a middle-class suburban family with the main character being a 13 year old boy whose reflective and adult voice gave color commentary of you saw on screen.  What’s odd, is that sappy primetime nostalgia play only rewound time to the show being set in 1968.  That’s only 20 years earlier.  Yet, in 1988, life must have felt far different than the days of the late 60’s and into the early 70’s.  Twenty years apparently can bring about a lot of cultural change, but it doesn’t do much for human nature.

So, here we are, 20 years post the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001.  If we were to create a “Wonder Years” for today, it would take us back to 2001, and have us reminiscing about how great or awkward things were back then.  But honestly, in so many ways, it doesn’t feel all that different than today ( speaking my own point of view here).  Maybe because the music from then doesn’t vary all that much from what we have now, at least the rap, hip-hop, and pop music.  Maybe because it’s easy to bring up photographs from those days, without having to physically dig through a lot of albums.  It’s possible that since the internet certainly existed then, that reading an article from those days isn’t difficult.  Maybe it’s because terrorism still exists.  ( When I started thinking about this article, I wasn’t imagining the disasterous US exit of Afghanistan, yielding to terrorist groups, and American lives ending. But here we are). But different than our thoughts right after the attacks, our capitalistic apathy now has us saying “no mas” to fighting the good fight.  As you’ll see in the cultural changes and stats below, We’ve come full circle: Trading red and blue polished turds back and forth with each election cycle, while our culture has fallen apart.

It would be easier/faster to tell the 9/11 basics: the ubiquitous “this is where I was at the time I heard about the 2nd plane hitting the Twin Towers” personal story.  It would be far more efficient to state the obvious: “It was an enormous tragedy”, and that “the people who did the work to help that day and then on are heroes.”  Maybe that’s where the story about this awful day in our history should end, but like all things, it ignores the greater context of the ensuing 20 yrs here on our soil.  So, for this story, we’re going to do what us Americans have done best since that fateful day – be ungodly levels of selfish.

 ( It might seem like I’m ignoring the Hydra that is Islamic Terrorism, and how it’s evolved over the last twenty years, and I am.  Purposely. But here’s why:  Terrorists fight like Hell.  They recruit like Hell.  They refuse to go away like the Devil.  They have a sense of purpose that they’re willing to die for.  Nothing about that has changed in Twenty Years. Like the Hydra, you cut off one head, another two grow back – because we don’t understand history.  To kill the Hydra, you have to cut off a head, and immediately seal it off from growing back, and the only way to do that, is to cut off resources.  Squeeze them so tightly, that they can’t live:  No water. No food.  No ammo or guns.  Then when it’s squeezed tightly enough, you blast it out of existence.  We’ve refused to do that, and have paid the price in endless War spending, and worse, American Lives.)

The Hydra

So to borrow the stock PR statement issued by every celebrity as they enter rehab, we will “look inward and do some work on ourselves.”

20 years is not a long time, but not insignificant either.  The US is 245 years old by it’s own count, so 20 yrs represents just over 8% of it’s entire history.  Enough to really count, but still not everything.

  • Music went from Metallica’s Lars Ulrich fighting Napster file sharing in the early aughts, to being nearly all consumed via internet streaming and some vinyl.
    • (Sidenote History:  Wilco’s amazing Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was set to be released on 9/11/2001 – they waited a week later to stream it for free to prevent sub-par audio from surfacing.)
    • The Number 1 album in September 2001 was Maxwell’s  “Now.”
    • The Number 1 album in September 2021 is Kanye West’s “Donda”,  ( Which will easily be replaced by Drake’s “Certified Lover Boy” at next count).
  • The most popular TV show in 2001 was:  Friends
    • In 2006:  American Idol  ( like that name didn’t say a lot about our culture)
    • In 2011:  NCIS 
    • In 2016:  Big Bang Theory
    • In 2021:  NCIS, again. 
  • In ’01 ladies wore impossibly low-rise jeans with the omnipresent underwear flash, to in ’21 donning the ever-creeping high waisted mom-pant whose top button is alarmingly close to the jaw-line.
  • Men in ’01 highlighted their butt-cut hair-dos. In ’21, we have proclaimed that reinstituting the mullet is a “good idea.”  ( Ladies, we are idiots.  Thank you for loving us).
  • The National Debt has increased to levels previously thought impossible.  From 2000 to 2019, it increased by 297%.   It’s current level is larger than the economies of Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, and China – COMBINED.
    • In 2000: $5.67 Trillion
    • In 2010: $13.56 Trillion
    • In 2020: $27.7 Trillion.
  • The cost of a college education in the last twenty years or so: The inflation on this has outpaced nearly everything else.  This is the average cost of tuition and fees:
    • 2000: (Public: $3,706).  (Private: $21,698)
    • 2010: (Public: $5,814). (Private: $25,250)
    • 2020:  ( Public: $9,403). ( Private: $34,059).
  • In 2010, we were blessed with the “Affordable Care Act”; lovingly known as Obamacare. Here’s the result:
    • Cost of drugs in 2001 vs. now
      • By 2016, American Families were spending $4,270 annually on average for prescription medications.  More than 4x the cost in 2001.
      • For the 11 years leading up to 2016, the average increase in annual total health care costs averaged more than $1,000 each consecutive year.
    • But we’re not healthier, we’re far more sick. So much for “greater access.”
    • The Obesity Rate in the US went from 30.5% in 2000, to 42.4% in 2018.  For the same period, “Severe Obesity” increased from 4.7% to 9.2%.
    • What’s worse, we’re ruining our children, ( 19.3% of which were “obese” as measured in 2018/2019) and ensuring our healthcare system will have zero chance of keeping up with them, and their easily preventable chronic disease as they age.
  • There were no podcasts in 2001, now there are over 2,000,000 of them.
  • Recreational drug use was illegal and everywhere in 2001.  Now, places like Portland, Oregon have decriminalized small amounts of just about anything you can put in your body. 
  • ‘The Office’ was a show that defined the culture; debuting in March of 2005.  Today’s social climate would ensure zero chance of a pilot making it to air.  Just recently, Comedy Central who shows re-runs of the hit show, voluntarily pulled the “Diversity Day” episode from being broadcast.  We can be sure there’s more episode deaths coming.
  • We can order most things that our little heart’s desire with 1 click; have something delivered to our door in two hours.  Amazon started in 1994, but took off in the early 2000’s, and has continued climbing and finding it’s way into our daily, and even hourly, lives.  There’s likely an ad on this page ( not put here by me) that shows a link to something you looked at on your phone earlier today that’s just going to make you feel “complete” once you buy it.
  • We went from having to call someone on the cell phone or land line in ’01, maybe even send a text for 5 cents each, to attempt an in person meet-up and physically experience something with them, to only seeing the highlights of that “friend’s” life and only interacting through the occasional “like” on their post while doom-scrolling on a device that runs every aspect of our very lives.
  • We use that same device to now selectively and hypocritically ruin the lives of complete strangers – giving them the internet scarlet letter; making sure their job, friends, and ability to earn are ruined despite breaking no laws and affording them no due process. We have an unlimited capacity for carnage.
  • Facebook was being invented by the Winklevoss Twins, then stolen by a ruthless cyborg named Mark Zuckerberg and launched in November of 2003.  In February of 2004, it launched to college campuses outside of Zuckerberg’s Harvard.  By 2008, it had 100 million active users.  In 2021, it has 2.9 Billion. This waste of time site changed the world. It’s now engaged in actively selecting which speech is “acceptable” and which is “not”, and likely brought you to this blog.  ( And a billion other items for purchase you didn’t know you needed).  Thanks….. I think.
  • We invented problems, particularly in the suburbs, because we were too comfortable, and incapable of hard things. Barista screws up your Starbucks order? – “OMG What a shit day.”  Suburbanites that also have the luxury of lambasting “them” ( those who they deem a political & ideological enemy) and “their privileges'” all day on the company Slack channel or Twitter. But fail to see the irony of the privilege of being able to have such secure luxury, and with zero hesitancy to employ it for their own gain
    • ( or more disgusting, a perceived gain for their child. These are the same people will make a “feel-good” progressive social media post, then drive their virtue signaling automobile without the required placard, park in the handicap spot on their way to some mindfulness – yoga – breathing session while said child is not doing their homework on a school iPad that says “property of *insert cheesy but expensive sounding name* – Prep/Dei, or whatever.  These same folks decry income inequality while charging $785/hr. )
  • We have decided, for our own selfish reasons, to use our kids as click-bait as we ensure they have digital footprints before they’re even born with gender reveal parties ( which  is high irony since many of gender-reveal plebes  “believe” gender is a social construct).  We use our kids at protests, put them in politically charged t-shirts and onesies for the sake of an Instagram pic, and pass on all of our bullshit and hatred to them without a thought of what this might do to them in the future. All of this, for a short-lived dopamine hit of social currency we’ll never get to spend.
  • In the immediacy post 9/11, the country really came together.  Patriotism at the all time marijuana like high.  Flags everywhere. “U-S-A” chants galore. We had a shared identity.  A more common set of values ( or at least the illusion of it).  A sense of appreciation for something as silly as a baseball game ( which is really NOT silly, but certainly doesn’t fall under the category of “necessary”). Of course, one group of Americans wasn’t wholly included in the prevailing Patriotism of 2001 & 2002.  Anyone that looked to be from the Middle East was drawn outside the circle.   
    • ( For many are invited, but few are chosen – Book of Matthew)
  • Even at our most “together”, we still couldn’t quite get that last notch on the belt, pulling it all together.  In the 20 years since, we’ve found more ways to break ourselves apart than anyone could have imagined that day.  Thanks internet! We’ve gone from “we’re all Americans” to pointing out any potential defining superficial characteristic in a human, inventing a name for it, and purposely separating ourselves. 
    • ( Example: I’m a non-binary/ body positive/ latinx/ made-up oppressed group name/ oppressed group name that will be on the internet tomorrow due progressive celebrity usage of made-up term).
  • We’ve come to praise and celebrate “giving up” and flat-out “quitting” under the guise of ‘mental health’.  Not long ago, I saw one of those “blue check” Twitter threads accusing schools of being “ableist” by rewarding perfect attendance….Good thing the 101st Airborne didn’t decide they “needed” a mental health day when D-day arrived or this might have been written in German.  May those brave people forgive us for what we’ve done.
    • ( A quick aside: Two poorly thought-out things on: “Mental Health”)
      • The prevailing thing here is concept creep.  What actually constitutes “mental health?”  Is it your feelings that day?  Is it being anxious about something you want to go well, to the point you manifest physical symptoms?  I’m putting together a different 2 piece article on this topic, because it’s so insanely ( pun not intended) nuanced and complex.
      • Is it possible that people truly do have mental health issues and disordered thinking, but that some throw out the term as an excuse and crutch to not do things we find difficult, or to seek special treatment?
        • It’s taboo to suggest the latter here, even when all evidence points to it being the case.
  • We’ve waived goodbye to God.  Church and religious affiliation down.  In 2021, the amount of Americans that belonged to a Church, fell below 50% ( 47%) for the 1st time in our History.  This has declined sharply over the last Twenty Years, as this number was at 70% in 2000. Secularism, up. Atheism, up.  Religion has been replaced with political ideology, rooted in envy, hatred, selfishness, ( a fake Silicon Valley “ethos” that’s permeated the national psyche) as there is no recognition of anything larger than ourselves.
    • So here’s a crude reality: Each of us start as a miniscule particle of ejaculate, ending as worm food or ash.  Yet somehow in the time between, we regard ourselves as Gods.
  • This has left us more selfish than ever, and we will stop at nothing to justify it.  We use the word “need” in reference to ourselves more now, than at any point throughout history.  We seek only pleasure, money, attention, and power for ourselves. Any sense of purpose would do us good, but there’s a new social media cause every 3 days, so it’s difficult to know where to focus.
  • Someone’s online words make you butt-hurt ( like these for example) ? Well, block ’em and their “toxicity” before they “erode” your self worth.  We justify nearly all of our bullshit with a hearty defense of: Letting no one steal MY peace – MY self care – Needing ME time – MY truth.

Existence alone had never been enough for him; he had always wanted more. Perhaps it was only from the force of his desires that he had regarded himself as a man to whom more was permitted than to others.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky – Crime and Punishment

When Hunter S Thompson wrote about “Fear and Loathing” in the early 70’s, he captured the spirit of the times through his masterful storytelling. I’d like to think he was issuing a warning ( even with all of his well documented faults).   If he could have only lived today to see the environment we’ve created by everyone having a super-computing recording device on their person at all times.  This at-the-ready device, meant to give you instant pleasure while simultaneously having the power to ruin someone else’s ( and) your life.

Fear rules all.

We have Doctors teaching medical school who apologize for saying “when a pregnant woman”….and have to explain “Not to imply that only a woman can get pregnant.” Their fear of retribution so strong, that they’re willing to ignore reality.

We are unwilling to tell people that their over-(and self) indulgent lifestyles are contributing to their illnesses and out of control healthcare costs, out of fear of hurting their feelings, all while costing us trillions ( yes…trillions.. ) in chronic disease care, lost opportunity, and productivity, that could easily be avoided.

We tell children that their feelings, no matter how invalid and reactionary, are more important than reality.  We’ve enabled adults to behave this way too.

We praise “science” in one breath, but allow folks to invent their own gender on the fly as if biology has zero to do with it in the next.  Any pointing out of this leads to a “well deserved cancelling.”

“Faster, Faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death.”

― Hunter S. Thompson

All of this speeding towards the cliff has left us ill-positioned to fight battles with anyone other than ourselves.  No wonder Terrorism has won…for now….

If this seems like an overly critical and dark position to take, it is. It’s meant to be.  I’m largely ignoring the “good” that has happened in the past Twenty Years, like a good amount of the entire World’s population getting access to clean water and a vast increase of those being lifted out of poverty ( as well as mindless pleasures like ‘Mad Men’ & ‘Breaking Bad’). I’m also certain, anyone could say “hey, what about this?” – Yeah, this wasn’t meant to be an all-encompassing photograph of the last 20. But the numbers above don’t lie. We have squandered so much opportunity. To make ourselves better.  To make the Middle East better. It doesn’t have to be like this, and we KNOW it.   America loves a “come back” story.  Well, it’s time we write one of our own.  Our enemies have been rope-a-doping us the last Twenty Years. The standing 8 count is underway, and if we don’t stop this downward, selfish trajectory now, we won’t make it back up off that mat.  We can pretend we can keep this up.  But we can’t. We know it.  The numbers say so. And that’s the straight dope – Like it or not.

So, in 20 years, we’ve gone from desperation to desperation.   Men & Women jumping out of the Twin Towers to avoid the pain of being burned to death, to Afghans using their last ounce of grip strength holding on to planes destined for a better place than what their reality with the Taliban was going to be, and risking it all ( and losing it) to do so.  Full circle. 

The US sure has been a grand experiment.

“At every period of history, people have believed things that were just ridiculous, and believed them so strongly that you risked ostracism or even violence by saying otherwise. If our own time were any different, that would be remarkable. As far as I can tell it isn’t.”

Paul Graham

In truth, I’m afraid to write all of this. And if this is coming off as some “holier than though” diatribe, ( which, it absolutely could be), I can say with certainty, that’s not the spirit in which it’s intended.  I know that speaking against the prevailing culture comes at a cost.  Who am I to make judgments? And there’s zero doubt I deserve judgment- but these data aren’t my feelings ( the commentary is).

  I’ve personally fell prey to much of the above bullshit.  I’m no better ( and at times, have been worse).  Some of this is meant to be dark humor.  Some of it, dark truth.  I know how some will view me for writing this and I can live with that. There will be the online responses from strangers saying things that they’d never have the courage to do in person. There will be the polite, or behind the back trolling via text message by “friends” that having nothing better to do, nor the ability to produce an original thought.

But there’s this: My years have provided so many gracious people that voluntarily gave me much and lived out their values, that it seems like chicken-shit to not speak up.  Also… there are those that will be here after me, and it seems like chicken-shit to not warn against inheriting a future they don’t deserve.  If we’re going to shame and cancel people for their public thoughts, we’re going to miss out on some of the best creativity on the planet out of sheer fear.

I’ve not lost hope though.  Because there are still folks like this 17 year old young man ( below) that states more clearly, what I failed to do above. 

“When acceptance is the highest value, when avoiding condemnation online is worth more than the truth, the truth will be swiftly discarded. Online likes, followers and reputation — weak, empty values — dominate the teenage world because teenagers are not being taught alternative ones by the culture or, often, by the adults in their lives. They — we — are not being given the tools to answer the questions that really matter: What is truth? What is justice? And what is the purpose of life?”

Daniel Idfresne

( Please take the time to read this)

https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/im-17-and-im-immunized-from-woke

So – it is possible – out of horrendous, two-decade old tragedy, we can still find triumph – If we choose it.

We won’t agree. But it would be a shame if we split apart. ( The Left would go broke in a month on their own, and the Right would have the shittiest art and music on their own). We need one another, whether we like it or not. We can still argue, let’s just not ruin each other and what’s made this place so great in the process.

Hard hearts and soft heads are a dangerous combo.

References:

  • You and I both know you’re not going to take the time to look through any references, so I’m not going to publish them.  If you want to, you may use Google to check anything that I’ve said here that is clearly not opinion.
    •  And Yes…the title is more than a nod to the late Hunter S. Thompson.  It was difficult to not repeatedly think of “Fear and Loathing” when putting this together.

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